Ye Olde Rewrite

Prologue

     Oh, those are loud drums. Stop the drums.

     ... No, not drums, a heartbeat... My... Heartbeat.

     Why is it so loud? Everything's black, limbs are numb... Have I died?

      Thoughts like this were what graced my mind, horrid worries had washed over my being. "No, I can't be dead," I thought to myself, "If I was dead, wouldn't I know it?" I attempted to move my right arm, to flex a finger, to do something. Pulling my arm inwards, towards my chest, I felt my own body through the static of numbness. Pushing my arm away, I did feel something on the back of my arm. The rough, uneven texture, of the ground, with... Something rising out of it. Each little object felt thin, and unrefined... Was that grass? I forced my arm to flex again, then back outwards, a little bit of life returning to my body, and with that, I could start to actually feel.

      Dirt... Rocks... Yes, that was grass! I felt as if I was starting to get somewhere now. The feelings of simple things would be what pushed me to go further. Next, I shifted my legs, moving my body the best I could. Hell, if anyone was watching, it'd probably seem like a corpse being reanimated by some malicious force. However, if anyone was watching, they weren't helping in any sense. With my blood flowing, and the sensation of touch returning to me, I could slowly start hearing the surroundings. The chirping of small birds, the wind gently blowing through the trees and grass, a faint buzz of an insect... After a few moments of this, that's when I could finally open my eyes. The sun's light was blinding, even through the filter of the tree that sat above me. With rustling leaves shielding my eyes, I took in a deep breath, pushing off my elbows in attempts to sit up.

      Doing so was a slow, agonizing process. From shifting my arm to be in position, to the push from the ground, all to actually sitting upright, the pain formed as a feeling of several searing knives driving themselves into my back. However, once the simple movement was finished, it became apparent that where I was would not make life any easier. Gazing from the shade of the tree, I noticed I was seated upon a hill. From here, I could witness the world, a seemingly untapped expanse of vast wooded land, with wildflowers and bushes amidst the trees, while the horizon sported a large, lonely mountain. I would attempt to recall a direction, a way to safety, but with each attempt, I drew a blank mind, void of any possible recollections. With no memory, sense of direction, and the vast expanse of wilderness before me, my heart sank. If I wasn't dead before, I will be now.

      Until, and idea struck me. I would turn my gaze downwards, upon my own body, witnessing simple clothing. A blank, oddly clean white shirt of roughly spun cloth, tucked into a pair of black denim pants, held up by a simple leather belt of the same color. Even the rustic boots that covered my feet were of a similar, dark black leather. Looking past the depressingly monochromatic outfit, I would reach into the pockets of the pants. The awkward angle, coupled with waning pain made it a touch difficult. The short time it took made me realize that the situation was hopeless, I bore no tools of any kind. As I sat there, I felt it would be best to just lay down once more, close my eyes and fade away, back to the abyss that I clawed my way out of. That was, until I witnessed a distant plume of blackened air. Smoke, from a fire. The area around me seemed dry and green, ruling out being lit from a recent lightning strike. With basic assumptions, I took as possible civilization, and a hope for survival. My mind started to race, my pulse quickened as my thoughts started to flow. The excitement I felt from this little glimmer was potent as I attempted to push myself to my feet. It was slow and painful, each movement was an agonizing moment that felt as if it lasted for several eternities. Once standing, if one could even call my unsure footing and awkwardly shaking legs such, I would take a moment before attempting a step. With my legs feeling like gelatin, I would attempt this step unsuccessfully, falling to the ground immediately. It was all downhill from there.

     The distance I actually tumbled was far less than what it felt like, with stones and sticks leaving cuts and bruises along my body. Each inch felt like a mile, and with a body that was already wracked with pain, adding to it certainly wasn't any help. But, now, at the base of the hill and with mostly flat land ahead of me, the trek would become much easier from here on out. I would use my forearms to prop up my body a mere few inches from the ground, dragging myself along the earth towards a tree. A simple oak tree, nothing more than a tool for me to stand, that's all I wanted, to fucking stand. Inching my way towards the base of the tree took a bit of time, but once I reached it, I had to take a moment to figure out how I'd accomplish this. My decision, after running a few scenarios in my head, was to move from my forearms to my hands. With this, I was able to push off the ground more, attempting to narrow my mind and focus on the task at hand. Doing so, I aimed to drown out the pleas of my nerves, all screaming for me to stop. Once there, I moved my legs up, knees bent at my torso, before I would attempt to move into a kneeling position. Each movement brought more pain, but, this was a sensation I would slowly acclimate to. From a kneeling position, I pushed up, quickly gripping the tree in a hugging embrace as I felt my legs give way.

     "Okay, you've made it this far," I told myself in hopes of being able to push my aching body further, "Keep going. We don't have time to wait."

     Straightening out my legs, I would cautiously release my grip on the tree, my stance growing firmer with each passing second. The excruciating pain that drenched my body would slowly begin to subside, either due to acclimation, or my body forcing endorphins into my muscles. With each moment came the will to take a step. A minute of breathing and mental preparation came before the actual action, my mind taking said time to steel itself. Putting one leg out, I felt the firm earth beneath my boot take its place, and my legs stood fast. Next came the other leg, a worried movement of a limb seeming far too cautious to be deemed, "natural." Seeing as I hadn't fallen, I took another step, then another. Like a young child learning to walk for the first time, I moved awkwardly and abnormally, all while I moved between trees and large boulders. Beneath the shade and amidst the moss, the air felt cool, clean and crisp, something that was rather refreshing after the ordeal it took to get there. The snapping of the occasional branch under my boot would break the constant droning of bird songs, as the shifting of the fallen leaves mixed with ones moving with their branches in the wind above me. Gazing upwards in attempts to see the smoke against the sky for direction was useless, as the reaching limbs of the trees made it impossible. Even trying to track the source by scent would be the same - Useless. Only now did I notice I was travelling with a gentle tailwind caressing me from behind. As my trek continued, I happened across a small babbling brook, the water gently rolling over the rocks that rested in the soft earth. With a delicate step, I would attempt to put my foot over the water. What seemed like a dry patch of solid land was really a smooth, wet rock hidden under a freshly fallen leaf. With the green leaf masking the rock, my boot would slide with the leaf, causing me to have my foot jump out from under me, leaving me to plummet to the ground. As I fell, my head would crash into a hearty root from a nearby oak, sending a jolt of pain through my skull as my head came to rest in the brook. The cold, clear water would run against my cheek and upper head as the world seemed to spin. The trees and rocks no longer seemed to be solid, instead forming a blend of many shifting and swaying fuzzy versions of such. Shortly thereafter, my vision would begin to fade as my sight swam in the encroaching blackness, I could make out a faint sound of someone, or something, moving towards me.

     "This is it, this is how I die."