She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, for as long as possible. She didn't even realize when she had left the woods until she tripped over a stone and face-planted before a beacon of light.
She tried to quickly prop herself back up only to wince, she had skinned her knee and a bit of her thigh on the concrete.
"Wait, concrete?" She blinked at the odd colored concrete.
"Am I back home?!" She whipped her head up only to see a fancy-looking street light powered by what looked like a glowing crystal.
Her smile vanished at the lamp. It was modern but otherworldly. She hobbled towards the lamp and touched the pole. It was green and smooth to touch, ornate carvings etched inside the strange metal.
"What... is this?"
She had never seen a crystal-powered lamp before. Confused and lost she took in the rows of street lights that bathed the road in faint blue.
She hobbled down the road some more with a vacant gaze. Was she still in Japan or not? What should she do and where could she go from this point? She slowed down and squinted upon spotting the gates, towering behind were unfamiliar structures that reminded her of some fantasy medieval setting.
"No way!" She looked before her, then behind her. Confused and lost, she squatted in the middle of the rood. "Brother! Mommy, I'm scared."
As she contemplated what to do, a faint sound from behind caught her attention, it became louder and louder. Her face scrunched up. Footsteps, a herd?! Had it caught up to her? She turned to see the clopping of tall horses that sped down the path. She noticed them a bit too late as she hobbled out of the middle of the road and tripped, stumbling back onto her injured knee.
"..." She sat there in a daze, watching men in armor speeding past on the horses.
Was she dreaming? Was this all just one long nightmare? Even though back in that forest she died so many times… why hadn't she woken up? What the heck was happening?
The girl lowered her head to cry.
Unbeknownst to her, one of the soldiers in the rear spotted her when she fell, he dismounted his horse and drew his sword as the girl lowered her head to weep.
"Lift your head beast."
"?" The girl looked up to see one of the knights pointing his sword at her neck. His eyes were cold and soulless no different from the monsters she ran from. Her mind went blank as her eyes widened.
"W-w-wha…." She was too spooked to get out a clear sentence.
Since she could say nothing intelligible the other party had decided.
"Please!" She blurted it just as his sword nicked her neck.
Blood pooled from there, and as she reached a hand to check. The sight of her own blood made her tremble. Dying! Dying?! Was she going to die again? Was she going to return to that forest? No. Didn't the thing say, that if someone managed to escape the forest the tutorial would end? Then in that case, then she was really going to die this time!
A dozen of thoughts overloaded into her mind, she thought of her Mom, her older brother, her school friends, and their parakeet. It all faded into black as her eyes rolled up in the back of her head and she fainted.
The Knight had realized a bit late that she was a human being. He knelt to catch her as she keeled over, he applied pressure to her neck and called out for assistance in foreign tongue.