My mind was a mess. It felt as if my thoughts had been shattered into a million pieces, then stitched back together with little to no care or warning. The only thought that pieced itself together in my mind was to run.

Faster, I must run faster, I thought to myself as I sprinted through the thick mesh of roots and vines blocking my path. There was nothing to guide me through this forest; even the moon had turned its back on me. No light could be seen as i tried to navigate the dense jungle of foliage in front of me. I had nothing but my instincts as my guide.

I could feel it, like a hot knife poking me in the back of the head. The sounds of it moving at impossible speeds making the ground tremble with every step. The growls that rang through the forest were of a beast that hadn't eaten for days. It gave off the intimidating presence of something greater than me. It was a feeling I have never felt before.

What would happen if it caught up to me? Would the beast just kill me or take its time separating the meat from my bones? As these thoughts ran through my head.

"Bam,"

I was suddenly hit by what felt like a truck, pelting me through the forest like an insect. I crashed into the tree, nearly splitting it in two.

"kahhh"

All the air was immediately forced out of my lungs, not allowing me to scream out in pain.

I quickly looked up, my eyes darting around trying to find the beast that flung me, but what greeted me in the darkness i could never have expected. Eyes of a deep blood red color, bestial in every aspect of the word, looking down on me as if I were lesser, an object, something that never should have been born in to its world. I was just like a lamb being brought slaughter. Before I could even act claws raked across my face, sending me into unconsciousness.

......

.....

....

It was dark too dark, not like at night time there were no stars in the sky or city lights on the horizon. It was eerie, as if I was stuck at the bottom of the ocean, unable to breathe. The only thing I felt was the expanse of nothingness and the crushing pressure of my surroundings, beating every cell in my body like a drum. I held on to the air in my lungs for as long as I could. I don't know why i did maybe because it was all i had to hold on too.

I was stuck for what felt like days on end. It was getting harder and harder by the second to hold on, but I tried with all my might. I didn't want to leave my life behind. I didn't want to give that beast that thing the satisfaction of killing me. I don't know if it was my pride or the fear of death, but I clung to my last breath with everything my lungs had to offer but yet I was only human.

Soon the last of the air escaped my lungs, and at that moment I finally heard something.

No, I felt it in my soul.

It's hard to explain what I felt, but it carried with it the weight of a raging storm.

......

I finally felt my body for the first time in a while, it was a refreshing sensation I never thought i was going to feel again. Until I quickly realized what I was feeling was pain indescribable pain, I wanted to scream out, but the moment I tried to open my mouth, the pain increased tenfold. I immediately reached for my face to figure out what was wrong, but instead of touching skin I felt a heavy cloth bandage.

The cloth stretched from the tip of my nose to the bottom of my chin, barely allowing me to breath, let alone speak. I tried to sit up and figure out where I was, but the very action caused pain to spring across my body like arcs of electricity. 

As I laid there staring up at the old wooden ceiling above me, I tried to piece together what had happened. It was almost like the event I just experienced. The fact that I almost died didn't belong to me, or at the very least me alone. And now that I'm thinking about it, my body feels awfully small for an adult.

Curiously, I raised up my arms, fighting through the pain, and what I saw threw me for a loop. My once caramel bronze skin was now pale and fair. The heavily callused hands I was so proud of because of swinging a sword for hours on end were replaced by small childlike hands. In that moment I wanted to scream out again not because of the pain, but because i didn't know who the fuck these hands belonged too.

Just as I was about to spiral into insanity, I heard something heavy impacting the ground and a moment after that, a high pitched squeal followed. As I turned my head towards the noise, I saw a little girl around the age of 8 give or take. She had deep blue, almost indigo hair with pale skin just like mine and big clear cyan colored eyes. She was dressed in a plan white yukata that was clearly a size too big for her. She stared at me as if she had just seen a ghost and before I even had the chance to convey my confusion to her; she sprinted off leaving a broken bowl on the ground.

************

End of chapter 1