The six crimson moons remained constant in the sky as they illuminated the forest with a radiant grow.
At the entrance of the evergreen forest, Dre stood still, his breathing slowed as he tried listening in on anything that could potentially pose a danger to him. However even after a minute of listening, he still couldn't grasp any sound other than the rustling of leaves. There wasn't even a howl from wolves whom, given the six full moons, would be howling all night long.
But even if he heard howling or any other sound, which he assumed he was going to hear if he trekked deeper, he couldn't do anything about it. Maybe he could try and avoid them, but still, to win and avoid dying he was required to traverse the forest.
Gasping a lungful of air he walked in and immediately after a panel, that made his heart beat faster in exitment, appeared.
The screen before him wasn't in any way as the prior ones, this particular one had exact blue prints of the forest_well not entirely, either way the map showed him his current location depicted by a red pin which he confirmed by walking further in the forest.
The forest, defined by green hue adorned on the blue panel, didn't appear that vast. According to Dre's estimations which he made after striding deeper in the eerie forest, illuminated in patches by the crimson light that seeped through the gaps between the huge branches, it was at least seventeen or eighteen kilometers. It's not that that was a short distance, in all honesty that was quite a walk, but given the fact that they had at least four days to cross it, it seemed a bit too easy.
All this lead Dre into a spiral of thoughts. If the distance was this short and with a map in hand, then why would this even be regarded as a tournament? Why call it the death forest? He'd already walked for quite a distance, yet he hadn't encountered any animal let alone danger and other than the rustling of leaves he was yet to hear any other sound. This made him wary, after all a human's greatest fear was fear of the unknown.
Though even without full compression of the tournament, he still had to accomplish what he could comprehend at the moment and that was making it out in time.
Weaving through the forest, Dre was still a bit jumpy. There was still no other sign of life except for him. Even the many contestants he believed were participating, were nowhere to be found. This made him hold out on making a weapon, which he believed he could curve out with the knowledge of his hunter class.
'What I'm I missing? Where are the hidden clues?'Dre questioned.
The tournament was a bit too easy, considering how short the distance was and how many hours they'd been granted, all this didn't really sit right with him.
If anyone wanted they could walk for about six hours and instantly complete the test, if the whole journey remained this peaceful. But where was the thrill in that. He didn't believe that this tournament tested speed or stamina, so what was it? With his gaming experience, he was inclined to believe there was something hidden that was meant to cover the rest of the hours, but what?
'I see, now I get it.'
Exiting through a clearing, Dre finally found what had spiraled his mind to the point of breaking and it made his jaw drop as shivers ran down his spine.
Before him was a rift about a kilometer wide and with an extension that he couldn't quite fathom. The darkness enshrouding it's bottom signified how deep it was or maybe not.
The valley, even with the illumination of the six moons, still had darkness enveiled in it's bottom from about half a kilometer height, which was impossible due to it's size. Though this didn't seem to surprise Dre as everything on this land already appeared impossible.
Slightly moving back from it's ledge, he wondered why it wasn't depicted on the map or how he was to even get across.
But right at that moment he weaved a couple of theories. One it could've been that with the estimation of hours required to traverse the forest, some participants could've slacked off making it so that when they finally got here, their chances of making it past this rift and walking the rest of the way slim. Second was that maybe there was a bridge around here and he was only required to look for it's activation and that's why there were so many extra hours. The third one was more of a point of view from his gamers mindset, he guessed that maybe the entire canyon was a hallucinations and that with enough confidence or something along those lines, it would've allowed one to cross, but he couldn't dare try it out. The fourth one, was straight up descending in the valley cross it then climb back up.
Inclined to the second he immediately began looking for some clues for a bridge.
6 hours later.
*haa!*
Panting for air like a fish out of a tank, Dre sat under a peculiar tree letting the yellow rays of the rising sun hit him with their radiant warmth.
He'd searched for a secret passage for the night and still came out empty handed, now only thirst, hunger and fatigue dawned on him.
It's not like he couldn't have rested for the night and searched by day, but he didn't want to waste any time, even now he still itched to search, though the fatigue wouldn't let him.
Leaning against a tree, it didn't take long for him to fall fast asleep.
_
_
Dre stared blankly at the screen before him, his eyes swollen red as he cursed inwardly.
'Am I that unbothered by the dying part?' He pondered, he couldn't believe he'd actually found peace to sleep, not just for a couple of hours but a whole seven.
Dismissing the screen, he stared at the sun that was unusually hot.
He jerked up, yawned lazily which made him feel dizzy and stagger back.
Dehydrated and hungry, this was to be expected considering his weak constitution.
Regaining his balance, he once again began searching for clues or any hidden passage.
Suppressing his hunger, Dre walked a few kilometers, turning stones upside down, jerking out roots closer to the ledge, all in hopes of finding a lever to maybe pull out a secret bridge. But all was for not, using every gaming aspect he could think off, nothing turned out.
_
The sun dipped down in the horizon, giving way to the crimson moons.
Dre laid beside a bush, having lost any hope of finding a way to cross, he gazed at the night sky contemplating on his last and only choice, climbing down the valley and walking through it then ascending back up on the other side.
He'd first thought of turning back to the field and taking another route, but with the extension of the rift that he couldn't see it's end, he guessed it already circled the forest or maybe there were other barriers on those routes, and with the way he was now, he really couldn't risk wasting the strength he had left just to be obscured by a bigger obstacle.