As Howard was left alone once more he arranged the pieces of information that was given. "Well at least that explains why the park was so quick to hire anybody", as he answered his question
"But still why did that weirdo save me and where the fuck am I?" Howard asked himself, every answer leading to a new question.
"WEIRODO!??", The voice came back to answer, but this time the mysterious man appeared behind Howard.
Seeing this Howard's heart almost stopped and he nearly fell off the large tree.
"Is that what you call your savior, I might not know the generation you came from but I'm pretty sure manners haven't yet gone extinct... or they might have I don't know", the mystery man said with a bit of saltiness in his mouth.
Before Howard could take another breath, he continued"You do know you are the one talking to himself right? As for where we are, I have no clue but I personally like to call it the "Devil's Playground", and this shitty place is divided into five major areas, the center of which is this forest, to the north we have the grasslands also known as "the false paradise", the south the desert or the infamous "Dreaded Dunes", toward the east the "Mislead afterlife" and finally to the west there is the "The Spectral Peaks", I don't know much about it, I try to stay far away from there"
"And for the reason I saved you is to save myself a whole lot of trouble, if you had stayed on the ground any longer you might have eroded and turned into the soul on the ground, I call it soul soil and if that had happened this shitty place might have grown by a little bit", the man answered all of Howard's questions but still continued"It a miracle that you were transport to his area or you would have died without my help"
Howard's mouth could hardly open. He couldn't even speak a word. The thumping in the chest left him without breath, and he felt everything crumbling down on his head as if everything was crumbling down on him. He sat precariously still on a thick branch of an old oak tree, drowned in the endless darkness of a nearly mysterious forest. Then the bizarre man said other things within his brain: false paradise, The Dreaded Dunes, the graves, the Fog. All senseless, yet nothing here was understandable.
"Five areas…what the hell?" Howard muttered to himself, rubbing his temples. "How does a park encompass all of that? This isn't normal. Nothing is".
He chuckled low, leaning back into the tree trunk easily as if they were not hundreds of feet in the air. He was unnervingly nonchalant. Howard couldn't see his face behind the mask, but he could feel the smirk building behind it.
"I can tell you're confused. Honestly, it's adorable", the man said with a voice dripping in mock amusement. "But the more you try to make of it, the less sense it will make. You've stepped beyond the veil, Howard. This place isn't just a park. It's a prison, a testing ground, a hunting zone. depends on how you look at it.".
Howard's belly churned as he tried to make sense of what he was being told. "What is even happening. I didn't join up for this supernatural mumbo-jumbo stuff. I just wanted a job.".
"Aww, but that's the beauty of it," he said, his voice falling darker with each word. "They didn't hire you by accident. Do you think they hire anyone for anything? They knew you'd stay out here longer than most. You're not just a park ranger. You're a worm or even better bait. You were brought here to draw it out."
"It?" Howard asked, trying to find his voice. "What is it?"
The thing hunting you, the masked man said bluntly. The reason all those people vanished into thin air. The reason that the park covers it all up. It hides in the shadows, waiting for just the right moment to strike. And you, my friend, caught its eye.
Howard's blood ran cold. He could think only of that substance that he had been chasing him, the eerie silence of the forest, those unnatural growls in the distance. He felt like a pawn in some sick, twisted game and had no idea what the rules were or who was pulling the strings.
"So what the hell am I supposed to do now?" Howard shouted out in frustration, a blend of fear in his voice. "Should I run? Fight? Hide?
The masked man cocked his head to one side. "You can run, my friend. It won't make any difference. You can fight. But you are not even ready for that. Hide? Maybe, but it will find you in the end. No, your only hope is to hold on as long as you can, until you learn to play the game. Until you find the others they are still here. There is a way out of here. But it is not easy. It never is.
"Other people?" Howard asked, his heart skipping a beat. "More people trapped here?"
"Sure," shrugged the man. "You're not the first one to take the bait. No, my friend, you're just one of many. Some got closer than you have. Some didn't make it at all."
Howard's mind raced to encompass what was happening. He wasn't alone but that wasn't necessarily a good thing. Others had been here perhaps trapped-withn't survived. What were the chances he would?
Before he could ask more, the man in the mask was upright again, re-donning his gloves as if in anticipation of departing. "I have given you enough to keep your mind occupied for the moment. You will make it, or you will not. It does not really matter. It's been. diverting, nonetheless."
"I want to.. wait!" Howard called out as panic dared its way up his chest. "What if I have more questions?
Then he stops; and, without speaking another syllable, turns half around. "You will. But answers don't come cheap in this place. Consider this free advice. Next time you'll have to earn it.".
And with the snap of a switch, the figure leaped from the branch and fell softly into the canopy below, silent as any mere tree shadow. Howard scrambled to the edge, peered down, and saw nothing. Once more he was alone for the oppressive silence of the forest seemed to close its cold, grey shroud over him.
For a long time, he just sat, frozen, with the weight of his position bearing down on him. He'd been dragged to this place as some sort of bait; there'd been something out there, something impossible, hunting him down. He was trapped in a park that wasn't just a park. And worse, there were others? people like him who'd been sucked into this nightmarish abyss.
Howard took a deep breath, trying to control the spasm. His flashlight kept flickering out in the faint light of the forest, reminding him that time flew by fast. He had to get going. The masked man's words still rang in his mind: Survive long enough to learn the rules of the game.
He fought his way down the tree, his body shaking with the adrenaline and fear running through him. And once he touched the forest floor, the world seemed to shift again. The trees loomed bigger, their branches curling in ways that were unnatural. Shadows felt to be alive, slithering across the ground like predators waiting to pounce.
Howard had to find shelter. He had to regroup; he had to think.
"I can't stay too long on the ground or as the mysterious man said I might erode and become one with this place", Howard reminded himself, trying not to forget the crucial bit of information, that was given to him for free.
But as he stepped out into the night he heard something Howard froze. There, in the distance, something moved. A shape, massive and shadowy, drifted between the trees. A growl echoed through the forest—low, deep, and hungry. He wasn't alone
His heart was thrumming in his chest as he ran faster, screaming at him with every stride to do just that run, that was the thing. It wouldn't save him. He needed to get out of there, to find answers, to survive. And the only way to do this was to find the others.
As the growl grew louder still in his wake, Howard bucked himself forward, eyes scanning the darkness of the forest for anything that looked like a path at all, anything that could take him where he wished to go, where he knew would be safe.
But Howard understood reality - not a gap of safety is here. Only survival.
And the game began.