Ethan was your typical guy, average in almost every way. Standing at 5'5", he wasn't tall or short. His black hair and plain face didn't help him stand out. What really puzzled him was how his parents seemed like movie stars.
His father was carefree. He had done many PhDs and was a scientist himself with many patents for his discoveries. That's how their family ran. Now, he just worked as a security guard for fun, which was not even 1% of the money from his invention patents.
His mother was beautiful to this day. She had an elegance and grace that turned heads wherever she went. He always thought he was not worthy to be any hero, just an average guy. He even ignored bullying in school. Yes, he was that guy who was despicable, who ignored people being bullied as long as it was not him. He was a guy who just didn't want to be a loner himself, so for the sake of it, he talked to people.
Ethan often found himself in the company of Mark and Sarah, but calling them friends felt like a stretch. He considered himself just average or more like a despicable mob character who was selfish and emotionless.
That's when he found himself in a situation that seemed straight out of one of those fantastical ficition movies. He was stranded, surrounded by wolves—each as tall as a man, their predatory gazes fixed on him. Yes, big wolves that could tear any muscular guy to shreds in seconds, and worst of all, there were many of them, probably a hundred.
For Ethan, this felt more like a cruel twist of fate, should be misfortune. Maybe he was meant to be an example before a main character before he comes to this place.
He had touched some unusual stone, undoubtedly an unwise decision, and now found himself in a bizarre location; he wondered why is there is no information that touching the stone is curse that can trigger your death, possibly because they had either perished or perhaps simply because it had gone unnoticed, situated as it was in a bottom corner; he could, however, confirm that the stone was indeed the catalyst, as a system-like voice had informed him: 'Confirmation: User has touched Void Stone.
Ethan's mind was a whirlwind of questions and fears. What if his parents discovered his lifeless body? The thought alone made his heart race. He realized he might be the first person to have noticed and touched the stone, or perhaps others had and simply never lived to tell the tale.
The wolves were keeping their distance for now, studying this new creature. Who was this guy? Maybe they didn't see humans often or ever and would leave. Unfortunately, he saw a skull around here, many skulls. "Oh god."
"It is not advised to keep eye contact with wild animals, but I already made eye contact."
The wolves started moving closer to him slowly, with lightning flashing around. He noticed when lightning struck, they moved. Usually, they practiced fighting using this, like moving when a flash of lightning struck, they moved and killed their prey, something like that.
With the next flash of lightning, Ethan made a split-second decision. He broke eye contact and ran in the opposite direction. He had already made a strong front by standing fearless, but the wolves still advanced, so he had no option but to run. As he ran, he noticed the wolves' large size slowed them down. "At least I'm faster," he thought.
His wildlife survival instinct, from watching shows like Man vs. Wild, told him he had to find a place where wolves couldn't come, like climbing a tree. But he wondered if wolves could climb trees, and he couldn't find any trees. "Why are there no trees? Without trees, how can natural life happen here?"
A quick glance over his shoulder revealed a terrifying sight: over a hundred wolves in pursuit. His legs felt weak. "Okay, no looking back," he told himself.
Ahead, he saw a massive crack in the ground, filled with flickering blue and purple lightning. "I should have scouted ahead." In his hurry, he ran without noticing. With no other way, he jumped to the other side of the crack.
Mid-air, he realized he might not make it. He grabbed the edge of the other side, struggling to pull himself up. "Pathetic," he muttered. "Why am I so weak?". He was no exercise guy, not even in sports.
Jolt of pain from the lightning below spurred him on, and he finally scrambled to safety. He pulled himself up due to adrenaline, he thought. He noticed now that he was wearing the same dress he wore when he went to school today and the same dress he was wearing when he touched the stone. Lucky, he thought, as he had rubber shoes which saved him from the electricity down there, but his shoes were burnt.
He caught his breath and waited for the wolves, as he would make them fall when they jumped the pit.
But the wolves didn't jump. They just stared at him, almost as if saying, "Not worth it, bro," and then they changed direction, heading towards the end of the pit to find a way around. They didn't give up, and Ethan knew he couldn't run forever. He needed to think. "Think, Ethan, think," he muttered to himself.
The first solution that came to his mind was to find a circular area covered by pits, a sort of sacred ground where the wolves wouldn't come. Ahead, he saw darkness, even more ominous than the place he had come from. He wondered if there were more monsters lurking in that darkness.
As he thought about his next move, the wolves caught up, coming dangerously close. He took a deep breath and waited for them to approach. As they got near, he jumped to the other side of the pit. "Sucks to be them, all that effort wasted," he thought, feeling a bit triumphant. "Now what will you do? I can do this all day."
He saw some wolves still chasing him, taking the other direction from the way they came. Some wolves had given up and stayed behind.
"No....Idiot, they didn't give up. They are staying behind to prevent me from jumping again," he realized. "Oh, they are well-coordinated and intelligent, and I see no words exchanged between them. Still, they did it. Impressive."
Ethan ran again, back the way he came. He wondered if more wolves would be waiting for him. He also wondered why the wolves were coming in groups, all their members for a single guy. He wouldn't even be an appetizer for a single wolf. "I think it is related to the trial," he thought.
He didn't want to head into the darkness on the other side of the pit; his instincts told him he wouldn't survive there.
As he ran, he started feeling weak. He wondered why he wanted to survive as he felt himself giving up. Maybe it was for his fake friends, for his fake social life. Now he felt like giving up; it wasn't worth the struggle.
He wondered if Mark, Sarah, Victor, and Julie would miss him. They were the type of friends who'd leave him behind if he stopped to tie his shoes. Maybe he was being paranoid.
But he knew his family would miss him for sure.
"I want to survive... for me," he thought. "I'm a selfish guy, you know."