In a new unfamiliar body, he shook his body heavily, feeling the effects of the cuts and bumps all over his body.
"Arg–!"
He held the grass tightly beneath him as he struggled to not release any sound.
Drip. Drip.
As he clenched his teeth, the sound of his sweat dripping blended with the sound of nature.
He stood still in said position for a while, gradually getting accustomed to the pain.
Bam–
After an unknown period of time, he finally collapsed to the ground.
His eyes were already open, staring up at the sun that was barely noticeable through the crown of these trees.
"Ah-ahh…!"
Before he could take any more view in, he grunted in pain once more, groveling on the ground.
Subconsciously, he moved to check what parts of him were hurting when the pain reduced.
He raised his arms that were shorter than he was used to.
On his fair-skinned arms, asides from the scars, there were multiple cuts that were almost fresh, designing his arms along with the dried up blood.
Looking at his legs too, there were multiple purple and blakc spots present. This were poison.
Normally it wouldn't have hurt as they are almost healed, but these cuts had a white glow on them – Even the healed scars had a similar glow, and they were also hurting underneath.
Dropping his arm, he looked down to his body as he sat upright.
He was donning a plain white shirt and straight black pants – both were tattered and torn, they were also stained with dried blood, dirt and sweat.
Raising his shirt, he saw more scars and cuts that had white light, and a big injury that looked like a hole at his side – with a white light also covered this injury.
This injury would have been alarming and could lead to death, but for some reason it wasn't bleeding as if the lights prevented the blood from spilling out.
His bare footed legs were swollen and dirty, and the veins of his feet had darkened due to the poison.
He could feel a swell on his cheek too.
By now, he felt less pain. The reason was this white light was a sign that he was healing.
There was also the fact that his body could withstand this pain, but him being unfamiliar with this much pain made the situation harder to handle.
"Sigh…" Feeling the pain reduced to a very minimal level, he relaxed a bit.
After a short moment of soothing himself, he said bitterly,
"The hell is this?! Right from the start, I'm already wallowing in this much pain!
"What's with this body?! Why's it looking and feeling like he was running from a monster?!
'How do I even get out of here?! What do you want me to do now?!"
He became silent again, then hissed, "Tsk. "
Although he wanted to let the white light do its work and heal his body while sitting and assessing the situation, his instincts told him that he should move.
Based on the body state, one could tell he was running from something. The injuries on his body were caused by a man – there were injuries caused by beasts that had long healed too though.
He was certain that the previous body owner had died from blood los , before he became the new owner.
There was a pool of somewhat fresh blood not far from where he sat after all, a little trail forming between himself and the pool.
His current situation gave him no opportunity to take his time to think.
Gritting his teeth and ignoring the slight pain he still felt, he prepared to run.
Aside from worrying about this body's chaser, with a new ability he had gained, he could sense multiple presences that he believed he should also be worried about.
Some seemed weak and reluctant to attack him, but if they attacked him, he didn't believe he'd be able to handle them.
Oh, and that's some, there are others that seemed strong too, although far from where he was.
Standing up, he looked around to determine what part he should follow.
Then he noticed two things as he did; First was an illusory black and white colored screen that he seemed to have not noticed, and the second thing he noticed sparked something within him.
Not far from him, a blue ghostly humanoid figure that was similar in height and body stature to him, and had a blank face was staring at him with void-like soul piercing eyes.
Run. Run. Run! Run—!!
As he exchanged gaze with this figure, he heard this word resound within him, each time more intense than the last.
Without thinking further, he ran.
He kept running without looking back.
He didn't know where he was going, he just ran the opposite direction of where there was a blood trail believing it was the best.
In this body that was way younger, hence smaller, than his old body, he ran at the fastest speed he ever ran with his stamina barely dropping.
At that moment, he forgot the lingering pain on his body and the surrounding noise became mild, paying attention to the only goal he had in mind.
To get out of the forest.
As he ran between the trees that had their roots disrupting the paths, he avoided any presence he felt.
During this, he saw a few more blue ghostly figures of different shapes and sizes wandering around the forest aimlessly.
Based on the fact that he didn't really know what these things are, he was promoted to keep running.
~ ~ ~
The sun already dipped and the air was cool.
But he was still running.
He kept on going through the forest with the word 'Run!' continuously ringing in his head.
By now, he was already getting tired and hungry as well.
His desire to stay out of the forest was still burning fiercely. At some point in time, he realized that this fear was too much for him.
He came to believe that the fear of that forest stemmed from the previous owner of his body.
No, he was certain that's the source of the fear.
Nevertheless, he kept going until he found a place he considered safe.
After hours of running at full speed, he finally caught something within his peripheral vision. Reducing his speed a bit, he turned his head towards the direction.
With his eye sight that was improved after inhabiting this body, he saw something stand out under the night sky, not so far from where he was.
The first thing he noticed was light – multiple of it.
Lights made by people.
He immediately turned towards the light's direction as he discerned the surroundings of where the lights stemmed from.
Soon, he found himself closer to his new destination and discovered a wall that held multiple infrastructures within, with the sound of interactions reaching his enhanced ears.
Using his odd senses that picked up energy signatures to observe within the walls, he was certain that they weren't monsters within.
A smile slowly formed on his tired, dirty face.
'I… found a town!'
As soon as he acknowledged that, the ringing that had encouraged him to run since immediately died down.
Standing under a tree that was close to the edge of this forest, he muttered, "Phew… I guess this is where my new life really begins…"
After coming to the conclusion that entering this town would be the best way forward, he moved closer to the town wall.
From the edge of the forest where he was to the town walls was a grassfield that eliminated natural cover when one gets closer to the town wall.
This area of the town wall had multiple guards patrolling the walls, and others observing from on top the wall.
This place didn't have an entrance so he found it weird that so many people were present.
He was trying to prevent them from noticing him, and the more they were, the harder it was to do that.
For why he tried avoiding them: His dressing alone would be too suspicious, talkless of where he was coming from, and it was going to lead to a troublesome situation if he was seen.
Preparing himself to covertly enter the town, he mused.
"This is really another world… It's really like what you'll see in fantasy works! I wonder if those fiction writers are actually world travelers or something. At this point, it doesn't seem impossible."
Using the natural darkness to his advantage, he navigated his way around the forest edges that almost surrounded the city.
His new ability gave him senses that could perceive the weird energy within the atmosphere, the concentration of energy within living beings, and the aura of energy that all living beings had.
The range at which he could perceive was also very extensive, covering as far as he could see with his eyes – and his current eyesight was not to be underestimated.
It was this ability he was going to use to detect people and avoid them.
As he moved to avoid the eyes of the wall guards, he hissed, thinking back on what God told him.
"He didn't even give me an easy start! In a world like this any mistake may lead to my death. If just living is already this hard, how would the task be?!"
On reaching a part where a guard had just patrolled, and didn't seem to have that many people on the other side of the wall, he braced himself.
One mistake would lead to him being detected by the strong looking guards.
Then, he would even be in more trouble because he tried sneaking into the town.
In that instant, his mind raced faster than usual as he prepared himself to move.