In the deep autumn, twisted and bare old vines stood silently in the autumn wind, while the rugged mountain cliffs and valleys echoed with the chirping of autumn insects. At least, he hoped it was autumn he really couldn't tell because it was his first time seeing so many trees.
'So this is what trees looked like, I heard they were everywhere outside the city a few decades ago.'
Sol wasn't fully sure about the whole story but he heard the forest was infected with creatures from a Gate that opened close by so they needed to destroy it all. Causing the whole terrain to change, which was also one of the reasons it became the new junkyard of the city.
'Whatever, I can't bother with all this too long.'
He slowly got up from the ground, the grass was soft far different from the hard spiky surface of the Outskirt. Perhaps being chosen by the Gate wasn't too bad, after all, it's hard to come by this kind of air in the Outskirts.
'I love the air here.'
Suddenly, a strong wind swept through, blowing it into his face directly causing him to close his eyes while facing the strong wind, tears couldn't help but form in his eyes.
'C'mon world, can't you let me enjoy it a little more before repressing me?'
Once the wind ended, he heard a loud buzzing sound ringing in his ears, he looked at the sky with an amazed look on his face, from the depth of the forest white cloud of countless bugs rose into the sky. Their sudden rise turned the sky into a grey-and-white haze.
'So they created the wind just now? How beautiful.'
After appreciating the beauty of the world first time in his life, he decided to check on himself if what limited knowledge he had for the Gate trial served him right, the Gate usually pulls the spiritual body of the infected to another world and constructs new physical body there which means... yep, he was completely naked.
'First, find something to wear before the night comes, otherwise, I would probably die from the cold or something similar.'
Then he heard a rustle, looking back he saw a bush, probably, it was covered in a bunch of green leaves not even allowing him to see at the branches so it must be a bush right? One that's twice his size and from stories he heard of when the bush rustles it means creatures are hiding inside it.
'Crap.'
Soon the world has proven he is right by the white blur of his size crashing into him, sending him into one of the nearby trees. Followed it was blinding pain and the loud sound of cracking something in his body.
'That hurts... a lot.'
Forcing himself to a hold of himself he looked at his attacker.
It was a behemoth among the bugs, probably normal size here but to Sol, it was a behemoth among the bugs he had seen so far. Its domed shell was smooth and lustrous, polished to a near-metallic sheen that reflected faint glimmers of light. The armored carapace was segmented into elegant plates, layered like a living fortress. Faint ridges formed intricate patterns across its curved back, patterns were strange sigil-like shaped as if written by some long-forgotten language. Despite its massive size, there was a strange, unsettling beauty to its form.
Six thick, jointed legs supported its bulk, each ending in sharp, obsidian-like claws gleaming with eerie luster. Sol swallowed his saliva when the claws effortlessly dung into the earth to support its weight, the moment before it landed he saw a glimpse of its sharp tips bringing fear to his heart. If the creature hit him with it when attacked him just now then he probably would have met his end just now.
His shaky eyes landed on the beast's semi-armored head, two elongated, luminous eyes glowed with a cold ferocity, their color shifting between spectral blue and pale white. Below the eyes, a cluster of sharp mandibles, delicate yet deadly, clicked with mechanical precision.
'Hehe, is it already time to die?'
For some reason after seeing the beautiful rise of the bugs, he felt like he shouldn't die anymore, no, in the first place perhaps he shouldn't have thought about dying. There are many things he wanna see and wanna witness, so dying would be wrong right?
Sol's heart raced, and his body tensed, every survival instinct screaming at him to run.
But where could he go? The attack just now caused him to feel like the organs in his body turned into mush and bones into pieces, his weak thin body that's already suffering from undernutrition and toxic wastes of the Outskirts is probably not able to take another one.
It's already hard enough to keep himself conscious, getting up and running would be probably impossible in his current state without proper rest. Since he can't think of any way that he could escape it only leaves him the option of struggling till the end.
Sol bites his lips making them bleed, the pain awakens his muddy mind once again, and trying to steady his breathing he looks deep into the monster's beautiful eyes. He could see behind those beautiful mesmerising eyes there was a savage killing intent.
"Heh, those beautiful eyes don't seem to suit your ugly face."
Sol wasn't sure what he was thinking when he said those words, perhaps he was hoping the creature would react to his words and make a mistake of sort. Like crashing into the giant tree behind him and crushing it's head, allowing him to escape from their encounter alive.
The monster is armored back slowly splits open, and a loud sound of flapping can be heard from the back of it as its body slowly leaves the ground. The shimmering translucent wings made a beautiful arc as under the sunlight it shone with scattering fragmented rainbows. Despite their fragile appearance, the wings hummed with raw energy, capable of lifting this heavily armored giant bug.
'Me and my mouth.'
His eyes darted to the ground, searching for anything — a branch, a rock, anything he could use as a weapon. He spotted a jagged shard of dark wood partially buried in the soil. But it was out of his reach, but what could he do, beggars can't be the choosers. He forced himself to move and roll on the ground as his scrapped bloody back ached greatly with every moment it made contact with something. The next moment, where he was once lying down the beast's obsidian claws landed sending small tremors through the earth.
Sol couldn't help but tremble, if not for his quick reaction, Sol's chest would have been caved in by that blow instead of the soil under the tree.
Panting heavily, Sol forced himself to crawl forward despite the searing pain coursing through his body. His vision blurred with sweat and tears, but he kept his eyes locked on the shard of wood. Each movement felt like torture, but it's not like he already got used to that kind of thing.
The bug screeched behind him, its wings thrumming violently. He didn't have much time to look back and even without looking back, he could already imagine what it would look like. If there was any saving grace to his current state then that probably was pain generated by his movement constantly refreshed his mind. Sol knew he only had seconds before it struck again.
His pale fingers finally closed around the shard. Splinters bit into his palm, but he didn't care. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to his knees, his entire body shaking from exertion.
The bug spun toward him, its luminous eyes gleaming with fury. Its mandibles clicked rapidly, an ominous precursor to an attack. Reminding him one of his previous jobs was delivering the corpses of cats and dogs to a meat grinder to produce meat paste. The sound the creature makes reminds him of that terrifying meat grinder, and he doesn't wanna know what happens to the corpses that fall into it right now.
Sol raised the shard, his grip unsteady but determined.
"Well, c'mon then, shall we see who will fall first?"
He wasn't sure if it was the pain that was messing up his mind or desperation putting delusions into it but for some reason he no longer felt like he would die here.