NEVER NEVER NEVER

Hounted Forest

I have a moment to catch my breath after slaying the dragon. I dip the sword in the water and let the blood wash off. I look at the dying dragon for the last time and walk off into the forest ahead.

The sun is still high in the distance, but the dense forest is dark, covered by the think leaves. The temperature goes down drastically, and I shiver my body uncontrollably.

I keep walking forward into the dense forest—the only destination toward North West between the two rivers. I want to go to Mount Ararat to join the resistance. This seems to be the only option I have to get free from the Gods and demi-Gods.

There are no roads ahead of me. I cut the bushes with the warrior's sword and move forward diligently. The sun goes down, and the forest becomes pitch dark.

I decide to climb up the tree and sleep while hanging myself on the thick branches. I feel it is much safer on top of the tree than on the ground, as the wild animals must roam around at night to fetch some prey.

 There is not much to eat, so I grab some nuts grown on the tree. I c***k it open and bite a crunchy seed inside. It is better than nothing to eat at all. The nuts temporarily fill my stomach enough for me to go to sleep. I reflect on what has happened today and think of how lucky I am to stay alive.

When I faced the three-headed dragon on the river, I had such a slim chance of survival. But I was fortunate enough to seize a faint opening and turn the obstacle into an opportunity.

In the wild, if I make a slight mistake, death awaits me.

I am absolutely exhausted, close my eyes with no thoughts in mind, and finally fall asleep by hanging my body between the two branches.

Then next morning, I wake up well-rested under the bright sunrise. The strong sun already warms my body. I open my eyes, and a large anaconda's piercing eyes are staring at me. The massive snake can easily swallow me for breakfast. Nothing is boring in the wild. I slowly move my body while my eyes are fixed on the giant snake.

My legs search the branch below where I can descend from the tree safely onto the ground. The first thing I start to look for on the ground is something to fill my stomach. I search for small animals in the dense forest while I keep on heading to the north.

The forest is filled with insects. Especially, the mosquitos keep harassing me all over my body with incessant attacks.  Almost half a day has gone without any luck. Animals cleverly hide beneath the dense bushes.  I change my mind about catching some small animals.

I walk toward the Euphrates and decide to catch some fishes instead. The river is gleaming in sliver, reflecting the sunray. Some fishes jump on the surface from time to time.

I don't possess any hook nor fishing pole. The warrior's sword is all I have. I walk into the river up to my knee and look for some fishes swimming against the stream.

When a large fish caresses my foot, I aim my sword to spear its head. I barely miss it. Another fish swim passes between my feet. My sword moves instinctively and stubs the head of a carp.

This is what I used to do when I was little in my village. My friend and I made spears and went to the stream nearby. We caught many sweetfishes in the summertime.

The best time to spear fishes was from September to November when salmons came back to swim upstream. The carp I caught is bigger than the salmons we used to catch.

I scream with joy, and my stomach growls loud. Finally, there is some decent food to fill my stomach. I drag a large carp to the shore and dissect it into small pieces. 

The taste of fish meat satisfies me enormously. I keep eating to fill my stomach full, failing to keep an eye on my surrounding. The growling sounds fill the air. My heart sinks deep, realizing my careless act. In the wild, there is no time to be absent-minded. A moment of neglect means the next moment; death awaits you.

I slowly turn around toward the growls, and there is a pack of wolves hissing at me. They sniffed out the free and easy meal. They are starving and ready to kill me for a lump of fish meat. There is no way that I can win this fight, so I slowly recede backward, leaving the fish behind. My eyes are fixed on the wolves until disappearing into the forest.

Once the bushes cover my body, I run as fast as possible to get away from the wolves. They will be busy fighting for food for a while, but they are sure to chase after me once they clean the carp.

The sun starts to set, and the forest turns darker. I trip over something and fall to the ground. Maybe I stumble on the stone or the root.

I turn my head and gaze at it. To my surprise, it is a human skull weathered by the rain. It gives me a chill at the back of my spine.

My eyes follow the rusted armor close to the skull. I see another skull and another and another.  Skulls and rusted shields fill the entire field. This must be an ancient battleground. Probably, the Sumers fought against the Gods, and they massacred the humans.

Everything starts to get clearer. After the Gods descended upon Uruk, the Sumers kept on fighting. Because of God's superior fire weapons, the Sumer warriors lost many battles and had to retrieve all the way to Mount Ararat.

This is one of their battlegrounds, and their corpses were left unburied. Wild animals must have savored the human flesh, and only the caucuses were left behind. With time, the warms and insects are infested around them, and only the white bones are left behind. Countless rains made the bones brittle, and many of them turned back to the soil.

The death permeates the entire area. I close my eyes and pray for the countless unsung heroes who lost their lives brutally.

When the night falls, the tormented spirits begin to rise one by one. Some of them are even headless. I see the ghosts advancing toward me.  I walk backward and keep the ancient sword trajecting at them.

Are they after me?

Did I disturb them from their eternal sleep?

Should I run or fight back?

A moment of hesitation made me lose the chance to run away. One headless corpse swings the battle sword high above. I extend my sword to stop it right in front of my head. Then I swing the sword sideways to chop his torso in half. The ghost crumbles down as if it is made out of sandstone. 

Another ghost comes forth with a long spear directly targeting my third eye. It nearly kills me if I didn't duck in time. My blade slaughters the ghost by cutting off both of its arms. The corpse crumbles into ashes.

Endless numbers of dead soldiers continue to attack me, and I realize that there is no end to this fight. My decision to change the strategy is fast, and I decide to flee as fast as possible.

After turning my body away, I run away from advancing dead soldiers. No way, I will look over my shoulder, hoping my feet will carry me to safety. The forest is pitch black, and the light from the full moon contours a faint shape of the trees.

I run and run for life.

I begin to gasp for air.

My feet start to feel like two heavy leads.

The dead soldiers are still after me.

My heart burns with excruciating pain.

I stop for air and breathes it deeply into my lungs.

The danger awaits me if I stay still.

What option do I still have left with?

I ask myself for an answer.

When confusion begins to seep into my mind, someone pulls me from behind and brings me into a narrow opening between two protruding rocks. The rocks close themselves behind us.

I stare at the man who is holding my hand. His long white beard reflects the light from the full moon and his twinkling eyes remind me of my old master who taught me how to combat with a samurai sword.