Rise Of Pandora

Rise Of Pandora: XIV. The Dark Of The Forest

"You give a man a convincing enough crown; he will think he is royalty."

-Atlas

V. Foreigner

Gaijin stood still in befuddlement. Wholeheartedly unnerved, he was running fiercely ever since he fell from the tree. Thoughts of those raging beasts still lingered on his mind as well as the owl from earlier. He wanted to escape this forest more than before but he found himself wandering aimlessly in this labyrinth of a forest. His hairs stood panicked on his body, and his heart crushed his rib cage at a pace to which he could not bear. The air around him was sweltering hot and flames burned rampantly. It unnerved him how strange this land was but he, with the constant encouragement from Prometheus, did not give in. He held the hopeful idea that the rest of the world was not as perilous as this forest but seeing how a day had not even passed since he woke up and he was already confronted ghastly beings to which he held little comprehension of, he was not so sure. It was as if every passing minute presented a new novel for him, preparing and assessing him for a different mystery to come in this strange and distant future.

He was far more cautious than he had been earlier. He gauged everything warily but he was relieved to at least be rid of those flaming beasts. He continued to walk nearby trees, careful not to leave himself exposed to any prying eyes. He felt tense, an uneasy paranoia swirling in his belly.

He was a black speck lost in a white abyss, unsure of where to go and far more unsure of where it was he intended to go. His knowledge of this world had long evaporated as did his presence in it. Prometheus, as wise as he showed, could not give proper aid to Gaijin like a commander who knew no commands to give to his soldier.

With each passing minute, he grew more anxious and more nervous. The trees stretched their many arm-like branches. He wanted to remain calm and fight through but things were beginning to feel too chaotic to bear on his own.

In the thickness of the pouring rain and behind the many veils of raging fires, there was no way to dictate where to go. Most things appeared to Gaijin as shady outlines in the dark of the forest, murky, gloomy little things which at times moved either by the ever-strengthening weather or of their own accord. The more he stumbled and ventured, the more obscure the forest seemed. Sunlight would at times become visible though scarce, the wandering echoes would at times give in to silence for what felt to Gaijin as a lifetime. At times there were faint shuffling sounds coming from the scattering forest creatures.

In the midst of the unknown, Gaijin was given no other recourse but to wander aimlessly until he could escape this massive maze of a forest that craved to confine him.