"When everything was finally starting to get better… why now?"
No.
I can't die.
I don't want to.
The boy tried to move, not fully understanding what was happening to him.
His legs wouldn't respond.
The sound around him came muffled, as if he were underwater.
Each breath was shorter, more shallow.
Every attempt to call for help broke into incomplete words, into groans he barely recognized as his own.
Helplessness climbed up his chest like a knot.
"Mary… I'm sorry…"
I can't anymore…
It hurts…
Why now…?
This damn world has never been fair.
A metallic taste filled his mouth.
A thick thread of blood slipped from the corner of his lips and fell onto the rubble, mixing with older stains.
He couldn't turn his neck; he could only watch the pool grow, sinking into dust and broken concrete.
The warmth in his back began to fade.
It wasn't relief.
It was worse.
It was his body shutting down.
The noise of the world became a distant murmur, as if a wall of glass separated him from everything.
He tried to think of something—of someone—but his thoughts slipped away, sliding into nothingness.
Darkness closed in from the edges, like a curtain falling.
And then, simply, everything ended.
…
After a few minutes, the boy felt grass beneath his body.
The pain was gone, like a distant memory. That crushing weight had vanished.
He felt cold.
It doesn't hurt anymore…
Did the rescue team arrive?
His thoughts came slowly, his mind numb. Gathering what little strength he had left, he opened his eyes.
What he saw left him frozen.
He was lying on grass, looking up.
But there was no sky.
Trees rose all around him, so tall he couldn't make out their tops.
"No…"
"Where am I…?" he murmured to himself, trying to sit up.
Then he noticed it.
His body didn't respond the same way.
His balance was… off.
His eyes searched desperately for something familiar.
Anything—even a trace of the rubble from what he once called his neighborhood.
There was nothing.
Only trees.
Bushes.
Grass.
But…
Everything was abnormally large.
"Why are the trees so tall…?" he thought as he tried to turn.
This isn't funny…
Where is my family?
…
Everything I was about to achieve…
My neighborhood, the hospital…
Mary…
He grabbed his head tightly.
"This isn't right…"
He tried to get up again.
But he didn't understand.
Everything felt heavier.
Bigger.
He managed to sit up with difficulty.
He tried to stand.
He lost his balance more than once.
Then he stopped.
"H-how…?" —he looked down— "Am I… naked?"
That's when he understood the cold.
He tried to stand again. He managed, though his balance betrayed him.
He began to move clumsily, forcing himself to adapt to a body that didn't quite feel like his own.
He headed toward a nearby bush, its leaves at least three times bigger than him.
He had barely taken a few steps when he fell face-first onto the ground.
"Ouch!"
He tried to get up, but fell again.
"Shi—" he muttered, stopping himself just in time.
Frustrated, he clenched his teeth.
He took a deep breath.
He managed to push himself up with his hands.
This time, he stood up faster.
He moved more slowly, measuring each step, as if the world itself might knock him down again at any moment.
After a few steps that felt like an eternity, he reached the bush.
He clung to it clumsily. Plucked a few leaves.
Then he noticed.
They were much larger than his hands.
He froze, staring at them as if expecting them to change size.
He closed his hand.
Opened it again.
It wasn't an illusion.
A chill ran down his spine.
"No…" he murmured. "This doesn't make sense."
He let the leaves fall slowly, as if the simple contact had just told him something he wasn't ready to accept.
Since when do bushes have leaves this big…?
He didn't keep thinking.
He looked around again.
Then he noticed.
The forest was too quiet.
It wasn't peace.
It was absence.
Something didn't fit.
His instincts tightened.
That made him nervous.
The logical thing would be to wait for a rescue team…
But this place…
It was strange.
He had never seen trees that size.
He kept moving carefully, watching his surroundings.
Investigating.
Besides… this isn't my body.
The thought didn't fully form.
A sound cut through the air.
It wasn't loud.
It was close.
His body tensed before he could think.
"W-who's there…?" he murmured, unsure.
He turned.
And as he did, the color drained from his face.
In front of him stood a figure.
It was a deer.
Or something like it.
It didn't resemble anything he remembered.
Its size was unnatural.
The antlers weren't elegant or branching—they were thick, twisted, more like those of a wild goat.
Its muscles stood out beneath its skin with an unsettling tension.
Its eyes…
red.
They didn't shine with curiosity.
They shone with something older.
Each breath from its snout was heavy, fouling the air.
It wasn't an animal.
It was a predator.
And it was looking at him.
His skin prickled.
It wasn't a thought.
It was an order.
Run.
His body reacted before his mind.
He bolted between the trees, but the uneven ground betrayed him immediately and he fell face-first.
The impact knocked the air out of him.
He crawled for a second, gasping, but adrenaline forced him back up.
There was no time for pain.
He ran again.
Behind him, the forest broke apart.
He didn't need to look.
He could hear it.
Each step was heavy, deliberate… too close.
Panic filled his chest as he forced that clumsy body to move faster than it could.
"No… this can't be happening…"
The sound changed.
Closer.
Slower.
As if it wasn't in a hurry.
The boy turned sharply to the right, and the forest opened up before him.
A river.
The water was so clear he could see the bottom… or what wasn't the bottom.
Giant shadows moved in the depths.
They weren't fish.
The thought of jumping in died before it could form.
He turned and ran uphill.
His legs burned.
Air no longer came easily.
The creature accelerated.
The boy plunged back into the forest, trying to lose it among the trees.
He pushed through the undergrowth for minutes.
He tried to look back.
In that movement, his foot slipped.
His ankle twisted unnaturally.
The ground gave way beneath him.
It wasn't a fall.
It was a slide.
The earth opened under him and dragged him over the edge of a ravine.
He tumbled downhill among rocks and loose dirt.
The descent was fast and violent.
Too fast.
At the bottom, his body slammed into a rock.
The impact stopped him cold.
He tried to move.
He couldn't.
Above, something stopped.
The forest fell silent again.
He couldn't think.
He tried to get up, but his body didn't respond.
The creature descended slowly.
It approached.
It opened its mouth.
Huge. Deep. Full of teeth.
There was no escape anymore.
He could only watch.
The creature moved in, ready to finish him.
Then it happened.
The ground roared.
A mass of iron burst upward, piercing the creature from below.
Viscera were flung into the air.
Blood fell in thick drops.
The body trembled once.
And went still.
The forest fell silent again.
The boy couldn't look away.
Voices approached.
He didn't understand the language.
Figures emerged between the trees:
A tall man, with silver eyes and reddish hair.
Beside him, a girl with diamond-like eyes and bright red hair.
"H-help…" he murmured.
His eyelids gave in.
Darkness claimed him.