Natsuki was now moving in the forest, his suit was now dirty and crumpled up.
And looked incredibly small on him now.
The voice in his mind was still pestering him constantly and it was driving to the brink of insanity.
"Leave me alone! I just wanna go home!"
He shouted.
But the voice just persisted with its original dialogue calling him over.
"Fine! Fine! I'm coming! Just shut up!"
His words seemed to ease the voice as it finally disappeared.
Now following the scent that accompanied the voice he moved forward.
Using his ears and ability he named danger sense to avoid and move through the forest without being seen.
Eventually he was chased by a pack of lycans but he jumped in a green bog to cover his scent.
Finding a reservoir he washed off the muck but it didn't help the smell in the slightest.
"Of course this happens to me, I get a glow up but life decides to throw me into a giant forest with issues."
He moved on complaining.
Eventually fatigue hit and he sat down resting his back on a tree looking up at the dense canopy that prevented him from knowing whether it was day or night.
Not too far sat an edge, when he looked further he realised that Infront of him was a giant hole.
Just another weird feature of this horrific place.
But another strange thing was how time didn't seem to move.
The whole time he'd been in the forest it looked as if it was dusk.
Listening to see if anything was around he closed his eyes.
Once he fell asleep, he was in a dark place again but then it began to change and as he looked below him he was home.
His parents looked worried and were pacing around the room.
His brother's eyes were red, swollen and puffy.
He couldn't hear anything they were saying but it looked as if they were really depressed.
Then on the calendar he saw the day his birthday was marked and then following the x marks he saw the current date.
He'd been here for two days.
Then the scene began to shift again.
He was no seeing into an unknown city, in a guild.
At the reception a receptionist was talking frantically with a girl.
Looking closely he realised it was Aeola.
She was holding a peice of parchment with his picture drawn on it.
When the receptionist shook her head she looked to the ground depressed and walked out.
'She's looking for me.'
"Aeola! Aeola! I'm over here!"
But she couldn't hear him just as much as he couldn't hear her.
Then everything vanished.
But his last glimpse was the name of the guild on the sign– Frost Guild, Cryoplain city.
Then he was woken up by a huge jolt in his gut.
Rolling away quickly he turned to see that he was surrounded by slimes.
And not small regular slimes these were medium sized reaching his waist.
One rushed in a jumped at him.
He put out his hand reaching into it's body and pulling out the round, prismarine coloured core it dissolved to goo on the ground.
But his suit jacket and shirt's sleeves were gone completely and his arm was a bright pink.
'That's not a good idea then.'
Then the others jumped in multiple at once, but reacting quickly he jumped out of the way.
Standing up he slipped on a ledge and fell backwards, the pulling in his gut now moving around his whole body.
'I know I'm fucked, you don't need to point it out!'
Then he fell.
The slimes appeared at the edge looking downwards to see if they could catch a glimpse of him falling.
They saw nothing.
Assuming he was dead they left.
When actually he was holding onto a root that had escaped the side of the ledge.
He held on even though his hand was now dislocated.
He held on for dear life.
'That hurts really bad!'
He thought to himself, then using his other hand he began to pull himself up.
Slow but surely he pulled himself up.
Digging his feet slowly into the hard edge of the cliff once he was high enough to grab the top.
'I can't use this arm to do anything now, but maybe if I dig my feet in deep enough I can make a short window for me to grab it with my okay arm."
The minutes flew by in seconds but eventually he made enough foot holds about five total to use.
Making sure his feet were at the end he let go of the root.
His body moved back in response but he reacted quicker grabbing the top of the edge.
Slowly he used the holes he had made to climb up.
Finally he swung his leg over the top and rolled to safety.
Exhausted he pumped his okay arm into the air, in a quick soundless celebration.
'I did it, I should be traumatised right now but I'm not, I feel excited.'
He layed there for five minutes before sitting up.
'I need to start thinking like someone who wants to survive, so I need to lose some weight.'
He forcefully took off his suit jacket, tie and shirt.
He remained in a vest, then he took off the ruined shoes, the soles were already about to finish either way.
He finally finished by removing the socks.
Then he tore pieces of fabric off the clothes before throwing the rest away.
With a nearby stick he made a makeshift cast they'd be taught back in school when he was a kid.
It held but not very good.
With a little more pieces he wrapped cloth around his feet and on his arm, starting from the wrist to just below the elbow.
He stood looking around.
The core he grabbed must have fallen off with him but the goo remained there.
'This is probably the most disgusting thing I'll ever do.'
He got the goo and rubbed all over his body and face, coating his scent to make it unrecognisable.
Finally he continued walking, the smell of what he was looking for was getting closer.
'Maybe this voice, whatever it actually is might help me.'
He heaved a sigh.
'Or it could also try and kill me."
His movements were slow and sluggish now but he pressed on.
Stopping every once in a while to try and catch his breathe but not sleep he wasn't taking the risk again.
After what felt like days he reached an old cave, vegetation had grown over the entrance and all around it stood moss but the smell was strong here.
'This is it, I can smell it. But I still don't understand why I can smell it.'
Heading inside the voice returned in his head.
It was small, soothing voice that would have been nice to listen to in different circumstances.
"Your finally here," it said and slowly Natsuki began to feel a presence forming, "do you know who I am?"
"Not a clue," Natsuki said honestly, "am I supposed to?"
"No I suppose not, I am the great dragon Bell. I was a commander in the army of the Dragon god a long time ago."
"I'm sorry but I've never learnt about you in any of my history lessons as a child."
"I'm not surprised, certain factors you'll learn later on are what have made that come as so."
"Why am I here, why did you call me."
"Because I'm fulfilling a favour I owed someone a long time ago. Come forward you see who I am."
Moving forward he didn't see anything, but he began to hear a loud heartbeat.
Eventually he reached a large space but not too large inside sat a dragon.
But it was dead, it's flesh long decayed and now it's bones began to follow suit.
But to Natsuki's horror the heart was still beating loud and clear.
He froze and so did the blood in his veins, suddenly he became pale as ghost and he was shaking like crazy.
'I'm being fucked with right? There's no way."
"Are you surprised?"
"A little yeah, how is your heart still beating."
"I was cursed with an immortal heart, my spirit is stuck in it until someone strong enough is able to destroy it."
"And you think I'm strong enough?"
"But of course."
"And how would I do that?"
"It's simple really, just eat it."
Confusion clouded Natsuki's mind at the sudden reveal of what the dragon wanted.
It thought he'd actually agree to eating it's heart.
But what was worse was that he was actually considering it.
He hadn't eaten in a long time.
And for some weird reason the thing smelled better than any food he'd smelt in his entire life.
The idea bounced through his mind and then the dragon said something that made Natsuki look up.
All doubt began to leave his mind and he stepped forward ready to do what was necessary.