The crimson glow on the horizon felt like a sign announcing the arrival of night.
All around the forest, the animals had either already retreated into their nests and burrows to wait for the dark, or were in the middle of making their way back before it fully arrived.
The young man was one of those preparing a place for the night.
He stood at the mouth of the cave with the red sun at his back. In one hand, he carried several fruits in different colors. In the other, he held a rough-looking wooden stick. With all of that—and with the fact that he was still completely naked—he looked exactly like a cave man.
Fortunately, his trip through the forest had gone well.
He had correctly guessed the location of the stream he had seen earlier and made his way there, taking care of his thirst. On the way back, he had gathered various fruits he found along the path. He had also found a sturdy stick that suited both his height and his grip.
Even though he had the sword, trying to use it right now was far more likely to injure him than whatever he was fighting. So being able to find this stick had been a good stroke of luck.
While wandering through the forest, he had not come across any animal dangerous enough to threaten him.
He was grateful he had not needed to use the stick.
He stepped into the cave and set the fruits down on the ground. Then, without wasting time, he turned and went back outside.
He still needed to light a fire if he did not want trouble during the night.
He gathered a few dry branches and bits of brush from near the cave. With trees and bushes everywhere, finding fuel was easy.
He piled the brush and twigs just beside the cave entrance. Lighting a fire inside the cave would only cause problems.
Since the entrance was narrow, he could sleep there and still benefit from the warmth without filling the cave with smoke.
The only problem was how to start the fire.
His gaze fell to the hiltless sword resting on the cave floor.
"Hopefully, you're useful for something."
He walked over, bent down, and picked it up. Because of its color, the sword really did look like a piece of coal.
Of course, looking like coal did not mean it would actually behave like coal.
Still, there was no harm in trying.
He found a small stone and sat down beside the pile of brush.
Fixing the sword in the middle of the dry branches, he began scraping it with the stone.
At the very first strike, a huge spark burst from the blade.
The dry brush caught fire almost immediately. In fact, if he had been a little closer, it could have burned his hand as well.
The young man raised an eyebrow.
"That was way too easy."
He pulled the sword out from the middle of the burning brush and looked it over. It did not seem scratched. It did not seem damaged at all.
"Seriously interesting."
He set it down beside him and began nudging the brush with his stick. Once the fire reached the size he wanted, he tossed in a few more twigs and finally leaned back.
"And that should do it..."
----------------
The young man tossed the last fruit he had gathered into his mouth.
As he chewed, everything that had happened to him over the past few days kept circling in his head.
First, he had woken up in a strange place.
Then he had found himself in a second place that was somehow even stranger than the first.
And most unsettling of all, he still remembered nothing.
It was as if his mind had been blocked off.
No matter how hard he tried to remember, he gained nothing but a headache.
He threw the peel of the last fruit onto the ground and looked at the pile of discarded skins.
"I must've been seriously hungry."
Even as he said it, part of him still wondered how much a handful of fruit could really fill a person up.
He slowly got to his feet and picked up his stick. Then, with his other hand, he took hold of another branch he had brought from the forest to use as a light.
He had nothing to wrap around the end of it like a proper torch, but he figured even this was better than nothing.
He held the tip into the fire until it caught, then turned his gaze toward the deeper parts of the cave.
"Looks like it's time."
With that, he started walking farther inside.
"Is anybody there????"
As he shouted, he could not help hoping that, if something really was in this cave, it would at least be something he could talk to.
He planned to sleep here tonight. Getting attacked in the dead of night by some creature while he slept was not exactly an appealing thought.
Step by step, he continued deeper into the cave.
Every so often he had to step down from slight dips in the stone floor, and the cave gradually widened as he went.
After a short walk, he stopped.
The ground under his feet was wet.
He raised the burning stick and lit up the area in front of him.
A wide pool of water spread across the cave floor.
He could not see the bottom. The surface stretched farther ahead into the darkness, broad and still, but he could not make out any stone platform or dry path he could use to continue forward without stepping into it.
"Hmm... I guess this is it."
Unless something crawled out of that water and came charging at him, he figured there could not be much danger here.
He looked carefully around the cave once more, but he saw no other path.
Only the wide pool of water stood before him.
Before turning back, he shouted one more time just to be sure.
"Is anybody there??!!"
...
"Hey!! Heyy!! Is someone there??"
To his surprise, a voice answered him.
It echoed from far away, stretched thin by distance.
"Yeah, there is! I'm here..."
The voice cut off, and a brief silence followed. Then something too faint for the young man to make out properly echoed back.
"...seriously..?"
...
"If you're there, then come here and help me. I'm stuck. Hurry!!"
Something about the distant voice felt off.
It was deep, almost like the voice of an old man, but it did not sound especially peaceful. There were too many commands in the way it spoke. It sounded less like someone asking for help and more like someone scolding him.
"How am I supposed to get there when I don't even know where you are? The path ends here. There's a pool!"
Even if he could not pinpoint exactly where the voice was coming from, he could tell it was somewhere farther ahead.
To keep going, he would have to get wet.
And getting soaked in the middle of the night was the last thing he wanted.
"Keep going through the water. It's not deep. Just walk across. Hurry. I'm in trouble."
The young man hesitated.
The burning stick in his hand was already close to turning to ash. Night had fallen, and helping this man would require him to move through dark water in the middle of it.
He thought for a moment.
Yeah...
This was definitely not a risk he wanted to take.
Would it be better if he just quietly left?
Whoever—or whatever—was over there did not seem to be in any condition to come attack him tonight.