Chapter - 4

 The New Reality 

The forest had a different face when the night began to retreat.

Under the fading darkness, the enormous trees stood like ancient pillars, their twisted branches stretching across the sky and intertwining so tightly that only thin fragments of morning light could pass through them. Mist clung to the ground in pale ribbons, drifting between the roots and disappearing into the deeper parts of the woodland. The air carried the damp scent of moss, wet soil, and unfamiliar flowers that bloomed beneath the shadow of trees that seemed far older than anything Evan had ever known.
There was no familiar sound of a city waking up.
No distant engines nor footsteps on concrete neither voices calling to one another through open windows.
Only the forest.
A faint breeze moved through the canopy, causing thousands of leaves to whisper against one another. Somewhere beyond the visible trees, a strange bird released a long, mournful cry before falling silent. Small creatures rustled through the undergrowth, their movements hidden beneath thick layers of leaves and tangled roots.
Yet despite the arrival of morning, the forest did not feel peaceful.
It felt watchful.
As though the darkness had not truly disappeared, but had merely withdrawn into the deeper shadows and was waiting for night to return.
Far above the canopy, the strange sky was beginning to brighten. The three moons that had ruled the night were slowly fading from view. The largest one, crimson and enormous, still lingered faintly beyond the clouds, staining the distant horizon with a dying red glow. The smaller pale moon had almost vanished, while the third remained little more than a dim speck in the vast sky.
The forest stretched endlessly beneath them.
There were trees with trunks wider than houses, their bark marked by strange natural patterns that resembled scars. Some plants carried faintly luminous veins beneath their leaves. Others had flowers shaped unlike anything that should have existed in nature, their petals closed tightly as though they were sleeping.
And somewhere within that vast wilderness, beneath the roots of one particularly ancient tree, a young man was still asleep.
He had chosen that place because there had been nowhere else to hide.
The enormous roots had formed a hollow space close to the ground, shielding him from the open forest. It was cramped, uncomfortable, and covered with damp soil, but after what he had witnessed during the night, Evan had considered it a palace.
His body was curled slightly against the thick root.
His clothes were torn, dirty, and stained with dried blood. What had once perhaps been decent clothing now looked like the remains of something dragged through the wilderness. Strands of tangled black hair rested across his forehead, partially covering his pale face.
The boy looked terribly thin.
Not merely slim.
Thin enough that his clothes hung loosely from his frame, making his already fragile body appear even smaller. His wrists were narrow, his shoulders lacked any real strength, and his pale skin carried the sickly appearance of someone who had spent far too long close to death.
For several moments, nothing disturbed him.
Then his fingers moved.
His eyelids twitched.
Evan opened his eyes.
He didn't move immediately.
For a brief moment, his mind remained trapped somewhere between sleep and reality. He could feel the rough texture of the tree root against his back, the cold earth beneath him, and the damp morning air against his skin.
His breathing was quiet.
His eyes remained half-open as he stared at the darkness between the roots.
Then a memory returned.
A twelve-foot creature.
A body covered in eyes.
That horrible mouth.
The roar.
Evan's expression changed.
His consciousness came fully back.
He was no longer in a dream.
He was still in the forest.
And he was still alive.
The first thing he did was look around and try to understand where he actually was. He examined every part of his surroundings from the safety of the tree, taking in the enormous trunks, the tangled roots, the strange plants, and the unfamiliar wilderness stretching in every direction. There was no denying it anymore. He was in a place he had never seen before. This was a new world, and somewhere within that new world, he appeared to be standing inside a dangerous forest. A forest so alien and immense that even imagining such a place would have sounded ridiculous in his old life. Once he was reasonably certain that nothing was waiting nearby, or at least that the creature from the previous night was no longer there, Evan finally stepped away from his hiding place. He let out a long sigh and looked around at the wilderness surrounding him. Now that he wasn't desperately trying to stay alive from one second to the next, a more important question finally entered his mind. What was he supposed to do now? His eyes wandered across the unfamiliar landscape while he tried to think. He had no idea where he was, where he was supposed to go, or whether there was even a safe place somewhere beyond this forest. Then his gaze fell upon something lying on the ground. The graynemouse fruit. The same gray-colored fruit he had half-eaten and thrown away the previous night. Evan walked closer and looked at it for a moment. “I know you're poison,” he muttered, staring at the fruit. “And I'm sure there are plenty more of you waiting somewhere in this nightmare forest. But... thanks, buddy.” He paused and frowned. “Wait. You're not my buddy.” He shook his head. “And I'm definitely not becoming friends with a poisonous fruit.” His expression softened slightly as he glanced at it again. “But still... thanks. You saved my life.” Evan couldn't help thinking about how absurd that sentence sounded. How did things even reach this point? A poisonous fruit had saved his life. If someone from his old world had told him that a poisonous plant could somehow counteract another poison inside his body, he would probably have laughed in their face. But this world didn't seem particularly interested in following the rules he understood. Evan turned away from the fruit and began thinking about his situation. He knew absolutely nothing about this world. He didn't know where the nearest settlement was. He didn't know whether there were humans nearby. He didn't know what kind of creatures lived in these woods, what plants were edible, or which ones could kill him. He didn't even know whether walking in any particular direction would lead him toward civilization or deeper into the wilderness. And even if he somehow found somewhere to go, there was another problem. Would he survive long enough to reach it? He didn't know. What he did know was that staying here forever wasn't an option either. The forest was far too dangerous. The creature from last night had already proven that. Evan looked around again, searching for anything that might give him even the smallest clue about where he should go. That was when he noticed something on the ground. Footprints. The marks left by the monster from the previous night were still visible in the soft earth. They were enormous compared to his own. Each one had pressed deeply into the soil, leaving a clear trail through the forest. Evan's gaze followed the trail for a moment. Then he noticed something else. On the opposite side of those enormous footprints were much smaller ones. His own footprints. Evan stared at them. He remembered running through the forest the previous day, desperately searching for something that might save him from the poison. Those tiny footprints were the path he had taken before collapsing near the graynemouse plant. He had come from somewhere. And now, for the first time, he had something resembling a direction. Evan crouched down and studied the marks carefully. “I don't know where I'm supposed to go,” he murmured. “But this might be the only path I actually know.” His eyes followed his own footprints disappearing between the trees. “Maybe they'll take me somewhere familiar.” He paused before correcting himself. “Or at least somewhere I've already been.” It wasn't much of a plan. In fact, calling it a plan was probably generous. But Evan had nothing better. So he started walking. He followed his own footprints through the forest, keeping his movements cautious and his attention fixed on everything around him. Every unfamiliar sound made him tense. Whenever a rustle came from the bushes or a branch snapped somewhere nearby, Evan immediately stopped and searched for a place to hide. It didn't matter whether the sound belonged to a terrifying predator or a tiny animal. He knew nothing about this world, and that ignorance made everything dangerous. For all he knew, the smallest creature here could be more lethal than the twelve-foot monster he had encountered the previous night. Once, something moved through the undergrowth nearby. Evan instantly ducked behind a tree and waited in silence. After several moments, a tiny creature emerged from the vegetation and disappeared again. Evan watched it leave before cautiously continuing. A little later, he heard another unfamiliar sound and repeated the same process. Hide. Wait. Listen. Continue. He wasn't being brave. He wasn't trying to prove anything. He simply wanted to survive. That was all. He continued along the trail, never allowing himself to become too comfortable. Fortunately, he didn't have to walk for very long. Eventually, the familiar shape of the old house appeared between the trees. Evan stopped. For the first time since waking in this strange world, a small sense of relief spread through him. It was a broken-down house. The walls were worn, the roof was damaged, and the entire structure looked as though it had been abandoned for years. Yet to Evan, it looked strangely comforting. Perhaps the reason was simple. In the world he had come from, he had spent years without a proper place to call home. He had often slept beneath open skies, with nothing above him except darkness and whatever weather the night decided to bring. Sometimes he had wondered what it would feel like to have a roof over his head again. Now, in this unfamiliar world, this pathetic little house was the closest thing he had to shelter. Maybe that was why it gave him such a strange feeling of peace. He didn't know whether there was another place waiting for him somewhere in this world. He didn't know whether he had any other home at all. But for the moment, in his current situation, this broken house was enough. Evan began walking toward it. Then he heard something. Voices. Faint ones. Human voices, perhaps. They seemed to be coming from somewhere far away. Evan immediately stopped. He turned his head toward the sound and listened carefully. The voices were difficult to make out, but they were definitely there. People. Or at least something that sounded like people. Evan changed direction and moved toward the opposite side of the house, the side facing away from the deeper part of the forest. He climbed toward a slightly higher patch of ground and finally understood why he could hear those distant voices. His house wasn't sitting in a completely isolated part of the wilderness. It was positioned on elevated ground. From there, the forest opened up enough for Evan to see far beyond the trees. And what he saw made him stop in his tracks. In the distance was what looked like an entire civilization. Buildings stretched across the landscape. There were houses, larger structures, and what appeared to be a settlement or perhaps even a city. Evan couldn't tell how large it really was from this distance. The buildings had an old-fashioned appearance, almost like something taken directly from the history books of his previous world. They weren't modern houses made of concrete and steel. Their shapes, roofs, walls, and overall appearance reminded Evan of ancient civilizations he had once read about in books. For a moment, he simply stood there and stared. There were people living out there. A civilization existed in this world. That meant he wasn't trapped in an endless wilderness after all. But the settlement was still far away. Between Evan and that distant civilization lay another stretch of forest. From where he stood, the land appeared to slope downward, leading into a section that looked slightly less frightening than the enormous forest surrounding his house. Slightly. Evan almost laughed at the thought. “Less frightening,” he muttered. “That's a pretty low standard.” He continued studying the distant settlement. He could go there. Maybe someone would help him. Maybe he could find food. Maybe he could learn where he was and what had happened to the original owner of this body. But then another thought entered his mind. Should he really go? Evan stood there for a while, thinking. Finally, he shook his head. “Forget it. First, I need to understand who I am, where I am, and what exactly happened to me.” With that decision made, he turned around and returned to the broken house. The inside was even more depressing than the outside. It wasn't large. In fact, it was little more than a single-room house. There were a few cooking utensils scattered around, some shelves covered in dust, several books that looked as though nobody had opened them in a very long time, and a couple of sheets that could probably be used as bedding. That was almost everything. There was no proper furniture. No food. No signs of anyone living there recently. The entire place felt abandoned. Evan looked around the room and began to wonder whether the original owner of this body even existed anymore. Perhaps the boy had disappeared long ago. Perhaps something had happened to him. Maybe he had been alone here for years. Evan had no answers. Dust covered almost everything, as though the house itself had been forgotten by the world. He raised his head and looked toward the ceiling. A damaged section of the roof allowed daylight to enter the room. Sunlight poured through the broken opening and illuminated tiny particles of dust floating in the air. Evan walked toward the center of the room and sat down on the floor. There was one thing he needed to understand before anything else. That mysterious voice. The System. Whatever it actually was. Evan had to figure it out. He remembered how the strange transparent window had appeared in front of him the previous day. But he had no idea how he had summoned it. Was it supposed to appear whenever he wanted? Did he have to say something? Think about something? Touch something? Evan had no experience with games. His childhood had never been filled with video games or fantasy adventures. He hadn't grown up surrounded by magical stories and glowing status windows. And the rest of his life had been its own kind of game anyway, one where the rules were simple: survive today, and worry about tomorrow when it arrived. So he had absolutely no idea what he was supposed to do. “Was I supposed to imagine some kind of glowing screen?” he wondered. “A transparent screen floating in front of me?” Evan closed his eyes and tried to remember exactly what he had seen the previous day. He remembered the System window. The strange writing. The way it had simply appeared in front of him. He focused on that memory. He imagined the transparent screen exactly as he had seen it before. And then, without warning, it appeared. Evan's eyes opened. The mysterious window was floating directly in front of him. He reached out and tried to touch it, almost as if he were attempting to grab an object hanging in the air. His fingers passed straight through it. There was no resistance. No solid surface. Nothing. It was simply there, like an illusion made of light. Evan pulled his hand back and stared at the screen. “What kind of bullshit is this?” he muttered. Still, he began reading everything displayed in front of him. The information was almost exactly the same as before. His name was still listed as Unknown. His Class was still Slave. His Soul Rank remained F. His Skill was still None. His Title was still Unknown. There was only one noticeable difference. His Life Force was no longer dangerously low. It now showed Ten out of Ten. Evan stared at the number. “So I'm completely healed.” He leaned back slightly. “Good.” He didn't know what he was supposed to do next. He had no idea how this System worked, what other abilities it possessed, or whether there was any way to learn more about his new world through it. He was still trying to think of his next move when his stomach suddenly growled. Loudly. Evan looked down. “Oh.” He placed a hand over his stomach. “I'm hungry.” The realization was almost embarrassing. After everything that had happened, he had completely forgotten about food. But now that his body was healed, hunger had returned with considerable enthusiasm. The problem was simple. What was he going to eat? Evan stood up and began searching through the house. He checked every corner. He searched the shelves. He looked through every container and utensil he could find. Nothing. Not even a piece of stale food. All he found was dust. Evan stood in the middle of the room, staring at the empty utensils in his hands. “Seriously?” He put them down. “Not even a piece of bread?” His eyes moved toward the dusty shelves again. The longer he looked around, the more suspicious the house became. Every object was covered in dust. It was as though nobody had touched anything for an extremely long time. That made Evan wonder about the boy whose body he now occupied. Was he actually alive somewhere? Had he lived here? Had he abandoned this place? Or had something happened to him? Evan had no way of knowing. He walked toward the shelf and examined the books. There were four of them. He picked them up one by one. Two of the books were completely empty. Their pages were nothing but pale, blank paper covered in dust. The other two contained writing, but Evan couldn't understand a single word. The language was completely unfamiliar to him. He stared at the strange symbols for a while, hoping that somehow his mind would recognize them. It didn't. Eventually, he placed the books back where he had found them. “Great,” he muttered. “A new world, no food, no information, and I can't even read the local language.” Evan walked back outside. The sunlight felt brighter now. He stood in front of the broken house and looked around. “Damn it. What am I supposed to do?” He was hungry. He knew almost nothing about this place. He had no idea what was safe to eat, what creatures lived in the forest, or whether he could trust anyone he encountered. After a moment, Evan turned and walked toward the back of the house again, returning to the higher ground where he had seen the distant settlement. He stood there for a while, looking at it from afar. The houses were still visible beyond the forest. The possibility of reaching that civilization remained in his mind. Maybe that was where he needed to go. Maybe he could find food there. Maybe someone could tell him where he was. This time, Evan made a decision. He would go. But he wasn't going to walk into an unknown forest empty-handed. He returned to the house and immediately picked up the two sheets. He tied one securely around his waist, making sure it wouldn't come loose while walking. The second sheet was placed on the floor. Evan put the two books inside it, along with a few of the utensils he had found in the house. He wrapped everything together and tied the corners tightly, creating a crude bundle that he could carry with him. It wasn't much. In fact, it looked ridiculous. But Evan had learned one thing during his first night in this world. Having nothing was dangerous. He stepped outside again and began searching around the house for something else. He wasn't sure what he wanted to find, but he knew he needed something that could help protect him. After searching for a while, his eyes finally landed on what he had been looking for. Evan smiled faintly. “Oh. So there you are.” Lying nearby was a long, thick object that looked like a piece of wood, sturdy enough to hold in one hand. It wasn't exactly a proper weapon, but it was better than walking through a monster-filled forest with nothing. Evan picked it up and examined it. Then he noticed a sharp stone lying nearby. The stone had a pointed edge, sharp enough to potentially cut or pierce something. It wasn't a sword. It wasn't even close. But Evan wasn't exactly in a position to complain about weapon quality. He picked up the stone and brought it closer. Using the sheet tied around his waist, he tore off a long strip of fabric. He used the strip to attach the sharp stone firmly to the end of the long piece of wood, wrapping the fabric around it again and again until the two pieces were tightly secured together. He tested it with his hands. It was crude. It was ugly. It looked like something a desperate man might create after being thrown into the wilderness with absolutely no preparation. Which, Evan thought, was perfectly appropriate for him. He held the makeshift weapon and looked toward the distant civilization. This would be his protection until he reached the settlement. Or, at least, that was what Evan hoped.