Chapter 3-tunnel vision.

It has been… 2 hours? Of trekking around the forest. I take pride in my accurate sense of time, I used to win most games of ‘guess the exact hour and minute’ after all. But… I am sure that I walked at least 6 kilometers now and I don’t feel tired at all… I don’t know much about camping or other wildness survival stuff, I can deduce some strategies from common logic at least, and if magic fantasy crap doesn’t mess with me there is a high chance of finding water deposits downhill, or at least mud that i can… try somehow filter later, I don’t have any tools… I see one of those suspiciously rotund flower stems and swerve left to avoid it. Also, in my small adventure, I came across many different plants. Fantasy plants, or magical plants? There were a lot of small glowing things, one or two trees shone with a metallic glint, they’re probably rare. I did a double-take on a mushroom that I thought had legs, but it was nothing in the end. The rest, I couldn’t guess what type of plant they were, other than being saturated in some sort of energy. I can only guess it’s mana, but you’ll never be sure, for all I know, there could be a sci-fi base somewhere. Ah, yes, and that thing back there isn’t a plant, I mean. It is, but the plants I know about don’t move and don’t have teeth. When I came across it the first time, it intrigued me. This… weird ball of plant fiber that stood out in the vegetation, I thought it was some kind of root or potato at first. That’s when I stepped on a stick, breaking it. In that instant, the monster blossomed in a terrifying presentation of tongues and teeth and fuckin’ lunged in my direction, taking me by surprise. Thankfully, I managed to react and leaped back before it could violate my life; its range was deceptively small, and I bolted out of there, cursing at it the whole way. So yeah… NOPE. Not going anywhere close to those things. So I continue walking… *thunder…**huff**huff**huff* It has been… *huff* a long time… *huff* Good news, it’s raining, I can barely walk straight from all this water, but it’s raining. The filth that accumulated on me is washed away, and I quench my thirst with the water that runs down my face as I run. Bad news, there’s something following me. I had this shadow at the edge of my vision for a while, and I dared not look straight at it. It doesn’t know I know where it is, but I don't know what it is and what it is planning. The blur of the forest keeps passing me, jumping and dodging earth, rocks, roots, stone, and whatever foliage I have to break through. I keep running. And running… God almighty, doesn’t this forest END?? I think as I duck down another set of massive arching roots– *GRRRRRRR…* And meet IT. I slowly lift my gaze upward,s “Why does everything here have to be bigger than me?...” I say tiredly as I lock gazes with the… pitch-black panther, with some very fancy plumage on the tip of its tail, a crocodile-length maw, and black eyes with a shining white pupil. It stares down at me, growling. Maybe this is their territory? I can’t outrun it. “...nice kitty?” I placatively try to say, half-raising both my hands and slowly backing away. My back touches the roots I just ducked under. Unfortunately, raising my hands did the opposite of what I wanted to do. *ROOARRHSSSS* It lunges at me.. “AAH!” Can’t dodge. Kick it. Without thinking, I hit its snout on reflex. *whimper* It recoils back. It felt like I hit it with the force of a sledgehammer. Er “...what?”... Confounded, for the first time since I arrived, I looked at my leg– wait, since when was it so thin? The monster that was circling me while I was distracted lunges at me again. I jump over its head– My foot catches the tip of its skull and I trip behind it. I fall sideways, sliding some distance on the wet ground, and quickly get up to see it swiping its claws at me. I jump back and parry it, simultaneously clawing it with the same hand. I feel the blood stuck under my nails. Maybe can win this– The Alligator-Cat Chomps down on my whole torso. “G–HAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!” PAIN. On a level I never thought possible. PAIN. I incoherently bash, punch, and claw its face as I get bodied around and scream. I can’t feel my stomach anymore. Left, right, up, down. I get shaken around violently. I grab something– It flings me away with force. I hit the ground, bounce back, and roll over it from the momentum. *cough* *cough*– I taste iron, copper, and sweetness as I spit a glob of blood. “hnnngh…” I try to stand up but end up clutching my stomach in pain. *whimpering…**rustle…* “aaaarrghmmmm~” After a while of whining and crying incomprehensibly, the pain becomes a little bit less numb. It is still raining. Then I realized that the monster had left. *squelch* “What?...” I look down at my… dainty. Dirty. Hands… There’s a damaged black, slimy ball with a bundle of tendons on one side. An eye. More specifically, the monster’s eye. It looks like I managed to tear it off in the scuffle. “Hnngh.” I drag myself to a nearby tree and prop myself against it. I take the eye with me. “Haaaa…” *sigh* I look to the darkened skies, and wonder, empty thoughts filled with conflicted emotions. “Yay… I survived…”. I gaze back at the disembodied eye; It gazes back at me. “But at what cost?...” In the inky black iris, and deep into the pupil on what I think is something that gives that monster night vision, I see my reflection. It… isn’t my reflection. My eyes slowly study the image from top to bottom... Long black hair with dark green tint, a misplaced appendage hanging from the left side of my head… 'an ahoge?' I try pulling it and smoothing my hair down, but it bounces back up with a point. Two sharp ebony horns laced with white streaks, long, downcast pointed ears, an unblemished face with round cheeks... that are smeared with mud and blood. Thin, small cracked lips, round nose, and Large, beige eyes... the pupil almost a vertical slit, but closer to a losangle. I briefly feel my tongue on something sharp, and open my mouth to showcase a pair of fangs. Slowly, it hits me. That this whole time felt like a lucid dream, hyper aware of my surroundings and my thoughts, but I ignored everything else. I didn’t notice my own body, my height difference, my different voice, how I could run and walk hours on end tirelessly… I drop the eye and inspect my body, I instantly notice the grand difference. That I am not me. Where my dick at?– My mind tells me to stop looking at it, to not describe anything, otherwise my thoughts drown in a rabbit hole of despair, but my eyes still betray me, I don’t know what to do with the conclusion that I’m not male anymore. I bottle up those feelings and shelf the thoughts for later. I stopped looking there to avoid thinking about it. Then I see the damage sustained to my abdomen. It’s ripped in some parts, rain water is entering my wounds, and it has large indentations and holes from the fangs of that creature. The parts that aren’t numb to pain still hurt unbearably, moving and breathing are very hard, but… The pain is slowly fading away, I see my wounds visibly healing, clotting blood slowly closing the holes… faint green lines pulsating around the wound. …Touch it?– “OUCH”. Bad idea. *yawn* “Godammit…” …I start feeling hungry again as I fall asleep.