Kane was no stranger to pain. He'd been born into a world where survival came at the cost of every ounce of dignity you had left.
Growing up in the slums was like a constant countdown to death, and Kane's parents had succumbed to it when he was just seven.
His brother, only three years old, and his sister, barely four, had been left to fend for themselves, until Kane made the painful decision to send them to the orphanage.
They were too young to survive alone, and Kane couldn't stand to see them starve.
The orphanage was a place of hope for some, but for Kane, it was a cage. A debt that his parents had incurred with thugs had marked him as a burden.
Kane had always known that he was different from the other kids in the orphanage. He wasn't gentle or kind like some of the others he didn't care for forgiveness or redemption Kane was selfish, and he didn't hesitate to make sure no one undermined him.
Fear was a tool he used well, His siblings, however, were fortunate they were adopted by a well-off family from outside the slums kane made sure of that when he brokered a deal with the head of the orphanage.
He would leave, no questions asked, if they ensured his siblings would be cared for. His heart twisted with every step he took away from them, but it was the only choice he had left.
Kane never liked to admit it, but he missed them every year, he wondered what kind of lives they had now.
By the time he was sixteen, Kane had long since learned how to survive on his own.
He had gotten by, scraping together what he could, always careful to avoid the thugs, the gangs, and anyone who looked like they might threaten his fragile freedom that was when the Harrowing began.
It started with the dreams. Terrifying, dark, twisted visions that seemed realer than anything in his waking life he couldn't escape them, no matter how hard he tried.
The faces of strange beasts haunted his nightmares he woke up in cold sweats, gasping for breath, his heart racing in his chest as though the nightmares had been real. But there was no one he could talk to about it not in the slums.
The only place he could go was the hospital—something about it seemed like it could offer the answers, even if he didn't believe in miracles.
The day Kane walked into the hospital, the air was heavy with the usual sense of despair.
The walls were worn, cracks lined the floor, and the smell of antiseptic was a constant, familiar scent.
He knew the drill he'd been here before for minor injuries, though they were usually self-inflicted from street fights or scrapes from his reckless survival tactics.
This time was different this time, he had something new to tell them.
Kane sat down in the sterile, dimly lit examination room, fidgeting with his sleeve. A nurse came in first, going through the motions of checking his vitals, before giving him a worried look.
"We'll get someone to talk to you," she said, before quickly stepping out of the room.
Minutes passed, each one dragging on longer than the last he could feel the weight of it. The uncertainty, then the door opened.
An old woman walked in, her presence somehow imposing despite her frail body she had the look of someone who had seen it all and wasn't afraid to show it she looked him over, her gaze sharp as though peeling away the layers of his soul.
"You are experiencing the Harrowing,"
she said, matter-of-factly, as though it were the most natural thing in the world
Kane didn't know what to say.
He had felt the symptoms—something was wrong, something dark and dangerous that gripped him when he slept but he never thought it would be this.
He had heard stories, whispers in the alleyways there was a strange fear around the topic the harrowing wasn't something you casually spoke about in the slums.
The woman motioned for him to lie back, strapping him down onto the table as though it was routine.
"Don't worry. We're here to help,"
she said, though the words did little to soothe him.
Her cold fingers placed a device on his forehead, and she began explaining, her voice clinical.
"The Harrowing comes when you are chosen. Some of us are called, and others... well, they're called unwillingly. It's not just a nightmare. It's a trial. You may wake up somewhere else. Not in your body, not even in a place you recognize. You may be a child, a beast, an old man. But one thing is certain—if you survive, you will come back as what we call 'an Awakened.'"
Kane tried to process her words, but the fear began to tighten his chest again
the room felt colder his mind was unraveling as the familiar haze of dread began to creep in.
He clenched his fists, trying to stay focused he'd survived too much to die now, especially not like this.
"There's no guarantee you'll survive, but at least don't die just yet. The authorities will be here soon enough, and we'll monitor your progress. But I'm afraid we can't stop what's about to happen."
Kane's vision blurred as she spoke, the air thick with the scent of sterile equipment, and he felt his body relax involuntarily his head fell back onto the cold metal table, and everything went dark.
Kane woke with a sharp inhale, gasping for air, only to find himself somewhere else.
The world around him was different. He could feel the weight of the air, heavy with moisture the wind whispered through the trees, their jagged, ancient branches stretching like fingers reaching for the sky.
The Forest of Dread he had not been there before but he knew what it was called.
He had no idea how he got here, but he could sense something terrible, something primal, watching him from the vast green around him.
Kane looked down at his hands they were toned darker tattooed in curling ink patterns that pulsed faintly against his skin.
His muscles ached, not with fatigue, but familiar use he wore animal-hide wrappings over his chest and legs.
In his right hand, he held a simple bow. His left fingers closed around an arrow, the shaft smooth and slightly warm, as if freshly carved.
There was no warning, no preparation. It was as if his entire reality had shattered, and now he was standing in the middle of a nightmare.
And yet, Kane couldn't help but feel a strange rush, wether good or bad he would soon find out.
Around him stood five other boys, all marked with similar ink in different places.
Their eyes were alert, scanning the tree line none of them spoke no one acknowledged him.
The knowledge bloomed in his mind like a scar unfolding If he died here—he would not wake up.
They moved silently through the Ashwood they were hunting.
Something nimble, Four-legged, and Scarce.Kane felt hunger clawing at his stomach—but the body knew how to move.
His feet placed themselves lightly between roots. His breath stayed low.
The bow in his hand felt natural, like something he'd carved a hundred times.
But the forest… it was watching
they found tracks the creature was close.
The others spread out, slow and cautious.
That's when the silence snapped
a branch cracked, something massive moved between the trees leave exploded into the air as a shape tore into view—abear—but wrong.
It was warped twisted by the land itself
It's fur was blackened, patchy, with streaks of molten orange glowing beneath cracked flesh.
Its front paws were misshapen, more like fists, covered in jagged bone plates It's mouth was too wide, its teeth uneven, layered, like rows of obsidian knives
It roared.
The other around him where shocked and then he leader of their first expedition put his hand in the air as if saying halt.
kane stood frozen everyone around him did to.
Then the leader pointed up as in saying go to the trees, lucky the trees in the forest where so wide and long that all of them where able to sit on the ame branch with enough space not to be squished.
Someone further down in the row aimed their bow at the beast and then received a smack to the head.
"Fool that's not our target don't you think it's risky to shoot it with the bone plates covering it?"
The leader said, he wore a headband with a red feather sticking out of it hsymbolizing that he was the leader he had black hair in a ponytail.
Searching through the memory he figured out that we all came from different tribes and where hunting together to establish better relations between the clans.
Putting down the blow angry he said in a low enough tone.
"There are more than us than it, you think the six of us can't take down one bone beast?".
I interrupted irritated, "Okay sense you think that how about we use what we all should have learned,Bone beast are never alone, they travel in groups of three and only leave the group when they are marking territory or hunting." surprised I knew the information, I wondered what else I knew
The fool interrupted, "yeah well where the other tw-".
Just as he said that to more beast approached looking exactly like the other one, face turning red you could see that he was embarrassed by what transpired.
The Leader tapping the fool on the shoulder,
"There is nothing wrong with wanting more, but you also have to know when to strike don't be discouraged from being wrong learn from it and grow." after a sigh,
"now lets get out of here before they catch our scent and we have to really fight.
Kane scoffed thinking to himself "look at Prince being the oh so great calm headed leader thats his name now prince".
As they where about to jump to another branch and leave kane but his hand on the leader and told everyone to shush.
"What is i-" the prince asked, "shhhhh",
the the fool interrupted obviously, "this guy look stop acting" kane put is hand tightly over his mouth in a way that made everyone tense up, a cold sweat dropping from his forehead kane pointed at the tree adjacent from them.
There you seen two lare green snakes about 3 meters long and the size compared to the car slither down towards the bears they face off between these two we're about to happen.