1 Forest

''I am late, they should have told me we were going to meet somewhere else.''

Riding a horse through a forested path that I never visited before is not easy and the phone does not work properly in this area. Thinking about it I guess my friends did mention it before, in passing, saying that they found an old hut in the forest that would be a perfect meeting place.

Still, that does not excuse the fact that the only directions they game me is go straight down the forest path, not to mention that they are not answering any of my messages.

I promised we would meet before nightfall and its already dusk, I hope they have lanterns set up so ill be able to see them in the darkness.

And so time passed while I followed the forest path atop my valiant steed that does not belong to me but to the ranch nearby. The light started dimming with the sky gaining an orange glow when the realization hit me, I was inside a forest in the middle of nowhere with vague instructions of a hut that I should eventually reach.

Coming here was not the smartest move but it's for friendship so who cares, there are no big animals around here anyway.

Continuing down the path nigh soon falls so I take out my only light source, a somewhat expensive lantern, that lights my way forward, the only problem is the sudden quiet, I could hear the insects all around me up until just now so the silence makes the dark forest even scarier and while I did grow up in these areas I know that forests can be dangerous no matter how well you know them and being in the darkness riding a horse with only a lantern to light the way does not help, truly.

Squinting my eyes to look at my watch it says it is but a few minutes past seven and yet I still can't contact any of my friends, I have a functioning phone and signal and yet they are not answering. With a deep sigh I stop the horse and turn off the lantern then I look up at the sky or what I can see of it above the canopy of trees that became thicker and thicker the deeper I headed into the forest.

There is no light on any sort present only the dim stars. Well, I tried, ill take a picture to prove that I looked and then go back, I just hope they won't be too angry at me.

With the sound of a flash, the forest gets illuminated by the phone, I look at the picture and see nothing unusual so I store the phone into my pocket and turn the horse around to leave.

After turning around I turn on the lantern and signal the horse to move forward only it does not listen to me, I try again and it just neighs lightly, I stroke its mane and move the lantern to inspect the forest, there is nothing there.

''Its fine horse there's nothing here'' I say while trying to soothe the horse. It does not work as it just stays in place with no intention of moving.

''Did you get stuck buddy?'' ''Don't worry it's going to be fine.'' So I get off the horse and look down with lantern pointing at my feet, still nothing it's just grass no stones or roots sticking out of the ground.

''Come on buddy are you tired? We only left a couple of hours ago, I swear you get lazier every year.'' While talking to the horse I grab onto it and try to get back on only for the horse to suddenly buckle and throw me away.

''Damn it buddy what's wrong with you?'' I say while pointing my lantern in its direction only to see it gone. ''Buddy you out there? It's not funny.''

''Really, you just run away, thank god you have a GPS implant on you so they can recover you later, I'll just go back on foot you traitor.''

At least my pack fell on the ground when you threw me away. Grabbing the big backpack I start heading back the way I came, I think so at least, I did just fall on the ground but the hoof prints on the ground should guide me back to the ranch.

Only they didn't, it's been hours of walking following the prints and I'm not getting anywhere, the horse was going slowly through the woods, there is no way we got that far. And we truly didn't, the prints took me to a clearing with a great wide tree in the middle, it was quite unsettling looking at it from far away, and as I got closer the ground started getting wet and squishy, probably someone spilled something here so I should be quite close to the town.

When I reached the tree I noticed that the bark is oddly red so I touched it and felt its wet hard texture, placing the hand close to my face I light it with the lantern and see it is also red, the only red liquids in this forest are berries and blood, and I don't want to know which one this is.

In my panic I turn around only to find myself face to face with my horse, or what remains of it, a head, I don't know how I didn't see it earlier, how did it even get there?

As my heart accelerates I once again notice the silence, the lack of insects, and the earthy smell of the damp ground. I start lightly hyperventilating in fear yet I am keenly aware of my surrounding and when I hear a noise I quickly swing my lantern that way only to see a dirty black humanoid shape crashing into me, the pain is excruciating like I got hit by a full-body tackle, which I did.

And yet I did not hit the ground but the tree and it was not solid, it was also not an illusion but it felt as if made out of a gooey cold substance and I was absorbed by it.

It felt like I was floating underwater for a few seconds until I shuddered at the feeling of hot air touching my skin and then I felt pain, from my back this time as I landed on the ground.

Quickly getting back up I look around only to find myself in what seemed like a ruin of a keep or castle of sorts, made of stone and covered by patches of dirt, the hall was dimly lit by the setting sun while I could only think of one thing.

Where the hell am I?