Awakened

As Simon opened his eyes, his hair blocked the sun from blinding him. He sat up from the firm bed and observed the surrounding environment. He was in a room of sorts. There was a shelf filled to the brim with vials, some full, others completely empty. He stood up and made his way out. He was in a ward of some sorts built completely out of wood. He walks down the halls and makes it to the front lobby. He walked down the stairs and saw a young woman at the front desk. She wore a blue and white dress with her light blonde hair tied back in a ponytail. Her skin was pale but glimmered with youth. Simon was covered head to toe in his hunting apparel on the other hand. The woman smiled and waved at him politely. Simon walks up to the front desk and the woman asks him for his name.

"Good afternoon sir, may I get your name please?"

"Simon Walker." He answers.

"Okay sir, you're officially back up on your feet and ready to hunt again. Your weapon will be delivered to you shortly." The woman tells him.

"Thank you." Simon walks away and heads to the front doors. He pushes them open and he's blinded by the sun. Many hunters walked around with friends and complex weapons. There were horses dragging around carriages and workers running around trying to keep the place operational. Young boys ran around delivering messages, newspapers, and weapons to hunters. Simon stepped out and took in the sight. A few dozen yards away was a metal fence that blocked off the sanctuary from the rest of the world. There was one way in and out, that being a thin wall connecting the mainland to here. It was about 15 meters thick and was really long, at least 5 kilometers in length. As a young man came up to him, he carried around a wagon with all sorts of weapons on it.

"Here is your blood saw sir, happy hunting." He hands Simon a decently lengthened stick with a metal saw at the end of it. Some of it was messily wrapped in bandages and there was blood all over it.

"Thank you." Simon takes the saw and makes his way out of the sanctuary. He steps outside of the gates and when he looks back, a sign displays the name of the sanctuary. "Northern Hunter's Sanctuary."

"No wonder there's so much snow on the mainland." Simon begins to cross the bridge over and eventually makes it to the mainland. Once he stepped foot into the mainland, the entire vibe changed. It was much darker and sinister. Simon walked around the highly vegetated hillside until he reached a large flight of stairs that led up to a victorian city with massive buildings and many different chapels. He took one step, then another, and another, again and again he ran up the stairs. He felt a strange growl and stopped, he looked behind him and a few dozen feet away was a gray barrier blocking off the stairs from every other part of the world. He looked back and a large creature jumped down from the top of one of the buildings.

Its face was mangled and melted beyond recognition. Its ribcage was abnormally large. It had no organs of sorts and was just furry canine legs with a large ribcage and spine with little muscle on them. Its arms were long and thin. Its hands were giant compared to its head and feet though. It had a humanoid face but was unrecognizable. Simon readied himself and charged towards the creature. The monster slammed its hand down and Simon slashed it with his saw. He swung upwards to parry the attack and swung back around, attacking the tendons in the legs. It roared furiously and the jaw unhinged to reveal small faces, arms, and small tongues that wiggled around and had a mind of their own. Simon was absolutely terrified but he persisted. He kept swinging and attacking but each attack dealt less and less damage to the creature. Eventually, the monster swung his arms and swiped Simon to the side where there were a bunch of large rusty metal spikes. He was impaled through the heart, leg, and neck. Pure abyss filled his "vision" and then he died.

A few seconds later he awoke back down at the bottom of the stairs and his mind went spinning. He was absolutely flabbergasted yet confused. But then he remembered something that one of his teachers told him.

"A curse that runs in some hunters is the curse of immortality. One may die from natural and unnatural causes, but will eventually be reborn. Reborn to a certain point before they died. Their clothes restored, their memories untouched, and their experiences widened. It is a gift of knowledge, a gift that will get its share by putting you through an eternity of hell. The only way to die a real death is to die by the hands of Vhernam, the great elder god that resides outside of our realm. He will only come down once you have defeated one of his puppets, once that is done. Let yourself be killed and you will have died a fulfilling death. One of honors, but you will be reborn again."

His teacher's words resonated within him and he ran back up the stairs. He crossed into the gray fog and engaged in battle with the monster again. But this time he is vastly more knowledgeable. And soon, his adventures begin.