The Forest.

The dark tree trunks, the shadows, the overhanging limbs across the path only seen at the last second, the clumps of bushes, and the moon shining through the lattices of the leaves. Sunset had finally drained out of the sky overhead, sheathing the woods in shadow.

Duncan by now had nearly finished constructing his shelter. The shelter he was constructing was a simple one.

He first found a large dry branch and leaned it against a tree. The branch was very heavy and was a little taller than him. He dug the bottom for about 5 inches to ensure sturdiness. He tied the branch to the tree using some vines to make it as secure as possible.

He then propped smaller branches at 45-degree angles against the larger branch to form a 'V-shaped shelter. He also dug them into the ground for about 4 inches deep and secured them to the larger branch using some tree bark and vines. He then went over to cover it with some leaves, tarp, and shredded bark.

This was the simple construction that he had made. He was nearly done though. He just needed some more materials to cover it up and he was done.

He licked the sweat on his lips as he plucked a wide leaf from a plantain tree.

" This should do it," He said as he checked out the leaf. He worked his way back along the narrow trail, leaves sliding across his forearms like wet tongues.

He covered the last part of the shelter and heaved a sigh of relief. "(Sigh), Finally, I'm done with this work. Ok now to build a fire." He said as he looked at the sticks he had gathered up.

The moonlight had dimly lit up the forest and it was harder to see than in the daytime. Duncan was lucky enough not to trip on any bumpy roots or stones. Well, he was careful enough not to do so.

He had no lighters or matches, so he needed to build the fire traditionally. He used the hand drill method to build the fire. He moved a dry log near the fire to enjoy its warmth. The fire had brightened up his area, removing the feeling of fear and making him feel secure.

He had now built his shelter so he needed to think of what to do next.

The first thing on his to-do list was to find a constant food supply to not go hungry. Then he also needed a source of fresh water because the water from the lakes here may be contaminated.

He was in deep thought when he heard that unmistakable whiny buzzing sound.

It was a mosquito!

This all-too-familiar flying insect. May it be damned.

The whiny buzzing sounds of the mosquitos annoyed Duncan. He couldn't stay concentrated with these creatures bothering him. He kept on swatting his hands over his ears but the mosquitos just refused to let him go. In the end, he gave up and went into his shelter. They didn't leave him there though, after a countless number of slapping, cursing, and swatting, he finally fell asleep.

* ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * **

A new day had arrived and Duncan was found moving through the forest,

*Rustle*

*There!*, He turned towards the bush where he heard the rustling sound. He stared at the bush intensively for a while and noticed some movements again.

"Gotcha," he said as he threw the stone at where he had seen the movement. The stone hit the bush but he aimed at it, but he didn't hear a cry that showed the animal had been hit.

"Damn it" he cursed. He had missed, the little rodent had escaped him yet again.

It had been hours since he had started this rat-hunting expedition and yet he still hadn't managed to catch even a single one.

The blame was on him though, because what he was doing was pretty stupid; throwing rocks and hoping that they would injure or kill the rodents. They easily dodged every time because it was just too slow.

*Sigh*, now he was starving. He had used too much energy on this fruitless event. The reason why he was so keen on hunting these rats was that a while back, he came across an injured rat. The rats weren't that small though, they were as big as an average rabbit. Big enough to be given a new name but they were still known as rats. The injured rat he found was like manna from heaven. He happily finished it off and made a delicious meal out of it.

As the saying went, Hunger is the best sauce. This was the most delicious meal that he remembered ever having. The taste was just splendid. The meat was just cooked over the fire, with no spices, no salt but heck it was delicious.

So here he was, searching for another one to eat and he was doing a very bad job at it.

He looked up and saw that the weather had changed since he started to hunt. The sky had become cloudy and it showed signs that it might rain at any point in time.

Duncan saw the lightning strike which was soon followed by the sound of thunder.

*BOOM!* The thunder rumbled. The rumbling sound stirred up something in Duncan's brain.

"Aaargghhh" Duncan screamed as the stinging headache struck him. He screamed and screamed and screamed some more. He felt like someone was continuously striking his head with a metal stick.

The thunder strike seemed to have triggered some memories of Duncan and that was what brought about the headache.

*Flashback*

"Duncan!" a voice shouted but was barely heard through the loud noises of the storm. From Duncan's point of view in his memory, it seemed that they were on a ship that was being torn apart by the violent storm.

His vision was very blurred in the memory and he could not make the details of most things out. Only the vague details of the structures could be seen. He could see some people engaged in battle right now with what looked like fishmen.

Weird creatures. He thought, they were fish from the waist up but had legs that were covered in scales. Each of them was equipped with a trident and it seemed they were massacring the humans aboard the deck with their deadly weapons. His first instinct was to go and help but he realized that he was not in control of this body, only a spectator.

The controller of the body turned toward the direction of the voice which had called upon him.

"I'm not sure that the ship and the crew would be able to survive long enough for us to leave this area." The voice which was speaking was a female's, one who Duncan couldn't make the features out nor could he see to able to recognize the blurred face.

" The ship would break apart and the crew would be slaughtered if we keep at this. Please, this journey cant is worth our lives, we should turn back and live to fight another day. We should go back to the Seer. He might give us a better way out of this mess. Please... just give the order" She said, her voice sounded very pained and was on the verge of breaking down.

The Duncan in control replied to the woman's plea with a stern voice. "We march forward." He said as he started to walk forward toward where the battle was occurring. "I'm not taking us back to that son of a bitch Seer for him to take advantage of us again. I'd rather face the bastards that going through that whole ordeal again," he said as he unsheathed his weapon, a scythe from his back. " That Seer could go fuck himself. We are heading straight on due course and nothing can stop us. SO CHAARRGGEE!!!" he shouted, boosting the morale of his crew.

"YEAH!!" They screamed back, now able to fight back, realizing that their captain had not abandoned them, their battle spirits relinquished.

* ** ** * ** * *** *** *

The flashback ended there and he was drawn back to reality. Duncan was left wondering about what he had just seen. Was that his memories or something else together? He highly suspected that it was the former. He was lost in his world thinking about the flashback.

"Ah," he said a moment later when he snapped back into reality. He realized that there was quite a heavy downpour. His clothes were already soaked and he was lying in wet soft mud. He needed to get to shelter to avoid the rain from soaking him any further. After slipping a few times in the mud, Duncan started to look for a place to cover himself from the rain.

He saw a cave in the distance and started to move toward it to shield himself from the rain. He sat at the entrance of the cave whilst hugging his knees, not daring to go any deeper because of the fear of the unknown. He just needed shelter from the rain, not an early death! He sat there quietly as he watched the downpour of rain.

He started to think again, where exactly was he in that memory? What did he want to achieve and where was the rest of his crew? He could only imagine the worst that they were all dead, otherwise, how would he wash up on this shore alone? He thought long and hard but couldn't come up with anything. Sitting here and thinking hard wasn't going to give him his answers. Maybe he needed to find more of the memory triggers, like the thunder strike. Only then would he be able to discover the truth.

Something was blocking his memories.

And he had a very bad feeling about that.