Rats Nest

"Give me a break."

Jack said as he sighed. But his body still hurts like hell. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a beam of white light fell down on him, piercing the skies. There was a feeling of warmth flowing through him, a sensation of ease that encompassed his body. Only for him to open his eyes and realize his shoulder or any other part of his body did not hurt anymore. Even the broken bones felt better. He felt as good as new. 

After the white light vanished, Jack was left standing there alone. He wondered how he was meant to survive in that forest for 30 days. Food was going to be one hell of an issue. He just had lunch so he could go the next 24 hours without losing efficiency, but what after that?

He needed a plan, but before everything. If he was going to survive here, he needed a safe place or shelter. A place that was not normally visible. Just then, he looked at the gap between the giant tree roots that the rat had jumped out of. He knew it was a bad idea, but there wasn't much of an option. Generally, in those fantasy novels, the characters are given some abilities or at least a weapon. But he was stuck there without any skill or weapon. Just a human in a forest full of monsters. 

He picked up a stick that seemed durable enough to use for self-defense and walked towards the gap, jumping down it. Where he ended up was rather surprising. He thought of rats as creatures that would live in colonies or in multiples. But there were none. There was, however, food, and a lot of it. Different kinds of fruits and animal carcasses the rat had hunted and collected for meals. He did not think rats were the gatherer kind, but I guess you learn something new every day. There was also a tunnel leading somewhere. Jack decided to follow the tunnel as it started moving up in a spiral like a set of stairs, and finally, when he saw light coming from the end of it, He ran towards the light, finally coming out in a more open room-like area inside the tree. The giant tree was probably the rat's home, but that did not make sense. Just then, he saw it, and it made sense. He had been ignoring the claw marks around the place, assuming them to be the rats. But the dead giant squirrel in front of him said otherwise. 

It was a red-colored squirrel whose tail was very fluffy. But its inside had been torn out by the rat, and it was killed in a fight, it seemed. It looks like the rat found the squirrels and took her by surprise. That would explain the gathered food. But since both the squirrels were dead now, would it be first come, first served, or would it be survival of the fittest in this case? Regardless, he would be using this tree as his home base now. It's not deep within the jungle, so he shouldn't face anything too dangerous. 

"Home sweet home, I guess," he said in a very unenthusiastic tone. He saw a little tunnel inside the wooden wall leading to one of the branches and decided to check it out for the better or worse. He needed to see what the area looked like, at least if he was going to survive. As he stepped out onto the branch, he finally got a view of the forest. He could see the dead body of the rat down where he killed it. He should bring it inside now that he thinks about it. He also saw some giant birds a few trees away from him in a nest; they didn't look hostile but were defensive enough, so he did not look at them. He also saw some fruits in a spring-like shape hanging from the tree. The fruits were blue in color, and honestly, he had no idea if they were good to eat. But if they were their size, he could survive a good week on one fruit alone if he was smart about it. 

Just then, he suddenly felt the tree branch shaking as he looked at the birds on the other tree. They hid themselves with branches and leaves to make it seem like there was no nest there at all. He took the hint and ran to hide inside the tunnel leading to the branch, as well as peek out to see what was going on. In that moment, his eyes finally landed on them. And he realized why the rat and everything else were so big. It didn't take a genius to figure it out, but he never paid attention to the name. It was the forest of the giants.

Two giant men, about 20 meters in height, each walked by. Each of them had a beard and long hair, along with a cloth around their waist. They were not holding any weapons exactly but carrying the dead body of a dead deer tied to a log by its feet. Every time they took a step, the ground shook as Jack realized this was going to be one hell of a month.