Emergence

Beneath the dust and stone, Madlenkosi was still alive by the grace of the heavens. His movement was limited, as he was trapped under countless rocks and debris.

He could feel the dust and rocks grating against his skin as he pressed his hands upon the ground to push his body up but to no avail.

"I don't want to die here... I don't want to die here" Madlenkosi repeated to himself like a chant to keep himself awake, as if he was trying to convince himself of a way to get out of his perilous situation.

He slowly dragged himself, as his body passed over countless jagged rocks as they cut into his flesh.

His blood lined the floor beneath him as he continued to struggle upwards as he dug, utilizing every ounce of strength he had within him.

His nails dug into the rocks and dirt as they bled and cracked, forcing himself onwards and upwards through his sheer will alone.

Onwards and upwards he crawled, persevering through an unknown amount of hours as he kept saying to himself, " I don't want to die here...I don't want to die here".

Due to his naturally higher inborn strength, sheer will, and determination his hand finally broke the surface as he saw the sunlight again.

Madlenkosi crawled out and laid with his back on the ground as he panted and coughed while staring at the sky.

Covered in blood, dirt, and dust, Madlenkosi was thankful to see the sky again and he knew, he had survived his ordeal.

As his eyes adjusted to the light, he looked around and noticed he wasn't where he expected to be, there was no noise of people, no shouting, no panic.... just a strange calmness.

He sat up to take in his surroundings and was shocked to see that what he crawled out of was a crevice in the side of a hill which led to a precipice overlooking a forest.

As he looks at the area he crawled out of and the lush green forestry beneath him, he was confused.

"Where..am I?" He thought to himself.

Madlenkosi looked around and surveyed the area, as well as himself, he was a sad sight to look at as he was mostly covered in dirt and dried blood with torn clothes, no shoes, and hair filled with clay.

As he made his way down the hill, he noticed how steep and rocky the hill was, with a complete lack of vegetation.

He slowly descended towards the forest, as he heard the vibrant ecosystem of birds chirping and other wildlife.

As he got closer to the forest he noticed the difference in the air he breathed, it was no longer hot and dusty like his village in Nyala, Sudan but clean, fresh, and a bit sweet.

As he breathed in deeply, he felt a strange comfort with every deep breath.

"Sighs...I have no idea where I am, or what is in this forest." He thought as he focused.

Madlenkosi threw away the bloodied and dirtied clothes as he rubbed dust and dirt from nearby to cover his scent as well as collected a sharpened rock and attached it to his side with some cloth.

He nimbly crawled into the bush as a way to prevent predators from noticing him, with his previous knowledge taught to him by the elder hunters being quite useful.

Madlenkosi slowly stalked through the shrubbery as he collected materials to make a simplified bow and arrows, he then noticed the animals here weren't quite the same as what he was accustomed to, there were snakes the width of tractor wheels and birds the size of people.

He gawked at what he was seeing, thankfully they didn't notice him.

"Where...the hell did I end up?!" Madlenkosi was flabbergasted.

He couldn't believe what he saw and realized the amount of danger he would be in if one of these strange creatures noticed him. He quickly and quietly ran away and climbed a tree to get a better vantage point to see from.

The tree he was climbing was on the larger side with a width the size of three men to hug it. He nimbly climbed the tree as he hid in the foliage.

Madlenkosi sat there as he realized he had to arm himself quickly or he may never leave this forest alive, so he proceeded with making his simplified longbow and arrows.

Madlenkosi always preferred longbows, although they were harder to draw for children, his strength made it so that he could use them quite well. Soon the longbow was made from a somewhat flexible branch and some stripped and braided vine, with 12 well-chiseled arrows. The arrows, in particular, were made from branches taken from the shrubbery he fled through and the feathers on the tail end were from a few large feathers he picked up along the way.

"This is the best I can do for now....."

"Time to hunt.." said Madlenkosi as he had a determined look in his eyes while looking down from his vantage point...