The forest

Standing at the edge of his cave and the forest he could not halt a feeling of brief nostalgia washing over him

The air was filled with the silky sweet scent of decay and rot, much like the room that he had been born within not so long ago.

The smell of rotting trees, spoiled water, and fetid corpses was nearly overpowering and filled him with both a feeling of hunger and trepidation. He had not eaten since he left his birthplace and he had no idea how much time had passed since then, all he had known since was caves, exhaustion, the cracked of his wings, and sleep

Even with his limited level of awareness, he understood that all things died for a reason, sometimes in great numbers even… but not to this level. Blind as he was with the claps of his wings he could roughly perceive broken and gnarled forms, trees in front of him, and as stated before the aroma of rot was near drowning his senses

Nothing died without a reason, even if the reason was unknown, be it age, killing, or disease things die by a cause, but it stood to reason that if a disease that could destroy entire ecosystems existed how was he unaffected?

Better yet, how was his mother's corpse unaffected? She despite her death it had shown only what he knew to be normal rates of decay, nothing to this level in which the very grass he stood upon crumpled into dust at a touch of his hands

Unsure of what to do he simply stood, his hands and feet holding up his body as he gently breathed the air of this new and decrepit land and listened to its silence, the silence that seemed even more whole than it was within the cave, where the sound of bugs and his steps had bellowed with the echoes

However, this hesitation only lasted a few moments as soon he placed a tentative hand forward and began his march, or crawl forward, using a trick he had learned within the cave to navigate. By folding his wings behind him he was able to easily and gently clap them against each other, like the wings of an insect, whom he had actually learned the skill from

This created less sound than his original movement of slamming them together in front of him, required less energy, and was simply easier. So he moved into the decomposing Forrest, clicking his wins as he walked, allowing for a slow and methodical mode of movement

Traveling however was still difficult, his limited experience with echolocation, caused him to constantly trip and slip on roots and puddles, small difficulties that he had not experienced within the cave and that slowed his progress. As well as this his own limited stamina made the constant weaving between trees, bushes, and branches exhausting, causing him to take breaks often.

Soon his hunger grew too much and he was forced to feed upon the corpses he found, rotting as they were, the alternative was starvation. He had yet to encounter a single living thing, neither flora nor fauna was fully alive, the closet he had seen or heard were a few partially living trees and the occasional cry of a dying animal that emanated from the trees

At this point he was unaware of any form of day or night, it was always dark for him, and the forest, dead as it was blocked any possible warmth that could emanate from the sun. the only indication he had was that at times the crickets wailed louder than at others

In retrospect now that he thought about it, he had yet to taste any water, from birth he had sustained himself on nothing but blood and flesh, this caused him to let out a brief chuckle, although it left his mouth or rather beak in the form of warped chirp

And as he continued he crawl along the forest floor and over the roots erupting from it began to feel… something

A pull if you would

Like someone had tied a string around his heart and lunges and had given it a gentle tug, however despite how it sounded the feeling was… pleasant. As if he had picked up a particularly tasty scent or heard the sound of a cricket in his days exploring the caverns of his cave

And despite how illogical it sounded, he simply turned and followed the pull, his instincts had yet to lead him astray so far and he had no real destination in the first place

So he followed

He followed the path set, crawling through bushes and past trees, the grass practically disintegrating upon his touch and his surroundings dead as a grave and bearing the sent of one too

He took breaks when needed, ate the corpses of unknown animals, killed by an unknown rot, whatever it was that killed these creatures it was either gone or had no effect upon him

Until he reached what he perceived to be a river, its shape betrayed by his echolocation and its scent revealing its decrepit contents. It smelt as if it held the bodies of hundreds of bodies and seeing as the moment his hand touched it he felt the limbs and skin of a dead body it likely did

But this mattered not

For at the other side of the river sat something he thought didn't exist

A light

(Author note: despite how much of an amazing writer I am, I admit that at present I am mainly making this story up as I go. Don't worry I'll eventually get my shit together and design some proper plot lines but until then any advise is helpful

Ps: due to the environment the Mc is currently i'm unsure which yandere to bring in first or how to do so! I'm gonna sleep on it and figure it out tomorrow but suggestions are useful)