Alone

Ares opened his eyes as fast as possible right after he felt that he could move. Once he did so, he found himself into a...

'A forest? Really?' He thought, smiling.

'That's something really interesting if you may ask me. I think that's the best scenario possible. I mean, I am good at this kind of environment nowadays.'

He felt the weight of his battle-axe on his back, which meant that the simulation didn't discard anything that was attached to his body at the moment he entered into that trance.

"I feel like I am the only person here, though..." He murmured as he looked to the sides, trying to find someone else, but he couldn't.

Ares thought that everyone would stay at the same place since the simulations were all trials that would depend on their teamwork as far as their superiors told them.

'There are two options. Number one: he was lying to us, which is something quite unbecoming and nonsensical for this kind of thing that we are going through right now. I can't think about a single reasonable point to justify this scenario. Number two: being separated and needing to find ourselves to gather together is also a part of this trial.'

Ares decided to go with the second option since the first one wasn't probable at all.

'Now, how do I find the others? How wide is the area of this forest? Are there rivers crossing it, dangerous animals, resources that are suitable for the survival of human beings, etc? I don't have any of this information with me. I need to do my research first,' Ares thought while stroking his chin and darting his eyes around.

After some minutes, he began to move through the forest, always walking in the direction of the sun, but some degrees to the left.

"I feel like this is the best way to go by now. I will walk in just one direction. My chances of finding someone like this aren't higher than just covering a huge area to all sides, but it's safer. I don't want to lose my sense of direction here and go too deep into the forest or something."

Ares walked for hours, watching the sun setting on the horizon as the time passed. He was used to this kind of scene since he needed to go through such a thing when surviving on his own, but for others, it was a desperate feeling to walk for so long and don't find anything.

'I just hope that others can have the same knowledge as me when it comes to this kind of thing. Otherwise, we will suffer the consequences. I feel it... And, talking about feeling...'

Ares closed his eyes and stopped to walk. That was the third time he did it in the last hour.

'Yes, I can still feel it. The ground is shaking. It's a light shaking, but it's still here."

Ares didn't know at all what was going on, but it was happening ever since he appeared in that place. He just paid attention to it after walking for an hour or two, though.

The boy looked over his shoulder.

'Those clouds in the distance... those dark clouds, they have something to do with it? Am I getting crazy or are they approaching slowly? There are too many questions and no responses in this freaking forest. I am searching for food and water for hours but I can't find anything at all. Not a signal of human beings as well. I should keep walking, though. Settle down won't give me anything.'

Ares stayed at that same pace for some hours more before he needed to find resources to make a refuge for him. He needed three hours more just to find a proper place and the proper materials to do what he needed to pass the night without problems.

Days went by without him finding nobody, then one week had passed. Some fruit trees appeared on the way, also as water sources in aleatory places. That forest seemed to not have an end. The vegetation was getting denser each day, which made it difficult for him to advance.

Ares could find animals in the way, some of them threatened him, but he could deal with them easily. The fauna of that forest wasn't much different from the forest that he was surviving in before.

As the days went by, Ares noticed that, indeed, those dark clouds were approaching that forest.

If it was in the real world, the boy would just ignore it and think that it was a tempest coming. The best way to go would be to prepare himself to make reinforced tents or go to caves to take refuge. However, there was something different with those clouds. They seemed to warn Ares about something else.

The boy had walked a long way already. His feet were already bleeding after walking that much, he had lost weight and his auburn hair was way longer than before.

Ares was on top of an elevated part of the forest, a cliff between the dense amount of trees that gave him a better sight of the horizon.

"There is something strange about it. These clouds seem like a timer. As they get near, this shaking sensation on the ground gets stronger. Now, there are sometimes when it is so intense that it seems like an earthquake...", Dean stopped just to think, starting to talk with himself. This way he would maintain his sanity and reason properly.

It was quite lonely to walk for one week after having so much contact with other humans.

"Anyway, I am confident that this final measure will make people come to me if they really are out there. I will light up a huge campfire on this cliff. Even from above the trees, they will be able to see the smoke and will come here. I will put some cloth and other materials to make the smoke get denser and darker as well."

The boy glanced again at the horizon, narrowing his eyes, before starting his work.

"The real test is yet to begin. I am sure about it," he muttered.