Lost in the Unknown

After Gailen allowed Leo to stay in the village, Leo decided to go hunting. He didn't go too far to avoid getting lost. However, when he wanted to return, because he didn't find any, he couldn't find the village, even though he knew it should be where it stands.

"What? Where is it!?" he said to himself, "It should be here," he added, running through the forest. "Are you here!?" he shouted as much as he could, but then he stopped, turned around and noticed animals walking deeper into the forest, disappearing in the fog a moment later. He didn't know what he had just seen and without further thought, he moved forward. He wanted to get out of the forest as quickly as possible.

He ran as fast as he could until he found himself again on the clearing where he spent the night before. It seemed completely different, even though it was the same place. As he ran on it, the grass would light up with every step he took. But he could hear the laughter again, just like he did during the night when he slept in the settlement. As he looked around, he saw no one. "Is anyone there?!" he suddenly shouted. Everything went quiet. He only knew he had to keep running, so he did. He didn't even know how much time had passed. He just thought about getting out of the woods.

After more than fifteen hours of constant running, Leo fell down. He tried to get up, but he couldn't, so he started crawling towards a nearby tree. When he got there, he looked beyond it and saw a tree surrounded by water and vegetation that lit up everything as if it were daytime. He also saw mushrooms that shone yellow and countless insects *Buzz Buzz Buzz* that glowed with bright blue light. It seemed like he had entered a different world.

Without paying attention to what was happening around him, Leo crawled to the water, scooped some into his hands *swoosh* and drank it. After a moment, he thought, "I can rest now," and lay down beside the water, already falling asleep.

When he was already sleeping, something strange started to happen, namely the earth seemed to be separating from the ground. It didn't wake him up anyway, but something lifted Leo and everyone else he had seen before, as if by an invisible force. While he was sleeping so soundly, the flying island rose so high that if he wanted to descend, he could die. It was so high that almost the entire forest he had already traversed and the one he still had to pass through were visible. He slept until morning, when he was awakened by the sun's rays. "Damn, is it already morning?" he said.

"What's going on?! Why aren't there any trees here?!" he exclaimed, looking around. After a moment, he stood up and realized he had a serious problem. "Damn, why am I flying? I'm screwed, I'll definitely die."

"Leo, calm down, you'll make it. There are so many huge trees here that you can jump onto one and descend that way," he thought, approaching the edge. Slowly he started looking down and yelled, "Damn, it's over for me!" as he realized he was much higher than the trees. "Oh well, at least there's water here," he said, slowly getting into it *splash* "I haven't bathed for a long time... Ahh."

After a while, he fell asleep again and slept through the entire flight until the flying island returned to the ground. Now, it was no longer a forest, but a meadow stretching as far as the horizon, covered in flowers. Behind him grew a huge tree, towering above the clouds and spreading so widely that his eyes couldn't take in the whole view. Across the meadow, a herd of horse-like animals ran, their hoofbeats echoing through the area *clip clop*. He almost forgot that there were also many birds there, which woke him up. "Where am I?" he said, marveling at the sight before him.

He got up and headed towards the huge tree. Once he arrived, he tore off small pieces of wood and began looking for any sticks. He wanted to light a fire to dry himself out; he couldn't afford to get sick. So, he started arranging the wood in a circle, adding dried grass that he found nearby. Then, he began rubbing a piece of wood against another piece *rasp rasp*, until sparks formed. He failed the first time, but he continued trying until he successfully lit the fire *tssuu*. He started drying his pants while trying to warm himself up.

After thoroughly drying himself off, he had to start building a shelter, but he didn't really know where to start. He gathered nearby branches from smaller trees and then took them up to the massive tree he had climbed to a height that seemed safe. He then began to lay the branches on top of each other, so that nothing would fall. In addition, he tied everything together with the vines that hung from the tree to create a bed up high. He put leaves and an animal skin on it. Now he knew he had to hunt for something, but he didn't feel like coming down, so he looked for any fruits on the tree, climbing even higher.

After climbing higher, he noticed some fruits, but they were in a difficult-to-reach spot. Nevertheless, he took a risk and jumped onto a nearby vine, swinging back and forth to grab the fruit, almost falling in the process. But it was worth it because he not only got food but also something to drink. The fruit was so juicy that it filled him up even faster than any meat would. He returned to his bed lower down, where he tied himself to a pair of branches to avoid falling off. Night fell, it was his first in the new place where danger lurked, especially at night. During the day, he didn't see much to tell if there were any meat-eating predators. In addition, he couldn't sleep due to the constant sound of cracking bones and animal roars.