Desire

Maybe it was all nothing but a dream. A horrifying illusion his mind had conjured to inflict pain upon him.

Maybe he was right, and this was nothing but a dream and he would wake up sleeping on his desk like many times before. Any moment, his friend would slap him on the head, reminding him of the teacher who was standing in front of him.

Maybe it was all just a dream.

A dream that would end at any moment.

A horrifying dream from which he would wake up soon enough.

Noo!!!

Noooo!!

Noooo... it wasn't a dream… Deep down, Nolan knew.

Before Nolan could even open his eyes, reality sank its deep teeth into him.

It made him want to just keep lying there.

Nolan wanted to accept his fate. He didn't want to resist the horrifying reality that he was in some unknown place... facing an unknown enemy. He wanted to just give up, continue lying there... submitting to it.

But... that would be too easy.

He didn't want to resist... but even more so, he didn't want to make its task easier.

Nolan, he would make fate work hard if it ever wanted to claim him.

Suddenly, his eyes wavered, tears had solidified making it difficult to open them. Yet, he soon opened them with some difficulty and confirmed what was in his mind.

He found himself lying on the uneven surface of dead forest leaves—the same place where he had passed out. For some reason, perhaps due to sheer luck, he was still alive… but that didn't mean he was out of danger.

Bugs were crawling all over him, biting, trying to claim a piece for themselves.

Shit...

The pain from all the biting brought Nolan back to his full senses, and he was forced to sit up on the floor.

Sitting up, he couldn't help but feel lost. He didn't know what to do… where to go.

He couldn't return to the area where they had spawned and meet up with his classmates. Hell, he didn't even know if any of them had survived or if he alone was the lucky one.

Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes.

I have to move out of this forest first... I don't know how much time has passed, but that thing might still be chasing us. I have to get out of this place first...

Making up his mind in seconds, he opened his eyes and was about to move when something flashed in front of him.

A light appeared.

And then, once more, that whisper, the same whisper he had heard before passing out, spoke to him.

No louder than a breath, yet sharp enough to pierce through the chaos clouding his thoughts, it passed the message once again.

[Child, What Do You Desire?]

It read.

Even though the words were written in some bizarre text, Nolan understood it very clearly.

As he continued reading the words for the second, third, and fourth time… something snapped inside of him.

The veins began popping over his eyes… redness overwhelmed them.

Suddenly, he straightened up, every muscle in his body screaming in protest.

Despite his movement, the forest remained silent. Too silent, in fact. There were no cries. No sound of any movement. Rarely, a gust of wind passed, fluttering his blood-soaked clothes.

Nolan looked at the screen in front of him.

He read it again… that question… that fucking question.

His fists clenched.

Desire?

His chest began to rise faster. His breath began to grow hoarse. His teeth began grinding together.

Desire?

Suddenly, his emotions shifted—and it appeared.

A flicker of rage.

The more he read it… the more it continued to grow. Soon, the rage turned into fury.

And finally, the dam broke and the bubble burst open.

Hahaha!

HAHAHAH!

Nolan laughed.

A loud, broken, and cracked laugh ripped out of his throat, ringing through the entire forest with his fury.

The laugh wasn't because of joy. Neither was it the product of madness.

No. It was pain—raw and unfiltered—twisting into something that made even breathing difficult for him.

"What do I desire?! Hah… hahahaha!"

Nolan laughed harder. Laughed until tears mixed with the dried blood on his cheeks.

"Can you bring them back? Return them?" he shouted at the flicker of light floating in front of him, fists trembling.

"Can you return Adam?... Or Mira? Or Iman?!... Any of them?" His voice cracked.

"Can you return me back to my class?! Back to this morning when nothing... when none of this had happened?!" he asked, looking with his bloodshot eyes.

Yet no voice returned to him. Only silence answered.

"CAN YOU?!" he roared, his voice echoing through the forest like a volcano ready to erupt at any moment.

Nolan's breath was ragged now. His face twisted with grief and rage, yet a hint of understanding was deep within it. He had accepted it now.

He fell silent and waited, but the light remained still. Nothing changed in it. There were no answers. No whispers in return. Nothing was given back.

The screen remained floating there, as if the words spoken to it held no value.

"Why are you silent repl—" Nolan whispered, but before he could finish, the screen flickered out of existence without giving anything in return.

It seemed almost as if it had appeared just to mock him. Just to laugh at his inability.

Huh! What was I expecting... he thought to himself, standing up when a realization hit him.

Shouting was a mistake. A grave one he had just committed.

Grrrrr!

Shreiiikkk!!

Low growls and inhuman clicks resonated from every direction, as if the forest itself had begun to breathe. His shouts had broken the silence of the jungle... waking every hunter who were still in their slumber.

Nolan froze, his heart racing as the mistake became apparent.

He could feel the numerous gazes landing upon him. He could feel it—he wasn't alone anymore.

He never was.

And now... now they were coming for him.