With no other option, Akira stepped into the vast expanse of the wilderness, the unknown stretching out before him. It could be his doom, but it was the only path he could take.

  Each step was measured, careful, as his senses heightened in this unfamiliar terrain. “Better to be careful than sorry.” He muttered to himself as he kept walking through the serene view.

  The jungle floor was a lush, green carpet, soft underfoot, but teeming with life and potential danger.

  Vibrant foliage stretched across the land, but there were more plants here than Akira could possibly identify, each one a mystery, some perhaps deadly, others harmless, all of them strange and foreign to him.

  He brushed aside overgrown bushes with his shoulder and ducked loose vines. The air was warm and thick with the smell of damp earth and fresh greenery, the scent of life in every direction.

  Every breath was deep, filling his lungs with air so clean it made him dizzy. “Take it easy Akira, take it easy.”

  The jungle was a riot of color, flowers in every conceivable shade and shape one could conceive.

  Petals of blue, purple, red, and gold burst from vine-like tendrils that curled around the trunks of massive trees, their bark rough but alive with the pulsating rhythm of the forest.

  Some bushes bore small, radiant yellow berries, each one speckled with black dots and stripes that seemed almost too unnatural to exist.

  Akira eyed them warily, unsure if they were food or poison, but he knew he couldn’t afford to make any wrong moves. “I’ll try them out later, but now’s not the time to take risks.”

  Beneath his feet, the earth was soft and springy in places, but other areas were firm with roots that tangled together like a labyrinth of veins, emerging from the ground like the limbs of some ancient, slumbering beast.

  “Just where the hell am I?”

  It felt like stepping into another world, a paradise compared to the oppressive darkness of the cavern he had narrowly escaped.

  The breeze soft against his skin, a gentle reminder that life was more than fear and struggle.

  The light filtered through the thick canopy above, casting the jungle floor in shifting patterns of shadow and gold, illuminating bursts of color where flowers and fruits grew in abundance.

  Fruit-laden trees, some with smooth, purple-skinned orbs, others heavy with deep red clusters of small spiky skin, stood tall, their boughs bending low under the weight of life.

  In every direction, there was something growing, something thriving, something pulsing with vitality.

  The jungle seemed to hum with quiet energy, an underlying song that Akira couldn’t hear but felt deep in his bones.

  The vibrant tapestry of nature stretched out infinitely before him, so alive.

  For a moment, he could almost believe it was a sanctuary, however he knew deep down. He could see the beauty, but beneath it, the wilderness held its dangers, he might not remember anything, but that did not make him a fool.

  The bright colors of blooming flowers, the sweet smell of ripe fruit, the peaceful rustling of leaves in the wind, they all seemed to offer a false sense of security.

  Nature’s beauty often hid its dangers, and while the jungle looked serene, it could easily turn into another nightmare, just like the cavern.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Just as he took another big step over a thick root, the place where his foot landed made a squelching sound.

  In a panic Akira looked down, ready to run, however he had just stepped in a puddle.

  He let out a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness.”

  Looking down at the puddle, he saw his own reflection for the first time.

  Akira's heart skipped a beat as he gazed down at the puddle, seeing the face of a stranger staring back at him. His reflection was gaunt, his light gray eyes sunken from hunger, his skin sickly pale as if he were staring at a corpse.

  Despite this he looked to be no older than seventeen years old, though that was belied by his aged expression.

  His straight black hair hung down in an almost depressing manner, his expression haunted him the most, it was a mixture of fright and anxiety.

  A small frame, not only in size but also in height, only reaching about one hundred and sixty-eight centimeters tall, his body was shrouded by the dirty and grimy white tunic that loosely hung onto him, the only thing keeping it tightly to his body was the rope around his waist.

  “...So that’s what I look like, huh.” His voice breaking a little, as if he was disappointed with it.

  He planted the mantis claw into other ground and ran his hand through his matted hair, the strands sticking to his clammy skin, he wiped his face with the back of his hand, as if trying to scrub away the despair that clung to him.

  Akira took a deep breath, forcing himself to look away from the reflection in the puddle, there was no time for self pity, not now. He had to keep moving.

  He threw the mantis claw back over his shoulder and started walking again.

  “The Selection Trial, just what is that even supposed to mean? Do I need to get somewhere or do something in order to get out of here? Just what is the Gauntlet?” The questions felt heavy as they hung in the air, but he held no responses whatsoever and neither did his surroundings.

  His attention was grabbed again by the red crystal as he carried it carefully near his chest.

  “Should I even keep this thing?” To Akira the red sphere had served its purpose, he had no more need for it as he already had plenty of light, not to mention some of the fauna here had an almost bioluminescent glow to it so even in the dead of night he could still navigate the jungle.

  His eyes were glued to it for a few seconds, for some reason he couldn’t let go of it, he felt it had a sort of energy, something that could be helpful to him later on. “Well, it's not too heavy so I guess it won’t hurt to keep it a bit longer.”

  With that his steps continued, the ground sometimes as hard as rock whilst other times as flexible as rubber.

  He trekked deeper and deeper into the jungle, carefully stepping over the twisting roots and avoiding patches of odd-looking plants while using the claw from time to time to cut down any vegetation that made it impossible for him to pass.

  While walking by, he suddenly felt the gaze of something or someone fall onto him, his body froze.

  He looked around cautiously, the mantis claw at the ready to swing.

  Suddenly his eyes locked on a vine, something about it felt off, it was larger, almost as it hid muscles underneath, and it had an unnatural sheen as if coated in a thin layer of moisture that gleamed faintly under the canopy's dappled light.

  Then it moved.

  Akira’s eyes widened with surprise and fear as he followed the movement.

  Craning his neck he saw it, at the top of the muscular vine, hidden in the shadows of the canopy two bright amber eyes were stalking him with predatory precision.

  His throat caught his breath as his heart sank to his stomach, the sight before him more frightening than the monster he had previously encountered could ever hope to compare.

  No wonder the creature from the cave did not wish to venture out after Akira, despite him being an easy meal and the one who killed one of its offspring, it was because it knew there wever bigger monsters than itself lurking in the shadows of the jungle.

  RUN! ESCAPE! FLEE! QUICKLY! NOW! His mind ran wild, yet his body did not respond to it, instead Akira stood frozen, like a deer in front of headlights.

  Could he even flee from such a titanic creature! Where would he even run to? Was there any hope for his predicament? He got lucky and killed a monster, sure, he managed to flee his gigantic capturer, yes.

  But this? Who could begin to hope escaping such a predator?

  Its body was longer than Akira’s imagination could stretch, its body was slim for its size, however did that even matter, it was at least twenty times thicker than the boy's skinny body.

  His only hope now was that the snake did not see him as good enough to even measure up as a snack.

  After all, his strength was running thin as his muscles burned, his breath already a little ragged from exhaustion despite the clean and plentiful air, how he had gotten this far without any rest was already an unimaginable feat to him.

  Shit shit shit, think Akira. He racked his brains however no solutions came to mind, it was utterly hopeless.

  …Shut up asshole…

  “...Just do it you stupid monster.” Akira muttered under his breath, his instinct to survive had been crushed under such a predator, nothing could save him now.

  The mantis claw that he held on for dear life fell to the ground, his grip on it limp as the crimson sphere in his left hand fell to the ground beside him.