~{🌔𝕲𝖑𝖔𝖜 𝖔𝖋 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝕸𝖔𝖔𝖓, 𝕲𝖑𝖔𝖜 𝖔𝖋 𝖔𝖚𝖗 𝕳𝖊𝖆𝖗𝖙𝖘🌖}~

🌒~Chapter 1 ~{}~ Challenge Accepted~🌘

After a little while longer of confusion, I sighed and shoved my phone back into my pocket. "Damn. I keep hearing rumours about this place having super-high 'magical energy,' but I never thought that it would be real at all, let alone change the time of day like some kinda demigod," I said under my breath. I inhaled deeply, and let the air leave my lungs in another, louder sigh. I decided to just ignore the sudden change in the time of day for now; after all, I had my phone, a portable battery-powered charger, and a shit ton of batteries—I don't need the sun to know the time. My natural instincts and internal clock are pretty shit anyway. Again, I just sat there, back against the tree, staring into space for a bit before I stood. I stretched with a groan—my back still hurt, but nowhere near as much as it was when I was still carrying my bag. I'd prefer it didn't hurt at all, but whatever. I can function just fine. I crouched down and grabbed the tent setup kit I brought along. "Might as well set up now and sleep," I thought. "I've gone far enough in here, I don't need to go further and get lost and die." I then moved to a more clear space nearby and began to set up my small campsite.

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{🌔} Timeskip {🌖}
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      With my tent fully set up, a small campfire burning outside, I lay inside the sleeping bag I brought with me—there's no way in hell I'd be sleeping on the grass, in the middle of summer, when bugs are alive to eat me like a goddamn steak, without even a sliver of protection. No fucking way. I did bring bug spray with me, though. I'm not THAT dumb.

      Maybe the campfire isn't the best idea, though. We've already established the weird energy around here, so it probably isn't too smart to set up a bright campfire in the near pitch-black forest for any weird-ass forest creature to see.

      ...

      ...Eh, I brought a pocketknife and bear spray, I'll be fine. I know how to get out when I need to anyway. No biggie, it's just a little spooky.

      ...

      I'd better keep my guard up anyway. Better safe than sorry, you know?

      After a little while of just listening to the sounds of the forest, thinking about nothing in particular, I eventually drifted off into a light sleep.

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{🌔} ???'s POV {🌖}
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      My quiet footsteps. The crunching of the dead leaves and fallen twigs beneath my feet. Bugs buzzing. Distant birdsongs, mostly from crows.

      These are the sounds I heard as I went on, doing my rounds, scouting out the designated areas. The sounds of the forest. Something I've grown accustomed to, as all the other beings here have. It's been this way for... what, 196 years now? It's hard to keep track of time with the eternal night here in Subcon, but I can still tell that it's been a good long while since The Kingdom's Downfall.

      I heard a soft humming to my left. I turned my head in the direction of the new sound to see a small Lost Soul—a brown one, about 6 inches in size. "Huh, it's been a while since I've seen a Lost Soul wandering about," I said to myself. "I figured they all became dwellers by now, or got eaten by the boss."

      Carefully, I took the Lost Soul in my hands. Such fragile little things, they are. "I'll give this to the boss when I'm done scouting," I thought, then continued walking along my designated route.

      After maybe 5 minutes of walking, another new sound made its way into my ears. It sounded like... crackling? "Is there a fire nearby? The ever-burning sector of the forest isn't anywhere near here, though... is there a new one?!" I thought out loud. "I need to go check! This could be bad, very very bad!"

      I began to run towards the crackling of the probable fire, and eventually found it. Though, instead of another forest fire, it was a small campfire, positioned a few feet away from a black tent. I gasped softly. "A campsite! There's an intruder in the forest!" As quickly and quietly as I possibly could, I turned on my heel and sprinted full-speed towards the giant glowshroom. "Gotta go tell boss!" I thought. It's been a few years since the last intruder came—that hatted kid that the boss says he hates—so I'm really excited! We're gonna get a new contractor and friend! Yay!

      "Today's a good day!"

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{🌔} (Y/N)'s POV {🌖}
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      I was awoken from my short nap by an odd clicking-type sound, like rocks hitting against each other. I opened my eyes and sat up to see that my fire had gone out, but that definitely wasn't the source of the sound. I pulled out my flashlight and unzipped the entrance of my tent slowly, as to not make too much noise. Carefully, I poked my head out of the tent and looked around, looking to see if there was an animal or something that accidentally made the clicking sound one way or another. A futile attempt, considering it was almost completely pitch black, the only light being the very little provided by the moon and the stars. I slowly and quietly crawled all the way out and stood up, but not before taking the bear spray out of my backpack just in case. I turned on my flashlight and pointed it at the ground. Very, very slowly, I walked around my tent, being careful not to step on any twigs or leaves to avoid making any sound.

      Seeing nothing, I let out a quiet sigh, my shoulders loosening up a bit. Just as I turned around, I heard another noise. But this time, instead of a click, it sounded almost like a quiet, breathy chuckle. Immediately, I whipped my head around in the direction of the noise, but nothing was there. "Jesus... must be my brain playing tricks on me. Probably just wind or something. Calm down, (Y/N), calm down...

      ...

      I didn't feel a breeze, though."

      "Hmm, you're not running? Brave. Or maybe you're just dumb," whispered a voice from behind me. I yelped and turned around, and there I saw... oh.

      Oh no.

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CHAPTER 1—FINISH
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𝕷𝖊𝖙'𝖘 𝖘𝖈𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖒 𝖚𝖓𝖙𝖎𝖑 𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖗𝖊'𝖘 𝖓𝖔𝖙𝖍𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖑𝖊𝖋𝖙.
Let's scream until there's nothing left.
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{❁} Words: 1,900 {❁}
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