Chapter 1: Who?

Beah crashed through the thick undergrowth, leaves and branches tearing at his arms and legs.

Tumbling onto the floor, he rolled onto his feet and fumbled for the knife at his waist. He drew it sharply.

Beah brandished his knife confusedly, blinking hard. When his disorientated nerves finally calmed, he dropped his stance and looked around.

Sunlight flitted through the cracks in the canopy, creating splotches of light on the forest floor. Leaves fluttered around him. A broken branch dropped from the hole in the undergrowth he'd just crashed through.

A forest.

Beah rubbed his eyes hard. How’d he survived that fall off the cliff? Was the jeep alright?

Beah brushed the broken twigs and litterfall off him. His khaki trousers had ripped in many places, and his plain burgundy shirt had a large tear in front.

He fingered the broken fabric of his cheap trousers, inspecting the bloody gashes and cuts he got from falling.

I need new pants, Beah thought. There’s also the jeep.

Beah bent down and began to remove the thorns that had caught in his trousers.

His skin was white.

Beah paused uncertainly, staring at his hand. He’d just noticed.

Beah wriggled his fingers. The fingers moved.

Gaping, he stretched out his arms to get a better look at them. They were fair, and looked as soft as an infant’s.

Dropping his arms, he moved to roll up a leg of his trousers. Pure, silky white.

Beah clutched at his face in panic. This was not him. His skin was brown; a dark, chocolatey brown. Who was this?

“Water,” Beah muttered. Right, water. He needed to find a body of water to see himself. Pausing, he listened attentively for the sound of rushing water. To his 9 o'clock.

Stumbling deeper into the woods, Beah broke into a quick jog.

~

It was only half an hour later that Beah realised that he did not have the foggiest idea where he was. In fact, he had seriously begun to doubt that this was still earth.

Trees aside, everything else he saw challenged any preconceived notions of tropical forests. The forest was too...vibrant.

Beah thought he’d been long been desensitised with everything that had happened, but the beauty of the rainforest did not fail to take his breath away. Tiny flowers grew in great blanketing swaths on the ground. Large, drooping pink blossoms hung from trees, like bundles of grapes, flowers practically growing on top of one another in a large cluster. Brown squirrels scuttled from branch to branch, picking fruit and storing nuts.

Even the insects seemed to be different. Beah quickened his pace.

It was uncomfortable. The sights of the forest were pretty to peer at, but the garish, unnatural colours were quickly wearing off him. The forests he had been in before were less unnatural, more green. If anything, the bright colours of the forest seemed to send out dangerous vibes.

Beah had hunted for any traces of the jeep he'd fallen from when it tumbled down the cliff, to no avail. He'd searched around the area where he'd fallen thoroughly, but the jeep had vanished, along with its driver. The jeep should not have crashed that far away from him.

He'd been walking in the direction of flowing water for almost 30 minutes now, but the sound of flowing water seemed just as distant as when he'd first heard it. It was spooky.

Beah pulled up the torn parts of his shirt, wrapping it tighter around his body. The enervating heat of the jungle was dizzying. Bloodsuckers had started to attack his skin through the torn fabric of his clothes greedily. His arms and legs were clammy from the high humidity. Beah licked his dry lips.

He did want to see his own face for himself, but more importantly, the river was a clean source of potable water. Although he desperately wanted to know what had happened to him, his life took precedence.

Beah continued at a steady clip, moving through the forest. If he passed out before he reached any water source, his new appearance would be the least of his worries.

Another ten minutes of walking saw him the end of the jungle. Beah jogged towards it. Sunlight burst from above as he emerged from the treeline, entering a small clearing with a brook. Clear water trickled quietly down the pebbled riverbed, the occasional twig or fruit bobbing down its waters.

Never had Beah been happier to see a brook. Crouching by the bank, he cupped water in his hands and began to drink greedily. Although he would not get a reflection from the swift waters here, Beah reckoned the waters would be gentler upstream—

His skin prickled with danger. Spitting out the water, Beah rose as he drew his knife. Something tackled him a second later, throwing him into the stream.

Beah got to his feet, cold water dripping off him as he stood in the shallow water. Even with his short stature, the water was knee-length at best. He'd managed to get a cut on whatever had attacked him earlier.

Beah could barely make out the creature—a blur of brown—through the water in his eyes. He reversed his grip on the knife as the creature barreled towards him with alarming speed. In a fluid motion, he rammed the blade of the knife into it.

The creature howled, clearly surprised by Beah’s accuracy.

Screeching in pain, it writhed about, kicking itself off Beah’s hand and taking his knife along with it.

The creature splashed into the water. Beah yelped in surprise, scanning the water to find it.

Had it been swept away by the river currents? Beah bit his lips anxiously. The knife as important as his limb in a jungle.

A movement at the corner of his eye caught his attention. A furry quadruped, a critter of sorts—pawed away at the leafy ground desperately as it struggled to escape.

Beah sloshed through the water and stepped onto dry land. He plodded towards the animal, examining it warily.

It was a rabbit.

Beah blinked. Were rabbits that aggressive? Last time he remembered, they nibbled on foliage and were prime hunting game. Beah moved forward for a closer look, noting its unusually sharp teeth.

8 inches of serrated steel had perforated its side, the heavy knife pinning it to the ground. It was quickly bleeding out. Beah looked on in morbid curiosity as the rabbit quivered, muscles spasming as it thrashed about in its dying breaths. Blood stained the grass.

A final twitch and the rabbit stilled. Beah extracted the knife with difficulty.

[You have leveled up. All attributes +2.

Name: Beah

Attributes:
HP: 50+2
MP: 0+2
ATK: 20+2
DEF: 10+2
AGI: 15+2
INT: 16+2

Skills:
Knife mastery: Intermediate
Combat specialist: Intermediate]

Beah whipped his head around, startled.