A Place Called the Sanctuary

Humble Little Wooden Shack

In the outskirts of a small village lies a dense and thick forest. And in that forest, the sounds of the running river and the chirping birds reached the ears of a boy who laid unconscious on the grassy dirt under him, with the sunlight above, peering through the trees that surrounded him.

He laid there by himself, his entire body remaining motionless, the clouds hovering above him, with each one varying in size and density, passing by him with each second that passed. But eventually his mind turned on, as if something flicked a mental switch inside of him.

He opened his eyes, only to be met with the blinding daylight in front of him, causing him to immediately close his eyes out of fear of losing his vision. He turned his head to the side, with his pale cheek meeting with the blades of grass. They're kind of itchy but they were also strangely soft.

The air around him pushed against his pale skin, while swaying on his auburn mop of hair on top of his head. He opened his mouth to try to say something, but he lacked the strength to do so. His nostrils sucked up any air around him, with the air itself feeling refreshing, as if it filtered by something.

The more the boy laid on the ground, the more strength he regained, and with that strength, he regained his ability to think, as if it was his first time to use his brain to do anything since his birth.

"W-What?" the boy thought to himself, his form moving an inch every second.

"Where am I?" he opened his eyes as he adjusted to the light shining upon him.

"Why do I feel so exhausted?" his arms and legs curled and stretched.

"Didn't I die?" he said as he stood up from the ground.

"Is this Heaven?" he peered at the luscious trees before him.

Confusion swirled around the head of the boy as he fully stretched every inch of his joints. His blood was regaining circulation, his heart beating at normal consistent pace, his eyes blinking as he tried to get accustomed to the environment around him.

Without asking anymore questions to himself, he continued to look at the scenery around him... Breathtaking. That was the only word he could think of to describe the area around him, it was truly a beautiful sight, something out of a dream even.

The sight of the fully grown trees in front of him dazzled the amber-colored eyes of the boy, with the light reflecting off the glistening river he awoke right next to, and the sound of the running water of said river carried the feeling of harmony.

"Man.. This place is beautiful" he said to himself as he kept on with his gazing "but... where the hell am I?".

The boy never really knew what the sight of a lush-green forest looked liked, as he lived most of his life on an urban part of his country. With the towers of steel and glass towering over him in his daily life. Of course, he knew what a forest was, but the innate feeling of looking at something in person rather than looking at it in a picture still affected him.

"How did I even get here? Last time I remember, I got hit in the head by a piece of debris during a sudden earthquake" the boy recalled how his life abruptly ended "I must be in Heaven then" he concluded to himself as both of his feet started to aimlessly wander through the woods.

"Dammit! What a flacid way to die" he hung his head low as his eyes were met with the gray, zipped up jacket he wore, and the gray pants he also frequently wore, with the last article of clothing worthy of taking note off was his red rubber shoes.

The boy carried on with his search throughout the woods, with the scenery around him barely changing, and the sunlight above him continued to hang around his head, with the only thing accompanying him was the sounds of his rubber shoes pushing themselves off the ground and the running river right next to him.