[Boboiboy] Made by History

Into the Woods

So the story begins properly at last! Only took me a couple weeks...

Anyway- since the siblings are splitting up, this story will be split into several distinctive arcs, published in chronological order. As you can see, Duri is going first! (Sure hope I did him justice.)

Warnings: sound torture, collapse due to exhaustion, paralysis, fictional (hungry) carnivorous monster, near-death via fictional hungry carnivorous monster, master-slave relationships between creatures.

***

Barely fifty meters into Wenn Del, the Forests of Silence's entrance. Barely half an hour after he'd split from Taufan and Gopal. Barely started on his quest, and already Duri could sense that he was in big trouble.

It didn't take a genius to figure out. The glowing red eyes and high-pitched hums threatening to split his head in two were a dead giveaway.

Duri gritted his teeth and strode on, trying not to flinch at the pain. He was only at the edge of the First Wood – not even properly into the Forests yet – and he couldn't yield now. To fail this early would be to bring shame onto his family. No – to fail at all would be to doom his country; whether or not they were aware of it, everyone was counting on him to get the Topaz from whatever horrors were awaiting him in the Forests. He had to...

The humming grew louder and louder. He couldn't take it anymore, he–! Duri clasped his hands over his ears and ran wildly, desperate to escape the noise. He was barely aware of the hard ground under his feet, or his breaths coming in short bursts, or his heart beating so fast it was threatening to burst out of his chest. Just the humming, piercing his mind like a spear.

At last, his knees buckled and he fell to the ground in exhaustion.

The humming grew to an agonizing wail of triumph. Scuttling grey beasts began to emerge from the bushes, swarming him. And then Duri knew no more.

***

Poking and prodding. Stinging pains. Bony shoulders jostling him. Night turning to day turning to night. Humming...

Duri blinked awake to afternoon light filtering through a thick canopy. His muscles ached, his mouth felt like it was filled with cotton, and there was a faint ringing in his ears.

He was lying on a bed of dirt, ferns and dead leaves, with ancient branches swaying gently above him. Sunlight bathed the grove in a warm glow. It felt peaceful.

(The greatest evils hide behind a friendly mask.)

Duri tried to turn his head and get his bearings. And then he discovered that he could not move.

What?...

Suddenly wide awake, he tried his best to move his body. But beyond a twitch of his finger and the ability to speak, he was completely paralysed.

Panicking and very vividly remembering the horror stories he'd heard about the Forests, Duri cast his eyes around the canopy, hoping to spot something that might be of use. But there was nothing – nothing but green leaves, thick branches, red human eyes, hanging vines – huh??

Duri hurriedly backtracked his gaze. Over the edge of a branch, red eyes stared back.

"Uh," He said eloquently, because why was there a random teenage boy crouching on a tree branch in the Forests of Silence? "Who're you?"

The boy didn't answer, instead electing to swing and slide his way down to the forest floor with practiced ease. He landed with a soft thud beside Duri's immobile body.