0 0 1 ━ [ 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘰𝘯 ]

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝟸𝟿: 𝙿𝚘𝚕𝚔𝚊 𝙳𝚘𝚝 𝙳𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜

One was out hacking wood to build a fire when she felt it. She set the axe down against the stump she was working on. A strange breeze caressed the back of her neck and ruffled her hair. One turned to meet it and was surprised to see something she hadn't seen in a long time.

A portal.

Through the portal laid more of the dark, barren wasteland that she was used to. Where it went and why it appeared, she had no idea. She wasn't even sure that she was the one to have opened it. She stood, perplexed by its existence, for several minutes as she tried to determine what to do.

She had been fairly content in her cabin in the woods. She had minimal run-ins with monsters. At the worst, she had barricaded herself inside the cabin while a pack of dog-like monsters attacked. But something deep down told her that it was time to move on to somewhere else. Somewhere through that portal.

One cautiously approached the portal and tried to peer through it. From what she could see, it looked fairly similar to her current surroundings: dark, ashen, lots of trees. But something else caught her eye...a sign.

Some sort of black vine had grown around the sign and covered most of the words. The only letters One could make out were "C-O-M-E". It almost felt like a deliberate invitation. Her curiosity got the better of her and she climbed through the portal.

One drew the rusty pocket knife she had found in the cabin from her pocket as she approached the sign. She lifted a vine, which hissed in her grasp, and was about to cut it when she instinctively turned back towards the portal. It was gone.

Dammit, how could she be so stupid? Her backpack and supplies were back in the cabin and now she was fuck know's where with no safe haven and it was getting dark. Howls from packs of monster-dogs filled the air to signal the beginning of their nightly hunt.

If One didn't get out of there she was screwed. She could see a town beneath the winding road that she was standing on, but the howls were closer to her than she was to any of the buildings. She needed to get back to the cabin.