"Arghhhh..." Yin Xiu groaned as his eyes creaked open to the blinding light that came through the outside of the hole he had crawled into. He winced, as his eyes slowly adjusted and he got his first real bearings since his mad dash for life. He glanced down at his robe that seemed stuck to his skin with sweat peeling it off with a grimace. The sticky feeling was extremely unpleasant and he almost felt suffocated.
"It seems like I ran all the way into one of the deeper summer areas." He cautiously poked his head out of the hole and observed the abundant life that seemed almost too harmonious after his harrowing experience the night before. Birds were chirping, the sun was shining and if he wasn't stark naked in the middle of nowhere he might have enjoyed the atmosphere.
"I wonder if anyone else escaped that thing." he shivered imagining the fate of his fellow travelers especially since their only guards were ripped apart without any resistance.
'It's not likely.' He shook his head at the thought. He wasn't particularly close with any of the others on the trip. At most they were strangers who met on the road if anything. Their tragic endings still pricked his conscience however.
"Well the real priority right now is me. If I don't make some plans I probably won't be alive much longer than them." He quickly gathered his thoughts and the first thing that glaringly needed to be addressed was the burning sensation of his chapped throat. His mouth and throat were so dry that every breath seemed more like a wheeze from a dying beast than a human.
'Hopefully there is some water nearby.' He crawled fully out of his sanctuary and hung his soaked robe onto a low hanging tree limb nearby.
'This will be useful, I need this thing to dry, and it'll help me re-find my hiding spot here if I get confused.' He looked appraisingly at his originally pure white robe, which was now covered in dirt and grass stains.
'I should be able to pick it out fairly easily.' he nodded to himself, and cautiously started walking in a random direction using a somewhat sharp rock to mark trees as he passed.
After an hour or so of painstakingly sneaking around, he heard the sound of bubbling water, holding onto his last bit of reason Yin Xiu slowly peaked through the gaps in the leaves. He observed the small stream for a few minutes while holding his breath.
He didn't dare to continue forward as he saw a four foot long viper was basking on a rock right beside the water. The predator was covered in mainly sand colored scales with dark red diamond patterns appearing all the way down its body.
'I'm so glad I was cautious!' he thought to himself with cold sweat appearing on his back as he stopped moving, waiting nervously for the viper to move away from the area.
Two hours later the sun was obscured by a passing cloud and the viper finally slid off extremely quickly into the underbrush. Its speed was glaringly faster than a normal animal.
'It really was a spirit beast!' Yin Xiu was once again thankful for not trying to push his luck. He waited without moving for another ten minutes before he moved as quickly as possible towards the stream. His stiff muscles creaking as he did so.
The clear blue water entered his vision then he forcefully dunked his head into the stream gulping down as much liquid as he could. After a few seconds he finally resurfaced his head and heaved in air. His aching head and sore throat finally feeling slightly better as liquid finally entered his body.
"This stream was truly a gift from the heavens." He sighed contentedly. He slipped himself in the water to remove the grime covering himself and finally caught a glimpse of his state in the reflection of the water. His dark brown eyes were bloodshot from his still recovering dehydration and his long black hair had long since fallen out of its binding and was filled with sticks and leaves. His tall and thin frame covered with scratches from his haphazard run through the dense forest.
'I've never looked worse in my life.' He swore to himself that the first thing he'd do if he escaped the forest was to take a real bath.
He sniffed and grimaced 'I've never smelled worse either.' His face morphed once again in pain as he started removing the sticks from his hair while simultaneously ripping out small chunks.
After finally cleaning up as much as he could he shifted his priorities back to survival. 'I need to find something to hold water to take with me.' He searched around the stream until he came across a grove of bamboo. He snapped off the top of a stalk and used a sharp stone to make a simple enough container that could hold a decent amount of water. He then fitted a stone into the open end to prevent as much leaking from the makeshift bottle as possible while he carried it through the forest with him.
Then noticing a few freshly growing bamboo shoots, he dug them out while planning on eating them later.
As Yin Xiu left the area near the stream, unbeknownst to him, a pair of yellow eyes followed his every move with a hint of playfulness. Unhurriedly, the figure stood up and followed Yin Xiu.
'I've never seen a human so closely before...' The owner of the eyes thought with extreme interest while walking behind Yin Xiu as silently as a shadow.
'Now comes finding some more food,' after an hour or so of digging around he grimaced as he looked at his hands holding some crickets as his only real option to accompany the bamboo shoots.
'I could risk eating some other plants, but I don't have a clue as to what's safe or not.' Shaking his head he brooded over his next steps before deciding he should return to his tree hole, and rest. His hunched back steadily made his way back to his hiding spot. Still oblivious to the creature watching his every move.
When he finally arrived the sun was about to slip below the horizon. He curled up in the hole and let his still exhausted body try and recover as he slipped into unconsciousness.
A shadowy figure climbed up into the upper branches of the same tree with an aura of grace and agility. Eagerly anticipating what his new favorite toy would do next.
When Yin Xiu woke up the air had cooled, and the only light came from the moon high in the sky. It was looking down on the world like an immortal watching the mortals struggle from up high. He stared at the sky for a while in a daze.
'My dream was to become a renowned cultivator, but maybe I won't even make it out of this forest...' He mused for a while before mulling over his options while waiting for the sun to rise again. His stomach, however, made up his mind for him as it ached from his only meal being a handful of crickets and a few bamboo shoots.
'I'm going to have to risk eating some other plants. If I don't I doubt I'll make it very far anyway.' Yin Xiu gritted his teeth, and got up as the first rays of dawn started brightening his surroundings.
Walking in a different direction than the way he went the day before to find the stream, he started gathering any plant he could find that seemed the slightest bit appetizing. A few hours later he glared at the meager supply of berries and stems he'd spent the past two hours gathering.
"This won't even fill the gap between my teeth." He muttered dejectedly. Just as he was about to turn around and head back to his tree hole. The breeze blew from behind him carrying an irresistible scent to his nose. It was sickeningly sweet, like a mixture of hundreds of flowers. So intense that it was overwhelming. It smelled so beautiful... and so... wrong.
At the same time the figure that was debating whether or not to make a move, was stunned. Their yellow eyes narrowing into slits, as they turned and dashed off as quickly as possible. Determined to flee the area no matter the cost.
Yin Xiu's hands trembled as he slowly turned in the direction that the wind came from, his eyes glazing over, as a manic expression of desire warped his face. Not noticing the commotion his stalker had made upon their exit. All the berries he had carried before were thoughtlessly dropped, as he unconsciously followed the breeze.
Stumbling through the low hanging tree branches, tripping over exposed tree roots. Yin Xiu was oblivious to anything and everything as the scent fogged over any kind of distracting thoughts, any feelings of pain, and any sense of danger.
The closer he grew to the source of his intoxication the sweeter the air became, and he struggled to gulp down the saliva that kept inadvertently filling his mouth. Finally the trees thinned, and Yin Xiu found himself in a clearing that seemed extremely out of place.
A bone-white tree stood alone in the middle of the clearing, with any trees on the outer edges leaning in the opposite direction, as if instinctually avoiding the area as much as possible. Its leaves were a rich shade of purple, interspersed with red flowers, and blood red fruits.
The air was heavy, and seemed to be filled with an overwhelming sense of uneasiness. No birds sang, no insects chirped, it was dead silent. As Yin Xiu took steps closer and closer to the tree unaware of the beast and human bones he was kicking aside and stepping on all the way to the trunk of the tree.
His hand slowly plucked a fruit the size of a ripe plum and dazedly raised it to his mouth. His hands trembling as his subconscious mind was fighting to let go urgently. To leave this place and survive, but in the end he took a big bite of the fruit, swallowed, and released a blood-curdling scream.