Phillip remained frozen on his hands and knees with his arm stuck out in the air. He blinked once. He blinked twice.
"Are you serious right now?" Phillip yelled at the dark hole in the ground. "A water hole? Why is there a deep hole right there in the middle of nowhere? That knife was my best friend!"
He crawled over to the edge of the hole and stuck his head inside. It was pitch black down there. He reached his arm as far down into the hole as it would go but he could not feel anything except cold damp air.
"Come back knife!" Phillip whined into the darkness. "I promise I will never carve ugly wooden spoons with you ever again!"
Before Phillip could mourn his lost pocket knife any longer a giant heavy shadow fell over his back.
A low deep rumble vibrated through the ground beneath his knees.
Phillip slowly turned his head around.
Standing right behind him was the giant gray wolf. Its bright yellow eyes were glowing down at Phillip like two angry lamps.
Surrounding the wolf was the entire squad of green goblins and red eyed skeleton soldiers. They moved in fast and formed a super tight circle around Phillip. The skeletons held up their long wooden spears and pointed the sharp metal tips right at Phillip’s nose.
The monsters were standing shoulder to shoulder in a solid wall of teeth, bones, and wooden clubs. Phillip was totally trapped. He was cornered with his back against the deep dark hole.
"W-whoa whoa whoa!" Phillip said scrambling backward and holding both of his hands high up in the air. "Easy guys! Watch where you are pointing those sharp sticks! Somebody could lose an eye!"
The big gray wolf stepped forward until its wet black nose was practically touching Phillip’s forehead. Phillip could smell its terrible breath. It smelled like raw fish and old grass.
The wolf opened its big mouth and growled directly into Phillip’s face.
"GRRRRR BARK WOOF YIP BARK!" the wolf shouted loudly.
In the wolf’s mind it was saying "You are surrounded human trespasser! Stand down and surrender!"
To Phillip it just sounded like a gigantic loud dog yelling at a mailman.
Phillip tried to speak back in a gentle friendly tone while making slow peace hand gestures. "Look Mr. Doggy. I do not have any food on me. My bag ripped open. My shiny powder blew away. My knife fell into a puddle hole. I am literally having the worst day of my life. Can we please just sit down and talk about this like civilized people?"
A tiny green goblin pushed its way to the front and jabbed its wooden club toward Phillip’s chest.
"AKAKAK SUZUKIYA MITZUBISHIMA DOOBA!" the goblin squeaked angrily shaking its green head.
In the goblin’s mind it was saying "He is trying to use human trickery! Tie him up!"
Phillip stared at the goblin with a completely confused face. "What in the world does dooba mean? Are you ordering pizza? Is that a magic word? Why are you guys treating me like I am some kind of international super villain? I am literally eight years old and my pants are muddy!"
The red eyed skeleton soldier standing on his left clattered its jaw together loudly.
CLACK CLACK CLACK!
Phillip looked at the skeleton and frowned. "And you! Put some clothes on! You are just bare bones walking around in public! It is super distracting!"
The skeleton soldier just tilted its bare skull head and blinked its glowing red eye sockets.
Phillip realized that talking was completely useless. These monsters did not speak a word of human language and they clearly thought he was an evil criminal mastermind.
"Okay Phillip," Phillip whispered softly to himself, sweating profusely. "Think fast. You are small and fast. They are big and slow."
He looked around the tight circle of monsters. The giant wolf was way too big to jump over. The skeletons had sharp spears blocking the left side. But over on the right side two small goblins were standing next to each other.
There was a tiny gap between the two fat little goblins.
Phillip took a deep breath. He clenched his fists.
"HOLY COW LOOK OVER THERE! A GIANT FLYING CAT!" Phillip suddenly screamed pointing his finger high up into the tree branches.
The two goblins and even the giant wolf actually looked up into the trees for a split second trying to spot the giant flying cat.
That was all the opening Phillip needed.
"IDIOTS!" Phillip yelled at the top of his lungs.
He ducked down low to the ground and threw his entire body right into the gap between the two green goblins. His shoulders smashed straight into their soft green stomachs.
"OOF!" the two goblins squeaked as they lost their balance and tumbled backward onto the grass in a heap of arms and legs.
Phillip scrambled over their squishy green bodies, hit the open dirt trail, and started running for his life once again.
Behind him the giant gray wolf let out a loud furious howl that echoed across the entire forest.
"HOWLLLLLL!"
"AKAKAKAK!" the goblins shrieked scrambling back onto their feet in a panic.
"CLACK CLACK CLACK!" the red eyed skeletons clattered as they began stomping down the trail after him.
"The cat trick worked!" Phillip panted, running so fast his shoes were turning into a blur. "I cannot believe they actually looked for a flying cat! Monsters are so gullible!"
He ran blindly through the pitch black woods, ducking under low branches, hopping over rocks, and screaming randomly to keep himself awake and moving. The whole monster squad was right behind him, stomping through the bushes like an angry parade.
Phillip’s feet hurt, his lungs were burning, his knife was gone, his mana cores were gone, and he was still lost in the dark forest.
"I just wanted to find cool rocks!" Phillip cried out loud to the trees as he sprinted into the dark. "I am never going outside ever again!"
He kept running as fast as he could through the night, praying that he would somehow find a way out of this crazy nightmare forest before the giant yellow eyed wolf caught up to him.
Phillip slammed his right hand against the cold stone wall. He wiped sweat off his forehead with his sleeve and gasped for air. He looked up into the darkness.
The wall went up so high it seemed to touch the night sky. There were no foot holds anywhere on the surface. There were no cracks to put his toes in. It was just a smooth gray wall made of giant stone blocks that went on forever to the left and to the right.
"Damn it! Are you fucking serious right now?!" Phillip yelled at the wall, punching the hard stone gently. "Who built a random giant wall in the middle of a dark forest? That makes no sense at all!"
He turned around and leaned his back against the cold stone. His legs were shaking like wet noodles. He was completely out of breath from running for his life. His lungs felt like they were filled with hot dry sand.
He reached into his side pockets hoping to find something to defend himself with. His hands found nothing.
"I have literally nothing left," Phillip whimpered to himself, looking down at his empty hands. "If a small squirrel attacks me right now, I am completely finished."
Heavy footsteps echoed through the trees ahead of him. Leaves crunched loudly under heavy paws. Twigs snapped like little firecrackers.
Out of the dark shadows came the giant gray wolf with glowing yellow eyes. Right behind the wolf was a big group of ugly green goblins waving small wooden clubs and a squad of skeletal soldiers. The skeletons had bright red eyes shining inside their empty eye sockets.
The big gray wolf stopped ten feet away from Phillip. The wolf dropped his tongue out of his mouth and panted heavily, his big furry chest heaving up and down.
"Man, that little kid can really run," the wolf said out loud, catching his breath. He turned his head and looked back at a tiny green goblin who was limping far behind the rest of the group. "Gary, why were you so slow back there?"
"Because I have three inch legs, Look!" Gary the goblin complained, slapping his green knees in frustration. "You have four long legs and big furry paws. I have tiny stubby toes and a heavy wooden club. Be happy I even made it here without passing out!"
"My knee bone fell off back at the river," one of the red eyed skeleton soldiers said, tapping his empty knee socket with a bony finger. "Did anyone pick up my knee bone?"
"No one picked up your knee bone, Cris!" another skeleton soldier shouted, sounding super annoyed as his jaw bone rattled. "We are on a serious military mission to catch a human trespasser. Stop dropping your body parts everywhere in the woods!"
"I need my knee bone to walk straight!" Cris the skeleton whined, taking a shaky step. "Now I have a stupid limp! Every time I step, my hip bone clicks!"
Phillip stared at the group of monsters in front of him. Of course, Phillip could not understand a single word of this weird conversation. To Phillip’s ears, the whole scene was just terrifying, bloodthirsty nightmare sounds.