The forest didn't change much no matter how far Subaru walked. Trees, endless trees, gnarled and ancient, their branches tangled like old spider webs. The air was thick with damp moss and the faint smell of pine, her boots squishing softly over the soil. Every now and then she'd stop to listen—maybe a river, a campfire, a monster grunt—but nothing came. Only her own breathing filled the silence.
She sighed, dragging her axe behind her, the blade cutting shallow trails through the dirt. "Nothing. Not even a stupid slime." Her voice echoed faintly, swallowed by the trees. "What kind of fantasy world doesn't even have tutorial mobs?"
Hunger gnawed faintly at her stomach. Her arms felt heavy. She considered sitting down but quickly shook the thought away. She'd been walking for what felt like hours—still no signs of people, roads, or even smoke. Not even animal prints.
"Great. I'm the main character of 'Lost: Forest Edition.'" She exhaled sharply, tilting her head back to glare at the foreign stars. "I swear, if this is some kind of purgatory, I'm suing someone."
She was about to drop onto a mossy rock and give up for a bit when something red flickered in her peripheral vision.
Her steps slowed.
There—between the roots of an old oak—lay a shape.
Her breath hitched. "...Wait."
A boy.
He was sprawled on the ground, face half-hidden by dirt and blood. His red hair glowed faintly under the moonlight, sticky with dried blood. His jacket—dark crimson with torn sleeves—was soaked through. He looked young, maybe her age, maybe younger. Black pants, heavy boots, and beside him, an axe.
An axe like hers.
"Oh crap…" Subaru's eyes widened. "No way. He must be—he must be the teammate of this body's original owner! Or… or maybe another victim of this cosmic joke."
She didn't waste time thinking. She rushed toward him, kneeling beside his body, the skirt brushing against mud and leaves. "Hey, hey! You're bleeding!" She paused and groaned. "Ugh, of course you're bleeding, what kind of dumb talk is that…"
Her eyes darted over him—no obvious bandages, no signs of life except the faint rise and fall of his chest. "Uh… right, healing! Every fantasy world has healing spells, right?" She lifted her hand above him dramatically. "Heal!"
Nothing happened.
"Okay, okay, maybe it's about conviction or something." She frowned harder. "Heal!"
Still nothing.
"Damn it!" Her voice cracked. "What kind of cheap system is this?! I can't even heal my own—"
She stopped when she heard a faint sound escape his lips.
Her head snapped down. "Huh? What are you saying?" She leaned closer, tilting her ear toward his mouth. "Come again? I can't hear—"
Shink.
Something cold sliced through the air by her neck.
Her breath caught.
For a second, the world seemed to lose gravity. The forest twisted. Her stomach floated. She was—weightless?
Her eyes fluttered open.
She was standing.
Still standing. A few meters away from where she had just knelt. The boy still lay there, bleeding, unmoving.
"What… what the hell?" she whispered. Her fingers brushed her neck instinctively—no blood, no cut. Just smooth skin and a faint chill.
Was that… a vision? A hallucination? Her heart pounded in her chest.
"Okay… okay, not freaking out again." She took a shaky breath. "Maybe I'm just tired. Yeah. That's it. Sleep deprivation and trauma equals—hallucinations. Great. Totally normal."
She gripped the axe tighter and stepped forward again. The boy hadn't moved. The same dirt, the same smell of blood.
She knelt, cautious this time, voice trembling but determined. "Hey, hey! You're bleeding… yeah, I know, déjà vu. Ugh, this feels way too familiar."
Her voice faltered. "Do I have healing powers? Heal! Still nothing? Okay, cool, game hates me."
She frowned and leaned closer once more, trying to catch whatever mumble came from his lips.
But this time, something shifted.
The boy's fingers twitched. His body stirred.
Her eyes widened as he suddenly crouched up, barely standing, blood dripping from his chin. In his trembling hand was his axe—raised, ready to strike.
"What the—hey! What are you doing?!" Subaru yelped, jumping back instinctively. She leaped a full meter—holy crap, she could jump like that?! Her boots skidded against dirt as she stumbled to steady herself.
The boy's eyes locked onto her. They were cloudy, half-mad, but full of hate.
"…demon…" he rasped, voice shredded from blood and rage. "Must… kill you…"
Subaru froze, staring, mouth dry.
What? Demon? Her?
Her grip on the axe tightened.
Was this… her first quest?
The boy lunged.
The boy's axe came whistling through the air—too fast, too sharp, too real. Subaru jerked her body back, feet tripping over the roots beneath her, the heavy swing missing her by a hair's breadth. Her new limbs felt wrong, heavy, clumsy. She wasn't used to the weight of the axe at her side, or the strength—or lack of it—within this body. Every movement was a second too slow, every breath too quick.
"Wait—wait—hold on—!" she shouted, raising her hands uselessly.
But then came the flash.
The world tilted. Something cold, impossibly thin, kissed the side of her neck—and before she even processed it, her vision lurched. The forest spun, trees bending sideways in a swirl of light and shadow. Her mouth moved, but no sound came out. Her vision dipped lower, lower… until she saw her own headless body stumble and collapse a few feet away, blood painting the snow beneath like crimson ink spilled from a broken bottle.
What the—?
Her mind screamed, but her voice had nowhere to go. There was no throat, no lungs—only a disembodied awareness fading, slipping. Her sight blurred into black mist.
That's my… body…? she thought numbly, watching her body's hand twitch once, twice, before it dissolved into a cloud of dark ether, scattering into the air like smoke pulled apart by the wind. The same black dust began creeping over her sight.
Her last thought before it swallowed her completely was—
Huh… I died? That's… bullshit.
And then—nothing.
When Subaru blinked again, she was standing. Her breath hitched. The trees were back. The air was crisp, cold. Her boots were half-sunk in the same patch of dirt she remembered standing on before.
And in front of her—
The boy.
Still lying on the ground. Still bleeding. Still half-conscious, his red jacket soaked through, his axe glinting beside him.
Subaru's breath came out in a shaky gasp. "What the hell…" She stumbled backward, clutching her chest. Her hands were trembling. She could feel her heartbeat again. "Did I… just… die?"
The forest gave no answer. Only the rustling wind, and the faint wet sound of the boy coughing up blood.
No, this wasn't right. This wasn't possible. There wasn't even time to think before she saw him push himself up again, weakly gripping his axe.
"Demons…" he croaked, blood running down his chin. His eyes burned with something raw and unreasoning. "You… must die."
Subaru froze, every part of her screaming to run—but her mouth moved faster than her legs.
"Hold on! Hold on! I wasn't even a demon a few hours ago! And—wait—don't tell me—you remember killing me?!"
He didn't answer. Didn't even hesitate. His stare was glassy, cold, like someone lost too deep in instinct to listen. The axe lifted.
"Oh come on—!"
She spun on her heel and bolted. Branches whipped past, leaves cracked underfoot. Her breaths came fast, sharp, ragged. The unfamiliar weight of her axe banged against her leg as she ran, almost tripping her. She swung it behind her wildly, not to hit him but to keep him away, flailing like someone swatting at a swarm of bees.
"Stay back! Stay the hell back! I swear I'll—uh—I'll do something dangerous!"
Her threats were pathetic, her footing worse. The forest blurred past—green, brown, black—then she heard it. A soft crunch behind her.
Too close.
She turned—and he was there.
Right in front of her.
The same dead eyes, the same expressionless glare. He raised the axe, his voice a low snarl.
"Your acting won't fool me."
She barely had time to scream before he finished,
"Die, faker."
The axe came down.
There was no pain, just a tearing flash. Her world split in two. She could see her own body coming apart, blood blooming like a grotesque flower across the white frost of the forest floor. Her mind went silent, the world went quiet, and her last thought—fleeting, absurd—was not again—
Darkness.
Then, a blink.
And she was back.
Standing.
Breathing.
The trees were still. The air was cold. The boy—still lying there.
Exactly the same.
Subaru's mouth fell open. "Oh, you've gotta be kidding me…"
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