First Day in the Everfree
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The Nature of Man.

First Day in the Everfree

Marcus' POV

As my consciousness starts to return to me, I take note of a few things, first off, my head is pounding, and secondly, I appear to be laying on a patch of grass. The first mystery isn't much of a mystery, I remember going out to meet up with some coworkers at a bar. A night out drinking, if overdone, is known to cause hangovers, and from how my head feels, I most certainly did go overboard. However, as I force myself to sit up and look at my surroundings, it is my second observation that confuses me.

I am sitting in a small clearing in a heavily forested area. The trees around me are old, gnarled, and tightly packed together, grown in the small spaces between them are thick bristly bushes, and then there's the canopy, besides the small opening of clearing, it almost completely blocks out the bright rays of the sun, casting the whole forest in dark shadows. The entire forest is oddly quiet too, with only the occasional echoing bird call or chittering of a small creature breaking the silence. What is, perhaps, a bit more important, is the lack of trails or paths leading away from the clearing, and the slight chill in the air. A slight breeze blows through the entire area, softly swaying the tall grasses and tree branches, as it sends a small shiver down my spine.

Raising a hand to my aching head, I sigh. "How the hell did I end up in the middle of the woods? I was drinking close to the center of the city, and last I remember I...". Struggling to recall the previous night through the headache, a name comes to the forefront of my mind. "...met Discord.". And as if summoned by the name, the other memories of the night before rush back to me, and an angry snarl tears itself free from my throat. I quickly try to get to my feet.

However, my foot catches on something and I instead land face-first in the dirt.

The sudden jolt of pain brings a bit of clarity back to my mind, and I mutter a few curses to myself before rolling over and checking for my phone. After tipping out both my pockets yields nothing, I pat the rest of myself down and find that, not only do I not have my phone, but I'm also missing my wallet, keys, pocket knife, and my gun. All I've got on me is my dark cotton-duck jacket, my gray T-shirt, my blue jeans, and my leather boots.

"Fan-fucking-tastic.". I let out a tired groan, mostly at my own stupidity, before I sit up, again. Looking to see what I tripped over just a moment ago, I let out an irritated huff. "I get drugged by some freak in a suit, dumped in the middle of god-knows-where, and I just tripped over a fucking toolbox.", a few seconds pass before I let out a small huff of air. "...and why the hell is there even a toolbox out here with me?".

I sit and stare at the black rectangular box for a few moments, 'The fucker who brought me out here must've left it, but why?', I think to myself, before slowly reaching out and beginning to open the box. Flipping up the two small latches, I gently pry open the box, weary of something springing or flying out.

I snort. The inside is empty.

"Of course it's empty." I let out another tired sigh before I grumble to myself. "When I find Discord, I'm going to break his fucking knees and then beat the shit out of him.". I sit for a few more moments in silence before shaking my head. "I really need to get my shit together and get moving. I don't want to be out here any longer than I have to, ...wherever here is.". Shooting the toolbox a look, I mutter a soft 'whatever' before standing up, picking up the toolbox, and choosing a direction. 'What kind of trees are these anyway? They almost look like Oak, if Oak was darker and had willow-like leaves.'

This day was already pretty high on my list of shittest days, but it moves up a few notches on the list as I find myself staring at a wolf made out of wood. Not a statute, but a real, and very angry, wolf. How do you ask? Well...

I was pushing through the thickets, which did have thorns but thanks to my jacket and jeans they were only a minor issue, when I came across a small clearing, and, upon entering the small clearing, I noticed that there were several moderately large piles of twigs, branches, and other small pieces of wood. My first reaction was one of relief, I didn't know of any animal that piled up wood like this and it clearly looked purposeful, so I thought somebody had to have made these piles for a reason. Then, as I moved deeper into the clearing, the piles of wood debris started to move, the pile I happened to be looking at seemed to flow, almost like water, as it began to rise, forming four legs, then a body, then a tail, and finally an angry, snarling, head.

And that's how I ended up in a staring contest with such a strange-looking wolf.

The big wolf's eyes glow a sickly shade of green that dimly illuminates the shadows cast by the trees around us, and a brief glance around reveals four move of the bastards. If the one in front of me is as big as a Great Dane, then the four surrounding me are the size of German Shepards, but the size isn't the only thing different about the big one, the Alpha (assumedly) is also made up of darker, practically blackened, wood, it's made of thick branches instead of twigs and sticks, and its eyes glow noticeably brighter than the other four.

After another few moments of sizing me up, the Alpha lets out a loud, bone-chilling howl and then all five wolves begin growling, it's a deep echoing sound that sends adrenaline running through my viens and makes my hair stand up, though, these are only things I vaguely note, as my mind is elsewhere.

'This doesn't make any fucking SENSE!'.

I'm not proud of it, but as my head struggles to understand what just happened, I, for the first time in a long time, freeze in shock. I'm so stupefied that I'm caught completely off guard when a pair of the smaller wolves attack.

One lunges forward and latches its jaws around my ankle, while the other leaps towards me, and, mostly due to instinct, I wrench my arm up into the pathway of the wolf's jaw so that the teeth sink into my arm and not my jugular. The force of the wolf's impact sends me toppling backward, and as I land on my ass the wolf on top of me begins to violently shake its head back and forth, trying to rip my arm off. At some point during my fall, I dropped the toolbox, and my free hand snaps down to grab my nonexistent sidearm and I nearly pause to mentally slap myself, and feel a growl of irritation rumbling in the back of my throat. My moment of distraction is almost enough for another wolf to bite down on my free arm, but as I feel the points of its teeth begin to close in around my hand, I yank my arm away and pull my hand clear of the creature's thorny maw. Sending a quick glare at the one that tried to bite my hand, my attention is pulled back to the wolf on top of me as the canine bites down harder and my arm begins to feel like it's caught in an industrial press with teeth, and with a yell, I slam my free hand, as hard as I can, into the head of the wolf on top of me, and once again, I'm stupified.

I watch as my fist slams into the creature's skull, and then throught it, crumpling the creature's skull like wet cardboard. For a moment, time seems to freeze, but the sickly green light in the creature's eyes dims and its body falls back into loose sticks and twigs, more of the sap-like fluid leaking out from the remains of the creature's head, and the pressure on my forearm is released. During this, I faintly notice that the pressure around my ankle is lessened too. A glance around me shows the other wolves have paused, and the one biting my leg is staring at the pile of wood on top of me, and my eyes snap to the Alpha's own illuminated pair.

Meeting my gaze, the Alpha lets out a bark not a half-second later, but it's too late, I'm already moving. I yank my leg free of the wolf on my ankle's loosened bite, roll away, and get to my feet as quick as I can. However, by the time I'm back on my feet one of the wolves is already leaping at me again, but this time I'm anticipating it, I slip into a low stance, and at the last second, before the wolf reaches me, my arms flash out and catch the creature under its front legs, and roll it over my shoulder and into the tree behind me. (A part of my mind notes just how surprisingly light the creature is. Despite it being the size of a medium dog and being made out of wood, it feels like I'm throwing a large pillow) I hear a thud and a whine as I spin around before raising my boot-clad foot and stomping down on the dazed wolf's head, crushing it into mulch. The glow of this one's eyes similarly dims before its body returns to loose sticks, but I don't watch the whole process as I return my eyes to the remaining three wolves and see them moving to encircle me.

Jumping to the side, I just barely manage to dodge out of the way of another leap but as the wolf lands, I launch a kick into its ribs. My kick sends the wolf flying, not unlike a football, and into the treeline. This time, I don't let the oddity of the action distract me and immediately turn back to face the Alpha. It lets out a sharp bark and lunges towards me, but this time instead of letting the wolf come to me, I charge and meet its lunge with a leaping tackle of my own, and in the half a second before we collide, I lock eyes with the Alpha and I see some flash of emotion in the creature's eyes, but not long enough to identify what before we're both on the ground.

Once on the ground, the Alpha and I begin to wrestle, and I find out the creature is much stronger than its kin, I'm stronger but the damn thing is like a snake in how it writhes, and manages to get out of all of my attempts at pinning it down. With an angry yell, I manage to grab the Alpha by its forelegs pick it up off the ground, and slam it back down with full force. Its head meets the ground first and the creature is dazed if only momentary. 'Finally!'

I take the opportunity to begin winding back my arm when the remaining wolf decides to interfere. The wolf latches on to my arm with its teeth and then pulls it back, and I'm forced to fight to free my arm. While I'm busy with the other wolf, the Alpha takes advantage of my distraction, and pushes out from under me. It's on its feet before I can even blink. I pry open the jaw of the wolf biting my arm with my free hand and as I turn my attention back to the Alpha, I see its wide-open jaws coming straight toward my face. Immediately, I bring my hands up in front of my face as I try to dodge, but I react just a tad too late and it seems that the Alpha's teeth will connect. However, I manage to catch the wolf's open maw with my hands at the last possible second, and as the wooden teeth dig into my fleshy fingers, I begin to pull. A groan of exertion works its way free from my mouth as I feel the muscles in my upper body strain against the powerful jowls of the creature on top of me.

I'm so focused on keeping the Alpha's teeth away from my body, that I almost miss the slight creak sound that comes from the jaw of the angry wolf on top of me.

Almost.

The Alpha's growls begin to desperate and are slowly replaced with pained whimpers, as a sound, like that of a falling tree, begins to emanate from the large canine's jaw, and as the sound of splintering wood fills my ears, a vigor, like that of a starving man given a feast, fills me and I pull harder and harder. The muscles in my arms strain so hard I feel like they might snap, like a rope pulled too tight, at any moment but then suddenly, with a thunderous snap, the Alpha's lower jaw is ripped from the creature's skull, and in the next moment a distorted howl of pain fills the air, it's an otherworldly and hellish sound that sends a full body shiver through me and causes my hair to stand on edge.

As the Alpha writhes and thrashes around, I take the chance to push it off me and onto the forest floor before standing up. A quick look around the clearing tells me that I'm alone with the Alpha. 'The last wolf must've run off.' I notice that as the Alpha is dying, its body begins to lose cohesion. It's difficult to describe, but the individual branches that make up the Alpha's body are shaking as they seem to fight to stay in place and a dark green ichor, similar yet more viscous than the sappy substance from the other wolves, leaks from the area where the creature's jaw was previously. Seconds pass and the creature's glowing eyes begin to dim, its trashing grows weaker, and the pool of the murky green sap around its head grows larger until the creature finally stills, the light of its eyes goes out, and its body falls back into individual pieces of wood.

With the creature finally dead, I start to calm and as I begin to come down from the high of my adrenaline rush, the force of my injuries hit me and I wince. Upon inspecting my injuries though, I'm shocked. "I'm not...? I should be... I, I...". My hands are cut up and bleeding pretty badly, but the cuts are skin deep and only barely cut into the muscle beneath. Though, what surprises me the most, is that my hands are the only place where the wolves drew blood. My lower right pant leg and leather boot are shredded, but my skin has no lacerations, and only a red outline of where the wolf's teeth were. On my left arm, the one that I blocked the first wolf with, I can feel that it's bruised and long lines of scratched skin run up and down my forearm, but there's no blood, and my arm isn't shredded like it should be, but my jacket is now missing a sleeve.

I let out a long-suffering sigh as I nearly collapse to my knees. "...what the FUCK IS GOING ON?!". My shouted question breaks the now eeire quiet of the forest, and my only response is my own faint echo and the swaying of the surrounding trees. My eyes are drawn to the several piles of wood that were just attacking me, and I'm half convinced that I've been drugged or poisoned or something. How else can I explain what just happened?! But no, I'm reminded by a spike of pain as I curl my cut up hands into fists, what just happened was no figment of a fantasy, it was real. The words of my drinking partner from the night before return to the forefront of my mind.

'...ask you to come with me back to my world...'

'...from the world of Equus...'

'...bring someone else to Equus...'

'...go on an adventure in another Universe...'

'...unexpected side effects...'

'...there's no coming back...'

As my last conversion with the strangely dressed individual plays back through my mind, the visage of a chimera fills my head, something I originally thought a drunken misconception is now possibly real. A pool of dread, and other emotions I don't care to identitfy, wells up in my gut, and my breath begins to grow ragged, but before a fit of hysteria can truely begin to take root, I take a long and deep inhale while fighting for control of the emotions growing in my gut and then a long exhale releasing them and calming myself, then as I open my eyes, I catch a brief glimpse of the sun starting to near the horizon. "I can have a panic attack later, right now I need to...".

I trail off as I watch the sun suddenly accelerate below the horizon, and the moon rapidly rise to take its place, a moon with a silhouette of a unicorn plastered across it.

'...what?'

What seems like hours pass as I just sit and stare at the moon, with only a single thought running through my head.

'I'm on another world, I'm on another world'

Everything I've ever known is gone.

On earth, I had no-one, no wife, no children, I didn't even have a pet. All of my friends were either six feet under or halfway across the globe fighting in a war, the people I interacted with on a daily basis were mild acquaintances at best and at worst, made me wish I was back on the frontlines, but at the same time, it was my home. The U.S., and the planet in general, wasn't perfect, not by a long shot, but it was still my country, I'd made a life there, not the best life, but it was mine, and no-one could take it from me. Or so I thought.

And it's all gone.

My house, my car, the pictures of my friends and family who were long gone, my favorite blanket, the first gun that my dad gave me, and even those expensive plastic minifigures I used to collect and paint, were gone. Every last thing I'd ever owned, known, or seen, was gone.

'...and I don't know how I feel about it.'

My thoughts are interrupted by a distance howling, and my head snaps toward the direction of the source before I raise a hand and rub my face, avoiding the freshly blood-crusted cuts on my hands.

"...what the hell am I doing right now? I can sort my shit out when I'm not in the middle of a fucking dark forest, filled with god knows what."

Standing up, I shoot a glance down at my hands. 'I need to tend to those injuries sooner rather than later.'. I cast my gaze around the area looking for the toolbox I woke up with. As I do, another thing Discord said comes back to my mind and a frown works its way across my face. "I fucking swear, how the hell he considers a damn toolbox a boon, I'll never know. I'll just add it to the of for another thing I'm going to beat him for.".

As I'm looking around the clearing I notice a very faint glow coming from within the pile of wood that was once the Alpha's head, it reminds me of the glow from the wooden wolves' eyes, and I'm immediately on edge, my eyes glued to the pile, but, after a minute of stillness, and as I realize that the pile isn't going to move, my curiosity begins to outweigh my cation and I cautiously approach the pile of wood. Kneeling down next to the pile, I begin to carefully sift through the almost pitch-black branches, and what I find at the center of the pile is straight out of a video game. It looks like a gnarled and twisted piece of a tree root, but it dimly, to the point that it's almost not there at all, glows, and stranger still, the glow seems to fade in and out, pulsing at a steady pace.

Slowly, I gently and carefully reach out to pick up the strange thing, but as my hand is over top of it, a drop of blood, from a reopened cut, falls from my hand and onto the glowing root. The glowing root flashes brightly, and I rear back, looking between my hand and the object. 'Did coming here make me retarded, or am I just that stupid? You don't go around touching strange glowing objects! For Fuck's Sake! Especially not with a bunch of fresh cuts on your hands.'. A sigh works its way across my lips.

"....If I just cursed myself, I'm going to break something."

Grumbling to myself, I turn away from the weird and clearly magical object, but as I go to stand up I feel a slight pull back towards the root. Turning back toward the root, I narrow my eyes and look closer at it before picking up a stick and then gently prodding it, and eventually flipping it over. After finishing my inspection of the magical piece of wood and finding nothing out of the ordinary, not that I would know if something was, I set my stick down and then turn to leave again only to once more feel the slight pull towards the mystical object.

'My first day in another world and I've already established some sort of connection with an almost certainly cursed magic item. Great going me. Fine, I'll take the damn root, if only so I can hopefully figure out what the hell it is and how to undo whatever connection I've gained to it.'

Silently I grab the glowing root from the pile before inspecting it once again. Once I pick it up, the glow from the root seems brighter, if only slightly, and the color changes too. It goes from a sickly green, like the eyes of the stick wolves, to a softer, more luscious, green, and it's warm too, but before I can react, that warmth quickly spreads into my hand, then up my arm, and then, across my entire body, down to my feet. It's a very pleasant feeling, like sinking into a warm hot spring on a chilly day, the feeling seems to build in the areas that'd been injured in the fight before I feel the aches and pains slowly disappear. After a few seconds, the feeling fades, and I then look at myself, my injuries from the fight are gone. My hands look like there were never any cuts there, and my bruised and sore muscles now feel like I just got out of a hot shower. The only evidence that I was even attacked is my missing jacket sleeve, torn pants leg, and partly shredded boot.

'So maybe not cursed...'.

The hooting of an owl draws my attention and I quickly shake my head. It's still nighttime, and magic-healing-maybe-not-cursed root or not, I don't want to get caught by more stick wolves, or something worse. I need to find shelter for the night. Standing up, I resume my search for my 'boon', the small toolbox. I find it under a few sticks next to a tree and brush off the dirt before picking it up and opening it, but as I set the Root inside, it disappears. I blink a few times and reach my hand back into the toolbox, feeling around the inside. "...and my magic healing root is gone. Wonderful-". As I say the words 'magic healing root', said missing object reappears inside the toolbox. Picking it back up, I inspect it for a moment. It's the same glowing piece of wood I just put in there. I think.

"Alright, well then."

I set the Magic Root back down in the box and it disappears again, but before I close the box, a thought pops into my head. If I summoned the Root by saying its name, then maybe there's already some other stuff in there too? That'd make more sense for a 'boon' at least.

"Map. A map would be nice." Nothing.

"Okay, something to eat then? Food and water." Again, nothing.

"My Gun.". Maybe I need to be more specific? "My Pistol, my M1911 .45 caliber pistol." Still nothing, and just to be sure it's still working I call back the root and it appears.

"Does this thing have anything else in it? A knife maybe?". Tink.

Looking back down into the toolbox I see a small whittling knife laying in the metal box and then it dawns on me. It's a toolbox, and I let out an exasperated sigh.

'A magic toolbox is a much better boon than an empty regular toolbox, but he could have at least left a damn note or something, the asshole.'. A note appears in the box.

'Here's that boon I promised you and since I know you're the D.I.Y. type, it's a toolbox with every single type of handheld tool from your world in it! Just think or say the tool's name and it'll appear. You can thank me later, but in the meantime cause some chaos for me! Ooh! Or maybe make me something, eh?
-Your Bestie and Drinking Buddy, Discord'

I can feel a vein throb on my forehead and my eye twitch as I read the note. Taking a deep breath, I close the lid to the toolbox, latch it shut, and grab the handle before I stand up, turn on my heel, and march out of the clearing.

It's been about an hour since I figured out that I have a magic toolbox and left that clearing, and I'm still marching through the thick underbrush of this, now pitch-black, forest. The temperature has dropped, from a cool summer's day to cold enough to make me shiver, and I still haven't found any good place to settle down for the night, and it's so dark that I can barely see five feet in front of my face.

'Wish I had a flashlight.'

As the thought pops into my head, I hear a light thud from my toolbox, and then nearly slap myself. 'I'm such a fucking idiot.' I open up my magic toolbox, and sure enough, five different types of flashlights are now laying in the toolbox. I let out a tired sigh as I pick one up. I give it a quick once-over before I push the button on the flashlight and then the forest in front of me is illuminated in bright white light. Smiling to myself I close my toolbox and begin to take a step forward when I notice a slight opening in the bushes to my right, which was previously hidden in the darkness. My curiousity peaked, I step over to the opening and push a few branches out of the way.

A large cave opening fills my vision

'This'll do.'

"Hammer." A claw, ball-peen, and an engineer's hammer appear.

"Screwdriver." Both flathead and Philips-head screwdrivers appear.

"Drill." An electric and a hand drill appear, along with dozens of bits.

I'm sitting by a small fire I'd made with the help of a lighter I'd gotten from the magic toolbox, though instead of a strictly toolbox, I'd found out that it was more of a general storage box. So far the box had taken everything I'd given it, rocks, sticks, leaves, even my shredded boot. It seems as long as I can fit the item into the box's opening, the box will store it with no change in weight or size, and now I was just testing to see what tools were in the box. When Discord said every type of handtool, he meant every single one. Old-school, modern, power, one-handed, two-handed, woodworking, arts and crafts, metalworking, and more! There are even welders! MIG, TIG, Stick, and Flux-core, though only the handheld parts of the welders appeared, but they have the flexible tube that usually connects to the actual machine running into the toolbox from the handles of the welding guns. It's astounding!

Eventually, though, I begin to grow bored of messing with my magic toolbox, and my need for sleep begins to grow. I yawn and reach over to the small pile of wood I collected before I settled down for the night, and pick up some of the larger bits of wood before using them to stoke the fire. Afterward, I lean back against the stone wall of the cave and glance down deeper into the cave.

'Hopefully I don't get attacked during the night, this cave seems empty, but it goes on farther than I'm willing to search right now. I don't think anything lives in here, otherwise, the entrance would have signs of regular passage.'

I reach out and grab the wood-cutting axe I pulled from my toolbox earlier and lay it down on the floor next to m, it's heavy and unbalanced but it's better than nothing. But as I'm preparing to go to sleep, a curiosity comes over me, and I reach over and, from the toolbox, I retrieve the strange magical root. I turn it over in my hands several times looking it over, memorizing every detail about the strange object, and pondering about it and this new world I find myself in. I don't even notice as my eyes close, and I drift off to sleep clutching the glowing root.

POV 3rd Person

It's hours later when the moon is at its zenith, the fire is naught but embers, and Marcus is quietly snoring in a deep slumber, that a large figure approaches, from deep within the cave. The figure is ursine in nature, through the general shape is the only thing this figure shares with the common bear. The figure's hide is made from stone and veins of glittering ore run across its stone hide, its eyes are a luminous shade of orange, like that of molten magma flowing deep underground, and its teeth and claws shine in what very little light is in the cave, made of hardened diamond. The figure stops at the remains of Marcus' fire and sniffs through the ashes, unaffected by the hot coals before it turns its attention to the slumbering man leaning against the wall.

The 'magic-healing root' as the slumbering man calls it, shines a deep luscious green as the ursine figure approaches.

The figure's eyes flash to match the color.

Author's Note

Hey, this took a little while longer than I expect it to take, but it's here. I hope you enjoyed reading. I'd appreciate it if you'd leave a like, comment, or both! I enjoy reading feedback and seeing the likes number grow gives my brain dopamine. Also, I still don't have a beta, (I probably should get one no?), so there's almost certainly errors, but I'll fix 'em as I see them or as they're pointed out to me. I'm looking into getting a beta though. Til next time.