The woods were dark and the ground uneven, but Marcus ran as fast as he could. He didn’t know how he’d gotten here or what he was running from. All he knew was that something was coming; he could sense it, closing in on him from beyond the darkness. He couldn’t stop, not if he wanted to make it out of here alive.

Another root snagged his foot, nearly sending him tumbling down. Marcus forced his body to twist to the side, narrowly avoiding smashing face-first into a tree. He gasped for air as he pushed his burning muscles to their utmost limit. But, despite the pain and exhaustion, a single thought was all that occupied Marcus’s mind.

‘It’s gaining.’

He could sense it; unlike him, it wasn’t slowing down.

“Shit! Shit! Shit!”

Marcus started to panic. It was going to catch him for sure. Suddenly, the trees around him vanished. The change in scenery snapped Marcus back to reality, and he whirled around, quickly scanning his surroundings. He was in a clearing, a wall of trees forming a circle around him. Knowing he was running out of time, Marcus chose a random direction away from whatever was chasing him and dashed toward the treeline. Just as he was about to leave the clearing, a voice called out to him.

“Marcuuusss.”

He jumped back, his heart pounding wildly. The voice had come from just ahead of him. Slowly, he backed up, before turning around and sprinting in the opposite direction. But, right as he reached the other side of the clearing, it happened again.

“Marcuuss.”

The voice was coming from directly before him, only this time it was different; it sounded clearer, sharper, and closer… Marcus all but dove away from the treeline, scrambling to the center of the clearing. His mind was racing and his heart thumped noisily against his chest. The forest around him was dead silent—his raspy breath being the only thing he could hear.

“Marcus.”

A voice from behind sent him spinning around. As soon as his gaze locked on to where the voice had come from, another called out from his right, then to his left. It was as if the floodgates had opened—a deluge of voices called out to him from every direction, repeating nothing but his name.

“What do you want!”

He screamed with a mixture of fear and rage. No sooner had the words passed his lips than the voices fell silent. Marcus’s eyes darted about, looking for any sign of something approaching him, but there was nothing.

“Wake up.” Marcus doubled over in pain. The voice had returned, but it felt as though it was reverberating directly in his head. It was so much louder than before. “Wake up, Marcus.”

Marcus yelled in the hopes of drowning out the voice, but it was to no avail.

“Wake up! Marcus, wake up!”

***

Marcus sat up with a start. Panting, he looked around in a daze. Rather than a dark forest, he found himself sitting up in bed; the room was bright, filled with the first rays of the morning sun. Also, he wasn’t alone. Rei, his wife, sat in bed next to him.

“Bad dream?” she asked. “I tried waking you up when I noticed, but you were out like a rock.”

It was obvious, really, what with Marcus being drenched in sweat and panting. However, if she didn’t make the effort of asking, she knew he would never go out of his way to tell her about it.

“Nothing new, just a nightmare. I was running out in the forest at night again.”

He didn’t tell Rei that her trying to wake him had added to said nightmare, though. While the basis of the nightmares were always the same, each one had little differences, like Rei’s voice appearing in his latest one.

“I wonder what they mean, since they’re always the same. Could be a divine message~” Rei giggled as she spoke, her expression turning softer and less concerned. “I heard Old Man Raji had the same dream about finding an apple tree out in the woods. Said that after a month of it, he finally went out and retraced his steps, and found an apple tree in the exact same spot he’d dreamt it in.”

“Raji’s never gone further than his tail’s length into these woods. And an apple tree around here? As if.”

“Oh don’t be such a grouch. Just cause Raji says he forgot where the tree is after getting drunk doesn’t mean it didn’t happen! Besides, who better for the Gods to deliver a message to than him.” Rei snickered, trying to contain her laughter.

“At least he’s good with the village kids,” Marcus said. “Someone’s gotta keep them entertained, and Raji’s tall tales do the trick.” Marcus yawned, stretching his arm behind Rei and pulling her close. He caressed her hair, then began tracing his finger along one of her curved horns. “Besides, isn’t there something you’d rather do than talk about Raji?”

Rei smirked and jabbed her finger into his side. “Yeah, get out of bed and get to work. I know you promised the Chief that you’d clear more trees today, and you know how he gets when you’re late.” Rei craned her neck to kiss Marcus on the cheek. “Go grab a bucket of water from the river. I’ll roast some potatoes.”

***

“Mornin’ Chief!”

Marcus waved his hand toward the gruff-looking old man waiting for him in front of the largest building in the village, his arms crossed. This was the head of their little hamlet, Gren, though everyone just called him Chief. Despite the piercing glare he was getting, there was a visible pep in Marcus’s step. After dealing with the old grouch for so long, Marcus had come to enjoy their morning exchanges—in a sort of masochistic way.

“Yer late.”

“Am I Chief?” Marcus asked. “Guess the walk over here took longer than expected.”

The old man shifted his gaze from Marcus to the house behind him, Marcus’s house, which couldn’t have been more than 100 steps away.

“Don’t be late t’morrow.”

“Sure, sure. So, can I get started or are you gonna talk my ear off all morning?”

Gren let out a growl-like sigh, but didn’t protest any further. Instead, he grabbed the handle of an axe propped up against the wall of his house, offering it to Marcus.

“Same as last time, three trees. Anymore and the collectors’ll start wonderin’ where all the wood’s comin’ from.”

“Got it. I’ll drag them over here by noon.”

Marcus gave a little salute and started to walk away, but the sound of Gren clearing his throat caused him to turn back around. Usually, that was the end of their daily interaction. Gren was a man of few words; he only spoke when he felt it necessary.

“You…”

He started speaking, but stopped soon after, his voice steeped with uncertainty.

“Look, lad. I won’t pry much into what goes on out there. Most people come to live all the way out here cause they’re runnin’ from somethin’, gods know I’m here for the same reason. What I’m tryna say is we all have our circumstances. That’s yer business, but only for as long as it don’t put the rest of us in danger. All I know is you walk out with a clean, sharp, shiny axe every mornin’, and yeh come back with an axe just as pristine in the evenin’. That ain’t natural. The work yer doin’ is savin’ the village from a lot of hardship, but promise me one thing lad.”

Marcus’s lackadaisical attitude from earlier was gone.

‘Guess the old man’s softer than I gave him credit for.’ Marcus sighed internally. ‘This is what I get for being so half-assed about this. Three years later and I’m still treating things like a game.’

Looking back, actually making sure the axe saw some wear and tear would have been a good idea.

‘Hindsight's 20/20 I suppose.’

“What do you want me to promise, Chief?”

“Promise me that whatever you ran from, it won’t follow you here.”

Marcus stood silently in contemplation. He wanted to just say yes and be done with this, but he couldn’t.

“I’ve done everything I can to make sure my past stays in the past. I wouldn’t stay anywhere near Rei if I didn’t think it was safe. But... I can’t say for certain that things will always stay that way.”

Gren stared at him for a moment, rocking back and forth on his feet as he mulled over Marcus’s answer.

“You do love that wife of yers. Staying with her’s good enough of a promise then.” Gren scratched the back of his head and sighed. “I know it’s not fair to single you out—ain’t a man alive knows their future, but we both know yer not normal. Makes me worry that yer problems ain’t normal either.”

Marcus felt a pang of guilt in the pit of his stomach. Gren was more right than he could imagine, about his problems not being normal.

“If you want to know the tru-”

“No.” Gren held his hand up. “Don’t tell me if you don’t wanna, lad. We’ll leave it here.”

With that, Gren turned and walked into his house, wordlessly closing the door behind him. Marcus stood in place, contemplating what had just happened.

‘No use worrying about it. If they ever do find me, I’ll do what I have to.’

Maybe it was selfish of him. No. He knew it was. He’d never truly be safe, no matter how far he ran. If he really wanted Rei and everyone else in the village to stay safe, he’d let his former companions finish him off. Instead, he clung to life—clung to the first person he’d learned to love in this godforsaken world.

Feeling better, Marcus walked away from the Chief’s house, heading out of the village and into the dense forest at its border. He followed a familiar path which winded between the trees, his surroundings becoming darker and gloomier due to the thick foliage above. Certainly, there was no shortage of trees around him, but those that were best for lumber were further in. After a few dozen minutes of travelling, Marcus’s surroundings began to brighten. He walked through a final row of trees and found himself on the edge of a large clearing, next to the same river which passed by the village. As far as the eye could see, hundreds of stumps were peppered across the field. Marcus had single-handedly cut down every tree that had once stood here. While impressive in its own right, anyone that took a closer look would notice something even more astonishing. The surface of every single stump, without fail, was unnaturally smooth—like glass.

Marcus walked through the clearing, heading to the side opposite from where he’d entered. Once he reached the other side, he took a quick glance at the trees there before singling one out. As he stood in front of it, Marcus looked at the axe in his hands with an annoyed smirk.

‘I’ve treated you so well and you sold me out for it.’

With a small chuckle, he tossed the axe to the side.

“System, begin reactivation sequence.”

He wouldn’t be needing it.