>>===== Through the eyes of the father =====

My entire body felt excruciatingly hot.

I gasped for air as I reached rapidly in front of me. I was drenched in sweat and blood.

I opened my eyes only to be blinded by the ridiculous brightness of the sun.

I took a deep breath as a cold breeze hit my face.

My visor was broken. Glass shards were inside my suit and attached to my face.

The blood felt dry and my entire face felt warm.

Yet I was alive, I could breathe.

As my eyes adjusted to the light I saw a vast forest in front of me. A vast green grove of various foliage-filled my senses.

From the smells to the shifts of the air. Yet I was in bewilderment.

Complete utter shock.

Was I crazy? The probability was high.

I was in space, dying, the lack of oxygen must be making me hallucinate.

Yet everything felt real.

I became afraid.

I began shaking while the back of my neck tensed up.

I couldn’t understand what was happening or what happened.

There was nothing rational about this.

I looked intensely into the wet leaves on the soil I sat on. I scooped it up and brought it to my face to inspect it.

My hair was long enough to block my sight.

The dry blood made it droop more annoyingly in my face.

I moved it to the side to see the details of the worms that wiggled in the scoop of dirt I held in my glove.

I let it fall through my fingers in amazement. Taking a deep breath helped me calm down a bit.

“Things will go wrong in any given situation if you give them a chance." I hated this unscientific adage, but as my dad’s favorite saying it played in my head.

Never in his wildest dreams would he have expected this though.

I began to laugh at the hilarity of the situation and it was able to relax my nerves.

I was no longer tense, but this thinned the adrenaline flowing through my blood. Thus, I began to feel the pain that my body had ignored.

I began to shake, but this time not from fear. I held my gut as I still felt the hole in my stomach the debris made. My face began to un-numb as well.

I rolled in the overgrowth holding myself in pain. I clenched my teeth as I tried to endure. I still had a small medical kit in one of my pockets. I swallowed painkillers from an aluminum package.

I closed my eyes and concentrated on ignoring the pain.

Time moved slowly. Before I knew it, I could move despite the pain.

I crawled to the nearest tree and sat with my back to it. I inspected my equipment, but most of it was in tatters.

The thought of having fallen here from the sky crossed my mind.

It was the most logical idea, despite the impossibilities that came with the thought.

The crashed visor and glass on my face seemed to support it. Yet neither I nor the equipment looked like it suffered atmospheric burns caused by dropping here at high speed.

It would have simply been impossible to survive a fall from that height. If anything I would be a gory mess on the ground.

Yet here I am.

After removing what remained of my helmet I pulled out the glass stuck in my face.

Any cuts that aren't blocked by coagulated blood I covered with band-aids after adding antibiotic cream.

I removed the rest of my spacesuit as I began to get too hot.

The forest provided a cool breeze, but I was beginning to suffocate from the heat inside the suit.

Despite various holes in my suit from the impact of the debris when I was in space. It seems I had only one serious wound on my stomach.

There was no way to remove any foreign object that may be inside the flesh.

As an amateur, I may cause more damage digging around looking for something than whatever is in there could cause.

I worried about a possible infection. After deciding on my options I bandaged myself after applying more antibacterial ointment.

There was no need for me to pack equipment except for what was necessary. I had a habit of always carrying a small medkit on me. So in total, I only had the bare minimum on me.

I re-organized my equipment.

A small x-acto knife and an even thinner expo knife with a few replacement blades for both.

A little bit remained of the para wire that was supposed to keep me attached to the ship.

A few more painkillers and a single package of penicillin were in a hand-sized container.

A single bandage as well.

Everything else was either broken or missing.

The communications were not working, both the water and oxygen tanks were busted.

I was exhausted, so most of my equipment was dead weight.

I didn't have any of the survival kits we trained with, so I had to make do with what I had and thus I scrapped my life support system and what remained of the suit.

“Okay, my life depends on what I do next so I need to be super careful.”

My head hurt, and I was very uncomfortable. But I could not waste time wallowing in self-pity.

“Alright, you beautiful brain lets do this!”

I took a deep breath and looked at everything I prepared.

Many of the synthetic fibers and fiberglass on the garments had many uses. This was especially true as protection against temperature and weather.

Taking a canister and some tubing from the cooling systems I could prepare water and drink as I walked. Similar to a water bag for bikers.

The lithium hydroxide canister was used to filter the carbon dioxide from my breathing.

The filter contained coal and hydro filters perfect to clean water. I could then boil the filtered water using the canister to make it drinkable.

I wrapped my goggles and materials inside the large torso garment of my space suit and strapped it to my back with the paracord as a makeshift backpack.

Since I am wearing a black nylon jumpsuit, white boots, and insulated gloves. I left the pants, garment, and oversized boots of my spacesuit behind.

I grabbed the battery within the communication equipment and some wires. This is perfect as a makeshift lighter for later.

I’m sure a proper expert could have done much better than me, but my mind was already at ease with my progress.

Best of all it didn’t seem as if I wasted much light. It was difficult to see through the canopy of trees but I could still see that the sun barely moved.

I don't know how far I am for civilization.

I packed as light as I could to conserve energy, but having no food or water still frightened me.

Not knowing where in the world I was. I searched the plants for signs of indigenous species that could give me some form of indication of my location.

Although I was proud of my own intelligence, my memory was not perfect so I gave up and decided to focus on a broader picture.

The biome was a deciduous forest with large tall trees and plenty of flora all around me. The names of the species, I could not recall at the top of my head.

However deciduous forests are in North America, Western Eurasia, and Northeastern Asia.

This told me I was above the Equator.

The good news was that water should be nearby. Specifically, if I followed down the slopes of the terrain.

The bad news was the temperature. This biome had winter.

Winter meant death.

Since I didn't see much red, I could assume fall was still yet from approaching.

Human settlements would have been built in warm areas near water, so I made a decision.

I would go south.

“Ha ha ha.”

I laughed a bit to myself.

I don’t know if I was delirious, but I was excited that I may have a chance at survival.

At least I was able to come up with a simple plan based on my limited knowledge.

But…

How did I know which way to go?

Easy, I could use the sun or the moss on the trees.

Moss only growing north is a common misconception so be careful.

Moss only grows north of the trees in the northern hemisphere and it grows facing south in the southern hemisphere. That said, as long as you know where you are at it can help as a guide.

Not only the sun but the moon, stars, and planets all rise from the east and set in the west due to Earth's rotation.

It was extremely difficult for me to stand, much more difficult to look upwards at the sky with my disgusting balance.

Sure I was hurt, but expecting me to walk immediately after returning to space was a miracle.

After finding a sturdy stick I could use as a cane I looked around the trees for moss.

Using the moss I walked ever so slowly to what I assumed would be south.

The forest was aw-striking.

As I hiked through the forest I immersed myself in the natural beauty around me.

I paid attention to the plants within the overgrowth until I could find species I could recognize.

However, something caught my attention.

I stayed still for a moment and listened.

Nothing.

It was silent. Way too silent.

Not a single chirp from a bird or cricket.

Yet it felt like eyes were watching me.

I looked around, but I couldn't see anything new.

The sound of the wind brushing on the trees felt ominous.

I had a hunch, but I remembered the worm that was in my hands.

I looked down and pulled more dirt and found some armadillidiidae. Back home the kids called them rollie-pollies or pill bugs. They are these small black bugs that roll up into a black ball when touched or when they feel threatened.

But this one seemed active.

It crawled on my hand. More specifically it crawled directly up my arm over my suit. I watched curiously following where it would go.

Normally they would try to escape, but not this one. It gave me an ominous feeling.

It reached my chest before it stopped. It then pushed itself into my chest. It was difficult to feel what it was trying to do, but I could see its tiny limbs digging into my jumpsuit as if it was trying to bury itself in me.

I felt silly watching it for much longer. It simply repeated the same motions nonstop and before I knew it, I was bored.

I felt a bit of relief since nothing actually happened around me either so I wiped the bug off me and continued off.

Humming a song to myself as a distraction eventually I found a stream.

The soil was extremely damp and fertile, and both times I dug into it bugs appeared easily. This let me know that I should be wary of bugs if I was to sleep here.

I looked at the sun and approximated enough time to build something that could separate me from the ground while I slept.

But it felt as if it barely moved.

Regardless, I decided to rest here.

My priority was water, and since I had the time and equipment, I made sure it was safe to drink as well.

Looking for dry leaves or twigs was a bit difficult to find. Instead, I found a dead tree and gathered kindling to maintain a fire from it.

After preparing a pit with some rocks in the driest area I could find I set the kindling. I then mixed fiber material from torn areas of the spacesuit into the dry wood and leaves.

“Now to light it with a little trick.”

Using the small battery, I placed the wires connected to it over the fiber. I held them together allowing the electrical current to ignite the kindling.

I blew on a small fire and tried to let it grow.

It blew out.

I simply repeated the process until I got a fire going.

“Now to boil the water.”

I grabbed the metal canister and filled it with water after pouring it through the lithium filter.

I set the open canister over the fire propping it with a stone that was tall enough to separate it away from the fire.

Letting the water boil I set to collect small trees or large enough branches to make layers on the floor.

I removed the water canister and drank a bit after the water dropped down to a drinkable temperature.

I put out the fire and wrapped any leftover kindling with an aluminum mylar sheet I cut out of the suit. It’s basically how a grandma wraps leftovers with aluminum foil.

I stacked the large branches and thin logs I collected in hexed layers. This allowed the tension to create a makeshift Da-Vinci bridge.

The pure tension allowed it to hold itself together without the use of rope or adhesive. After confirming it would carry my weight of 85 kilos or roughly 180 pounds, I laid on it.

I wasn't scared of rolling off, for I was a heavy sleeper.

And as exhausted as I was. I immediately fell asleep. I was out cold despite how my body reminded me of the wounds on my face and stomach.

The wound in my stomach tried to act up a few times, but it wasn't serious enough and I was able to ignore it during my hike.

And so I slept.

My dream was sweet.

There was a large tall mountain with a gorgeous red river flowing down its snowy hills. The river was reflecting the crimson rays of sunlight that poured over the horizon as the sun rose.

I sat above the mountain watching a flock of birds fill the cloudless sky.

Not one but many species flew in unison.

Below many animals of all shapes and sizes approached as well.

They slowly got close to the large river and began to stampede directly into it.

They ignored the red river and rushed to the centermost part of the mountain.

I couldn't see the animals clearly, but they all went towards a single direction. The birds dived into the same area the other animals were desperately trying to reach.

Pain.

The creatures were insane. They were doing everything they could to force themselves into the center of the mountain.

And my stomach felt them.

I woke myself with my own scream.

I was immediately surprised and scared.

There was an unfathomable amount of animals and creatures around me.

Some looked similar to birds and furry mammals, but I couldn’t make any sense of them at all.

There was no growling chirping or vocal noises of any kind.

The creatures desperately pushed themselves into me. Specifically my chest.

It was painful with the combined weight and strength as the creatures pushed and pushed.

Their eyes looked dead and static-like dolls. They looked cursed.

And as I threw them off me and struggled they felt like stiff carcasses.

I was wearing my gloves and jumpsuit so their claws did nothing to me.

They didn't even try to bite or sting.

As I fell off onto the floor they followed.

I was terrified and confused.

A centipede-like bug managed to find itself in my suit and I unzipped myself to find other bugs within my clothing.

I rubbed them all off and ran off.

I grabbed the spacesuit that acted as my bag and the cane that laid nearby while I scurried off through the forest.

Immediately, because of the lack of visibility, I tripped over a branch. I could feel the animals trying to climb me again and the wolf pressing itself on me.

As I managed to lift myself and struggle forward.

Away from the creatures.

I felt dings on my back as the birds that followed dived into me.

I didn't look back, but instead I ran.

And ran.

And ran.

Unsure of which direction I was going.

The only thought in my head was getting out of there.

I ran.

And ran.

Eventually, It was silent again.

I was out of breath and the wound in my stomach began to bleed again.

Underneath the bandage, it felt warm.

I gripped my stomach as I gasped for air.

Exhausted from sprinting I dropped to my knees.

"RUN!"

My eyes opened wide.

"Run!"

A higher-pitched voice repeated the words again.

I was shocked, and still trying to recover.

"Caw, caw!"

"RUN!"

"Run!"

"Ruuuuuuuun."

Every time it was a different voice.

All of them were raspy and creepy, but each shouted at different pitches of tone.

"Caw, RUN."

"Run!"

I was already frightened from before.

Once I recovered a bit of my energy I again sprinted as fast as my legs could carry me.

The flapping of wings could be heard behind me.

"RUN!"

"Ruuun, caw!"

The same word was repeated constantly.

And it followed me.

I was frustrated.

I couldn't outrun them.

The flapping within the trees.

The cawing and the voices.

They followed for hours.

I kept slowing down.

I was exhausted.

I was tired.

Blood pulled in my stomach.

My eyes felt heavy.

My body felt cold.

"RUN!"

I wanted to listen.

But I collapsed.

----------

---

>>===== Through the eyes of the daughter =====---

----------

I was so excited as I watched the star fall.

The star lit up the sky even brighter than any of the moons.

After I made my wish it seemed the star curved and landed in the forest of the mountain.

It almost felt like it listened to my wish.

It was one of the few nights where I truly felt happy.

Because somehow I felt inside my heart that my wish would come true.

The next morning was pretty nice.

It had been a few days since my sister's baptism so we still had some leftover meat from the celebration.

There were dried pieces of jerky on a cloth napkin next to a wooden bowl filled with vegetable soup.

I quickly dipped the jerky in the soup and ate it with a warm smile.

"Thank you, sis."

I was alone in the room, but I knew who brought it. My mother still ignores me, and it was common that my sister spoiled me as much as she could.

After I finished I wanted to thank her, but I saw her practicing practical magic with my mom.

It was outlawed by the church for children that haven't undergone baptism to practice magic. So ever since her baptism, my sister has been learning it diligently.

Sure, our little farmer family couldn't possibly compare with soldiers or the people of the city, but magic was necessary for everyday life.

Especially to be able to use many of our home tools.

Like the red stone lamp, my mom and sister were using.

Basically, mom was teaching my sis how to pass her magic into tools to use them. In this case, it was simply turning the lamp on and off.

Seeing her practice so diligently I decided to focus on my chores.

I was still thinking about the falling star and decided how wonderful it would be to see one in person.

So I quickly rushed my chores and asked dad if I could go to the forest to gather.

"Sure. Bring back lots of mushrooms."

I don't know why I waited to hear more from him. He was working on some tools and didn't even look at me after his first sentence.

When I was younger he'd tell me to watch out for the monsters in the forest and hug me before sending me off to scavenge.

But he just worked in silence and it made me feel lonely.

The monsters weren't even that bad, or I should say in all my time in the forest I never saw one.

I understood the reason we didn't have livestock was because it would attract monsters.

Normally monsters stayed away from humans. They were scared of us.

"They are more scared of us than we are of them." As my mom used to say.

But they saw livestock as easy prey, and having them on our farmlands would invite these creatures to nest in the forest nearby.

This would cause missing kids and make the forest dangerous, so our town had very little animals.

And that usually made meat super expensive among being rare.

Luckily for our little town, there was a forest demon by the mountain.

Our priest said this demon was eating the souls of the animals that wandered into his territory.

That was a good thing because the cursed animals became really dumb and slow. It made it really easy for our hunters to catch them so our town usually had meat.

It was still expensive though.

But that means I had no reason to be scared of monsters.

Although the prettiest girl in town went missing in the forest.

But many believe she was kidnapped by bad people.

And almost everyone called me ugly so I didn't have to worry about being stolen.

Knowing all this, I scurried off with excitement into the forest.

I really wanted to find that star.

Along the way, I made sure to fill my basket with goodies.

I even found a cursed froggret. It was a weird green slimy creature with a tail. It usually croaked and ran away if it saw you.

But this one had no soul.

You can prove it further by bringing it close to your chest.

It should try to press itself into your chest as if it was desperate for something.

The priest said that these creatures did so because they longed for something they were missing. The warmth of a soul.

And this froggret did just that.

I couldn't wait to bring it home so mom can turn it into grilled froggret!

A lot of time passed by, but I was determined to find the star.

Slowly I started becoming desperate that I may not find it.

I don't know how far up the mountain I went, but I know I wasn't lost. I could see the smoke from the town far into the distance.

But everything in this part of the forest was new.

My sadness turned back into excitement when I saw holes on the ground.

It looked like someone was trying to dig holes in the ground, but they were longer than they were deep.

I followed the direction where I saw more of the dug up ground.

I was hoping to see where the star had fallen, but I immediately stopped moving.

I froze at the sound of growling.

Cursed animals didn't make noise with their mouths so that meant this one was alive.

No.

It was more than one.

They were huge.

Taller than my parents. They were hairless grey creatures that walked on four giant muscular legs. They had tails and large sharp teeth.

One was using its huge claws to dig into the ground.

It was trying to cover a dead animal with the dirt.

I was completely silent, I didn't even move but one of them started sniffing in the air towards my direction.

I screamed and ran away.

The monster let out a roar that hurt my ears and they all started going after me.

I threw my basket at them, but their huge jaws caught it in mid-air and bit it into pieces.

I ran as fast as I could, but I was tackled by the huge animal.

It pushed me out of the way and ran past me.

A different one sniffed over my body and placed its huge hairless paw on my chest.

It was hard to breathe and I was so scared.

I was suffocating and I was panting and crying.

I heard the scream of a man and the creature pinning me down snapped his head upward. It growled and sprinted towards the screaming man.

My chest hurt so much, but I got up and ran away.

I saw a fire start to burn the trees but I didn't want to look back.

I ran down the mountain towards the town and eventually saw men with bows and weapons.

They were the hunters.

I felt relieved and collapsed from the pain in my chest.

I woke up to the screams of my parents and sister.

My sister was holding me tight.

"It's not her fault. She's just a little girl. How could she have known?"

My mother shouted to my sister. "Because of her, the viscount killed Georgie. They tortured him and found out your father was the one that kept the grain while breaking the law. You know this Claudia."

"Every fucking year I have to lend my ass as a prostitute to the nobles." Dad added in anger.

"But she's just a child dad, how could she possibly be at fault? You should blame our Viscount Preciosa! That bitch was the one that turned you into a prostitute dad. She should have hung you dead, but she wanted you for her sick fantasies." My sister desperately tried to defend me.

"So that's how it is, you'd rather your father was dead!?" But my mother didn’t want to listen to the excuses she made for me.

"No mom, I didn't…"

My dad cut Claudia off before she could finish.

"Shut the fuck up Claudia, You know how hard it got since our kingdom decided to go to another stupid war with the Anglo Isles. They weren't happy with Leviatha so those fuckers had to shed more blood.

Do you even know how much I and your mother sacrifice ourselfs from keeping you and your shit for a sister from turning into soldier fuck toys!"

It was true a few years ago we declared war against the Anglos. Unlike Leviatha, the Anglo war front was only a few cities away.

They had so much stress from the war, but this was my first time learning they hated me ever since I found the grain.

Tears flowed out of my eyes. I was so sad.

"Oh look the brat's awake." My mom looked down at me with eyes filled with disgust.

"I'm so sorry mom…"

Something broke in my dad, he pulled me away from my sister.

"Arghhh, our lives would have been easier if we just fucking sold you."

"No dad, no no… I'm so sorry."

Tears and snot covered my faces. I was holding my sister with all my might. She was crying as well as her red eyes made her look miserable.

"She's just a kid Dad!"

"Please dad, I'm sorry."

Mom had begun crying as well. She covered her eyes and simply looked away.

"This piece of shit is gonna get us killed Claudia. She's a curse let go!"

"No dad pleasee…"

My sister's tears stopped.

I was dropped to the floor in shock.

My dad had punched my sister.

"Claudiaaaaah!"

My mom let out a shriek and quickly hugged her eldest daughter.

There was blood dripping from her nose and her eyes closed and opened.

She was delirious.

"I'm so sorry Claudia, I'm so sorry!"

My dad was shaking in panic, he was trembling as he looked at what he did to his kid.

He turned his face to me and got angry.

"Get the fuck away from here. Go to your room you piece of shit.

I don't want to see you tonight…

I said GO!!!"

He screamed and pointed furiously.

I was scared. I quickly scurried to my room and hid in our blankets by a corner of the floor.

Our house only had three rooms and a ladder that leads to some wood upstairs. My parents had a proper bedroom while I and my older sister slept where we stored all our tools and food.

I cuddled with some of it as my face crusted from the snot and tears.

In the third room which was the largest and center of our house was our kitchen, work area, and where we ate.

My parents had stopped crying and I listened in silence.

This may have been one of the largest houses in our town, but it was still small enough where there was almost no privacy.

"Are we going to be alright?"

My mom had asked a question.

"The little shit brought a pack of them to our town. An entire pack. I don't know if the guards will make it. I don't know when they will attack if they attack."

"We can only pray, we'll get through this."

"Most of the hunters are dead, we can only hope they provided enough food so they can leave us alone."

…

My sister didn't sleep in my room that night.