"Rinel."

The wind howled as the word echoes through the void. I became shackled to the darkness around me. I remember now. The countless times I've been here, scaring me into realising how much I've grown used to it. My bones creak and groan when I swayed-- telling me

Telling me that I am--

Weak .

Oh how weak I am .

Just what is this dread, this feeling of utter hopelessness that shrouds me?

Where

Am

I?

...

"RINEL!!"

....

...

..

.

Huh... How weird. I've never seen such lush greens before.

I was laying on my back so all I could see was the trees towering above me . I was still bleary after just woken up... All of this feels so surreal, like I'm in...

Am I dreaming?

While blinking away in utter confusion, I tried to wriggle my body around. I noticed just how heavy and sluggish I really am right now. Why would a dream be so realistic though? The thought of being stranded alone in the woods made me midly anxious. At least I'm not injured anywhere right? But with how my body felt, was I drugged? That made my brain kickstart into a panicking mindset. I'm totally not dreaming.

With newfound determination to escape whatever the hell is constricting my body, I tried to move with vigour. But alas, the struggle in being released from my bonds were such a futile attempt as I couldn't move an inch!

After a while I just laid there limply with a bated breath from utter defeat.

" Bwhua baaa..." I uttered in frustration.
(Fuck this shit)

.......

...

Eh.

...

EHH??

Wait what the hell was that??? Was that my voice?! I can barely even understand myself!

Adding in with my confusion, I finally noticed just exactly how puny my hands are. What... What the hell was this?

It looked like a line of oddly shaped buns with breadsticks coming out of it. Okay I might be exaggerating a bit here but... It turns out now I know the culprit to my strange suffocating condition. My body was the biggest problem yet.

Bewildered enough with my appearance in some random forest, adding in the fact that I am now magically reduced into... an infant was totally another story. How would a weak baby stranded in the wild wilderness with who knows what is crawling inside is able to safely survive this long without some type of miracle??

Just my luck. Really.

Closing my eyes, all that I could focus on hearing was the sound of my erratic heartbeat and the nature around me. The smell of flowers nearby managed to calm me down, prompting me to finally be able to think properly. Unbidden, a sudden thought rendered me speechless.

Who...

Who am I again?

*shuffle*

Stressed already with my current situation, the sudden sound brought me near to tears. Surely whatever... thing that is lurking towards me isn't a baby-eater.

Although I haven't gotten a good look of myself yet, having just woken up and everything, I'm sure I'm a cute baby. Too cute to be eaten alive yeah? Heehe?.....

Resigning to myself, I reopened my eyes and took a fighting baby stance, ready to fend for myself when two large pair of eyes stared right back at me.

"Uhg...!" I stifled a cry.

In the end, my sense of reason crumbled as streaks of tears ran down my baby cheeks without restraint. I was doomed and the few minutes I've been alive quickly flashed through my eyes.

Which didn't even last for a second! Sob.

While grieving, I finally registered the owner of the pair of beautiful emerald eyes which had reflected back my visage.

The man looked around his mid 30s with rough sculptured features but there was a soft demeanor surrounding him when he was donning the expression of... shock and panic? Pfft.

My tears stopped, the fear that had fully engulfed me slowly subsided. Seeing how comical surprised the stranger's face was made me feel strangely stuffy in my heart. I let my guard down a little as my heart told me... that he's good.

...huh.

At some point, a flustered voice snapped me back to reality.

"Wait a b-baby? I'm sorry for scaring you, please don't cry?" The man spoke with panic evident in his expressive eyes, making hushing and cooing sounds in hopes to calm me down.

Following that, he carefully scooped me up into his arms and wrapped me up with his black cloak. 'How thoughtful of him.' I thought.

"To be protected by the guardian... you must be quite special little one ", He mumbled while poking my plump cheeks with his scarred calloused finger.

GYAHH STOP!! What the hell are you doing?! I yelled in my mind.

Cradling me in his left arm, he straighten up and I was finally able to take a glimpse to where I had originally laid on. A nest? But what was mesmerising was that it was surrounded by glowing flowers. It was pretty weird but they were so stunning!!

"Uwaa," I squealed with excitement without me realising.

Being held close, I could feel the vibration as the man chuckled. Warm , I thought as my eyelids become increasingly heavy.
'Damn this body!' I cursed while fighting the urge to sleep.

"Solis... I'll call you Solis and I'll take good care of you okay?" Were the last words I heard as I slipped away into the darkness.

Had I've been awake for a few seconds more, I could've seen the sad smile that panned across his face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AN :

AHAHHAHAH uh helo mdtr here , I've always wanted to write a book so with all this quarantine thingy going around , I present to u!! :^)

I'll be updating every 3 days if I can hehe

And shoutout to CanineQain for proofread and mental support ! Thankies !

Canine: please help me I've been stuck in her cellar for days now