1 You Awaken in a Fores (1/2)

You open your eyes to glaring brightness. The sounds of rustling leaves and the drone of insects put you on edge. You stand up. You seem to be in a forest of sorts — and you can't seem to remember a thing.

You take a moment to get a grasp of the situation — slowing down your heartbeat but maintaining your vigilance. The first thing you need to do is find shelter and a weapon or two.

You clearly remember weapons and you have vague glimpses of using them. You find a fallen branch as thick as your arm and almost twice as long. ”This will do for now”.

You search for trails or signs of other people or creatures. You discover a few, mostly animal tracks. Not remembering a thing bothers you — but it isn't one of your most immediate concern. Being isolated in an unknown environment is clearly more pressing than losing one's memory. Once you're safe, you can ponder the implications of your amnesia and what to do about it. For now, survival is your only focus.

Night is approaching and thoughts of nocturnal predators begin to enter your mind. You don't want to be vulnerable on the ground — especially if you want to sleep.

You find a suitable tree and begin climbing while hoping this forest's predators won't be able to do the same. You easily find handholds and footholds — even while holding a club in one hand. Your strength makes it easy for you to climb the tree and very soon you are safely far from the ground.

From above you get an idea on the extent of the forest. You can see tree for miles and you are smack in the middle of it.

You settle yourself on a thick branch — strong enough to support your weight but still a bit narrow. You are quite confident that you can stay motionless while sleeping so it isn't much of a problem.

You close your eyes and sleep.

As night deepens, you are awakened by high-pitched screeches and the flapping of tiny wings. You open your eyes and see bat-like creatures flying around you.

”Bats?”

You have a vague idea that they are bats but they seem a bit strange — certainly not the bats from your memory. These creatures have a bat-like appearance — although, they seem to be larger. There are marked differences that clearly identify these ”bats” as a type of species you have never encountered or heard about. Their skin and fur is crimson red and the hooks on their wings shine with menacing gleams. With your keen eyesight, you can definitely see the sharpness of those hooks.

A bat comes a little too close and you strike it with your wooden club.

Strok!

It hits the bat sending it to the forest floor.

The surrounding bats become agitated — noting the presence of a predator or threat. Instead of fleeing as you expected they would, the bats swarm towards you.

A rush of crimson charges towards you — aiming to cut you with hooked wings. You strike every bat that comes close. Not a difficult task but a bit tedious.

Every one of your strikes hit a flying bat — sometimes even hitting several. Even with your continuous striking you feel no hint of fatigue setting in — not even weariness in your muscles. However, the thought of defending yourself from a wave of bats until morning is not something you relish.

Better to find a way to end this quickly.

”The screeches….” a thought comes to mind.

Bats navigate through echolocation and these strange bats should be doing the same. You focus your senses — listening to the underlying frequencies and soon you begin to hear their ultrasonic cries.

Within a few seconds, you figure out the ones they use to navigate. You take a measure of the sounds. They are ultrasonic and something you can't replicate with your voice — but there are other methods.

You rub your thumb and middle finger to produce the ultrasonic sound. It takes a few moments to fine tune and find the right frequency the bats are using.

Bats close to you start losing their bearings. Some of them start hitting trees and some collide with their fellow bats. A few bats still manage to charge towards your general direction — these ones get hit with your club and get sent straight to the forest floor.

A few moments later the bats start to disperse. The ground is littered with broken bat bodies and you spot a few small predators coming out from the shadows to feed on the grounded bats. You survey the scene for a few minutes and note no particular threat. Once again you close your eyes — this time confident that there are no immediate threats.

You wake shortly before dawn. You didn't need to sleep that long but you decided to preserve your energy until the sun came up. No soreness or stiffness from sleeping on a branch — but this doesn't seem to surprise you.