Edward walked to the place where the door had been but a few moments ago. He moved his right hand through the air. There was nothing.

  “It seems it’s really gone,” he said, still having trouble to process what was happening.

  Being in a new world after all experiencing the same thing over and over until he was fed up with it, was more than what he could have ever asked for. However, it was a bit scary to have no way back.

  Edward looked around him, avoiding to dwell on the disappearance of the gate too much. There wasn’t much he could do about it, and had the door stayed, he would have still chosen to leave and explore this new world.

  No path was visible, it was just trees everywhere. There wasn’t any direction that looked better than the other. He decided to go toward the way the first rays of the sun were coming from.

  On Earth, it would be east, but on this new world, it didn’t mean anything. For all he knew the sun could travel from south to north in this place.

  He walked closer to a tree, from afar it looked like any ordinary tree on Earth. But as he looked closer at the leaves, he realized that he didn’t know what kind of tree it was. The leaves didn’t look like any he had seen before, they were dented with three lobes, proving once more if there was a need that this world wasn’t Earth.

  He shrugged his shoulders, “Fair enough” he said out loud attempting to reassure himself while a slight unease settled over him. Novelty was nice, but it didn’t mean it would necessary be better that his previous life. Things simply existed and they had no obligations over him. Edward didn’t have any misconception that a grand being had brought him to this world for his own convenience. He didn’t know how he ended here, but no matter what happen from now on he would grab his chance. He just had to be a little careful.

  After walking for a few minutes his breath became visible, leaving white puffs in the air. The temperature was a bit low as the sun wasn't fully raised yet.

  I hope this land is inhabited, I don’t know if there is winter in this world and I only have one set of clothes, he thought. I’m not prepared to survive a full winter alone in the woods.

  Suddenly he heard some howls in the distance.

  He stopped in his tracks.

  Great now there are wolves too, he complained. His initial enthusiasm quickly dwindled by the difficulties that were accumulating one after the other. Still better than living the rest of my life in automatic, slowly dying on the inside each day.

  Those howls sounded savage and a tad eerie. He couldn’t help but repress a shiver. He wasn’t ready to fight a pack of wolves.

  He looked around once more, went to a tree, and broke a small branch.

  This wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing and he hoped he wouldn’t have to use it.

  He hurried his pace, his walk turning into a light jog. He didn’t want to stay here, but there was no need to go in a full run, not yet at least. There was no point to run faster if it was only to end up exhausted a few kilometers later.

  Luckily for him, the howls were coming far away from the dark part of the night behind him. He didn’t have to reverse his course to avoid them.

  With the boxing he was doing every weekend his body was quite fit. He trusted himself to be able to run at this pace for half an hour without breaking a sweat.

  It was with this hopeful thought that he heard a tremendous roar.

  “FUCK!!” he said, that definitely wasn’t wolves. What the hell was that thing? It didn’t sound like a bear either.

  He started to run a little faster, ignoring his own advice from a moment ago. However, it was easy to understand his reaction after hearing that roar tearing through the forest.

  The earlier howls of the wolves began to turn into whimpers of pain. He certainly didn’t want to face whatever was causing this. Wolves were already a lot to take in for someone who was used to the comfort of modern life, but he never heard anything like that roar. It sounded completely savage, almost primordial, it didn’t sound like something an ordinary beast would be able to produce.

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  Are there monsters in this world? He thought.

  It’s downright ridiculous, I just came into this world like five-ten minutes ago and I already have some kind of monster near me. Will I make a record, the fastest one to die in a new world? I’m not trying to make a death speed run damn it!

  While continuing to run he was paying attention to the noises he could hear. The whimpers were starting to grow weak.

  And then it was silence.

  Edward wasn’t sure it was better.

  He felt a cold drop of sweat glide along his back.

  And then, he heard it, the noise of something running, and trampling the leaves on the floor.

  He stopped and looked around him.

  He saw the shape of a dark wolf facing him.

  The wolf was in a bad shape and heaving with difficulties. He had a dense fur as dark as the night, but it was marred with stains of bright red blood. It was short of breath and one of its legs was limping. Still, the wolf was looking right at him with ferocious yellow eyes. It started to growl.

  “Oh COME ON!!” Edward said, “Haven't you had enough already? You are hurt, just go home or to wherever you came from!”

  Although the wolf was hurt it didn’t diminish its ferocity in the slightest.

  The wolf jumped right at him but fell a bit short due to his limp leg.

  Edward jumped aside and hit it with the branch he had picked up earlier.

  It doesn’t seem to hurt it at all, he thought. Its fur is too dense.

  Although the wolf was hurt it was still robust. It was surprising to see an animal this aggressive and this energetic while it was injured this badly.

  The wolf and Edward began to circle each other.

  At least it looks like I’m more agile than it. Its injured leg is really hampering it.

  The wolf tried to jump at him again, Edward was ready and side-jumped once more. This time he managed to hit it with a kick. The wolf didn’t seem much bothered by it.

  This won’t work, I need to target its wounds and weak points, Edward told himself.

  The wolf and Edward continued to turn around each other. The wolf was jumping toward Edward from time to time, but Edward was able to avoid it each time and retaliate with one hit from his branch or one kick.

  With the rising sun, Edward could see the wolf more clearly. It was more hurt than he had first thought, the injuries looked quite deep. The wolf had been clawed by something and was bleeding heavily despite its dense fur. Edward shuddered at the thought, the beast that did that would have probably killed him in one hit. He was grateful that at least he didn’t have to face that.

  The wolf was getting tired and was having more trouble moving around. The bleeding is weakening it.

  Edward sprinted all at once, surprising the wolf and getting behind it before it could react.

  He jumped on it and used one arm to choke its neck, and prevent it from biting him. The wolf was struggling fiercely. With a shift harder than the others it managed to push Edward on his back with the wolf lying on top of him. Edward was hitting it with his branch but from his position, he wasn’t able to pull enough strength to truly hurt it.

  He let go of his branch and took a stone he found on the ground instead. He started to hammer the skull of the wolf with it.

  Now it’s only a question of time, he thought. As long as nothing else comes and tries to eat me I should be fine…

  The wolf was now also bleeding from its head. The blood from this injury and from the previous wounds was dripping onto Edward.

  “Oww damn it hurts”, Edward winced. Is its blood acid or something? He thought.

  Edward gritted his teeth and continued to hit the wolf with the stone while ignoring the pain from the blood falling on him. The struggle from the wolf was getting weaker.

  Finally, it stopped moving but Edward didn’t realize it immediately and continued to hit it for some time. It was a gruesome sight to see someone covered in blood hitting the corpse of a dead wolf continuously as if his life depended on it.

  Edward stopped, being short of breath and exhausted, he stayed like that with the wolf on top of him for a few minutes. The blood was still sliding on him, but now it felt just warm instead of hurting him. Unnoticed by him, the wolf’s blood was seeping into his skin, as if absorbed by his body.

  Feeling a tad better, Edward stood up and pushed the corpse of the wolf aside.

  He sighed with relief. “That was close,” he said. “I was lucky the thing that made that roar didn’t come after me. Thinking about it, it probably scared the other beasts away too.”

  “I hope nothing else tries to eat me. I shouldn’t stay there. I have to find a safe place, and from what I saw from the forest, it ain’t it.”

  Talking to himself helped him to settle his thoughts. The encounter with that wolf and the roar he heard before had disturbed him more than he was willing to admit.

  He looked at the corpse, realizing he didn’t know what to do with it.

  I don’t have the time to dig a grave for it. I think I will just let it stay there. It will probably be eaten by another beast, or something else… I need to leave right now. The smell will probably attract other beasts.

  Edward looked around one last time, he took another stone that he put in his jeans’ pocket.

  I will be ready for next time. Branch 0 Stone 1. Seriously though it would be better if I had a weapon, I wonder how the people in this world manage to protect themselves.

  Edward left the corpse there and went back into a light jog to put as much distance as he could between himself and the dead body.