It was early morning. A lonely village stood on a hill. The walls, built of whatever the hell they were made of, were a feat of engineering by the villagers, and they shielded the common people from the brutal savagery of the outside world. The villagers did their usual chores, such as washing clothes and crafting things out of strange, colorless wood. The young girl who woke up was preparing the equipment needed for the daily outing. This duty had become a routine for every person living in the village. *** Today it was finally my turn to go food picking, which means a backpack full of food is assured to me. -I can finally eat as much as I want. It's so good~ As I started packing I made sure I had the entire food extraction kit with me. Unpacking the stuff from my backpack I started going over the list: -So, knife's there, flashlight, bandages, mirror shard, bottle, small box. -Mm-hmm. Uh-huh, everything's there. Looking at the front door I muttered: -From now on. Stepping out of the house I observe the most beautiful scenery! Yeah! Of course... Black and white mountains and gray skies. -I'm so sick of this. How much longer do I have to live like this? Where's the world they told me about in fairy tales? After walking some distance I come to a small gate. I look around for the guard. I don't see anyone. That's weird. He must be on the other side. I yelled to the door guard: -Can you let me through? It's my turn to get food today. After a few seconds, the guard opened the gate and looked at me and after a moment said: - Hey. Is it your turn already? Well, I'll give you the short version of the briefing, since you've already heard it. The Mirage has been on a rampage lately, causing all the colorful ones to roam the woods. That's why I have to stand outside. If you see a colored sky while hiking, run don't look back. Also be careful of shadows. If you see an unusual shadow, don't let your shadow cross paths with that creature, and if that happens, don't come back, rather go as far away as you can and at your throat. Leave a note saying you've been tainted. Otherwise that monster will turn the whole village into shadow puppets. Oh, and don't get any wounds, or you'll be quarantined for wound bugs. - I remember, you might not have repeated it. - Young lady! If you forget any of the instructions, you will bring devastation not only to yourself, but to our entire community! We're already short of people, and our survival depends on the number of able-bodied men and women we have. If we keep losing people, soon this whole village will starve to death or turn into cannibals like our dear neighbors. It's better to let people die far away than risk checking them every time for wounds or unusual shadows. This will reduce the work of transporting corpses to the flowers and eliminate the presence of puppets in the village. -Okay, okay, all right, I get it. Why go to all that trouble? The guard looked at me seriously and said: -I hope so... Good luck anyway! It would be a shame to lose a young girl like you. The birth rate is low, so we need youngsters like you. Why does he talk like an old man? He's only 3 years older than me..... -I know. You might not have said the last one, there aren't that many young people in the village. And all thanks to the work of the older generation, who took care to bear children in a cursed world without proper sustenance with countless monsters and demand it of us. The guard looked at me with understanding, apparently he didn't want to live here either. -Okay, I'm opening it. Oh, and if you find the remains of last night's group, be sure to put it in the report. The guard opened the door and followed me to the outside of the village. -Go ahead, good luck again. -I'm off. When I left the village, the first thing I did was head into the forest for sap. Almost the only source of water. After walking some distance, I saw huge green trees that look unnatural and twisted. A strange green-colored liquid dripped from some of them. I took a bottle and cut the bark of one of the largest trees with a knife. A bright green liquid began to flow from the cut directly into the bottle. Taking a full bottle I took a drop of the viscous liquid into my mouth. The liquid had no taste, just an unpleasant consistency. - Lucky me, I picked a bland one. We should celebrate this tree. Special juice that is safe for consumption should be bright green and tasteless. If the juice has other characteristics, it is a powerful hallucinogen. Of course if the liquid has been taken some time ago the properties are slightly weakened, but that doesn't stop some people from going crazy and consuming it straight from the cut without stopping. In the village it is diluted and taken to distract themselves from their miserable existence, becoming addicted. I took the knife and scribbled the village symbol on the tree, careful not to cut through the bark. Now for the leaves. I climbed up the tree and started picking and piling green leaves into a box, while eating some of them. Leaves of green trees are relatively safe, if the tree is suitable - edible, and can also serve as antiseptic if boiled for 20 minutes in the sap of the tree. They are used to make bandages and other paraphernalia. After filling the box, I climbed down from the tree and checked my entire body for wounds. -Nothing. Great out on the field now. I gathered all my things into my backpack and, after picking some more leaves from a low branch, headed for the field. As I walked through the forest, I saw several dead, half-rotten people with some of their bones visible, their flesh wounds filled with bug larvae. The interesting thing is that the blood of the humans is red in color. So it's easier to test. I wonder why blood has a color. It's also red. According to rainbow rock, red is almost the most dangerous. So why don't we have powers? -Eh... As I walked on, I saw a man under the influence of juice. He must have had too much to drink. -So that's where they went. Idiots, having a drink is like signing your own death warrant. I carefully approached him with the flashlight, making sure his shadow was normal, I looked and tried to rouse him from his delirium. -... It didn't work out. -Ah, another one's dead. We should get his stuff. I'd have to get his stuff. I grabbed his backpack and picked up the knife, slitting the poor man's throat, then laid the corpse at the base of the marked tree. This guy was carrying a pretty big backpack. Probably stole it from home. When I tried to grab it, I felt a heavy weight. -What? Why is it so heavy? It's half-empty. Putting the backpack on my back became a little easier so I patted the tree and muttered: -Grow and bring water and food. These trees are predators. The hallucinogen keeps people around, forcing them to drink the sap, getting them to the point where they tear off the bark with their bare hands until the nails peel off. The bleeding washes the roots of the trees and so they receive the nutrients on which the tree lives until the next victim appears. We don't know how the trees were nourished before we arrived. Coming out of the forest, I was soon greeted by a field filled with glowing blood red flowers. - It's a beautiful sight, it's a pity all these flowers live on the corpses of people from our village. Why is everything here trying to kill us... Turning on my flashlight, I started looking for purple flower buds. As I walked across part of the field, I saw a huge cluster of large purple flower buds that beckoned me to pick them. I shined the flashlight from afar and didn't see anything strange. -Surprisingly, why hasn't anyone picked them? Purple buds are rare and provide a lot of nutrients when consumed. I started shining a light on each of the buds from a distance. -The shadows match, so why? I started shining light on the area around the flowers and looking more closely at each shadow of the flowers. - Wait, flowers have two shadows. One covers the area of this cluster simulating light, and the other mimics a real shadow. What a sneaky trap, I'm lucky I didn't step on the edge of this area. I'll have to mark it somehow. Taking a knife I began digging up the flowers around the trap, trying as much as possible not to damage them, and planted them next to the other flowers forming an empty circle around the cluster, leaving a line of glowing flowers between the empty space and the shadows. - That should be enough. I continued on my way, picking up red and rare purple buds while looking around for shadows. I began to walk around the field and eat the buds I found. Two backpacks to be exact. -It's not every day you get to eat enough. After eating, I left the field and began checking my body for wounds. Next, I shone the light on my shadow. -There's nothing. The shadow's fine. I guess. Since shadows can mimic, it's only a matter of time before someone picks up a puppet. I can go home. As I approached the village I saw the guard and he saw me too. I started to approach, but I was shouted at: -Hold on. Soon I saw a guard with a flashlight start shining it on and around me. -Okay, no shadows. Wait here. The guard went into the village and after a while came out with the village doctor. Soon a woman's voice said: -I need to check your body, get undressed. I looked at the doctor and then at the guard and he took my hint and walked out the gate. The doctor examined me closely and soon pronounced: -All right, welcome back. -Thank you. -Please give my regards to your father. -Okay... Tricky woman... I entered the village and after reaching the center and found out that I was summoned by the village head. As I entered the central building I heard a deep male voice say: -Report? I sat down in front of the head told all my actions and encounters, to which the headman responded with a nod and words: -Well, that's the end of the report. Good job. I'll warn everyone about the field and the shadows, you can go home. I left the main building and headed home. It was already getting dark outside. When I got home, I started rereading stories about the colorful world my mother and the older generation of the village lived in. About the lack of danger from monsters. About the beautiful scenery, the light of the cities. After reading so much, I promised myself for the umpteenth time that I would get everyone out of this disgusting place and back to the colored world. I've tried to enlist the support of the village, but all my requests have been denied. Just thinking about it makes me angry: -Old farts. As I said these words, I heard a book drop and met my eyes with my father, who had come home from a meeting. -That's the greeting. Being called an old fart in my forties hurts my feelings. That really pissed me off. He's the one who refused to support me, even though he's the head of the village. I realize that the cowardly council of elders has the final say. But he has a lot of influence and could take control of half the village right now. And he's joking about a subject that pisses me off. -You're no different. You have enough influence to make a difference, but you sit back and do nothing. After my words, he looked at me and said warmly: -Don't pout so much, daughter. It's not that simple. Or do you want to leave half the people to die? Working with people. it's hard. Anyway, how are you? -You already know, I told you everything in the main building. -Yes, but you're only talking about the situation and the actions. I'm asking about your mental state. After all, seeing dead bodies and death, and living with the constant fear of death on top of that, is not good for your development. I don't want you to become a soulless machine or a drug addict. Although your poignant remarks have calmed me down a bit. -If so, thank you. But it's none of your business. - Why do you push me away so much? Uh, your mother wasn't like that. She was more gentle. Though given the circumstances. I guess that's to be expected. The conversation quickly degenerated into silence. I said after an awkward pause: -Father, it's just that we're not doing anything else to get out of this place. Why aren't we going anywhere? If you got here somehow, there must be a way out! You were the one who spent all your time looking for a way out. Leaving me and my brother alone. You were missed, especially after mom died. -Why you've given up.... If you've already started, then finish the deed.... Otherwise, what's the point of mom's death... My father looked at me and said: -I never gave up. It's just that these old people, how should I put it? are used to living inside the village while the younger generation fetch water and food. But it's not because they're afraid of the outside world. I told you that they are the ones who have sacrificed decades of their lives to search and found nothing. Imagine the desperation they faced.... I can understand them, and I hope you can too. -By the way, give me that backpack you found. I'd love to see it. I took the backpack from my room and showed it to my father. -I see the backpack you found is an army rucksack, a hiking backpack. It's a jackpot. It's super roomy and durable. And this country's army often has a secret section with water purification pills and machetes. Can I open it? My father looked at me expecting approval and I handed the backpack to my father after a moment's thought. My father did something to the backpack and pulled out a large knife and a pack of pills in a strange package. And as he stuck his hand in deeper, he hesitated and looked at me. Then a strange dark-colored object was pulled out of the backpack. -Which one? I had never seen such shock in my father's eyes before. -What is it? Dad? Looking at me with unusual seriousness said: -Don't say a word about this to anyone. Keep that backpack with you at all times from now on. Don't give it to anyone. Especially that dark thing -What is it? -Pistol. One of the weapons created by man. -The one you told me about? -Yeah, except that all the weapons people had on them when we got to this place are gone. Why isn't it gone? There's only one full magazine. Remember, every bullet is gold. To reload, you fill the magazine and pull this thing, then pull the trigger and it fires. Silent for how many seconds, my father said: -You're a smart girl and you must know the situation in the village. Anyway. Get ready, I'm sending you on an expedition in a week. Your brother will be the head of the expedition. Upon hearing the sudden news I didn't believe it at first and asked: -The expedition? Why so suddenly? I thought the meeting didn't happen. -Time is running out. Soon the neighboring village will come here for supplies and men. They've been sharpening their fangs on us for a long time. I've convinced all the old men, they mustn't come. -What? - You heard me. The cannibals are planning to take the village. And now we have weapons to distract and potentially damage the stronger monsters. -Why they're attacking. The peace treaty should work for a few more years. - You already know that. Yes, I know. Canibals need women who can give birth to them and food. -Get your things and go. And isn't this what you wanted? -Okay, I got it, Dad.

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