This story you will read came out of nowhere, more specifically, I could say it was as if it took place in nothingness-ironic, isn't it? Given the current situation of Earth. The story begins in the middle of a forest, in a cabin where a man lived alone with his son. The boy's mother had died during childbirth, and he was destined to live with his father.

The child's father had brought him to this cabin when he was just a baby, and the child grew up there, just him and his father, and nature. It was a common routine: they ate, drank, played, slept, and that was it.

The two didn't talk much, as after a while, it was as if the topics they had had run out, only the usual dry comments. His father had completely cut off communication with society, so the boy had never seen another human being. He had a desire to meet them, but he didn't know where they were or how far they were. One day, when he was around 15 years old, on a sunny day, the boy asked him:

"Father, why do we live alone?"

The man seemed to freeze for a moment after hearing his son's question, but he quickly recovered and continued to prepare dinner.

"Do you consider that we live alone?"

"Well, it's just the two of us here."

"Son, open your eyes." His father said, setting his things aside and turning to look directly at Leo. "what do you see when you look out the window?"

"Trees. Animals. Earth. Sky."

"Exactly, see how we are in a perfect Earth? Huge balance. Everything for a reason, and it doesn't stop there. I'm talking about the universe itself, all the natural elements. How can we be alone when we are part of something so vast? Others simply break that, wanting to take over everything and show themselves as superior, but we are equal to nature, even inferior; we cannot try to dominate it."

"Are people that arrogant?"

"You have no idea, my son. Listen, you are much better off not living among those idiots. That's why I brought you here. Believe me, you are much freer than many of them."

"I am free?"

"Of course, son. That's why I brought you here, because I know this is a better life for you." This was enough to calm the boy's heart, for now. They returned to their routine. Leo became an excellent hunter; he was stronger than a lion and faster than a wolf. He and his father lived closely, eating together, sleeping together, but for the most part, they didn't talk. They learned to communicate only with their movements; words were unnecessary.

But, months after their last conversation, Leo's curiosity returned doubled. He still wanted to know more about other people, still wanted to see someone else at some point in his life. So on a cloudy day:

"Father, why do we live alone?"

"I've already told you why."

"But we're human. If we're good, that means not everyone is bad."

"But you will become someone bad if you stay among the bad ones, Leo. Listen to your father; I know what I'm talking about. I saw it happening."

"Father? What do you mean? What happened to whom?"

"It doesn't matter, boy. Go get some firewood in the forest."

Seeing that talking to his father in that state wouldn't help anymore, Leo obeyed. With an axe, he ventured into the woods, cutting wood, going deeper. Venturing further, young Leo followed a part of the forest he didn't know. The forest grew denser, and darkness took over; it was so difficult to walk through those branches that it became stressful.

He found a good spot and started cutting the wood, cutting more and more, focused. He liked the feeling; he felt more alive. As strange as it seemed, it gave him a certain sense of superiority.

The feeling was good, but it vanished with the sound of a branch breaking near Leo. The boy's reflex was like a feline's; he spun around and immediately spotted the animal in the forest. A wolf had found him and jumped in his direction. Acting quickly, the boy leaped to the side, escaping the canine's claws.

Leo held an axe in his hands, but in the shock, he dropped it on the ground and, in desperation, fled without even trying to retrieve it. He was confident he could escape the wolf; after all, he was faster than one, but one thing was different from other times he had run. The forest cut at his body, and the dense branches and bushes slowed him down a lot; the wolf managed to catch up with him, biting his leg and making him fall to the ground.

The fierce struggle continued. The boy cried in desperation and agony, wanting his father, but alone, he had to face the animal with his bare hands, and alone he did. His luck was that he was stronger than a lion, and a lion is stronger than a wolf; however, he was still human, and only fight it. Many times he fell on a hard rock, cut himself on thorns and branches, and when he tried to run, the trees and bushes trapped him. His eyes opened, and he began to see them as they truly were: bars and chains. He was in a prison, fighting with his cellmate.

Alone.

Alone, Leo placed his back against a tree. Alone, he attacked it with a stick in hand. Alone, he hit the wolf even though he was extremely injured. Alone, he managed to scare the animal away. Alone, he climbed a tree, extremely tired, so he wouldn't be in the "open" area again.

Alone, he stayed inside his cell, with bars surrounding him on all sides. Alone, he waited. Alone, he waited. Alone, he cried, alone, he trembled, alone, he bled. Alone, he spent the day outside. Alone, he woke up the next day and, alone, went home injured, weak, almost dead. Alone, he arrived home and noticed his father wasn't there, so alone he had to use the medical kit.

His father returned only later the next day, dirty and with red eyes. He then saw his son, still weak, sitting on the old living room sofa. He ran to his son, crying more and more, about how happy he was to see him well.

Leo also cried, in his father's arms he screamed with joy and suffering, letting all the fear, trauma, and terror come out a little, because now he was no longer alone; he was with his father.

Weeks passed, and during those weeks, Leo couldn't leave the house. Looking out the windows, he could only see the wooden bars that prevented his escape. He could only remember that the wolf was lurking, he could only remember that if he tried to run, the branches and the earth would surround him. Mountains and ridges surrounded him on all sides. On a rainy and stormy day, he once again asked:

"Father, I don't like it here anymore. Let's go to the city, please?"

"What? Son, no. You're not going anywhere."

"But father, I almost died here. If something like that happens again, I don't know if I can..."

"LEO, I'VE ALREADY SAID YOU WON'T MIX WITH THOSE FILTHY PEOPLE!"

"More filthy than we are? Father, WE LIVE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE EARTH. You get covered in animal blood almost every day; we are the ones who are filthy."

"We may be filthy in body, but we are not filthy in soul. They won't take you away from me."

"I don't understand. What are you so afraid of? Who did you lose that made you so shaken?"

"..."

"Answer me, father."

"..."

"FATHER, I TOLD YOU TO ANSWER ME!"

"THEY TOOK YOUR MOTHER FROM ME, LEO. THAT'S WHAT THEY DID."

Leo stared confusedly at his father, wanting to know more about his parent's past. The man then began to tell his son everything.

Leo's father had always been a radical environmentalist, despising human society and all its forces, rejecting both capitalism and socialism, believing it would be better if they lived in a lawless Earth, where everything was left to each one's chance.

Until one day he met the woman who would become his future wife. Unlike him, she was a more pacifist and sociable citizen; curiously, that was one of the reasons he fell in love with her. Not only was she beautiful, but her kind and good heart impressed him. The way she didn't want to break the system but improve it was too beautiful. The two argued a lot when the topic came to society, but they learned to coexist... for a while.

There came a moment when the love in the marriage began to die due to these arguments and conflicts. These arguments made the couple avoid being near each other as much as possible. The arguments planted a tree of discord in the Eden garden they had, and the roots of the tree grew and gained strength, nourishing and infecting the soil, corrupting what was good in both of them. The woman ended up avoiding him and walking with others, and he became obsessed, believing she didn't understand him because she had already been manipulated by society.

She no longer found love in him, so she went looking for it in another person. The betrayal bore forbidden fruit, whose seed grew in her womb as the tree of discord corrupted them. The man, on the other hand, was infected with disgust, anger, jealousy, and disappointment, completely forgetting the love he once held for the woman.

Looking at her was painful, looking at her irritated and infuriated him. She regretted it so much that she planned to raise the child with the man, without even telling the real father of the child the truth. She wanted a fresh start, she wanted to try to live with him again. He accepted because he wanted the same thing, but he was still angry and furious with her, not even realizing the hypocrisy of his feelings with his ideals. The months passed, her belly grew, as did the tree of discord, strengthened by the hypocritical husband. Then came the day of the child's birth, and against his true will, the man accompanied his wife to the child's delivery.

He waited, alone, just with his thoughts, pondering and rethinking what that child meant to him. He really wanted to start his life over with her, but how would he see the child?

After some time waiting, the doctor came with a low, sad head, telling him how his wife had died during childbirth due to a disease called eclampsia.

In shock, he was taken to "his son" to meet him, and to have some time to think. He was left alone in a room with the baby. And everything he felt at the moment he saw the child should have been hatred, but no, it was relief. Because a miracle had occurred near him, the cycle of life, birth and death, happened right by his side, a death so natural and at the same time so sudden, caused by a disease.

The man understood what had happened, nature had blessed him, given him a new chance, nature killed his wife who had become impure and gave him a part of her that was still pure, that had not yet been dominated by human touch. A being that was the representation of his and her desire to live together again, in a new beginning, starting from scratch. But of course, only she needed to be rejuvenated, he didn't do anything wrong, did he? He had always been an ally of the Earth, so the Earth blessed him because he deserved it. So, to prevent his child from growing up among the impure and perverse and becoming one, he took him out of the cruel and evil society.

And this brings us to the point where you are now:

"Wait. So you're not my real father?"

"No, son, I am your father."

"No, you're not. You're just a stranger who kidnapped me when I was a child and was happy when my mother died."

"Only because it meant she would no longer be corrupted by this selfish, possessive, and damned society. Don't you understand? You are pure, more than I am, you can be someone different, you can live within our mother nature and understand her as few could..."

"I don't want that. SHE TRIED TO KILL ME, DAD, AND YOU... You're crazy... crazy... GET AWAY FROM ME."

Leo started running faster than he did when he was the wolf, limping, still feeling exhausted, but perhaps due to the adrenaline, he still had the strength to run and escaped as quickly as possible from a father who was desperately following close behind. Even limping, he ran because, as it was with the wolf, it was up to him to escape, no one would come to save him, no one knew he existed, it was just him, alone.

Scared, poor boy, he ran through the woods. Terrified, unhappy boy, he cried through the woods. Matricide, forbidden fruit, impurity, no one. These were the names that came to Leo's mind, for himself. He ran, going deeper and deeper into the forest he did not know. Until he stepped wrong and the leg that was still good twisted.

He fell to the ground against a rock, hitting his head and opening a wound on his forehead. He became dizzy, his dizziness confused him, his confusion calmed his nerves, his calm made him realize where he was. Alone, in the middle of the forest.

"Please no, please no..." Leo began to have a panic attack, he was alone in there, they were going to get him, the trees seemed to compress and surround him more and more. And as the old saying goes: everything that is bad can get worse.

He saw it, for a moment, but Leo saw the wolf lurking among the trees, walking from side to side. He cried, and cried, he tried to stand up, but had no strength in his legs. They hurt too much, he was going to die, he was going to die. Can you hear the anguish and terror of this poor boy that no one knows?

"More..." A whisper, so weak and brief, echoed through the forest. Leo couldn't even identify the voice, just the word. It wasn't possible, was there someone else in the forest? Finally, someone appeared, this person would save him from the wolf.

"Help, help me. There's a madman after me and a wolf and the forest. I'm so scared, help, please, help me."

This time, the answer came loud and clear, it was a little mischievous laugh, the voice of a child, in a blur. Leo spotted a white blur in the middle of the trees, as if it was circling him. He saw the same blur in another corner, but this time it was a little more visible, and he could see that there was black mixed with the white. The laughter grew louder, more understandable, and more confident, it was the typical laugh of a child who had played a trick on someone.

This time, he saw her more clearly, she was very young, long black hair, barefoot and wearing a white nightgown, but he couldn't see her face. But the girl continued to circle the place where he was, laughing and running, but silently. Until at one moment, she stopped running and stood still in front of him, with her body turned away from him.

"Hey, hey, why are you asking for help?"

"Can't you see I'm hurt? Please call for help, your parents must be around here."

"Parents? Hihihi, as if you knew what real parents are like..."

"What?"

"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. But answer me, are you afraid of the forest?"

"Of course, I'm terrified, I can't stand being in here any longer."

"Hey, hey, what does your father say about nature?"

"What does it matter? GO CALL SOMEONE!" Still with her back to him, the girl raised her right hand and wagged her index finger in a negative gesture.

"Hey, hey, hey, what does your father say about nature?"

Leo was still confused, but he gave in and played along with the girl.

"He says it's wonderful, that we're never alone because we are part of its cycle."

"Do you agree?"

"...... No."

"Why? Why?"

"Well......"

"Hey, hey, I asked a question. I asked: Why? Why?"

"I... think it's a prison. I... am afraid of it. I... hate it."

"Hihihi, you're right. Humans are not part of nature, that's why they dominate it, that's why throughout the years, humanity had to unite and build bases and advancements to hide from it." Leo listened attentively to the girl's comments in absolute silence. "In the end, humanity has always sought to overcome nature. But what these fools didn't realize is that there is no chance of victory against it."

"N-N-No chance?"

"Hihihi, of course not, silly. Hey, hey, look at the sky, what do you see?"

"Clouds and..."

"Hey, hey, what do you see? What do you see when you look at the sky? Look closely, look closely, look carefully."

He looked carefully, but only saw the sky, of course, there were trees and mountains and hills also in his field of vision to remind him that he was trapped, but... And it was at that moment that his eyes opened. He stopped seeing the sky as a sky, but as a dome that prevented his escape upwards. The feeling he had was of being in something similar to a snow globe. Then it dawned on him, it didn't matter if he found society, in the end, the human race would always be in nature, that was what the girl said, there is no chance of victory.

The very sky is a dome, and beyond the dome is a vacuum, a black hole, explosions. Inside the dome, 70% is water, you can't live there, and sometimes that percentage wants to invade the dry part. In the air, there are diseases and plagues, the plants are poisonous. He's trapped in an unbreakable cage, he's destined to suffer in there. There's nothing to do, nothing to know.

Nature is everywhere, nature is humanity's enemy, there is no chance of victory, no salvation. His breathing faltered, his heart beat faster and faster, his anguish grew more and more.

"Hey, hey, are you in despair?" Finally, the girl turned to him, her eyes... were milky and white. In small steps, the child approached Leo, and the young man's feeling of terror only increased. There was no escape... not from the girl, who cares about her? But from nature, he's going to die, he's going to spend the rest of his life fighting against it. Little by little, the darkness engulfed Leo's heart until his whole being was consumed by it.

"So is that it? There's nothing left to do..." He gave up, dominated by all that agony and dismay. Until the little girl grabbed his hands and spoke:

"Hey, hey, there's hope." In the darkness, came light. "You can defeat nature, only you can."

"I can? But how?"

The eyes of the little girl became normal as she continue:

"Yes, as long as you exist, there's hope against nature's tyranny. You are the hope of all humanity. You just need to accept serve under my name, and i guarantee, this virtue will pay. Do you accept it?"

"Yes. Yes, i do."

"Hihihi, i, Lily, name you Leo, The Hybrid, your despair is your loneliness, and your hope is the destruction of nature. Come, you will be one of my generals, and in the future will grasp your hope."

"Do i need to do something?

"Hihihi, yes silly. Die."

In a blink of an eye she vanished, and behind her was the wolf.