The last thing Sami saw was a brilliant yellow light, and the moment he opened his eyes, he found himself in a completely different place.
The scene before him was strange, wild, and indescribably breathtaking.
He saw a clear blue sky, beautiful to an exaggerated degree, like a sea of jewels, interspersed with white cotton clouds in enchanting gradients, closer to a work of art. Sami smiled.
His chest was flooded with a feeling of pure happiness; he was utterly euphoric.
He forgot where he was, why he was here, and what had happened. He forgot to think, or rather… he was no longer capable of it.
He was frozen in place, even though his face was smeared with blood, his clothes were torn, and his wounds were still bleeding.
His smile remained plastered on his face as he lay on what appeared to be a cluster of beautiful green branches and leaves.
His sense of happiness was unnatural… as if under the influence of the strongest and highest quality of intoxicants.
---
On the other side, Rina, the daughter of the clan Commander, opened her eyes in alarm.
The moment she grasped reality, a burning pain shot through her, and she immediately jumped from her spot.
She was in a place of complete darkness. She looked up and saw a distant, dim, fragmented sky, pierced by small holes through which barely visible light seeped.
And suddenly…
Something grabbed her foot!
It coiled around her and began to squeeze with force, sending terrifying, burning pain through her.
She was already exhausted from the previous night's battle, her body full of wounds, her clothes stained with blood.
She summoned her personal sword: [Wind-Cutter].
The moment the sword appeared in her hands, a flicker of light flashed, revealing her surroundings a little.
The place was covered in violet herbaceous plants, moving like worms coiled around each other, and one of the vines was wrapped around her leg, sending fine roots piercing into her flesh.
She finally materialized the sword, pressed her lips together ignoring the pain, then brought it down swiftly and precisely.
It cut the vine along with part of the hem of her white clothes, but the roots remained inside her leg, making her feel as if thousands of needles were piercing her.
She started running, even though the darkness and the sea of vines around her didn't make it a wise decision…
But, did she even have a choice?
---
In the emerald blue sky, an orange comet blazed, tearing through the cotton clouds.
Beneath it, there was an endless expanse of intertwined green branches and leaves, like interlocking tree canopies in a never-ending tapestry.
And somewhere within them…
There was a human body in blood-stained white clothes, lying motionless.
His eyes were wide open, bearing no trace of consciousness or intelligence, a frantic smile on his face, drool trickling down.
It was Sami, completely rigid.
Suddenly, one of the branches beneath him snapped, creating a small gap.
His body tilted slightly, his weight pressing on the remaining branches, which couldn't bear it.
A series of bends followed, forming a suitable gap through which Sami's body inadvertently slid.
He slipped quietly and silently… and fell.
His fall continued, sliding between the branches, still completely dazed, gradually moving away from the light towards the darkness.
Finally, he settled on a slightly larger, flat, brown trunk, stuck there for a while.
Long hours passed…
Then…
His wrist moved.
After a while, his foot twitched.
Then he closed his eyes.
Then, he exhaled.
Finally… his consciousness began to return.
Throughout that period, it had been terrifying.
Sami first felt as if he had lost his body, followed by a strange feeling of forced euphoria and happiness.
As if he was condemned to a wave of pleasure he couldn't refuse.
Now, he could think, albeit a little.
His foot was still bleeding, his body was tired, but he regained his ability to question:
"What… happened to me?
Oh, my head… hurts terribly.
I was in the clan just a moment ago… right, a yellow light appeared… after that, I don't remember anything.
What happened to the clan? To my siblings? The Commander's daughter… wasn't she with me?
Oh, my head… I can't even think at will… and my foot is bleeding…"
He forced his eyes open and moved his head with difficulty:
"Where am I? Branches? Leaves?… A forest?
Why am I here?
I can't think clearly…
Maybe I should call up the System…"
He thought of it, and instantly a blue electronic screen appeared before him, completely contrasting with the primitive environment around him.
The screen displayed his stats:
»»»
[Name]: Sami
[Age]: 16
[Race]: Human
…
»»»
He contemplated the screen for a moment, and his mind slowly returned to him…
"It seems I was hit by a mental attack…
But by who? The last thing I remember was the beautiful sky… I didn't see anything else.
Was the mental attack launched from the environment? I don't think so, otherwise I'd still be under its effect."
He sighed…
"Impossible…
Could the sky itself be…? That's terrifying.
I need to stop the paranoia."
Now that the attack's effect had lessened, he managed to lift his body.
He sat up, feeling more at ease, but the air…
It was heavy.
As if the place didn't want to be breathed.
After deep thought, he arrived at three hypotheses:
"Maybe we were teleported to this forest by an attack from the Sword Demon?
Or the explosion was a spiritual bomb… and I'm dead now?
But… if I were dead, I wouldn't be suffering or bleeding.
So, the third possibility…
Maybe I was forcibly entered into my second ordeal?
But… entering an ordeal is supposed to be a personal decision!"
He adjusted his sitting position, adopting a comfortable posture while resting his chin on his hand, muttering:
"Well… they're all theories until I verify them. But it seems I'm on a tree branch. A branch this wide? It must be a massive tree… and extremely tall. How high could it be? I need to check before deciding to climb down myself."
Sami summoned [Moon-Slicer]. He decided to throw it downwards to measure the distance, at least approximately.
Usually, a summoned sword automatically returns to the void if it moves about two hundred meters away from its owner. So, Sami just wanted to check… in case of any emergency.
He grabbed the sword and held it horizontally, then let it slide down into the gloom. After a few short moments, he felt the sword being dismissed.
It was a shock. He hadn't expected the branch to exceed a height of two hundred meters. This meant one thing… if he wanted to know the tree's length, he had to climb down himself.
But he didn't have the luxury of time.
Sami had never lived in a forest before; he wasn't an expert, but he wasn't entirely ignorant either… However, the forest itself wasn't prepared to grant him any time.
Suddenly, a thunderous roar echoed from the depths below… a deep, terrifying, inhuman sound… it didn't even resemble animal roars.
His body trembled. The sound wasn't just scary; Sami felt it came from a place very far down at the bottom, as if the abyss itself was screaming.
"How tall is this tree, really?" he whispered to himself.
If only he hadn't asked.
For from below, something gigantic rose… shattering everything in its path.
Sami couldn't see it clearly due to the density of the branches, but he felt its approach… it was terrifying, majestic, and worst of all, it was approaching with insane speed.
Sami lunged from his spot, forcing his exhausted body to move despite the bleeding covering his foot, trying to flee… but, it was meaningless.
In an instant, the huge branch under his feet shattered… everything around him collapsed.
Fortunately, Sami had summoned [Desert's Aegis], and it began to form on his body at the very moment he received the blow.
A sweeping blow… it obliterated everything within sight.
A gigantic creature, clad in a grim red color, suddenly appeared… with eyes like embers, it overwhelmed everything. And the blow was enough to hurl Sami high into the air, without direction… without hope.
And he didn't know what to do.
But suddenly, he fell onto a part of that giant creature's body. He reached out his hand and grabbed the first thing he could secure… he held on with all his might, with all his will.
The creature continued to ascend, piercing through the branches, crossing the high expanse of the forest, heading towards the sky.
And up there, under the glow of the blue sky, it let out a horrifying scream…
A scream of pain… as if from a blazing hell.
The body of Sami, hanging by its side, shook and froze.
He didn't know what the right decision was, he didn't know if this was a mental attack or not, but his instinct drove him to close his eyes, trying to isolate his senses as much as possible.
Then…
The creature began to fall.
It descended with terrifying speed, returning to the depths of the darkness… where there was no light.
And Sami… was still clinging to it, paralyzed with terror, his mind unable to comprehend.
"Where am I… and why am I here?"
It was a question without an answer.
He could only think…
"Damn my bad luck… damn it all."
To be continued…
---