The cliff stretched before him like an open wound.
The roar of the sea below was constant, hypnotic.
The wind battered him, stealing the warmth from his body, filling his lungs with a salty, damp scent—strange, ancient.
Fog blanketed the ocean like a shroud.
There was no horizon.
No shore.
Only white and gray.
Erian held the compass between his fingers.
The needle spun wildly, as if it had gone mad.
"What do you expect me to do, huh?" he muttered. "Jump into the void?"
There was no immediate answer, but the system didn't take long to respond.
[Anomalous Zone Detected]
[Area: The Sea of Mist]
[Progress Requirement: Leap of Faith]
He let out a short, incredulous laugh.
"Leap of faith? You've gotta be kidding me." He clenched his teeth. "I don't even know if this is real."
He closed his eyes for a moment.
Thought of Lira. Her voice. Her smile. The way she always scolded him for getting into trouble.
"If this has anything to do with you... then it's worth it."
He opened his eyes.
And jumped.
⋆⭒✧༺༻✧⭒⋆
The wind swallowed him.
The world vanished in a whirlwind of noise, vertigo, and fear.
He didn't scream.
He couldn't.
The air was ripped from his lungs.
The sea hit him like a wall of ice.
The impact crushed him—cold, chaotic.
Darkness.
Disorientation.
A chill that pierced straight to the bone.
Erian sank, unable to tell which way was up.
There was no surface.
No direction.
Only water and emptiness.
Panic struck him like a spear.
He kicked wildly, but his arms were heavy, sluggish.
His breath was running out.
Then, something glowed in the deep.
A figure.
It looked human.
Floating in chains, motionless.
A faint, soft blue light pulsed from its chest—familiar, almost comforting.
Erian stared, heart pounding.
"No way…"
It was him.
Older. Harder. But his face.
His eyes.
The same expression, only now carved with a sadness that hurt to look at.
"What are you…?" he tried to speak, but only bubbles escaped his mouth.
The figure looked at him.
It smiled—not with joy, but with understanding. With resignation.
It reached out and placed a hand on Erian's forehead.
[Echo Contact Registered]
[Memory Fragment Accepted]
[Skill Unlocked: Liminal Breathing — Level 1]
Erian gasped.
And did not drown.
Air filled his lungs as if the ocean were his home.
His instincts screamed it was impossible.
His body believed it anyway.
The figure began to dissolve into light.
Its gaze never left Erian's.
"Why do you look so alone?" he whispered, though he knew no one could hear.
The last traces of light vanished.
⋆⭒✧༺༻✧⭒⋆
He woke up on the shore, coughing up seawater, face pressed to the wet sand.
The world spun.
His clothes felt like they still carried the ocean's weight.
He groaned and forced himself upright.
Before him stood a forest.
But not a normal one.
The trees were tall and dark, their leaves glowing with an eerie green light.
The ground was blanketed in bioluminescent fungi, and thick mist moved between the trunks as if it had a mind of its own.
"Where the hell am I?"
A crunch behind him made his heart lurch.
He spun around.
A figure emerged from the fog.
A woman.
Dark skin, amber eyes, braided hair.
A spear strapped to her back, armor made of bone.
She stopped just a few steps away, no fear on her face.
"Thought you were just another floater," she said.
Erian stared, still panting, still shivering from what he'd seen beneath the waves.
"You… you live here?"
The woman narrowed her eyes.
"People don't live here. They survive."
He got to his feet, staggering.
"What is this place?"
She glanced down at the compass in his hand.
"Ah. I see. A new one."
"A new what?"
She sighed, like she didn't have the time—or patience—to explain.
"If you don't know where you are, you won't last a week."
"I just fell off a cliff into the ocean and breathed underwater.
I doubt anything's gonna surprise me now."
She raised an eyebrow.
"That's exactly what a dead man would say."
She turned her back.
"Come on. Or the Black Bone trackers will smell you, and then you'll wish you had died in the water."
Erian hesitated. He didn't trust her. But he had no other choice.
"Wait," he called, stumbling after her. "You're not even gonna tell me your name?"
She didn't look back.
"I will.
If you live through the night."