A butterfly took him away, and a butterfly brought him back.
***
Sky had been too absorbed in capturing the beauty of Mount Arcanum to realize he'd been separated from his friends during the hike.
No signal, no way to contact anyone. No clear direction, even the map offered no help. So the only choice was to walk, hoping his feet and wits would be enough to find his way back.
But somehow, he always ended up in the same place. A never-ending loop. As if the mountain itself refused to let him go.
Afraid of wandering deeper into the unknown, he chose to take shelter in a cave, hoping another hiker might pass by. But the calm of Mount Arcanum was too gentle, too soothing. Slowly… it lulled him to sleep.
Just before drifting off, he saw something—a butterfly. It flew closer, and closer still, until its shimmering wings filled his entire vision.
Darkness.
***
"Come on, Sky... this has to be a dream."
He awoke in a foreign land—a place where the old wounds between elves and humans had never truly healed, and peace lived only in the shadow of hope.