Kealix sat in the soft underbrush, heart still pounding beneath the weight of everything he had just learned. The truth—or what passed for truth in this strange, spiraling world—was impossible to ignore. But could he really trust them? Thalia and Leo had revealed so much in so little time, and yet… he barely knew them. Strangers, really. Less than an hour ago.
And still, a quiet, gnawing instinct whispered that they were his best chance. Whatever this forest was—this place where the leaves bled scarlet and the air shimmered unnaturally—he wasn't going to survive it alone. Not now. Not without guidance. The truth, whatever it was, could wait. Right now, survival had to come first. Shelter. Safety. Answers could come later, if he lived long enough to ask them.
A sudden voice snapped him from his spiraling thoughts.
"The sun's about to set," Leo said, his tone casual, but edged with something colder—wariness. "We should find shelter before the Forest Lord wakes up."
Kealix's head turned sharply, eye narrowing. Forest Lord? The title alone made his skin prickle.
"I agree," Thalia said with a curt nod. Her mask turned slightly, as if scanning the forest shadows. Then, with a shift of her weight, she glanced back at him.
"And…" she added, her voice flatter now, "you'll need something to wear."
Her masked gaze lingered on him for a second too long.
Kealix blinked, then looked down at himself.
Without Frost—his attire, his companion, he was left in nothing but the battered remains of a pair of torn black cargo pants. His torso was bare, skin smeared with dirt, dried blood, and small scratches from his rough awakening in this world. It was only now, under their scrutiny, that he realized how vulnerable he looked.
"Yeah," he muttered with an awkward chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck. "Good point."
He stood slowly, body stiff from sitting too long in the cold earth. As he rose to his full height and faced them properly for the first time, something struck him.
They were… tall.
Thalia stood at least half a head taller than him—lean, but with a stillness that made her presence heavy. Controlled. Dangerous, even behind the porcelain mask. Leo, on the other hand, was nearly a full head and a half above him. Broad-shouldered, confident, built like someone who could wrestle one of those aether-mutated beasts and walk away with a grin.
And Kealix—by Rah'dull standards—wasn't short. He was above average back home. Stronger than most. But here?
Here, among these two... he felt small.
He clenched his fists briefly, then forced himself to relax. No time to let pride get in the way. These two had answers. They had strength. And for now, they had a path forward.
He looked between them, the last slivers of daylight bleeding through the crimson treetops above.
"Alright," he said. His voice was quieter now, but steadier. "Let's move."
Thalia moved first, walking over to where a dusty old backpack lay partially hidden in the brush. She slung it over one shoulder with practiced ease, the straps creaking faintly under the weight. Whatever supplies they needed to survive out here—water, tools, who knew what else—they must have been inside that pack.
Leo, on the other hand, reached down without hesitation and grabbed the massive, limp body of the pale creature they had killed earlier. With one hand, he slung his enormous sword across his back in a fluid, almost lazy motion. Then, with the other, he hoisted the beast's carcass up over his shoulder like it weighed no more than a sack of flour.
Kealix blinked, eyebrows raising. "Isn't that… heavy?" he asked, his voice caught between awe and disbelief.
Leo glanced over, grin widening like a sun breaking through clouds. "Depends," he said, cocking his head slightly. "For most people? Yeah, probably. But I'm not most people."
The black of Leo's armor gleamed faintly under the red glow of the treetops, a sharp contrast to the corpse's pale, veined flesh. The visual struck Kealix—Leo looked like something out of a war myth. Strong. Confident. Effortless.
Kealix let out a slow sigh, dragging a hand through his tousled hair. "Okay, but seriously—how did you even kill one of those things?" He gestured toward the beast, still trying to wrap his head around the sheer size of it. "That thing's big enough to crush a medium sized hut. If it stood upright, it'd look like a small giant."
Leo looked genuinely puzzled by the question. "I cut it down," he said plainly, like that explained everything. His brow furrowed as he tried to read Kealix's expression. "I mean, how else would I have done it?"
Kealix stared at him for a beat, momentarily thrown by the simplicity of the answer. He wanted to laugh—but not in a mocking way. More like someone who had just realized the person standing next to him wasn't exaggerating their strength—they simply existed on another level.
"Well…" Kealix shrugged with a tired smile. "I guess you're pretty strong, then. Huh?"
Leo gave a short, almost bashful chuckle. "Yeah, I guess I am. But honestly?" He shifted the beast slightly on his shoulder and adjusted his grip. "These things are just a really good matchup for me. It's not just strength—it's synergy. They're big and slow. I'm fast, stronger than I look, and I've fought enough of them to know where to strike."
He glanced down at Kealix, his eyes gleaming beneath the dark fringe of his hair. "Don't worry. Stick with us, and we'll make sure you don't have to fight one of these things anytime soon."
Thalia, silent as ever, took the lead without a word, vanishing through the trees like a shadow with purpose.
Kealix watched them both for a moment—Leo, effortlessly hauling the corpse of a monster, and Thalia, masked and unreadable, walking ahead like she knew every twist of the forest path.
He still had no idea what this world truly was. But if he had to survive it, at least he wasn't alone.
The group pressed onward through the scarlet forest, their footsteps muffled by the thick carpet of ashen moss and fallen crimson leaves. Overhead, the sky had shifted from ocean-blue to a muted amber, the sun sinking behind the twisted canopy. Shadows stretched like claws across the forest floor.
Leo walked casually, whistling a low, aimless tune as if this whole nightmare of a place were nothing more than an afternoon stroll.
Thalia led the way, silent and sure-footed, her porcelain mask turning left and right in slow, deliberate scans. She hadn't said much since they started moving, but she seemed to know exactly where they were going. Some kind of safe haven, supposedly. Kealix could only hope she was right.
Leo slowed slightly until he was walking beside Kealix. "So," he asked, his voice light, conversational, "where are you planning to go?"
Kealix blinked and looked up at him—then quickly looked away, the sheer size of the man still throwing him off. He raised a hand to his chin, trying to come up with a real answer.
Where was he planning to go? He didn't even know where he was, let alone where he could go. His world—Rah'dull—was gone, or at least out of reach. Everything here felt alien. Hostile. Beautiful and terrifying in the same breath.
"I think…" he began slowly, still thinking it through as he spoke, "I just want to find a safe place. Somewhere I can figure out how to return to my world."
Leo's grin stretched even wider. The kind of grin that made Kealix feel like he was being drafted into something he didn't fully understand.
"Then you're in luck!" Leo declared, giving Kealix a friendly slap on the back that nearly knocked the breath out of him. "You should come with us. We're heading to the Western Empire. Safest place in the world right now—fortified cities, clean water, monster barriers, the whole deal."
Kealix stumbled a step from the slap, then steadied himself. The Western Empire? He'd never heard of it. Of course he hadn't—this world wasn't his. But the idea of safety… of civilization… it stirred something hopeful inside him.
He hesitated.
Could he really trust them? Could he afford not to?
I can't survive this place alone. That much was already clear. Whatever that Forest Lord was, he didn't want to meet it without backup. These two knew what they were doing. And if there really was a safe place—a stronghold somewhere in this world—he needed to reach it.
He rubbed his jaw thoughtfully and then gave a small nod. "Alright… count me in. How long will it take us to get there?" he asked, already feeling a slight weight lifting off his chest.
Leo beamed. "Great to hear!" he said, his voice brimming with excitement. "And don't worry about the journey. If we keep up a good pace, it'll only take about… oh, a year."
Kealix froze.
"…A year?"
He stopped walking.
Leo looked over his shoulder with a raised eyebrow, as if Kealix had just asked whether the sky was blue. "Yeah," he said cheerfully. "Give or take a few weeks, depending on weather, monster interference, territorial shifts—you know, normal stuff."
Kealix's jaw dropped. "O–one year?! Where even are we for it to take that long?!"
Leo chuckled and shrugged. "Middle of nowhere. Real pretty though, right?" He gestured broadly to the forest around them, where the leaves glowed faintly in the fading light and the distant hum of strange creatures echoed just out of sight.
Kealix stared at him in disbelief. A year. That was longer than he had ever been away from home, longer than most Rah'dullian campaigns. Could he really survive a journey like that?
Then again… what were his other options?
None.
He clenched his jaw, inhaled deeply, and kept walking.
"Alright, Leo… uh, new guy..."
Thalia's voice rang out flatly, drifting back from the front of the group. She came to a stop and turned, her porcelain mask catching a sliver of dying sunlight through the trees. The sculpted expression on it remained unreadable, but her tone carried enough curiosity to make Kealix feel scrutinized.
"That doesn't sound right. What should we actually call you?"
Kealix straightened, a bit surprised she was asking him now, though he supposed it made sense. They hadn't exactly had time for introductions back when monsters were involved.
"You can call me Kealix," he said simply, his voice calm but firm.
Leo, still walking beside him, barked a short laugh. "That's a weird name."
Kealix winced inwardly, his jaw tightening just enough to be noticed.
As irritating as that is to hear… he's not wrong.
His name did stand out. Compared to Leo and Thalia, his felt foreign—off. Like it didn't belong in the cadence of this world.
Still.
He wasn't about to apologize for it.
He kept his face neutral, though the annoyed twitch at the corner of his mouth betrayed him for a split second.
"Kealix it is, then," Thalia said, without judgment or warmth. Her voice returned to its usual even keel as she turned back toward the path. "We're almost there. The safe haven."
Kealix's brows lifted slightly. Already?
"No monsters come near it," she continued, now walking again. "Not since the Rival of the Forest Lord made it his home."
That title—Rival of the Forest Lord—landed like a weight in Kealix's chest.
"He's not aggressive," she added, voice slower now, more deliberate. "But don't anger him. He can kill you. And he will, if you cross the wrong line."
Kealix exchanged a look with Leo, who only nodded silently. The weight of Thalia's warning settled over them like the shadows of the trees.
They resumed walking, but Kealix couldn't keep the question bottled up for long.
He leaned toward Leo and kept his voice low. "How does she know all that? If she's never even been to this place before?"
Leo didn't answer right away. For a moment, he looked thoughtful—like he was trying to figure out what he could say, and what he shouldn't.
Then he exhaled and shot Kealix a sideways glance, the corners of his mouth tugging up in that familiar, cocky grin.
"Well, right now we can't really tell you."
Kealix narrowed his eyes. "Why not?"
Leo gave a small shrug, his voice dropping into a more serious tone beneath the playfulness.
"We've only known you for a few hours, man. And some things…"—he gestured vaguely in the air—"they're better kept quiet until we know where someone really stands. You seem alright, but revealing our abilities to someone who could turn on us later? That could come back to bite us in the ass."
Then, just as quickly, the seriousness in his voice gave way to a teasing smile. "Stick around though. Eventually, you'll either figure it out… or maybe we'll just tell you. Depends how charming you turn out to be."
Kealix let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. He wasn't sure whether Leo was being coy or genuinely cautious—or both. Either way, it was clear there was more going on beneath the surface of these two than they were letting on.
Secrets, he thought. Everyone here is walking around with a mask—Thalia's is just literal.
Still, the pull of the unknown didn't feel threatening, not yet. If anything, it made him more curious. Maybe even excited.
He kept walking. Whatever this safe haven was, it was close. And whatever answers it held, he was one step closer to finding out.