"Ugh… my head…" I mutter, forcing my eyes open.
Everything is distorted and dark, a thick fog blurring the line between reality and pain. My back burns, as if still bearing the weight of the massive boulder that hit me.
"Damn it… thought I'd died again…"
Moments like this always drag me back to that filthy day. The day I can't erase from my mind.
But… where the hell am I?
I push my body upright — if that unstable slab of rock can even be called a floor. I take one step… and my heart races. Just below, an endless drop yawns open. I'm stranded on a steep ledge of this cursed mountain.
"Alissa?!" I shout, scanning around.
No sign of her. No footprints. No sound.
My gaze lifts and finds her bow dangling from a branch above, swaying gently in the wind.
"Damn it… this isn't—"
Instinctively, I look down. My blood runs cold. Twenty meters below, I see her body lying still. But she's not alone.
From the darkness, corrupted beasts crawl out — twisted skeletons advancing like starving dogs.
My hand finds my fallen sword beside me. I don't think. I leap from the cliff, wings tearing through the air, dropping like a projectile.
The first skeleton doesn't even realize what hit it — my blade cleaves it in two before it can raise its weapon. I twist in midair, cut through the second, and within seconds they're nothing but dry fragments on the ground.
These things… they're not even half as strong as that damned eagle.
I scoop Alissa into my arms. She's breathing, but unconscious. My eyes search the shadows until I spot an opening in the rock — a cave — just a few meters above.
I beat my wings, rising toward it, but in this area… you can never be too careful.
Closing my eyes, I focus my power, and a black crow materializes before me, its form made of smoke and shadow.
"Go."
It launches into the air, and my vision merges with its own. The crow glides into the cave's shadows, its wings beating in a muffled rhythm, nearly swallowed by the oppressive silence.
Through its eyes, I see walls covered in pulsing veins — like living roots shifting slightly, breathing. The air feels heavy… denser, as if the darkness itself had weight.
The ground isn't pure stone — it's a mix of rock and something organic, wet, reacting under the crow's claws, recoiling like wounded flesh.
Deeper in, a sound… slow, dragging… tok… tok… tok… Footsteps — unhurried, yet certain they will reach whoever's inside.
With every step, the echo grows closer, even though no form appears.
The crow tilts its head, and my vision catches something at the end of the corridor — a faint, flickering light, like a candle struggling against the wind. Around it, strange carvings mark the stone… symbols I don't recognize, but they set my heart pounding for no reason I can name.
As the crow draws near, the light falters… and dies.
For an instant, all is black.
Then, two small lights appear — they're not candles. They're eyes. Locked on it… and through it, locked on me.
The sound stops. The air seems to vanish.
The crow begins to tremble. I can feel it, even from here. Before I can react, the vision shatters — the link is broken.
At the cave's entrance, my own eyes return, and the only thing I hear is a faint scraping from within, something dragging itself toward me.
"Prisoner… the board has brought you to me!" The voice booms from the darkness, deep and distorted, as if coming from many places at once.
That voice… it's not unfamiliar. My chest tightens. Then memory strikes like a blunt blow — the skeletal figure that greeted me the instant I stepped onto this cursed board.
I feel the crushing pressure of his internal energy. Far stronger than mine… I can't face him now. Not here. Not like this.
With a single beat of my wings, I take off with Alissa in my arms, rising higher, searching for safety. My body moves fast, but my mind… my mind is spinning.
Damn it! Even with my strength, I'm still far… creatures of that level are beyond me. I need to grow stronger. Much stronger.
I send more crows in different directions, each carrying my sight in search of refuge. Finally, I find a steep, isolated spot—silent… at least for now.
I land there. Lower Alissa gently, as if she were made of glass. For a moment, I forget where I am… forget the danger. I lose myself in the softness of her face, even unconscious, her features lit only by the pale glow seeping through the cracks in the rock.
"Damn it… what are you thinking, LL? You love Elisabeth… and she is Alissa."
My crows return in a swift flight, merging into my skin like living shadows. A rush of information floods me — images, sounds, scents. No movement. That monster remains still, as if watching me from afar.
Is this a deadly game… or a cruel joke?
I can't waste time trying to figure out the rules of this cursed board. Alissa is hurt.
I kneel beside her, my knee pressing into the rough ground. The medic's instinct that never left me — born of years in nursing — takes over. My fingers run with precision along her neck, finding her pulse. Fast, but steady. I place my hand beneath her nose: short, irregular breaths.
I examine the injured ankle. A mild dislocation… likely from the fall's impact. No open fracture. One quick, firm motion and I set the joint back in place. She lets out a low groan but doesn't wake.
I check her pupils — her left reacts slower to light. Moderate concussion… nothing I can't stabilize. I tear a strip from my own shirt and improvise a splint to keep the foot immobilized.
My eyes scan her from head to toe, searching for hidden bleeding. My touch is firm but careful, alert to any sign of internal damage. Nothing critical… for now.
I exhale in relief. Leaning in, I brush my hand across her damp forehead. "You're gonna be fine, Alissa… you just need to wake up."
As if my words are a trigger, her fingers twitch. A shiver runs through her body, and suddenly she jolts awake, eyes wide, breath in panic.
"FOSTER!" Her scream tears through the mountainside's silence.
She tries to stand, still dazed and afraid, as if fleeing from something unseen.