I was in the sky, and the world was discordant, as if I was observing everything in reverse. I watched a massive creature as it moved away from a destroyed village, while the houses, the fire, and the people slowly restored themselves, as if time was rewinding.
The creature entered the forest, where it shrank until it disappeared into the thicket.
After a final shift in perspective, I startled. I was no longer in the sky, but lying on a pile of dry, rough straw. I sat up with difficulty and checked my body with trembling hands.
"This isn't my body," I murmured, observing my appearance. I was young, perhaps a boy of about fourteen, very far from my real age. The clothes, made of coarse, patched cloth, hung loosely on me.
Let's see, think. I was doing my homework, about to catch up on the pending chapters of my novel. But, out of nowhere, I'm in this place. So I was sent to this world.
After having that thought, I summoned the runes, which materialized in the air in front of me, glowing with a faint, cold light.
Name: Ariel
True Name:—
Soul Core:Dormant
Memories:—
Echoes:—
Attributes:[Son of the Sky] [Space] [Light] [Darkness] [Luck]
Aspect:Spatial Sense.
Aspect Description:[A sense that allows you to perceive the surrounding space clearly. You know where you are and what is hidden from plain sight].
I made a slight grimace upon reading the aspect I had drawn.
How will that help me stop this village from being destroyed? I thought, a little annoyed.
I better keep reading my attributes.
Description of Son of the Sky: [The heavens acknowledge you as one of their own].
Description of Space:[You have a great sense of direction and a sharp perception of your surroundings].
Description of Light:[You have an affinity for light].
Description of Darkness:[You have an affinity for darkness, granting you vision in the shadows and gloom].
Description of Luck:[You are lucky].
---
One of my eyebrows twitched. None of those abilities were for combat; they all seemed more like support skills.
For heaven's sake. I'm screwed, I let out a sigh, lying back down on the pile of straw. There was no one around; in fact, my new sense didn't detect any nearby presence, so I assumed I had time to think.
Nightmares are cruel, but fair in their own way... unless you are destined for something. And if you are, you become the sacrificial lamb.
Anyway, from what I saw, I need to stop the destruction of this village by that gigantic creature hiding in the forest.
I sat up and looked around until my gaze settled on a pickaxe leaning against the stable wall.
"I wouldn't be so foolish as to go with just this, would I?..."
I looked at the pickaxe, then beyond, at the dark line of the forest outlined against the twilight sky.
"Well, whatever." Getting to my feet, I grabbed the pickaxe, its wooden handle worn and rough, and headed into the forest, leaving the fence behind.
As I walked, I noticed the trees were gigantic, as tall as skyscrapers, their crowns forming a canopy so thick it barely filtered the fading light. The air smelled of damp earth, moss, and old bark.
The sensation of knowing everything around me was something new, strange; it was like having an extra sense, an expanded awareness that allowed me to perceive the location of every tree, every stone, every small insect crawling among the roots.
Whistling a low tune to calm myself, I kept going, moving deeper inside. I had a persistent feeling that if I continued, I would find something.
"Maybe it's my Luck attribute?" I murmured, confused.
Despite the growing darkness enveloping the forest, I could see with surprising clarity, as if the shadows themselves were surrendering their secrets to me.
Finally, after what felt like hours, I reached a different clearing. The scene that opened before me chilled my blood: several corpses lay on the ground, killed by terrible wounds. Around them were insect-like beasts, also dead, the size of a person or larger. The air was thick with the cloying stench of blood and the onset of decay, a smell that instantly turned my stomach.
Clenching my jaw, I covered my nose with my arm and approached cautiously, rummaging through the remains. I found a spear lying there, with a white, polished shaft, and next to it, a leather bag containing a liquid with a pungent, putrid smell: flammable oil. I also picked up a fire-starting stick, its end wrapped in rags.
With the new objects in hand, I left that macabre place and ventured even deeper, moving silently. The atmosphere, once merely gloomy, became heavy and ominous; a silent pressure hung over the forest. At any moment, I swore something would jump out of the bushes to kill me, but nothing did. I didn't feel any nearby presence, only the weight of the silence and the invisible gaze of the ancient trees.
The air suddenly turned cold, very cold, to the point where my breath condensed into little white clouds.
As I continued, I reached a point where the visible path forked in two directions. However, my spatial sense was screaming at me that there was a third. Looking around carefully, I fixed my gaze to the south, toward what seemed like an impenetrable wall of thick trunks and vines.
"Why is this false?" I murmured to myself.
Walking towards the trees, I extended a trembling hand. My fingers found no resistance; they simply passed through the image as if it were an illusion, a curtain of solid smoke.
Gripping the pickaxe and spear tightly, I took a hesitant step forward. My foot sank into the nothingness of the illusion. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and took several quick steps, feeling the false wall envelop me.
When I opened my eyes again, they widened, and a choked gasp escaped my lips.
"But what the hell...?" I cried out in a whisper, frozen by the scene unfolding before me.