Thick fog clung to the earth like an ancient curse, curling between the roots of twisted trees that rose like skeletal hands toward the ash-gray sky.
Arcove Forest stretched in every direction an uncharted expanse of darkness and silence, where even the air felt reluctant to move.
Trees towered like titans, their bark blackened and cracked, branches contorted at unnatural angles.
Strange vines with glowing spores coiled around trunks like serpents, pulsing faintly with an eerie green light.
Somewhere deep within this suffocating expanse, the forest seemed to hold its breath.
And then, a loud gasp shattered the silence. Kaelion's body jerked as he slowly opened his eyes.
A slight moan escaped his lips. He lay on his back, sprawled over damp moss, barely conscious.
Dried blood streaked across his face in ugly patterns; each ragged breath felt like a battle against invisible foes. He blinked once… twice… but the world swam before him.
"Am I… still alive?" he whispered hoarsely.
Pain flooded him as soon as he acknowledged it, not the fiery torment from before but something worse in its quietness: a deep, dull ache that resonated through every muscle and joint.
His limbs felt alien, as if they'd been detached and crudely reassembled.
How long had he been unconscious? Hours? Days? Time blurred in agony's embrace.
Kaelion clenched his jaw and attempted to sit up; sharp pain protested against him, but he bit it down and leaned onto his elbow.
The world spun around him; nausea threatened to overwhelm him, but he swallowed hard.
"Get up," he murmured to himself. "You've come too far to die here."
His long silver hair, now matted with dirt and dried blood, clung to his cheeks like a shroud.
His once-regal tunic hung in tatters; threads burned, torn, soaked through with sweat and grime.
One boot was missing entirely while the other barely clung together by its sole, a mockery of protection.
Kaelion placed a trembling hand against a tree for support; its bark was slick and cold beneath his fingers, almost wet to the touch despite no rain having fallen recently.
With great effort, he pulled himself upright; knees shaking under his weight threatened collapse at any moment, but somehow, he remained standing.
After what felt like an eternity of struggle, Kaelion finally found some semblance of stability against the tree's rough surface.
He staggered forward but nearly tripped again with each step, a battle against gravity itself as heaviness weighed down upon him like leaden chains constricting his chest.
His legs were stiff as iron rods; pain throbbed through his left ankle sprained or perhaps fractured?.
Scrapes covered his fingers brushed past low-hanging branches and rough vines as though they were taunting him on this treacherous journey forward.
He leaned heavily against the trees, using them as a lifeline to drag himself forward. Disoriented and disheveled, he had lost track of time and place, what day was it? What hour? All he knew was that he needed to keep moving.
Ever since waking up in this eerie realm, the silence had been suffocating. No birds chirped; no insects buzzed.
The Arcove Forest was deathly quiet, save for the occasional distant howl deep and guttural, like something far too large to be natural lurking just beyond his sight.
Kaelion's breath came in shallow gasps. "I should be dead by now," he muttered through cracked lips, dragging one foot after the other.
"The teleportation gate… it was tampered with. That bastard Valerian and those sleazy siblings of mine sabotaged the spell.
They really didn't want me to survive after everything they've done." His voice echoed hollowly in the stillness.
Fear wasn't his enemy here; exhaustion weighed heavier on him than any dread could.
What terrified him most was the thought of stopping if he did, would he have the strength to rise again?
Suddenly, a branch snapped behind him, sending icy sweat trickling down his forehead. He froze, heart pounding wildly in his chest.
Slowly turning his head, he scanned for danger but saw nothing a sigh of relief escaped his lips as his hanging heart settled slightly back into place.
Yet tension remained coiled within him; something felt off like something unseen is watching from the shadows, stalking him like prey.
With a determined limp that tried to hide its weakness, Kaelion pressed on until his fingers brushed against a cluster of glowing moss clinging to a fallen log. Its faint blue shimmer illuminated his pale skin like an otherworldly beacon.
As he stumbled upon a dark pool of water nearby, Kaelion caught sight of himself reflected in its depths, a half-dead specter staring back at him with sunken eyes and blood-crusted lips.
The proud prince's posture had crumbled away; all that remained was a gaunt survivor fighting for breath.
Cupping his hands together, he scooped some water from the pool, it tasted metallic with an unpleasant aftertaste, but desperation drove him to swallow it down anyway; his throat felt drier than sandpaper.
He splashed some water on his face to wash away the blood; while it didn't do much good, at least blinking didn't sting anymore.
Leaning back against the log, Kaelion slid down slowly and allowed himself a moment's respite as thoughts raced through his mind: Where am I? How far did I fall from the gate? What continent is this?.
Did I land in another empire's territory? No... judging by the mana density and atmosphere surrounding him, this place wasn't near Aetherion or any empire i knew of.
Could it be an unclaimed wild continent?
A shiver of excitement mingled with dread coursed down Kaelion's spine.
For eighteen long years, he had immersed himself in the mysteries of the Infinite World, and know that there are continents a d territories that have not been discovered or untouched by any major Empire.
After a moment of contemplation, he shook his head and let out a bitter chuckle. "No weapon, no food, no map. No allies. No identity."
He paused, a glimmer of resolve igniting within him. "Good," he muttered to himself. "Now it's fair. Now it's just me against the world."
Leaning back against the rough bark of a tree, Kaelion gazed through the gaps in the canopy at the overcast sky above.
The twin moons had shifted slightly an unmistakable sign that time was slipping away from him. Night was approaching.
With determination, he forced himself to stand once more. "I need shelter," he declared aloud, his voice echoing softly in the stillness around him.
"And fire! If the beasts here are anything like what I've read about, they hunt under cover of darkness."
He began scouring his surroundings for anything useful, a fallen branch caught his eye: thick and sturdy enough to serve as a walking staff.
With nimble fingers, he snapped it into shape and scavenged bits of vine from nearby trees to fashion makeshift cordage.
Using a jagged rock as a tool, he managed to cut and tie together a crude sling for his injured ankle imperfect but functional.
As he pressed forward through the dense underbrush, the terrain sloped downward into a gully where an enormous tree loomed overhead like an ancient sentinel.
Nestled between its sprawling roots lay a hollow crevice, a modest refuge that offered protection on three sides.
"It looks like a den," Kaelion thought as he limped toward it and collapsed inside.
The space was cramped but surprisingly dry; using leaves for cushioning, he fortified the entrance with sticks and moss to create some semblance of security.
In that dark cocoon, Kaelion exhaled slowly as pain pulsed through his body with every heartbeat a constant reminder of his struggles.
Clutching his knees to his chest, he stared into the shadows enveloping him.
"I won't die here," he whispered fiercely into the silence surrounding him. "No matter how far they've cast me… I will return stronger, smarter... crueler if I must."
His voice barely broke through the stillness but carried an undeniable weight.
"They abandoned me... yet I will become their reckoning the reason they're remembered as fools."
Just then, outside in the forest's depths, a low growl echoed ominously through the trees.
Kaelion slowly closed his eyes, steeling himself for what lay ahead.
High above the clouds the two moons continued their silent watch over this place.