The dire warning echoed like a persistent curse in the back of his mind: "You are going to die if you go there."
He stood at the threshold of the deep woods, trembling, daring not to take another step forward into the suffocating abyss of trees. The ambient light of the sky was bleeding out into dusk, leaving him surrounded by shadows.
"Then how am I supposed to complete this task?" he thought, panic clawing at his chest. "I don’t even know where I really am..."
The inner voice was just like a slap on his face, draining whatever microscopic thread of confidence he had left. He let out a heavy, ragged sigh that misted slightly in the cooling air.
His trembling fingers dug deep into his trousers, searching blindly for his lighter. Born without a single drop of mana, he had no choice but to rely on runic tool that the mages of this world sneered at.
Pockets empty. Chest pocket empty. Nothing.
’Wait a minute... did I even pack the lighter?’
[If you are looking for the lighter, it is in your bag.]
"Ah, yes! Than—"
The words died in his throat.
Time itself seemed to freeze into a sharp, jagged shard. The silence that followed was so absolute it felt heavy, a suffocating stench of quietness settling over him.
His entire body went rigid. Cold sweat erupted across his skin...
"Wait..." His voice shook, barely a whisper. "How did you know?"
[Mmm. That’s quite a good question.]
"TELL ME!" he screamed into the emptiness, desperation overriding his fear.
The voice did not answer right away, letting the panic simmer in his chest before responding with an eerie, calm rhythm.
[I have been watching you for a very long time. Or rather... since your birth.]
His breath hitched. His lungs locked up, refusing to draw air. The words vibrated not through his ears, but directly inside the dark recesses of his own mind. He let out a hollow, disbelieving gasp.
"WHAT?!"
[It is precisely what you heard.]
A breathy, dry laugh escaped his lips. "Ha... ha... ha..." It was a sound stripped of all humor, born purely out of sheer denial.
Silence swallowed the woods once more.
His legs felt like leaden weights, moving with a terrifying autonomy as he trudged back toward his discarded pack.
His hands fumbled with the straps until his fingers wrapped around the metallic frame of his lighter—an runic tool brouaght from his cheap market, may be completely forgotten by this land of magic.
He gathered the broken pieces of wood he’d collected earlier, stacking them hastily, and flicked the flame to life. He collapsed beside the small bonfire, hugging his knees to ward off the encroaching chill of the night.
Rubbing his calloused palms over the faint warmth, he stared blankly into the flickering embers.
"How has my life been?" he asked softly, exhaustion heavy in his tone as he tossed another dry branch onto the flames.
A single moment of silence occured for a brief time.. maybe the voice inside of his mind quiet caught of by the questtion
[Well... to be precise, it has been terrible. And you are pathetic.]
There was no sudden outburst. No flash of anger. Just a quiet, bitter chuckle. "Yeah. I am pathetic."
[I have always wondered...] the voice mused inside his head. [...why are you so hopelessly obsessed with that girl?]
"Honestly? I don’t even know the answer to that myself," he murmured, a faint, melancholic smile playing on his lips.
He stirred the fire, sending a shower of orange sparks drifting into the dark. The heat flared intensely, consuming the remaining pile of firewood in minutes. Time was bleeding away.
Two days left... and he was no closer to understanding his fate. Could he really clear this quest? Or was he just a fool marching toward his own execution?
He didn’t know. The only absolute certainty was that he was dancing on the sharp edge of death.
The final piece of wood cracked, crumbled into glowing ash, and went dark. Night consumed his vision entirely.
Without setting up a barrier, without checking for traps or securing a perimeter, he slumped onto the cold, hard earth. He was too drained to care.
’I’m scared... Are you still there?’ he projected the small, frail thought into the darkness.
[I am.]
A soft sigh of relief escaped him. In a voice laced with quiet vulnerability, he asked, ’Will I die today?’
[No,] the voice replied instantaneously, carrying an unshakeable, absolute certainty.
He couldn’t fathom where that supreme confidence came from, but he clung to it like a drowning man. ’Is this... is this really a safe zone?’
[Don’t be so nervous. It is exactly as you believed.]
[No monster can enter here.]
The suffocating knot of anxiety in his chest finally loosened, washing away as darkness pulled him into an exhausted, dreamless sleep.
***
Miles away, at the jagged periphery of the forest, royal guards stood in rigid formation over a scorched expanse of land. The ground beneath their boots was cracked and black—a freshly ruptured corrosive faultline.
At the vanguard of the unit stood a towering commander clad in gleaming golden armor, his posture tense, his hand resting tightly on the hilt of his broadsword.
Lying before them was the colossal corpse of a corossion beast. Though its life had been snuffed out, it was far from benign; a thick, tar-like black fluid continued to sizzle and drip from its wounds, eating away at the very stone beneath it.
One of the younger guards, blinded by adrenaline and morbid curiosity, stepped forward, reaching out carelessly toward the corpse.
"STAY BACK! DON’T TOUCH IT!" the commander’s thunderous roar shattered the air, pinning the guard to the spot in absolute terror.