I woke up to the sound of footsteps. Soft. Careful.
Sothing warm cradled the back of my head. Sothing smooth brushed across my forehead. Fingers? No. Softer than fingers. I blinked against the haze, and the light above blurred into shapes.
A face.
Golden hair. Silver eyes. Ears—long and pointed.
An elf.
I sat up too fast. Pain stabbed through my skull like a nail being hamred in, and I groaned.
“Whoa—hey, easy,” the elf said quickly, catching my shoulders. Her voice was gentle. Not panicked. Calm, but firm.
“Where…” My throat scratched. “…Where am I?”
“Safe,” she replied. “You were unconscious when we found you. Can you tell your na?”
I opened my mouth, but my stomach lurched.
I turned and vomited on the stone floor beside us.
“Oh. Lovely,” soone muttered.
“Not helping,” another voice snapped—male, smooth, tired.
I wiped my mouth with the back of my sleeve. Everything ached. My chest. My ribs. My fingers. But I was alive.
“I—uh…” My voice cracked. “Aleks. I think.”
The elf—still holding steady—smiled with a soft exhale.
“I’m Serenya. You’re lucky we found you before the wargs did.”
Wargs?
Another voice chid in—sarcastic and unimpressed. “Okay, I need to ask—what the hell was a kid like you doing this deep in a dark zone dungeon?”
I looked up. A woman, maybe late twenties, leaned on a long black staff. Wild, red-blonde curls frad a face full of sharp edges and sharper eyes. Her tone carried bite but no real threat.
“I…” I didn’t know how to answer. I genuinely didn’t.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I really don’t know.”
“So, mory loss,” the man said. “Great. That makes this so much easier.”
He crouched in front of —tan skin, short brown hair, worn traveling cloak. Early thirties, maybe. His jawline could’ve cut steel.
“Darian,” he introduced himself with a nod, handing a flask. “Water. Drink slowly.”
I took it, hands trembling.
The last thing I rembered… was the angel.The light. The whisper.
But before that—Their bodies.
Amina. Daisuke. Lukas. Nikita. and Carn.
Carn’s lifeless eyes still staring at .Like they hadn’t realized she was gone.
And now I was… here.
Breathing.
Alive?
“I say we finish the job and report it,” the redhead said, arms crossed. “We weren’t paid to babysit.”
Darian shot her a look. “Kaelin.”
“Oh co on,” she sighed. “He’s what, sixteen? Seventeen? I’m just saying—he’s a walking liability.”
The dwarf behind her scoffed, adjusting the warhamr strapped across his back.
“Kid's clearly out of his depth,” he grunted. “But we’re not heartless. We bring him out, then decide what to do. Last thing we need is so guilt-ridden ghost haunting our dreams.”
“Thank you,” I mumbled.
He raised a bushy brow at . “Don’t thank yet. Still not sure you’re not cursed.”
“Gorrun,” Serenya said, exasperated.
He shrugged. “Hey, I said not sure. Didn’t say he was.”
“Let’s just get moving,” Darian said. “This place stinks of rot.”
They argued for another minute, then agreed to escort back. I wasn’t allowed to fight. Not that I had any weapon—or strength left.
They ford up around , like a protective ring, and we started back through the corridor they’d co from.
No one spoke much.
The air grew thicker the deeper we moved. I couldn’t tell how long we walked. Ten minutes? An hour? I was just starting to get the feeling in my legs back when Kaelin froze.
“Shit,” she whispered.
Ahead—movent.
Shadows shifting between the broken pillars.
“Skeletons,” Darian said grimly. “We missed a batch.”
Gorrun cracked his knuckles. “Good. I was getting stiff.”
They sprang into action before I could blink.
Darian moved first—too fast. His sword cleaved through the nearest skeleton like it was made of paper. His boots barely made a sound as he vaulted off a crumbled wall and landed behind another, slicing it in half from the back.
That wasn’t normal. That wasn’t even human.
The next second, Kaelin raised her staff high. Sparks danced at the tip before a sphere of roaring fire erupted and shot forward, exploding in a blaze of bone and dust.
My heart stopped.
“What the hell…” I whispered.
Magic. Real, actual magic.
Serenya stepped beside , not drawing a weapon, just standing there like a silent shield.
“Are you alright?” she asked softly.
I stared at her. At the battlefield. At the bodies. Then back at her.
“What the fuck was that?”
She blinked. “You an the fireball?”
“No—I an… that. The sword, the flas—how is that even possible?”
She tilted her head slightly, studying like I was a puzzle she hadn’t solved yet.
“You really don’t rember what essence is?”
“No.”
“Then you’ve forgotten more than I thought.”
The last skeleton collapsed under Gorrun’s hamr. Silence fell again.
We kept walking.
Eventually, we reached the exit. The stone gave way to broken earth, and then to the surface.
The sky greeted like a stranger.
It was darker than I expected. Not night—but clouded, grey, cold. A thick layer of mist clung to the ground. The landscape stretched dead and wide—black trees, cracked hills, patches of scorched grass. Everything looked… abandoned.
Wrong.
There were four horses waiting by the path. Darian tossed a glance.
“You’ll ride with soone. You’re still too pale to walk.”
I nodded, barely registering it.
I was still trying to understand where the fuck I was.
They mounted up. Gorrun rode alone. Darian rode in front. Kaelin looked annoyed the whole ti. Serenya pulled onto her horse gently and let rest against her shoulder.
Her warmth was steady. Her heartbeat calm.
But mine… wasn’t.
We rode without speaking for a long while.
At so point, soone asked, “So… you rember anything yet? Where you’re from? Your family?”
I hesitated.
“…My na’s Aleks,” I said. “That’s all.”
I didn’t lie.
But I didn’t tell the truth, either.
Because how could I?
They wouldn’t believe .
Hell, I didn’t even believe it myself.
Was this real?
Or was I just dying sowhere, hallucinating all this?
No one asked anything more after that.
The silence returned.
But sothing in had already started to crack.
The road turned rough the mont we left the cratered earth behind. Tree roots clawed at the dirt like fingers trying to escape, and the mist never fully lifted. It just hung there, thick and stubborn, making the whole world feel like it was holding its breath.
I hadn’t said a word in what felt like hours. Not that anyone expected to.
Serenya’s horse moved smoothly beneath us. She didn’t say much. Just humd quietly now and then. A song I didn’t recognize. It was soft. Gentle. Sad.
Eventually, Kaelin broke the silence.
“So, where the hell are you from, Aleks?” Her tone was sharp but not cruel. “Because I’ve never seen a kid like you alone in a dungeon. You don’t look like so cursed bastard from Vyrn.”
“I told you,” I muttered. “I don’t know.”
“Right. Convenient.”
Serenya nudged her horse a little faster to ride beside Kaelin. “He’s been through sothing,” she said calmly. “He doesn’t need a trial right now.”
“I’m not putting him on trial,” Kaelin shot back. “I just don’t want him to get us killed.”
“I’m not a threat,” I said quietly.
Kaelin clicked her tongue. “People who say that usually are.”
“Kaelin,” Darian’s voice cut through the tension like a blade. “Let it go.”
She rolled her eyes and muttered sothing under her breath.
We kept riding.
Eventually, the mist thinned, and I saw sothing through the fog—stone walls, wooden gates, and a few crooked towers rising like broken teeth. It wasn’t a proper city. More like a fortified settlent. Scarred, weathered, but standing.
“That’s Lunia,” Serenya said. “Trade town on the edge of the dark zone. Safe enough for now.”
Gorrun let out a grunt. “If by ‘safe’ you an infested with smugglers, rcs, and half-drunk guards.”
“Still safer than where we just were,” Darian replied.
They dismounted by the gate. Two guards waved them through without much interest. One gave a second look, but said nothing.
I stepped through the wooden arch, and it hit all at once.
This place… was alive.
Vendors yelled from booths made of scrap wood and cloth. Blacksmiths hamred at dented armor. Kids ran barefoot between horses and crates. The streets slled like oil, blood, and bread.
And everything looked wrong.
Too old. Too different.
There were signs I couldn’t read. Machines I didn’t recognize. People with clothes that looked stitched from animals I’d never seen.
I felt like an alien.
Because I was one.
They didn’t notice my breakdown. I kept it inside. But sothing cold settled in my chest that didn’t go away.
We walked through the market until we reached an inn—low, square, made of stone. Inside, it was warr. Not welcoming. Just warr. A tired old woman at the counter grunted when she saw us.
“Three rooms,” Darian said, tossing her a coin pouch.
“One,” Gorrun added. “We’re not rich.”
“We’ll share,” Serenya said softly.
“I’m not sharing a bed with the red nace,” Kaelin snapped.
“You’re getting the floor then.”
“Ugh.”
I stood awkwardly near the doorway, still trying to understand where the hell I even was.
Serenya turned to , voice gentle. “You should rest. You still look pale.”
“I’m fine,” I lied.
“You’re not,” Darian said.
There was a silence after that. Not cold. Just… understanding.
We went upstairs.
The room was small, two beds and a pile of old blankets. A cracked window let in so wind.
Serenya gave one of the beds without asking.
I sat down slowly, staring at the floor.
“You’ll feel better in the morning,” she said, placing a hand on my shoulder. “We’ll figure things out.”
I didn’t answer.
Because deep down, I already knew.
There was nothing to figure out.
I didn’t belong here.
I didn’t belong anywhere anymore.
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