It's been a whole week since I met Seren. A week!! And somehow I'm still alive!! I didn't think I would be, but here I am, sitting in this weird little hut by the lake, trying to keep warm with moss blankets and eating soup that tastes like boiled dirt and weeds (but in a good way??). Seren doesn't talk—like, at all—but she showed me how to use this paper and ink she had stashed away in a basket behind some old tools, and I figured… why not make a diary? Might help me keep my brain together.
Anyway, so here's what I've learned so far, kind of:
First off, that enormous, nightmare-sized thing I saw when I first got here? That wasn't just some random monster. That was a Berkas. Yeah. A Berkas. Apparently they're sun-sized creatures. SUN. SIZED. And this world is actually big enough to fit them. The one I saw wasn't flying or roaring or anything—it was just… dragging itself across the land. Slowly. Like a mountain of raw flesh and twitching nerves, sliding forward with this horrible wet sound. It didn't even notice me. I was just a speck of dirt beneath it. A bug. It had so many eyes—dozens? hundreds?—but none of them looked at me. I don't know if that makes it better or worse. Seren drew it for me. It looked like a melting organ with limbs it didn't remember having. When I pointed at it and said "that," she nodded like, yep, that's the one you almost died of fear over. Thanks, Seren. Very comforting.
Then there are Hellborns, which I think includes that crab-arm nightmare thing I saw near the cliff. Seren signs the word like she's cursing something. They come from "below," but no clue what that actually means. Under the ground? Some other world? Some hell dimension full of claws and screaming? She never explains it clearly. Just stares at me like I should already get it.
And the gods. There are actual, real gods in this world. But apparently, when they enter the sky (or atmosphere or something like that), they lose most of their powers—like, they can't handle existing here properly. Except one. One god who doesn't lose anything. They call him The Laughing God. I hate that name. Seren signs it like a mouth opening way too wide. She won't talk about him. Not even with her weird little leaf-sign language. Just makes that creepy sign and turns away. I don't know what his deal is, but it's bad. I can feel it.
And then… the magic. Ugh.
There's a system for magic, but it's like if someone smashed a bunch of puzzle pieces together and said "figure it out." Seren explained it using fire dust and old bones (don't ask), and I still only kind of get it. There are elements, and seals, and something called "channels," but all I really remember are the elements. And even those are already too many.
Here's the list she gave me:
Water
Fire
Ice
Nature
Wind
Dark
Light
Blessed
Cursed
Rock
Animal
Life
Death
Magic (???)
FOURTEEN. Why are there FOURTEEN?! What does "Animal" magic even do?? Is it like talking to squirrels? Do you grow claws? Seren just gives me this look and goes back to weaving weird herbs into the wall like I didn't ask the most important question ever. She's like that—always quiet, always focused. I'm getting used to it. Sort of.
Anyway, that's week one. Seven days of not dying. Seven days of soup, sign language, and scary truths. I don't know what tomorrow looks like, but for today… I'm still here.
– Veyle
(still confused, still alive, definitely writing more)