Chapter 1 - Chapter 1 — Radiance

A young girl awoke beneath broken stone. Cold ruins pressed against her back, the air heavy with dust and age. Pain throbbed through her body—bruises she could not remember earning burned along her arms and legs. She drew in a sharp breath and slowly sat up, her head spinning. "Where… am I?" Her voice echoed faintly through the hollow remains of the structure. She looked down at her hands—small, pale, trembling. They felt real. Solid. Yet the world around her felt distant, like a dream she had stepped into without knowing how. With effort, she stood. The chamber surrounding her was ancient, its stone walls fractured and worn smooth by time. Moss crept along the cracks, and strange symbols were carved deep into the rock—an unfamiliar language etched with care and intent. She brushed her fingers over the markings, half-expecting something—anything—to stir within her. Nothing did. An unease settled quietly in her chest. She wandered through the ruins, passing collapsed pillars and shattered floors, until she reached a massive door at the far end of the structure. It loomed over her, warped and scarred, covered in the same unreadable script. She hesitated—then pushed. The door groaned open. Light poured in. Radiance swallowed her vision, blinding and overwhelming. She cried out and shielded her eyes as the sudden sunlight burned away the darkness she had been trapped in for far too long. Her knees nearly buckled as white consumed her sight. Slowly, painfully, the world returned. Before her stretched a vast forest, seemingly endless. Towering trees rose toward the sky, their branches weaving together into a living canopy. Sunlight filtered through the leaves in soft beams, painting the ground in gold and shadow. The air was warm, alive with birdsong and the distant hum of unseen creatures. It was beautiful. And unfamiliar. She stepped out of the ruins and into the forest. Behind her, stone vanished beneath vines and roots, as though the structure had been waiting to be forgotten. Hunger gnawed at her stomach, dull but persistent, urging her onward. She wandered without direction. The forest felt ancient—older than the ruins themselves. Thick roots curled across the ground like sleeping serpents. Strange flowers bloomed in vivid colors she had no names for, some closing as she passed, others slowly turning toward her. At times, she felt watched. More than once she stopped, heart racing, certain she had heard movement behind her. Each time, she turned to find only swaying branches and drifting leaves. Still, the feeling lingered. Eventually, the sound of flowing water reached her ears. She followed it until she reached a clear stream cutting through the forest floor. Kneeling beside it, she leaned forward and froze. Her reflection stared back. Long white hair spilled past her shoulders, faint streaks of silver-gray woven through it like threads of moonlight. Her skin was pale—unnaturally so, untouched by sun or hardship. But it was her eyes that made her recoil. They were white. Not empty, but luminous—softly glowing, as though light itself rested behind them. Her breath hitched. "…Who am I?" The question felt heavier now—earned, unavoidable. She staggered back from the water, heart pounding. Where memory should have been, there was only silence. No name. No past. Nothing. She washed her hands in the stream, the cold grounding her, and pressed onward as hunger tightened its grip. Hours passed without meaning until she stumbled upon an apple tree standing alone among the woods, its branches heavy with fruit. She ate greedily, juice dripping down her fingers, savoring the simple comfort of being alive. With what little strength she had regained, she followed the stream once more. The land slowly rose, the forest thinning as tall grass replaced dense trees. She climbed a gentle hill. At its peak, she stopped. Below her lay a settlement. Rooftops clustered together in the distance. Thin trails of smoke curled into the sky. Roads carved through the land like veins. Civilization—proof that she was not alone in this world. Something stirred in her chest. Hope.