My eyelids were heavy, I couldn't wake up, time seemed to stand still, and to top it all off, an unprecedented pain shot through me from my head to my toes. It was hard to describe, but I felt as if every part of my body, every atom! Everything that made up my body was gradually detaching and then reassembling, in a searing yet almost bearable pain.
I didn't even have the strength or means to scream.The only thing I could do was endure this pain and this strange sensation in forced silence.
Fortunately, it all ended quickly. I finally regained control of my body, though I could still feel some numbness. First, I had to wake up, and that was the hardest part at the moment. With great difficulty, I managed to open my eyes, but my brain wasn't keeping up; everything was still blurry.
I got up and sat right on the ground I had no other choice, I couldn't see anything.
Strange events had been happening constantly for a while now, all because of the old woman and the sphere. Thinking of it, I no longer felt the sphere that had been in my hand earlier. Where had it fallen?
I got on all fours to carefully feel the ground in search of the object of my worries. Tapping around a bit, I touched something pleasantly warm. I startled because, for now, I had no way of knowing what it was.
But I didn't hesitate and moved closer to the thing to examine it and figure out what it was.
Since my vision was still unstable, I could only use my hands to examine it.
Tapping, I felt fabric on a body. Fortunately, it was still warm—at least it wasn't a corpse.
I didn't want to know more, so I moved away again, but more gently this time.
My vision, however, was gradually returning! I didn't really understand why I couldn't see anything earlier when I had just fallen. In what world was that possible?
I rubbed my eyes for a good while to see more clearly, and after a few rapid blinks, I could finally see again. But it wasn't a landscape I remembered; it was far too difficult to accept.
My eyes could only be wide open at what I saw.
I found myself in a structure consisting solely of four pillars supporting the roof above me. The entire structure was made of polished stone, carved in the finest manner, with simple patterns surrounding the pillars. The roof, however, was curved at its center, where there was an opening to let light pass through. You could distinguish patterns of a woman and a bird on the roof, but the most intriguing part was the floor. There were nine circles overlapping each other, converging at the center where there was a small spherical space.
The most intriguing thing about all this was that the structure seemed abandoned, as roots and plants had already clung to it for a long time, even hiding parts of it.
While I was observing the structure, I heard a loud breathing sound behind me, and then I remembered I wasn't alone.
Turning around, the person there was a young woman with a slender figure and a slightly dark brown complexion, wearing a long white robe that reached her feet. Her face was nonetheless angelic; her features were almost perfect, especially since her short, curly hair, reaching her shoulders, was such an intense black that it reflected almost no light. It was stunning.
When she stood up, I panicked for a moment because everything happening to me seemed so impossible.
She had been sitting in the same spot she was initially, rubbing her eyes. How to say that every movement she made seemed both natural and so elegant.
"Wh...Where am I?! Is anyone here?!"
I hesitated to answer for a moment, but she had spotted me. I didn't know how.
"I know someone's there,so please answer."
How could she know I was there? Just minutes ago, I couldn't see anything. Anyone or anything could have attacked me, and I wouldn't have been able to do anything, but she... she managed to know where I was.
"Yes!There is someone with you."
Anyway, she had spotted me, and I couldn't do anything about it; it would have seemed more suspicious.
"I see.And tell me... where am I?"
"To be honest,I don't know where we are either. The only thing I remember is that I had to go somewhere, but I fell asleep while running."
"You fell asleep while running,haha! Who does that?!"
"No one,but it happened to me suddenly. I couldn't do anything."
"I see...So basically, we're lost in the middle of nowhere."
"And you,what were you doing before ending up here?"
"Now that you mention it,I also fell asleep during my daily walk. It was very strange."
The atmosphere was very awkward.
"Tell me...What's your name?! If it's not indiscreet."
"Hmm...Nico, if you don't mind, I'd rather not give my full name."
"I totally understand.And you, do you mind if I don't give my full name either?"
"Do as you wish."
"Raysley...My name is Raysley."
"That's a pretty name!What country is it from?!"
I could clearly see confusion spreading across her face.
"Country?!You mean kingdom, right?"
"Um,pardon?!"
At that moment, we were both confused.
"Yes,kingdom—that's the term you meant to use, right?"
"Just to know,which country—no, I mean kingdom—are you from?"
"I come from the Kingdom of Kaelthar."
"You must be joking."
"No!Why would I joke about that?!"
She seemed extremely serious. The kingdom she spoke of seemed real to her. I tried to understand what was happening, but the more I thought about it, the more lost I became.
"Nico! Are you okay?!"
"Yes,it's just that I think I've finally understood the situation, or at least I imagine so."
"Explain!"
"Actually,I think that..."
Before I could answer, a piercing and terrifying cry echoed in the distance from the forest surrounding the structure. It seemed to come from a monstrous and terrifying creature, especially since I had never heard such a cry before. It was far too terrifying.
"What was that?!"
"I don't know,but we shouldn't stay here! Can you run?"
"Wait..."
I took her hand, and we headed in the exact opposite direction of where the scream came from. Raysley struggled to run; she seemed to hunch over with every step. I didn't understand why she was doing that, but perhaps the effects of the blindness were still there. That's when she stopped me.
Completely out of breath, she tried to breathe normally and wanted to tell me something.
"Why are you stopping?!We have to get away!!"
"Yes...huff!! Huff! I... I wanted to tell you that..."
"We don't have time;the thing is getting closer."
"I'M BLIND!"
The news shocked me, but it explained a lot of things, especially how she managed to spot me easily at the beginning.
"I'm sorry,but I'm blind."
"It's okay,don't worry. I have another solution."
I crouched down as close to her as possible.
"I'll carry you!I hope you're not too heavy."
"Okay!Thank you."
When she got on, I could feel her chest touching my back. I must say, it made me lose my balance for a moment because I hadn't imagined her chest to be that large, even though her loose robe hid most of it.
Once stable, I started running as fast as I could, avoiding tree branches above and roots below so as not to trip. Despite everything...
"It's getting closer!!Nico, I can feel it!"
"Damn!!We have no other choice!!"
I dove to the side as soon as I had the chance and hid behind a tree. In front of us was a large clearing.
"Are you okay?!"
"I'm fine!But stay alert! It's not alone!"
"What do you mean?!"
"It seems like it's fleeing from something."
The next second! A large cloud of dust followed by an earthquake passed through us. We could feel the vibrations throughout our bodies, and then a loud noise echoed, as if something had collapsed heavily onto the ground, like a great crash.
Once the dust cloud began to dissipate, I decided to take a look.
The creature responsible for all this was struggling to get back on its feet.
It was almost as large as a suburban house. Its shell was a dark red and seemed impenetrable—or so I would say under normal circumstances if it weren't covered in cracks and dark red blood oozing from them. It had been completely battered. Its four legs, each bearing three enormous claws, were also heavily damaged; some claws had been broken. But it continued to struggle to stand up.
Raysley, even though she couldn't see anything, could tell the creature was in distress just by listening to its heart-wrenching cries of agony.
"What could it be fleeing from so desperately?!"
It didn't take long to have an answer to Raysley's concern.
From the blue sky covered with clouds, a sinister shadow descended with extraordinary power and violence. We didn't even have time to blink before it dove vertically onto the distressed creature. Its speed was matched only by its strength, which was evident from the shockwave its attack caused. The creature crying in pain suddenly fell silent. Meanwhile, Raysley and I were knocked to the ground by the shock and fear.
I gathered all the courage I had to see what could do such a thing, and my face was paralyzed with fear and horror.
Once the dust cloud dissipated, four enormous black wings spread out as if in pride of the hunt. Two gigantic legs with claws sharp as spikes, completely covered in dark blood, were planted on the corpse of the creature, which had been savagely impaled. We could see its entrails spilling out. A little higher, a large torso covered in silvery-white feathers supported two smaller legs and a head with a square-rounded beak filled with sharp teeth on the sides and a drooling red tongue ready to savor its prize. The back of its head was also covered in black plumage, but its crimson eyes carefully observed the corpse for any sign of life.
It let out a blood-curdling cry that echoed so loudly it nearly pierced my eardrums. This was the cry we had heard at the structure.
Then came the moment. It opened its mouth, filled with sharp teeth, and bit the neck of its meal. In one motion, it brutally decapitated it, causing a gush of dark blood to spurt onto its beak, which it licked with its tongue. Then, it used its four legs to grip its prey in the best way possible, spread its wings once more, and flew away, leaving behind a trail of dust, blood, and shattered pieces of shell in the air and on the ground. The head was turned toward us with an empty gaze.
I trembled with fear at what I had seen. My breathing was uncontrollable, my heart raced a mile a minute, and I had goosebumps. Even Raysley, though she hadn't witnessed the scene, was no less terrified, likely because she could, in some way I didn't understand, sense the living beings around her.
Neither of us said a word; we were too frightened to do anything.