My foot caught on something, and the ground gave way beneath me. I reached out to grab onto anything, but my fingers closed around nothing but loose soil. A second later, I slammed hard into the bottom of a pit, the air rushing out of my lungs.
For a moment, I couldn't move. Small stones and clumps of dirt continued to fall over me as I lay there, trying to catch my breath.
"Great," I muttered. "What a fantastic start to a camping trip."
I lifted my head and looked up. The sky appeared as a narrow ring at the mouth of the pit. Thick roots jutted out from the sides, and a curse slipped through my mind when I saw them.
How did I not notice the roots of such a huge tree?
People are supposed to watch where they're going, right?
But no.
My special talent seems to be getting myself into disasters—even on perfectly flat ground.
This weekend was supposed to be a simple camping trip. I had only stepped away from my friends to gather some firewood—nothing more.
And yet here I was, stuck at the bottom of a pit.
I had been trying to climb out for nearly an hour. Every attempt ended the same way: I would make it halfway up, the soil would give way beneath my feet, and I would slide back down again.
After a while, a person starts to respect their own ability to fail.
I pulled my phone from my pocket and checked the screen. No signal. Of course there wasn't. Getting reception out here in the middle of the mountains would have been a miracle.
I let out a breath and looked up. The sky was slowly growing darker.
I hoped my friends had noticed I was gone. Maybe they were already searching for me.
Or more likely…
they were sitting around the campfire, joking—
"Kayra must have wandered off somewhere again."
I tried climbing again. For a moment, it felt like it might work. My hands sank into the soil as I pushed myself upward—
and then it gave way.
I slid all the way back down.
I lay on my back and stared up at the sky.
I had always known I was unlucky. Still, I'd somehow managed to survive this long. I guess that meant I'd learned how to live with it.
For some reason, things like this always happened when I was alone.
Sometimes, I couldn't help wondering if I was actually cursed.
Just as I was about to try climbing again, something on the ground caught my eye.
I pushed myself up, grabbed a dry stick, and began scraping at the dirt. A few minutes later, a small black wooden box emerged, its surface covered with strange patterns.
"Wonderful," I muttered. "Exactly what I needed—while being trapped in a pit. A mysterious box."
There seemed to be writing on it, but the letters were almost completely worn away.
I tried to open it.
The lid didn't budge.
I fiddled with it for a while. Nothing.
I tried forcing it.
"Yeah… I think it's working…"
Ah!
My finger struck something sharp. I pulled my hand back quickly. A thin line of blood slid down from my fingertip.
"Seriously?" I grumbled. "Who designs a box with a nail as the opening mechanism?"
Thankfully, the lid finally gave way.
Inside was something that looked like an egg.
Its shell was translucent, tinted with a faint yellow glow. Something seemed to be inside—but I couldn't quite tell.
Then I noticed writing on the inside of the lid.
— Touch and speak a name —
I stared at the words.
"Sure," I said. "Touch the mysterious egg I found in a pit and say a name. That definitely sounds like a great idea."
My friends suddenly came to mind.
"Or are the girls pulling some kind of terrible prank on me?"
I lifted my head and shouted toward the mouth of the pit.
"Alright! Very funny! You've had your fun. Now get me out of this hole!"
My voice echoed through the forest.
But no one answered.
I turned back to the box. A strange, uneasy feeling twisted in my chest, and I didn't like it at all.
What am I even doing?
No one was forcing me… and yet, it felt like I had to.
My gaze dropped to the egg.
A name…
"Kongar."
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then the thing inside the box began to glow.
At first, it was faint. Then brighter. And brighter.
The light burned against my eyes. I raised a hand, shielding them when I could no longer look.
A few seconds later, the light faded.
Slowly, I lowered my hand.
And opened my eyes.
A tall, muscular man was standing right in front of me.
I stared at him.
Then at myself.
Then back at him again.
"Okay," I muttered. "I've definitely lost my mind."
Or maybe I hit my head when I fell into the pit and died. That would explain why my friends hadn't found me.
Yes… that had to be it.
The only logical explanation.
If I hadn't forgotten my medication, maybe I wouldn't be seeing things like this.
Just then—
the man moved.
I froze.
He turned his face toward me.
His eyes were yellow, faintly glowing in the darkness. The pupils were thin slits—like a cat's.
His hair was black, but under the moonlight it shimmered with a deep blue sheen. His skin carried a strange yellowish tint.
He was smiling at me.
I didn't know what to do.
So I looked away.
Anywhere but at him—the pit, the dirt, the sky.
Anywhere.
As if, the moment I stopped looking, he might disappear.
I couldn't have really seen him.
No.
I refused to accept that.
Just then, I felt something in my hand.
I froze.
Slowly, I looked down.
—and screamed.
My voice tore through the forest, sending birds scattering from the trees.
The man was holding my hand.
Grinning.
I yanked it back in panic.
He clenched his hand into a fist and brought it to his chest.
"Thank you for accepting me as your servant, my master."
I fell silent for a moment and glanced around, unsure if he was really speaking to me.
"Your master? Who—me?" I asked.
For a brief second, his expression faltered, almost like a pout, before the smile returned.
"You are, my master."
I stared at him in disbelief. "But I'm not anyone's master."
That seemed to unsettle him. For just a moment, his eyes darkened, though he quickly composed himself.
"You gave me a name. I now belong in your service."
I frowned slightly, trying to understand what he meant, until he nodded toward the box on the ground.
I followed his gaze.
The egg… was gone.
A cold shiver ran down my spine.
Wait.
Had that thing really turned into him?
My heart began to pound.
"What… are you?" I asked.
He must have noticed my fear, because he suddenly dropped to his knees in front of me.
"Please do not fear me, my master. I could never harm you," he said, his voice trembling. "Please… don't abandon me."
And then he began to cry.
I could only stare at him.
A huge man was kneeling in front of me, crying and begging me not to leave him.
It didn't make any sense.
He had never even been mine.
The darkness in his pupils began to spread slowly, and I noticed that his tears were black. Even his skin seemed to darken slightly, though the dim moonlight made it hard to be sure.
Still, what I saw was enough to unsettle me.
I decided it would be best to calm him down first.
After all, I had no idea what kind of being he was.
"I'm not abandoning you. I just want to get to know you better."
At that, he quickly wiped away his tears and rose to his feet. The strange darkness in his skin slowly receded, returning to its previous tone.
"I am your servant, Kongar."
"No, that's not what I meant. And besides, I'm the one who gave you that name. What's your real name?"
"I had no name before you gave me one. You awakened me, and now I am in your service."
I let out a quiet breath.
"So the thing in that box was you… and by saying a name, I brought you to life—is that it?"
Hearing it out loud made it sound even more ridiculous.
"Yes, my master. You awakened me. I will remain by your side from now on," he said, smiling.
"Right. Of course," I muttered. "And I'm Snow White, and my seven dwarfs will be here any minute."
"I am at your service, Snow White," he replied without a hint of doubt.
I blinked.
He was serious.
Then his expression shifted slightly. His gaze moved past me, toward the depths of the forest. He stared into the darkness with such focus that, for a moment, it felt as if he could actually see something there.
"Who are the seven dwarfs?" he asked. "Are you their master too?"
I just stared at him.
There was no way he could be serious.
"No."
The moment I answered, something in him seemed to ease.
"My name is Kayra," I said. "Not Snow White. I was just joking."
"Kayra…"
He repeated my name quietly.
There was something in the way he said it—something too sincere.
I hesitated.
My heart started beating strangely fast.
I quickly looked away.
"Yeah… that's me," I muttered.
Just then, a distant wolf's howl cut through the silence, pulling me out of that strange moment.
I forced myself to think.
I couldn't spend the night in this forest—with him.
And I still wasn't even sure if any of this was real.
The only way to find out was to find my friends.
To see if they could see him too.
Of course… that was assuming I could even get out of this pit.
I swallowed and cleared my throat.
"Kongar… can you get us out of this pit?"
He didn't answer.
For a moment, I thought he hadn't heard me.
Then—
he smiled.