The fall was dizzying and silent. Alex didn't feel the wind whipping his face, only a sensation of accelerated displacement through endless darkness. The weight of the chains on his wrists was the only real thing, an anchor in an ocean of nothingness. Then, as suddenly as it began, the fall ended.
He landed with a soft thud on something yielding and damp. The impact didn't hurt, but it sent a shockwave through his ethereal form. For a moment, all he could do was lie there, face down, pressed against a bed of gigantic, grayish leaves. The air – if it could be called air – was heavy, laden with the scent of wet earth, ancient decay, and something strangely sweet, like withered flowers.
With a groan, Alex stood up, swaying. He was in a forest. But the word "forest" seemed small and inadequate. Around him, colossal trunks rose like the legs of forgotten gods, so wide he couldn't embrace even a tenth of one. Their barks were gnarled and twisted, forming patterns that resembled silently screaming faces. Far above, hundreds of feet up, a canopy of silvery leaves blocked most of the sky's purple light, plunging the forest floor into perpetual twilight.
This place… it was oppressive. A low, constant murmur permeated the environment, a sound that wasn't the wind, but seemed to come from the trees themselves, as if they were sharing secrets in a long-dead language.
Alex looked at the chains on his wrists. They looked solid, real, contrasting with his translucent body. He tried to lift them. They were heavy, a physical exertion he hadn't felt since he was alive. With a grunt, he raised them, the black links clinking softly. What the hell were these things? And what was he supposed to do with them?
Crack.
The sharp sound of a branch snapping made him freeze. It wasn't him. The sound came from somewhere to his right, from behind a protruding root the size of a car. Alex instinctively crouched, his heart (or whatever replaced it now) hammering in his chest. He peered over the root.
Two figures moved among the trees. They were like him, ghostly, but their forms glowed with a sickly jade hue. One was tall and slender, armed with a short spear that pulsed with a faint light. The other was short and stocky, holding a round, dented shield.
"…the emanation stopped around here, Fendrel," said the shorter figure, voice tense. "Strong as a Wanderer's stench."
"I know, Borin," replied the taller one, Fendrel. He moved with the grace of a predator. "Whatever the creature, its core will fetch a good price at Vargus Citadel."
They spoke a language Alex understood, but the terms were strange. Emanation? Wanderer? He just wanted to know where he was and how to get out. Maybe they could help. He was about to stand up when Fendrel stopped abruptly, raising his hand.
"Wait. There's something else," Fendrel whispered. "It's not a creature. It's… new. Smells like the Threshold."
The two turned slowly, their spectral eyes scanning the area. Borin's gaze passed right through Alex, but Fendrel's stopped, focusing on the exact spot where he was hidden.
"Appear," Fendrel commanded, the tip of his spear glowing brighter. "Now."
Caught. Alex slowly rose, his hands raised in a universal gesture of peace. The heavy chains dangled from his wrists, clinking.
The eyes of the two hunters widened.
"By the Fallen Titans…," Borin murmured, jaw agape. "What are those things?"
"Shackle marks," said Fendrel, his voice suddenly harsh and suspicious. "Look at his color, Borin. Sky-blue. He's a Newborn. And already marked. That's not a good sign."
Alex had no time to ask what that meant. A multiple dragging sound, like bones being scraped over stone, echoed from the shadows behind the hunters. They turned instantly, assuming a combat stance.
From the gloom between two redwood-like trees, a creature emerged. It was a nightmare on eight legs. The size of a horse, its body was an amalgam of human and animal bones, fused into a grotesque white exoskeleton. A jaw made of femurs clicked loudly, and multiple red eyes gleamed with hungry malice.
"Arachnoform!" Borin yelled.
"He didn't lure us… he's the lure!" Fendrel snarled, understanding too late. "His emanation is like honey to these things!"
The arachnoform didn't wait. It lunged forward with terrifying speed. Borin raised his shield, and the creature slammed into it with the force of a battering ram, throwing the hunter backward. Fendrel's spear flashed and he advanced, burying it into the creature's side. The monster shrieked, a high-pitched, horrible sound, and struck Fendrel with one of its bony legs, knocking him aside.
Alex was paralyzed by terror. Everything happened too fast. The creature, ignoring the wounded Fendrel, bore down on the stunned Borin, its mandibles opening for the final strike.
Panic. Adrenaline. Instinct. The image of the car rushing towards him flashed in his mind. Not again. He wasn't going to stand there and watch. He didn't think. He acted. With a grunt of effort, he swung his right arm, throwing the heavy chain like a counterweight.
He wasn't aiming. He just wanted to make noise, create a distraction. But, to his surprise, the chain seemed to come alive. It stretched, the links moving with a fluidity they hadn't possessed before, flying through the air with supernatural speed. The end of the chain wrapped tightly around one of the arachnoform's front legs, precisely as it descended to crush Borin.
CLANG!
The metallic sound echoed. The creature's leg was forcefully pulled aside, the blow missing its target. The arachnoform, off-balance, stumbled. It turned on Alex, all its red eyes focusing on him, rage and hunger radiating in waves.
"What are you doing?! Run, you soulless idiot!" Fendrel yelled, trying to get up.
But Alex couldn't run. The chain was snagged. And, as insane as it seemed, he didn't want to. For the first time in this nightmare world, he didn't feel like a victim. He felt the weight of the chain in his hand, the bond vibrating with a cold, unknown energy.
The arachnoform lunged at him. Alex recoiled, pulling the chain with all his might. He braced for impact, to be torn to shreds. That's when the chain on his left arm moved, acting on its own. It shot forward like a metallic serpent and wrapped around a nearby tree trunk, anchoring him firmly.
The monster struck him. But instead of being crushed, Alex was merely pushed backward, his feet dragging across the leaf-strewn ground. The chain on his left arm held, taut as a steel cable. The arachnoform was stopped abruptly, mere inches from Alex's face.
He could see every horrific detail now: the skull fragments on its thorax, the green venom dripping from its fangs. But panic was being replaced by a chilling clarity. He didn't know how, but it was working.
With a primal roar that tore from his very being, Alex pulled the right chain with all the force of his soul. Using the monster's body as a lever and the momentum of its charge against him, the Arachnoform was torn from its feet and thrown aside, crashing with a dull thud against the trunk of one of the giant trees.
There, in the heart of the colossal forest, under the astonished gaze of two hunters, Alex, the Newborn, the marked one, stood. The two chains, once dead weight, now hummed with a dark, controlled energy. He had no idea what he was doing, but for the first time since he died, he felt he could fight.