He was running…
His feet sank into wet earth,
the sky bleeding between crimson and violet.
The trees around him screamed.
And Leora was screaming too… but he couldn't see her.
"Leoraaa!"
He reached out—
but grasped only smoke that crumbled between his fingers.
Then he saw them.
His parents.
Standing by a shore of fire.
His mother smiled… a quiet, eerie smile.
"Don't look behind you," she said.
"The thing following you… is not of this world."
He turned.
And he saw it.
A faceless creature,
floating above the ground without touching it.
A single eye glowed in the center of its chest—
unblinking, staring through him.
Riven screamed—
but no sound came out.
Then he felt it…
his heart—floating—
as if separating from his body…
⸻
He woke up.
He sat up, gasping for air.
The air was cold… but not like Moralesca's wind.
Soft grass covered the ground beneath him.
His eyes darted wildly.
"Leora?!"
He saw her.
Lying beside the trunk of a massive tree,
her body still—
her dark hair scattered like the remains of a broken shadow.
He rushed to her, gently shaking her:
"Hey… Leora? Wake up! Please…"
But she didn't open her eyes.
⸻
Hours passed.
The sun never rose.
The sky stayed gray. No birds.
Everything was too still… in a terrifying way.
Riven sat beside her, trying to piece things together.
"The light… Dad… Mom… the spell… How did we get here?"
Then he heard it.
A soft sound…
but heavy.
Like something crawling.
He stood quickly, eyes scanning the mist.
Suddenly—
from behind the bushes—emerged a strange creature:
— Its body resembled a deer,
but its head was hidden beneath a stone mask,
and its legs cracked like breaking glass.
Riven whispered to himself:
"No, no, not now…"
He braced himself, fear pulsing in every bone.
He couldn't let Leora get hurt. He had no choice but to stand his ground.
He took an archer's stance, summoned a glowing arrow—
and fired.
The shot grazed it.
Just a scratch.
But then—
his mother's pendant began to pulse with light.
A radiant heartbeat.
He raised it toward the creature.
It let out a scream—
a horrifying, human-like scream—
then curled inward…
and vanished into the fog.
⸻
In that moment… Leora moved.
She gasped as if surfacing from water,
then sat up, breathing hard.
"Where… are we?"
she asked, clutching her head.
Riven, still shaking, replied:
"I don't know… but those things…
they're not like anything we've seen."
He looked out at the gray forest.
"This… isn't Moralesca."
She said, her voice cracking:
"No.
They cast us out… just in time."
⸻
They started moving—slowly, carefully.
No food.
No water.
And the earth itself felt like it was watching them.
Then—they heard it.
A scream.
Far off…
but human.
They ran.
Stopped at a small ridge.
Below them—a man was fighting a giant creature.
Its arms were made of shadow, long and writhing.
The man wielded a strange spear, glowing brighter each time it touched the beast.
He lunged, cut off one of its arms—
then raised his hand and shouted:
"Return to the source of your shadow—
or I'll burn you with daylight!"
The creature shrieked—
and dissolved into air.
The man stood still, catching his breath.
Then turned—
and looked straight at Riven and Leora.
He asked calmly:
"You… from Moralesca?"
They exchanged stunned glances.
Leora nodded slowly.
"How do you know?"
The young man smiled faintly.
"I've been waiting for you."
Then added as he motioned them to follow:
"Come.
The forest won't let you survive another night."
⸻⟡
Thus began their first encounter with Elyora.
A man in his early twenties,
with ancient sorrow in his eyes—
and a story left untold.