The path stretched on endlessly, a faint brown ribbon cutting through a sea of whispering green grass. Kai's hurried steps, fueled by adrenaline and fear, soon slowed to a nervous, shuffling walk. His ears strained for every sound—the steady crunch of his own shoes on the dirt, the constant hiss of wind through the grass, and the faint, terrifying echoes of that guttural cry. He kept glancing over his shoulder at the dark treeline, but it slowly receded behind him, eventually becoming a smudge on the horizon.
He was alone. Truly, utterly alone.
The silence that replaced the fear was somehow heavier. It pressed in on him, leaving him with nothing but the chaotic storm of his own thoughts. He thought of his friends, their laughter on the school terrace just yesterday—or was it a lifetime ago? He thought of Iris—the real Iris—and the way her eyes would crinkle when she smiled. A sharp, painful lump formed in his throat. He would never see her again. He would never see any of them again. They were gone, lost in a world he no longer belonged to. He wondered if they thought he was dead, or if they were even alive themselves. The uncertainty was a cold, heavy stone in his gut.
As the hours passed, the sun began its slow descent, painting the enormous sky with breathtaking streaks of brilliant orange, deep violet, and soft pink. In his old world, he might have stopped to admire it, to take a picture. Here, it only served as a reminder that his time was running out. The air grew cooler, and a new kind of fear—the primal fear of darkness in an unknown land—began to creep into his heart.
His body ached with a profound exhaustion he had never known. His legs felt like lead, and a dull pain throbbed in his lower back. His stomach growled, a sharp, hollow cramp that reminded him he hadn't eaten since… since before he died. The thought was still jarring, a piece of a puzzle that didn't fit. He had felt the bullet. He remembered the pain, the blood, the world going black. And now he was here, hungry and tired, but undeniably alive.
He finally stopped near a cluster of crooked, moss-covered stones by the side of the path. The grass here was shorter, the ground firmer. It seemed as good a place as any to collapse. He scanned the horizon, seeing nothing but rolling plains and the distant, shadowy forms of the mountains. He was exposed, vulnerable, but he couldn't take another step.
"Iris…?" he whispered into the quiet air, his voice raspy from disuse. He wasn't sure if she would answer, or if he had to be in mortal danger for her to appear.
A faint shimmer appeared at the edge of his vision, the familiar translucent screen flickering into view.
[Status: Stable][Energy: Low][Tip: Rest to recover strength.]
He exhaled shakily, a wave of relief washing over him. "At least you're still here…" he mumbled, leaning his aching back against the largest stone. He closed his eyes for just a moment, the simple act of sitting down feeling like a luxury. The low energy warning made sense; he felt like he could sleep for a week.
But as he sank down on the stones, the rustle came again—this time from the tall grass right behind him. It wasn't the wind. It was sharp, deliberate.
Kai's eyes snapped open, his pulse spiking from zero to a hundred in an instant. He whipped around, every muscle in his body tensing. Out of the swaying blades crept a small creature, no bigger than a medium-sized dog. Its body was covered in dark, matted fur, and its eyes glowed with a faint, malevolent red light in the growing twilight. It moved with a low, predatory crawl, its claws making soft scratching sounds on the stone. Its jaw unhinged with a low hiss, revealing rows of needle-sharp teeth that seemed too large for its head.
His mouth went dry. You've got to be kidding me…
The creature growled, low and guttural. It was the same sound he had heard earlier from the woods—but closer now, more real and infinitely more threatening.
Kai scrambled backward, his hands scraping against the rough stone. His mind screamed Run! but his legs felt like they were made of lead, refusing to obey. The creature crouched, its muscles coiling like tight springs, ready to pounce. The memory of the terrorist, of the gun, of the feeling of his life ending, flashed through his mind. He wasn't going to die again. Not like this.
And then, instinctively, without thought or reason, Kai threw up his hands as if to ward off a blow.
A pulse of soft white light burst outward from his palms. It wasn't a flash; it was a physical presence, a wave of energy that solidified in the air, forming a thin, shimmering, dome-like barrier around him. The creature, already mid-lunge, slammed into the invisible wall with a wet thump and a surprised snarl. It was thrown back into the grass, stunned and angry.
For a second, Kai could only stare, wide-eyed and breathless, at the glowing, transparent wall that encased him. He could feel a strange energy humming in the air, a vibration that seemed to originate from deep within his own chest.
The system flickered in front of his eyes, its text sharp and clear:
[Skill Unlocked: Barrier – Level 1][Energy Reduced: -10%]
The creature screeched, a sound of fury and frustration, and bolted back into the tall grass, vanishing as quickly as it had appeared. The shimmering barrier held for another moment before dissolving into motes of light that faded into the air.
Silence returned, thick and heavy.
Kai collapsed back onto the stones, panting, staring at his trembling hands. They still glowed faintly, warm with leftover energy. He could feel the drain the barrier had caused; his already low energy now felt almost completely depleted, leaving him dizzy and weak.
"I… I did that," he whispered, his voice a mixture of disbelief and awe. He had created light. He had created a shield out of thin air.
Iris's voice finally returned, soft and calm in the quiet of his mind. "You protected yourself, Kai. That's the beginning."
He pressed a shaky hand against his chest, forcing himself to take a deep, shuddering breath. His body was exhausted, his mind buzzing with a strange cocktail of leftover fear and newfound exhilaration. The world of Veridia wasn't just a place he had been sent to; it was a place that was actively trying to kill him, but it had also given him a power he could have never imagined.
He looked up at the first stars beginning to appear in the darkening sky. They were different from the constellations he knew. Everything was different. He was different.
For the first time since arriving in Veridia, Kai understood something with absolute clarity—he wasn't just a victim anymore. He wasn't just surviving. He was changing.
And tomorrow, when the sun rose again, his real test would begin.