*****
Morning rays spilled across the sky, their golden light cutting through the air and landing directly on Zhao Yu, who was lying on the ground, completely unaware of his surroundings.
"Ywwaaww…"
Zhao Yu stretched lazily, his arms reaching above his head as he blinked a few times.
The sunlight hit his face, warm and a little too bright.
"…Huh?"
His eyes slowly opened wider. Something felt… off. His bed? His room? The familiar hum of his PC? None of it was here.
He pushed himself up onto his elbows and looked around.
Trees.
Just trees.
And more trees.
Some grass, some bushes… and the faint sound of birds chirping somewhere above.
He sat up fully, squinting.
"Okay… maybe this is, uh… just a dream? Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. I fell asleep, dreaming about Shivering Skies, and now… now I'm dreaming in a forest. Totally normal."
He swung his legs over the side, only to realize the ground beneath him was cold, hard, and covered in moss.
"Uh… that's weird. My bed wasn't… mossy. My bed didn't smell like… forest-y stuff. And… where's my pillow? And my jam bread?!"
Zhao Yu stood up slowly, one hand rubbing his eyes, the other pointing at a tree.
"Hello? Uh… tree? Are you… part of the game? Did the Arbiter send you? Are you, are you an enemy?!"
He took a careful step forward, then another, feeling like he was sneaking past a dragon.
"Okay… okay… maybe just a forest. Just a normal forest. Totally fine. I can handle… oh wait, what if there are bears? No, not bears. Maybe wolves? Oh god, wolves!"
Zhao Yu froze mid-step, staring at a bush that rustled slightly.
"…Or… it's a friendly NPC. Yeah. Friendly NPC. Definitely friendly. I'm… fine. Totally fine. Just… chill. Breathing. Relaxed. Totally not panicking."
He took another step, then flopped onto the moss again, arms splayed dramatically.
"Why… why me? I just wanted to sleep and eat jam bread! I did nothing wrong! Why does reality have to be so… weird?"
He lay there for a moment, staring at the sky through the treetops, muttering to himself,
"Great. First the game's boss shows up and yells at me. Now… now the world is like, 'Surprise! You're in a forest!' Fantastic. Perfect. Love it. Just love it."
Zhao Yu let out an exaggerated sigh, his shoulders slumping as he tried to steady himself.
He ran a hand through his messy black hair, blinking rapidly as the sunlight cut across his face.
"Alright… enough messing around,"
He muttered, his voice tinged with both irritation and curiosity.
"Where the hell am I, really? This forest… it's weirdly familiar, like I've walked through it before, but at the same time, I've never even been near something like this in real life. And it doesn't feel like a dream, no, it's too sharp, too detailed, too real. I can feel the texture of the grass under my hands… the breeze brushing my skin… the way the sunlight moves across the leaves. It's all too vivid to be in my head."
He crouched down, brushing a handful of moss between his fingers, frowning.
"This isn't some kind of hallucination either. Dreams don't smell like this, they don't sound like this. I can hear birds, wind in the branches… even the faint rustle of something moving somewhere. And yet…"
He straightened up, scanning the canopy above.
"I don't recognize a single thing. Not a single tree, bush, or path is familiar enough to tell me where I am. And that's… terrifying, honestly. What kind of joke is this universe playing on me?"
He shook his head, muttering under his breath, half to himself, half to the unknown force that brought him here.
"Okay… time to think logically. Calm down, Zhao Yu. One step at a time. Figure out where you are, figure out what's going on, and maybe… just maybe… figure out how the hell to get out of this forest before something actually decides to eat me alive."
Zhao Yu took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.
He decided to explore the forest, but cautiously, one careful step at a time.
His eyes darted left and right, watching the sway of the branches, the rustle of leaves, even the tiniest movement of grass.
Every little sound made him pause, ears straining.
As he walked, the forest seemed to stretch endlessly.
Sunlight filtered through the canopy, creating shifting patterns on the ground, while the distant chirping of birds mixed with the whisper of the wind.
Zhao Yu's footsteps were quiet, deliberate, and slow, he didn't want to alert whatever might be lurking here.
After what felt like an eternity of careful steps, he finally reached the edge of a riverbank.
The water gleamed under the morning light, flowing gently over smooth stones.
He leaned slightly forward, taking in the sight… and then froze.
A strange sound reached his ears, a faint hum, almost like the vibration of energy itself. His eyes narrowed.
"What… what's that?!"
He whispered, heart starting to race.
Without thinking, he sprinted a few steps and slammed himself behind a thick tree trunk, pressing his back against the rough bark.
He peeked cautiously from the side, trying to make sense of what he was seeing.
And that's when his jaw dropped.
Two figures hovered above the river, suspended in midair, with a swirling bluish portal glowing behind them.
Both were floating effortlessly, as if gravity had no hold on them.
Zhao Yu's eyes widened as he tried to take in the scene, their clothes shimmered strangely, unlike anything he had seen before, and the glow from the portal cast an ethereal light over their forms.
He swallowed hard, barely daring to breathe, as he realized this wasn't just any random magic… this was something else entirely.
Zhao Yu squinted, trying to focus on the two figures hovering in the air.
The first was a tall, striking man with white hair that seemed to shimmer in the light filtering through the trees.
His face was sharp, commanding, and undeniably handsome.
A dagger rested strapped to his back, glinting faintly as he shifted slightly.
The second was a woman, no, a goddess-like figure, impossibly beautiful, every feature perfectly sculpted, her eyes like shimmering pools of light.
Her outfit was unlike anything from the modern world; it flowed like smoke, woven with a texture that seemed part fabric, part magic.
From her palms, faint, ash-like sparks swirled, hovering delicately as she moved.
Zhao Yu's jaw dropped further when he noticed the woman's slow, deliberate motions.
Her hands glided across the man's body with a gentle, almost ritualistic touch, while the man remained frozen, standing subconsciously as if caught in the moment without realizing it.
"Wait… wait a second… this scene looks so familiar!"
Zhao Yu muttered under his breath, his eyes widening as he struggled to process the sight.
His gaze sharpened, landing on the man's face. His heart skipped a beat.
"Wait… what?! Isn't that… Roswell?!! And that lady… MindWeaver?!!"
His voice trembled with a mixture of disbelief and excitement.
"The… the main characters of Shivering Skies!!"
Zhao Yu's mind raced, piecing it together slowly.
"Wait… does that mean I'm in… Shive—"
He didn't get to finish.
A sudden beam of blue light erupted from the portal behind the two figures, spreading across the area like a tidal wave of energy.
Zhao Yu froze, eyes wide, as the glow expanded toward him, engulfing the entire riverbank.
He tried to move, but the light moved faster, swallowing him in an instant.
Zhao Yu's eyes widened as the blue light spread across the riverbank.
His mind scrambled to piece things together, heart pounding like a drum.
"Okay… okay, I know this scene! The first arc… the first story! The part where the MC loses his memories and, wait, this is the scene where Roswell gets the system and travels to another dimension… Solar 3… through an—"
"Sh*t! Yeah! A quantum explosion!"
He suddenly yelled, realizing the danger, his voice cracking with both panic and excitement.
Instinctively, he bolted forward, arms flailing and legs pumping like he was running for his life.
But the beam of blue light was faster.
It surged around him, coiling like a living thing, lifting him off the ground. He thrashed wildly, screaming at the top of his lungs.
"Oh nooo!!!"
The world dissolved into pure brilliance.
Every sound, every color, every detail of the forest vanished under the explosion's energy.
Zhao Yu felt himself being pulled, twisted, and flung through space, powerless against the overwhelming force.
His stomach lurched, and for a brief, terrifying moment, he wondered if he was about to be erased entirely.
*****