After meeting the Hollow Eye god and carving a rough sketch of the creature on the cave walls, Jermal collapsed. He slept for nearly an entire day.
During that sleep he vividly recalled how time had twisted around him. Every hour stretched into something as long as a fortnight. He wondered if he had simply gone mad.
When he first awoke inside the trial, he was still shaken by the being he had encountered. Its face felt carved into his soul.
In truth, he had been terrified. The thing that spoke to him resembled a Kramlin only in the loosest sense. Its body looked like a warped attempt at copying one. And its face was something he wished he could forget.
A sudden wave of fatigue swept over him. Keeping his eyes open became harder with every second, until he simply could not anymore. He fell asleep inside his own dream.
He woke again sometime later, unable to estimate how long he had rested. His body still felt drained, as if he had run for a week without stopping. He closed his eyes, focusing. He slowed his breathing. He tested his limbs and his mind.
Everything was working just fine.
Opening his eyes, Jermal finally took in his surroundings. He was inside a cave. Not the one he had fallen asleep in back in the real world. That was the first red flag.
The entrance was close. He decided it was worth checking what lay outside. Perhaps the tribe had moved while carrying him.
He tried to stand up.
Or rather, he tried to try.
A strained grunt escaped him. His quick test earlier had been wrong. The strength in his legs was nearly gone. Supporting his own weight was impossible.
That was the second red flag.
Desperate for answers, Jermal resorted to crawling like a toddler. He still had his crude blade, so he used it as a makeshift cane, pushing himself forward inch by inch.
Reaching the entrance left him sweating. He could tell the heat was not responsible for his exhaustion.
The moment he crossed the threshold, the entire world changed. The air turned dry. The forest he had grown up in had vanished completely. What stood before him was something he did not even have a word for.
Orange rocks. Endless barren ground. No river. No trees. No life.
It felt as if he had been dropped into another existence entirely. Another realm.
He did not know what a planet was, but the idea of being on one came close to describing the impossibility before him.
The third red flag.
Doubt clawed into his thoughts. Had looking at a god shattered his mind? Was this the price for staring into a face no mortal was meant to comprehend?
Fresh air did nothing to help him. If anything, he felt worse. His mind drained faster than his body, as if something out here was feeding on his clarity.
The earth was ruined beyond comprehension. It looked as if a giant hand had scooped out a massive trench from the world itself. A canyon, stretching so far it made his mind falter.
Jermal slowly turned his head. On both sides, the drop was sheer and merciless. He was high up, nestled inside a hidden cave carved into the canyon wall, with no path leading down. Nothing but orange stone, dust and silence.
To his left, the canyon stretched on for kilometres. Endless. Except, at its farthest point, he saw a small patch of green. A faint whisper of life in an ocean of dead rock.
To his right, the same landscape continued, but the ground seemed to collapse at the end, falling into a darkness he could not understand.
The sky was stranger still. A sun floated above him, yet its light barely reached the earth. It was muted. A sun without warmth, a sun without fire. The clouds were thick and unmoving.
No birds. No insects. No animals. No water. Not a single sign of life.
Everything felt empty. Wrong. Unnatural.
Jermal's thoughts spun. He could not understand how he had arrived here. Had someone dragged him? Had something taken him?
Why was he here? What purpose could this place serve?
Was this linked to the crow-headed god he had met?
He searched his mind for answers, but found nothing. Only the crushing weight of isolation.
If he wanted survival, if he wanted any hope of understanding, he needed to choose a direction and walk.
Instinctively, he chose the path that led to the greenery. It felt safer. No, not exactly. It felt less dangerous than the path that led into darkness. Such was the thought of any living creature.
So it was decided. He would head for the patch of green.
However, his mind and body gave out. Under the dark sun, his strength faded and slumber claimed him once again.