The first thing Adrian noticed was the sound.
Not birds.
Not insects.
Not even the wind.
It was breathing.
A slow, steady inhale that made the leaves tremble… followed by a long exhale that made the ground vibrate beneath his feet. The forest around him was alive, not in the way nature usually is, but in a way that made his skin crawl—as if the entire place had lungs, a heartbeat, and eyes watching him from every shadow.
He pushed himself up from the earth, dirt clinging to his palms. His body ached like he'd been dropped from the sky rather than simply waking up. His clothes were torn, smeared with dried streaks that could've been mud… or something far worse.
He didn't want to know.
Adrian took a step forward. Then another. Every movement felt slow, heavy, like gravity in this world pulled differently. The air was thick, humid, yet strangely cold at its core, and each breath tasted metallic—almost like blood.
He followed a narrow path carved between towering trees, their bark twisted into shapes that almost resembled faces contorted in silent screams. He tried not to look too long.
There was a noise behind him.
A branch snapping.
Soft… deliberate.
Adrian froze.
Nothing moved.
But the forest exhaled again, this time deeper… heavier… like it was reacting to him.
He swallowed hard and kept walking.
He didn't know where he was going, but staying still felt like suicide.
Minutes passed—though in this place, time didn't feel real. The darkness beneath the trees was thick, swallowing the sunlight before it even touched the ground.
Then he saw it.
A fallen stone pillar half-buried in roots, glowing faintly with blue symbols that pulsed like a heartbeat. It didn't belong here. Nothing about it belonged anywhere in the world he knew.
Despite himself, he reached out.
As soon as his fingers brushed the cold surface—
A whisper exploded inside his mind.
Not a voice.
A presence.
"Subject located."
"Designation: Rare Prey."
"Observation cycle initiated."
Adrian stumbled back, clutching his head as the glow faded and the symbols sank into the stone like water being absorbed.
The forest inhaled sharply.
Then exhaled… almost pleased.
"What… what does that even mean?" Adrian breathed.
But he didn't get an answer.
Instead, the trees behind him shifted.
Something stepped between them.
Its shadow stretched long across the ground, huge and wrong, its outline shifting unnaturally as it moved. Two faint, amber eyes opened in the darkness, unblinking… locked onto him.
Adrian's heart slammed against his ribs.
Not human.
Not animal.
Not safe.
He didn't wait.
He ran.
Branches whipped his face, tearing tiny cuts along his cheeks. Roots pulled at his ankles. The forest breathed faster now, almost in rhythm with his racing heartbeat.
He didn't dare look back.
He didn't need to.
He could feel it chasing him—
a predator older than this world,
hungrier than any beast,
and smarter than any nightmare.
Because the forest wasn't just alive.
It was hunting with him.
Adrian wasn't lost.
He wasn't wandering.
He was being guided.
Driven.
Forced deeper into the world that never should've existed—
a world that had chosen him…
…as its prey.