Night reigned over the quiet expanse of the valley, where the land slumbered beneath the pale glow of Lunara. Soft grass swayed under the hush of the wind, and a lone creature—a small, horned doe—grazed near a shallow stream. Its ears twitched at the rustling leaves, but it sensed no threat. This was a land untouched by beasts of prey, a sanctuary where the celestial sky bathed all in a dreamlike glow.
Then, something changed.
A shift in the air. A pressure, subtle yet undeniable, like a silent breath exhaled from the depths of the world. The doe's head snapped up, its dark eyes locked on a patch of ground not far away. The grass there did not move with the breeze—it was still, unnaturally so. An eerie, soundless tremor passed through the earth, and then, as if reality itself had cracked, darkness spilled forth.
An abyss had opened.
The doe's body locked in place, its instincts screaming for it to flee, but fear rooted it to the spot. From that black, depthless void, something crawled.
Fingers—thin, trembling—dug into the dirt, followed by an arm streaked with dust and scratches. Then another. A boy dragged himself out of the abyss, his movements slow and deliberate, as though emerging from a weightless dream into the pull of gravity. His breath came in ragged gasps, his limbs trembling as he hauled himself onto solid ground.
The doe took a cautious step back, watching as the boy knelt in the grass, his head bowed. He was young—perhaps sixteen—with disheveled hair that clung to his forehead, damp with sweat. His clothes were simple but tattered, marred with the faint traces of dust, as if he had wandered through a place untouched by time. Then he lifted his face, and the doe's breath hitched.
His eyes were grey, like storm-laden clouds, yet something stirred beneath them—a hidden tint of amber that flickered like a dying ember. In the dim glow of Lunara's light, they seemed both lost and searching, as if they had seen too much yet understood too little.
The boy inhaled deeply, his body steadying as he took in the landscape before him. Rolling hills stretched into the horizon, silvered under the moon's watchful gaze. In the far distance, jagged peaks pierced the sky, their outlines shrouded in soft mist. And beyond them, unseen yet certain, lay the place he sought.
A quiet sigh escaped his lips as he reached into his belt pouch, pulling forth a small crystal no larger than a pebble. He turned it over in his palm, holding it up to the moonlight. At first, it seemed dull, nothing more than a smooth fragment of quartz. But then, as Lunara's glow brushed its surface, faint letters bloomed within, shifting as though written in liquid silver.
Words. A direction. A purpose.
The boy closed his fingers around the crystal, tucking it safely away. His gaze lifted toward the sky, where Lunara watched over him, her light distant yet ever-present.
Far above, unseen to mortal eyes, the celestial dance continued. In due time, Solara would rise, and when its golden light bathed the land, the path ahead would become clearer.
But for now, he stood at the edge of the known world, at the boundary between past and future, at the threshold of something vast and unseen.
And he took his first step forward.