Rael's breath came in short gaps as he leaned against the cold cavern wall. His muscles ached, his body screaming for rest, but his mind remained sharp. The strange symbols carved into the stone pulsed faintly, as if whispering secrets only he could hear. This place was unlike anything he had ever seen—ancient, forgotten, steeped in an eerie silence that gnawed at the edges of his sanity.
He had no idea how long he had been wandering. The moment he stepped through the mysterious gate, reality had twisted into something unrecognizable. There was no sky, no horizon—just endless ruins stretching into the distance, bathed in a dim, unnatural glow. The air was thick with the scent of damp stone and something metallic, like dried blood.
His fingers brushed against one of the markings on the wall. A jolt ran up his arm, and for a brief moment, images flashed through his mind—battles fought in this very place, screams lost to time, warriors falling into darkness. He stumbled back, heart pounding. This was no ordinary ruin. It was a graveyard of the forgotten.
A flicker of movement caught his eye. Shadows swayed unnaturally, shifting along the walls as if they had a will of their own. His instincts screamed at him to move, to run—but he held his ground. He was no longer the weak boy he had once been.
Then, a voice echoed from the darkness, raspy yet oddly familiar. "You don't belong here… yet here you are."
Rael's silver eyes narrowed, scanning the void ahead. "Who are you?"
Silence. A chilling stillness stretched between them. Then, a low chuckle. "A test. Will you survive?"
The ground trembled beneath his feet. The air turned frigid, thick with an unseen presence. The shadows surged forward, twisting and writhing as they took shape. A figure emerged, its form indistinct, shifting between solid and smoke.
Rael's fingers twitched toward his weapon, but the figure raised a hand. "Too slow."
Dark tendrils lashed out, striking toward him with inhuman speed. He barely managed to roll to the side as the stone where he had stood cracked open, consumed by the shadows. His heartbeat thundered in his ears.
This was no ordinary test.
This was survival.