Volume 1: Justice Always Prevails!
"My death was greatly exaggerated."
My back pressed against a tree trunk.
I felt the muddy ground against my skin. It slowly seeped into my worn clothes. At first, the feeling was good, even pleasant, but then it grew oppressive, suffocating, and disturbing.
My body tensed by reflex, and my eyes flew open. A sharp pain assailed my vision.
After a few seconds, the landscape unfolded before my eyes. Trees stood like silent sentinels, circling me. The sky, bathed in a deep, reddish-orange glow, melted into the surrounding mist, casting the world in the likeness of a blazing furnace.
I froze before the magnificent scene. Tears welled in my eyes, and my vision slowly dimmed under the weight of the light. A few blackish spots lingered in my sight as my eyelids fell shut once again.
With my full return to consciousness, my sensations flooded back. I tried to ignore the pain, but my body was a foreign thing. Each breath felt like a struggle. My skull throbbed with a dull ache, and my limbs were heavy and unresponsive. My mind simply registered the facts: I was weak, I was lost in the middle of nowhere, I was no longer what I once was.
Slowly, I rose to my feet. The idea of staying again was tempting, but something deep inside warned me it was a deadly trap! By some miracle, I wasn't hungry or thirsty. In truth, I wasn't even visibly wounded. Only my clothes showed signs of wear. But that wouldn't last. My strength would drain with time, and I had to find drinkable water and food quickly, or die...
My only advantage was the strange safety of this place. Why? Because I hadn't been devoured in my sleep. That fact alone was enough.
I took a step forward.
The mud clung stubbornly to my soles.
As I took a step forward, a tingling sensation spread through my entire body. I stopped, letting the feeling subside for a few minutes.
Then I looked around again.
I was in a vast forest, not dense, but endlessly wide.
There was no exit in sight. To make matters worse, the surrounding light was slowly fading, giving way to an eerie glow from the horizon.
Now fully conscious, I paid closer attention to the details of my surroundings. To my surprise, the environment was uniquely exotic. The flora was an intense grayish-white, like old snow. The leaves, the grass, and even the soil were a colorless gray. In the distance, a massive structure rose above the foliage, just a few kilometers away.
I stood still for a moment, deep in thought. The structure, though strange and menacing, was the only shelter in sight before nightfall, but this journey also came with its own dangers...
Quickly, I made a decision as my eyes filled with a deep resolve.
I headed towards the building, my steps slow and cautious. After what seemed like an eternity, I finally stood at the base of the gargantuan structure.
The silence here was absolute.
A narrow strip of ground, empty of all vegetation, separated the feet of this thing from the forest, giving me a clearer view of my surroundings. I had my doubts when I saw it in the distance, but now I was certain. This thing was a warship that crashed into the ground.
A feeling of profound weakness washed over me, but I forced my eyes upward, determined to find a way inside. The eerie glow from the horizon had grown brighter, revealing the full horror of the world I was in. An immense, jagged crack, as if the sky itself had been shattered, split the firmament in two. A blinding, pure white light poured from the fissure, illuminating the colorless landscape and casting long, sharp shadows all around me. It was this light, not the sun, that had given life to the eerie glow.
I felt my body get warm and comfortable.
I felt light.
My gaze could no longer turn away from this mythological sight. My thoughts... slowed down.
I felt so hot.
It was magnificent!
It hurt. So much. A horrible stinging sensation in my left chest.
This spectacle was celestial, and I was inferior!
Was I even... real?
Without realizing it, a piece of flesh from my left arm was gone. I began to shed tears of happiness because I did not deserve this grace.
Then nothing. My legs could no longer support me. To my great regret, my gaze left the sky to meet some gray tuft of grass. I hit the ground with a soft thud, the cold, gray soil a final relief against my face. As anger and resentment grew within me, I was seized by a cold sweat. I nearly died...
All the tension in my body suddenly vanished, replaced by an overwhelming wave of exhaustion. My mind, which had been so sharp, so focused on a single goal, now felt dull and foggy. The last thing I saw was the horrible white light from the sky, illuminating the surroundings. Before my vision blurred and a profound sleep claimed me.