Darkness.
That was the first thing Kaito registered. A heavy, suffocating darkness pressing against his mind, wrapping around his consciousness like an iron grip.
Then came the cold.
A crisp, biting chill that seeped into his bones, so sharp it jolted him awake. His eyes flew open, and he gasped as if he had just surfaced from deep underwater.
But something was wrong.
The familiar sight of his bedroom ceiling was gone. Instead, towering trees stretched high above him, their thick canopies blotting out most of the sky. Strange, bioluminescent vines coiled around the trunks, casting an eerie glow over the surroundings. A forest. A massive, unfamiliar forest.
"What the hell…" Kaito muttered, his breath visible in the crisp morning air. His body felt sluggish, as if he had been asleep for far too long.
Then he heard it—voices.
All around him, scattered across the forest floor, were people. Dozens of them. Some in school uniforms like his, others in casual clothes, and some in outfits that looked downright medieval. There were teenagers, young adults, and even a few middle-aged men and women—but no children, no elderly, no infants.
Confusion and fear rippled through the crowd. Some were panicking, others desperately trying to make sense of the situation. A girl in a tracksuit clutched her head, muttering to herself. A man in a business suit paced frantically, phone in hand, repeatedly checking for a signal that clearly wasn't there.
"What is this place?"
"Is this a dream?"
"No way… this has to be some kind of prank, right?"
"Where are we?"
The questions piled up, but no answers came.
Kaito exhaled slowly, rubbing his temples. Okay… don't panic. Think.
The last thing he remembered was falling asleep in his room. Then, nothing. Just this. Whatever this was.
His gaze swept over the crowd again, and that's when he noticed something strange.
Some of these people—weren't quite… human.
A girl standing a few feet away had pointed ears, almost elven in shape. Another guy—tall, broad-shouldered—had scales running along his forearms. There was even someone with glowing purple markings running down their neck, pulsing faintly like a heartbeat.
Kaito's stomach twisted. This isn't Earth.
Then—
BOOM.
The ground shook, dirt and leaves blasting into the air as something crashed down mere meters away from him.
Kaito barely had time to react before he was thrown off balance, stumbling back as a massive crater formed where the impact had struck.
Silence fell.
Then—footsteps.
Slow. Heavy. Deliberate.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
From within the dust and smoke, a figure emerged.
Cloaked in black, face obscured by a smooth, featureless mask, the stranger exuded an aura so suffocating it felt like the air itself had thickened.
Every instinct in Kaito's body screamed at him to run. But his legs wouldn't move.
His fingers curled into fists as he forced himself to speak, voice barely above a whisper.
"…What in God's name is happening?"
The masked figure took another step forward.
And then—