The silence between Eron and the Time Warden stretched long after the warning had been given. The words echoed in his mind like cracks spreading through glass. He could not return. That path no longer existed.
The realization settled deep in his chest like stone. The ache was not just fear. It was loss. Loss of everything he knew: the familiar world, the people he left behind, the normal life that had disappeared without warning. For a moment, he wanted to scream, to punch the wall until his knuckles split, to demand an answer that made sense. But none came.
His breathing slowed. His legs trembled beneath him.
The Warden, still holding the lantern that pulsed softly in rhythm with the moss, turned away without another word.
"Come. There is one gate left."
Eron hesitated. He looked behind him, but of course there was no path back, only the long dark of the tunnel that had twisted against him again and again. His throat tightened. He took a step forward, then another, following the figure. Not out of trust, but because what choice did he have?
His footsteps echoed behind the Warden, heavy and uneven, each one sounding louder in his ears than it should have. He felt like he was moving, but at the same time falling deeper, as though every step pushed him further from the world he had known.
As they walked, the tunnel began to change. The rough stone walls grew smoother. The pulsing moss dimmed, patches flickering out one by one until the walls seemed to ripple with faint, liquid light. The air grew warmer, less suffocating. For the first time since entering the cave, he could almost breathe freely. There was a strangeness to it, like walking in a dream or the brief moment before waking when reality had not fully decided what it wanted to be.
The silence was broken by the Warden's voice, heavy with age, distant as if spoken from another lifetime.
"The Time Tunnel is no longer stable. My purpose has ended.
But you... you are still breathing. Still bound by time's thread. The last gate leads elsewhere, a place not governed by your world's rules.
You may live there. Not as a chosen hero. Not as a prisoner. Simply, as one who crossed over."
The words sank into him like stones dropped in water, rippling through his thoughts. Eron blinked, his gaze dull. He was listening, but part of him was still back in his old world: the sound of his phone buzzing on the nightstand, the creak of his apartment's old floorboards, the scent of coffee brewing in the morning. All of it gone in silence, erased by a cave that should not have existed.
"What kind of place?" he asked, his voice little more than a whisper.
The Warden slowed. Ahead, the tunnel widened into a chamber where the walls curved like the inside of a dome. At its center hung a faint circular outline, etched in glowing light. Its surface rippled faintly, like water turned to glass.
"A world of sword and magic," the Warden replied.
"It is not kind, nor is it cruel. It simply is. And it has waited for long enough."
The lantern flickered brighter, casting ripples of pale light across the walls until the chamber seemed alive. The circle shimmered in response, its edges solidifying into a frame of light that pulsed like the moss before it.
"Beyond this gate, your name means nothing. Your rules do not apply. But your choices, those still belong to you."
The Warden stepped aside, raising the lantern. The frame of the gate hummed with unseen energy, the air trembling as though the chamber itself held its breath.
"Go. Before this gate too collapses."
Eron froze at the edge of the circle. The surface reflected him, but not cleanly. His image was twisted, blurred, like the reflection of a stranger. His hands shook, his chest tight.
This is not real. It cannot be real.
He shut his eyes, forcing himself to hold on to the fragments of what he had lost. His apartment. His phone. His walks on familiar trails. The people he never had the chance to say goodbye to. They all felt so far away, as if they belonged to someone else's story.
He took one breath. Then another.
If this is all that is left, then I have to keep going.
And he stepped through.
The moment he crossed, the world changed. Light burst over him, blinding and warm. Eron instinctively raised his arm, shielding his eyes. Sunlight. Real sunlight. After the suffocating darkness of the tunnel, it felt like fire on his skin. He staggered, blinking rapidly as the brilliance poured over him.
Behind him, the Warden's voice echoed one final time, each word carrying the weight of farewell.
"This is the farewell, human. Try to adapt to this world. Embrace your new life. Enjoy it while you can."
Eron turned, but the Warden was already retreating into shadow, its lantern glowing with steady rhythm. The frame of the gate rippled, then collapsed in on itself. In seconds, the circle vanished.
The cave mouth was gone.
In its place stood untouched earth and overgrowth, roots twining over stone as though nothing had ever disturbed it. The mountain had sealed its wound. The cave had never existed.
Eron stood alone.
Relief, fear, grief, wonder, everything tangled inside his chest until he could not name a single feeling. His pulse thundered, his palms trembled, and yet his body would not move.
Several minutes passed in silence before he lowered his hand.
And then he saw it.
Around him stretched a forest unlike anything he had ever known. Towering trees with silver-veined bark reached high into a sky split by twin suns. Their light painted the canopy in strange hues, gold and violet interwoven. Massive mushrooms the size of boulders dotted the ground, glowing faintly as if lit from within.
The air smelled sweet and sharp, like rain mixed with smoke. Strange birds with jeweled feathers darted overhead, leaving trails of glittering mist that hung in the air long after they passed. Somewhere deeper in the forest, something let out a low, mournful call, like the groan of a horn.
Eron turned slowly in place, his breath catching in his throat. Every detail defied what he thought possible. Grass glowed faintly underfoot, catching the sunlight in sparks. Insects with translucent wings hovered near blossoms that pulsed faintly like breathing hearts. The forest was alive in ways Earth's woods never were, vibrant and alien, both beautiful and unsettling.
He swallowed hard.
He was no longer in his world.
He was somewhere else.
Truly, in another world.