A hand dug its way out of the grave. It began fumbling at the surroundings before pulling its entire body out of the shallow burial site.
He wore a white linen shirt stained with soil, loose black trousers, and a necklace shaped like a raven's head. His hair was black and disheveled, and his eyes were reddish—matching the color of the sky overhead.
He stared at the tombstone in front of him, which bore a single name—Kaelan Veradis.
"Is this my name?"
He wasn't sure if it belonged to him or someone else. What was certain was that he had risen from a coffin carved with the headstone of Kaelan Veradis.
"What happened? I... I don't remember anything." Kaelan held his head, which began to spin with vertigo as he tried to remember.
It felt as though a thick fog covered his mind, almost as if preventing him from remembering.
"I rose from my own grave? That's impossible."
It was hard to imagine that someone who had died would dig their way out of their burial pit. Nevertheless, the reality was that it was happening to Kaelan.
Kaelan could not remember at all why he had been buried or why he was coming out of the grave.
Even "Kaelan Veradis" might be someone else's name. However, there was an overwhelming sense of familiarity with that name. Perhaps his soul was telling him that it was indeed his.
Kaelan then observed his surroundings. The sky was a pale red, and the moon was round and appeared pallid. The environment was dark, though not to the point of blindness. A gripping sense of dread emanated from the surrounding area.
The jet-black trees seemed polluted. Their leaves were brownish and withered. The soil itself was not particularly barren, yet the plants grew in strange ways.
Some were shaped in semi-circular curves, some were tapered, and some even grew parallel to the ground.
Everything clearly seemed foreign. Even if Kaelan had amnesia, it was very strange for him not to feel familiar with his environment.
"I have to find a city first."
He was afraid and also worried, but his decision remained rational. Rather than seeking non-existent answers alone, it was better to find people to ask for help.
Kaelan descended the mountain while learning about his seemingly horrific surroundings—especially the gripping feeling that felt familiarly present all around him.
As he reached an area where the trees were denser, a shadow appeared from behind the woods. Kaelan tensed slightly—he did not recognize his surroundings.
All sorts of incomprehensible things could happen. Even so, Kaelan still tried to approach slowly. He walked quietly, hiding behind rocks and trees until the shadow became clear.
It was a humanoid shadow that seemed to stand still and motionless. His tensed heart felt relieved upon knowing there was another human.
Kaelan approached immediately, "Um, excuse me—"
Kaelan froze like stone before finishing his sentence. The shadow was indeed human, but that was not its only form.
The upper body was indeed human—but without a face or organs. It had no eyes or nose. However, there were holes where ears should be, as well as a mouth.
Meanwhile, the lower part was clearly abnormal. It was shaped like a massive belly two meters wide, with a mouth and fangs like butcher knives.
Its legs were like a human's but slightly larger and longer. Only, there were more of them, resembling a spider. Its body was like decaying brownish flesh with maggots gnawing at it.
A pungent stench of carrion came from it. Its large mouth appeared to be chewing something like the bones of a large animal.
Kaelan felt terror watching that disgusting monster. He covered his mouth and held his breath while hiding.
What a horrific monster! How could such a creature exist in the world?
Even though Kaelan remembered nothing, he surely felt familiar and his soul recognized various things. But that monster was clearly very foreign.
"...Help."
Kaelan heard a voice that sounded like a person groaning. He peeked—seeing that the strange monster was asking for help. The voice came from its human-shaped body.
Terror seemed to envelop him. Kaelan intended to leave, but he accidentally stepped on dry leaves and made a sound.
The monster turned exactly toward him. It had no eyes, but its sense of hearing was clearly extraordinary.
"Help!" The figure screamed loudly and moved toward him.
Kaelan stepped back before finally sprinting as hard as he could.
That wasn't even a human! What kind of disgusting creature was that?!
Nothing from his worst nightmares had ever prepared him for finding that strange monster. Kaelan refused to surrender to his fear as he ran with all his might.
The monster pursued him crazily. Even with that massive body, its speed was no joke.
"Groar, Help!"
The monster continued to scream for help, but perhaps that was its way of obtaining prey to eat. With its massive and disgusting body, it ran chasing Kaelan while smashing into trees and rocks.
"Why is it running so fast?!" Kaelan wanted to curse, but the main focus now was to escape.
Kaelan threw whatever stones and branches he could get while running. With the stones hitting it, the monster was clearly undisturbed.
The monster still pursued with a steady speed while destroying every tree. At one point, the monster chewed a tree with its large mouth and spat it at Kaelan.
"Damn it!" Kaelan could not avoid it and was thrown down.
His body felt in pain from the impact; he also felt incredible pain from his left leg.
"Argh!"
Wooden splinters were lodged in his left leg, making it impossible to move. Kaelan could see the monster that was chasing him walking slowly, almost as if it were mocking and enjoying its prey's final moments.
Kaelan reached for a branch nearby and swung it.
"Don't come closer, you disgusting thing!"
His actions were futile as the monster continued to approach.
Kaelan trembled as the monster approached step by step. He kept looking for a way to escape from this horrific situation, but there was not a single solution. His leg was injured and he couldn't run; Kaelan didn't even have the ability to fight back.
Was he going to die here? Even though he had only just crawled out of his grave!
"Groaarrr!"
The monster roared and prepared to swallow Kaelan whole. Kaelan froze seeing the large, disgusting mouth right in front of him.
However, at that moment, he heard the sound of someone running fast toward him. In the next second, the monster was violently knocked away.
A man with a sturdy build and bronzed skin swung a large hammer in his hand, sending the monster flying. The man completely ignored Kaelan as he ran toward the fallen monster.
"Orraaa!" he shouted as he swung his hammer vertically.
The monster was buried into the ground like a driven nail, but even with that powerful attack, the monster was still alive and trying to break free.
Its body began to enlarge and writhe like a worm; it easily came out and pounced on the man with the hammer.
"Duck!"
The voice of someone else, the voice of a woman screaming at him. The man immediately ducked as a sword blade passed over his head and cut his brown hair.
The sword blade aimed to cut the monster. The target was the part of the monster's body that resembled a human. With one clean slash, the monster was split in two and lost its ability to move before finally dying.
"You almost cut my head off too!" snapped the man carrying the hammer, as he held his hair that had also been cut.
The woman wore tight leather trousers and a singlet with a fang-shaped necklace. Her gaze was sharp, with a beautiful face and a perfect build.
Her thick eyebrows twitched slightly, "When fighting a Big Eater, you must cut the human-like part of its body. That is the basic knowledge that has been taught to us."
"I was aiming for it, it just so happened your head was there. That's why I told you to duck, Reynold."
The man with the hammer—Reynold—could not accept that explanation, "If I hadn't ducked, you would have killed me, Rebecca!"
Rebecca widened her eyes and looked at him strangely, "But you ducked in the end. It's useless talking about something that didn't happen."
Reynold was about to say something, but he held it back because he realized it was pointless to argue with a woman.
Rebecca's gaze wandered back to the wretched man who had almost become a meal for the monster called the Big Eater.
Kaelan froze, his gaze fixed on the monster that no longer moved before finally exhaling a sigh of relief. He was glad he didn't have to return to his grave.
His gaze turned toward Rebecca and Reynold, who were walking toward him.
"T-thank you for helping—" Kaelan did not finish his sentence as Rebecca's sword landed right in front of his throat.
The woman's gaze became very cold as she spoke, "What are you doing outside the walls? Who are you?"
Rebecca continued to fire a barrage of questions, her gaze sharpening as she spoke again.
"No, the answer is probably already clear."
Rebecca pulled her sword and placed it right at Kaelan's throat. Her gaze was full of hatred, like someone looking at a sworn enemy.
"You must be an Outcast, right?"