"A year has passed," Kael said, his voice low, eyes grim as he stared into the dirt.
He let the words hang in the air, like the weight of them still hadn't settled in his chest.
It was hard to believe. Where he once thought only a week had slipped by, a full year had come and gone—vanished beneath his feet while he kept running forward.
In that time, he had changed—drastically.
Kael wasn't tall, but his height—around 170 centimeters—felt more than enough now. His body had taken on a denser form of strength: lean muscle packed tight over hard-earned endurance. He didn't look like a beast of a man, but there was power there, coiled beneath the surface.
Looking down at his hand, he flexed his fingers. The skin on his palm was rough, calloused, marred with blisters both old and fresh. They told a story of battle—of a man who had fought, endured, and adapted.
"I'm still not strong," he thought, "but I've come far. Far enough that strength alone isn't what defines me anymore."
His mind drifted to the countless fights, near-deaths, and survival trials that had shaped him. He had pushed past his limits more times than he could remember. Each time, something in him had grown sharper—more capable.
But there was something strange, something… off.
Kael's forearms, once riddled with small scars, were now completely clear. Just a slight tan and dirt clung to the skin—no cuts, no reminders of past wounds.
He stared, then raised one hand closer to his face.
"The Will of Veylis… or was it the Aether?" The question surfaced like a whisper in his thoughts.
Something had healed him—something had restored him. Pulled him from the grip of the parasite that had taken hold of his mind.
And while Kael felt a spark of gratitude for it… that spark was buried beneath layers of caution.
He didn't trust the Will. He didn't trust the Aether either. Gifts always came with a price. And he wasn't foolish enough to believe he'd gotten away for free.
His jaw tensed as he leaned back against a thick tree trunk, letting the vines that draped from its branches create a natural arch above his head. The bark pressed cold against his back, grounding him.
He tried recalling everything he could about the Will—but it was like trying to remember a dream through fog. There were fragments, yes. Moments. Voices. But none of it made sense.
That's when he realized—the parasite had stolen their memories.
Not just his own, but all of theirs. Their conversations had been strange. Their actions… disjointed. Like puppets moved by invisible strings. The more he looked back, the more disconnected those moments felt.
A cold shiver crept down his spine.
Still, fear wasn't what dominated him anymore. Experience had dulled it—sharpened it into something closer to suspicion.
Now, all he could focus on was why.
"It didn't just steal our thoughts," Kael thought, brows furrowing. "It guided us. Controlled us. Became a part of us."
Even when they had seemed conscious, alert… they had been living in the moment only. Their pasts—fragmented. Their futures—blurred.
"Why were we still able to talk to each other, then?" he thought, tapping his fingers gently against his temple.
"If each of us had a separate parasite in our mind, how did our conversations remain so fluid? So… connected?"
The thought dropped into his chest like a stone in still water.
It wasn't just individual parasites at play. It felt like a single entity was behind them all—coordinating them, shaping them, puppeteering them from a distance.
Kael rubbed his temples with his thumb and index finger, eyes narrowing. He leaned his head back against the tree trunk, staring at the canopy above.
"Things just went from bad to worse," he muttered under his breath, sarcasm flickering in his thoughts. "Great."
If only it had been just one parasite—just a single entity lodged in each of their minds—maybe the whole situation would've been easier to solve. But the possibility of a single creature behind all the parasites? That changed everything.
It meant there was something larger, more intelligent, and possibly far more dangerous pulling the strings.
Sure, in theory, all they had to do now was find this creature and kill it. Problem solved.
But Kael knew better.
"What if killing it doesn't solve anything?" The thought tightened in his chest. "What if the parasites go rogue the moment it's gone—what if they snap and kill Zarek, Ethan, and Grace on the spot?"
He clenched his fists, knuckles paling. He wasn't ready to take that kind of gamble. Not with their lives on the line.
'But... what if I handled it alone?' The idea came quietly, creeping into his mind like a whisper.
His dark brown eyes flickered in the dim light, catching the shimmer of distant stars. He tilted his head toward the night sky—wide and endless, the sea of stars above untouched by moonlight. The darkness made the stars stand out even more, like silent spectators in a forgotten world. It was almost peaceful, almost magical… if not for the weight on his shoulders.
Who—or what—was truly behind these parasites?
He needed something to call it. For now, he'd settled on a name: The Parasite King.
'The creature sitting at the top of all these bugs... It might as well be their king.' A faint smirk tugged at his lips. 'Ugh, I'm no better at naming things than Zarek.'
The smile faded quickly, swallowed by the returning seriousness in his eyes.
There were too many unknowns. Too many risks. He didn't even know where the Parasite King was—or if it even existed in a form he could kill.
"What if it's stronger than me? What if I find it… and I can't win?"
He rubbed the back of his neck, sighing as questions piled in his mind one after the other. For every question he could answer, two more popped up. A few made sense. Most didn't. And the ones he couldn't answer just made the weight in his head worse.
Clicking his tongue in frustration, he muttered, "Thinking too much will only cloud my judgment."
What he really needed was information—and that wasn't going to fall into his lap. No visions, no prophecies, no magical guiding voice. Just him, the forest, and whatever he could figure out on his own.
He would have to keep exploring the forest. Especially within the strange barrier that trapped him here. Sitting around, waiting for Zarek or Ethan or Grace to show up—it wasn't an option.
'Hope, huh?' The word came into his mind with a bitter edge.
He had faced everything so far with hope—clinging to it like a tool, or maybe a weapon. But the more he thought about it, the more twisted it seemed. Hope wasn't always pure. Sometimes it was deceptive, even dangerous.
Still, Kael wasn't a philosopher. He didn't enjoy thinking in circles or asking questions that went nowhere. That wasn't his way. If something was useful, he held on tight. If not, he dropped it without hesitation.
It was a risky way to live—cutthroat, maybe even reckless—but it had kept him alive this long. He wasn't planning to change now.
With a grunt, he stretched out his arms and started to rise. His muscles immediately protested, a sharp ache pulling at his shoulders and back. He frowned.
His body was exhausted—completely spent. He wanted to move forward, to start looking for clues right away, but his limbs felt like they were made of lead. His eyelids drooped, heavy and unwilling.
'Going out like this would be stupid. If I run into a beast in the dark with no stamina… I'll die before I can even think.'
He ran his fingers through his messy hair, pushing it back as he exhaled slowly.
'I should rest. Just for a while. I'd be lucky to even move properly tomorrow after everything I've just been through.'
Kael's eyes scanned the tree above him until he spotted a sturdy branch high up, thick and flat enough to hold his weight. Without hesitation, he grabbed one of the hanging vines and began climbing.
Surprisingly, the vine supported him with ease. It didn't tear, didn't sway too much. It was almost too convenient.
'These vines...' The thought started to form, but he cut it off immediately. 'No. I need sleep. I can't waste time chasing thoughts that go nowhere.'
With a final pull, he hoisted himself onto the branch. It was wider than his body, covered in soft moss and thick enough to rest on without worrying about falling.
Kael lay down, back against the rough bark, arms folded across his chest. The stars above peeked through the leaves, watching in silence. His mind tried to keep turning, tried to ask one more question, make one more plan—but his body had other ideas.
Sleep took him before he could finish his next thought.
***
When Kael woke the next morning, the first thing he did—before even moving a muscle—was think.
"How far can I travel today?" That was the question at the front of his mind. But it wasn't just about distance—he had to factor in everything. Food. Water. Monsters.
He sat up slowly, stretching his arms with a quiet groan as the stiffness in his back reminded him of his branch-top bed. As his body adjusted, he mentally ran through the basics: how much energy he had left, what he could scavenge, and how likely it was he'd run into trouble.
Once his thoughts were sorted, he decided he needed a better look at the terrain. Staying low wouldn't do. He reached for a higher vine and began climbing again, pushing himself above the canopy.
The air grew cooler as he ascended, and the sunlight became clearer. When he finally reached the topmost branch, he stopped—not because he was tired, but because the view froze him in place.
The world opened up before him like a painted mural.
Though there were still trees taller than the one he stood on, this one was high enough to give him a solid vantage point over much of the forest. His eyes scanned the horizon, sharp and observant.
The first thing that caught his attention were the four Great Trees—massive, ancient things that towered above all else. Each stood far apart from the others, like silent sentinels marking corners of an unseen square. Kael narrowed his eyes.
"They're... connected to the boundary," he thought. It made sense. The invisible barrier surrounding this strange forest seemed to trace its way to each of those trees, using them like anchor points—vertices to an unnatural cage.
Beyond the Great Trees, in the far distance, stood the mountain range. Now that Kael was closer than before, it looked even more imposing. The peaks were sharp, jagged things piercing the sky, their tips blanketed in white snow. Cold wind swept off them even at this distance.
The range stretched as far as he could see—from the far left horizon all the way to the right. Endless. Mysterious. And behind it? Nothing but questions.
Kael exhaled, shifting his attention to the area closer to him. The forest immediately surrounding his tree was mostly thick with greenery. A mess of branches, leaves, vines, and more trees than he could count.
But then, further ahead—almost dead center in the square made by the four Great Trees—he spotted ruins.
They looked ancient, their shapes broken by time. Moss-covered stone and fallen structures dotted the center like forgotten memories. The forest grew even denser around that area, wrapping it like a shroud. If he started moving today, he could probably reach the ruins in a week. Maybe less if the terrain was merciful.
What struck him as odd, though, was what wasn't there.
No beasts.
He narrowed his eyes, scanning the treetops and shaded floor. Nothing stirred. The barriered part of the forest was eerily calm. No rustling leaves. No sudden movement. Not even the cry of birds or insects.
Outside the barrier, though—it was a different story.
In the distance beyond the transparent edge, Kael could see movement. Several beasts roamed freely. Some tore into corpses with blood-soaked claws. Others moved in packs, sprinting through the trees like predators on the hunt. One even bashed its head against a boulder in a frenzy.
The contrast was stark. Too stark.
Kael's gaze drifted back to the ruins.
He muttered under his breath, his tone quiet but resolved, "I hope I'm not too late."