After a long period of darkness, Athen slowly regained his senses, his body tired and aching as if he had just experienced a nightmare. Opening his eyes, he found himself surrounded by a landscape he did not recognize: towering trees whose canopies seemed to intertwine with the clouds, and a backdrop of mysterious sounds that filled the enchanted forest. Everything was so different from the world he knew, and a chill of confusion washed over him.
Determined to find a way out, Athen began to walk, moving cautiously as he tried to orient himself. But the noises echoing around him, shrill and unsettling, forced him to slow down. Suddenly, a movement among the bushes caught his attention. With his heart in his throat, he fixed his gaze on the intruder emerging from the shadows: a short, greenish creature, wrapped in a miserable rag, resembling the goblins from the stories he had heard in his word.
"What… what is that?" Athen asked, his voice trembling. Fear gripped him, but there was also a glimmer of curiosity.
No sooner had Athen spoken those words than the goblin fixed him with furious eyes. Without a moment's hesitation, the boy turned and began to run. His legs, already weakened by fatigue, moved as if they had a will of their own, but the monster followed him, bounding close behind like a threatening shadow.
The boy quickly realized how exhausting his attempt to escape was. Every breath seemed to require a tremendous amount of effort; his frail body was not accustomed to this desperate flight. Suddenly, a clumsy movement caused him to trip over a rock, and the pain of a sharp edge struck him across the face.
"No please ! Don't kill me!" His voice broke into a desperate cry.
The goblin lunged at him in a flash with a jagged stone, but in a last-minute moment of clarity, Athen managed to dodge the assault, feeling the brush of death right beside him.
The need to survive ignited a spark of determination. Athen frantically searched the ground around him, and his eyes landed on a rock that wasn't too big, but sufficient for his purposes. With a swift motion, he grabbed it and, gathering every ounce of strength left, hurled it at the goblin's chest. The unexpected blow made the creature stagger, and without a second thought, Athen lunged at him. Stripped of any hesitation, he began to strike with the rock until the flicker of life in the creature's eyes faded.
A sigh of disbelief escaped Athen's lips. "I can't believe it! I did it! I killed a goblin!" he exclaimed, his heart pounding harder than ever. But his joy was extinguished by a mysterious voice that seemed to come from nowhere.
"You have just killed a ///// creature."
Athen froze, his smile faltering. "What?" he murmured, his heart now in turmoil as unanswered questions began to swirl in his mind.