With the first rays of the sun, a new morning arises for the city of Eastfront. A new day started as the first curtains of smoke rose from the chimneys, and the first merchants peeked into the stony but dusty roads around the city's gray walls with wares. Sooner than later, roads began to fill with wagons and travelers crossing the land.

People were awake long before dawn on the farms. They all worked on their crops with sickles and sweat on their foreheads; everyone had to work, from the most jovial young man to the most experienced old man. All had to fulfill their tillage tasks.

The first signs of life could be perceived in the woods. Before long, the lumberjacks are heard saying goodbye to their wives and families, heading back into the forest for another day of laborious work. With any luck, the loggers will see their families again at lunchtime. If not, as usual, until late in the evening.

A simple life for simple people who don't want trouble. However, it is known that problems appear sooner or later anywhere on the continent of Aeton.

As you pass the coniferous forests where lumberjacks work and head north where the town of Windcall is, rises a hill of grey stones that locals try to avoid. All mothers make their children fear that place, and all men use a longer path to avoid it.

Everyone evades that site because the threats there aren't wild but something worse: Abominations.

Some people warn that there is a cave where dangerous creatures emerge, deadly monsters that would kill everything in their path, entities with such excessive power that just seeing them causes hysteria and paranoia among mortals. Do such creatures exist? According to them, yes, and they are to be feared.

That morning, from that dark cave with such a bad reputation, a boy appears in the world.

As the sound of the wind hits the rocks, the boy slowly leaves the cave.

His footsteps inside the cave are sonorous, causing a slight echo while reaching the entrance. Then he cautiously steps out of the cave.

The sun was so bright that he had to cover his eyes with his left hand. His gaze is painfully accustomed to the light; leaving the cave's darkness to the vibrant blue color of the sky makes his eyes feel the pain of the change in light.

However, when the annoying sensation passes, he watches the breathtaking scenery.

It was a beautiful sight from where anyone could see birds diving into the trees and coming back much further away. That extensive mantle created a vast forest of tall trees that cut abruptly to give rise to an enormous plain. This yellowish-green blanket seemed to extend to infinity and beyond.

After that, he turns his eye to the hill and then to the cave from which he emerged. First, he looked at the rocks that make up the entrance to the cave; then the guy looked at the distance he had covered from it, and then he saw his bare feet, dirty from the dust.

An enormous amount of anxiety invaded him; he was speechless, not because of the beautiful view but an immense confusion. Then, he started feeling deeply afraid as the boy recognized he was in a strange place.

An overwhelming rain of thoughts began to rain down on his head as his breath hitched, puffing out his chest repeatedly as he inhaled and exhaled. There were too many questions in a short time.

"Where am I?"

"What am I doing here?"

"What is this place?"

Under specific circumstances, all those questions were easy to answer. The "what" was easy to answer, but not the "why." Still, the guy had no answers to one of the most complex and easy questions.

"Who am I?" he exclaimed loudly, in a soft and youthful voice. That existential question was sometimes easy to answer, but his mind seemed to masterfully evade it.

Panic soon washed over him and settled like a heavy stone in his chest. His heart was pounding as the pressure of uncertainty took hold of him. The ignorance was causing him great anguish, making him freeze in place for a few minutes.

The squawk of a bird perched on the cave door brought him back to himself. He saw the feathered creature; it was huge and had speckled brown plumage, a beak, and black eyes. The bird squawked again, and so he recovered his strength.

The boy planned his next move, as he had no intention of staying there any longer. As the seconds passed, the guy saw smoke lines rising into the sky from inside the forest. The boy reacted energetically.

"People" was the first thing he thought of him. "If there are people, then someone can help me."

Those words he recited over and over to himself repeatedly. He did as he breathed shakily with excitement and terror.

The kid slid down a worn path where rocks fell off as he climbed them. The whole place looked worn and deteriorated. All around him were broken pillars that seemed to be adorned with cloths even worn over the columns. Those clothes seemed to indicate something, which caused more questions than he expected to answer.

The guy walked the path for a long time until, finally, the worn path gave way to a wider one that ended at the foot of the hill.

The boy descended through the place, trying to speed up his trot but slowing it down as stones dug into the soles of his feet. Looking at his feet, dusty and dirty from walking barefoot, he also noticed the dark tone of his skin, something that he might not have seen at first. He finally saw his outfit, which consisted of worn white rags that he held in his hand. Still, hearing how it almost tore a part of it, he immediately let it.

No doubt he didn't remember wearing those clothes, much less imagined why it was so worn. Nothing made sense, but the joy of getting help inside that forest from its people overrode the anguish inside him.

The hours passed, and the road, even being on a gradient, was challenging due to the many obstacles. In addition, holes and stones indicated that nobody used that road. Adding to the pain growing in his feet, the situation was tricky. He almost tripped on more than one occasion, and if he had, he would have reached the foot of the place quicker but more painfully.

The boy reached the foot of the hill, where the first column of tall conifers seemed to form an immense long wall around the forest. Stopping, his determination was locked in a duel with his exhaustion. Things like the heat, thirst, and pain were growing, and the forest seemed even more extensive than what he saw on the top.

He didn't know how long it had taken him to get down from where he was, but he noticed that the sun was now above him instead of peeking over the horizon. So now, he must try to quench his thirst so the answers could wait.

His feet, lacerated by the rocks, sank into a cold and vivid land. Before, he only saw white and gray stones; now, he saw trees with reddish bark from where birds could be seen on their branches and rodents scurrying around. There was much more life around him, and where there was life, there must be water.

Going further into the forest, it didn't take long for him to hear the sound of flowing water. That's how the kid found a small stream of water between mossy rocks, and when he approached, a couple of creatures that had come to drink ran away.

"S-Sorry!" said the kid to the animals.

Exhausted, the kid knelt in front of the water and, with both hands, poured himself water again and again. That cold delight slaked his thirst and made his throat burn. His lungs were burning, too, for he began to feel exhaustion after a deep breath.

He first felt his soft cheekbones, then traced the contours of his face. Next, he climbed up to his curly dark hair, gently tugging it. He then moved down his face, noting that he had no trace of a beard or mustache, plus he felt like his nose was slightly small. Then he went to his lips and thought that they were somewhat fleshy. All that could be a game if it wasn't that it was the way to know what his face looked like.

As he had seen with his feet and hands vaguely discerning the soft dark tone of his skin, something he even paid very little attention to as he walked down the hill.

Unfortunately, he couldn't observe much else, like perhaps the color of his eyes or things as simple as a smile he was trying to put on his face. He couldn't see anything else in the water. Agitated, the young boy splashed water on his face, blotting his reflection. He didn't want to keep trying to see himself; He wanted more certitude.

Then, something suddenly caught his attention.

Taking both hands out of the water, the kid saw that on his left hand, on the back of it, he had something drawn on his skin. He hadn't paid attention to it until then, but now, he couldn't take his eyes off her.

A symbol seemed to be painted on his skin.

The symbol seemed to be a triangle with black lines thin but sharp; it was a simple triangle, only with the upper point much more elongated than the other two.

The boy scratched the drawing with his fingernail, noting that it seemed etched under his skin.

Sitting on his knees, he dropped his arms to his sides. He tried to even find a meaning to it all. What was it that was happening? What was that brand? Had someone marked him with that? Why did he appear in a cave, surrounded by ruins?

Everything that was happening made less and less sense. The boy closed his eyes, holding back a silent sob as he wished that maybe he was about to wake up from a bad dream once he reopened them.

However, everything was far from that, as he heard a voice.

"Don't move," said the voice.

The boy was startled, and soon he heard a rope tighten, and the voice spoke to him again firmly.

"Don't move, or I'll kill you..."