The boy lay there, his eyes fluttering open to a sky swallowed by darkness. No stars guided him. No moon carved out the horizon. Only a vast, lifeless expanse stretched above.
He blinked.
A droplet of rain struck his eye. He sat up quickly, his body jerting awake as confusion crashed over him.
Huh.
Where am I?
Where is this place?
The rain grew stronger, drumming against the earth around him. He turned his head to the right and his breath caught in his throat.
A tree stood there. Not just any tree, it soared upward as if reaching for the heavens themselves, its peak lost among the clouds. His lips parted. "Wow," he whispered, the word escaping before he could stop it.
Below that towering giant, other trees rose around him. They were tremendous in their own right, their trunks thick and ancient. But compared to the one that dominated the sky, they were like mice standing beside an elephant.
I am inside a forest!
How did I end up here?
He searched through the depths of his memories, clawing for anything—a face, a name, a single moment that might explain where he was and how he arrived. But there was only emptiness.
And then the realization struck him, cold and merciless.
He didn't know who he was.
He didn't know his own name.
Who am I?
He frowned, pressing his hand hard against his temple as if physical pain could force the memories back. But there was only confusion. Only the unsettling, suffocating truth that he was a stranger to himself.
"Well, well. Look who is here."
The voice came from above, from the direction of a tree. The boy craned his neck, searching for the source among the shadowed branches.
"Little guy, I'm not that tall for you to be looking that high. Hahaha!"
The laugh was dry, almost mocking. Then, without warning, the rain stopped. The night sky shifted in an instant, darkness bleeding into daylight as if someone had simply decided the sun should rise.
The boy blinked against the sudden brightness and saw a figure standing nearby. His face was hidden behind a mask.
"Who are you?!" The boy's voice cracked as he scrambled backward. "Did you bring me to this place?!"
The figure moved.
One moment he was a distance away. The next, he stood five feet in front of the boy, having closed the gap in the span of a single blink. He stopped and tilted his head, studying the trembling boy before him.
Slowly, he reached up and removed the mask.
"What?!" The boy's voice was barely a whisper.
The figure had no face. No eyes. No nose. No mouth. Just a smooth, blank expanse of skin where features should have been.
Is he… human?
"Welcome," the figure said, his voice echoing from nowhere and everywhere. "Welcome to the Forest of Truth."
He stepped closer and touched the boy's face. His fingers were cold. Then he threw his head back and laughed, a wild, manic sound that seemed to shake the very air around them.
"I'm free," he murmured to the sky, his voice cracking with a joy that bordered on madness. "I'm free. Finally free."
The boy trembled. Even though he had no memories of any human face, he knew with a deep, primal certainty that this was wrong. People did not have blank faces. People did not move like shadows and laugh like broken things.
The figure's laughter faded. He looked down at the boy, and despite his lack of features, there was something almost gentle in the way he tilted his head. His white hair stood out sharply against his pale skin, and his eyes—the only feature on his otherwise empty face—were deep, dark, and unsettling.
"I'm sorry," he said lightly, a hint of worry creeping into his voice. "Did I scare you? It's just… I haven't seen anyone for a while."
Is this person crazy? The boy's thoughts raced. He was laughing like a madman seconds ago, and now he's worried about me?
"You must be confused, right?" the figure asked.
The boy tried to open his mouth, but the figure continued before he could speak. "You are a lucky one. You are in the Forest of Truth." He paused, his dark eyes gleaming with excitement. "This place holds every dark, untold truth and secret of the world."
The boy stared at him, his mind churning. A forest. A strange being who could control the weather. A face that was no face at all. He pieced together the only conclusion that made sense.
This person kidnapped me. He brought me here to sacrifice me in some ritual.
But why me?
Why did he take my memories?
He looked down, his voice small and hollow. "Did you bring me here as a child sacrifice?"
The figure reached out and placed a hand on the boy's head. The touch was surprisingly gentle. "Don't be scared," he said softly. "I will help you find yourself. And the memories of your cherished friends and family."
He kidnapped me, and now he says he will help me?
The boy swallowed his fear and forced himself to think clearly. I need to play along. If I want to live, I have to play along with this crazy person.
"How did you bring me here?" the boy asked, keeping his voice steady.
The figure stepped back and stopped. "I didn't bring you here. You must have consumed a Truth fragment. One that lets you find every truth."
But I don't remember consuming anything. I don't even have memories. Why is this my fault?
The figure snapped his fingers.
Darkness swallowed everything.
"I will show you a truth," his voice echoed through the void. "And then you will understand."
For a long moment, the boy saw nothing, not even darkness, just an absence of existence itself. Then slowly, the darkness of the void took shape. A crack appeared. Light bled through.
The void was breaking.
From the fracture emerged a figure, round and fluid, like liquid gold given form. It shimmered and shifted, coalescing into something solid. Something divine.
Why did that crazy person leave me here? The boy's thoughts spun wildly. Is he making a ritual? Am I the sacrifice?
A hand pressed down on his shoulder, and he nearly screamed.
"Look," the blank-faced man said, appearing beside him once more. "It is forming. He is the first mythical creature born from the Void."
The golden figure completed its transformation. A man stood before them, his hair gleaming like molten metal, his eyes burning with a light that seemed to hold the weight of eternity. His appearance was striking—flawless, radiant, holy. The boy found himself breathless in the presence of such divinity.
Who is he? the boy wondered, his fear momentarily forgotten. Why did he emerge from that darkness?
"His name is Truth," the blank man said. "When he perished or, more accurately, when he fell asleep the fragment you carry was scattered from him." He smiled, unaware of the terror his next words would bring. "They say if you collect all the fragments, he will try to wake again. In your body." He chuckled lightly. "But don't be scared. It is only an 'if.'"
The boy's blood turned to ice.
He will take over my body! No. I cannot let that happen.
But he said 'if.' So there is a possibility… right?
He looked at the blank man, grasping for something solid in the chaos. "Didn't you say you would learn every truth? How come you don't know if it will happen?"
The blank man snapped his fingers, and they were back in the forest, standing beneath the colossal tree as if they had never left.
"Now that we are back, let me answer you," he said. He began walking slowly, glancing back at the boy and nodding for him to follow. "We cannot choose the truth. It is up to the forest to decide which truth you will learn."
He looked ahead, his featureless face somehow carrying the weight of endless years.
"I have been here for almost an eternity."
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Author's Note:
Hi, this is my first novel. English is my second language, Sorry for grammer mistakes. Please read the first chapter, and if you can feedback, thank you for your time.