Kazh fell for what felt like eternity. The sky above shrank into a pinprick of golden light before vanishing altogether. His body burned, his wings, once symbols of strength had dimmed to little more than flickering remnants of energy. The chains around his wrists, shackles of his imprisonment, dragged at him, growing heavier with every moment of his descent.

  Then, the pain stopped.

  Cold. Wet. The scent of earth filled his senses. He lay sprawled in a crater, his body aching, breath ragged. The storm above raged violently, the wind howling like vengeful spirits.

  Days had passed, attempting to stand; he screamed in pain from the impact of the fall. After a few moments of laying down trying to process what had just happened, he muttered in confusion, “Am I dead?”

  He wasn’t, but he almost wished he were. Surrounding him, watching from a distance, were unknown entities lurking in the shadows of the trees. Ones with horns twisted jutting from their eyes. Others who had eyes scattered throughout their disfigured body.

  Leaves rustled and then… silence. Kazh noticed something was off. He could feel their stares pressing against him, cold and unblinking. Every shadow seemed to shift, every movement made his skin crawl. Yet, they did not attack. They only watched.

  Instinctively he tried to Illuminate the area with his light, but the moment he attempted to summon his power, his shackles tightened. A sharp reminder struck him… he couldn’t do anything. Only a dim light radiating in his presence reminding him his powers were nothing but useless.

  He grasped the chains, hoping the fall weakened them, but it was no use they remained intact. He was all alone…again. But the beings never attacked, they merely observed him with an eerie curiosity, as if studying something unfamiliar. Then, recognizing they were weaker than him, they silently withdrew into the shadows.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  He stood up, pain lingering, he tried to go somewhere “safe” but he was unfamiliar with his surroundings. With no clear path forward, he would try to remember his knowledge of other realms. Maybe it would spark a memory, anything that might reveal where he had ended up. But nothing came to him. Yet even with no idea of where he was. Kazh searched for answers.

  On his path for answers, he walked endlessly, his clothes scorched and tattered, his gaze focused on the horizon, he saw smoke rising in the distance. Kazh was hesitant at first, but curiosity struck him and decided to go.

  Arriving at the town he hid behind bushes and trees believing he would meet grotesque, monstrous beings. Instead he saw them and they looked eerily familiar to him, not as brilliant, more dull. Their aura is nothing alike to his kind, they all lack radiance. A trace of confusion flickered across his face as he murmured, “who are these beings, why do they resemble us?”, he whispered.

  While looking around he noticed the garments they wore, the ones with long hair dressed with flowing skirts and aprons. The more rugged looking ones had coats and hats. Glancing at his own clothes he resolved to act. Waiting for the right moment, he grabbed a coat and some clothes.

  A man round the corner felt a slight tingle of heaviness, making him feel uneasy turned around and saw a glimpse of light in the corner of his eye.

  “What the hell?”, pouncing his way to his yard. He noticed something was off but he was buzzed and didn’t think much of it.

  “That was close”, Kazh muttered, relieved he hadn’t been caught, before darting into the woods. As he changed into the stolen clothes, the snap of branches breaking cut through the silence, he froze, scanning his surroundings, then another snap.He was being stalked. And in an instant - Swoosh! A tall slender figure lunged at him.

  “Shit”, he cursed. Hitting the ground before he could react. His breath hitched as he rushed to position himself better, nearly taking him down. While trying to fight the pain of the shackles he tried to make his radiance seem dominant, believing that maybe the creature might fear it. It was all a bluff, all he could think of.

  He had never seen battle during his time as a soldier, assigned only to menial tasks that required no combat. But he was disciplined, though he never used his combat in battle, only in training. Even amongst those who could bend light and wield far greater power than his, he stood atop of them in combat skill.

  This might give him an edge against this creature.