He coughed and panted, sweat pouring down his face as his body struggled to keep going. His right shoulder was badly injured, his left arm broken, and his left leg barely functional. He couldn't comprehend how he had managed to drag himself this far, leaving a trail of blood behind him, as clear as day. He didn't want to die here.

"Why did it have to end like this?" he wondered. "Am I truly that weak? Am I really going to die in this forest?"

Collapsing onto the soft grass, an unsettling coldness crept through him. His hands shook, and his legs trembled uncontrollably. He looked up at the night sky, finding a sense of relief in the pain as he gazed at the beautiful crescent moon surrounded by a blanket of stars.

"Is this really how it ends... alone, beneath the night sky?"

He was no longer the adventurer he once was. His body was failing him, and his eyes began to close as the pain faded. Memories flashed before him... his friends, family, teammates, everyone he had depended on.

"I haven't done enough." he thought bitterly. "I couldn't achieve what I set out to do." A deep sense of regret washed over him. "I'm so sorry for being this weak." he murmured.

His eyes closed.

. . .

. . .

. . .

At the moment of his last breath, a light appeared to his right, blinding in its intensity. The pain was still there, but suddenly, he could move his body more freely. Curiosity overcame his pain as he turned toward the light and began crawling, using every bit of his remaining strength.

But just before he could reach it, something else appeared in front of him... a shiny, floating, rectangular object, not humanoid, something strange and unfamiliar.

Compelled by a mix of fear and wonder, he reached out to touch this shiny object. However before he could reach it, the shiny object transformed into a giant eye, which opened to reveal a portal inside. Through the portal, he could see a vast ocean, beautiful and inviting.

He reached out again, and the moment his hand touched the seawater through the portal, his entire body was sucked in. The force was overwhelming, like being pulled into a black hole, past the event horizon, and then... everything disappeared.

. . .

. . .

. . .

"Hah... hah..."

He opened his eyes, finding himself lying on a beach by the ocean, much like the one he had seen through the portal. Taken aback, he looked at his body... it was completely fine, uninjured. He slowly stood up and looked around. This place was different. No forest, no tall trees, no mountains... just the sound of waves crashing onto the shore and wind blowing softly against his skin.

"Where is this?" he muttered to himself, his voice barely above a whisper.

His eyes darted around, searching for answers. In the distance, he saw a city, strange and unfamiliar. Curiosity pushed him forward, but he crashed into an invisible barrier. He tried to push through multiple times with no avail. Frustration welled up inside him as he realized he was stuck on this beach. 

He gives up and turns back, he looks up and there it was. The giant eye floating above the ocean, staring at him. The sight of it made him very uncomfortable, and he quickly looked away, focusing instead on the city.

He watched the people in the city, living their lives, seemingly happy. They had families, friends... everything he once had, but it was all gone now. He turns to his left side and starts walking along the beach, following the shore, trying to distract himself from the city, the bad memories and especially the eye.

After walking for a while, he felt an unseen force pulling him back, like a vacuum. He fought against it, but as sand and water were sucked away, he, too, was drawn back. He turned around and saw a massive black hole pulling everything towards it. His body was lifted into the air, and he closed his eyes in fear. Was this the end?

. . .

. . .

. . .

As he entered the black hole, a bright light flooded his vision. He opened his eyes, finding himself in a room, standing on something that felt like dry, uncomfortable grass. The white ceiling loomed above him as he tried to make sense of the situation. This room was unlike anything he had ever seen... it was foreign and strange... more fitting for the city he had saw from the beach.

Looking around one last time, he noticed a door. He began to walk towards it, but he abruptly stopped, he couldn't move. Something tugged at him, pulling him back. He turned to see the giant eye staring at him again. Without hesitation, he faced it head-on.

"What do you want from me?!" he shouted, his voice filled with anger and desperation. But there was no response.

"ANSWER ME!" he yelled with all his might.

Before he could do anything else, the eye unleashed a powerful shockwave, knocking him over and obliterating the room, leaving only darkness. Everything was gone, like reality itself had been erased. The eye made a sound, powerful and resonant, like the Seventh Trumpet for Judgement Day.

"THIS WAY SOMETHING %!#&?! COMES" a voice echoed in his head, over and over.

A massive impact struck him in the chest, like a bolt of lightning. He fell backwards, but before he hit the ground, he felt himself being pulled by an unseen force. This time, he couldn't see where he was being taken.

. . .

. . .

. . .

Reality reassembled itself in an instant, the sudden shift leaving him breathless and disoriented. Panic surged as he scanned his surroundings, his mind was on the edge of madness. He shut his eyes, desperately trying to drown out the chaotic thoughts racing through his mind.

"Can you feel it?" A voice whispered, both distant and unbearably close, like a forgotten memory resurfacing.

He spun around, heart pounding, to see a figure standing a few meters away... a figure that resembled a human, yet radiated an unsettling brightness that obscured its true form.

"W-WHO ARE YOU?! WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME?!" His voice cracked, a mixture of fear and anger.

"Peace." the figure intoned, its voice calm, yet filled with an otherworldly weight. "You may call me... God, if such names still hold meaning for you."

God? The word seemed to shatter against the void around him, echoing back in distorted fragments. He glanced around, his mind struggling to grasp the reality... or unreality... of the situation. He was alone here, with this being, in an endless white void.

"Are you... really God?" he asked, his voice trembling, more a plea than a question.

"In your eyes, perhaps," the figure replied, its tone laced with obscurity, as if the truth was hidden in layers he could never hope to peel back.

He steadied himself, forcing his thoughts into some semblance of order. "If you are... then explain the giant eye. Why do I keep seeing it? Why does it torment me with these... visions?"

"The eye..." the figure mused, its voice soft and distant, like a breeze carrying ancient secrets. "A sentinel... a harbinger... It watches, always. Seeing beyond sight, knowing beyond knowing. It stirs the waters of fate and shapes the tides of time. It IS... and that is all you need to know."

His heart raced, the words twisting in his mind, endless and haunting. The cryptic explanation only deepened his confusion, his mind was on the brink. He felt his body give way, falling, consciousness slipping... only to find himself standing once more, as if the fall had never happened. The figure was gone.

"Is this the end, or the beginning?" another voice resonated, soft yet piercing, like a memory half-forgotten.

He turned, and there it was again... the giant eye, its gaze fixed on him with an intensity that sent shivers down his spine. The sight of it filled him with an unexplainable dread.

"This feels like a fever dream..." he muttered, exhaustion seeping into his bones.

He collapsed onto the ground, the emptiness around him echoing his despair. The eye floated above, watching silently as if waiting for something... some answer or action that he could not comprehend.

"Is this real?" His voice was barely a whisper, more a thought spoken aloud than a question.

"Real enough." the eye responded, its voice echoing within his mind, each word is a cold blade that cut through his fragile grasp on reality.

He looked down, struggling to reconcile the words with the overwhelming weirdness around him. The eye's language was alien, fragmented, yet it resonated with a strange clarity deep within him.

"What happens now?" he asked, feeling utterly lost in this vast, incomprehensible void.

"Anything... or nothing." the eye replied, its tone like the whisper of a storm on the horizon

He rose to his feet, a desperate urge to confront the eye surging within him. But no matter how far he walked, the distance between them remained unchanged. Frustration and despair boiled within him, a storm threatening to break.

"I want to go back. I want to go back to before... before I died. I WANT TO GO BACK! YOU'RE A GOD, AREN'T YOU?! LET ME GO BACK!" His voice cracked with raw emotion, the tears flowing freely down his face.

The eye observed him in silence, its unblinking gaze piercing through the very fabric of his being. And then, with a voice that reverberated like the sound of a distant bell, it spoke.

"I am not what you imagine." the eye intoned, its voice rippling through the void like a dark omen. "The path behind you is closed, sealed by the threads of destiny. You are no longer of that world."

"WHY?!" His scream shattered the stillness, his suffering echoing back at him from the endless expanse.

"Because you have crossed the threshold." the eye responded, its words as final as the closing of a tomb. "The life you knew is no more."

He clenched his fists, the weight of his loss crushing him from within. He didn't want to accept this. He couldn't.

"But... there is another way..." the eye whispered, its voice now softer, almost tender, as if offering a forbidden secret.

"W-what? What way?" he asked, hope flickering like a dying candle.

"A return... of sorts." the eye answered. "Not to the world you knew, but to a new thread in the art of existence. You will be... as you were, but in a world reshaped, reimagined. Regressed, yet progressed... reborn."

He stared at the eye, the cryptic words swirling in his mind like a riddle with no answer. What did it mean? A new thread, a reshaped world? The concepts were as puzzling as smoke, slipping through his grasp even as he tried to hold onto them. But deep inside, he knew that this was his only chance.

"So... what do you choose?" the eye asked, its voice now echoing from every direction, a thousand voices blending into one.

"Okay... I'll do it... But... what do you mean? What is this reimagined... reality? What does it mean to regress, yet progress?" His voice trembled with uncertainty, the fear of the unknown clawing at him.

"You will know... when the time comes." the eye replied, its voice receding into a whisper, as if the answer was hidden just beyond the layer of understanding.

The eye began to glow, a light so intense it burned through his eyelids even as he tried to shield himself. The brightness consumed him, overwhelming all senses until there was nothing but light and the distant, echoing sound of a trumpet, like the final call of a world on the brink of judgement.

Everything turned white, and as his consciousness began to fade, slipping into the void, the eye's voice echoed one last time within his mind, a farewell.

"Good luck, traveller" it whispered, the words a final enigma.

And then, darkness swallowed him whole.

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

As his eyes slowly fluttered open, he became aware of a soft surface beneath him. The world around him was a blur, indistinct shapes and colours swimming in his vision. He tried to move, but his body felt heavy, weak, and unresponsive.

Yet, a sense of safety enveloped him. A gentle breeze caressed his skin, carrying with it the earthy scents of the forest. The soft rustling of leaves and the distant melody of birds filled the air, wrapping him in a blanket of peacefulness that stood in stark contrast to the tormenting nightmare he had just endured.

Gradually, his vision sharpened, revealing a bright, clear blue sky above him. The sight was almost surreal in its beauty, and a wave of emotion crashed over him. Tears welled up in his eyes and streamed down his face.

He had never felt such overwhelming relief. He was back. The nightmare that had plagued him was finally over. The chaos in his mind began to ease, replaced by a profound sense of calm.

Hours passed as he lay there, slowly regaining control of his body. Though still sore and weak, he managed to rise to his feet, his legs unsteady but functional. He glanced down at himself, expecting to see the wounds from before. But there was nothing.

His skin was smooth, new. His body felt different, smaller, younger. A pang of panic gripped him as he realized the truth... he was back to his early teens. How could this be? What had he missed?

He wandered through the forest, his mind racing with questions that had no immediate answers. For what felt like an eternity, he walked, his thoughts tangled in confusion. Then, like a spark igniting in the dark, a memory surfaced... the giant eye. It had spoken to him, told him he would regress to his younger self, yet progress to a reimagined reality, a modern reality.

The full meaning of its words evaded him, but one thing was certain. He was back. Back in a form he thought he had lost. There were still more questions than answers, but for now, those concerns faded into the background. He was alive, and for the moment, that was enough.