The first thing Oliver became aware of was the damp earth beneath his back and the musty scent of fallen leaves. His eyes fluttered open to a blurry canopy of branches overhead, dappled with patches of grey sky.
As his senses returned, a dull ache spread through his body. Oliver tried to sit up but gasped in pain, his limbs feeling as heavy as lead. Memories stirred in his mind like wisps of smoke, fleeting and insubstantial. A life before this place, yet the details refused to coalesce.
Oliver lay still, regulating his breathing as the throbbing subsided. Slowly, awareness of his surroundings emerged. He was in a forest, alone as far as he could tell. But where? And how did he come to be here?
Fragments drifted through his thoughts - a city, people he knew, a normal existence. Then darkness and a sense of falling. Had there been an accident? A vague impression of finality lingered, as if that other life was truly over.
Now only questions remained, with no answers in sight. Oliver steeled his resolve. Lying here would solve nothing. He had to get moving, discover where this new beginning lay.
Bracing himself, Oliver rolled onto his side with a groan. His muscles protested but held firm, letting him push up onto hands and knees. There he paused, waiting for dizziness to pass. Then, slowly, he rose unsteadily to his feet.
Swaying like a newborn fawn, Oliver scanned his surroundings. Tall oaks and elms stretched endlessly in all directions. The forest was dense and trackless as far as he could see. No paths led the way, no landmarks stood out. He was well and truly lost.
Panic threatened to overwhelm Oliver then. Alone with no supplies and night falling, his chances of survival seemed slim. But he quashed the fear, knowing it would do more harm than good. One step at a time, he told himself. Find shelter, then food and water on the morrow.
Stumbling through the undergrowth, Oliver searched for a suitable place to rest. The trees grew closer together here, their gnarled roots creating natural windbreaks. Spotting a small hollow, he crawled into the cramped space with difficulty and curled up on the hard ground.
As darkness fell, Oliver lay awake listening to unfamiliar night noises. Strange hoots and rustlings echoed in the gloom, stirring his unease. Was he truly alone in these woods? What other creatures lurked in the shadows?
Exhaustion eventually overcame his worries, pulling Oliver into a fitful sleep. Dreams came, fragmented and confusing. Faces from his past life mingled with glimpses of magic and monsters in this new world. When he awoke at dawn, no clearer understanding had come.
The days that followed passed in a haze of struggle for Oliver. He explored the forest endlessly, searching in vain for any signs of civilization. Berries and edible plants provided meager sustenance to still his gnawing hunger. At night, he took what small comfort he could find in makeshift shelters.
Always his body ached with fatigue. Bruises and scratches accumulated from countless falls and close calls with thorny thickets. Yet Oliver persevered through sheer force of will, refusing to surrender to this ordeal. Something deep within drove him to survive at all costs.
After a week of wandering, Oliver's luck finally turned. Venturing down a shallow ravine, he discovered a clear stream flowing between mossy banks. Kneeling shakily, he cupped the icy water in trembling hands and drank deeply. Its refreshing coolness reinvigorated his flagging spirit.
From that point, Oliver's fortunes gradually improved. Following the stream, he found berry bushes and edible fungi growing in abundance. Small game like rabbits and squirrels began to appear, and he devised snares and traps to catch them. Nights were no longer spent shivering from cold and hunger.
As his body regained strength, Oliver noticed other changes taking place. Strange occurrences that he once dismissed as tricks of the light now seemed very real. When cornered by a wild boar, he felt a surge of energy that flung the beast away without touching it. Later, a fall from a tall tree left him unharmed, as if some invisible force had cushioned the impact.
Was he developing magic abilities like those in his dreams? Oliver didn't understand what was happening to him, but he resolved to master these strange new powers. They could mean the difference between life and death in this perilous forest.
And so Oliver dedicated himself to rigorous training, experimenting each day to better understand his budding gifts. Under the tutelage of necessity, he learned fast. Within a month, he could start small fires and move objects with but a thought. Illusions began to form at his command as well.
His survival skills also sharpened to a deadly edge. Traps became ingenious snares, bringing down prey large and small with ruthless efficiency. Weapons were fashioned from flint and bone, their edges honed razor-sharp. Nothing was wasted - even predator kills were butchered and used fully.
Three years passed in this fashion, with Oliver adapting relentlessly to his harsh surroundings. He grew from a scrawny youth into a man hardened by constant struggle, yet still retaining a hint of innocence beneath cold eyes. While the outside world remained a mystery, he had carved out mastery of his small domain in the forest.
It was on a crisp autumn morning that change came again to Oliver's solitary existence. As he went about his daily routine, an unnatural stillness fell over the woods. Not a breath of wind stirred the treetops. Even birdsong ceased abruptly.
An eerie glow arose ahead, pulsing with an inner radiance unlike any natural light. Mesmerized, Oliver crept closer until he glimpsed a towering oval portal hanging in mid-air. Runes in an unknown script spun around its shimmering surface.
A booming voice issued forth, seeming to come from everywhere at once. "Oliver, your time of isolation ends here. Step through if you dare face a higher purpose."
Curiosity and purpose had been Oliver's drives for so long. Without hesitation, he walked into the glowing portal and vanished from the only world he now knew. Whatever lay on the other side, he was ready to face it...