["You mustn't sleep now, my champion. Act, while you can."]
The words whispered into his mind, echoing through the marrow of his bones like a pleasant ache.
It was dark; for a moment, he considered if he'd somehow fallen blind, though he realized his eyelids simply failed to cooperate with him. A scraping noise met his ears, along the sound of gravel crunching beneath footsteps.
He forced his eyelids to slowly part, though finding nothing of a familiar sight. In front of his gaze, he saw his legs, watching the trail of loose dirt and faded, white grass pulling away from him.
It was a jarring scene to awake to, though upon a few blinks, it became clear: he was being dragged. The area wasn't one he recognized; a stretch of lifeless grass and tall trees that resembled wild plants, devoid of bark and simply made of black, abyssal flesh unlike a flourishing verdant.
