Wan's eyes snapped open to a sky tinged in dark gray, the faint light of dawn brushing over unfamiliar mountains. The air was cold and crisp, prickling against his skin. He tried to sit up but felt his head spin, as if it were filled with buzzing bees. Blinking slowly, he took in his surroundings: towering pines encircled him, their shadows stretching long over the rocky ground. Everything was strange, and the realization hit him like a punch—he had no idea where he was.
Wan pressed a hand to his forehead. His thoughts were scattered, fragments of something he couldn't remember and didn't understand. Each attempt to piece it together slipped from his grasp, like water spilling through his fingers.
Think, Wan. Just think.
But all he found was emptiness. His name, though. At least he still had that.
Shakily, he pushed himself up. The ground was uneven beneath his feet, his legs weak. He leaned against a nearby tree, breathing in and out, feeling the unfamiliar ache of his muscles. Had he fallen here? Been in some kind of fight? His clothes were torn in places, and there was a bruise blooming on his right arm.
A distant roar sounded from somewhere down the mountain—a low rumble that made the ground tremble. Wan instinctively reached to his side, but there was no weapon, no sword. The unease in his stomach churned into something darker, a knot of nerves and... fear?
"Well, this is a fine start," he muttered, attempting humor, though his voice came out as a whisper. But just as he was about to curse his luck, a small spark of light floated in the corner of his eye.
He turned sharply, heart thudding. A tiny wisp, glowing a soft blue, drifted through the air toward him. Wan squinted, not entirely sure whether he was hallucinating. But the wisp pulsed, as if alive, before bobbing up and down like it wanted him to follow.
"Wait! You…you know where I am?"
The wisp blinked once, then drifted back a few paces, waiting.
With nothing else to guide him, Wan took a deep breath, gathering whatever courage he could find, and followed. Each step led him deeper into the forest, the sounds of unseen creatures moving somewhere in the dark. The path grew steeper, and he stumbled more than once, barely catching himself on a branch or rock before tumbling. But the wisp continued onward, flickering and floating, leading him somewhere only it seemed to know.
After a while, the trees thinned, revealing a cliff edge overlooking the valley. Dawn had finally broken, and light streamed through the clouds, painting the land in hues of gold and green. Far below, he saw the winding river, small villages nestled alongside it, smoke curling from chimneys.
A surge of relief coursed through him. Civilization. Maybe they could tell him what he was doing here. Maybe they'd recognize him. But as he took a step closer to the edge, he heard a voice behind him—a voice he didn't recognize but felt strangely drawn to.
"Wan."
He spun around, expecting to see a figure, a person who could answer his questions. But there was only the wisp, its color now a sharp, almost angry blue.
"What? Who are you?" he demanded, though he knew it wouldn't answer. "How do you know my name?"
The wisp pulsed, then flared, and suddenly, an image flashed in his mind—a figure standing alone on the cliff, surrounded by lightning and shadow, eyes cold and sharp. Power surged from their form, cracking the ground beneath them. The image vanished as quickly as it had appeared, leaving Wan gasping, his chest tight.
"That…was that…me?"
But there was no answer. The wisp had vanished into thin air, leaving him alone once again on the cliff.