The first thing Ares felt was the unbearable chill against his skin. The ground beneath him was damp, rough, and uneven. His fingers twitched, brushing against dirt, scattered leaves, and something cold—stone? No. Rock. The texture was too jagged, too raw.
His eyelids were heavy. Every muscle in his body ached, as if he had been ripped apart and stitched back together wrong.
He forced himself to breathe.
The air was damp, earthy. It smelled nothing like the city. There was no concrete, no metal, no stench of gasoline or food stalls. Just cold, humid air mixed with the faint scent of rotting leaves.
He opened his eyes.
Darkness.
Not absolute, but near enough. The sky—if there even was one—was hidden behind thick, tangled branches. Faint specks of light pushed through the gaps, barely enough to see by.
He tried to move—pain.
A sharp, deep agony shot through his ribs, his arms, his legs. His entire body protested. Every breath felt like his chest was being crushed.
His heart pounded.
Something was wrong. Very, very wrong.
Ares tried to push himself up, but his left arm gave out. He collapsed back onto the ground, biting down a groan. His body felt… foreign. Weak. Off-balance.
Then, his skin brushed against something.
Bare skin.
His body tensed. His hand roamed over his chest, stomach, legs—nothing. No fabric. No clothing.
He was completely naked.
His breath hitched. His mind raced. Why? Had the lightning burned his clothes off? That was... possible, wasn't it? A lightning strike could scorch fabric, maybe even disintegrate it if the heat was intense enough. But why was he completely fine? His skin wasn't burned. There were no scorch marks, no lingering heat.
Before he could dwell on it further, something flickered in the back of his mind—
System: [SYSTEM ONLINE...]
[ERROR: DATA CORRUPTED]
Ares flinched.
The hell?
The words weren't spoken. They weren't a sound. They just… existed in his mind. Not like a thought, but something external, something that didn't belong to him.
System: [UNKNOWN ENVIRONMENT DETECTED]
The text flickered, glitched, then disappeared.
Ares' breath hitched. His heart pounded harder. What the hell was that?
Then, another message appeared—
System: [UNIDENTIFIED ORGAN DETECTED]
[ATTEMPTING ANALYSIS...]
[ERROR: DATA UNAVAILABLE]
[CLASSIFICATION FAILED]
Ares' mind blanked for a moment. Unidentified organ?
What the hell did that mean? His body was normal—wasn't it?
Wait.
His hand pressed against his chest, as if feeling himself could confirm anything. But he felt nothing different. What was it detecting?
Before he could process it further, pain flared in his ribs. More immediate problems.
He tried to move again—more pain. His body wasn't just sore; it was damaged. Something was broken. He could feel it—his ribs weren't right. His left wrist was tender, probably sprained. His leg throbbed with a sharp, deep ache.
Then—
A sound.
Rustling.
Ares froze.
His eyes darted toward the noise, and in the dim light, he saw it—movement. A hunched, humanoid figure. Small but wrong. It had elongated limbs, skin that looked rough and patchy. It moved in an awkward, jerky motion, sniffing the air.
Ares' breath caught in his throat.
It was a goblin.
He had never seen one in real life—because they weren't real. They were supposed to be fiction. Creatures from games, anime, and fantasy stories.
But this one was real. It was here, moving, breathing.
And it had noticed him.
The goblin's head snapped in his direction. Its nostrils flared. It smelled him.
Ares' blood ran cold.
Then—it charged.