A cool breeze brushed against Arya's face as his consciousness slowly returned. His body felt weightless, as if floating in empty space—until suddenly, gravity pulled him down.
"Thud!"
Pain shot through his entire body. Arya tumbled onto the soft ground, cushioned by a bed of silver leaves. His breath came in ragged gasps, his heartbeat pounding erratically. He lay still for a moment, trying to process what had just happened.
The sky above him was strange. It wasn't Jakarta's familiar gray expanse but a deep, endless blue, where three moons hung like giant lanterns. Their dim glow bathed the towering trees around him in an ethereal light.
Slowly, Arya pushed himself up, his head still throbbing from the rough landing. The ground beneath him was soft, covered in a layer of moss that shimmered faintly in the dark. The air smelled of damp earth, leaves, and something resembling burnt wood.
He blinked, struggling to grasp his situation.
"Where am I?"
His hands instinctively searched his pockets for something familiar—his phone, wallet, keys.
Nothing.
A lump formed in his throat.
If this was a dream, why did it feel so real?
A rustling noise in the distance yanked him out of his daze. Something moved within the underbrush. Arya tensed.
He turned toward the sound, his body on high alert. The forest around him was full of shifting shadows swaying with the wind. There were no honking cars, no neon lights, no sign of human civilization.
Then, emerging from behind the colossal trees, a figure appeared.
A girl.
Or rather… not quite human.
Her skin was pale as marble, faintly glowing under the moonlight. Her long, silver-green hair cascaded down her back, flowing like liquid metal in the breeze. But it was her eyes that caught Arya's breath—bright violet, radiating an unnatural luminescence.
And then, the most striking detail—her ears.
Long, pointed, sharper than any human's.
An elf.
Arya froze.
The elf girl studied him with narrowed eyes, her expression a mix of wariness and curiosity.
"A human?" Her voice was clear, carrying an accent unfamiliar to Arya—yet somehow, he understood every word perfectly.
Again, that uneasy feeling. He shouldn't have been able to understand her. And yet, her words felt as natural as his own language.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, stepping forward cautiously.
Arya tried to speak, but his voice caught in his throat. What was he supposed to say? That he had fallen through a portal inside a bookstore? Even to his own ears, it sounded ridiculous.
"I…" His voice was hoarse. "I don't know. I don't know how I got here."
The elf's eyes sharpened. Then, with a sudden flick of her wrist, she raised her hand.
Immediately, the wind around Arya swirled to life, rustling the silver leaves and pressing against his chest.
Arya stumbled back. Magic?
"Wait! I'm not an enemy!" Arya lifted both hands in surrender.
The elf didn't lower her hand immediately, but her gaze softened slightly. The wind died down, though she remained cautious.
"I don't know how you ended up here," she finally said, "but humans do not simply appear in this place."
Arya swallowed hard.
"Wait…" He was piecing together the fragments in his mind. "This place… this isn't Earth, is it?"
The elf's expression remained unreadable.
"This is Eldoria," she said. "This world is not your own, human."
Eldoria.
The name meant nothing to him, yet there was something in the way she spoke it that made it feel… important.
Arya ran a hand down his face, trying to clear his head.
"So I'm really trapped in another world?" he murmured to himself.
The elf, who introduced herself as Lira, studied him carefully. "Where are you from, human?"
Arya let out a long breath. "From a place you would call not this world."
Lira scoffed, then stepped closer. "Then tell me, how did you get here?"
Arya hesitated before answering, "A book brought me here."
Lira's eyes narrowed. "A book?"
"Yeah." Arya nodded. "I found it in the bookstore where I work. I read something, and suddenly, a portal opened. Next thing I knew, I was falling through it, and now I'm here."
Lira studied him for a long moment, as if trying to detect a lie.
At last, she inhaled deeply and stepped back.
"When a human arrives in Eldoria, it always means one thing," she said quietly.
Arya raised an eyebrow. "And what's that?"
Lira's gaze darkened, filled with something unreadable.
"Fate."
Arya frowned. "What do you mean?"
Lira didn't answer right away. Instead, she turned and began walking away into the forest. But after a few steps, she stopped and glanced back at him.
"Come with me."
Arya hesitated. "Go where?"
"If you truly aren't an enemy, then you'll have to prove it," Lira said. "And if you want to survive in this world, you'll need help."
Arya had no other choice.
He exhaled, taking one last look at the glowing forest around him, then followed Lira deeper into the unknown.
The night in the Silverlight Forest had only just begun.