Chapter One: Zai
"Ugh… my head hurts," A boy groaned, lifting a hand to his temple. His voice trembled, laced with confusion as he sat up with effort. The earth beneath him felt moist, soft with layers of moss and fallen leaves. "Where… where am I?"
e stood up slowly, his body stiff and sore, and took in the place around him. Trees stretched high above, their branches thick and gnarled, curling like skeletal fingers toward the sky. The forest here was different, darker, denser, and unfamiliar. Light filtered through the canopy, fractured into thin golden blades. At least it wasn't night. That gave him a chance to survive, though he wasn't sure what survival even meant in a place like this.
Then came the flashbacks.
Visions flickered behind his eyes like dreams barely remembered. Another boy stood before him, same face, same eyes, same voice. But his hair… different. Yet styled the same. He held a sword. They had been fighting. No, playing. Weren't they just playing?
"We were just… playing," he whispered, eyes scanning the forest once more.
This place, wherever it was, felt off, like it had swallowed him whole.
He exhaled shakily, brushing dirt from his clothes and wiping his hands on his trousers the way one might after a fall. His heart pounded, not just from fear, but from the sheer strangeness of it all. He remembered his name. Zai. And the other boy... Nox. His twin.
But how had he ended up here?
…
Far away, in a city bordered by forest and shadow, two boys sprinted through the open courtyard of a modest but sturdy home. The sun glinted off the rooftops, casting long golden rays over the cobbled stone paths. Chickens clucked and scattered as the boys passed, kicking up dust in their wake.
Their house stood near the edge of town, closer to the woods than most, a fact their father never stopped warning them about. But warnings meant little to young boys with matching faces and matching grins, boys who felt invincible under the sun.
Zai and Nox. Twins, indistinguishable in every way, same black hair cut in the same unruly style, same olive skin, same voice, same height. Even their laughter echoed the same way. If you weren't their mother or a close friend, you'd never tell them apart.
"Hey, Zai," Nox called out, flashing a grin as he pulled something from behind his back.
Zai, seated cross-legged on the porch with a scroll in hand, barely glanced up. "What?"
"Let's play swords."
Zai lowered the scroll, an old parchment filled with sketches of forgotten gods and their feats. No mention of trees or strange magic, just drawings and tales that most adults had stopped believing in.
"You know Dad's gonna kill us if he finds out," Zai muttered, frowning. "Those aren't toys. They're his merchandise."
Nox shrugged, holding up two steel blades, real ones. "What's there to fear? An old man who doesn't want us playing with swords he made himself? Besides, he's not even home."
Zai sighed, rolling up the scroll and tucking it under his arm. "Fine. But we'll be quick."
The twins stepped out the back, their feet crunching dry grass as they passed the garden. The world beyond their home grew wilder. Shrubs gave way to tall trees and tangled undergrowth. No fences here. Their father had always said they were close enough to the woods to hear the wolves howl if you listened at night. A threat or a joke, it was hard to tell.
They kept going anyway.
The woods welcomed them in, the air turning cooler under the trees' shade. Birds chirped above, and far in the distance, something howled. Neither of them heard it. They were too busy testing the weight of the swords.
"To be honest," Nox said, swinging his blade in slow arcs, "I thought real swords would be heavier. This feels just like our regular wooden ones."
Zai didn't answer. His swings were slower, his grip tighter. Sweat already beaded his brow.
"Low stamina as always," Nox teased before stepping in and giving Zai a light kick to the side.
Zai stumbled back and, in a burst of irritation, lunged forward. His blade sliced through the air and caught Nox's tunic, tearing it.
"Oh gods, sorry!" Zai exclaimed, startled.
But Nox only laughed and smacked him on the mouth with the flat of his blade, enough to sting. Blood trickled from Zai's lip. "Ahh! my mouth!"
"Don't worry, bro," Nox said, grinning. "It's just a spar. Besides, Dad's going to kill us anyway for taking the swords." Gesturing at the damaged edges.
They should've stopped. But boys being boys, especially twins with too much pride and too little fear, meant they didn't.
Zai, now angrier, fought with sharper focus. Their swords clashed again and again, the sounds ringing through the trees like a smith's hammer. They moved deeper, chasing one another further into woods neither had dared explore. Roots and vines tangled beneath their feet. They didn't notice.
Eventually, they stumbled into a clearing, and there it stood.
A colossal tree. Towering, ancient, and strange. Neither boy had seen it before, yet they'd always spotted something towering in the distance from the edge of town. It loomed before them now, bark gnarled and dark, its roots wide enough to sit on. No scroll had ever mentioned this tree. No tales, no drawings.
"I think we've gone too far in," Nox said, breathing hard.
Zai didn't answer. He swung again, driving his brother back.
"Let's just finish this," he said.
The next clash was sharper, faster. Nox countered instinctively, and his blade cut Zai's shoulder.
"Ahh!" Zai let out yet another cry, stumbling back as blood stained his tunic and trickled down his arm.
"First my mouth, now my shoulder? Are you mad?" he growled.
"It wasn't on purpose! You were too slow. I was just reacting," Nox replied, stepping back with his hands raised.
But Zai wasn't listening. His blood boiled, half from pain, half from shame. He threw his sword with a shout. Nox raised his own blade and deflected it mid-air. The flying weapon spun and struck the massive tree behind them with a solid thunk.
Then… something strange happened.
The bark split slightly where the sword had hit, and from it, a thick liquid began to ooze, slowly, colorfully. Reds, blues, golds, and greens swirled like paint in water, glowing faintly. The air shimmered. Magic. Old, wild, and unfamiliar.
"Whoa… Zai, look at this, it's like the tree's bleeding," Nox said, stepping toward the tree.
Zai picked up his sword, staring. "That's strange, what exactly is it?"
Neither had an answer.
Then, Nox reached out. "Hey don't touch…" but it was too late, Nox had already made contact with the liquid.
In an instant, light burst around them, white and blinding, a flash that swallowed the clearing whole. Zai felt it then. Something warm, like liquid fire and velvet shadows, reached for him. It wasn't painful. It was pleasant, blissful even. Like floating in sunlight.
But something in him screamed no. Instinct took over. What if this was a trick?A curse? A witch's trap? He didn't know how, but somehow, with every fiber of will, he resisted. He imagined walls. He imagined pushing it out.
And the light began to fade.
The warmth receded.
Darkness returned.
Then came silence.
…
Zai's eyes fluttered open.
The forest around him was not the one they had wandered into. This one was older. Wilder. The trees were even taller, their roots so wide they looked like walls. Strange birds called in the distance. The air smelled different, cleaner, untouched.
"Ugh…" he groaned again, holding his head.
His hair fell in front of his eyes.
Silver.
His breath caught. His hair was black. Always had been. But now, the strands shining in the sun were silver like the moonlight.
"My head hurts," he said, rising slowly, hand on a nearby trunk to steady himself.
He looked around. Nox was nowhere to be seen, his thorp gone.
And he was alone.
…