> Once prosperous, the city of Toeisar was the envy of the entire continent, despite being the first to fall to the invaders on the first landing. The invaders ruled with an iron fist; justice was dispensed to all—be they invaded or invader, rich or poor, local or foreign—a concept previously unheard of in Toeisar. The governing policies of the new rulers soon transformed Toeisar into one of the leading kingdoms.

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> Unknown Historian “Ibby Barim –Tragic end of” Year 420 of Burnning

The flame of the lamp flickered against the strong wind, diminutive now and then stable, fighting to survive at each passing moment. The flame was life; there was no light but that of the flame, and the rest was darkness. The waves rose and smashed against the shore, rising and breaking on the rocks in a calming cadence. The waves were wishes, reality was the shore. Each tide brought a change of patterns of the sands, now one, then another. The patterns were the attempts, constantly reshaping to meet life’s relentless demands.

No matter how resilient the flame was, a day would come when the wind would win. Today was not that day; today the flame was alight. Today there was light.

Akim woke with a start, disorientation clouding his mind. There was too much light all around that he was practically blinded. The world was awash with light so intense it seared. His mind tried in vain to comprehend what was happening. He shut his eyes yet the light sent spikes of pain into his head. With fumbling hands he took hold of his robe and pulled it on top of his eyes. The intensity lessened a bit. He folded the robe and placed it around his head, once, twice, thrice, and finally on the fourth bend across his eyes the world came into focus. He could finally see, the pain was thankfully no more. 'wait how can I see?'

He shoved the thought aside and looked around. He saw that he was nestled in the same spot where he had drifted off to sleep a few hours ago. The leaves beneath him rustled, overhead the stars had all but vanished and faint rays of the sun were starting to come over the peak of the trees.

'What is happening to me?', he thought as he stared across the vast canopy. His panic from last night started to claw its way to the forefront once more, he started long slow breathing, a thing he often watched Areeb perform when he thought no one was around. Akim had long ago found that this relaxed his mind and helped him focus. He had withheld his skills on the technique from Areeb for some reason. It just didn't feel right as Areeb had gone out of his way to keep this hidden somehow, perhaps a painful memory was the cause, or some such incident. He had not wanted to intrude to drudge up sad memories for his friend.

Akim lay there for a moment, allowing his senses to acclimate. The hard pebbles that managed to snake their way out of the bed of leaves poked at different places. He could feel the leaves even through his clothes. He closed his eyes and found comfort in the absence of light. 'It's good that my robe was black, to who knows how many times I would have needed to wound this over my eyes.

“Calm down,” he whispered to himself, a mantra to steady his racing heart. As he continued to breathe with his eyes closed, he noticed a shift that he could not quite place yet, 'Why does it feel different?' it is the light, it seems to be getting less?'.

That seemed counter to what he knew or he thought he knew about how the world works. The sun starts coming up and it gets brighter and brighter till the sun is fully visible. Granted the canopy would make it not as bright as if he was out in the open. 'clouds perhaps?', he cracked open an eye and peaked up to the sky, no clouds in sight, however, the sky was clear, not a spec of cloud could be seen. There were more sunrays than before but it was indeed darker than before. Akim had never heard it getting darker as time progressed and the sun came out. 'I must be losing my mind'. That was the conclusion he came to at last.

He should probably go over the last day of his life to make sense of what was happening to him.

"Ok let's start from the top", he spoke out loud, finding that voicing his ideas brought a sense of comfort, a sort of normality, not that he understood what normal means anymore, and what was the top? When we woke up yesterday on the jungle floor? Before that when we woke up on the beach? The darkness calling out to him? The thought of darkness brought a shiver down his spine as a phrase echoed in his mind

Embrace me...

.....and somehow a flickering flame replaced the darkness. Was it a lamp light? Fighting the wind?

He thought he heard waves crashing on the shore, was it a residual memory from his time on the beach? but it was daytime when he woke up on the beach, where was the lamp struggling the wind? and somehow he knew the shore was not a shore and waves were not waves. The gale strived to snuff out the flame that would not yield.

He felt a connection to that fluttering flame. As if, its battle against the gusts called out to him. With a slow, deliberate movement, Akim shifted his position, adjusting the folds of his robe around his head until he found a comfortable balance between shielding his eyes and allowing himself to breathe freely. The sensation of the rough fabric against his skin grounded him, anchoring him to the present moment amidst the chaos of his thoughts. With a deep inhale, Akim delved into the recesses of his memory, piecing together the fragments of the past in search of answers that may yet elude him.

'I had no trouble with light nor can I recall my sight being affected by the absence of it, At least not before that shimmering vortex.', an ache rose within when he remembered the moment of his escape. He acknowledged that ache and labeled it as a loss. As if the acknowledgment and gaining a label transformed the ache into a more muted version of itself. It was still sadness that filled him, however now it was not overwhelming, nor did it induce panic.

He noticed it getting darker in contrast to a few moments ago as the sun rose higher, yet to crease the horizon, but nearing it. He removed one turn of his robe from around his eyes and found that the light remained harmless. It was still glaring but there was no pain. Deciding that he could withstand this much light for the time being, he left the robes as is and continued his contemplation.

'It is safe to assume that stepping into that thing, whatever it was somehow caused all this', Then another thought struck him 'OR, what if it was not the stepping into the vortex but instead of where I stepped in through that vortex? Is vortex even a right term for it?'.

He tried recalling what the vortex looked like when it first opened. The very darkness had seemed to thicken and there was a hum that had accompanied it. The hum had grown in volume till it was jarring, vibrating the bones. He remembered thinking of a choir, praising the high heavens. There had been a shimmering quality to the edges. The edges were not defined as if......as if, the lines of reality itself had been sliced. And the center, the center felt as if wanted to drink in all the light and suck it to itself.

'I still can't believe I was foolish enough to jump into that thing', he chuckled to himself. 'I never knew I had suicidal tendencies'.

"So," he spoke aloud, just to hear something other than the loneliness of his thoughts. "That vortex took me away, someplace where, and I should just stop trying to deny it, somewhere where the darkness was alive, and it wanted me to let it in, it wanted me to ...".

He shuddered again, before repeating. "The vortex took me away, it led to a place where darkness, where I was held by darkness, or the darkness was the vortex itself. In the absence of further knowledge, I cannot say for certain which was which." He forced himself to move beyond to other incidents. "How long was I in there I can't say, I entered when it was just halfway into the night, the first time I regained my senses it was day, I remember the sun being high, near noon or just after".

Stolen story; please report.

He could recall the smell and sounds of that beach with clarity. He continued his monologue "When I once more opened my eyes, I was in this jungle. It was night, same day? or the one after? No way to be certain. I have since then moved far and wide from my starting location and could not hear any sea. Thus this place is not near to my first one."

He mentally fortified himself to continue to the strangeness of his senses. "After a while of roaming, I could see in the dark, at first it was not very clear but it gradually kept getting easier to see. Then my hearing increased." He was glad that he could only hear small insects and such around, nothing threatening so far. "Not only that, along with my sight and hearing the touch and feel have also increased. Then the taste, I have never tasted something so good." Was that because of the fruit itself or his sense of taste has also become something more, he decided that could be put to test when he next ate something else apart from that fruit.

By now, he could feel his vision steadily getting darker and darker, he unwound another round and then decided to unwind one more. Leaving a single makeshift blindfold of his robe around his eyes. Looking up he noticed the sun peaking just above the tree tops. It was still too bright like some painter had spilled too much white on his painting that things were almost hidden.

"Then the night sky, it was not one that I was familiar with, have I been moved to some new realm? Never heard of such. Didn't Master Sandal claim humanity managed to go to the moon? Wait, am I on the moon? No, then the stars would be similar not completely changed. Where am I?"

It was another question that he could not answer for the time being. He mentally tallied the list of answers and found it severely lacking. Now, it was time to open the last one, the issue with his hurting eyes and it being too much light.

"As soon as it started getting light, it became unbearable for me. Thought now I seem to be getting more used to the light. Then there was the flame, or was it". The more he pondered on the flame, the more feeling he got that the flame was not real, unlike the beach, the vortex, or even the darkness. The darkness especially was .....alive, he decided for a lack of better term. The flame was more like a potential, something that was a possibility, lacking certainty.

His stomach chose this moment to decide he had done enough pondering for the time being. he was hungry, ravenous rather. He had eaten his full last night, yet now his stomach was growling like a beast was stuck inside and wanted out. Standing up he found he had no difficulty navigating to the fruit tree despite the blindfold on his eyes. He decided to take them off, yet as soon as he opened his eyes to the world around him the light stabbed into his very mind. Hastily he put the blindfold back.

Moving a hand over his cheeks he noticed that a significant stuble had formed. More than a day's worth, perhaps 2 or more. 'At least that answers that I have been unconscious for more than a day' he thought. He was momentarily elated to be able to answer something at least but realized that this opened up a lot more questions than it solved.

He ate, then picked up a few leaves and looked around to find a suitable bush to relieve himself. Another question was soon answered when he found out the painful way that yes, his whole body had gained heightened senses.

He vowed to locate softer leaves from now on.

Picking a few fruits and tying them up with his robe, hanging them behind his back, Akim retraced his last night's journey to the stream. He took out his small knife and started to shave. He found it easier to use the knife and the speed and precision of the routine task was a significant improvement on his usual butchery.

The sparkling clear water looked inviting. The current danced under the soft caress of the nascent sun, weaving ribbons of mist that rose to greet the day. The air was heavy with the scent of earth from the occasional spray, like just after a fresh rain. The light breeze caused the leaves to rustle in an almost hypnotic cadence, casting a tapestry of shadows and light on the stones. The sound of running water, a soothing melody that tied the whole place together.

Akim just sat there by the side and for a time lost himself to the calmness. In the end, it was a breeze that brought a whiff of his scent to his nose that decided for him that the water was not too cold to clean himself.

He took off his clothes, leaving the blindfold on, and proceeded to wash himself and his clothes. After a while, he left his clothes to dry on a large boulder in direct sunlight before wading upstream to drink. Lacking any means of carrying the water he decided to follow the stream once his clothes had dried enough.

"Up or down?" he mused aloud. He decided downstream makes more sense. "The stream must come out of this jungle somewhere".

He got dressed and the light breeze on damp clothes sent literal shivers down his spine. The irony was not lost on him that his heightened senses had so many downsides. The large robe on his eyes was uncomfortable, to say the least.

He used his knife to make strips of his robes and make a proper-sized blindfold. Some strips he used to make a small holding of sorts to store the fruits. After securing the pack and with the blindfold on, he took off.

It was not long before he noticed something strange. He had long ago put the sounds of the forest around him to the back of his mind. As he moved downstream, the forest around him grew increasingly quiet. The chirping of birds, and the rustling of small animals, all soon but vanished. Even the wind seemed to die down. The atmosphere, which was just a picture of serenity a scant moments ago was now foreboding and menacing.

He moved away from the stream and into the trees. Trying to mask his presence. He was never much of a ranger, but his skills in stealth and sneakiness aided in his silent movement. The canopy was dense and there were plenty of areas for him to move unseen. His blindfold did not hinder his sight in the darkness. He continued moving from shadow to shadow, his senses alert, seeking the strangeness around him.

Soon, a strange and unsettling scent mingled with the forest air, catching Akim's attention. At first, he couldn't quite place what the smell was, but it was unmistakably musty, like damp clothes left too long in a forgotten corner. There was a stale quality to it, as if something had been soaked and then left to fester in a humid, enclosed space.

However, there was something more to this scent, something primal and deeply unsettling. It carried with it the unmistakable hint of danger, creating an aroma that was both rank and fearsome. a scent that sent a chill down Akim's spine.

The scent seemed to linger in the air, weaving through the foliage and brushing against Akim's senses like a warning. It was a scent that spoke of danger, of a predator lurking nearby, its presence concealed within the shadows of the dense jungle. The hairs on the back of Akim's neck stood on end as he scanned his surroundings, a sense of unease settling over him.

Every rustle of leaves, every snap of a twig, seemed amplified in the eerie silence that followed the discovery of this unsettling scent. Akim's heart pounded in his chest as he moved cautiously, his senses heightened and on alert for any sign of the unseen predator.

He tried to move away from the scent, though it became apparent that the owner of the smell was a far more skilled tracker than his enhanced senses could match. As he navigated through the dense undergrowth, Akim couldn't shake the feeling of being hunted, of being a trespasser in this primal domain.

He felt as if he was being observed before his sight could provide any clues. He glimpsed something move through the shadows, the blur of its movement was too fast for even him to track. He decided to forgo his attempt at stealth and made a quick dash to escape. He kept seeing shapes move all around him but could not make out what it was. All he could discern was that it was large, too large to be any known animal he had ever encountered.

The shape seemed to move all around him. It became apparent that he was being toyed with, the thing was herding him. Akim wished he had something other than his small knife with him. Something that moved with such speed was not something he was keen on facing, especially with, effectively a butter knife in his hands.

As Akim’s breaths came in ragged gasps, his desperate flight through the underbrush came to an abrupt halt. There, in a small clearing bathed in the dappled light of the sun filtering through the canopy, stood a creature of such formidable presence that it seemed to command the very air around it. The black panther, massive and regal, easily towered over Akim’s six-foot frame, its muscles rippling beneath its sleek, obsidian fur as it moved with a predator’s grace.

Akim’s heart thundered in his chest, his hand instinctively reaching for the knife at his belt—a laughable defense against such a beast. The panther’s golden eyes locked onto his, and a silent challenge issued in the space between them. At that moment, Akim understood the creature was not just any predator; it was the apex, the sovereign of this domain, and he had trespassed into its kingdom.

Yet, as the black panther took a deliberate step forward, something within Akim shifted. The fear that had spurred his flight transformed into a resolute defiance. He was tired of being chased, he was tired of running, and he was tired of things that he could not understand.

He thought of a small flame, battered by strong winds, yet unyielding. No matter how strong the wind grew it could not extinguish the flame.

He would not be prey. Not today, not to this creature, not to the darkness that had whispered promises of embrace.

'I am no one's prey'.

The black panther, as if recognizing the change in Akim’s demeanor, tilted its head slightly, the intensity of its gaze never wavering. Akim, standing tall, waited.

The jungle held its breath, waiting for the panther’s response.