Apolo abruptly opened his eyes as he rubbed his eyelids with his hands, but unfortunately, the young man discovered that the sudden green light had left him completely blinded for a few seconds. Nevertheless, Apolo understood the emergency situation his descendant was currently in, so the departed soul tried to regain his vision as quickly as possible while struggling with the incredibly uncomfortable sensation of opening his eyes and seeing everything in white. After opening and closing his eyes for a few more seconds, Apolo's vision slowly began to recover, but the young noble's dizziness only increased as he saw where he was currently; because there was no sign of the town, the streets full of hellish cracks, the destroyed houses, or the silo being devoured by the flames of judgment.

Instead, Apolo noticed that he was in the middle of the forest, but this was no ordinary forest, as this place was familiar to the young noble. The tree trunks in this forest were black, and their leaves were red, reminding Apolo of the great forest around the castle where he had grown up.

Perplexed by the sudden change in the environment, Apolo stared at the forest surroundings for a few minutes, trying to remember what had happened to his descendant after putting on the silver mask. But no matter how hard he tried, the young man only remembered the green flash that had blinded him.

*Crush, Crash*...While searching for answers in his mind, the young man heard the sound of dried leaves being crushed behind him, causing him to snap out of his trance and violently turn around, trying to discover who was behind him.

—Is something wrong, Apolo?—asked a girl with blond hair and blue eyes, leaning against one of the trees in the forest, as if she had been hiding behind it while Apolo tried to recover from his dizziness. However, the girl's appearance was completely irrelevant because all of Apolo's attention was focused on the silver mask covering half of the girl's face.

—Helena?—Apolo questioned, his gaze fixed on the girl's face, unable to look away from the mask she was wearing. This left the young man petrified when he realized, for some strange reason, that he had regained control of his body and no longer seemed to be a ghost.

—Yes, is something wrong?—the girl asked, looking at the petrified Apolo.

—Am I dreaming?—Apolo whispered to himself, seeing his own body reflected in the silver mask of the girl, realizing that, for some strange reason, he now seemed to have the body of a child. While rubbing his eyes earlier, he could have sworn that his hands didn't feel so small, and these trees didn't seem so big when he regained his vision. Nevertheless, Apolo noticed that his hands were indeed much smaller than before and did not appear to be as worn out from training, making the young man look at them with confusion, unable to recognize them as his own.

—Remembering...—Helena responded upon hearing the bewildered whisper of the dazed boy in front of her, causing Apolo to stop looking at his tiny hands and raise his head abruptly to look at the girl with wide eyes.

—Remembering?—Apolo immediately exclaimed, as if he couldn't fully grasp the word that the girl had just mentioned.

—Yes, all of this happened many years ago, but you had forgotten, or rather, they made you forget—Helena replied enigmatically while hiding behind the tree she had been leaning on and evading the gaze of the disturbed eyes on the boy's face.

—What do you mean they made me forget?—Apolo asked, not understanding what Helena was referring to. However, only the rustling leaves in the tree branches responded to the boy.

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—Helena?—Apolo called out with doubts, not understanding why the girl wasn't answering him, as he approached the tree where she had hidden. When he reached the tree, the boy looked around for Helena, but the girl could not be seen anywhere. There was no sign of where she had gone, and not even her footprints on the ground could be seen.

*Crush, Crash*...The same sound of footsteps on leaves could be heard coming from behind Apolo, causing the boy to turn around abruptly.

—Is something wrong, Apolo?—Helena asked, but Apolo did not respond and instead, he stared attentively at the girl's face in front of him: The silver mask had disappeared!

—What happened to the mask?—Apolo questioned, looking at the gray dress the girl was wearing and realizing that nothing was hidden in her pockets. However, upon closer inspection of Helena's clothes, the boy saw with wide-open eyes a bronze ring on the girl's hand. Apolo hadn't seen the ring in his dreams for several months, so he was quite surprised to see it again at this moment.

—What are you talking about? Did you find a mask among the forest leaves?—the girl asked, approaching Apolo with curiosity, only to be disappointed when she found nothing among the leaves near the boy.

—No, it's just that...—Apolo tried to explain, while he watched the girl search beside him.

—It must have been a reflection from the dew, but well, it doesn't matter. When you get to the castle, you can ask your father for a mask. But now, we don't have much time. Remember, the guards are looking for us—Helena interrupted with urgency, looking worriedly at the trees in the distance, afraid that someone might emerge from them.

—They're looking for us?—Apolo asked, not understanding the girl's fear. In doubt, the boy looked at the sky. However, given the position of the sun, it was quite obvious that it was still midday, so he didn't understand Helena's fear. There was still almost half a day until dusk.

—Yes, did you forget that we had planned to sneak away and explore the forest together? I mean, we are in the middle of the forest right now, Apolo—the girl replied as if it were obvious. Astonishing Apolo, who still couldn't understand why they had to escape from the guards instead of simply exploring the forest as they had always done.

—But...—Apolo tried to present his point of view, but Helena took him by the hand and pushed him to the ground. Then, with remarkable magical skill, the fallen leaves around the girl began to fly, covering the bodies of the two children.

—What are you doing? Don't...—Apolo exclaimed, but Helena's hand covered his mouth, preventing him from speaking.

—I heard a shout over here!—shouted someone running in the direction where the two children were hiding.

Hidden among the leaves, Apolo recognized the unmistakable leather armor that all the guards of his family's castle wore, so he understood that this person was a guard. What the boy couldn't understand was why this guard hid half of his face while wearing the characteristic silver mask he could see in all his dreams.

—Any clues about where those brats ran off to?—asked another guard who quickly ran to the spot indicated by his companion—If the king finds out that we let his grandson wander into the forest with that servant, we'll be sent straight to the front lines of battle!

With eyes wider than ever, Apolo watched as the second guard who had just appeared also wore the characteristic silver mask, and now there were two of them. Apolo didn't understand why the guards were looking for him or why they seemed so desperate, but he was aware that this was the first time he had seen two people wearing the silver mask. However, that mattered little because the appearance of this twin mask only reminded Apolo that this was nothing more than a dream, so the boy shouldn't waste too much effort trying to find too many explanations for the things happening in this place.

—I don't see anything!—said the guard, looking around, even though the hiding place of the two children was right in front of him. However, for some reason, he couldn't see behind the camouflage of the two children—If we don't find the boy in a few hours, we'll have to inform the rest of the guards. If the boy were to die in the forest, our punishment will be worse than death!

—I know that, idiot! But we still have time. If we find him, we can convince him to keep this matter a secret, and this mistake will 'never' have happened—the other guard shouted, trying to calm down his companion.

*Crush, Crash*...The sound of footsteps on leaves could be heard in the distance, causing the two guards to look at each other for a moment and then start running in that direction, moving away from the hiding place of the two children.