Vol 1. Shadow's Awakening

Arlen awoke to silence. It wasn’t the absence of noise that unsettled him—it was the absence of life. His eyes fluttered open, and the world around him came into focus. A forest, but unlike any he had ever seen before. The trees stood like skeletal sentinels, their branches gnarled and leafless, clawing at the dull, gray sky. No wind stirred the brittle air. No birds sang. No insects buzzed.

He pushed himself up from the cold, hard ground and blinked. His heart quickened. ‘Where… where am I?’ His mind scrambled for an answer, but none came. He had no memory of how he’d arrived in this place, only that he shouldn’t be here. This was not his cozy small apartment. It didn’t feel right—nothing did.

His hands trembled as he lifted them to his face. But his breath caught in his throat. These weren’t his hands.

What should have been solid flesh was now… shifting, swirling. His fingers weren’t fingers but dark, amorphous shapes, almost liquid yet holding form, shadows where skin should be. He stared, wide-eyed, unable to comprehend what he was seeing.

‘Am I dreaming?’ With a jolt of panic, he scrambled to his feet, ignoring the dull ache in his muscles. His heart pounded in his chest as he ran, searching for something, anything, that might explain this madness. His steps, though swift, were eerily quiet, as if the ground absorbed all sound.

A flash of light caught his eye—the reflection of something ahead. He skidded to a halt, chest heaving, and spotted a pond nestled between the lifeless trees. The surface was glassy, untouched by even the faintest breeze.

Arlen knelt by the edge, hands—if they could be called that—reaching out. The water was cold against his skin. He hesitated for a moment, then leaned forward, peering into the stillness, hoping against hope that his reflection would reassure him.

What stared back at him sent a shiver down his spine.

It wasn’t the face of a man. Not anymore. A single eye, dark red and hollow, gazed out from where his right eye should be. The left side of his face—where his left eye should have been—was a void, an empty space of shifting shadows. His skin—no, his entire body—was a mass of moving darkness, a humanoid figure made from the same shadows that twisted around his hands. His mouth was still there, a sharp contrast to the rest of his form, with pearly white teeth that glimmered unnervingly in the reflection.

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Arlen staggered back, breathless, heart thundering. He ran a hand over his face, felt the strange, cool texture of the shadows that made up his form, but it wasn’t skin. He wasn’t sure what it was, only that it was him now.

“What… what am I?” His voice was the only sound in the dead forest, though even it sounded distant, unfamiliar. His own voice came out, deeper and colder than he remembered, like it belonged to someone else entirely. However his inner-voice was as he remembered. ‘That’s odd.’ Arlen thought as he stared that the monster in the reflection. Stay calm. Focus. This isn’t the worst you’ve faced. Think, damn it.

It was a voice he’d relied on before, during structure fires and rescues when everything around him was chaos. But this… this was beyond anything he had ever imagined. He was no stranger to danger, but this wasn’t a battlefield or a burning building. This was something far more alien.

Arlen’s hands clenched into fists, the shadows swirling faster, tighter. He had to get a grip. Panicking wasn’t going to help, no matter how unreal this felt. He wasn’t dead, he could still move—still think. And until he figured out what had happened to him, he needed to survive.

His training kicked in. ‘Assess the situation.’ He thought standing up, scanning the dead, lifeless forest. The place felt ancient, like it had been abandoned by life itself. No movement. No sound. Just the skeletal trees and the dead earth beneath his feet.

‘Know your resources.’ He continued glancing down at his hands again, the shadowy shapes shifting as though they were dancing dark flames. He didn’t know what he was, but there had to be a way to use this… whatever it was. “This new body had to have some advantages, right?” He asked himself.

‘Gather information.’ That’s what he needed most. Someone, or something, in this world had answers. He just had to find it. “If I’m here there has to be some type of life on this planet… I hope.”

Arlen took a deep breath, even though he didn’t feel the air the way he used to. He started walking, every step silent, his shadowy form blending into the dim landscape. His years as a Ranger in the army had trained him to move undetected, but now it seemed almost too easy—like the shadows themselves swallowed his presence.

As he moved deeper into the forest, he caught a glimpse of something in the distance. A shape. Faint, but definitely moving. His instincts flared. He froze, narrowing his eye, the red pupil shrinking as he focused.

What was it? Friend or foe? He couldn’t afford to take chances. Survival first.

He gritted his teeth and slipped into the shadows, watching, waiting.