Dorian Blackwood awoke in the woods, lying on a bed of damp wet moss.
The first thing he noticed was the cold seeping through his clothes, a chill that seemed to penetrate deep into his bones. Slowly, he sat up, rubbing his temples as he tried to piece together his fragmented memories, everything felt jumbled up.
The night before, he had gone to bed after a long shift at work in Queensland, and then there was nothing—he just woke up here.
The mist hung thick in the air, shrouding the ancient trees and casting an eerie glow over the forest floor.
He looked around, taking in the unfamiliar surroundings. The towering trees of the Eldergloom forest seemed to stretch high above him, their twisted branches forming a dark canopy that barely allowed any sunlight to penetrate.
The forest was silent, save for the distant call of a bird and the rustle of leaves underfoot.
With a deep unsteady breath, he pushed himself to his feet. His body ached from the cold damp floor, but he forced himself to move. As he stood up, he noticed something alarming—the tattoos on his arms were gone.
"What the hell?" Dorian said aloud, his voice echoing in the silence. His skin was unmarked, and the lines of black ink completely vanished. Inspecting other places where he previously had tattoos, he found them gone as well. Panic began to rise in his chest as he wondered what else could have changed, but before he was able to force on such a worry.
There was a sudden sound of a twig snapping nearby that jolted him into alertness. He scanned his eyes over the misty forest for any sign of danger.
Then inside of the fog, a pair of glowing yellow eyes appeared, followed by the hulking form of a beast-like cat. It was unlike anything he had ever seen—a grotesque creature with matted fur and claws as sharp as daggers.
The beast growled, baring its teeth, at Dorian, who had no choice but to run. The beast lunged missing Dorian as he sidestepped, his movements fueled by a desperate need to survive.
He sprinted through the forest, the beast hot on his heels, as Dorian dodged branches and leapt over fallen logs, trying to see anything more than a meter ahead of him was a nightmare, as the misty fog blocked his view of the ground until the last minute.
His heart pounded in his chest, and his breaths came in ragged gasps as he pushed himself, through the forest, that seemed to close in around him, the mist growing thicker, obscuring his path more, leaving barely any time to jump over tree roots. He could hear the beast’s heavy footsteps behind him, growing closer with each passing moment.
Desperation gave him strength as he pushed himself harder, his legs burning from the effort. He spotted a large tree with low-hanging branches ahead and made a split-second decision. With a burst of energy, he jumped, grabbing hold of the branch and pulling himself up just as the beast lunged again. It missed him by inches, crashing into the tree with a snarl of frustration.
Dorian climbed higher, finding a perch that seemed relatively safe, at least for the moment. He looked down at the beast, which circled the base of the tree, growling and snapping its jaws. His heart still racing, he took a moment to catch his breath and assess his situation.
"Where the hell am I, and what the fuck is that giant cat?" Dorian yelled out frustration plastered in his voice, he looked down as the blueish-tinted creature circled the base of the tree. It stopped and stared at him now and then. As Dorian pondered this odd predicament, the beast eventually grew bored and wandered off into the mist.
Dorian waited for a long while, ensuring that the beast was truly gone, before cautiously climbing down from the tree. He quickly checked his surroundings for any sign of its yellow eyes, Dorian needed answers to what had happened to him and how he had ended up in this strange forest.
He began to walk, keeping a wary eye on his surroundings. The forest seemed endless, an unforgiving maze of mist and shadows. As he wandered, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being watched again. Every rustle of leaves, every distant sound set his nerves on edge.
Hours passed, or maybe it was just minutes—time seemed to lose meaning in the oppressive silence of Eldergloom. Just as despair began to creep in, Dorian stumbled upon a small clearing where a long-abandoned campsite sat in ruin. The remnants of an old fire pit sat in the middle of tattered tents, and their scattered belongings told a story of a hurried departure.
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Dorian approached cautiously, his senses still on high alert as he scanned the clearing for any signs of danger.
Walking closer to one of the remnants of a chest he rifled through the remains, he found little of use—some broken tools, empty containers, and a few scraps of cloth.
searching one of the nearby tents, where some type of bedding, and tucked away in a corner of the tent, Dorian discovered a tattered journal. The pages were worn and stained, but as he flipped to the first page, a name caught his eye: Kael Thorne, with the first entry written in inky black.
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'It’s the 28th day of Spring. Summer is rising soon, and the sun's heat rises with it as well. The forest of Eldergloom gave us a plentiful bounty this season. Mother and Father are happy that the forest gods have given us such a wonderful harvest this year.'
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Dorian was sure that the forest he was in was Eldergloom. It seemed back then the forest was much more peaceful. And what were these forest gods? The next few dates were unreadable, dry blood staining the pages but reading the next entry was somewhat readable.
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-19th Summer-
'The tower came out of nowhere this morning. The whole village panicked at such a display of magic, we awoke to the sound of thunder, like the earth was about to break open beneath our homes, Mother and father went to the town hall as soon they saw the tower and the distance sounds o-'
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Dorian's eyes widened at that. "Magic," he whispered, reading that part of the page again.
The next few entries were unreadable again. Turning to the next page, he found another entry.
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-9th winter-
'I hadn't had the time to update the journal in a while, One of the twin gods of the wat-' the entry was too hard to read. so Dorian went to the next part of the entry that he could make out.
'The tower still stands where it landed, while nothing of note has happened since its appearance from the sky. But those who have been hunting in the woods, near the tower have noticed a change in the forest that seemed a little different than normal. Darker' - The rest of the entry was starting to get hard to read again, so Dorian went to the next entry that he was able to read.
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-14th winter-
'I when to gather some sticks for father,' the writing here seemed more hastened than in previous entries.
' I heard a creaking sound, and when I looked up I saw her, the forest god. but something was wrong with her, she kept banging her head into a large elder tree, at the time I slowly backed away as she must have sensed my fear because when she turned to look at me, those eyes
'black tentacle-like lines were flowing out of her eyes, and then I noticed a look in her eyes as if I were prey to hunt. but then she snapped out of it and hissed at me "Run Human, and warn" Before she could finish she roared into the air and then ran off into the woods.' The rest of the entry was unreadable after that.
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"Kael Thorne," Dorian muttered to himself. "Who are you, and what were you doing out here?"
Dorian said to himself scratching his chin, as he turned to the last entry of the journal that was written before getting cut off.
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-27th Spring-
'Some of the gods are killing the villagers, many of us ran when the attacks started, and some were heading for the nearby village of-'
'The Eldergloom forest has swallowed the whole village in a matter of hours, we watched from afar as the trees themselves just seemed to grow out of the goddam earth.
The once plainlands, where we farm and work the fields are nothing more than fully dense Eldergloom trees, There are only a few small clearing remains that the trees hadn't been able to claim yet, so we set up a small temporary campsite for those of us that remain here.'
'there being no end to this forest, we beginning to think the forest of eldergloom is cursed, but we also believe that there has to be a way out of here if we head North maybe then we coul-' That was the last written entry-
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The journal detailed Kael's journey before the Eldergloom became such a hostile land. There were a few mentions about the villagers searching for a way out and Kael's encounter with the same beast that had chased Dorian. It also mentioned a group of survivors, scattered across the forest, all seeking shelter or a means to get out of these woods.
Hope flickered within Dorian. If there were others, perhaps he wasn’t alone in this nightmare.
But the loss of his tattoos was troubling. They had been more than just lines of ink on his skin—they were markers of important events in his life. His first tattoo had honoured his father, it was a phoenix rising out of a fire.
His father had not only pulled him and his family out of that fire but had risked his own life to help others trapped inside.
Dorian traced his forearm, the feeling of smooth skin feeling foreign to him. Without them, he felt vulnerable, stripped of his identity.
But determined to find Kael or any other survivors, Dorian sat as nightfall started to rise. The sunset painted the sky in bright oranges and pinks before disappearing into the darkening colours of the night.
He was ready to set off in the direction mentioned in the journal. The forest still loomed large and foreboding, but now he had a purpose. In the morning light, he would move through the misty forest, seeking out those still out there and finding any information he could.
He couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being watched as he sat in the growing dark of the afternoon. Every rustle of leaves, every distant sound set his nerves on edge.
He was going to seek answers and maybe, just maybe, find a way home for he wanted to return to his best friend Noah Stirling, he was like a brother he never had, and he wanted to see his family again, as Dorian sat there wondering what people thought of his sudden disappearance.