I had been walking in the same direction for at least two hours now. From the size of the trees, and the sheer density of them, I had expected that the forest would be large… but, I still hadn’t expected it to be quite so enormous. Dense, sprawling, and with the same few species of trees and ferns spread throughout, the whole place felt like some sort of a magical labyrinth, where every room that you entered was exactly the same as the room that you had just left behind, and where every apparent exit was just the way into the next portion of the winding, and endless maze.

I had even started to worry that there might not be an exit to this place, and I had started to consider the possibility that I might be trapped in here for the rest of my life, with no hope of ever escaping.

But still, in the last few minutes, I had at least noticed that the forest seemed to be lighting up, a bit. Night time was coming towards its end… and I imagined that somewhere out there, on some distant hill or mountain, you could just see the first rays of dawn beginning to streak their way across the sky, as they lit up the nearby fields and valleys.

Still, that all felt a long ways away right then. And as the minutes began to pass me by, I started to wonder just how long I might have to keep going for, and how much more of the path was left for me to travel.

But fortunately, even though I had been walking for quite a long time by then, I hadn’t encountered any further dangers in my trek along through the woods. Whatever sort of animals might call this place their home, they surely didn't wish to be seen by me, and they must have understood how to use the trees for cover, or else have been so high up that I couldn’t really begin to make out their movements.

Every now and then, I thought that I saw a certain enormous white, four-legged beast stalking through the trees. But the sightings were so brief and so indistinct that I couldn’t really tell if I was being followed, or if that was just my mind’s idle fantasies, trying to give me some sense of security in the midst of danger.

Finally, though – after a long, long time of walking alone through those woods – I at last saw the sight that I’d been waiting for. Just a little bit ahead of me, a few scattered shafts of light were piercing through the canopy of the forest, as they lit up the ground below. As I approached closer, I saw more and more rays of light dancing through the branches. And far ahead, I could make out what looked like sunlit plains, that were just barely visible through the spaces between the trees.

The moment that I saw all of that, I rushed forward, and darted through the trees, and over the branches... until, with a single, and final burst of speed, I left behind the darkened woods for now, and found myself out at last in the great and open world.

And then, I looked out with awe and with wonder at the sight that was in front of me.

I was now standing in a small field of deeply purple-colored grass, which was decorated with a wonderful array of blue and golden flowers, and surrounded by emerald green hills as far into the distance as the eye could see.

A little ways in front of me, there was a bright, crystal-clear stream, which meandered its way across the grassy meadow, and flowed down from the top of one of the hills nearby. A few little trees provided some nice cool spots of shade throughout the meadow, and the whole charming spectacle was illuminated by the first morning light of the golden sun, which was just barely poking out its head from above the cover of the hills.

The sheer beauty of the meadow in front of me was absolutely breathtaking. But what drew my gaze beyond anything else was a huge, blue tower, which rose to enormous heights in the distant horizon. It was the tallest building that I had ever seen in my life, and its sheen, sapphire-like surface was truly stunning to me. My eyes were absolutely transfixed by the sight of it… and as I gazed upon it, I felt something inside of me beginning to swell up, as if some profound and wondrous thing had just been grasped by the darkest corners of my mind.

Apparently, that really was the case… because a few moments later, a strange message appeared at the center of my field of vision, informing me of what had just taken place.

"Congratulations! Your Insight has increased by 1.”

I had seen that statistic before, I remembered. But I still didn’t really have any idea of what it was, exactly, or of what sort of a thing it measured.

And so, with more than a little curiosity, I asked -

System, what is “Insight”?

"Insight is a measure of your understanding of the secrets of this world, and of the mysteries of the past.”

Of course, I didn’t really understand what that meant precisely, or what sorts of “secrets” or “mysteries” the system was referring to. But even still, I understood that this statistic must be very important somehow… and I understood that if the mere sight of this tower had increased it, then that tower must be important too, in some way that I had yet to understand.

For now however, I didn’t think that I would really be able to figure out that much more about these things for the present. And so – after just gazing out in wonder at the tower in front of me for a little while longer– I at last began to turn back towards the meadow, as I started to think about what I would do next.

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I was starting to realize that I was pretty thirsty, and that I could also really go for a bath. Most of what I was wearing was still pretty dirty, and I thought it would be a good idea to get all of that cleaned off, especially before I made my way into town.

And so, I started to make my way over towards the stream that was meandering just a little ways in front of me, as I cupped my hands together, and lowered them down into the crisp, clear water below.

But then, I noticed something that was truly strange.

On my right palm, there was now some sort of a large, blue mark, that I had never seen before in my life.

I must just not have noticed that mark before when I had been making my way through the deep darkness of the woods... but now, I could clearly see what looked like an image of a large, round orb, with several jagged lines running out from the center and towards the surface.

That sight was very strange of course, and I spent a while examining the mark, and trying to figure out what it might do. But as far as I could tell, my hand wasn’t really any different than it had been before, and it didn’t seem to be buzzing with any sort of magical energy, or anything like that. And so, I didn’t think that the mark was anything to be too concerned about for now at least. My best guess was that it was some sort of a sign that I had been brought here from another world, or maybe a sign that I had been summoned here by Kalia.

But at any rate, that mark seemed like just another thing that I would want to ask about eventually, and not like something that I would be able to figure out for the present. And so, without thinking too hard about it one way or the other, I reached my now-marked hand down into the stream, then brought the cool and refreshing water back up towards my lips, as I drank my fill of the nourishing and rejuvenating liquid.

Then, once I was done, I began to wash off my skin and armor, and to indulge myself in a nice, cool bath.

The whole time that I was bathing, I made sure to listen for the signs of any sort of approaching danger… but apart from a few small birds just darting gently through the sky, the meadow seemed to be about as quiet and as peaceful as you could imagine. I wasn't certain of course, but it certainly felt quite a bit safer than the dark and empty woods that I had fled from just a couple of moments before.

And so, I ended up spending quite a while beneath the cool and refreshing waters, as I let myself relax, and enjoyed the feeling of the warm light of the sun beating gently down upon my chest.

That felt really good right then… and the whole time that I was bathing, I found myself thinking a lot about this new world that I had come to – and about the chance that I had to start my life all over again, after everything that had occurred.

Then, once I was done with my bath, I slipped back into my armor, tightened up all of the straps, and picked up my large long sword from the side of the stream.

Afterwards, I sat down for just a moment, as I started to think about what I wanted to do next.

I could keep moving on through these hills and valleys. But now that I had finally found a place I that seemed to be fairly safe and peaceful, I thought that it might also be a good idea to try to get a bit stronger if I could. After all, I didn’t really know how much longer I would have to keep traveling for, or just how much danger there might be just ahead of me. If I ran into anyone like those two men from the forest, then I would want to be prepared to fight if I could be – or at least prepared enough to be able to stand my ground and to intimidate them enough to leave me be.

At the same time, I remembered how I had been able to learn that “Athletics” skill just a little while before. And I thought that if were were any more skills like that, then learning one or two of them might be really useful, and really valuable for the rest of my journey.

Of course, I wasn’t sure of just what sort of skills might be available - and unfortunately, a few questions to the system confirmed that it wasn’t going to help me to find out the answer to that question. But even so, I had a couple of guesses, at least. And I figured that it couldn’t hurt to just try some things out, and to see what happened.

And so, I raised my sword up into the air, and began to swing it forward. I had a pretty strong hunch that there might be some sort of skill called “Blades,” or “Swords,” or something like that, given that equipping my sword had triggered a message from the system. And besides – even if there wasn’t – I still kind of wanted to try using my new weapon out a bit regardless. After all, if I did have to use my sword in a fight, then I didn’t want the first time that I swung it towards an enemy to be the first time that I had ever swung it before in my life.

So I just grabbed the hilt of my sword tightly with both of my hands, and started to swing the blade back and forth throughout the air.

At first, honestly, I felt kind of ridiculous doing that out there.

But then, after just a few more moments of practicing, I felt something strange happening to my mind and body.

It felt almost as if some sort of mysterious force was guiding me, and helping me to control my movements. I wasn’t really sure what I was doing, and my movements were raw, and amateurish. But I felt almost as if someone was standing behind me, and helping to position my arms, and my legs, and my body.

My swings were starting to feel more precise, and more powerful. The sword was seeming less and less like some alien thing that had been placed between my hands, and more like an extension of my own body that moved along with my will, and my desire.

Then, after a few minutes in that state, a message appeared in front of me.

"Congratulations! You have learned the 'Swordsmanship' skill! Your Swordsmanship is now level 1. Each level will increase your ability to fight with a sword of medium size or larger."

I had thought that I might be able to learn a skill like that… but I had still never expected it to all work out so quickly, or for the whole process to have had such a strange, and almost mystical feeling of being gently guided.

Then, I looked out again towards the emerald green hills that circled around the grassy meadows.

For the first time since I had arrived in this strange and foreign world, I felt something like a sense of real confidence in my abilities.

I didn’t know what I was about to do exactly, or where I was going to go from here.

But at the same time, felt like everything was going to be alright somehow - even if I couldn't say precisely how. 

And then, with a soft smile, I just raised the sword up above my head, as I continued to swing it back and forth along through the air.