Burning through the sky like a violet comet, the teleported knight soared all the way across the continent. The light bright enough to put warring armies at a ceasefire as they watched the flying light carry a terrifying presence that dissipated as quickly as it appeared. But nearing the end of its flight, it crashed deep within a dense forest far within the human kingdoms.
Now, back on solid ground though unfamiliar territory, the knight was hesitant to move far from where he landed. Scanning his surroundings, he saw naught but plants surrounding him while a deep orange light fell through the canopy.
Where… am I?
Taking careful steps forward, he felt a cold wind brush against his armored face while he put a hand to the brown bark of a tree. While there wasn’t an animal in sight or a bird to be heard, the rustling leaves called back to long forgotten memories.
Is this an illusion? Some cruel trick of the light to spite me?
He continued forward through the forest. One step at a time as sights he hadn’t seen in who-knows-how-long were everywhere. Vibrantly green leaves instead of barren and dead tree branches. Grass that brushed past your feet with every step, rather than wilting and awaiting a flame to cleanse it away.
Have I been sent into the past?
He examined his armor, still as beaten up as it had been when he challenged the Eldritch God to the last battle at the end of the world.
I don’t think I have been. And those two… they didn’t look like anyone from the past. If this isn’t my world, how’d I end up here?
Up until now, he’d been instinctively skulking about from shadow to shadow out of a fear of being ambushed. But from his limited experiences in this forest alone, he didn’t feel threatened. Rather, a wave of nostalgia washed over him as he came out from the shadows and walked in the light of the distant setting sun. Hairs stood on end with his instincts trying to get him to be ready for a fight at any moment, but this wasn’t walking through a giant-rat-infested sewer. Nor was it cautiously strolling through a cemetery filled with dead trees and undead creatures around any corner.
Then the faint smell of salt and flowers floated by his nose.
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What… is that?
Soon after came the sound of water crashing, but then receding to do it again and again. Letting the scent and sound lead him, the knight walked towards the source of it all. He wondered what it could be, but dared not hope. To hope in his previous world always led a person to destruction.
Flowers of all kinds of colors began to appear as he got closer to the source. First emerging sparsely, but quickly multiplying the further he walked. What creatures did populate the forest kept a large distance between themselves and the knight, though watched him curiously.
The scent of flowers grew more intense as the wind grew stronger.
Flowers?
He wondered if this might be some kind of poison wafting about in the air, but no ailment followed. Curious, he knelt and put his fingers around the stem of one before gently plucking it. Its petals went from a saturated pink at the center to a pale white at the tips. Turning it around in his fingers, the knight couldn’t help but stare at the yellow pollen at the very center before the wind took it away with the next breeze.
Then, looking upwards slightly, he saw the horizon and walked towards it. The sun shone a bright red as it started to sink into the earth. Raising a hand as he moved towards it, he watched as light flooded his vision before colors faded back in. Before him was a cliffside decorated with multi-colored flowers while the sun scattered deep red and orange light across an ocean. Waves crashed and bubbled across a shore far below him while the wind carried a sea breeze up and into the forest.
Is this real?
Flower petals and fallen leaves rushed past him as he fell to his knees.
The sky is whole… The sun is full… And the ocean is flowing…
It all overwhelmed him as he tried to accept all that was before him. Sights he’d thought eternally lost. Scents and sounds that he never thought to return. No sign of perpetual rot and rust anywhere, just life and color.
Time slowed for him as the knight stared at the horizon. His arms fell to his sides as tears rolled from his eyes and out the bottom of his helmet. Happiness swelled within his heart as he could experience a world full of life for the first time in what felt like forever. And in his stunned silence, a heartfelt prayer of thanks escaped his lips.
“Thank… you…”
His vocal chords were shot, but these words were taken by the wind like a letter. And while it was uncertain if they’d ever reach the intended recipient, this world seemed to respond by letting the knight enjoy at least this moment of peace uninterrupted. The image of a beautiful sunset decorating the sky and land at the same time would be an immortal memory in the mind of this knight.
And at the edge of the cliff, he stayed. This moment comforting him as exhaustion finally claimed him and he blacked out. His head slumping forward while his eyes shut on their own. But in this moment, he prayed to whomever could hear him.
Please. Let me see the beauty of this world. I want to see more.