Here, the forest seemed endless, stretching and stretching with no end in sight. The deeper I gazed, the more trees emerged, one after the other. Leaves trembled, and vines hung down, dripping with rain. The longer I stayed, the more I could hear distant sounds of unseen beasts and animals.

It should have been scary, and it was, but I wasn't afraid, or rather I didn't care. I was alone, and that was much scarier than the forest and much more painful than the pain from my core.

Once I was dry, I was moving again. The ground had turned soft and my feet sank a little with each step. A few paddles were here and there, their surfaces dancing with raindrops. It reminded me of Checkpoints, so I followed them.

Jumping the distance between the leaves that were big enough to hide me from the rain, one puddle led me to another.

I didn't know I could jump such a distance, let alone so many times. Each leaf had at least a two-meter distance!

'How much stronger did I get?'

I looked at my tattoo. From deep black to this bright purple. Papa said each color had five shades and the more open the color was, the better. Mine was bright-bright purple and was turning a little reddish, so, did that mean I was close to the red color?

'Is this why I could use an element?'

Papa didn't believe me, so he never explained when, how, or why quint turns into an element. In the dream, I felt it being done, and I did it a little earlier, but… I didn’t know. I did it, but… that wasn't me.

Suddenly, my tummy growled, still hungry, the pain intensifying. While I wasn't wet anymore, the pain didn't go away. My pendant would flash its dark light from time to time to make me feel better, but my hungry tummy made it worse.

The paddles became more distant the deeper I went. More and larger trees appeared, making it harder for the rain to pass through their leaves, and the forest darkened. The distant sounds weren't so distant anymore, and they had turned to growls, howls, hoots, and other types of sounds I didn't know how to describe.

Then, I saw it.

Grrrl~

Near a paddle was a giant tree that looked like it was cut and had an opening, and inside that opening, fruits and berries of all kinds were shining, droplets of water slowly rolling down from them. Sucking my drool back, with another growl from my tummy and my pendant's dark light, my eyes locked on.

A distant voice echoed in my ears, but was too hungry to listen to it. I even ignored the rain and went straight at it without hiding behind leaves.

The tree wasn't far. When I reached it, the opening was much bigger than I thought, big enough for me to enter easily.

Without a second thought, I took as many fruits and berries as my hands could hold and stuffed my mouth. Sweet and sour tastes mixed with the cold, fresh juices. Before I even finished, I was already gathering a second handful.

Suddenly, the rustle of leaves became louder, and peeking my head outside the tree, I saw birds flying away. A growl came behind a few trees, and then a loud sound followed. With a few fruits in hand, I reached closer.

Wind waves spread, and two lights of green and gray flashed behind the leaves. Peeking my head out, two similarly looking beasts stood to what looked like a small arena of trees and roots, with a big paddle in the middle separated the two. Both of them had a pair of different horns—the one on the left stretching high above while the one on the right turning more forward—like crowns with their ends turning sharp like swords.

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The one on the left snorted angrily and pointed with its horns to the other, its front foot stomping the ground ready to charge at it. When it finally moved, the right one was quick to follow. As they reached closer, quint moved, and they both jumped, finding one another a little higher than the paddle, wind waves spreading in green and gray lights.

As they prepared themselves for another round, the pain from my core intensified, and my pendant flashed its dark light.

Immediately, the two beasts turned in my direction, their eyes looking sharper than their pointy horns, however, they didn't move. They remained completely still for a moment. Even weirder was the next, when the one on the right turned the other way, trees and vines hiding it, while the other stood still, terrified.

That's when I noticed it wasn't looking at me, but rather, behind me. A loud, powerful roar came from behind me and the beast in front unfroze, running for its life.

Turning around, my mouth dropped, and I couldn't feel my legs. A giant brown beast that made a big Silverfang look no different from a cub was staring me down, its mouth spilling fruits and berries similar to the ones I had found. Beneath its feet was a trail of juices leading to the fruits I had taken with me.

Roar!

It growled, lifting its giant leg to slam me down.

Just before it could hit me, my pendant flashed, and I barely managed to jump out of the way. Before I could think, it was already moving its other leg. Unable to get out of the way in time, I jumped and grabbed its fur, my hands sinking deep inside as its leg smashed to the ground.

'It would be a really good time to channel fire right about now.'

I thought, and quint moved but did not connect. The beast waved its leg furiously and I began slipping.

'Come on! Come on! Connect!'

I felt the quint rush from my core to my arms to my hands to my fingers until suddenly I lost my grip on the beast.

Shot like a ball, I hurtled towards a tree at a scary speed. In a panic, I accidentally pushed quint even further, a gust of wind bursting out of my fingers just before I could crash into the tree, slowing me down.

Despite this, I still hit the tree with a resounding thud.

Pain erupted through my body like lava from a volcano. My bones shook, my eyes rolled back, and breathing became impossible. But the worst pain came from my core, feeling as if I were made of glass, each thumping wave of pain shattering me into pieces.

I groaned as the rough body of the tree scraped against my back.

"Sun… I… you… prepare…" The distant voice returned, but the ringing in my ears wouldn't let me listen to it.

Coughing uncontrollably, I tasted metal on my tongue as the world spun into black and white, a shadowy figure rising closer and closer. A tingle in my stomach allowed my eyes to focus, and the shadowy figure transformed into a savage charging beast.

Above my tattoo, my pendant flickered with dark light, surrounded by black lightning.

The blood from my cough dripped onto the pendant, and suddenly, everything shrank into complete darkness. There was an explosion and a powerful growl, but they were quickly swallowed by the nothingness.

A high-pitched, fragile chime rang out like breaking ice, and with it, the rest of my senses vanished, drowned in the void.

Lastly, was my consciousness and after that, there was nothing left. Nothing other than a hum. It was so small, yet it carried a warmth I couldn't even describe.

Then a distant voice sounded so low and soft, like a whisper of light in the darkest night.

"Hello, my little sunshine. For you to be hearing this message, it's been some time, hasn't it? I miss you so much. I have so many questions. Ä̴͈͈̪̻͕̰́͊̀ŕ̵̞̞̈́̔̈͌ę̶͍͙̪̈́ Are you eating well? Have you grown a lot? How tall are you? By now, you shoų̵͗͘l̵̼̫̍̔̀d̸̈́̾̊̌ͅ ̸͔͇̪̃̿̿̍h̴͔̿̽̿á̸̹v̸͍͚̞͚̓è̶̻̜̼̿̑̚d fly, soar through the skies, don't let anyone else reach your heights. Remember, even amon̴̨͈̬̍̾ǧ̴̭̣ ̶̙́̓̐̈́ő̴̧̭̥̟̚͠t̷̙̫̀̾̍̑h̶͇͆͆̚ė̶̂͂ͅr̶̦͚̞̀ how long can they stretch? I'm sorry, I'll stop with the meaningless questions."

"I want you to know that, if there was any other way, I wouldn't have done what I did d̸͎̍̈́ȋ̸̲͕̯̫̙̈́d̵̛͔͙̟͇̖̔́ did. Every day, there isn't a single moment where I'm not thinking about you. It pains me knowing that I won't be holding your h̵̛͕̤͖̘̠̖ã̵͎̠͚̜̓̋ṇ̸̨͗̀͂͘͘ḋ̵̨̘̠̝̤͜͠ hand , wiping your tears, and sharing your laughter. It breaks my heart knowing I missed your first steps, your first words, and countless moments in between. But there was no other c̶̡͊h̷̥̟̣̅̋o̴͕̭͂ȋ̵̧͈̭ç̵͎̞͌e̴̗̦͊ č̴̨h̸͍̩̯̗͈̑̄͊̏̏̂͜o̸̍͜ḯ̸̳͍̼̬̖̔͌̂c̶̨̯̱̟͋̈́̏͒͛̓e̵͖̺̗̝̤̐̀͛͂̉͛ choice. You weren't safe here. I've seen what they can do. If they had taken you, you would have turned no different from…"

"By the time you hear this, there won't be much time left. Danger looms ǎ̶̤̙̟̋͗͝ẖ̷̮̕ȩ̸͉̬͐̀͝ạ̴͍͋́͋d̴̡̨́̀̽ they are prove too cruel, and there will be times where you will feel hopeless. Whenever that happens, listen to this record, and remem̷̢̟͗̄͑̀ḃ̷͍͖̰͐͐͝e̶̲̓r̸̢̡̯͎̋̚ I just hope this parting knowledge is enough for you to prepare for what's to come.

Ah, the pendant can't sustain much more information. I̸'̵m̴ ̷s̵o̴r̶r̵y̶ ̷t̵h̷e̴ ̸m̷e̶s̷s̵a̸g̶e̸ ̷i̵s̵ ̶s̵o̷ ̴s̴h̵o̶r̶t̸. I want you to know that, no matter what happe̵̢̅ň̴̳s̷͍̃ ̴̭͋, your mother, now and forever, loves you, A̵̸̺̲̰̒̃ⷫ͋̑p̶̵̨̤̥̀̋ͦ͝ǫ̴̷̗̠͆̑ͣ͝ḷ̸̘̀ḷ̵͓̉̌y̸̨̰͂́o̸̺͠n̷̈͝ͅ Aerhal"

[End of Volume 1: Ashen]