Benjamin woke up in a picturesque glade to a deer licking his face, quickly noticing he was surrounded by other woodland animals. Am I dead? he thought, pushing the deer away. The startled deer set off a chain reaction, causing all the animals to disperse. He lay there a while longer, the loamy soil providing him a soft bed to recover in. His whole body seemed as though it was on fire, and his head throbbed. He sat up, nausea quickly flooding the core of his being. “I’m going to throw up,” he said as he turned to the side, emptying the entire contents of his stomach onto the lush forest floor.

How much did I drink last night?” he thought. “No, wait—” He paused as visions of the night before returned. There was lightning everywhere. Tears started stinging his eyes. I died. But if I’m dead, then where’s Dad? Where’s Mom? They should be here. Unless… I’m in Hell. He took in his surroundings, wiping the tears from his eyes.

He was in a small glade surrounded by dense forest. A single ray of sunshine beat down upon his face, as though he was placed in this exact location so that ray could become the bane of his existence, increasing his headache tenfold.

“Argh,” he moaned, grasping his splitting head. Where am I? he thought again before the pain overtook him, crumpling back on the ground as he passed out.

He awoke several hours later. The glade had transformed from a beautiful respite to something much more sinister. The once beautiful trees cast shadows of unimaginable monsters, filling Benjamin with a deep sense of dread. The only light that remained seemed to come from some sort of bioluminescent algae permeating the small pond at the center of the glade. One of the shadows began to move. As it drew nearer, Benjamin forced himself to his feet, pushing through the remainder of the pain that stung at his temples.

As the shadow moved even nearer, Benjamin threw his hands up. “Okay, what did Dad tell me about fighting? Thumbs on the outside of the fist, not clasped within, or you’ll break your thumb when you connect. Okay, okay,” he said, glancing down at his hands. “Left hand and right hand, thumb on cheek, protect your face. Lower your center of gravity.” The process had been drilled into muscle memory by his father. Back then, Dad seemed indestructible. That was before the cancer he thought to himself with a deep sigh.

“Oh, it does have some fight in it, doesn’t it?” a thick gravelly voice said, seemingly from all around him. The voice itself shook Benjamin to his core, but the shadow moving nearer terrified him, threatening to freeze him in his steps.

“I’ll… I’ll fight you,” he stuttered through his trembling body. “Don’t get any closer or you’ll regret it.” The posturing made him feel better.

“Oh, don’t worry about all of that. I’m not here to kill you, child,” the shadow said.

“Wh-what are you?” Benjamin asked.

“Me? Why, my word, that is an incredibly rude question, isn’t it?” the shadow said as it appeared to place an obscured hand over its heart. “It isn’t polite to ask those sorts of questions here, boy. But I’ll forgive you this one time,” the shadow said with a terrifying chuckle.

“Wh-who are you?” Benjamin trembled.

“Well, that is an interesting question, isn’t it? You may call me Tusk, as that was once a name I went by, but that was many moons ago,” the shadow creature said, looking towards the sky. “And what do they call you?” the shadow asked, turning its head back towards Benjamin.

“They call me Benjamin. That’s my name,” Benjamin said, finding some semblance of confidence.

“Oh, that’s great to know, but from this moment on, that is no longer what they call you,” the shadow said.

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“What do you mean ‘That’s not what they call you’? They do not call me that any longer?” Benjamin asked.

“You are not home anymore, boy. Can you not tell?” the shadow said, tilting its head quizzically.

“No, I am aware I am dead. But you’ve still not answered my question: what do you mean it’s not what I go by any longer?” Benjamin asked.

“You’re not dead,” the shadow man chuckled. “But you are in danger. Listen, child.” The shadow man ran a hand over his face. As he did, his shadow form began to shrink back, revealing a face and then a body. Soon, light began to return to the glade. The sun shone back on the spot Benjamin had originally awoken in.

A blond man in his mid-forties stood before Benjamin. Scars marred his grizzled face. His armor was blood red with black accents around the edges, appearing to be made out of some sort of leather, but unlike any Benjamin had seen before. “I have never been one for theatrics,” the man said before sitting on the ground. “Sit with me a second.”

“Wait, you’re a human?” Benjamin asked.

“Yeah, sort of. Listen, sit; we do not have an immense amount of time.”

“Okay,” Benjamin said, sitting down across from him.

“You’re in the land of Nova, and in the land of Nova, true names have real power. They can be used against you,” Tusk explained.

“They can be used against you,” Benjamin muttered.

“Yes, against you. How do you think you got here?” Tusk said as he motioned to the glade.

“I died. I was struck by lightning and I died,” Benjamin said, tears threatening to spill over.

“I already told you, you’re not dead,” Tusk said.

“Then h-how am I here?” Benjamin asked.

“I’m not sure. I was told someone would be here at this exact time and that I needed to be here to offer you help.” He laid out several items. “I was to explain how things worked and to offer you these, but I’ve grown quite attached to them, so you may only choose one. Dependent on which item you choose, your path will become clear, so choose wisely,” Tusk explained.

“Okay,” Benjamin said with a nod.

He looked at each item, trying to choose between a sword, an armor set, a single scroll, and a long wooden stick with a green gemstone embedded in the tip.

Benjamin stuck his hand out to touch the scroll, hoping to read it before making a choice. The second his finger brushed against the old paper, it began to crumble away into nothing.

“Well that was quick; a choice has been made,” Tusk said.

“Wait, a choice has been made? What do you mean? I didn’t make a choice. I just—” Benjamin began, but was cut off by Tusk.

“You wanted to look at the scroll, correct? To read it, right?” Tusk finished.

“Yeah, but—” Benjamin began again, swiftly cut off by Tusk.

“It was an ability scroll. You activate it by will. You wanted to read it, and therefore you did. Its ability is now embedded into your very being. It was a good choice; those are very expensive.”

“What? Wait, an ability scroll? What ability did I get?”

“Honestly, I have no idea. I couldn’t look at it. If I did, I likely would have, you know, wanted it, and as you just saw, wanting an ability scroll is the same thing as using an ability scroll. But I can tell you, you’ll figure out what it does as soon as you need it.

“Now for the other half of why I am here,” Tusk said, running his hands over the rest of the items, causing them all to disappear as his fingertips brushed against them. “What is it they will call you?”

Benjamin’s mind began to rapidly move through everything he now knew, every idea, every bit of information he had been pummeled with since he woke up. Just a few short minutes had passed, but it already felt like an eternity. He wanted to sink back into the shadows. He wanted to return to sleep. He wanted to be a shadow. And that’s when it hit him. His new name. “Veil,” he said under his breath. “My name is Veil.”

“Hello, Veil,” Tusk said, getting to his feet and turning back towards the dense forest. Stepping forward, the shadow began to engulf him again. He lifted his arm and pointed out towards the left. As he did, the light of the glade was summoned towards it and a path became illuminated. Veil knew that path hadn’t been there before.

“I told you, once you made a choice, your path would become clear. Oh, and a bit of advice: you should get going. The wolves can sense magic, and they’ve begun their journey towards you. They gain power by eating those of us who contain any semblance of true power. Think of this as a starter zone, though. The wolves are rather weak as they stand, and I have faith you should be fine.”

“Magic?” Veil asked.

“You did get an ability scroll, didn’t you?” Tusk said sardonically.

“I thought you said you didn’t know what was in it,” Veil said suspiciously.

“I lied,” Tusk said, turning towards Veil one more time. “I am a demon, after all,” he said as his body began to disappear, feet first.

“A-a demon?” Veil said, a sense of dread overwhelming him. Rushing to his feet, he started towards the lit clearing.