Pain.
It was the first thing he felt.
Then cold.
Zayden's eyes fluttered open, vision blurred by blood and exhaustion. Above him… a night sky, clearer than anything he'd ever seen. No helicopters. No radio static. Just silence—and stars.
Where... am I?
The jungle was gone. The air smelled different—crisp, ancient. He tried to sit up, but his body screamed in protest. Wounds reopened. Dried blood cracked across his side.
"Easy," came a soft voice. "You'll tear your meridians open again."
A silhouette moved into his vision.
A woman—long silver hair flowing like silk, eyes glowing faintly in the moonlight. She wore robes that shimmered like water, strange symbols stitched into the fabric. She looked human… but not quite.
Who...
"You fell from the sky," she said softly, her voice laced with wariness. "You tore through my boundary ward like a wild beast."
Zayden's head throbbed. He blinked, still disoriented. Trees loomed above—taller, older, stranger than any he knew.
"I... I was in a forest," he muttered. "There was an ambush... I was shot... then everything—just—shifted."
Her brows drew together. "Ambush? Shot?" She repeated the words like foreign terms.
Zayden looked up at her, heart pounding. "Where is this place? What jungle is this?"
She narrowed her eyes. "You're far from any jungle I know. This is the outer valley of Wuyin Mountains."
"Wuyin...?" He'd never heard the name in any map or mission file.
He pushed himself up with a groan. "No satellites, no signals... no radio..."
The woman stepped closer, now clearly intrigued. "You speak strangely. Your clothing is crude. You carry no spirit weapon... And your aura—chaotic."
He stared at her robes, her otherworldly features, the faint glow in her eyes.
"This... isn't Earth, is it?" he asked hoarsely.
"Earth?" she echoed. "Is that your homeland?"
His chest tightened. "No... this can't be real."
The woman watched him, eyes unreadable. "Wherever you came from, you're not there anymore."