When he first opened his eyes, the first thing he noticed was emptiness. Emptiness and silence. It was as if he had been lost in an infinite void, everything he once remembered existing erased, vanished. In his mind, there was only a void, so profound that he couldn't even recall his own self. His name? Forgotten. His face? He couldn't remember. There was no one—just an immense sky and a dizzying silence surrounding him.
His eyes focused on the endless expanse of the Garden of Contemplation, the never-ending grass, the trees beyond the steppe. Everything, when observed closely, felt strangely familiar yet utterly foreign. As he stepped into the world around him, he felt a heaviness in his legs, as if with every step something was slipping away, as if he were constantly relinquishing something. The loss of his memories, the loss of his identity, the loss of everything…
"My name… What was my name?" he murmured, but his voice seemed to knot in his throat, echoing like that of a stranger. Perhaps that voice didn't even belong to him. Perhaps he had lost his voice too.
Before he could dwell on it further, his eyes drifted back to the sky. But this time, the sky began to speak to him. It was no longer an endless blue void but something that resembled a living earth, brimming with life. Suddenly, without understanding why, something he thought he remembered surfaced. Something… He felt something was missing, but what was it? To ask a question, to receive an answer, to follow a sign… There was a fleeting inner call, but he didn't know its answer.
As he began to walk with heavy steps, he touched the ground with one hand. Instantly, everything he touched trembled with a force, intensifying the pain in his head. A deep ache throbbed within him, as if something were wrenching his mind out of his skull. It felt as though an unconscious connection was pulling him somewhere, though it was impossible to know where.
Walking through this garden grew harder with each passing minute. The plants around him, with their enormous, withered leaves, seemed to gaze at him, as if they were alive. As if each one were living its own inner journey. But there was something strange here.
Trying to forget the pain in his head, he ventured deeper. The deepening silence weighed on his heart for a moment. There were no sounds, only the echo of his footsteps. Yet it felt as if, with enough courage to delve further, those sounds might return as echoes.
And then, a cold, terrifying sensation gripped his chest. Slowly, a figure emerged. A pitch-black silhouette, almost invisible, yet sharp enough to unmistakably sense its presence.
The figure's gaze carried such a piercing, deadly emptiness that breathing became difficult. What was this silhouette doing there? It simply stood, seemingly watching him. The silence before it wasn't just a presence—it seemed to draw in every second. It was as if silence itself had taken form. Only colder.
After a while, he managed to tear his eyes away. He tried to step back, but retreating felt impossible. His gaze shifted to the sky again, but this time it wasn't just the sky—there was so much more. A place where everything was disconnected, chaotic, and infinite, where he could feel every kind of lostness and formlessness imaginable.
His mind was a mess. The unease within him was trapped in a dilemma. This garden somehow only made him feel lost. Yet his consciousness urged him forward—there was more. His eyes searched for that black figure again, but the emptiness deepened. The figure was gone.
The only thing he'd learned since entering the Garden of Contemplation was that it felt like he had to pass a test to survive, yet everything here concealed so much more. What did the void in the sky symbolize? Or the silence? A search for truth pulled him in while leaving signs that everything he existed for had vanished.
And then, on that thin line between mind and body, a lost identity, a self, began to take shape again with heavy steps.
"My name is Kael," he said, though he couldn't tell how strong his voice was.
He took another step, and everything slowly darkened as his body began to tremble.
As he progressed through the garden, each step intensified a different sensation. He could almost hear every plant, every leaf whispering something to him. The garden's magic and power were as mesmerizing as they were terrifying. Everything was so orderly that nothing seemed out of place—it was like paradise, breathtakingly perfect. But Kael felt something was missing. Without his memories, in this void where his identity had slipped away, the perfection of everything felt somehow wrong. And that frightened him even more.
Lifting his head to the sky, another feeling grew stronger. As his eyes took in the garden's colors fully, everything blurred for a moment. For an instant, he saw something—a flicker of his past, an echo, a light. But what was it? He rubbed his eyes, and immediately after, the silhouette of a dark figure appeared.
A black, shadowy entity began approaching him step by step from the depths of the garden. At first, it was just a shadow, then it morphed into a tangible figure. Slowly, it drew closer to Kael, making no sound. It only evoked a coldness and an inner pressure.
Kael felt his body strangely. He was strong enough to face that moment, yet he was equally afraid. He could overcome it, but he lacked the courage. The presence of that black figure seemed to symbolize his past, his lost identity, and perhaps the truth of the beings in this garden. There were traces of gods or unknown entities—here, right in front of him, standing before him.
"Who…?" Kael whispered faintly, noticing even his own voice trembled. As the figure approached, he felt that everything but his voice would unravel at some point. But the figure didn't answer his question. It only stared into his eyes, showing no emotion, moving toward him no matter what. It was as if he were trapped in a labyrinth.
Each of its steps reverberated like a heavy echo, but Kael didn't know what to do. What was this entity telling him? What was this figure? How should he define this situation?
After a while, the silhouette stopped in front of Kael, and in that moment, he realized his first truth. His past… He couldn't remember it, but he knew something. His self, his life, everything—it was all hidden behind this. And perhaps only this garden, this place of gods, would help him understand his existence.
The entity slowly leaned toward Kael's face, and a momentary silence fell. Kael waited, unsure of what to do. That moment had to be when he'd realize everything.
But just then, a power within Kael began to awaken. Silently, yet forcefully. Something inside him showed him a path.
And suddenly, everything became clear. With a light gleaming in his eyes, Kael saw a path where the dark figure had been. He could follow it. A dark past, a lost identity… But now, all he had to do was walk that path.
The power surged through his body for a moment, and Kael closed his eyes. Something was changing. An awakening, a beginning. But above all, the only thing Kael remembered was the moment he stepped into this garden. That moment was the turning point when he had to comprehend all reality.
For a moment, Kael thought it might all be a dream. Perhaps it was just a hallucination, an illusion. He didn't know himself, couldn't remember. But there was something—a void within him, a deep void… It was as if the whole world were foreign to him, yet somehow familiar. With every step, the stillness beneath the soil felt peaceful, as if it had once belonged to him. But that peace soon gave way to emptiness, to fear. Not remembering anything made him feel detached from life.
Why was he in this garden? Who was he? He was the only one asking these questions. But there was no answer, no explanation… Only a figure, a dark shadow, appearing and disappearing before him. That entity never averted its gaze. In that moment, Kael felt it was all a test. Was it really that simple? What question did he have, what was he seeking?
Was he once a person who remembered his name, his identity? He still couldn't recall. At that moment, something inside him erupted. An emptiness, a sorrow, a pain—so deep he felt it in his chest. His thoughts were aimless, his heart racing. It was as if he'd lost something and needed to chase after it. But what? Who was he? Where was he going? Each step bred more fear.
Kael held his breath. The figure took another step. The shadow closed the distance between them. But this time, instead of fear, Kael felt a kind of anger. He'd found himself in a foreign world—but why? What did this entity want? Was it the gods, or powers from another dimension? Kael only noticed the void within him and set aside his fear, focusing solely on defending himself.
"What exactly are you?" Kael said, his voice shaking. But the figure stood silent. There was only a deep stillness. Kael clenched his fists. Something was shifting. The dark figure quickened its steps. The closer it came, the more anxious Kael grew.
And then, in that exact moment, a light flashed. Within Kael, in his eyes, a change occurred. That light erased all the darkness, all the fear, if only for an instant. And with that light, a power awoke. The power surged through Kael's body. In a flash, his emotions gave way to composure. That light seemed to hold a secret, and Kael began searching for a way to unravel it. In that moment, he felt time speeding by. Soon after, he realized everything was fading rapidly.
But this was a beginning. Kael took a deep breath and stepped forward. The shadow vanished. In that moment, it was just Kael, and with his lost identity, he felt as though he'd embarked on a journey.
The power within him guided him somewhere new. Something was changing. Now, everything had gained meaning. The lost fragments of his past, the future he'd have to pursue—Kael, at the start of it all, would consciously seek his identity, understand his existence, and overcome every obstacle in this journey to find a truth. But in that moment, there was only one thing within him: the realization that the lost pieces of his subconscious belonged to the soul of a person determined to find the truth, no matter what.
In that moment, he made a decision: Whatever happened, he would stand against everything lost in this journey and unravel it all. He would grasp who he was, why he was here, and what this reality he'd awakened to truly was. And that had to be Kael's only truth.
And he took another step. A deep, dark journey was beginning—toward the unknown, the silence, and an unbearable coldness.