Forest Illusion

Upon waking up, I feel as if a piece of my memory is missing, a part has been lost. My head is bloodied, and I don't know how much time has passed or what happened for me to be lying here. Looking up at the sky, I see it's dark. What did I come here for? I try to get up, even though most of my body aches.

"What the hell happened? This infernal headache."

Looking to the side, my eyes land on a book.

"I remember it... Someone gave it to me."

The book, green with golden details, lies on the ground. I go over and pick it up. As I open it, I see Dante's X on my wrist. I run my hand over it, and almost immediately, I remember everything that happened.

"Damn it, Éder. I need to find him."

I look around and see only trees. In front of me, the flower that should be there is gone. On second thought, what did I see in it? It was pretty, but that's all?

"So many questions and no answers. I need to do something."

I'm all beaten up. How can I recover in this state? I can barely walk. Maybe the book has some information about my affinity with time? Perhaps, by understanding it better, I can get out of this. Opening the book, I find a section about some types of affinity.

"Was this here before? I don't remember. Whatever, I just need to get out of this situation and go after Éder."

I sit near a tree and try to read something about time.

[Time is something primordial. What would the world be without time? It refers to a feeling of fear, anguish, and injustice. Its special words are: Breathe, face, and feel.]

That's all it says about time. Damn it, how am I supposed to use something if there's nothing about it? I close the book, and as I do, a drop of blood falls onto it. My wounds are getting worse. Since I was a child, I never liked seeing much blood; I don't understand why. Over time, I realized there are situations where we have to face things we don't like.

"I need to get out of this. Nothing comes to mind."

Wait a minute... "Breathe, face, and feel"? I place my hand on my forehead and feel the blood trickling down my fingers. I take a deep breath, but it's agonizing to feel each drop running over me. I quickly remember Mayke and realize how ironic I am.

"How did I do that to him? How didn't the blood pouring out of him make me agonize in disgust?"

I am an enigma that even the best detective couldn't solve. I have to face this. I did it once; I can do it again. I take a deep breath and leave my fingers there. While doing so, I no longer feel the blood. When I touch my forehead, it's normal.

"I think I understand how this works. I managed to speed up my healing. It seems that, besides slowing down time, I can heal faster. That's incredible."

Realizing this, I try to do the same on the part of my abdomen that was hurting because of Mayke.

"Interesting, I managed to heal again."

But when I try to do it on another part of my body, I can't.

"Maybe there's a limit to its use. No, actually. I remember that mages needed to rest to recover their magic."

That must be it. Well, this has already been a great help. Now I need to find Éder. I get up from the tree and pick up the book. At the same moment, I wonder: how will I know where he is?

As I walk, trying to figure out how to find him, I accidentally step on a leaf. Looking down, it's the map Hugo gave him. Éder must have dropped it while he was with the flower and didn't notice.

"This will help me find him."

Opening the map, I don't understand at first, but after a few seconds, I get it. I'm in the western part of the forest. On second thought, why should I go after him? He won't bring me any benefit. Better to go after the Eastern Serpent; I'll get more benefits. Following the map east, I see several beautiful animals, seemingly unique to this place.

"What the hell am I thinking? Probably the forest makes our subconscious think this and ends up fixing us here."

I remember this feeling. It seems there's some kind of magic that does this to our consciousness.

"I have to think of a way to avoid this. There must be some way to counter it."

Maybe the book has something to help.

[Magic propagates in three different ways: through hearing, sight, or physically. Physical propagation can both harm the opponent and heal. Propagation through hearing and sight can be called conceptual propagation. The individual can use an area to cast their magic and leave, making the affected area have some effect even without their presence.]

"Hearing or sight, right."

I place my hands over my ears and drop the book and map. But while doing this, the thoughts don't enter my mind.

"That's it. It seems I've figured out how to get past this."

Before anything else, it's better to carry the map inside the book. In case I feel this sensation again, I'll cover my ears.

Continuing a bit more east, I start to smell meat.

"Damn, it's nearby."

It's already night, worsening my vision. I try to stay alert to avoid being caught off guard.

As I walk through the forest heading east, the smell gets stronger, and through some trees, I see Éder. He's facing a cave, holding the flower from before.

"What do you think about living here, my beautiful flower? Isn't it lovely here?"

He's completely hypnotized. I try to approach him from behind silently. First, I leave my book and map near some plants, making them invisible, especially at night.

While Éder is fixated on the flower, I get behind him and place my hand over his ears.

"What the hell is this? Is that you, Lucas?"

He falls to the ground immediately, dropping the flower.

"I did it; let's hope he returns to normal."

As I look at him lying there, my eyes go to the flower.

"It's pretty, right? I think I'll take... no, I have to remember, I can't let this control me."

I cover my ears, and the thoughts stop instantly. At the same moment, Éder gets up.

"Lucas? What happened? I have a hellish headache."

He gets up but can barely stand.

"Man, here's the thing: there's a magic in this environment that hypnotizes us with anything from this forest. The way to avoid it is by covering your ears."

He looks at me incredulously when I say this, staring fixedly at me.

"So, you're saying I was caught by this? Damn it, man. It's already getting dark. How long was I like this?"

He seems visibly irritated by the situation.

"I have no idea, man. But we still need to go after the Eastern Serpent. And I believe it's in this cave ahead of us because of the smell of meat."

When I say this, he's surprised and notices the meat smell that Hugo mentioned.

"Lucas, I apologize for what I did to your body and the punch. My memories are coming back now. I'm sorry, man."

"Don't worry, I've been through worse. Well, let's go."

He seems like a good person. What would have happened if I hadn't found him? Well, I'll never know. Éder goes ahead and uses fire magic to light up the inside of the cave.

"You use fire magic?"

"Yes, unfortunately, I'm one of the few who can use magic. But I can't use it for long. It seems that hypnosis was draining my energy; I'm tired."

As he says this and looks ahead, we see an enormous snake. Its height reaches 5 meters.

"Éder! Be careful, the snake is right in front of you!"

The snake, seeing us, retreats into the cave.

"Lucas, you should know. But I won't back down. Let's go!"

I can hear the determination and courage in his voice, something that didn't seem like the boy I met before. We enter the cave and reach a part where the floor is made of smooth stones, resembling a large room. There, in front of us, the snake waits.