Xean!
Surrounded by the sound of wind and leaves falling from the trees.
Xean woke to the crack of lightning. As he opened his eyes, he realized he was lying on the forest floor. Confusion washed over him as he struggled to make sense of where he was.
The last thing he remembered was going to the store near his house—and the girl. She had yelled his name, told him to come with her.
Now he was here, in the middle of a forest.
As he tried to stand, a sharp pain shot through his head like lightning striking from the inside. He clutched his skull with one hand and pushed himself upright with the other. Then he gasped.
Those hands—they weren’t his.
The clothes—torn, bloodstained, and nothing like what he’d worn.
Panic surged through him. Who was he? Where was he?
And most terrifying of all—whose body was he in?
His memories were fogged and distant, like trying to remember a dream after waking. He searched for something familiar—his name, his face—but it was like his mind had been wiped clean.
Then a woman’s voice echoed inside his head.
“Xean, Xean, Xean…”
Her voice sent shivers down his spine. When it stopped, Xean stood—then suddenly forgot how to breathe.
It was like his body had paused, frozen between worlds.
In that moment, a flood of memories poured in.
The woman—his mother. His parents were divorced. His mother, a powerful businesswoman, owned a large company. He lived alone with her in the city. She’d asked him to go out and buy bread. That was the last normal thing he could remember.
“What… is happening?”
Step by step, Xean moved through the dense undergrowth, every step sending jolts of pain through his head. The forest felt alive—trees whispering secrets, shadows moving just out of reach. He felt like a stranger in his own skin, like a ghost wearing someone else’s face.
But the farther he walked, the more the pain eased. His thoughts grew clearer.
He had to figure out who he was—and how to get back home.
He wandered the forest for hours. Hunger gnawed at his stomach, thirst clawed at his throat. His strength was nearly gone. But he couldn’t give up.
He refused to die without knowing the truth.
After another thirty minutes of staggering through the trees, his legs gave out. He collapsed to his knees, breath shallow, mouth dry as ash.
His stomach growled—loud, angry, desperate. Every part of him ached for rest, for food, for water.
But more than anything—he craved answers.
A way to stitch together the pieces of his broken memory.
Xean crawled under a crooked tree with low-hanging branches and slumped against its trunk. His muscles throbbed. His vision blurred.
“Don’t fall asleep,” he whispered.
“Not yet.”
But the moment his eyes closed—more memories crashed into him. Sharper this time.
A red car.
Streetlights flickering in the rain.
His mother shouting into her phone.
He’d slammed the front door behind him, music blaring in his ears as he stormed into the night.
The glowing neon sign above the corner store.And then—her The girl.
Brown eyes. A hoodie two sizes too big. She had grabbed his arm and shouted something.
“Xean! Come with me!”
Then—light.
Thunder.
Nothing.
He snapped back into the present, sweat dripping from his temples.
That wasn’t just a memory.
It was the moment everything changed.
Somehow—that girl was connected to all of this.
But what exactly was this?
A rustling in the nearby bushes made him freeze.
His hand moved instinctively to his waist—no phone, no weapon. Just rags and a stranger’s body.
The bushes moved again.
A low, guttural growl.Xean’s heart pounded. He rose unsteadily to his feet, backing away slowly, eyes scanning the trees.
Then—two glowing yellow eyes emerged from the darkness.
Another growl. Louder. Closer.
A figure stepped into the clearing.
Four-legged. Fur tangled and thick. A wolf—but no normal wolf. This thing was massive, with bone-white antlers curling from its skull, glowing cracks running down its body like molten lava—and great wings rising from its back.
The creature snarled.
Then it lunged towards him.