Alden woke with a start, his body wracked with pain. His last memory was of a blade piercing his enemy.
And yet, as he looked down at himself, his body was whole. No scars, no pain. Just a lingering emptiness where the wound had been.
His master stood over him, arms crossed, eyes filled with something unreadable."I should be dead," Alden whispered.
His master simply nodded. "And yet, you live."
Alden's mind raced. This wasn't the first time he had miraculously recovered from injuries that should have killed him. But the why of it remained a mystery.His master knelt beside him, gripping his shoulder. "Listen well, Alden. Your training has only just begun."
Alden swallowed hard. After years of torment, he had thought himself near the end of this trial. He had fought, bled, and killed to prove himself worthy. But the look in his master's eyes told him that his true challenge had only just begun.
"You must fight every monster you can on the way outside this forest," his master said, his voice like steel. "Defeat as many as you are able, and you may finally step beyond these cursed trees."
Alden's stomach twisted. He had spent years battling the horrors of this place, but to fight endlessly until he was strong enough.
"What if I fail?" he asked.
His master's grip tightened. "Then you are still weak. And the weak do not deserve to leave."
Alden clenched his fists. Weakness. It was a word he had fought to erase from his very being. He would not let it define him.With a deep breath, he picked up his sword, the weight of it familiar now. He met his master's gaze and nodded.
"Then I will win."
And so, the years passed.
Alden hunted, battled, and survived. He fought through injuries, through hunger, through exhaustion.
His body adapted, growing stronger with every victory. The monsters that once haunted his nightmares became mere steppingstones on his path to mastery.
He clashed against packs of Nightstalker wolves, their fangs snapping inches from his throat. With precise movements, he weaved between their lunges, his sword carving through fur and muscle. Blood sprayed against the dirt, and when the last wolf fell, Alden stood victorious, his chest heaving.
He battled venomous wyrms, their twisting bodies striking with fangs dripping poison. One coiled around his arm, its teeth sinking into his flesh. Pain flared, but Alden had long since conquered pain. With a savage twist, he drove his blade through its skull, its body twitching as he ripped the weapon free.
Giants fell before him, their roars shaking the forest. One swung a tree trunk as a club, the force splitting the ground as Alden narrowly dodged. He launched himself forward, scaling its arm in an instant. His sword found its mark in the beast's neck, severing its lifeline. The giant collapsed with an earth-shaking thud.
Flesh-eating insects swarmed him, their tiny mandibles biting through armor and flesh alike. He set the air ablaze with fire, their bodies bursting into ash as he moved through the chaos, relentless and unyielding.
With each battle, he honed his skill. His blade became an extension of his will, his body a weapon forged in the crucible of endless combat.
By the time he turned eighteen, the forest no longer felt like a prison. It was his domain. He had fought enough to prove his strength, and now he could leave.On the morning of his eighteenth birthday, he stood before his master, his sword still dripping with the blood of the last monster he had slain.
His master, silent as ever, studied him. Then, with a slow nod, he finally spoke."You have won."
Alden exhaled, feeling a weight lift from his shoulders."You may leave this place," his master continued. "And with each battle you fight beyond these trees, you will earn the merits needed to become what you were meant to be—a Holy Knight."
Alden sheathed his sword, staring at the world beyond the forest.
He had survived. He had conquered.
Days later, his feet carried him to the gates of the Lionfelt household. Before him stood the towering walls of the noble estate, the crest of the Lionfelts emblazoned upon the iron gate. His journey had led him here.
This was only the beginning.