Chapter 23: Boy

At the smell of unfamiliar grass, Theo opened his eyes. Still disoriented, he visualized that he was leaning against the trunk of an unreal tree. Its color was jet black, and its leaves, a vibrant scarlet red, gave the impression of being stained with blood.

Water dripped down the scarlet leaves of the colossal tree as the drizzle fell softly. The lingering musty smell made him uncomfortable.

Theo observed everything calmly. Trees of red and black crystal rose skyward like sharp fangs, reflecting the golden sunlight with crimson highlights. The grass was a beautiful cyan color.

At that moment, his vision became a strange mix of blurry pastel colors, as if someone had poured water on a canvas that had not yet dried. The breeze brushed his face, bringing some clarity to his mind.

With a calmer mind, Theo was finally able to think.

'So I really was summoned to this strange world...'

Theo checked his body slowly, looking for any abnormalities. He didn't know what changes the summons had caused in his body. After a thorough inspection and finding nothing unusual, he was finally reassured.

Suddenly, a bird the size of a stray dog flew past him, snapping him out of his reverie. Its wings, with a soft gradient of greens, purples, and blues, would put any peacock to shame. Theo followed its trajectory as it flew toward the distant red and black crystal tree line.

'I am in another world,' he sighed.

Getting up from the tree he was leaning against, Theo looked around, not knowing where to turn. What he saw looked nothing like the city of Ignes that Lucius had mentioned. But before moving, he opened the status window.

[State Information]

Name: Theo Forger

Title: The One Favored by Fate

Trait: Player, Unusual Adaptation

Level: 7

Strength: 15

Agility: 14

Endurance: 13

Mana: 11

Additional stat points: 49

Unique skills: Weaver, Fate Thief, Eye of Chance.

Skills: Shadow Intangibility Lv.1, Shadow Spears Lv.1, Luck Chain Lv.1

—

"Well, it looks like nothing has changed."

After looking at the status window, Theo looked around to find a direction to get out of that strange, magical forest. He didn't want to spend the night in that place.

Suddenly, he noticed something: it was too quiet. Besides, he hadn't heard the considerable bird that passed near him!

"Shit, what the hell is going on?"

The silence was so thick that Theo was almost sure the forest concealed latent threats. A dense canopy blocked most of the sunlight, creating an eerie patchwork of light and shadow on the cyan grass.

Then, Theo began to hear amused, mocking, and creepy laughter from all directions.

Fear and terror began to take over his body as he began to notice more details. Although the laughter echoed in his head incessantly, what he was experiencing now was far worse.

From the beginning, something didn't add up in that forest. When he regained sight, he saw a large bird with the most lovely feathers.

However, he had not heard a single chirp from that bird, not even when its wings flapped the air loudly.

'Calm down, Theo, analyze the situation first before you do anything stupid.'

Theo told himself not to panic and to be able to think clearly, but he found it impossible.

'Holy shit! I just walked off a fucking stage, and this happens? Doesn't this panel say I'm the one favored by fate?' he thought in frustration.

Just as he was about to move, he noticed something even more disturbing: his sense of smell had vanished!

He could smell nothing but the earthy scent of flowers and damp earth!

In that instant, adrenaline shot through Theo's body like fireworks. Not only had he not realized that his hearing had probably been altered, but now he couldn't smell the countless flowers scattered across the meadow. He watched them, swaying happily in the wind, unable to comprehend the despair he felt.

Theo looked around and saw strange strands of skin slithering down his body like snakes. They writhed and formed loops around his feet and torso while others slithered across his stomach and back.

He was about to scream when suddenly all the fear left his body. The accumulation of terror vanished instantly like smoke.

"I see..."

Theo immediately understood what had happened. The "Entity" that clung to him had consumed his emotions; he no longer felt anything but a void, as if he were a passive spectator of his body and soul. An indifferent observer who could not identify with any of the characters on stage... and that character, however, happened to be himself.

Theo slowly turned his neck and saw the face of the monster behind him. It was the silhouette of a large "Boy," no more than eleven years old, with pale skin and completely black eyes, filled with a deep emptiness.

Beyond the head, the rest of his body was a tangle of tentacles of skin that clung to Theo, some piercing him as if he were a ghoul.

The entity looked him straight in the eye with an amused, almost mocking expression.

Theo looked back into its abyssal eyes with a blank expression. Though his emotions were gone, his ability to think was not yet gone, though he doubted that would last long.

As an onlooker, he examined the "boy's" face and other features more closely. Beyond the abnormally pale skin, a few other significant features caught his attention.

Both ears were pointed, elf-like, but also marred by innumerable imperfections.

A viscous black fluid slowly seeped out from the ear on the left, similar to that which dripped from the entity's eyes. The other ear appeared severely damaged or injured; noticeable scars could be seen from a distance as if someone was trying to tear it off.

"What exactly are you?" Theo asked.

A childish giggle echoed through the forest.

"#$%&%$##$"

Theo bowed his neck slightly.

'What's wrong with this creature? It looks like it's trying to tell me something but can't...'

Suddenly, that line of thought disappeared from his mind. Like a puff of smoke, they dissipated in the wind as if the ties that bound them to him had weakened. And yet he knew for sure that he had those thoughts. The memory still existed. He watched as the boy's lips slowly curved into a smile.

"I see, so you consumed my train of thought..."

The entity did not respond. It simply dug its skin-like tentacles into his body, much more profound than before.

Theo realized that time was running out. He had to think of something fast to escape this predicament.

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