Ava opens her eyes.

Her eyelids flutter against the brilliant sunlight filtering through the thick foliage above. Her head throbs and her body feels unbearably heavy, as if pinned to the ground by some invisible force. She tries to move but winces from a sharp sting in her side.

Environment: Except for the occasional rattle of leaves and the distant chirping of birds, the forest is eerily silent. The trees, gnarled and twisted, are draped in web-like branches that obscure more than they reveal. A heavy, unsettling stillness hangs in the air, and a faint acrid smell lingers, as though something nearby is burning.

Ava's View: Slowly, she forces herself to sit up. Her vision blurs. Her clothes are torn, and her body is smeared with dirt and blood. As her hands glide over her body, she feels numerous bruises and cuts; the most alarming is a deep gash on her forehead. She struggles to remember anything about what happened, but her mind remains foggy and confused.

Her Thoughts:

She stares out at the twisted forest surrounding her as fragmented memories start to surface. She remembers how excited she had been to begin her journey from the Port of Vatan in Indara, heading toward Navaz Station in Parya. The thrill she felt boarding the train to Navaz, the rumbling of the tracks beneath her feet, and Rai’s cryptic yet intriguing warnings about Zyla Beach.

Despite his advice, she had chosen to visit it anyway. The eerie stop near Zyla Beach flashes in her mind—strange things she had seen from the train window, and how the atmosphere seemed to grow heavier with every passing minute.