The bright and beaming white ball was firm above the sky as it stared down at him. It was a full moon. His breaths whirled rapidly. Gusts of air looped in and out of his lungs in an unstable, and unending, cycle. His head throbbed violently, like something inside was drilling his brain and he couldn’t reach for it. It felt like he had slept for a millennium, and his brain had already been shattered to pieces while he was asleep. He just woke up, after all. It felt as if he had just come back to life, after being left for dead—deep in a forest with no life in it. It was just… dark, woodland hell all around him. He was lying down in a small patch of seemingly dead grass. It looked as if the tiny pasture spot was purposely prepared for him—to die in an open, meadow-carpeted coffin. But, around him, it was all just trees. They stretched on; almost for forever. And without the sun, they were just color black. He couldn’t decide if the trees were also just victims of the darkness

He just stared at it. Dead silent. And it laid in front of him like it was some other mango he had to eat. He lost his memories. But he knew bodies didn’t fall from trees. He didn’t realize it, but he was getting closer. His feet pulled him towards it unconsciously. It felt like his soul took over, and desperately wanted to see what—who—was inside. He had no choice, anyway. It felt like a moral responsibility. Or an ethic. Or an inborn rule. The only way to react to a dead body is to go towards it. Wasn’t it? He questioned. He could feel its coldness. Like he was already beside it. It only just needed to turn its face to him.The air felt thicker as he closed in on the corpse. Flies and maggots? Everywhere. The pests sprouted out of nowhere. The stink got in his nose now, but he managed. And the mangoes stopped falling from the tree, like everything else waited… and watched. It was just him and the body. And he was possessed. By curiosity,

It was the same moon. Unchanging and indifferent. The same light beaming from the black sky. But it didn’t give him comfort anymore. He felt betrayed by it. Deceived and seduced. Lied to by a silent, white circle fixed on the dark background. Its brightness could tell anyone that they were safe. But they were not. He knew it the hard way. But it was still good to have something familiar as he rolled down the stony hill in blood and broken bones. Why? He thought. Why him? Was it just right if he was dead? The pain and the motionlessness gave him enough time to think, as he lied down the ground drenched in his own blood. All he could do now was remember. The corpses. The burning tree. The river. The child. The dog. The forest. Yes, the forest, he thought. It was the forest. It wanted him dead. It wanted him to just stop. And he did stop. The thick, red fluid ran across his forehead and some got into his eyes. It obstructed him from seeing anything at all, as if

There was a ray of light at first, but it was more of just a blurry smudge of brightness in his eyes. But it gradually grew. He blinked repeatedly, until he got the sense of his own surroundings. Until he got the sense of his own state. He was looking up at the trees above. They covered him from the perfectly-risen sun and its light, but a few beams of the full morning had still managed to get through. Tickles of heat played around his skin like yellow insects, but overall, it was a perfect shade of phosphorescent green in the daytime. His head felt hard. He felt like he was lying down in a rough and itchy asphalt road. His body wasn’t in any kind of pain, but it felt like it finally moved for the first time after a hundred thousand years. It was dizzying, and nauseating, just to sit up straight. His eyes took in even more of what was around him. Right in front of him was just enough space for him to see a majestic, solid bluff, that overlooked an illuminated skyline. He felt

“The what?” he asked Nanay Wang to repeat herself. He furrowed his brows and glanced at Nanay Wang perplexedly.“The Kadlum.” Nanay said. She walked towards him and looked back as well. “It’s a group, kid.”“What kind of group?” he asked.“The kind of group that’ll give you your memories back,” she sneered. She looked away, slowly being pulled into her thoughts, and nodded confidently. “After that,” she gazed back at him. “You’re one step closer,” she added as she gave off a tiny smile. “You want to know why this is happening and why the world’s doing this to you?” she dared. “You’ll find out in the Kadlum.”“They’re… like you.” he said.“Well…” She shrugged, and chuckled. “You’ll see…” She walked past him and headed towards the doorway. “