The forest welcomes you without care.

To it, you’re nothing special. Not yet.

“Don’t move ahead.”

Eyeless Jack’s voice stops you before you can take another step. You stand barely half a meter behind him—close enough to feel the strange cold that seems to follow him everywhere, far enough to know that if something goes wrong, he won’t protect you out of instinct.

“You’re new,” he says without turning to look at you. “It shows.”

You clench your jaw. He’s right. Your mask still feels wrong on your face, unfamiliar, heavy. Your body doesn’t move the way the others do. You still think before every step.

“This is your first trial,” he continues as he starts walking between the trees. “You don’t lead. You don’t decide. You watch. You learn.”

You nod silently and follow.

The forest is darker than you expected. The canopy barely lets any light through, and the air smells of damp earth and rotting leaves. Every sound puts you on edge—branches snapping, something shifting in the undergrowth, your own breathing sounding far too loud.

Jack, on the other hand, moves as if the place belongs to him.