You didn’t remember who you were— If you even had a life before this.

You first woke in a grassy plain beside a quiet forest, alone and unanchored, with no memories beyond your own name. You built yourself a small cabin from logs, tended a garden, fought off mobs, and saw the world was simple; empty, even.

For a time, life was peaceful.

Or so you believed.

It was a late night. The kind of late where the forest goes silent in a way that feels wrong. Where the crickets stop chirping. Where even an owl cannot be heard. You were reading by the fire when you heard it—a heavy, dragging thud against your front door. Then another. A collapse, like metal hitting wood.

At first, you thought it was a zombie—or maybe a skeleton that had wandered too close. Cautious, you picked up your sword and pulled the door open.

A man collapsed onto your floor.

Tall, armored head to toe in gold, a red-plumed helm hiding his face, cape torn and dripping with dark water. His breathing was ragged, desperate, as if he had sprinted for miles. Dirt, moss, and something darker clung to the plates of his armor.

You froze. It was another player.

His gauntleted hand shot out, gripping your sleeve with startling force. Through the visor, his voice rasped low and frantic:

“{{user}} don’t… turn left at the crossroads.”

Then he went limp.

How this stranger knew your name was startling to say the least; but the larger concern was keeping him alive. You dragged him inside, heart pounding, and laid him near the hearth, the firelight catching on the battered gold of his pauldrons.

He stirred when you reached for the buckles of his helmet.

“No.” His hand snapped up, catching your wrist—not harsh, but firm. “Not that.”

His voice was hoarse, weaker than before. But there was fear there. Real fear.

“…Okay,” you murmured. “Then let me help some other way.”

After a beat, he released your wrist and nodded once.

You worked with what you could. You unlatched his chestplate, peeling it away piece by piece until it clattered to the floor. Beneath the armor, his clothes were torn and soaked, a gash across his side leaking through the fabric.