When I came to, I was wandering through a dense, overgrown forest.
With towering trees blotting out the sky above, my surroundings were dim, and the occasional howls of beasts stirred an instinctive terror within me. I wanted to stop in my tracks, but I knew that if I did, fear would paralyze me forever. Driven by that dread alone, I forced myself to keep moving forward.
Where was this place? Why was I wandering out here? No, who was I in the first place? My mind was completely blank; I couldn't remember a single thing.
The only certainty was that collapsing in a jungle like this meant guaranteed death. Knowing that all too well, I relentlessly pushed onward, one step at a time.
One day, two days, or perhaps only a few hours had passed. My sense of time had vanished long ago, and my vision was blurring from sheer exhaustion and hunger.
(This is bad...)
At this rate, sooner or later, my legs would give out. And once they did, certain death awaited.
(No!)
Dying after wandering aimlessly through an unfamiliar wilderness for reasons I didn't even understand was out of the question. Even if death was inevitable, I at least wanted to know why this was happening to me. Otherwise, I could never accept it.
"Guh?!"
My foot caught on a massive tree root, and I tumbled clumsily onto my face. Rolling onto my back, I saw the moon peeking through the canopy above—so breathtakingly beautiful it almost made me laugh.
Just as I reached my right hand toward the moonlight, the sounds of a struggle reached my ears from the distance.
"Someone's there..."
Judging by the screams, it had to be human. The moment the thought crossed my mind, my legs moved toward the noise as instinctively as a moth drawn to a flame. My mind and body had already reached their absolute limits from trudging across this endless sea of trees.
Driven by sheer desperation, I broke through the brush to find a young girl fallen on her backside and a massive, wolf-like beast looming over her. Saliva dripped from its jaws as it crept closer.
That scene overlapped with a memory from my past, staining my vision crimson.
"Guh...?!"
Letting out a choked groan, I clutched my head with my left hand while instinctively dropping my center of gravity and thrusting my right palm toward the beast. Words spilled naturally from my mouth. The ground flared with light beneath me, traced in glowing geometric patterns.
I felt a strange sense of nostalgia at the sight—mingled with a revulsion so profound it made me want to vomit.
"Flame Bullet!"
As the incantation took form, a barrage of fire erupted at blinding speed from my fingertips. The flames slammed into the wolf-like beast, blasting its body apart and burning it to ash in an instant.
Ah, that's right. This nauseating, repulsive sensation. I remember it. This, at least, I remember. I despise this art called magic to death—and ironically enough, I happen to be exceptionally good at it.
As I tried to turn toward the girl, my vision warped, bleaching into pure white.
I recognized the sensation immediately. It was a feeling I had experienced countless times before.
(I see... This is Mind Zero.)
I'm going to pass out. The moment that certainty struck me, my consciousness plummeted into the dark abyss.