Frustration crept in quietly.

Not as anger.

Not as panic.

As irritation.

The kind that settled behind my eyes and stayed there, dull and persistent, no matter how steadily I breathed or how carefully I placed each step.

I had been walking for nearly an hour.

An hour.

And I had found nothing.

No ruins.

No monsters.

No mana disturbances.

No signs of my companions.

No landmarks that meant anything at all.

Just trees.

Endless, towering, suffocating trees.

I stopped, planting my feet firmly in the loamy soil, and forced myself not to grit my teeth. Getting sloppy now would be dangerous. I could feel the forest watching, not in a sentient way, but in the way a place heavy with life always did. A place where things could wake up if disturbed.

That was why my perception was throttled back.

One mile.

That was it.

Normally, I could stretch my senses far wider, sweeping kilometers at a time, feeling mana currents ripple and fold like tides. Here, I refused to do that. I didn't know what lived in this forest, and the last thing I wanted was to announce my presence to something ancient, territorial, and vastly stronger than me.

Prying eyes invited attention.

Attention invited death.

So I kept my perception tight and controlled, a shallow dome extending no more than a mile in every direction. Enough to detect movement. Enough to avoid an ambush.

Not enough to get me answers.

I exhaled slowly through my nose.

Still nothing.

The silence was oppressive, not empty, but layered. Insects chirred. Leaves rustled. Somewhere far off, something large shifted its weight, branches groaning under unseen mass.

But nothing came close.

Nothing crossed into my range.

It felt like being trapped inside a living maze designed solely to waste time.

My patience finally snapped.

I turned and punched the tree beside me.

Lightly.

Barely more than a tap, really, just enough force to vent irritation without doing anything dramatic. My knuckles connected with the bark in a dull thud, and I immediately regretted even that much. It was childish. Pointless.

For a few seconds, nothing happened.

I relaxed slightly.

Then the tree exploded.

Not cracked.

Not splintered.

Exploded.

Dark wood and shredded leaves detonated outward in a violent burst, bark fragments tearing through the air like shrapnel. The trunk disintegrated from the point of impact, collapsing in on itself as the upper half toppled sideways with a thunderous crash that shook the ground beneath my boots.

Debris rained down around me.

I stared at the smoking ruin in front of me, unblinking.

Slowly, I lowered my fist.

"…Great," I muttered.

I let out a long, tired sigh and rubbed my temples.

This wasn't like me.

I didn't take my frustration out on inanimate objects.

Ever.

That was sloppy, emotional, beneath me, and worse, it was loud. If there was anything dangerous within range, I'd just rung the dinner bell.

I waited.

Ten seconds.

Twenty.

Thirty.

My perception stayed clear.

Nothing stirred.

Either I was alone… or whatever lived here was so far above me that it didn't even register that outburst as noteworthy.

Neither option was comforting.

I stepped away from the wreckage and surveyed my surroundings.

It was almost embarrassing.

Around me stood the remains of several other trees, cratered trunks, snapped branches, gouged bark, silent evidence of earlier moments where I'd lost patience and tested my strength without fully meaning to.

I winced.

"…Enough," I told myself quietly.

I needed a better vantage point.

Staying on the forest floor clearly wasn't helping. The canopy was too dense, the terrain too uniform. If I wanted perspective, I'd have to earn it the old-fashioned way.

I selected a tree at random, one I hadn't reduced to kindling, and began to climb.

The bark was rough beneath my fingers, ridged in deep spirals that made for excellent handholds. I moved quickly but carefully, using bursts of controlled mana to lighten my weight and steady my grip.

The higher I climbed, the thinner the branches became, but they were still absurdly sturdy, flexing only slightly under my presence.

The forest fell away beneath me.

Light filtered in more freely as I ascended, the air cooling just a fraction. Leaves brushed against my shoulders, massive and waxy, some nearly as large as shields.

When I finally reached the upper canopy, I paused.

Then I looked out.

And froze.

As far as the eye could see...

Trees.

Not patches.

Not clusters.

Not domains broken by rivers or plains or mountains.

Just forest.

An ocean of green and shadow stretching endlessly in every direction, the canopy rolling like waves frozen in time. No cities. No roads. No clearings. No smoke. No signs of civilization.

The sheer scale of it stole the breath from my lungs.

I slowly turned in place, scanning the horizon.

Nothing changed.

The distance felt… wrong. Larger than it should have been. Larger than any forest I had ever seen or studied.

Larger, even, than the human domain.

Larger than the Velkaris Empire.

My heart sank.

"That's… not good," I whispered.

I forced myself to think.

There were forests scattered across the continent, yes, but none like this. Even the great wildlands had borders. Edges. Transition zones where trees gave way to plains or foothills or rivers.

This place had none.

The only forest that came remotely close in size was the Verdant Domain.

And that...

I grimaced.

That belonged to the elves.

Damned elves.

Their empire was infamous for its living cities, ancient trees grown into impossible architecture, and aggressive territorial boundaries. The Verdant Domain was massive, but even it wasn't supposed to be this vast.

Unless…

Unless this wasn't the same continent.

Or the same world.

I closed my eyes and inhaled slowly, letting the cool air fill my lungs.

Panic would solve nothing.

Speculation without data would solve nothing.

I needed to ground myself in what I knew.

Fact one: I had been swallowed by a violet rift of unknown origin, created by something that defied conventional magic, anatomy, and logic.

Fact two: I had arrived alone in a forest saturated with mana, large enough to dwarf known domains.

Fact three: My mana reserves were stable. My body was intact. I was not under immediate threat.

That was more than I could say for most people in my situation.

I opened my eyes and steadied myself against the trunk.

"All right," I murmured. "Let's think."

If this forest was truly that large, wandering aimlessly would be a waste of time and energy. I needed either elevation, already achieved, or a point of interest strong enough to draw attention.

Civilization left scars.

So did powerful beings.

Mana currents, unnatural clearings, weather anomalies, anything that broke the monotony.

I extended my perception again, carefully.

Still only a mile.

The canopy blurred at the edges of my senses, a living mass of green and gold. Birds flitted at the edge of awareness. Small creatures scurried along branches.

Nothing large.

Nothing intelligent.

Nothing hostile.

That in itself was suspicious.

Forests of this scale should have apex predators.

Territorial monsters.

Ancient guardians.

Unless—

"They're deeper," I said quietly.

Below the surface.

Or further in.

Which meant one thing.

This place wasn't empty.

It was waiting.

I exhaled, tension bleeding slowly from my shoulders as my frustration finally gave way to focus. Whatever this forest was, it wasn't something to be rushed or bullied into submission.

I would need to be patient.

Methodical.

I glanced once more at the endless sea of trees, committing the view to memory.

Somewhere out there, my companions were scattered, just as lost as I was.

And somewhere deeper still.

Answers waited.

I turned and began my descent, mind already shifting into planning mode.

One step at a time.

One decision at a time.

The forest could keep its secrets a little longer.

I would pry them loose eventually.

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