Waking up, Elios rubbed his groggy eyes. Having finally adjusted to the sunlight, he stared at the ceiling of the hollowed-out tree for a while before ultimately getting up to grab some of the fruits he had left earlier that day.
After eating them and discarding the used leaf, he walked along the same path he always took—passing the bird's nest, the marked tree, the pothole, and the—
Before he could finish that thought, a sense of confusion struggled its way to the surface of his mind. His expression twisted, his golden eyes sharpening slightly.
"Odd… Since when was there a cave here?"
He began walking toward it, but after reaching a certain distance, he stopped. His eyes went blank. His body returned to its previous path, continuing forward toward the herbs and berries.
"Huh… I could have sworn there were more berries than this. Must have been another bird or an insect that got hungry."
His mind was too relaxed to care about small matters like these, so he kept moving, finding no reason to fight against this feeling of peace.
Looking for a fallen leaf or a couple of bushes to place the berries and herbs on, he noticed footsteps. They looked exactly like his own—but he didn't remember walking there.
Something felt wrong. But the possibility of there being something truly wrong felt so low—after all, he had only been here for a week.
"Ehh… I must have walked here at some point. Probably just forgot."
Continuing his task, he found a medium-sized leaf and placed a couple of purple berries and some long, thin, bright green herbs on it.
As he made his way back to the hollowed-out tree, he noticed more inconsistencies in his memory—fresh footprints, fallen bushes he could have sworn were standing just yesterday.
The more he looked, the more inconsistencies he found. Yet, for some reason, his mind didn't register them as eerie, unsettling, or even strange. They seemed normal.
Having been in a state of relaxation for so long, he completely missed the pothole. Not realizing it was there, he stumbled into it, spilling the berries and shifting the dirt around.
Small dots of pale white sand, carried by the wind, scattered across the island. Not minding much, he slowly climbed out of the pothole and picked up the fallen herbs and berries.
His mind felt clear—but was it really?
"Why am I so relaxed?"
"I guess I've just been at peace for too long… No, that can't be. I've been here for less than a week."
A feeling of wrongness began to cloud his mind. But behind it, as if wrapping its arms around his thoughts and covering them in a veil, relaxation reemerged—pulling him back into serenity.
At a leisurely pace, he walked through the forest of tall, beautiful redwood trees until he finally reached his long-time home.
Sitting down, he picked up the small wooden stick he had sharpened. He noticed it was moist—as if used recently. He found that odd, considering he hadn't cut anything particularly wet or juicy.
Squinting his eyes, his golden gaze focused, as if trying to peer through the veil of relaxation. For a moment, clarity struck. Using the sharpened stick, he cut a piece from the leaf he had used to carry the berries.
After cutting a medium-sized piece, he looked toward the corner where a small book—one that had once belonged to his best friend—lay. It was something he had taken with him to the Ancient World.
Opening one of its pages, he saw twelve very similar leaves, all of similar sizes.
When his gaze fell upon the leaves, he felt his heart drop. In his mind, he had no memory of placing them there. But as he tried to remember, it felt as if an invisible barrier was keeping him out.
Shakily, he placed the leaf inside the book alongside the others, making sure the tip was sticking out so he could see it.
At this point, he was trembling. He wasn't in pain. He wasn't tired. He wasn't exhausted. But it felt as if he was fighting against something with all his will.
Closing the book and placing it back in its former position, his body stopped shaking. His eyes, which had gained clarity, lost some of their light—becoming dimmer.
He ate some of the berries and fell asleep on the bed of leaves and bushes he had made.