The guards lay on the ground.
Not one of them could stand.
Some trembled with fear.
Some stared at Eric as if they were looking at a monster.
The slave camp was silent.
The whips had stopped.
The shouting was gone.
Only the sound of the wind could be heard.
Eric slowly looked around.
He did not understand what had happened.
He had never wanted to hurt anyone.
He had only wanted the suffering to end.
One by one, the slaves began to stand.
They looked at the fallen guards, then back at Eric.
For a long moment, nobody spoke.
Then an old man walked toward him.
Tears filled his eyes.
"Did... did you save us?"
Eric lowered his head.
"I don't know."
"I only wanted them to stop hurting everyone."
A woman holding a small child fell to her knees.
"Thank you."
Another person followed.
Then another.
Soon, hundreds of slaves were kneeling before Eric.
Some cried with joy.
Some laughed.
Others simply looked at him with hope.
A young boy stepped closer.
"What are you?"
Eric looked at his own hands.
He quietly answered,
"I... don't know."
An old woman spoke next.
"Where will you go now?"
Eric stood in silence.
He remembered the beautiful woman with white and silver wings.
Her words echoed in his heart.
"After you deal with these bullies... you and I have much work to do."
He slowly looked toward the distant horizon.
"I have to find someone."
The people did not understand.
"But where?"
Eric pointed toward the north.
Beyond the hills...
Beyond the rivers...
Beyond the kingdoms...
There was a forest.
A forest so large that no one knew where it ended.
People called it the Forest of Eternal Magic.
It was filled with strange beasts and ancient power.
Many had entered.
None had returned.
The old man grabbed Eric's arm.
"You cannot go there!"
"It is a land of death!"
"No one survives!"
Eric smiled softly.
"For some reason..."
"I feel like something is waiting for me there."
Without another word, he began to walk.
The freed slaves watched until he disappeared into the distance.
No one tried to stop him again.
Days passed.
Eric crossed mountains, rivers, and empty lands.
At last, he stood before the great forest.
The trees were taller than castles.
The air itself was filled with magical energy.
Even the wind felt alive.
Eric took one step inside.
Then another.
The deeper he walked, the stranger the forest became.
The ground slowly rose higher and higher.
The trees grew larger.
The light from the sun became harder to see.
Soon...
Clouds covered the entire forest floor.
It was like walking through the sky.
Most people believed the clouds hid the tops of ordinary hills.
They were wrong.
Far above those clouds stood something unimaginable.
A single giant mountain.
Its size was beyond belief.
Its peak disappeared into the heavens.
No traveler had ever seen its full form.
No map had ever recorded it.
It had remained hidden since the beginning of time.
Eric climbed without stopping.
Days turned into weeks.
Weeks turned into months.
At last...
He reached the highest point.
Standing on the mountain, he looked down.
The clouds were beneath his feet.
The whole world seemed small.
The wind was silent.
Everything was still.
Then Eric slowly raised both hands.
His eyes closed.
The air around the mountain began to shake.
Deep below, on the empty ground hidden within the heart of the forest...
Ten circles of light suddenly appeared.
One after another, they shone brighter and brighter.
The earth trembled.
The trees bowed.
The magical energy of the entire forest rushed toward those circles.
Something...
Or rather...
Someone...
Was about to be born.
And high above, where no eye could reach, Eric stood alone.
Watching in silence.