Chapter 0A: Rabbit
This cave was dark, darker than night, yet scattered with a quiet constellation of gems that looked like distant stars. Red, blue, and white lights shimmered deep within the stone. I watched them flicker with the corner of my eyes. The air was cold enough to sting, but this cave carried a quiet beauty. The cavern stretched endlessly, a vast labyrinth winding for many kilometers.
From the ledge where I stood, I had already looked down once. A bottomless gulf yawned below, lit only by the glow of the crystalline walls. It would terrify anyone afraid of darkness or height. I wasn’t frightened by it either. What terrified me, truly, was death. The thought of it clawed at me, and I had hoped that staring at these gemstones might silence that fear, if only for a moment.
But something else had stolen my attention.
A golden outline. A ring, a shape so mesmerizing that the eye refused to look away. My gaze locked onto it as if bound. Time itself had seemed to slow down. My pupils tightened. My body froze. I could barely breathe.
That golden pattern… it was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen. Like staring directly into the sun. Like some forgotten relic of the ancient world.
But it was neither of those things.
The golden ring… was staring back at me.
Two large golden eyes, each with a pitch-black center, were fixed on me. The creature before me, this serpent-shaped giant, was a Baelon. I had only heard stories about it, tales people told children before bed. I never believed they were real. But they were.
It towered over me, many times my size, standing on four powerful legs beneath a broad, heavy body. Its face had a regal shape to it, like a guardian carved from an older world. They said the Baelon was one of the strongest magical beings to ever exist, the descendant of dragons.
Its golden skin was covered in hard, layered scales that caught the light of the gems around us. Its mouth stayed shut, yet warm steam escaped its nostrils with every deep breath. I had never felt fear like that before. Death itself was looking straight at me.
My thoughts were running wild, trying to find a way out. There wasn’t one. If this creature wanted to kill me, it could end me instantly. I didn’t need to be told—my instincts screamed it. Even though it was still some distance away, my body refused to move.
The Baelon walked toward me slowly, almost calmly, but I knew it could reach me in a heartbeat. Its build made that very clear. My stomach tightened. My chest ached from the pressure of fear. Every hair on my body stood stiff.
It felt like watching a cat close in on a trapped mouse. Like a wolf approaching an injured rabbit. That’s what I was—cornered by the predator nature meant for me.
