Prologue

Darkness, as far as the eye could see.

No scents or sounds to be observed anywhere near where he stood. Leo blinked and tried to make out images in the black void that surrounded him, but to no avail. He was seemingly all alone in this foreign place.

'Where am I? My head's so foggy and I can't make sense of anything.'

He felt himself and realized he was still clothed, but couldn't figure out what exactly he was wearing. Touching the ground as well, he was met with the same fuzzy feeling, as if something was preventing him from assessing his situation.

"Hello? What's going on?" Leo shouted out into the blackness, trying to project his voice as much as possible.

...

No response, not even an echo of Leo's voice. The endless space around him seemed to swallow up sound like a vacuum. Leo steadied himself and thought about what he could do in a place like this—somewhere devoid of... everything.

*Sigh*

'There's no point in standing here waiting for something that's not even guaranteed to happen. I might as well move forward and look for something in this darkness.'

Leo crawled slowly ahead, feeling the path before him with his hands in case of any changes in the environment that could injure him. He kept up his journey for what seemed like an eternity, until...

*FLASH*

A bright light emerged from behind Leo, obstructing his view with a white glimmer that hurt his eyes after being accustomed to the dark for so long. Almost immediately after the flash, the shine dimmed towards a brightness akin to candlelight, revealing a figure behind it.

"Hey!? Who are you, what's happening??" Leo stood up and shouted frantically towards the figure that he couldn't quite discern.

"Oh-ho-ho, how interesting... a curious fellow, aren't you?" The twisted voice laughed as he responded to Leo's calls.

"Please, you don't underst-" Leo was cut off as he tried to explain himself.

"Don't worry, I understand much more about you than you ever will, hehe... quite honestly, I don't see any merit in describing your situation for you. It would be much better if you found out yourself."

The figure snapped its fingers, the candlelight was extinguished, and Leo felt a heavy impact to his head, before abruptly falling unconscious.