As the rose to signal the morning of a new day, a red cloaked figure strolled across the maintained but worn stone path of their home city as the sought something more in their life. As the sun continued to rise, they reached the end of the stone laden path as it suddenly turns to well worn dirt roads that wind through thousands of kilometres of untamed forest. The stand still as they gaze off into the distant snow-capped peaks of a distant mountain range that spans for further than the eye can see.

The figure stood alone at the end of the path and gazed out into distance with longing in their eyes. They had dreamt of this point for many years as they had gazed from atop the city walls longingly ever since their parents vanished into that same wilderness. They had dreamt of the day they could once again see their faces or, at the very least, find out what happened to them. But now as the sun rose above the mountains and trees, the could finally set out to learn the answers they have sought and fulfill their desire to explore.

The orphanage had always stopped them from leaving the city but now they were old enough and had their own money and life, nothing held them back in this town anymore. They could control their own path now and they took full advantage of it. So, with their pack in tow, their spirits held high and their mind focused, they stood steady and ready to search for their parents while they delved into adventures.

They continued to stare at the marvel in front of them they would soon traverse, at least initially, alone. Of course, they one day hoped to eventually travel with a few others, if for nothing else than safety in numbers in the wide expanses of uncontrolled wilderness. Where the law of the jungle rules over the inhabitants as the time ticks ever onward.

With a steady breath, they walked off the stones onto the dirt and moved onward with vigour alone. They saw the world slowly move around them as they walked casually through the forest along the well-trodden paths wondering about their future and how their journey into the world will go. The first day past by as if it was a flash and the second began. The red cloaked figure had never felt so free as they gazed upon the rising sun of their second day in the wilds. Their future looked as bright as the morning sun so they continued onward but they don’t get to far until the forest is slowly dying.

The trees become shrivelled stumps, the ground black and corroded and the sky seemingly darker. The cursed lands stretch onward to which the red cloaked figure walks alone. They ventured from empty fields as the days passed. Empty and barren towns stand still and silent as death. Even a crumbling castle standing alone encircled by blackened walls. The stood within the ruined lands starring at the broken lands. Their future exploration suddenly a lot darker than they believed it to be.