The city was gloomy and colorless. People disappeared into gray streets, and each day lost its meaning. Not in a literal sense — the air, Alex thought, wasn't moving at all — it just lingered, thick and suffocating. Streets filled with people who didn't look each other in the eye, only into the screens of their phones. Endless lines of cars, the stench of exhaust, a misty sky with not even a hint of blue. Every day was a copy of the last, as if time had jammed itself on an endless conveyor belt.
For Alex, life had never been a fairy tale. Abandoned as an infant, he was raised in foster homes where kindness was a rare commodity, and children learned to shut themselves off long before they learned to say "please" or "thank you." He was quiet. Too quiet to be noticed. Too kind to protect himself. He often stepped aside, offered a helping hand, shared his last piece — but it only deepened his loneliness. Good people disappeared. Or were taken advantage of.
Over the years, he had learned not to expect anything from anyone. A warehouse job, a rented attic room in an old building, daily walks through neighborhoods full of graffiti-covered walls. No friends. No family. But he had dreams.
In the evenings, he would sit at a worn-out desk with a fantasy book in hand, losing himself in worlds that had nothing to do with reality. Worlds where nature still spoke its own language. Where heroes traveled across lands full of adventure, and where the forest was a home to all kinds of beings.
He loved nature, even if he only knew it through parks, books, and documentaries. He had a habit of collecting leaves and pressing them into an old notebook. Every day, he visited the same park and sat beneath the same tree — an old oak whose massive roots coiled partly above ground.
That day, it was raining. A light drizzle, as if even the weather no longer had the strength to pour properly. Alex didn't go to work. Not because he didn't want to — he simply couldn't. Something gnawed at him from the inside. A dull pain beneath his ribs, where his heart was supposed to be. A strange feeling — as if something was about to happen.
He sat beneath the oak, the damp ground soaking through his pants, but he didn't care. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The air smelled of wet earth and decomposing leaves. For the first time in ages, he felt at peace.
And then he heard a voice.
— Alex...
He opened his eyes, but the park was empty. Still, the air trembled around him, as if filled with whispers.
— Alex, your heart does not belong to this world. And this world never truly belonged to you.
His breath caught. It was a warm, nurturing voice — a woman's. Alex wondered if he was imagining things, but the voice felt too real.
— Who... who's speaking? — he whispered.
— I am Gaia. The beginning and the end. Mother of rivers, keeper of roots. I feel life in every drop of dew, hear the whispers of trees and the scream of scorched earth. And I have heard you, Alex — your dreams of a greener world, your longing for a place where you could be yourself.
— This is a joke, right? A hallucination?
— No. This is real, Alex. I offer you a journey to another world — a place where magic still lingers, but everything is harsher and more true. You won't find comfort there, but you may find meaning. The world I want to send you to needs a heart like yours. It will be hard. Sometimes cruel. But real. And only you can decide if you want to leave this world behind.
Around him, the shadows deepened. But it wasn't night — it was more like the city itself was dissolving. Buildings vanished. Streets crumbled into dust, as if they had only ever been memories. In their place: soil. Living, breathing earth. Trees that hadn't been there before sprang from the ground. The sky turned golden-green.
— This world rejected you. Cast you aside like a withered leaf. But another world… it needs you. Where magic still breathes, where nature cries out for guardians. Where the earth bleeds and the Forest is dying.
— But… — he hesitated. — What about my life? What if it's not real? What if I end up alone again?
— You won't be. I promise you, as the Mother. But you must understand one thing, Alex. If you choose this, you won't return. And… I will take your memories. Not all of them. I'll leave your essence, your character, your heart. But the pain, the abandonment, the cold of those walls — they won't follow you.
He froze.
— Why?
— Because this new world deserves you — and you deserve a new beginning. Not as the shadow of a forgotten boy, but as a guardian. A being of unity with the land.
He trembled.
— What if… I'm not enough?
— You are. You always were. Others just couldn't see it.
He watched as the world around him shifted into something wild and beautiful. Trees sprouted from nothing, their trunks twisted in unnatural directions, their leaves glimmering like emeralds. He smelled damp bark, heard the whisper of wind between branches. The air grew heavier, thick with something ancient. Goosebumps crawled across his skin — not from fear, but from awe.
And then he remembered something he once scribbled in the margin of an old book:
"I don't want to be part of this world. I want to be part of a world that understands me."
He stood.
— Yes — he said, his voice shaking but firm. — I want to live. Differently.
— Then prepare yourself for the journey of your life, my Druid.
Your story will begin in the desert.
It won't be a fairy tale. That world is wild, harsh, and full of dangers. Predatory creatures roam at night, and by day, the sun scorches your skin like fire. There is no soft moss or birdsong — only sands that burn your feet, night winds that carry the cries of monsters, and a constant struggle for survival. But in that brutality lies truth. Remember: nothing will come easily — to become a Druid, you will have to earn it with blood, pain, and courage. And it is there that your new life will begin.
In that moment, the world shattered completely. The park was gone. The buildings. The concrete. Only light remained — blinding, warm, alive. He closed his eyes.
And his memories… faded, as if they had never existed.
Moments later, the world collapsed into green. Alex wanted to scream, but no sound left his throat.