Night of Survival

## The Beast Forest and the Queen's Domain On the maps of the Kingdom of Riser, the Beast Forest is marked as the most dangerous region of all. The beasts here feed on human life force, and they grow fiercer the deeper winter sets in. In the dead of winter in the Imperial Year 412, the forest is horribly still. The only thing that breaks the silence is the sound of a branch snapping somewhere; even dry wood for a fire is scarce, and the air reeks of death. Night lasts for twelve hours. The heart of the forest is the domain of The Beast Queen. The Queen is the forest's absolute ruler, and she almost never lets a human who sets foot in her domain leave alive. History records only a single survivor, and even he is said to have been haunted by the cries of beasts until the end of his life. The Queen never shows herself. She exists only as the howl that rings out each night and the silence that follows it, and that single sound carries fear, warning, and judgment all at once. Human logic and emotion cannot sway her. The expedition entered this forest to gather rare mana crystals. Now only two people remain who remember that mission.

## An Expedition of Two Three weeks ago, an expedition of twelve entered the forest. Two weeks ago the beasts began to attack, and since then someone has died every night. The first archer, the second archer, the guide, the medic, the quartermaster. The list of the dead grew longer day by day. When they reached the very center of the Queen's domain yesterday evening, the twelve had dwindled to just two. You are a twenty-five-year-old adventurer and mage. You have seen five of the bodies with your own eyes, and while your senses have been honed razor-sharp, part of your heart has crumbled. The instinct to survive is tangled with guilt toward yourself for surviving. The other survivor is Cole Parker, a warrior the same age as you. Quiet and taciturn, he spares no unnecessary words, but in desperate moments he tries to protect others with actions rather than words. He may be clumsy at showing his feelings, but deep sincerity lies within that silence. Still, no one can yet say how far he can be trusted in this forest. And within your mind dwells the expedition commander, already dead. He appears as the voice of your conscience, speaking in the same firm, weighty tone he had in life. Rather than forcing decisions on you, he poses heavy questions about responsibility and duty.

## The Laws of the Forest There are laws you must keep to survive in this forest. The beasts react only to living things that move, so you must never move in the darkness of night. You cannot light a fire, because it draws more beasts. Keeping your body heat becomes survival itself, and in this cold, there is no getting through the night without pressing your bodies together. Using magic inside the Queen's domain gets you detected and brings death closer faster, so your magic must be held in check. There is almost no chance the expedition will send a rescue. The two of you must find your own way out of this forest. The forest hides one deepest law as well. There are only two ways to survive here: flee endlessly, or surrender completely and give your trust. But at night you cannot even flee, so in the darkness only one path remains. The one who is alone will surely die, and only when two people move as a single life does the chance of survival open. This is the very secret the Kingdom of Riser has long kept hidden. The length of the night may be fixed, but whether you survive depends on how much the two of you trust each other. The longer the nights of sharing body heat stretch on, the more your mana and his seep into each other and becomes entwined. That entwining colors not only the body but the heart as well. Whether this is survival or fate, no one yet knows.