The sun dipped low in the sky, casting a dull orange hue across the dense underbrush of Pinewood Forest. Shadows canopy stretched long and deep, cloaking the ground in an eerie twilight. The air was still, yet charged with an unsettling energy. Birds had long ceased their songs, and the only sound echoing through the trees was the distant rustle of leaves, like whispers of caution drifting on the wind.

Amidst the gnarled roots and tangled brambles walked Shadow, disoriented and slowing across the forest floor. His chest heaved as he blinked against the blinding light filtering through the canopy above. Shadows danced before his eyes, not all of them belonging to the trees surrounding him. He couldn't shake the remnants of his sudden episode, the visions of chaos and despair swirling in his mind like whispers of a storm. And he doesn’t remember a single thing.

As he pushed himself up, the once white glove of his right hand came into stark view—streaked with dark crimson. Shock coursed through him, the remnants of fear setting in as he examined it closely. Blood. It dripped slowly from his fingers, pooling on the ground like autumn leaves left to wilt.

He gritted his teeth, struggling against the overwhelming surges of panic. A voice broke through the weight of dread looming in his mind.

Where was Rouge...? He was just with her in the... hospital. He doesn’t remember anything. At all. Nothing during what just transpired, he only remembered a conversation—a very bleak one. And now he was outside, in this forest, idly gazing at the setting sun.