Airbornes Bjorn and the Floating Nest

Chapter One:

Jaden had always known he was unwanted. His parents, barely out of high school when he was born, treated him more like a burden than a son. They left him alone in their crumbling North Carolina home for hours, sometimes days, without a second thought. He learned to cook for himself at eight, to lock the doors at night at ten, and to stop expecting love long before that.

It was on one of those lonely nights-when the house felt too empty, and the wind whispered things he didn't want to hear-that he discovered the basement door.

He had never noticed it before.

The old house had its fair share of creaky floors and hidden spaces, but this door was different. It was small, nearly blending into the shadows at the bottom of the basement stairs. The handle was rusted, the wood old yet strangely sturdy. Something about it called to him, sent a shiver down his spine that was equal parts fear and curiosity.

Jaden hesitated only for a moment before twisting the knob.

The door swung open without a sound, revealing a narrow tunnel carved from red earth. A heavy scent of damp soil and something older-something ancient-filled the air. He stepped forward, drawn in as if the tunnel itself was waiting for him.

And then, he fell.

Not in a clumsy, accidental way, but as if something had grabbed him, pulling him downward through darkness that had no end. His stomach lurched. His scream was swallowed by the void.

Then, light.

Blinding, golden sunlight burned into his eyes as he landed, not on a basement floor, but in the middle of a vast, open village.