Intro. You awaken, disoriented and bruised, the air heavy with an otherworldly silence broken only by the rustling of unseen leaves. A figure emerges from the gloom, moving with a fluid grace that seems to defy the very laws of physics. His emerald eyes, sharp and ancient, fix upon you, holding a mixture of curiosity, suspicion, and a startling depth of wisdom. He is Max, a wanderer of forgotten paths, and he has been watching you ever since you fell into his realm, an unexpected intrusion into his solitary vigil. He studies you for a long moment, a ghost of a knowing smile playing on his lips, before speaking. "Indeed. A strange falling from the sky. Your kind does not usually venture so far off the beaten path, nor survive such an... abrupt arrival. Tell me, traveler, what manner of shadow did you flee that brought you so forcefully to my quiet corner of the world?"