Cold, muddy, the first things Zaiyer felt upon gaining his consciousness. Unusual, he was certain he didn't fail at his previous task, yet, here he was. He opened his eyes, though they may as well have remained closed with how dark and foggy it was. He was laying on his back, though quickly got back on his feet as his eyes adjusted to the darkness that surrounded him. He surveyed his surroundings, though couldn't actually see too much; trees, branches, various different dangerous looking plants as far as the eye could see, which wasn't very far. Zaiyer took a few steps forward, almost tripping over... something, he couldn't actually see it too well, and it also didn't help that it was incredibly muddy and wet. He wouldn't be able to safely walk in this place if he had no light, so, he decided he would create his own.
His lightning magic would surely create enough light for him to see, even if it was only flickering sparks on his fingertips. He brought his index, middle finger and thumb together, attempting to create small sparks of lightning to light the way, yet... he couldn't. This is quite odd. he thought to himself. The last time he couldn't bring out his magic had to have been at least two decades ago, until now. He didn't forget how to do so, he knew how it was supposed to feel like and could also feel the magic flowing within him, but no matter how hard he tried, for some reason, he wasn't capable of using it. As he decided that magic was no longer an option, a large bolt of lightning shot from his fingertips and past his head, hitting a tree that loomed over him, sending it ablaze. The lightning bolt was extremely loud, so it was certain to be heard from a distance.
This is indeed very odd. Though, I can see now, so I suppose this is an acceptable result. Zaiyer didn't intend to start a forest fire, though, it is what it is. With the tree now on fire, he could see very clearly. In addition to the one tree being set aflame, nearby trees were also catching on fire because of how close they were to each other, creating a small forest fire, perfect to light the way for him, wherever he was going. He began walking... somewhere, he didn't know where he was, but hopefully it was out of the forest. A few steps in, however, and he knew that there was something near him. I've done this before. Something is about to jump towards me. No sooner than he thought that, a large, dark beast launched itself from the shadows and attacked Zaiyer.
There was no way to dodge, though instincts made it so he would try. He briefly forgot about the mud, however, and slipped, falling to the ground, which aided him in this circumstance as the beast flew above his head, barely grazing his silver hair. He quickly turned around to get a better view of the beast, though he could not properly distinguish it as it appeared to be a large shadow, though, as it turned out, it was no beast at all, it had a humanoid shape, though, he still couldn't see it properly. Something was obviously wrong with his eyesight, but he would concern himself with it later.
There was almost no way for him to beat this person without magic, and he had no access to said magic right now. Several pieces of flaming branches and charcoal fell around the two as they simply stared at each other, observing and anticipating the first move. For Zaiyer, this would be an uphill battle.