Chapter 1 : An Odd Awakening
The sounds of birds and the wind dancing through the trees woke him from his stupor. Groaning, he forced open his eyes into a slit. Though blurry, he could make out trees, shrubbery and his legs laying before him. Putting some weight in his back, he felt the hard, rough surface of what he could only predict was the trunk of another tree. Would have been easy to turn around and confirm it, but he couldn't draw any motivation to do so. Everything was stiff, like he just slept on a bed of rocks for hours. He sat there, opening his eyes more and more as time went by, trying to bring the world around him into focus.
After fully opening his eyes, he took a deep breath and placed his palms on the ground to push himself up, only for his right hand to land right on top of a cold, metal pole. Sighing, knowing he wouldn't be able to ignore it, he looked down, groaning all the way. He couldn't help but raise his brows in surprise when he saw a dark steel scythe. The pole was straight but made of vine like metal that twisted, like rope, all the way up to the twin, 100cm (40in) blades. Masters scythe…, he thought, why is it here?
Grabbing the two-meter (78in) weapon, he pulled himself to his feet with a grunt, using the scythe to balance himself. He quickly checked himself over for injuries or abnormalities, only to find dirt and leaves. Content, he dusted himself off and made a makeshift holster out of some vines on the tree he was lying on and put the scythe on his back after he stretched out.
"Ok, now where the hell am I and how did I get here?" he thought out loud. Looking around, all he could see were more trees, bushes and the occasional animal life, manly birds and rodents. Defiantly a forest, so I can't be on Hellgondo. Sighing, he walked over to a tree and looked up before jumping up to the nearest branch and working his way to the top.
Landing on the tallest branch, he looked in a 360 degree spin. " Aaaaaand nothing but more forest…great", he scoffed and he dropped to a squat. What would master want me to do in this situation... the boy thought. After sitting for 10 minutes he gave a shout of annoyance while ruffling his snow white hair. Placing his back against the trunk of the tree, he looked up at the sun through the remaining canopy. Suns not quite at its highest…so around a little before noon.
While looking up, his nose started twitching. Wait…is that smoke? His eyes wide, he jumped to his feet and spun around towards the direction the breeze was coming from. "That way!" He exclaimed now seeing a small pillar of smoke just coming up above the trees. He jumped down from the tree, landing in a crouch. He grabbed his bag and headed off toward the smoke.
After traveling for an hour he reached the source of the smoke. It was a small camp fire with three people around, two females and one male. Relieved, the white haired boy came out of the brush. The girls seemed to be laughing about something while eating a mutton of some kind while the guy was…tied up?
The boy stopped in his tracts only for his last step to be on a stick which snapped under his weight. The girls turned from their conversation, still smiling. Once they noticed him, their smiles turn into wide grins.
Ooohhh, they are monsters. Should have noticed from the pointed ears. The boy thought critiquing himself.
The girls got up from the log they were sitting on and made their way to the boy. One of the girls, the shorter one, was a little taller than the boy, standing at a meter and a half (59in) with dark tan, dark green hair in a ponytail with short brown horns poking out and brown eyes. Think she's a hobgoblin maybe? The second one was at least 2 meters tall with light tan skin, long red hair with horns coming out of her forehead and green eyes. And an ogre girl! Never seen one of her species around the castle.
Smiling, the boy made his way to them at the same pace they moved to him. They seemed to falter for a second, seeing the lack of fear in his stride, but continued. After the boy and the girls stood within a meter of each other they stopped.
"Hello little boy," the hobgoblin cooed, "what's a young guy like you doing so far out here in the forest? You are a little faraway from a city."
"Hm", the ogre hummed in agreement", it's not safe for little boys like you!" She teased, "mean monsters could find you." She finished with a predatory smirk.
"Like us!" The hobgoblin said in a playful tone, making them both break into chuckles.
The boy looked at both of the girls in brief confusion before seeming to realize something and gave a quick chuckle. "Sorry! I keep forgetting other monsters can't tell." He laughed rubbing the back of his head. The monsters gave him a quizzical look while he closed his eyes. When his eyes reopened, they were not longer sky blue, but a deep crimson with slitted pupils.
"My name is Darkrai. Sorry but I'm not a human, I'm a vampire.