Prologue
The world opens up around him suddenly, revealing the brilliantly green leaves waving softly in a faint wind. The boy opens his blue eyes wider, trying to remember why he is here, what he is doing. In his mind, he feels a wall, something holding him away from his memories. He pushes against it experimentally, but the wall is solid. With a short sigh, he stops.
After a moment he pushes himself up. Looking around, he wonders where he is, but nothing looks familiar while all the time it does. Frowning, he stands the rest of the way and takes a step forward, and seeing that it brings no ill consequence, he strides towards the edge of the woods, through which he sees the blinding sunlight.
Hoping to gain something back into his mind, the boy starts to run, panic of what he cannot remember starting to bubble in his chest. His breath comes fast as he runs, and when he bursts into the field that the light filtered into the woods through, he doesn't slow. Instead, in mad loss of sense, he bolts across and jumps a small stream.
Finally, after several minutes of fleeing, the boy comes to a stop, his breaths ragged from exertion. He looks around, his dark brown hair sweeping into his eyes. Reaching up to move it aside, the boy notices a path ahead of him. His hand pauses, his wild hair forgotten in the light of the new discovery. Dropping his arm back to his side, the boy stumbles forward and starts to follow the path away from the field and away towards his new destination.
At last, days later, he sees something that triggers a new spark in his memory. A little stone cottage rises up ahead of him, and the boy smiles. Where there are houses, there are people. His feet drag from exhaustion and his stomach clenches from hunger. Throat burning from thirst, the boy continues his steady progress, wanting desperately to speed up but holding back from his body's complaints.
As he draws nearer, he notices that his head feels strange, like it is suddenly filled with air. His breaths are suddenly struggled. I… can't… go on… he thinks suddenly. He stumbles on, but as he passes the door, his strength leaves him and he collapses, his world flashing black.
Only moments later, he hears the door to the cottage open and footsteps thud up to him, hurried, panicked.
"Are you okay?" A female voice inquires worriedly. He forces his eyes to open and he sees a young girl with bright, blue eyes and silver-blonde hair looking down at him with concern. "Wow, I've never actually seen anyone on the verge of collapsing before!"
The boy sits up weakly, regarding the girl warily. "Huh? Well… I've been walking… for days… with no food… no water…." He groans, trying to force his eyes to stay focused and his mind to stay alert.
"Ooh, that's not healthy! Hold on a sec." She replies, surprised. Suddenly, she spins around and rushes back into her house. The boy lies back down, his head pounding and his muscles burning. A moment later, he hears the door open once more and the girl reemerges, and the boy opens his eyes once more. Confusion fills him when he sees that she is carrying tools.
"Here, you can have my hoe!" She giggles, setting it down beside him. The boy sighs.
"Actually... I was hoping for some water…" He replies weakly, forcing himself back into a sitting position. He tries to stay polite to the strange girl, tries to forgive her cluelessness. Even in his state, his memory gone, he knows that this girl is… different.
"Oh, right, water!" She comments. "Okay, wait just one moment." She rushes off again and the boy once again is left to try to stay conscious.
"Here you go, try this watering can!" The girl says, reappearing at his side and handing him a tin watering can. He stares at it dubiously. Peering in, he sees that it is dry. Frowning, he looks up at her, squinting against the sun that seems to be growing ever brighter.
"Umm…"
"Is there something else that you need?"
The boy doesn't even have enough energy to be annoyed. "I meant… some drinking water…"
"Oh, duh! Sorry, it's just that the way you look and all… I thought a hoe and watering can would be more your style!" She remarks airily, only adding to her clueless aura.
"Ah…"
"Okay, be right back!" And she rushes away again. She reappears only moments later. "Here you go, some water and bread!"
The boy takes the cup and loaf from her, wolfing down the food eagerly and gulping down the water before he even has time to properly swallow. The girl watches him amusedly. It only takes him seconds to finish off anything edible and he hands the cup back to her, nodding a thanks.
"Thank you. You saved my life." He comments as a formality as well as a truth. He sits for a moment longer before he drags himself to his feet.
"Oh, it's nothing! Say, you're not from this town, are you? Are you on a trip or something?"
The boy's brow furrows as he again attacks the wall, trying to recover why he's here.
"Well… to be honest… I don't really know myself." He admits sheepishly.
"What do you mean you don't know?" The girl inquires, her voice curious and skeptical.
"I don't remember where I was before coming here. I don't even know who I am…" He mutters, wishing he could at least recall his name. He shakes his head helplessly.
"You mean… you have amnesia?"
Now that she mentioned it, he realized that that was a possibility. He had woken up in the middle of the woods. Maybe he had been hit and lost his memory. Nobody had been around, so nobody could have helped him…
"Maybe…"
"Do you remember your name?" She asks, and the boy shook his head angrily. Hadn't he just told her that he didn't know who he was?
"No…"
"Well, everyone needs a name." She states, speaking the obvious. The boy resists the urge to roll his eyes and shoot back a sarcastic reply.
"That's true." He agrees patiently.
"Why don't you pick one right now?" The girl says, smiling.
"Okay… but I don't remember what names there are…"
"Well, you could be Sam… or Maverick, or Colin, or Leo, or Raguna…" she lists. The boy perks at the last.
"I'm Raguna!" He remarks. The girl smiles. "By the way, what is your name?"
"Oh, my name's Mist! Say, Raguna. What are you going to do now?"
"I'm trying to find an inhabitant town… I haven't thought past that part yet."
"In that case, I have an empty house and field that you can use." Mist comments enthusiastically. Raguna grins at her offer but remembers his modesty at the last moment.
"I…I don't know what to say…But no, I couldn't possibly…"
"Don't be silly! I'm not using them anyway. Besides, I meant what I said before. I think you look like a farmer!" Mist babbles, grinning childishly. She blushes a deep red. "I mean, also because it's near to the town as well, and you can sow the fields to pay it off."
"I…thank you." Raguna says at last. Mist smiles wider.
"Alright, this is going to be so fun! Come one, the hose and field are to the north." Mist turns and strides with quick, excited steps towards the field. Raguna follows her more slowly, his muscles still aching in protest to all the movement and the shortage of nutrients. His stomach rumbles quietly, but he ignores it.
Mist leads him only a little past her house to a small stream and a arched, wooden bridge leading over it. As Raguna crosses, he looks down into the water and sees his reflection for the first time. His eyes are a brilliant blue while his hair is a mess of brown. His skin is covered in mud and dust and his cheekbones stand out strongly.
Then he steps off onto the other side. Mist leads him on for several minutes, chatting idly, but Raguna doesn't really listen. Instead, he gazes around, watching the trees around the path and the growing field in the distance. Finally, they come out of the tree-lined path and he gazes around in surprise. The field is large and the house small, but sturdy and comfortable looking after sleeping in the woods for night after night. He walks over to a waiting Mist.
"This is my home and farm. What do ya think? Not too bad, eh?" The girl laughs, grinning. She turns to look out over the field.
"I haven't done much work on the field for a while, so it's overgrown." She steps forward and strides into the field, picking her way carefully in. Raguna steps after her, but suddenly a bright blue orb appears, big enough to engulf Mist whole and she squeaks in surprise. A moment later, the light fades and a creature that looks like it was conceived in a nightmare steps out, shaking its head. Raguna runs forward and she reels back, his aching muscles forgotten as he rushes to protect the scatterbrained girl.
As he gets close, he realizes that he recognizes the monster, but he can't place a name or place that he learned about it. The monster is the size of a human, but its face is like that of a primate and a boar mixed. It wears clothes that are in tatters, more like a mess of rags than actual clothing. Its body is covered in fur, except its face, hands and feet. Looking down, Raguna notices that its feet are almost cloven, but instead of hoof it is two clawed toes.
"What?" Mist mutters, finally passing him. She stops next to him, spinning to face the creature. "What is a monster doing here?"
"Never mind that now!" Raguna growls. "Do you have a weapon I can use?"
"Use the hoe." Mist orders, stepping back and watching him expectantly. Huffing in exasperation, he takes the hoe that she holds out. He hadn't even notice her bring it. The monster finally regains its senses and turns towards him, growling. Raguna holds up the hoe as it rushes towards him, hoping that he can strike it before it gets to him.
Just before it reaches him, Raguna lifts the hoe up above his head, and as soon as it comes into range, he swings down with all his might. The monster's head makes a thudding sound as the creature cries out and drops to the ground, exploding in several balls of light that rise up and disappear just as quickly. Breathing heavily, Raguna turns back to Mist.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. You?"
"Fine, but I think I killed the monster…"
"No, it's still alive!" Mist's voice is filled with excitement.
"What?"
"Weapons and tools have a kind of magic called 'Retornen'!"
"Retornen?"
"It sends monsters back to their original place; the First Forest. Monsters are a type of spirit, so they come from a world different from ours."
"Oh. But why was it here?"
"I don't know, that's strange. There are people who can summon the monsters called 'Earthmates' but they wouldn't call them randomly to someone's field…"
Raguna puzzled for a moment on this. It seemed that his world had just gotten a whole lot more interesting.