Kael Igurashi's head throbbed angrily, a red haze appearing in his field of vision as his consciousness returned. Grimacing and hearing himself groan loudly, he felt around with his arms, feeling a rough surface rubbing against the backs of his hands. The red haze slowly lifted, and with that, he opened his eyes.
He was lying in the middle of what he could only describe as a forest. Massive oak and cherry trees towered over him—much rounder in circumference than the ones he was used to seeing. A pinkish-gold light from the morning sun cast feathery shadows on the ground, illuminating the vast amounts of shrubs and undergrowth that littered the forest floor.
Blinking blearily against the sudden light, he sat up, straining slightly as his upper-body almost didn't allow him to do so. He clamped his eyes shut as the blood rushed from his head downward, shivering slightly. Breathing heavily, he struggled up to his feet, using a nearby cherry tree for support.
Where…am I? he thought, glancing around at his surroundings. Nothing but foliage in every direction, along with the sounds of birds chirping and the faint trickling of water some distance away. The trees' branches shifted eerily as a cool wind cut through the forest, buffeting Kael's somewhat unkempt brown hair. He scanned through the labyrinth of seemingly endless green and brown with his emerald green eyes, narrowing them as he thought he saw what looked like an odd-looking armadillo wiggle into a hole.
He racked his brain, trying to remember how he had gotten here. Nothing but the images of his friends, his name, and an ornate book with odd runes inscribed in it flicked through his memory. "The Grand Grimoire," he heard his blonde-haired friend, Marche, say in his head. He blinked, remembering it as the name for the book. But what it was for, he did not recall. He shook his head, growling as he seemed to forget almost everything but those few recollections. Everything else seemed to swirl in white blankness, never to be recalled but mocking him all the while.
His clothes were slightly dirty; a white T-shirt with a pair of worn-looking jeans, white shoes, and a brown-leather glove on his right hand—not understanding why he had the glove on.
He blinked once, then did the only logical thing he could think of; start moving towards the sound of the water and try to find someone. Although in a state of mental confusion, Kael thought it best to not ponder and rip out his hair to figure out where he was. Or who.
Sticks and leaves crunched under his feet as he started heading down a sloping hill, having to grab onto branches every now and then to refrain from slipping on the loose leaves. It was clearly the beginning of autumn, although many trees still retained their green color. He sucked in his breath as he saw something dart stealthily out of the corner of his eye, but sighed with relief when he saw it was only a dark blue creature with a large round body, one eye, and bat-like wings, heading in the opposite direction. Ah…what! he thought, snapping his head to glance at it again—but it was gone. Something about it made him furrow his eyebrows, knowing that whatever it was, it was not normal. But then again, what was normal remained a mystery to him now.
He emerged at a rushing river that was relatively small in size but rushing loudly, sending small waves up the white sandy bank. On the other side was a seemingly larger expanse of forest, making him slump in disappointment. He contemplated what to do, then decided to go down river, stepping over several jagged rocks that would occasionally jut out from the side.
After moving downstream for almost an hour, growing weary, he heard almost audible talking. Filled with renewed vigor, he quickened his pace and turned into the forest again, darting his head around to see if he could see anyone. A sudden cry resonated through the area, a low-pitched howl that sounded slightly raspy.
Alarmed, he weaved in and out of the trees, heading towards where he thought the sound came from. He jumped down off of a small ledge onto a pile of leaves and, after heading through the woods a few more steps, he stopped abruptly.
In the middle of a small flowery clearing lit by sunlight were two orange hulking masses standing slightly hunch-backed with their backs to Kael. They were reminiscent of a giant lizard that stood on its hind legs, with an angled snout with heavily built bodies. They were relatively tall, even with their arched stance. One held in his hands a long scimitar, while the other was holding something with both arms against his chest. Around their waists were heavy leather belts, and loincloths covered their nether regions. There was a third figure that looked like the two others, but it was lying motionless and bloody in the grass.
What are they? he thought, his curiosity bringing him a few steps closer to the edge of the forest until he hid behind a large oak. They had large yellow eyes, reptilian and cold. Small pieces of plate mail rested on one shoulder and a strap ran across their chest, and their midriff was concealed by a white loincloth and leather thigh guards. They were barefoot, revealing three toes and razor-sharp claws on each.
They began talking. "Are you sssure we shouldn't just kill her?" asked the one with the scimitar in a throaty growl, crouching down to what Kael could only speculate to be the remains of their comrade. A long purple tongue flicked out of his maw, his tail jerking suddenly as he looked around, looking exactly where Kael was hiding before looking away.
"No, we need her, remember?" replied the other one, who was just an inch or so taller. He turned around, making Kael's jaw drop.
A girl that looked around his age was out cold in the swordless creature's arms, her head lolling to the side and her body hanging limply. She had beautiful, straight, silver-white hair that dropped down to about the middle of her back. Her skin was tanned considerably, and her facial and bodily features seemed almost perfectly sculpted. Where human ears should have been, there were a pair of brown rabbit-like ears that stood erect. She wore a dark green tunic with a silver circlet clasped around her forehead, brown boots, and a bow was dangling from her left hand even in her unconsciousness with a quiver wrapped around her back by a leather strap.
"Ssshe killed Durza!" the shorter one retorted, snarling. "Why would ssshe be needed alive that badly! I want to rip her limb for limb!" Kael shifted uneasily, looking down to the corpse, then to the girl, and then to both of the odd-looking humanoids.
"Becaussse!" The taller one suddenly lost his temper, yelling loud enough to scare a flock of birds to flock to their skies. "We have our ordersss, regardlessss of what persssonal motivationsss you might have! Obey them!" The other one scowled and looked down into the grass, then nodded curtly. "Good, now let'sss get back to camp."
Kael found his feet moving forward as soon as they had disappeared behind the trees, stopping momentarily to examine the corpse. It had three bloody holes in it, arrow shafts protruding from the wounds. He followed the sounds of the crackling leaves and sticks that the two lizard-humanoids made as silently as he could. His heart raced, and he wasn't exactly sure what he was doing or why. All he could think of was that these people were possibly the only people around—or at least intelligent things around, the girl was unconscious, a corpse in the middle of a forest clearing, and he was as confused as a bee whose hive was being smoked.
He stopped several yards away as he realized there was an almost invisible cluster of camouflaged tents. The only thing that gave it away was the taller of the two humanoid creatures standing alone in its center, starting a fire by some kind of crude means with flint and shrubs. Kael pressed his back to hide his body, and he peeked around again, keeping as still as possible while fighting his rapid and loud breathing. The girl was still there, and the humanoid was bent over the fire now, blowing on it. He sat up for a moment, then his head snapped around, dark yellow eyes boring into his own. The humanoid smirked.
Inhaling deeply, he turned around just in time to see a huge orange fist come flying into his face. A blast of red and gold stars obscured his vision, and he felt himself collapse on the ground before blacking out.