Armen was as free as a bird.
Before this whole experience, he had never seen death as a pleasant idea. But now, it was incognizant paradise. No more watching, seeing, hearing, fighting, killing, screaming, hurting...just floating, dreaming, being nothing at all; a thought, floating away on the breeze.
It was numb.
Although it was nice, his predicament had a couple drawbacks. Whenever he wanted to feel concerned, or mad, or want to move even the tiniest bit, the urge grew wings and fluttered out of his hands as easily as water would slip between his fingers. Any other human might find this frightening and restrictive, like a type of dark paralysis. But, for Armen, whose physical and mental conditions had both been on the brink, this was the best thing that had ever happened to him. So, he just stuck to the simplest of thoughts and drifted in lazy circles. He thought about anything that came to mind. He sang to himself; it was gibberish nonsense, most of the time. He simply immersed himself in a dark, warm, cozy blanket of peaceful nothingness. For how long, he didn't know. Didn't care. Couldn't care.
"Do you see it?..."
Armen stopped in the middle of 'Everybody's Got A Water Buffalo'. He composed his freelance thoughts. "Who said that?" he thought. He was pretty sure he was alone in the expanse of darkness he dwelled in.
"Do you hear it?..."
"Who's here?" Armen shuddered. The voice was dark, cold, and held wisdom beyond him, like that one odd kid at school who always sat by themselves and never said anything relevant. "Heh...kinda like Drake. Wonder where he is…"
"You feel it."
D-did it just… "Okaaaaay, that's not creepy at all...heheheh..."
"You sense it."
Someone...no, something was with him. The entity was right about one thing; Armen felt something near him. Something...old. Older than time itself. Ominous, deep...and hungering for something…so ravenous that, for one moment, Armen was terrified that it would eat him. Then he remembered that he wasn't alive, so that wouldn't happen.
Or maybe it co...nah.
"But, forward-walker…"
" 'Forward-walker?' "
"...Can you perceive it?"
Something cold gripped his mind, something cold...and solid.
Next thing he knew, the entity seized him, drew him close to his dark presence, and manifested its own eyes. Dark, swirling, garnet-violet eyes, coated in a layer of red hatred that burned like acid.
"But who can perceive...what cannot be understood?"
"None, ARMEN."
"None."
And then, it did the impossible.
It dropped him.
He fell down..
And down…
And down…
And down…
And down…
...through the Void.
He had done this before…
But that didn't make it any more bearable.
Vertigo and adrenaline coursed through him. Fingers froze and eyes glazed into existence. Shards of ice splintered into his veins. Cold wind forced its way into his throat and forced him to gasp. Frost covered him, freezing his conscience to stillness and binding it in glass chains. He strained to scream, forcing his lungs to use the freezing air inside his grounded form. A breath formed in his throat, then a moan, then a growl, then a shout, then a murderous hail that resounded in his mind and made his underused hearing explode in pain.
Armen fell...and screamed...and froze...and breathed...and became…
And smacked into solid ground. Hard.
His heart pounded like a kick drum.
His hands shook.
His eyes closed.
And he fell into a dreamless sleep.
The first thing Armen woke up to...was pain.
Ow.
And a lot of it.
Everything hurt. Every fiber in his body was sore, stinging, or felt like it was on fire.
Ow.
Wait...if I'm feeling pain, then…
I'm alive!
Ow.
Yeah, that-that's great.
Real great. God, I feel like I was run over by a semi.
Ow.
Is someone carrying me?
Ow.
Yyyyyyep. And I'm slung over that person's shoulder like a potato sack.
Ow.
...I can't think.
Ow.
Too much information.
Too loud. Too painful.
Ow.
...Where the heck am I?
Armen slowly opened his heavy lids, which took way more effort than it should have. At first, his eyes couldn't conceive anything; blurry flashes of light, dark, green, brown, and pink were all he could make out. However, like the lens on a camera, his vision focused into detail. Burry green slowly focused into an ocean of emerald grass, and chocolate brown morphed into leather hiking boots that sported silver tongues that could've been made of actual metal. His eyes were also struck with intense brightness that his previous location had lacked entirely.
BRIGHT! Holy—brihihihight…
Ow.
Armen squinted, his eyes unused to the blinding rays. However, he soon got over it and opened them almost all the way. The boots were attached to a pair of striding legs with dark, copper-colored pants and silver knee pads over them. Over that was a leaf-green jacket with leather trimmings.
Who the h—
Ow.
He tried talking to his carrier, to ask for a name or inquire about what was happening, but he only succeeded in releasing a breath he didn't know he was holding.
Ow.
Wow.
I have seriously forgotten how to guy.
Ow.
Armen started squirming, his body flushing with heat as blood surged through his veins. His carrier did not expect this, and quickly tried readjusting their footing to cope with him. When it didn't help, they tried readjusting their grip. This didn't help either, and Armen soon slipped out of their hands, squirmed his way off their shoulder, and faceplanted into the green grass, which was also icy cold.
He whimpered quietly. He didn't remember living being this unbearable. Actually...yes, he did.
He put his arms under him and attempted to push himself upright. Bad idea. He underestimated the strength of his arms, and ended up smacking back into the ground, and accomplished nothing.
There was a shuffling sound next to him, and something tugged at his leather stash puerilely.
"You alright?"
His eyes snapped open. Did he know that voice? Armen looked up as best he could without moving. A head with smooth blonde hair and a pair of sparkling eyes was watching him with interest. Is that...Grayson? He squinted as the image came into focus. Nope; It was a girl, with shiny, geranium-pink eyes that reflected the light, different from Grayson's hard, steely emerald ones. Her curly blonde hair, which was up in a ponytail, was also paler in shade, and had pink highlights on the ends. What was oddest about her were her ears. Pronounced and pointed, with blue stud earrings embedded in them.
Do I know her?...she looks kinda familiar….
"Hellooo?"
Armen realized he was staring. "W-whatzz…" He failed to finish the sentence because A. His vocal cords stung like nuts, and B. He ran out of breath. Man, he had taken habitual breathing for granted until now…
The elf-eared girl knelt down and looked at him, her golden TriForce necklace swinging limply around her neck. TriFo..Legend of Zelda? What?! What?! Her brow furrowed. "You okay, Armen?"
How did she know his name? He took a large breath, which oddly unnatural, like he was swallowing a water balloon whole, and croaked, "W-who are y-you…?." He cringed at how raspy his voice was.
"I'm Mia," she stated, grinning slightly and poking his nose with a gloved hand. "And you, Squirmy, are Armen."
"Y-yeah, that s-sounds...about r-right…'Squirmy?'"
Mia shrugged. "Eh...seemed fitting. Need help getting up?"
Armen considered his condition. He was physically weak. His muscles couldn't hold, and he doubted he could get up on his own. He was practically helpless. He gazed into her pretty fuchsia orbs. "Yeah."
Mia promptly grabbed his grip-glove-covered hand, which was lying limp in front of his face. She yanked him upright, with Armen trying to hold his own weight to help her. His legs shook, but he got upright and standing.
"Oi, you don't weigh anything," Mia stated definitely. Armen wobbled, his legs threatening to give way at any moment.
"You got it?" Mia inquired.
"Y-yeah, I...I think so." Armen stuttered, then gulped for needed air. It was dry and cold, and didn't seem to give him the oxygen he needed. He was in the middle of a forest; viridescent, tall, and ancient, the huge, dark-brown trunks looming over him like sentinels. Little beams of sunlight weaved through gaps in the foliage and caressed his nose and face, and a sea of green grass swarmed around his silver and black boots. It was verdantly serene.
His knees buckled without warning, and he would've fallen if Mia hadn't grabbed him by his collar.
"Woah woah woah. Alright," Mia said quickly. "Let's do this slowly…" She pulled him upright (choking him slightly, but he didn't complain), and supported him by slinging his arm over her shoulder, her steel shoulderguards digging into his underarm. "You alright?"
"Y-yeah…"
Mia looked slightly relieved. "Okay" she sighed. "...let's try this again."
She stepped forward, and he followed her move; right leg in front, left foot in front, right, left, right, left...it didn't take long for Armen to be able to walk again. He slowly started supporting himself, lifting his weight off Mia, and started walking on his own.
"You—that was fast," she stated as he lifted off of her completely. He felt instantly shaky and nauseous, and had to stand still for a moment before taking a couple slow, daunting steps on his own, shuffling through the green grass. They walked in silence for a time; Armen completely focused on breathing and walking, Mia going slow as to not leave him behind and lost in her own thoughts.
Armen finally broke the ice. "Hey, M-mia…"
Mia was half-listening. "Yeah?"
"Do y-you by any chance know an e-ender hybrid?"
Her head snapped up quickly. She turned to him, interested. "Hm?"
"Blue sh-shirt, brown hair, distracted h-half the time, kinda mental?"
"You mean Drake?" she questioned eagerly.
"You do?"
Mia grinned, her pink eyes lighting up. "Yeah!"
Armen was overjoyed. "D-do you know where he is?" he asked eagerly.
The grin faded. Mia looked forward and down, the pink curls that were loose from the pony waving slightly. Her face was downcast. "I used to. We...got separated some time ago…"
"Oh…" Armen's smile disappeared as well. "So,...whe—YIPE!"
A small, furry flash of orange burst out of the trees and knocked Armen to the ground, burying its face in his torn, burnt grey jacket and knocking the wind out of him. Soft, warm fuzz tickled his face. Little pointy ears flopped backwards. Shiny silver eyes locked to his cyan aqua irises. A throbbing purr filled the air.
A orange, black, and tan kitten, which held a striking resemblance to a feline version of Growlithe, licked his nose.
Armen's heart melted. "Aww…" The kitten lifted a tiny tan paw and swatted at the black, curly locks which fell over his forehead, making little "Yeawrawr" noises as it did so. He smiled; kittens had always been a soft spot for him.
"Cairago!"
The kit lifted its head to Mia, who had called it. It took one last snuggle at Armen, leapt off his chest and trotted up to Mia's heels loyally. She stroked its head affectionately as Armen got back up.
"Sorry about that...he just gets excited at times," Mia apologized. Cairago, on the other hand, did not show even the slightest bit of regret, swishing his tan fluffy tail coolly and pounding his paws softly on the ground in excitement. Armen didn't regret it either; even though his rear and back hurt now, and that cat was WAY heavier than it should've been, he had gotten kittencuddles…
Cairago yipped at Mia, then sprinted away with a burst of energy. Wait...is he a dog or a cat?... Armen thought. The furball skidded to a halt and turned back to them, noticing that they weren't following, and made a sound that was a mixture of a bark and a meow; "Breowh…"
Armen was somewhat amused. Huh. Both.
Mia, without a moment of hesitation, trotted after the kitten excitedly. Armen followed a little slower; even though he was now breathing alright and could talk, he still not trust his legs enough to run. Cairago would dash forward, turn around, and run back to them, yapping loudly, then would dash back forward again, in a frantic, somewhat fruitless, cycle. After a minute, Armen asked where they were going.
"We're headed to an elvish city, not far from here," Mia replied casually.
"What's it called?" he asked.
"It's—um…Al-re...ma-rye...uh...Erm…" She trailed off, seemingly uncertain. Suddenly, she started laughing at herself. "I'm sorry. I can't pronounce it!" she apologized, her shoulders shaking in amusement.
Armen smirked. "Well if you can't, I p-probably won't be able to either, so let's leave it at that." He looked ahead, expecting to see Cairago return from his last loop, but the striped feline was nowhere to be seen. "Uh, where'd Cairago go?"
Mia composed herself and glanced around. "I don't know. He ran ahead." She caught her breath, then sighed as Cairago jumped out of the foliage in front of them. Except this time, he brought a friend. A darker haired elf, taller than Mia, with hazel brown eyes and freckles like his hastened up to follow Cairago. Catching sight of Mia, she waved, and Mia jogged over and gave her a hug. The little kitten ignored Mia almost completely, scampering through her legs and attacked Armen's black boots ferociously, swatting at them and biting them. He then jumped on them and hugged Armen's slightly-burnt sienna pants. Armen, in turn, fluffed the tan fuzz atop its head and neck. Cairago purred passionately.
What a wonderful relationship they had created.
The girls soon broke up their hug. Mia stuck out her right hand in front of her in an L. The dark-haired friend did the same, touching the back of her hand to the back of Mia's in an apparent greeting.
"Taishaeo, Mayadriel," she said friendly.
"Taishaeo, Rallechal," Mia replied.
Armen looked up from the loving Growlithe kitten. 'Mayadriel'?
The two elves took their hands apart. Rallechal hit Mia lightly on the side of the head. "You reckless girl, you, running off without telling anyone. I've been searching for you for like an hour."
"Well, sorry," Mia replied sarcastically, putting her hands on her hips in mock sass. "I didn't think anyone would miss me!"
Rallechal rubbed the edge of her brown jacket, much like Mia's, between her fingers and shook her head. "Mia, of course I missed you! I can tell when you're gone, you know. What were you doing anyway?"
Armen went back to petting Cairago between the ears.
"Okay," Mia began, "So, I was wandering around, considering if I should get lunch, when I noticed the deer—you know, the ones on the outskirts of the village—were all high strung. So I decided to go look closer."
"Typical," Rallechal muttered, adjusting her white undershirt and quiver.
Mia looked at her funny. "What?"
"Nothing."
The blonde elf paused a moment more, then shrugged it off and continued her little rant. "But when I approached, they all ran away! Like, poof! Gone! But it wasn't from me. They were fleeing from something else, in the woods."
"And let me guess; you went to check it out?"
"Yep."
"Alright, and what did you fi-i…" Rallechal trailed off. Armen looked up to find that she was staring over Mia's shoulder, fixed on something behind him. He turned around, hand still on Cairago, to see what she was looking at...nope, nothing interesting besides trees and grass. He turned back around to ask what she was looking at.
A knife flew towards his face.
He instinctively pitched to the side to avoid the razor-sharp slice of metal. But as fast as he was, the wielder was faster; The knife still slashed through his cheek. He staggered backwards, surprised and stunned. Hazel eyes flashed, and the knife drew back to stab him again. Armen, knowing he was no match, tensed up for the blow and shielded his face.
Mia stopped Rallechal by grabbing her left arm.
"Woah! What the heck, Rachel? STOP IT!"
Rachel didn't listen. Cariago, torn between two options, started baying and running in circles frantically. Armen scampered as well; scampered backwards away from the brunette elf with murder in her chocolate eyes.
"Rallechal! He's a friend!"
Rachel turned around. "He's The Man From The Statues!" she screamed. "He is NOT a friend!"
"The Man From The Statues"?...Oh...she means the statues that He left in the villages...villages...people…people burning...the smell of smoke and burning flesh...death...darkness...Armen stopped thinking, putting his mind on lockdown and focusing only on what was in front of him. Rachel was calming down, Mia was still scared that her friend would try something...drastic.
Armen untensed somewhat, straightening up and lowering his hands. Cariago, no longer scared out of his wits, walked between him and the elves and sat down, looking very brave and defiant.
"Rachel, woah! He's not going to hurt you or me!"
"But..." Rachel sounded uncertain. She lowered her knife. "Isn't he...I've seen one of the statues, and he looks just like him...except for the eyes are a bit different…"
Armen looked at the ground. "It's complicated…" he said timidly.
Rachel seemed surprised that he had spoken up. "Um, okay...how complicated is 'complicated'?"
"Very complicated," Mia answered from the back, still holding Rachel's arm. She sounded dead serious, as if wishing to kill the matter with only the tone of her voice. Rachel backed down, putting her iron knife back into her leather sheath at her belt, the tip still shiny and red with blood.
"We'll explain later. For now, let's get back before dark."
Armen's cut throbbed, and his heart pumped.
She was going to kill me.
"It-It's a very beautiful place. Imagine, like, structures, hanging—like treehouses, massive tree houses!"
The hybrid looked intrigued. "Ooh…" His gaze got a little distant, as if going there in his mind.
"It's amazing."
The young siamese kitten licked his paws and continued to watch. Two men, one in a blue shirt and one in a leather jacket and green shirt, towered over him, geared up with backpacks, rugged adventurers. The elf, in a pink and brown coat with bracers and a ponytail, smiled. "Yeah. I love my hometown. It's, like…"
The shorter man walked over and looked at the feline funny, his blond hair a lot longer than the cat had remembered. Seeing the she-elf's food, he shot past the green-eyed traveler and started climbing one of the wooden chairs.
"Uh, you can keep talking," the blond man stated, "I'm going to get us a room."
The blue-eyed cat leapt onto the table and started helping itself to the elf's small sandwiches, which were stuffed with a type of lettuce and slices of of bacon; not because it was hungry, but to cause mischief. And it was bacon, for goodness sake! The ender hybrid thought otherwise, and tried to push him away.
"Cat, get out of here...cat!"
The feline ignored him...until the magenta and white eyed man slapped his rear! The siamese jumped off the table and ran to the other side of the inn, spooked by the person. Still, after a bit, the cat gathered its wits, sprinted up to the elf girl, leapt up to the plate of sandwiches, stuffed them all in his mouth, and stepped off, feeling an simple smugness arise in his chest.
He hid under a table and devoured them quickly, enjoying the variety of leafy greens, crunchy meat, and soft bread. He didn't need the food, but it was delicious, nonetheless. When he was done, he saw that the blond man was ordering more sandwiches. More bacon! He followed him back and, right after the human sat down and put the plate back on the table, the siamese jumped up, grabbed the sandwiches in one bite, and dashed back to under his table. He stuffed his muzzle with the stolen food, then, feeling rather full, licked his chops and paws.
He knew the men. The girl was unknown. He wasn't sure why he was here. Just that he need to cause some mischief. And who knows; perhaps then they would do something...recognizable. Out of the ordinary.
Perhaps then the kitten would know.
"Treehouses" was an understatement. The houses were a part of the tree, as if they had grown them of their own free will. They sat right below the canopy, far above their heads; the walls were make of the trunk, the roof was made of leaves, and the floors were made out of woven branches. They blended in, dangling ropes of naturally-woven vines providing the only way up. Tiny glowing lights, more like hand-held suns than flame, lit up the surrounding woods in the dimming dusk. A chilly breeze wafted in from the north and into his hair. The little elven village was settling down for sleep under the awakening stars.
Cariago yipped happily. Mia spread her arms out wide, as to give it all a hug.
"Welcome, Armen, to our world."
Rachel finished her thoughts.
"Welcome to Ayremagalra."
