Salutations! Deciding to get back into writing and I guess this is where I'm kicking off. :) I hope it isn't too awful, criticism of any kind is appreciated, but please try to be constructive about it and not leave something like "ermgherd ur story iz bad". Please enjoy!

I was never exactly the healthiest child. I was born with a.. disease, let's say. I wasn't entirely sure what the name of it was, but it wasn't pretty. I would get severe pains in my chest area and would feel extremely dizzy, and would soon after pass out. It was on my 16th birthday I found myself in the hospital. The pain had gotten so bad it felt like someone had shot me, and my parents said that I had been screaming in agony for a good hour, and that my voice had become scratchy.

While the doctors said I would be fine, they couldn't help but notice a very.. strange marking on my finger. When they asked my guardians, they responded with "it was a birthmark,", but the doctors seemed more intrigued. It was like.. a ring of fire, thin and hollow. The doctors shrugged it off, not calling it a birthmark but a stupid tattoo some kid wanted to look cool at school or whatever.

I was never a part of the in-crowd, but I never exactly desired to be. I preferred peace and solitude, and for most things to be conducted in an orderly fashion. That isn't to say that I don't have friends, or that I don't enjoy some creativity and fun here and there, but I did that stuff less than others. While I may have had a disease, I had another sickness, known by the books as depression.

Often times, I would find myself sitting idly, dwelling on such dark thoughts that I would get a very dark look in my eyes, would sit completely still and just act as if I had turned into a statue. It was for this reason that I had wanted to become a counselor, a school counselor. I like helping people, and I had known the pain in it's most pure form. Scars on my wrist were proof of this, though I usually wore a wrapping of gauze around them. One day, while I was sitting at home watching TV on a rainy night, I had a friend of mine come to me in tears, her entire form and all her clothes were completely soaked as a result of the rain, and she jumped into me and bawled her eyes out for the longest time.

We talked for a few hours and came to see each other as siblings, joking around and such. I wasn't going to allow her to go back out into the freezing rain that night though. She made a call to her parents, telling them she was staying the night at a friends house, and all was well. After we were done talking, I had her take a shower. I took her wet clothes and had them washed, and gave her a bundle of clothes that had belonged to my mother. They were nearly the same size so that wasn't an issue, it was just the matter of getting her to put the damn things on.

A few months after that happened, my 16th birthday, I wound up in the hospital. When I came to, I learned that I had fallen unconscious in class after I began screaming and such, falling onto the floor and whapping my head off a table while people were rushing to get teachers, the nurse, counselors, anyone.. That would've explained the bandages. I felt myself shifting in and out of reality, one side of me fighting to stay with the doctors, my friends and my family, and the other beckoning a coma.

Light and dark are two sides of the same coin, one radiating happiness and joy, and the other, darkness and depression. For me, one burned brightly, and the other was snuffed out. It would've been nice to get a little rest. I laid back, shut my eyes, and waited the end. I felt the darkness wash over me, a small smile creeping on my lips, for the first time in a while, I felt.. happy.

Whether by a final spark of the light or by pure luck, I woke up. The cold breeze of wind smacked against my face, bringing a smell unlike any I've taken in. I was on my chest, now how did I get like this? Had someone moved me? I opened my eyes slowly and blinked, looking around.

I was in a cave with a bright light shimmering from the front of the cave. It was beautiful, blue, and made me curious, how did I get here? Where was I? I pushed up off the place where I had been resting, a strange structure with magnificent architecture, and began walking, taking note of what I was wearing. My clothes felt makeshift, scraps of cloth stitched together. Maybe this was some kind of mental therapy my brain was putting on me. Yeah, we'll call it that.

I went through the field with a ton of long blades of grass popping from the ground, feeling wonderful against my fingertips. It felt rough, but good nonetheless. My feet carried me through the cave, my lips forming a smile as some sort of dog ran past my feet. I wanted to touch him, but if I knew anything about wild animals, it's not to touch them, even if they seem friendly.

I walked across a wood bridge, my eyes falling upon a shimmering object on a small overhang next to the bridge. Searching around a bit, I found my way to it. Much to my disgust and surprise, it was a corpse, holding some sort of stone in his palm. I quickly snagged the stone and shoved it in one of my pockets, walking back to the bridge and making my way to the strange tree house.

I knocked on the door and waited for a few moments before walking in, looking around. A sweet aroma filled the home, and the warmth of fire touched my skin. "Ooooh.. a new visitor.." The old woman nearest to the fire spoke, each of the women turning to me. "Her skin.. look at it.. she's a hollow.." I looked at my hands, my eyes widening underneath my hood. They were a disgusting green, like.. a zombie.

"We've had many of your ilk pass through here.. there were many before you.. and will be many after." Each of the elderly ladies laughed, their laughter serving to taunt me. Was my mind trying to put me through trauma or something? This seemed.. weird. "Tell us.. can you remember your own name?"

I went through my memories, then nodded slowly. "My name.. Riley." Yes.. my name was Riley. I was a 16-year-old girl. They laughed lightly and nodded, one reaching into her jacket and retrieving a small black figurine, made of some sort of black metal. Maybe a plastic? I tapped it lightly, it was neither. It was a black wood. Whoever made this must have been some sort of artist.

"Riley.. that is a rarity.. you remember your name. That.. is a Human Effigy.. go ahead, press it against your chest.." She folded her hands over her stomach, looking into the fire. "You've come here from a far away land, have you not?" Instinctively, I nodded as I put the object against my chest. It faded into ashes, and my human figure was restored. The lady in the red garb smiled softly, looking to the housemaid, a taller lady with blonde hair. She wore a head wrapping around her hair as to keep it out of what she was doing. "This is Drangleic.. a land of mystery and adventure, of death and of disaster. To survive, to even have a chance, you must be armed."

The housemaid stepped to me and took my hand, leading me to the second floor, where several armor stands and weapon racks stood. "Take off your clothes." She ordered, opening a small chest behind the racks and stands, filled with dirty clothes. My cheeks went a very deep shade of crimson as I looked at her, taking a step away.

"I-I'm sorry? I must have heard you wrong, did you say-" The housemaid cut me off, looking at me with a glare. I had a sense she wasn't mad, nor annoyed, but wanted me to be safe.

"Yes, I told you to take off your clothes. Chop chop." She waited for a moment as I stood still, staring at her, before sighing deeply and walking over, pulling off my hood and allowing my black hair to fall out. She set it to one side as I clutched my top tightly, trying to move away. She knelt down and pulled off my brown and black wrapping around my wrists, ignoring the scars. "Are we going to have you take off the rest or am I going to have to do it for you?" My face, consumed by the blush, slowly nodded.

"F-Fine, but I d-don't want you to watch!" Her brown eyes met my green ones, and we both stood there, staring at eachother awkwardly before she nodded, stepping back downstairs.

"Tell me when you're done." She spoke in an assertive tone, and I made sure she actually went downstairs before undressing myself further. I stood there in my undergarments, a brown bra made from some cloth, holding up my comparatively small chest, a pair of black panties, and a short brown skirt made of the same cloth the bra was that wrapped around it. "Have you finished?" She asked, looking up. "Oh good, you have."

I let out a loud yelp grabbed my shirt, using it to cover my top half. I couldn't really say anything because I didn't exactly know what to say. I hadn't been in this situation before, hell, I was still a virgin! She came back up and took my shirt from me, setting it aside before closely examining my figure. After about 5 minutes, she turned around and grabbed a set of clothes. "The garb of a Wanderer. Sturdy, light, and comfortable." She must've known a lot about the armor as to say that, or have at least worn something like this.

She handed it to me, turning back around and looking through the weapons on the racks. I very hastily dressed myself, flipping up the hood. She was right, it was VERY comfortable, tough, and light. I felt like I could jump around the room in it. "Ah, here we are." Pulling two weapons from the rack, some sort of sword with a straight blade, and another with a curved one. Putting them both into two brown sheaths with no ostentation, she wrapped them around my waist and clapped her hands. "There. Now you might have a chance out there." She smiled and looked me over, nodding slowly.

"Let me give you some advice, kid. Drangleic is a cruel place. It wants nothing more to kick you down and make you feel like you're worth nothing, that you're scum o' the planet." She extended her finger and poked my shoulder twice, accentuating both words with them. "Stay. Motivated. You lose motivation, and you go hollow. Stay safe, think tactically, and don't let anyone tell you you're less than what you are."

The housemaid smiled softly and turned me around, pushing me forward. "Now get out of here, kid. Don't wanna overstay your welcome." She and I descended to the first floor and walked to the front door, behind the elderly ladies. She opened the door for me as I stepped back out into the cold, immediately wanting to go back inside. "Oh, and for future reference, that there," She said, pointing at the small mound of ashes near a gravestone. "is a bonfire. That'll be your home away from home. Light it by hovering your hand over it. It'll sting for a few seconds, but the pain will go away almost instantly."

I left the small house and approached the so-called bonfire with a sword poking from it. It was long faded, and covered in ashes. I did as she told me to, hovering my hand over it as a sharp sense of pain washed over my arm, but was then removed nearly instantly as the fire was lit. "There ya go!" She smiled. "Good luck, kid. You'll do great." With that, she closed the door and resumed her duties.

I rested at the fire for a moment before standing up and looking around. A few words were scrawled on the stone, but I didn't really care to read them, thinking it was just information on the deceased. Standing up, I stretched and pulled down my hood, heading out to make progress. The first thing that I seen was a wall of mist. I didn't know they had fog machines here. I tilted my head and walked to it, extending my hand and pushing my way through as the fog dispersed.

I began walking down the hallway, noticing a tall man in some clothes like I had worn. He looked like a zombie, like I had earlier. "Uhm, excuse me sir?" He let out a groan and began approaching me, twitching like a madman. "Sir?" I called as he swung towards me. Dodging to my left, I looked down at where he had fallen as a result of him missing. I drew the sword with the orange grip, and held it out in a way to threaten him. "I-I don't want to have to hurt you sir!" He stood and turned to me, preparing to swing again.

Before he could, I thrusted forward and planted my blade into his stomach, slicing to the right as his entrails fell to the floor, and soon afterwards, he did as well. I didn't mean to hurt him, and I stood there in a shaking mess before collapsing, my world becoming black.

When I awoke, I found myself laying on a bed, wrapped in a blanket. Was I home? Was I in the hospital? I blinked a few times and sat up, stretching the sleep away. I looked around, noticing the plain brick architecture that made up the room I was in and the wooden furniture. The room had an exit to the outside, where a gigantic pit lay in between this house and another that seemed to consist of a single room and some sort of attic or backroom, with a ladder that was used to access it.

Yep, still in this crazy place.. I sighed and stood up, falling back onto the bed as a huge surge of pain went through my veins. "I wouldn't advise moving." A soft voice spoke from the corner of the room, where it was darkest. "You took a bit of a beating a little ago, you're lucky you didn't lose your humanity." I tilted my head to the right and looked to him, my eyes trying to make out a figure. "My name is Eoric, captain of the Iron Gauntlet."

"Iron Gauntlet?" I asked, slightly confused. Is that a military name or something? He nodded in response, standing and grabbing a cup that was next to him. "What's that? And where am I?"

"The Iron Gauntlet is a mercenary corps, but currently we're searching for the Chosen Undead, the one that will link the fire and save the world from the Curse of the Undead. As for where you are, you're in a little town called Majula, an outpost for the Iron Gauntlet, and also a place where lots of our kind come because of a little maiden in a green cloak." Eoric explained, leaving the room momentarily before returning and sitting on my bed. "Drink this." He said, handing me a cup with some sort of yellow liquid inside it. "It'll make you feel better, but you'll still need to rest for a while."

I took it all down, handing him the empty cup when I finished. While he was on my bed I could see him rather well, he had short black hair, a scar over his left cheek, brown eyes, and was fairly tanned and muscular. He wore a black robe, reinforced with something that looked like a leather vest. He was barefooted, but didn't seem to mind the cold floor. "It didn't taste very good.." I complained, laying back down. He chuckled in response, setting the cup aside.

"What you just had was Estus. We aren't exactly sure what it is, but we assume it was something that came from the bonfire, perhaps fire itself, as when you rest for even a moment at one, your flask is refilled. The burning sensation is how we came to the conclusion that it was some sort of fire, but we are in a desperate time right now, and it would be a bad idea to dwell on trivial things." He patted my head and pulled up the blanket, sitting back down. "Get some rest, you're gunna need it. Training starts tomorrow."

I wasn't really that tired, but I decided to comply anyways. I wasn't exactly sure what he meant by training, but I was slightly eager to find out. "Hey Eoric?" I looked over at him, having a final question before I fell back asleep.

"Hm?" He replied, looking back to me.

"This is a medieval time or something, right? How come everyone I've met here hasn't said stuff like 'thou', or 'thee'?" He answered nearly instantly, the smile on his face indicating some mild amusement.

"Some of us do, others don't. Mostly people that are of relatively high birth say that stuff." He snapped his fingers as his expression turned firm. "No more questions, sleep now." With a small nod, I closed my eyes and laid my head on the pillow, falling asleep with a bit of a struggle. One thought stuck in my head though..

Training?