Chapter 1: An old Trail
The grass reacted audibly to the presence of wind running along the hills. Behind a tree, a long, thin trail of smoke appeared and danced away into the wind, without a trace. The smoke originated from a long wooden pipe, smoked by a man whose face was obscured by a dark hood. The man sat against the tree, taking brief refuge from the bright sun looming overhead, and running his route in his head over and over again. He had traveled this path countless times, over countless years, but he was never one to risk losing course.
The man puffed the last of his pipe and placed it into his bag. He stood out of the shadow of the tree, the sun revealing his chin, which had a decent stubble to it. He breathed the cool air and felt the direction of the wind. The wind would be travelling with him, rather than against him, like it was yesterday. This would quicken his pace, and he would reach his destination by nightfall, if all goes well. He picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulder. He scratched his chin, stretched his arms, and reached for the tree. From the base of the tree, he lifted his most valuable item: A five ft longsword, resting inside a beautiful leather sheath adorned with silver. After a loving gaze at the sword, the man attached it to his belt, fastened all of his straps, surveyed the land before him, and set out down the hills.
On his journey, the man saw the same landmarks he always saw when travelling this path: A bush that had grown off the side of the road for years, slowly starting to decay after it's long life. A strange pile of dirt just to the right of the road. 50 paces further, the man thought to himself, and a distinct oak tree will appear behind a hill. This particular oak tree had lived far longer than the man did. Since the first time he took this path, he had always seen it there, watching as it slowly grew and thickened over the years. As he got closer, a cloud swept over the area and covered it in shadow. The darkness disallowed him from taking the usual close look at the tree that he had become so familiar with. This oak marks the beginning of the forest, as it always had. Within 5 minutes time, he would not see much sun for a few hours.
The man was well into the forest when he heard a branch snap under some notable weight. Instinctively, he pressed against a tree in it's deepest shadow, becoming almost invisible. The man had mastered the art of being unseen over his years, and it saved him in more instances than once.
He peered into the direction he heard the loud snap, seeing nothing. He remained.
Ten minutes had passed with no further sounds. The man left his shadow, but was now listening for even the slightest auditory disturbances. The man couldn't remember the last time he was caught by surprise, and he wasn't keen on letting it happen. He pressed on deeper into the woods, straying from the path and following his own route.
Another sound filled the quiet air, this one very loud. The sound of wood snapping and splintering. It was loud but fast, the sound was gone in an instant. The man looked on from another shadow he hid in, seeing, again, nothing. This sound was no natural forest occurrence, however, and he decided to investigate. He crept along the greenery, slow as a snail, and just as silent. He could tell he was approaching the area of origination for the sound, but still he saw no signs of life. Impossible, the sound was too unnatural for a tree falling over, or something of the sort. It was fast.
He had reached the spot where the sound came from, he was sure of it. He checked his surroundings, and immediately found the source of the sound. What he saw, however, made little sense to him, despite his many years in nature.
An entire tree was pierced directly through another tree. No, not pierced, as there was no damage to the tree present. Instead, it was like the two trees had fused into each other. The man had never seen anything like it. What could have done this? Magic? He decided to continue on his path, as there was no time to waste.
He recognized what came next: The bubbling of a nearby stream. He loved and hated the stream, as it covered the sound of his movement, but also concealed the sound of others'. He knelt done to do what he always did here: He checked the path for signs of recent tracks. This forest path was unpopular enough that tracks would be easy to pick up on. The man saw nothing. He continued.
The path he had taken so many times before seemed to start bending to the left. He was sure it never did that, he was beyond sure. He walked further up the path to find an unfamiliar tree stump sitting just off the road. Not only was he sure that there was no tree stump there before, but he also knew there was no tree there at any point! The man realized that he must have taken a wrong turn, and was very disappointed. He began to walk back.
Within two minutes of his re-route, he discovered the most unwelcoming change of all: The path simply ended right in front of him. No trees blocking the road or anything like that, just straight forest as far in as he could see. Now he knew this was bad. His ability to sense directions and find pathways had always been outstanding, but now he couldn't tell left from right. To make things worse, he was deep into the forest, where little sunlight reached, so he couldn't use it to tell east or west.
"You." A strange voice said from the shadows.
The man spun as fast as a blink and faced the speaker, hand on his sword.
"You look like you can answer my questions." The stranger told the man. The man eyed the shadow-covered stranger, and could make out that it was a tall male. Something of remarkable size was on his back.
"You answer mine first", the man answered back. "Who are you?"
The stranger stepped forward.
"Listen, just tell me where I am, and we'll go our separate ways. No conflict needed."
The man straightened his back, standing back into a neutral position.
"I do not know where this is, currently. I was following my path, and have somehow lost track of my surroundings.
The man could see the stranger's mouth, the only part of him not covered by a massive cloak and hood. He was much larger than the man.
The stranger leaned back, revealing a half-smile and one eye.
"Not much of a nature-goer, are ya?"
Just then, the stranger bent over and put his hand to his neck, appearing to be in pain. He held tightly onto his neck for a few moments before looking up at the man and saying: "Well, it was nice knowing ya."
As if on queue, about 20 demon-like creatures burst forth from the woods. Some bared sharp teeth, others held swords and spears and axes. The man was shocked at the sight, but his instincts told him to pull his sword. He readied his stance and took a deep breath.
The large stranger took the massive object off his back, and gripped it with both hands. In the light, the man could just barely tell that the object was, in fact, a colossal sword! Bigger than any sword that any man could wield. But the stranger had no problem wielding it, and swung it with such speed that it carved two demons in half, essentially causing them to explode.
The man watched in awe, but quickly was shook back into reality by three demons rushing him from the front. The man, no stranger to being outnumbered, tilted his sword forward, and parried the first demon's sword out of it's hand. With it's weapon gone, there was no defense from the man's strike, which severed the demons head clean off. The next two held axes, and attacked at once. The man back stepped to avoid the blows, and with speed like a hawk he simultaneously pulled out a knife from his belt and stabbed one demon through the head with his sword. With his knife, he spun 360 and buried it deep into the remaining demon's neck. He pulled out his weapons and sheathed his knife.
He looked over to see the large man, surrounded by dozens of demon corpses. He was still being assaulted by waves of demons coming from the woods. The man saw a demon jumping down from a branch, aiming to land his sword tip inside the stranger's head. The man pulled a small knife from his pouch and threw it directly into the forehead of the demon, causing it to fall. The man lept to the side of the stranger.
"You're still alive, eh?" The stranger said, eyeing his enemies.
"I'd ask you the same, swordsman."
"Well, I guess you could say I'm used to this." The stranger answered, panting and sweating. "What say we finish these guys?"
The pair swung and carved their way through dozens more demons. The stranger took many strikes, and seemed to be bleeding quite a bit, but the man was untouched, dodging quickly and striking swiftly. Eventually, the demons stopped coming, and the men rested against two trees.
The stranger looked surprised at the man's performance.
"You know, you might be the finest swordsman I've seen." He panted, out of breath.
The man eyed the stranger thoroughly, disregarding his statement. "How is it that you carry such a weapon? It is outrageously large."
The stranger closed his eyes and leaned against the tree. "I've gotten used to it. Guts, by the way. I'm Guts."
The man lit his pipe. "It was an honor to fight alongside such a skilled warrior, Guts. I am Strider."
"Strider, I like it," Guts said. "So, Strider, have you got any idea where we are?"
Strider was planning on asking him the same thing.
"Guts, it appears we are in the same predicament. We are lost in this forest, and it seems to be infested with these monstrous creatures," Strider said, poking one of the demon carcasses with a stick.
"It looks to me, warrior Guts..." Strider looked up to Guts. "It looks like we could help one another."