Chapter 1: Introduction

Let me tell you a little bit about myself before I let you know how my day is going. I am an avid outdoorsman, but not the kind you are used to. While I do love going outdoors, I only do so for small hikes, fishing, or to perform my favorite, and most expensive activity, riding a quad or using my dirt bike. The forest I lived alongside had many trails that were quite popular among campers, but I used them for a different style of living. I'm forty-two years old, and living alone out in the forest was highly suspicious to many, but I had rarely given a rat's ass about others suspicious glares. I am a U.S. Army retired, having spent twenty years performing many jobs; from a foot soldier driving Humvee's on patrol, all the way up to logistics. There wasn't a thing I couldn't do, and if I didn't know how to do it, I did my best to learn it as fast as I could, perfecting whatever it was by the end of the year. The thing about being a retired soldier was, I didn't have to worry about money with my laid back life style, and I was permitted to keep my home stocked with weapons of any kind that I want.

Now, my home was an entirely different story, as I had used almost half my saved money and GI money to build it up from scratch, and while it may not seem like it, it was well fortified while also remaining at a comfortable size. It was two floors, a basement, and an attic, but every floor had its individual domestic and not so domestic purposes. The first floor was my living area, with a kitchen and a comfortable guest room, along with a restroom underneath the stairs but before the ones that led to the basement. I had a decent sized television set, along with a gaming system with a few games, but the guest room was where it was all at. I had two book shelves bursting with books of all genres, along with a chest stuffed with spare blankets in case a traveler required an extended stay. The most I ever had at my humble adobe was half a dozen campers, a family, that hadn't planned ahead when they reached my secluded home. The upstairs to my home was situated in an arrangement that made it where every room had a great view; all except the bathroom, but that was the most lavish of the rooms. A master bedroom, two small guest rooms, along with a study occupied the inside of the home. My room, the master bedroom, had two dressers stocked with clothes, a monster of a bed, along with a few other necessities that while inexpensive, proved to more than once make me seem rich. I had a fair size balcony outside my room that featured a pair of chairs that were waterproof, but they were a little uncomfortable to sit in unless you placed the designated pillows down. The attic was just storage for seasonal accessories, but the basement housed a pair of industrial washer/dryer machines, and a boiler usually reserved for restaurants that constantly needed hot water. I didn't need any workout machines, as I performed my workout through the form of riding a vehicle. While it may not seem like it, those machines proved to be quite hard to use if you didn't have proper muscles in the right places.

Outside my home lay a clearing that I had bought, and it contained my home, a shed, along with a lake on the far side of it; it was a perfect place for someone like me. The lake was filled with fish, and the river that led into it, and away from it made it to where many people would always stop by multiple times just to see it. Every time I went fishing, it brought a smile to my lips, knowing that whatever I caught, if I was in the mood, I could cook on the outdoor grill that was on the porch to the back of my home.

Now, I am a man of fair features, told from the many admirers I would get when I went into town to replenish by homes pantry. I stood at a tall 6'5 height, and while I wasn't a body builder, I was strong for my lean looking size, capable of carrying three-hundred pounds for two miles on level terrain before I was forced to rest from exhaustion, and I was able to run three miles in under twenty minutes. I didn't have any scars from my time in service, unless you counted mental scars, but those were easily covered and forgotten unless something similar to those experiences came up. I was kind, a gentleman that many people respected, but a few hated, but to everyone that I came across, I was known as Lyon…

(Samantha's P.O.V.)

I was running through the forest, trying my best to keep my speed up as I clutched my arm, which was bloody from the wound I had received from the Templar knight I had the misfortune to run into. My arm stung painfully as I continued to run with all my might, but no matter how much running I did, I still felt fear in my gut as the Templar knight remained close behind, as if his heavy armor wasn't weighing him down at all. I had lost my bow, along with the short sword I had used to defend myself from a few killing blows, but now all I had as my saving grace was the fact that I wasn't wearing heavy clothing that would no doubt slow me down. I was the fastest in my village, or what had once been my village before human slavers came and burned it down, but I hadn't let that stop me from killing a few of them before I had escaped.

Ducking down, I ran my shoulder into a tree's trunk, and I felt my shoulder go numb from the force of the impact. Pushing away from the tree, I rolled over as a sword was plunged where I had just been, but I stopped moving as I kicked out with my legs, and was lucky enough to hit the Templar in his hip and force him back a few steps. I used that time to get up, but as I turned around, I felt myself be tackled to the ground as a blade fell to the ground. I was held down to the ground as the human was panting, and I heard his malicious voice say, "What a nice keidran you are, and quite a fine specimen indeed. What say you and I have some time here alone, I might be able to fetch a fair price for your hide back on the market." I shuddered as I shouted for help, only to have my mouth closed while a blue glow surrounded us. "That should keep you silent until I'm finished skinning you alive, heh heh…" A small blade was placed between my shoulder blades, and it began to trail up my spine and through my fur, and I shuddered violently, but this only caused the human to chuckle more as he said, "What am I doing? To skin a wolf, you need to start in the front, right around the neck…"

I felt myself roughly flipped over, and as the Templar glared down at me, I growled in my throat as he flashed the blade in front of me. Almost out of pure instinct, I lashed out with my claws, and he shouted in pain as he dropped the knife and clutched at his face. I tried to scoot away from under him, but I stopped as I yelped in pain as the back of his hand connected with the side of my muzzle in a brutal smack. Stars danced along the edge of my vision before I was forced into looking at the Templar, and he said menacingly, "I have seen much worse from your kind, but maybe I can send you somewhere that will be ten times as bad for you, where no keidran live!"

As soon as he said that, he was standing above me, and he raised his hands as a blue light began to collect along the edge of his hands, and I stood up and tried to run away, only for my body to be flung into a nearby tree. I growled as I fought to stand back up, but a blue flash behind me stopped my movement as tendrils of light began to wrap around my body, and as I felt pain being applied all over my body, I heard the foliage nearby rustle loudly. A growl echoed from the dark surroundings of the forest, and I looked over my shoulder in fear as blood continued to drip from my arm.

"W-What… no, stay back. No… AHHH!" By the time the humans pained screaming started to echo into my highly sensitive ears…

(Lyon's P.O.V.)

Tying the last piece of rope over my quad, I made sure the ice cooler wouldn't bounce around or come loose by throwing my full body weight into it. Not even a centimeter was changed from my rough motions, and I knew it wouldn't fall off if I took any abnormally large jumps, so I smiled as I secured the pistol onto my hip, before I grabbed some gloves and slid them on and over my hands. I didn't want to get hurt while riding, because no matter how experienced I was, it was always something that happened. Chuckling, I rotated my wrist before anything else, and then went up to the front of my quad and grabbed the goggles I had.

Mounting the quad, I pulled the clutch back as I placed the gear into first, before I pressed the igniter. If I was on a hill, I would've held the brakes before I pulled the clutch, but since that wasn't the case, I let the engine roar to life while I let the engine rev loudly a few times. I smiled as I let the clutch out while pressing my legs against the quad for safety reasons and the quad roared forward as the front two wheels left the ground. I smiled as I yelled in excitement, and after the wheels touched down, I was zooming through the forest as I dodged trees of varying sizes, but I was crouching the entire time so I didn't get hammered in a certain sensitive spot. It had been a few times when I didn't know to stand up that I had been left on the ground in pain for dozens of minutes at a time, but now that I was more experienced, I knew when to turn the wheels, when to accelerate or decelerate, along with how to tilt the quad while in the air.

I eased off the gas a little as the engine popped loudly, letting me know it was time to downshift out of fourth and into the second gear. Just as I came up to the turn, I gunned it as I drifted around the dirt corner with practiced skill, and I jerked the quad to the side as I met an unexpected sight. Hitting two wheels as I hammered the brakes down, I turned the wheel and slammed down to three tires as the back left tire hung in the air, before the entire vehicle came to a crunching and growling stop. Shifting down into neutral, I got up and off my seat as I calmed my breathing as I walked over to the object that was stabbed into the middle of the road. Stopping and looking down at the offending object, I saw it was long and honed to perfect sharpness, but it wasn't until I jerked it out of the ground did I marvel at the long shining steel of the sword in my hands. This was by far the strangest thing to ever be found in these woods, and I knew it, because many of the campers would tell me about seeing strange animals on two feet, or floating masks that glowed with various colors. I had discredited every single tale that I had heard, but I had almost always given them a nickname. There were the rainbow masks, which glowed with various hues of light, wolves, dogs, cats, and someone even thought they saw Bigfoot in this very forest. None of those myths are true, but even then why would a sword be in this forest?

Looking up and down as I saw a metal reflection, I burst into action as I dropped the sword and rushed over, and dragged a man with a mangled face from under the bushes, and saw he was in old medieval armor. The strangest thing I noticed however, was that his armor looked relatively well kept and new, but I heaved him up and over towards my quad, and I knew this was going to be a tough drive, since quads are meant to only have a single passenger. I leaned him against the tire of my quad before I went back, and as I retrieved the sword, I looked around before I began to get everything, and him, onto my quad…

(Samantha's P.O.V.)

I limped into the clearing, and I made sure no human was around, as the house in front of me clearly belonged to one of high class. As I continued to move towards it, clutching my side and arm, I wasn't sure how much longer I could keep going, and I didn't know if this house was occupied, or if the owners were in another city. Either way, I was going to be forced to remain in the home of whoever lives there, because after I finished wrapping my arm, I was going to need to rest for a day minimum. I haven't eaten for a week, and the last time I drank was a small amount yesterday, before I had been forced to run once more. My arm was still dripping blood, just not at a fast pace, but my side was hurting from a fall onto a tree's branch in the forest.

Walking up the porch to the houses door, I let out a small cry of pain as I opened the door, and I made my way in before shutting the door once more. Once I did that, I stood still, but I didn't hear a single thing, which meant nobody was home as I was safe then. Moving over to a doorway, I saw what must've been the kitchen, with a few strange metallic cabinets, along with a metal and glass thing hanging from the ceiling. I shook my head as I turned, and walking to another room, I peered into it, and saw what must be where the owner entertained his guests. I growled weakly, and walking further down the hallway, I opened another door to find what looked like a restroom in the high end human towns. I walked into it as strange scents assaulted my nose, but I ignored those smells as I moved over to the wash basin, and turned the knobs to start to water flow. I chose the left one, since that seemed to wisest choice, and as I placed my furry arm underneath, I yelped in pain as I jerked away from it, the water was scolding hot, almost like fire! Turning that one off, I turned the right one, and I slowly placed my bloody arm underneath, but jerked back once again as this time my arm got chills from the freezing water. What magic is this!? Taking a new approach, I turned them both on, and I placed my arm under the water to find it was now at a comfortable temperature, and I proceeded to wipe my arm from the blood and surrounding dirt.

BRRaa, BRRaa, VVVIIIRR-ROOM! I tensed up as the foreign noise reached my ears, and I shit off the water and rushed to the window near the front of the house to see a strange beast roaring in defiance as it drew closer, and on its back was what must be the owner to this home, and I froze in fear, I turned tail and ran and hid inside the restroom I had just been in…

(Lyon's P.O.V.)

Running up my steps, I set the man down and against the stairs railing at the top of the porch, and then I proceeded to run inside and snatch the landline from the stand it was on, and as I dialed in '9-1-1', I couldn't help but feel worry. The man outside had been injured for I don't know how long, and his pulse was almost non-existent, though I still felt it when I checked on him. "Hello, what is the nature of your emergency?"

"I have a severely injured person, I found him in the woods, he needs immediate medical attention!" I said into the phone, desperately trying to speed the progress up some more.

"What is your location sir?"

"Investigator Murphy knows where I live, I'm in the forest, and my location is best accessible from helicopter." I said, and I looked over just as I heard a silent groan from outside, "He needs help now, he has lost a lot of blood already!"

"Thank you sir, police personnel have been alerted and are on the way. Do you have any additional information that you can provide on the description of the person?"

"Yes, he is wearing metal armor, almost like the Templar back in the crusaders us-"

"Sir…?"

I cursed silently, though I'm sure the person on the other end of the line heard, and I said, "He has full body metal armor, I don't know why, I just know I found him in the woods when I was quading. Whatever he was doing with that armor didn't seem to help him as half his fucking arm is missing!"

The other end of the line was silent for a few moments before the operator was replaced by the voice of investigator Murphy, and he asked, "Lyon, is what you are saying true?"

"Murphy, I wouldn't call the police station if I wasn't serious about an injury like this. You need to get here now, before he bleeds out. His pulse is very weak; he has extremely shallow breathing… I'm not sure a brown bear is even the culprit, but he needs help now!" I said, stressing the importance as nearly five minutes have passed now.

"I'm on my way…" As soon as he was finished, I heard the line click, and I turned towards the door and ran outside, and I checked the man's vitals, to see they were even lower than before. I cursed as I ripped my shirt off, and I bound it up as I pressed it firmly against the stump of his arm, trying to stem what little blood flow he had left. Pulling him up and onto my shoulders, I walked him down to my quad, and set him down beside it as I killed the engine, and I started to remove my ice chest, along with his strange sword. I carried those items back to my porch, and setting them both at the top, I placed my hands on my wrist as I messaged the particularly sore spot, and I ran back down my porch steps as I heard the chopping sound of a faraway helicopter.

Turning away from the guy, I moved over and began to push my quad towards the side of my place, exactly beside my dirt bike, and when it was there, I covered it with the tarp so that I didn't have to later. This prevented moisture from ruining the quality of my vehicles, but also served to keep them well maintained.

By the time I made it back to the armored man's side, the helicopter had begun to land, and when it was down, I picked the man up and rushed him to the medics who were rushing towards me. Investigator Murphy was right beside them when they got to me, and as I handed them over, I looked over and shouted over the noise of the helicopter, "HE HAS A SWORD, DO YOU WANT ME TO GO GET IT!?"

"KEEP IT FOR NOW, I WILL BE BACK TOMMAROW WHEN WE HAVE MORE NEWS ON THIS GUY!"

I nodded my head, and as he walked back towards and got into the helicopter, I backed away as well as the grass began to flatten from the turbulence that the blades put off. When it was in the air, I lowered my gaze as I covered my eyes and backed away so that no dust would get into my eyes. The air began to settle down as my clothes began to stop flapping wildly, and I watched the helicopter fly away with its severely wounded patient in tow. Looking down at my hands, I saw my gloves had blood over them, and I grimaced as I turned around and began to walk away back towards home so I could wash my gloves and hands.

Walking inside, I sighed as I thought about going upstairs to fetch a new shirt, as my own was keeping the blood in that one man. I quickly tossed that idea out of my mind, If I go grab a new shirt, then what will be the point, it will just get dirty as well. I used my upper arm to wipe my forehead as I pulled the restroom door open with my foot, which was strangely cracked open. Without looking, I reached my hand back, and I flicked the light switch on with my wrist so that I didn't get blood everywhere. Walking over and turning the water on, I leaned forward while I took a few small steps back, and I put my gloves under the running water, which I had made to be hot, but not scalding. I sighed as I began to move my hands over one another, and I proceeded to get the other man's blood out of my gloves. I started to take them off as I looked up and into the mirror, and I saw my goggles were still on, so once I had my gloves off, I took them off and placed them to the side of the sink. Taking in a deep breath, I looked down and turned the water off, and I squeezed the remaining water out of my gloves so they wouldn't take a day to dry. "What I don't get, is where a man gets that kind of armor, and chooses to wear it all the way out here… and those marks, they were like an animals, but what animal takes an arm but not the entire man?" I shook my head as I grabbed my goggles and gloves, and looked back into the mirrors pane as I asked myself, "When am I going to stop living by myself so I don't need to talk to myself…?"

(Samantha's P.O.V.)

I had covered my muzzle as soon as the bright magical orbs sprung to life above us on the ceiling, but I was still fighting to not cry out in pain as my ribs continued to cause me pain. It wasn't until he left the washroom and shut off the lights that I let out a small whimper of pain, and it was a mistake I was sorely going to pay for. The human stopped, and I saw his fingers wrap around the doorway before he himself came around to see me. His eyes widened as he looked down at me, and then he did the strangest thing, he held his hand down to me as he said, "I know it is popular among you kids, but you can't wear that in the forest, it will get you killed by any hunters…" I continued to look up at him, but he reached his hand closer as he said, "I can just pick you up if that is what you want… get over here so I can help with that cut…"

If he tries anything, my claws should suffice, and his neck is wide open… just as long as he keeps his word…

A.N.: So, this is the beginning to my new story for TwoKinds, and as you can see, I did quite a lot to work on it, which is saying something, as I haven't stopped typing for the past few days, I have been typing 24/7, getting over 4k words a day, moving at a pace that will affect me later on, but it is all I can do before summer hits, and hard. I won't be available as much as I am now during the summer, so I'm typing chapters out now, but when I don't update, don't get mad at me, just know I'm taking time making these chapters good. Typing as much as I have takes a toll on me, more than any of you think, and while I promised myself I wouldn't do it, I have broken that promise to bring satisfaction to you, my readers, so just know that when I don't update on time, it is because I need the break. 1 ½ year I have written over 500k words, that isn't a feat easily done, neither was that 111k words in 6 months, because unlike the authors that type a lot of chapters but less than 2k words, I do my best to hit 2k minimum, and 4k if I can manage. Anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter; this is mainly a teaser, like a hook to grab your attentions before I start typing more for this storyline. This was requested around the 20-ish chapters, so that is why this story is coming out now. I have no idea how to end it, but that happened with Fabled World, and look how well that came out…

Disclaimer: I do not own TwoKinds, Tom Fischbach owns anything affiliated with the original works of TwoKinds. I'm also glad he owns it rather than me, because I'm a piss poor drawer when it comes to hands and faces… and feet…