Thank you to Elisa1020 for asking to see more, i now bring you the first chapter of 'The Art Of Belonging'. This is only the prologue, don't ask why i wrote this at all let alone in in this style. i have no idea. honestly. The rest of the chapters will be longer than this, it's only 1331 words which is pathetic to me really. 5,000 minimum usually.

anyway, I have no Beta so any mistakes are my own.

I own nothing, don't sue me.

The Art Of Belonging

Prologue

My story, my dear readers, starts not at the beginning, but at the end. For it is only once my adventure has finished that I have the whole story to tell you. I came back into this world in a similar way to how I left, yet at the same time it was completely different.

Allow me to tell you my tale, a tale of friendship, adventure, action and tragedy. I tale of a story you all know well, but yet, know nothing about. My story is one of hellos and goodbyes and a goodbye far more painful than any other I have ever said.

There will be points where you may not wish to read further but I beg of you, dear reader, to stay with me for the whole story, from end to end with all of the in between.

There will be parts that may make you laugh or smile, and parts that may make you cry. I, myself, shed more than a single tear on this journey. It has changed me, maybe not for the better, but certainly not for the worst.

It taught me the art of belonging. Which is something I must now learn again as I once more find myself in this world and tell my tale to you in the hopes of understanding my past and being able to move on to the future.

My tale begins in England, my home and native land, in an area I am not familiar with as I find myself thrown back into this world with no clear destination.

The first thing I was aware of was crashing. Like someone kicking a door in. After each crash someone shouted 'Clear!' What was going on? The floor beneath me was cold and hard. Where was I? What had happened? Oh, I remember, I helped Lloyd and the others reunite the two worlds and got sent back to earth.

Saying goodbye was harder than I thought it would be.

There was a crash much closer than the rest. "Shit! I GOT A BODY IN HERE!" the footsteps came closer. A hand on my neck. "SHIT! SOMEONE RADIO FOR AN AMBULANCE!" He slid my bag off me and turned me over, somehow managing to do so without taking off my swords. "Hey, kid. Can you hear me?"

I blinked without opening my eyes.

"Good, good. Alright, we're going to get you to a hospital okay?" blink. "Alright lad, you just stay awake for me okay? stay with me. I need to put some pressure on these wounds okay?"

I took a deep breath and forced myself to open my eyes. The room was dark, the only source of illumination being the torch on the man's... was that a gun? He has a gun.

I took a few more breaths and found myself waking up more by the second. The man was pressing down on some wounds on my chest. The slight blush on his face indicated he now realised I am not a lad. I tried to get a better look at him but moving hurt.

"Easy, lass. Easy. The name's Steve Mathews. What's yours?"

I smirked up at him. "I go by Drake Rise, though you won't find me under it..." I smiled sadly and told him my real name.

Steve looked surprised. "Really? Aren't you one of those people who disappeared a few years ago?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I'm the only survivor though."

The man looked down. "Oh. I'm sorry."

I laughed dryly. "You've done nothing to apologise for, don't worry."

He nodded and we sat in awkward silence for a while before two people came into the room. A man and a lady, each wearing a hi-viz jacket. Steve moved to the side and the lady knelt down next to me. "Ya'll right there lad? Can ya hear me?"

I nodded. "Yes, I hear you fine."

The lady nodded. "Alright, I'm gonna take a look at those wounds alright? This might hurt a bit." She unbuttoned my clothes and moved them to the side so she could see my chest. "Oh, sorry lass. Let's look at these injuries. Oh, they look deep."

I nodded. "Getting stabbed tends to leave deep wounds." I looked around a bit. The room looked like something you would see in a horror movie or a room where victims are held captive in cop shows. Man I hope I'm not in a T.V. show.

The lady looked at me. "You were stabbed? Do you know who did it?"

I nodded. "Yeah. He's dead now. My friends didn't take too kindly to him trying to run me through." Poor Mithos never stood chance against Lloyd. I glanced down at my injuries but groaned when I realised those annoying lady lumps of mine were in the way. Again. Stupid lumps. I twisted one of my arms around and managed to manoeuvre it under my head. There, now I could see over them. Wow, they looked bad. They were half healed by the end of the battle from all the various healing artes being thrown around I don't know who healed each one, probably a group effort but now, most of them were open again and a few looked worse than when I first got them.

The lady seems slightly shocked. "Well..."

I sighed and told her my name. "Trust me. I've been killing in self defence for a long time. It was the only way to survive."

The lady sighed and looked my injuries over. "Well, we are going to need to get you to the hospital as quick as we can. We need to get these seen to." She and her partner manoeuvred me onto a stretcher and took me out to the ambulance. The Police officer rode in the back with me and the male paramedic while the woman drove. The two of them pressed down on my many wounds. Luckily the officer had brought my bag.

I sighed and pushed them off for a moment before removing my sword belt. I handed it to the officer and he put it next to my bag. "If anything happens to those swords I will make whoever is responsible wish I had killed them."

Steve nodded and went back to compressing my wounds.

Several hours later I was sitting in a hospital bed, fully stitched up and staring down the police officer as he tried to question me. I could hardly tell him I had been in a video game could I?

My family came in not long after and after much hugging and cries they eventually settled down. Now the officer wanted me to tell me where he was and my family was backing him up. I sighed. I told them I don't know how we got to where we ended up. I told them someone experimented on us for a while before sending us to a modern concentration camp.

I refused to go into detail, telling them it was too fresh.

I was kept in the hospital for a few weeks before I was allowed out and even then I was signed up to physical therapy for my wounds. Had I been back on Iselia it would have been a few healing artes and I would be fine but here, I had to heal naturally.

I sat in front of my laptop one night, a few weeks after i came home. I opened up a word document. I needed to tell someone, even if you would never believe me.

And this is where my story takes you back, dear readers. To where i am right now, writing this story to you. I take you back in time to the part you are interested in. When I went to Sylvarant, when I met with Lloyd, when we went on the journey. All of that is in the story, dear readers, but there is more to it than that.

Allow me to tell you my tale.