Chapter 2: A strange new world

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"Where... Am I?" I say to myself as I whip my head around looking for any sign of people or, even animal. oddly enough, not a sound to be heard "Ok, thats conserning. how did I even get here? What even hap-" I pause for a few moments as I recall what happened before I blacked out.

"Mom... Dad... Evan... They're. Gone." As I realize this I slowly bring my hands from the cold snow beneath me up to my face and begin to sob into them. I curl up and cry more recalling the events that happened before I woke up in this strange place. That is until I'm interrupted by a loud snarling sound coming from behind me, I snap my head up and away from my arms and legs as I turn around while sat down in the snow and saw something, unsettling. A large werewolf like creature who's fur was completely black and had strange bone like protrusions along parts of its body, the most notable thing though was it's bone mask with red markings on it covering it's face and it's, terrible, evil, hungry red glowing eyes. It stood a good hundred feet away from me and as I stare in awe and terror for a brief moment it howls into the air, with that I immediately start to slowly stand up and start to back away slowly "It's ok, just remember what boy scouts taught you. Don't turn your back to it and don't make any sudden movements, that might aggrovate it."I think this to myself as it begins to stalk towards me, then it start to move a little faster, then it starts to run at me, weaving between the trees "Screw you john and your bullshit boy scout advice!" I think as I spin around and start sprinting away from this creature as fast as I can

I run, duck and weave through this strange place being chased by a demon wolf after having just been through a literal DEATH STORM. I vault over a fallen tree then slide under a large low hanging branch and as I dart through these seemingly endless woods I hear the crunch of snow and cracking of breaking wood behind me gaining on me "Lucky for me these trees are relatively dense and this thing is big so it can't gain on me as fast, gotta think fast, think, think!" And as I'm thinking to myself I look over to my right and see a mostly frozen river

"Perfect! hopefully its frozen enough that I don't go under with it... Again..."

I quickly change my course and start bolting towards the river and look over my shoulder just in time to see a monstrous claw swing just past the back of my head and see the large demon wolf like creature tuble through the snow briefly before hitting a tree. It takes a moment to regain itself before it begins it's chase once more, I turn back to face the mostly frozen river and start running across with no seeming problem. Until the claws of the creature behind me start slamming and digging into the ice, sending spidering cracks across it's surface, stopping both me and the beast in our tracks as the ice threatens to give beneath us at any given movement. I slowly look over my shoulder to see the creature no more than 20 feet from me looking down at its paws and the many cracks in the ice underneath them. It then looks up at me before it licks it toothy maw and begins to stalk towards me once more, I slowly turn to the side, not so i'm facing it but so I can quickly glance between the creature and where i'm walking. I then slowly start shuffling away from it only to hear the ice crack more and more *CRACK* the ice underneath the large wolf like creature cracks and breaks under its right clawas it gets within 10 feet of me, the ice splitting and the wolf slides into the water underneath the ice.

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I breath and light sigh of relief after a few moments of watching it disappear into the water below "Damn, that was to close for comfort" a few more moments pass as I then start to shuffle in the direction I was heading in until I come to a break in the ice, it was about a 4 foot gap between myself and where the ice starts again. I crouch low and leap for the other side only to have the water below me break as a large claw extends out from it and swipes at my leg, taking a good chunk of skin and muscle with it "GAAAAH! SHIT!" I yell out as I slam down onto the ice on the other side of the opening, a flailing demon wolf in the water trying to pull itself free or take me with it, I can't tell through all the blinding pain and water flying every where I try to crawl away but it snags its claw into the clothing on my back and pulls me with it under the water and as I flail and strugle against it's grip it snaps at my head and I just barely manage to move my head to the side as it's teeth clip my ear taking a bit of flesh with it "No! I just had to deal with drowning and I refuse to experience the same bullshit again!" I twist my body around shedding myself of my hoodie of which the creature had latched itself on to, then I promptly swing my legs down on to the snout of the creature and push off using it's face as a spring board, pain shoots through my left leg, the one it slashed at previously but I do my best to push through the pain as the intense adrenaline pumps through my sytem.

"Gah!" I burst out of the water and crawl up onto the freezing ice, white noise is all I hear, ice cold throughout my body is all I feel, dark fur is all I see as I flip myself onto my back to see the beast looming over me. It goes to bite down and I brace myself for yet another death. A death that luckily never came this day, a gargling whining sound is what I hear and as I strugle to open my eyes I see a woman in a white uniform with blue trim and similar color schemed over coat that goes down to her knees, black gloves and black thigh high boots. She also appears to have white hair tied into a bun at the back and a rapier in hand.

I glance past her to see the large beast slumped on the ice sliding back into the water and disolving, I try to speak "T-thank... You..." I just barely manage to get it out as the cold numbs all sensations in my body. I turn my head slightly to the side as I see three other individuals quickly approach me and the woman but that's about all I get before my vision goes dark once more.

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"uuuugh..." I groan as I come to conciousness "I hurt, every where. well on the bright side I'm not cold anymore. Wait." I open my eyes and slowly sit up in "A bed?" I groan again in slight pain as I finish sitting up and I take it my surroundings. A large twenty five by twenty five foot room with a ten foot tall, six foot wide window across from me, in front of the window and slightly to my right appears to be a large spruce desk with a couple papers on it and a chair tucked up to it and a wide dresser against the right wall. to my left appears to be a door on the left wall and a door on the wall my bed is up against, the bed itself is beautiful and luxurious by the way. An ice blue and white with silver lining designs adorn the covers of this near queen sized bed and along with the spruce wood frame to the bed it adds for beautiful contrast. I flip off the covers gently as I shift to the edge of the bed and set my feet down and wince in pain as my left foot touches the floor, now remembering what happened before I passed out from the stress and pain. "Oh yeah, someone saved me from that thing..."

"Yes and I'm glad to see your awake." A calm yet strict voice calls from the opposite end of the room and I snap my attention upwards to the door to the room and see the woman that saved me standing there holding onto the door knob with one hand and the other behind her back.

"Oh! Sorry, I didn't hear you come in. T-thank you again by the way." I say a little sheepishly as I rub the back of my head and look towards the floor. It is only now that I notice that I'm wearing none of my previous clothing and am wearing something like pijamas only their ice blue in color and look way fancier than anything I normally wear.

"It is quite alright. You are most welcome, we were lucky to come across you when we did." she says as she begins to walk into the room towards the table in the room that I hadn't really noticed before she came in "You may not have had any lethal injuries but the mixture of the blood loss and the freezing temperatures brought you very close to deaths door. I'm glad to see our efforts weren't in vain however." she finishes as she grabs a chair from the table and turns it to face me as she sits down.

"Well it's uh. Good to know I'm in such capable hands!" I say with a light chuckle "Speaking of which. Who. Um. Changed me out of my clothes?" I say with an awkward smile.

"We had our butler Klein take care of you when we returned." she says perfectly non-chalant like.

"Ah, I see. Well thanks for that!" I say letting out a nervous chuckle and a sigh, I must've accidentaly let the mixture of relief and disappointment cross my face because I see her quizically raise an eyebrow "Gotta change the subject!" I feel a bit of the heat rush to my face as I scarmble for something to say before I finally ask "S-so! uuuh, where am I exactly? And. M-may I ask what... Your n-name is?" Still feeling a little heat in my face. "Man, puburty sucks! Doesn't help that she keeps staring me down like a sith lord trying to choke me out with the force."

"Your in Atlas in the Schnee manor and my name is Winter Schnee, It is a pleasure to officially meet you." she says with a slight bow of her head

"I-I see. I'm Jesse Vermillion, it is a pleasure to officially meet you as well ." I exclaim trying to imitate her slight bow

"An interesting name, do you come from Vale?" she asks inquisitively

"Um, where?" I asked very confused

"..." She stares at me slightly confused before she continues "Vacuo perhaps?"

"..." I stay silent as I slowly shake my head with an even more confused look crossing my face

"I'm sorry but I have never encountered anyone who has never heard of these kingdoms. Where ARE you from?" and as she says this a very stern expression dawns her face as she stares me down

"well I can't exactly tell her that I just APPEARED in that forest, she'd think I'm crazy and ship me outta here! I could say I have amnesia?... Which isn't entirely inaccurate. I honestly don't know how I got here cause the last thing I remember before waking up in. Atlas? Is drowning in a thunderstorm" I let a few moments pass as look down at the floor in thought "... I don't know. I don't know how I got here, why I woke up in that forest or how long it had been before then... I-I just don't have any memory of it... I'm. I'm sorry." I say without looking away from the floor. After a few moments I hear a shift of wood against stone and heels click against stone, after another moment I feel a shift in the bed and I look to my right and see Winter sitting about a foot from me on the bed with a softened look on her face and a slight smile as she rests her hand on my shoulder and says "It's alright. You're more than welcome to stay here for the time being until you're all healed, in the mean time. Take a walk with me, I'll explain a few things to help you get your barrings." she removes her hand from my shoulder and gestures towards the nightstand next to the bed and there is where I notice a crutch resting against the wall between the bed and the nightstand. I grab it and stand up, or try at least. it hurts but I can bare it for the time being I hope. "Alright, ladies first." I exclaim with a slight smirk and gesture towards the door "At least you haven't forgotten your manners." she says with a nod and a slight smirk as she walks towards the door with her hands behind her back.

And so we are off for me to learn about this strange world that I've apparently been thrust into, why, I do not know. But a part of me can't help but be excited to find out.