Welcome back to the story. I'm glad all of you enjoyed the first chapter. I plan to bring this story for as long as I can. This is the second chapter where Bryan takes his first steps in the world of Remnant.
I hope you enjoy.
Stepping out of the portal, Bryan felt the sound of soft grass underneath his feet folding and crumpling. Looking around, he was surrounded by all sorts of vegetation, most notably trees. The only thing that wasn't vegetation was the occasional rock. Around him, he could hear the hooting of owls and the chirping of crickets. Looking up, he saw the night sky lit up with different shimmering stars. But the most noticeable feature of the sky was the moon; part of it was shattered.
"Yep, definitely in a different world. Last I checked, the moon was whole." He thought.
Looking at his body, he saw that his outfit was now different. When he was back on earth, he was last wearing a pair of white pyjamas. But now, he has a fitted white t-shirt, a pair of skinny jeans, white sneakers and a black leather jacket covering his shirt. Feeling his jeans, he felt a shape, the shape of a wallet.
Relived that G actually bothered to give him his wallet, he reached into his pocket to pull it out, only to not be able to. Looking down, he realized there was a chain attached to his jeans which held his wallet. Sighing, he detached the chain from the wallet and opened it, surprised to find that the contents have changed.
For starters, he was no longer carrying paper money or coins, but instead plastic cards with a magnetic strip at the back. Judging by their different colours and notations in the front, he quickly deduced that these were Remnant currency. When he checked his debit card, it was now a piece of currency. Groaning, he realized that he would need to make a new bank account in this world. He then continued walking in the forest, admiring the flora and fauna.
After walking for a while, he came across a stream. Relieved that he had come across a source of fresh water, he kneeled by the side and drank from the stream. After taking one mouthful of water, he was surprised at how good the water tasted.
"Well, this is unexpected, tastes different from what I have at home, I wonder if this is what they call "spring water"."
The sound of gunshots and trees being felled snapped him back to reality. He looked in the direction where the sound was coming from. Murmuring to himself, he got up and raced over to the area.
"Guess G wasn't kidding when he said I could help a lot in this new world. Just a few minutes in and I'm already in the vicinity of a fight. On the bright side, if this is a fight where the Grimm are involved, I might be able to get a taste of how vicious they are."
As he got closer and closer, he could hear more noises, this time roars, claws hitting stone and hisses.
Finally, he reached a clearing lit by the moonlight and that's where he saw it.
In the middle of the clearing, he could make out a girl. She had lilac eyes, fair skin and bright golden hair. She wore a grey jacket covering an orange tank top and brown cargo pants. The feature about her that stood out the most to him was that she was missing her right arm and her jacket's right sleeve was tied at where her arm should be. On her left arm, she seemed to have worn some kind of yellow bracelet.
Judging from her height and shape, he assumed that she was more or less the same age as he was. She was surrounded by 3 creatures, 2 of which were shaped like wolves, albeit standing on their 2 hind feet, reminiscent of the "werewolves" in the stories his mother used to tell him. The last one was shaped like a bear, considerably stockier in build compared to the wolf-like creatures. Despite their physical differences, they did have 3 similarities; their pitch-black skin, white bone-like structures which covered part of their bodies and red eyes burning with hatred.
"These must be the Grimm. Now then, how is this girl going to fend off 3 Grimm? From the looks of it, she isn't carrying any weapons with her. No guns, no swords…Wait, no guns? I could've sworn I heard gunshots, so where in the world is the gun that made the noises?"
As if the girl heard his question, the bracelet on her left arm started shifting. To Bryan's surprise, it started extending in size and ended up covering her entire forearm and hand. Peering a little closer, he can make out red and orange shotgun shells attached to the now extended bracelet.
"So the bracelet was actually a gauntlet that can also function as a shotgun? Interesting weapon indeed. Back in my universe, such a weapon would be impossible to craft. But I guess different universes, different rules." He mused.
As he watched the girl duke it out with the 3 Grimm, his initial evaluation of her weapon proved to be somewhat accurate. Indeed, she was able to use it as a shotgun as he witnessed when she blasted a werewolf-like Grimm in the eye with it before jumping over the Grimm and further emptying her ammunition on its head, killing it.
The second werewolf-like Grimm took this opportunity to pounce on her, but she was quicker and blocked its swipes. Straining under the relentless attacks from the Grimm, she cursed under her breath as she looked around to find an opening. Soon enough, the Grimm started to slow down and eventually stopped, seemingly drained of stamina. Capitalizing on this opportunity, the girl landed an uppercut and pummeled the Grimm with a flurry of blows, killing it. Something about those punches caught Bryan's attention, something about the power of them…
"Those punches…It seemed like the power behind them were increased by something. Could it be her gauntlet? That would certainly explain the increase in kinetic energy output by her punches…" Gazing at the battlefield, he saw the girl fall to her hands and knees in exhaustion and holding her side as if she got injured.
Then, he saw the bushes behind her rustling. At first, he thought it was nothing, just the wind. But then he remembered that he hadn't felt any wind in that area for about 15 minutes now and that the 3rd Grimm he saw was also missing. Eyes widening, he started to realise what was making the bushes rustle.
"The Grimm's right behind the girl! I know she knows it too, but she's too goddamn exhausted to move! I need to do something…" Suddenly, the bear-like Grimm burst out of the bushes, intent on mauling the poor girl. Without a second thought, Bryan raced out of his spot into the clearing. When he got close enough, he landed a heavy right hook to the bear-like Grimm's skull. At first, he had no idea if these things even had bones, but after feeling something inside the Grimm shatter, he wasn't so sure anymore. The force behind the blow was so great that it ripped the Grimm's head clean off its shoulders and sent it flying. The Grimm's body then went limp and collapsed to the floor, before dissipating.
"Odd, so the Grimm don't leave physical remains, rather, they evaporate into black mist. Weird, but not unexpected." He mused before turning his attention to the girl.
"Ow, ow…" She said, groaning as she got up.
Bryan rushed over to her side and put her arm over his shoulder, supporting her. "You alright?"
Giving a light cough, she replied, "No, there's this fresh wound on the side that so kindly appeared when one of the Grimm hit me."
Looking down to her side, he saw a cut. While it wasn't life-threatening, it was still deep. Acting quickly, he asked, "Do you know any place where you could receive medical attention ?"
Gesturing to a dirt path, she grunted, "Yeah, just follow this path and you'll reach my house. We got medical supplies stocked up there."
Nodding his head, Bryan rushed down the path with the girl.
A few minutes later…
The 2 of them have reached another clearing in the forest. This time though, there are no signs of Grimm anywhere and there was a house in the middle of the clearing. It had 2 floors and was constructed out of wood, only the roof is made out of sheet metal. Outside, there was a flowerbed near the entrance. There was also a wooden shed outside the house.
Rushing to the entrance, Bryan knocked on the door. After a short bit, a middle-aged man opened the door. He had blond hair, blue eyes and stubble. He dons brown cargo shorts and a brown vest over his tan dress shirt. "Back so soon? What happened-" He started, but trailed off as he realized the injury his daughter had.
Turning to Bryan, he asked frantically, "What happened out there? What did this ?"
"Sir, I know you're worried, but I'll explain later. For now, we need to patch up her wound!" Bryan said, realizing that she had passed out.
"Ok, please come in! Leave her on the couch, I'll run to the bathroom to get the first aid kit."
Nodding his head, Bryan carried the girl over to the couch and laid her down, using a nearby cushion to support her head. As he took a seat on the other couch, the man came rushing back with a first-aid kit in his hand. He opened up the kit and took out some bandages. Looking at Bryan, he asked, "Could you come over and help? It'll take less time that way."
"Certainly! I'll do my best to help."
As he kneeled down next to the man, the man said, "Ok, so basically you need to…"
45 minutes later…
"Finally…we managed to get that wound patched up."
"Yeah, it was a miracle that I was able to do that, I suck at precision tasks," Bryan mumbled, sitting down and wiping away his sweat.
"How did she even get wounded ?"
"Well, …it's quite a long story. So I suggest you make yourself comfortable."
After explaining the events that led up to her being injured, save for the portal that Bryan used to enter Remnant, the man nodded and got up to grab some drinks, despite Bryan saying he didn't need one.
Sitting down next to Bryan with 2 cans of soda, the man seemed to be pondering something before snapping back to reality. Turning to Bryan, he sheepishly said," Oh, where are my manners. I'm Taiyang Xiao Long, the man of this house. The girl you just saved is Yang Xiao Long, my daughter. The dog that's currently licking your leg is Zwei, the family pet. May I ask what your name is?"
"Huh? Dog?" Feeling something wet hit his leg, he looked down and sure enough, there was a small dog. Scratching his head, he said, "I'm Bryan Windsor."
"Oh? Bryan Windsor? Never seen you around these parts, what are you doing on Patch?"
"Patch? O-oh, I'm just travelling."
Raising his eyebrow at this, Taiyang inquired, "Travelling? Won't your parents be worried about you wandering around? You look like the same age as Yang."
"Ah well…truth be told, I don't have parents anymore… They died in a car accident when I was still young. I've been fending for myself for the past 8 years now."
Lowering his head, Taiyang stuttered, "I-I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought that up.."
"Nah, it's alright Mr Xiao Long. I've came to accept losing my parents years ago. So it's no biggie at all."
"If you don't mind me asking, where did you come from?"
Freezing at this statement, Bryan realized that he didn't have a cover story for this question. Thankfully, improvisation is one of his best skills.
"Well, I came from a far off village in the mainland. It was a very dangerous place, filled with some of the worst criminals the world could offer. Only the strong survived and the weak perish. But I didn't believe in that, so I left the village to go search for a better place to live and find a purpose."
"I see…in that case, would you like to stay here? I'm sure Yang will enjoy your company and you don't seem to be like a bad person at all."
Taken by surprise, Bryan thought he misheard what he said.
"Stay here? Are you sure Mr Xiao Long ?"
"Yes, I insist! You've helped save Yang and helped me patch her up. I can't think of a better way to help you than to offer our hospitality. You sound very surprised that I offered you to stay. Are you not accustomed to such things?"
"W-well, it's just that no one has ever been that kind to me before…But I will graciously take up your offer. I'll stay here!"
"Great! I'll find you some pajamas and prep the guest bedroom for you."
After a few minutes, Taiyang came back with his old pajamas that were white, with some yellow stripes on them. Bryan detested the colour yellow, but accepted the pyjamas nonetheless, he didn't want to burden Taiyang.
"Just walk up the stairs and go to the room at the very end, the guest bedroom is there. The bathrooms are just on the opposite side of the bedroom. Have a nice sleep!"
"Will do, Mr Xiao Long! Goodnight!"
"Goodnight to you too! Oh and uh..you can call me Taiyang."
"Alright then, see you tomorrow, Taiyang."
Once he reached the guest bedroom, he changed out into the pajamas which surprisingly enough, fit cosily on him. He put his wallet on the bedside table, next to the vase of flowers and promptly laid on the bed. As he drifted off to sleep, he had one last thought.
"Taiyang is such a nice guy, I wonder if he knows anything about the girl with the silver eyes?"
And...that does it for this chapter.
Basically, Bryan ends up in Patch and encounters Yang and her dad.
If you guys do have any queries or have any suggestions, please feel free to drop a review and I will get to it ASAP.
Please, wash your hands and stay at home. Stay safe out there, readers.
That's all for today, until next time.
Toxilius out.