"Mmm...My head."
Even thought I was having an enjoyable sleep, I felt a terrible headache hitting me out of nowhere. I tried to ignore it but pain was too strong, forcing me to open my eyes.
Stupid headache ! Who knows some of the adults booze would prove to be that much of an issue. Well, it wasn't really my idea, I was having a sleepover at a friend's house. My friend's older brother Kyle is what you would call a delinquant, almost everytime there was a problem in town, you bet your ass he had most likely had something to do with it, stealing money, cars, prohibited smoking, underage drinking,... And the list goes on.
Wait I got sidetracked, what was I talking about again ? ... I forgot...something about alcohol ?!...OH Right !The sleepover !
Like I was saying, my friend thought it was a good idea to get his brother to get us some alcohol, I don't really remember the full details but all I remember is passing out after 2 sips.
"I will never drink this stuff again. Oh man, I've really done it this time and when mom will undoubtedly know about this, I'm gonna be so dead."
"Well whatever, I'll get over it. Now, first thing to do get out of this forest and then I-...WAIT ! WHY DID I WAKE UP IN A FOREST ?"
Due to me not not being fully awake earlier, I didn't really take note of my surroundings but now that I was wide awake, a clear look around confirmed the fact that I was indeed in a forest.
"What am I doing here? When did I woke up here? I want my mommy"
Even thought tons of questions were filling my head, I decided to push them away and to instead focus on getting out of here first. I decided that maybe my friend just took advantage of the fact that I was down to prank me and put me here.
At best, he and his brother are on their way. At worst, mom is the one coming to take me home which means the beating of my life.
I looked around me, nothing you didn't expect from a typical forest.
Water, trees, leaves, even more trees. Wait no, I can distinguish something. It seems to be wooden box containing something. Is that a-
"A treasure chest ? I feel like a video game character on my way to a great adventure. Should I see what inside ?"
Of course it would be stupid to touch something that was lying there but I was far to excited at figuring out what amazing thing this thing could contain rather than caring about my safety
And so I opened it, I was expecting something like food or maybe some money but what I got instead was something that resembled a little bottle full of a blue liquid. At first glanced It looked like water but it is when I accidentally shook it that I realized that it was something else.
"Interesting, I will ask mom about this when I get home."
I was about to get home when I heard voice coming from south of here. It seemed like I wasn't the only one in this forest.
"What luck, what if it's a thief or a serial killer hiding from the police I'll be damned waking up only to die shortly after."
A few seconds later, I heard what sounded like a sharp weapon ( a knife maybe ?) hitting something followed by someone shouting something I couldn't really understand.
"Majinken"
"Maj..in..ken ? What is that ?" I questionned lost at the person's strange choice of words. As I was pondering over what was a Majinken, it didn't take as long for a voice with a similar amount of seriousness to shout words just as strange as the one I just heard.
"Guren"
After several minutes of headscratching, I came to the conclusion that whoever those persons were, must have been in these woods to do some roleplay, live DnD or something.
"Whatever it is, this got me really curious to see what's going on over there."
After what seemed to be an eternity since I woke up here, I took off in direction of the voices.
Those were coming from the south, maybe I'll see what's all this about ?
Less than 2 minutes later, I found the source of the voices, my initial impression of them were that they were wearing really good costumes.
There was 2 boys which I estimated to be around seventeen years old. One of the them had a sword in his hand, he was blonde and had a red headband around his forehead. He wore a black bodysuit cropped at the biceps with a cropped breastplate covering his chest and leather around his waist, partially surrounding his right leg.
At his arms were black fabric and white metal wrist guards extending to his elbow. At his hands were finger-less leather gloves and the back of his armor had a red cloak attached at the shoulder guards. He also sported silver sabatons. He was dressed like a hero from a fantasy game.
Next to him was a blue haired archer, he was boasting a light blue top with a dark blue trim and off-white, almost tan, pants. Around his neck was a white scarf, brown, finger-less gloves, and boots which complimented his outfit's color scheme. formed in a ponytail, and carries a brown His aforementionned hair was long and tied in a ponytail, finally, he had a quiver on his back for storing arrows.
I managed to learn from their conversation that they were hunting. I also learned that the swordman name was Cless while the archer was Chester. While they were advancing further into the forest and I was about to go the opposite way of where they were going. Cless suddenly stopped walking and looked behind him...Right where I was hiding.
He looked at the spot for a good minute before firmly grasping his sword and with a commanding voice called out in my direction.
"We know you've been spying on us for a while now ! Come out whoever you are !"
Chester did the same thing, readying his bow in my direction.
What should I do ? I've never been in a situation this intense, if I just run for it they might kill me instantly but I can't stay hidden either. I think I'll just show myself. I just have to trust that they will drop their weapons once they realize that I'm just a kid.
I did as I said and got out of the bushes while carefully making my way towards them, making them understand that I meant no harm. Their eyes widdened at the sight of my form coming towards them, I guess they were wondering what was a kid doing alone in a forest of all places.
"Uh ? It's just a kid. What's a kid doing here by himself. Did you follow us ?" asked the blue archer eyeing me curiously. His friend friend just simply put away his blade in silence.
Feeling embarassed at getting caught, I lowered my head to the ground as if there was anything interesting there, I felt my face heating up. What could I say ? From the look of their attacks earlier, it didn't seem like I was near home. Hell, scratch that,I probably wasn't on Earth anymore.
Just what happened ? Why is this place and why am I here ?
My mind returned to the situation in front of me when Cless gently shook my shoulders, snapping me out of my thinking phase.
"Hey kid, you alright ? Nevermind, you look pretty young going here by yourself how old are you ?"
"Wha...Me ? I'm eight."
"Well, ain't you a feisty one coming here by yourself. Did you lose a dare or something" smirked Chester all the while shaking his head. He must have been thinking of me as the reckless type which mind you wasn't that far off but he didn't need to know that.
"No...I just...I can't remember, I woke up here and I was alone. You guys are the first persons I encountered." I said a little bit to quickly for my taste. I guess it's not surprising if I tell you that I was never good with new people."
Cless leaned on one knee and patted my head. All the while Chester looked around cautiously, I think he was readying himself for any pincer attack.
"No need to stress, we'll just finish what we were doing and then we'll bring you back to Totus in one piece, your parents must be really worried right now." The mention of my parents left me feeling sad. I already missed my parents, my mom's sweet scent, my dad's hot headed personnality, their laughs. I wasn't in the mood to cry because something he said left me confused, so I couldn't help but voice my lack of knowledge.
"What's a Totus ? Is that a city ? Near this forest ?" I could see that my word didn't only confuse the swordman but also Chester as he quickly turned his head in our direction. I felt a bit intimed by their stare.
Chester raised an eyebrow at my words and opened his mouth trying to find his words a dumbfounded expression clearly visible on his face, Cless bit him to it though.
"You're not from Totus ? Weird, how did you get here without crossing the village's gate ?"
"Come to think of it, your clothes are also of a strange fabric, are you from the north ? Euclid perhaps ?" Chester added inspecting intensely my outfit.
"Euclid is that another city ?" I sais answering his question with another one, the obvious lack of knowledge never leaving the tone of my voice.
Cless shook his head got up and deciding that this conversation was becoming too long, turned his attention to his best friend and momentarily excluding me from their talking.
"Chester, don't you think this is really strange that this kid seems so unaware of the world ? Maybe he's a traveler of some sort and his parents abandonned him here. He's not safe alone with all those monsters around, maybe we should take him with us?"
"I don't know dude. Do what you want, he's your responsability. I promised Ami I was gonna get her a nice boar for tonight so as long the hunt is good I'm good. You know how scary she is when she gets mad. Just don't spoil him too much ok ?"
Cless rolled his eyes at his teasing and closed his, answering with a little sass of his own.
"Thanks mom, I'll be carefull."
After what seemed like half a minute of them laughing, they turned back to me a smile on both of their faces. I don't know why but the sight of that made me smile too, I genuinely felt safe with them around. So much I temporarily forgot about how much I missed my family.
Chester started walking away, while Cless stayed near me in a protective manner. His sword firmly gripped in his right hand while a shield was in his left one.
"By the way." I looked up to see Cless looking at me over his shoulder. "What's your name ?"
"Ciel. Just call me Ciel." Of course, I could have fiven him my true name but this is a new world and I can be as cool as I want so it's only fitting that I choose a name as nice sounding as this one.
Cless smiled at me. "Nice too meet you Ciel. I'm Cless, Cless Alvein and he's Chester Barklight."