You awaken in the forest, it felt like any other day... Except for the minor fact that it was dark. You look around at your surroundings, all of it unfamiliar. You sit up and realize you feel a little off balance and that there is a slight throbbing in you right temple. You touch the point where the throbbing is coming from, it feels... crusty and perhaps a little sticky. Bringing your hand down from the side of your head, you realize that it is blood and that this is a long yet not major cut going from above your right eyebrow and across ending at your cheekbone near your ear.
Ugh what happened? You wonder as you bring yourself to your feet. Where am I? Being unfamiliar with your surroundings, you managed to find your way to a path. You were thankful to have found it, surely it would lead you to somewhere.
Fate was not going to make your journey an easy one, you felt like you were being watched the whole time you followed that path and decided maybe it was safest to stay off it so you veered back into the uncharted woods, trying to stay near to the path. You heard a rustling in the trees above your head. Looking upward, you saw a large black object descending upon you. Actually, you saw more than one... Their appearance struck fear into the core of your being. They had glinting fangs and shining eyes. Worst of all... they all had eight legs... They were spiders and rather large ones at that!
Quickly, you drew your blade from its sheath. Ah, great. You thought, looking around. I'm surrounded by spiders. I HATE spiders. You felt tears welling up but blinked them back. Your odds of survival against a ring of giant spiders seemed low but you weren't going to let the battle be over before it began by giving up now.
A few of the spiders came charging at you and you fought them skillfully with your sword. During the fight, you noticed another person had joined you in your battle. All you got during the battle was a glimpse, the fighter was certainly a man and a very seasoned swordsman.
"That was some good fighting back there, I'm impressed," the man said, smiling softly.
"Thank you. Your fighting wasn't so bad either," you responded, blushing slightly at the compliment. For an awkward moment, the two of you stared at each other, taking in the other's features. The swordsman had brown hair and some facial hair that was more than stubble but less than a beard. His eyes were grey.
"You're not hurt, are you? Those spiders have poison venom," the swordsman said, finally breaking the silence. You could see he was looking at the cut going over your temple, he looked concerned.
"No, I'm not. Not from them at least," you felt self conscious in this moment and tried to hide the cut more with your hair.
"I'm Aragorn," said the swordsman, "who are you? Are you from around here?"
"I'm...-" You tried to start, thinking about it now, you didn't know who you were or where you were from. "I-I don't know." Fear flooded into you, you could feel it coursing though your veins. Now, you were afraid.
Aragorn must have noticed the terror in your voice and didn't question you further on the subject. He frowned. "Follow me," he said. He walked just a step a head of you, making sure you weren't about to get lost. If he lost you, he might never find you again in these dense woods. It wasn't terribly far until you came to his horse.
"Do you know how to ride a horse?" he asked.
"I-I think so," you nodded not feeling too confident with your answer. It felt like something you had done before and had possibly been very skilled at, but at this point you couldn't be too certain of anything.
"Good," he said, getting on the horse. "I just have the one, you're going to have to ride behind me." He helped pull you up top of the animal. He took both of your arms and fasted your hands around his waste to be sure you weren't going to fall off. "Hold on tight."
With that, the two of you took off through the forest.
God, I hope he isn't going to kill me... Was all you thought.
