Kael awoke slowly, his head spinning. A warm wind rolled over his face, and he listened as it rustled leaves seemingly above him and on the ground. He suddenly twitched as a bug landed on his cheek, making him reach lazily up to slap it away. Another gasp nearby made him snap his eyes open.
Green foliage surrounded him along with many towering oak trees that were swaying in the wind. Noon sunlight crept through many gaps in the leaves above him, the soil he was lying on was a light brown color. Struggling against the glare of the sunlight, he saw the outline of a human figure a few paces away.
"Saljik'al! Itil manu paha del'ja leeril!" he heard a girl say. Panicking slightly, Kael got up onto his arms and started crawling away but collapsed, a pain searing up his right arm. A few moments of silence except for the sounds of singing birds, then he heard the sound of footsteps crushing leaves coming closer to him.
"Who's there?" Kael shouted, searching for his katana in sweeps along the dirt with his uninjured arm. The footsteps stopped abruptly. What's going on? Where the hell am I! He thought desperately, slowly remembering the sudden news report, Marche, Ritz, Mewt, and Donned all making a sudden pact and touching the book and asking Kael the same, and then remembering having had agreed. And the cloaked figure.
"Oh, I'm sorry," the feminine voice replied, rather sweetly. "I forgot that you Humes don't speak Viera." Kael lifted his head and looked around, now used to the light, and his eyes settled on the girl. She was wearing a dark sea-blue colored cloak with golden designs on the shoulder that went down to her ankles, a blue sleeveless shirt with a collar that went halfway up her neck, and short blue pants, revealing much of her thighs, and elaborately designed brown boots that went up her shins. She had a light tanned and smooth-looking skin and sharp pale green eyes. Her hair was a little longer than shoulder length, straight, and a beautiful silver-white color. A pair of furry, brown, and rabbit-like ears stuck out from behind the hair pointing skyward. She was about a head shorter than Kael without the slightly tall ears, looked about the same age, and her face almost perfectly angled, cute, and had a nice thin figure.
"Uhhh…" He found himself lost for words. Rabbit-like ears? White hair? The hell?
"What strange clothing," She said, giggling. She started walking toward him, but he shot backward into a tree using his legs. "Aren't you warm in those?"
She had a point. The wind was warm, but so was the temperature itself, making him sweat slightly. He removed the blue scarf from his neck and removed the jacket, leaving only his navy-blue T-shirt and baggy bluejeans.
"Where am I?" He asked finally.
"Nubswood Forest," She replied. "I thought you were dead, but when I got up to you, you shot awake. Are you okay?"
"What country?"
"Um…Ivalice. Did you hit your head or something?"
"Ivalice isn't a country, it's my town. And it's snowing," Kael said.
"Ivalice is a whole country…are you okay?" She asked again.
"No it's…" Kael stopped. Wait…the book. Am I going nuts? This is a dream right? Kael pinched himself. He jumped as a surge of pain shot up his arm.
"Now why would you do that?" She asked, blinking and cocking her head.
"Making sure I'm not dreaming," he said. She giggled.
"What's your name?" She asked, coming closer. Kael pressed against the tree again as if trying to knock it down out of his way.
"Stay back!" Kael said. "Please."
"But your hurt, your arm! I think…" She said. "If you'd just let me…"
"No thanks!" Kael said. "It's…uh…Kael." He didn't see any reason why not to tell her or anyone.
"My name's Elfriede, but you can call me Kari, if you want," She said, coming closer. Kael stopped protesting. She got kneeled on both knees and looked at him face to face. Her eyes wandered from his face to his shoulder, and she poked his right shoulder, making him recoil in pain.
"What did you do that for!" He shouted through clenched teeth. She glared at him.
"Trying to help!" She said angrily. "Now hold still!"
"Not much help if you poke it!"
"Well I needed to see which shoulder."
"I could've told you that!"
"Hold still!" She said sharply, then muttered, "Humes are so touchy." A tooth in one corner of her mouth was sharp and quite apparent. She pulled out a long white cloth from a large rucksack that was slung around her shoulder and wrapped it around his shoulder, pulling it tight. When she was done, she placed a palm on it and closed her eyes. She began muttering in some strange language, Kael watching in slight interest. Her hand glowed a bright white color, and then faded away.
"There! You should be better in about three hours," She said, showing obvious pride of herself through a grin, the sharp tooth flashing again. Kael moved his arm up and down. The pain was still there, although it was much less.
"What was that?" He asked. He felt more comfortable now, although his head was still trying to explode with thoughts and questions and the headache at the same time.
"Red Magic. I'm doubling up on classes. I want to be a royal healer for whichever side wins, and at least somewhat decent in Snipering and Archery. Maybe some Elementalism, but not likely." She said. Kael's head began buzzing louder.
Okay…a few things at a time, He told himself. "Have you seen any others around here? One has white hair like yours, another has wild brown hair about the same color as mine, another with long blonde hair, and one in a wheelchair."
"Wheel…chair?" She repeated. "What's that?"
"Never mind, have you seen them?"
"No, just you. We're about five miles from the capital city Cyril, and I just got this far today. I can't smell anyone else but you."
"…smell?" he asked, blinking. He sniffed his arm, noticing only a weak sign of lack of bathing.
"Uh, yes," She said as if he was stupid. "We Viera have sharp senses of smell. You're not from around here, are you?"
"Well, I do have 'strange clothing'," He said, making her giggle again briefly.
"Why are you here?" She asked.
"I…I dunno."
"Maybe you did hit your head," She said. "Well, do you want to help me find Kaltuzor? Nasty bugger. Are you in a clan?"
"Uhh…huh?" He asked, his head now a raging storm. She suddenly reached to her side and pulled out his katana, and he grabbed for it immedietly.
"Why'd you take it? And what? No, I'm not a clan? Who's Kaltuzor?" he asked, knowing he sounded like a curious five-year-old.
"Well, as soon as you help me find the disgusting Bangaa bandit and fight him, I'll help ya out!" She said. "What do you say?"
Kael sighed. I hope I wake up soon. "Sure…what's a Bangaa? But wait…fight!"
"Yes, fight. Usually, they don't go down that easily. Bangaa are lizard people, if you want to be abrupt about it," She snarled suddenly. "Never did like most of them." Kael noticed her fingers run along the pommel of a silver rapier sheathed at her side on a leather belt, and then noticed, along with her rucksuck, a large red bow wrapped around her body.
"What're you going to do?"
"Fight him and bring him in for a bounty, of course! The filthy lizard has been stealing sheep for some reason from farmers. I need to…to…prove myself for a clan, and this is a good way to do it!"
Questions buzzed through his mind. Viera? Bangaa? Hume? Oh, Hume must be short for humans like me. Clans? Cyril? How'd I get in this forest? Where are the others? My head hurts! This Ivalice is a country? She could do magic…like Ritz did in Marche's room! He gave up and decided to go with the flow.
"Sure."
"Yay!" She said. "Oh…uhh…but don't get in my way!" She said, putting on a haughty tone. Kael sweat dropped.
"What?"
"Come on, work with me! I have to look tough!"
"You're shorter than I am with a thin rapier and a piece of wood with string…yeeeah," He teased, as if talking with a friend.
"Shut up!" she said. Kael laughed. The sun was beginning to set. Kari grabbed his hand and started to help him up, but let go and fell forward—right on top of him.
Kael blushed, feeling his body temperature rising and the girl's own warmth seeping into him. She lifted her head which had fallen over his shoulder and looked at him right in the eyes, her arms pinning him by the shoulders, sitting right on his right thigh. She stared at him, and he returned it.
"Uhh…" Kael said, lost for words. He felt her breasts push against his chest. She suddenly gasped and then scrambled up to her feet.
"Sorry!" She said. "I'm so clumsy."
"And stupid." Kael teased again, getting up.
"JUNDIAS NIL!" She shouted, waving her arms in the air as she walked through the forest. He knew from the tone it meant something along the lines of 'you idiot,' but laughed. He followed her as she weaved between trees, deeper into the wood.
"Are you good with a katana?" She asked after two-and-a-half hours of silently walking downhill. The sun was setting, painting the sky a deep orange and red color dashed with thin clouds. Kael finally removed his bandage from his arm, feeling as good as new. They entered a small clearing with a small stump in the middle of tall grass. They waded through the grass as though it was waist-high water, listening as bugs and birds chirped.
"Yeah, pretty good." He said.
"Good. I'm glad to have help, but like I said, don't get in my way!" She said.
"Of what?"
"If you get picked to get in the clan by doing better than me, or if you get in my line of attack!"
"I'm not really sure I want to fight at all," Kael said, shaking his head. She turned around and rolled her eyes.
"You may have to, and you said you'd help me!"
"Well I didn't exactly plan on fighting! I mean, I've never gotten in a real fight! With swords anyway." He thought back to Nagasaki, where he'd gotten into two fights over rather stupid things.
"Well…" An ear shattering whistle echoed around the forest. Kari suddenly looked skyward, looking all around them. Kael watched her while looking amongst the trees, trying to get closer to her.
"Whisling arrow. His clan or another clan is nearby. I don't know if they're friendly. Stay still," she said. Kael raised an eyebrow, but insinctively put a hand on the hilt of his sword, rubbing the nylon wrapping with his thumb.
Three Humes wearing tight, dark-purple clothing with a similarly colored wrap covering all of their faces but their eyes. In each of their hands was an unsheathed katana. One of them pointed outward.
"There she is! Who's the guy with the weird clothes?" the ninja called. Kari backed toward Kael until she was next to him, both of them facing the approaching ninjas.
"Remember what I said about having to fight? Well that's the way things are looking," she said. Kael felt a bead of sweat, hoping that the attackers would stop. They didn't.
"Kill her! The master needs silence and no disturbance!" Another harsh female voice shouted. Kael whipped around and saw a Viera wearing the same clothing, her race only noticeable because of the ears that stuck out of the wrap over her face.
One of the attackers removed a bow that was wrapped around them and, even while running, swiftly loaded an arrow into the string and pulled it back, aiming at Kari. The arrow was loosed, the bow string letting off a soft twang sound. Kael's eyes widened, and the world seemingly slowed. He pulled the katana from its sheath in almost un-human like speed and got in front of her, lifting the blade over his head and swinging downward as fast as he could.
The arrow ricocheted off the blade and split in two, going to the left and right of them. Kael slowly recovered, panting slightly. Kari was doing the same, her breath rattling slightly and wide eyed.
"What the…?" Kael said, trying to recollect what happened.
"Come on!" Kari shouted suddenly. He listened as she pulled her own bow and loaded an arrow. She released one at the other archer, and he fell to the ground in a cry of pain. The other two got into sword range.
Kael roared as they did and clashed with the nearest one. The sound of scraping metal came from behind him, making him assume Kari had taken the other. The eyes of the ninja were changing with each blow that they exchanged, and Kael almost felt himself smiling.
The ninja whirled to gain speed and sliced for his abdomen. Kael ducked and rolled behind him and swung at his ankles, but he watched as the shinobi leapt nimbly out of the way. Please don't make me hurt you, Kael pleaded.
Kael leapt at him, using the hilt and hitting his opponent directly in the solar plexus. He released his double handed grip and punched him across the face with a right hook. The back of his head exploded into pain, and he fell face first into the ground. Groaning slightly, he rolled out of the way, listening to the shallow ring as a blade impaled through the ground.
He leapt up and looked all around. Kari's blade was launched into the air, and her opponent grasped her by the throat and threw them onto the ground. Using his knees, he kept her pinned to the ground. He pulled a dagger from his right side, and raised it over her heart…
Kael roared and sliced through his opponent's stomach absent mindedly, and then hurled himself at Kari's attacker. The blade made a plunging noise as it impaled through flesh.
Kael's expression changed to fear. He looked at her attacker in the eye, which showed only pain, and he groaned. Kael looked over his shoulder, where the blade was sticking out of his back, stained with blood and flecks of entrail. He pulled it from his body, and he collapsed.
Kael's body felt like jell-o, his insides churning and shaking wildly. His breath rattled, and a chill swept over him. He looked behind him, where the other lay dead as well, blood spilling from the stomach. Kari was still on the ground, a tear going down her cheek.
I killed…I killed…killed killed killed…please God, let me wake up! He prayed. Silence. PLEASE GOD!
He vomit what was in his stomach. Wiping his mouth, he waited a few more moments before helping Kari up.
"Come on," she said, her tone normal but with a shakiness. Kael trudged after her as she went into the woods on the other side, the other Viera not anywhere to be seen.
"I…I…" Kael tried to say, but couldn't find anything. She stopped in the middle of the wood, a small clearing surrounded by trees and a stream trickling nearby. She collapsed to her knees.
"You see…you see what happens without proper engagments!" She shouted to no one. "No judges means death! DAMN THE MORONS THAT KILLED THE QUEEN!" She broke down into tears. Kael stood there, watching, unable to find words or movement, the taste of acid hanging on his tongue.
Why won't I wake? he asked himself.
Because you aren't dreaming.