I woke up with a pounding headache and a distinct lack of something. Despite my internal monologue, I groaned aloud and clutched my head- pressing my temples with my thumb and middle finger- and slowly dragged my hand down my face. "Oh, you're awake," a soft voice said nearby.
Forcing my eyes open, I was met by the sight of open sky, ruined buildings, and rather busty white-haired woman. The scraps of cloth attached to her body could only generously be called clothes. "Wish I wasn't," I muttered in reply. The woman gave a small, grim smile. "What happened?" I asked her.
"I'm not sure," the woman said, looking around. "All I know is that I woke up here with you lying next to me. And some rather strange knowledge."
I grunted. I sat up, realizing I had something extra on me. Looking down, I noticed I had breasts. "While I may not be able to remember a lot- or anything actually- I'm fairly certain that I didn't have boobs before."
"Oh, so you were a guy before?"
"Like I said, I'm not sure, but it does feel distinctly out of place." I shrugged, deciding to ignore it for now. I stood up with the help of the woman, my body feeling both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. "Either way," I said, slowly getting used to my body, "where exactly are we?"
I gazed around the area, noting how everything seemed to be dilapidated. The buildings were still standing, though some were partially collapsed or had holes in the sides of them. The road we were standing on had debris everywhere- possibly because of the massive spikes that jutted out from the ground nearby. The insides of the spikes were glowing faintly, I noted. The sky, while still its normal blue tone, had an overlay of yellow energy- as if it was some sort of barrier covering something; or containing something.
"It seems like we are in a street," the woman said, proving my assessment correct.
"I agree." I noticed a few rusted cars nearby. "Do you think those old things'll work?" I pointed the cars out to her.
"Unlikely. Judging by how they've rusted over, the batteries most likely have been depleted. And it's also likely the gas has also been stolen."
"Yeah, that's fair. Just didn't want to walk- to wherever we're going." I looked at the woman, "Where are we going?"
"I suppose we follow the path? Since these spikes block the other side of the road, and there seems to be only one path." She started off. Shrugging, I followed- since I had no better ideas.
I stumbled several times- as I was still getting used to my body- but quickly gained my balance. "Gotta watch where I'm going," I muttered to myself, stepping over a bit of asphalt.
I stumbled over a bit of rock and fell into the woman's arms, whose attention was focused on some sort of white tree. Disentangling myself, I asked, "What's that?"
"A bloodspring. Give me your hand," she said distractedly, holding her hand out.
"Eh? Why?" I asked.
"Just do it," She commanded. Shrugging, I did so. She led me closer to the bloodspring, where I was suddenly wracked with pain. I nearly collapsed as my muscles seized up, the only thing keeping me standing was the woman.
Flashes. Flashes of something flashed through my mind. A woman, standing above me, her sclera black and hair white. A man in a coat, hand holding some sort of bottle out to me. Bright, white light, something in front of it. Someone. As soon as they came, they were gone. I gasped with pain, I was suddenly feeling a deep thirst; not something water could quench, I somehow knew.
The woman bit into my hand, drawing blood and letting some of it drip onto the plant's roots. The pain from the bite was nothing compared to what felt like my entire body ripping at the seams. I collapsed to the roots of the plant, my mind a haze. The woman held out a transparent red fruit, oddly shaped like a tear. "Drink," she said, pushing the fruit up to my mouth. In no state to refuse, I bit into it and drank.
The aching thirst lessened but was still wracking my system. The woman knew this and continued feeding me fruits until I passed out from the previous pain. Though at least the thirst was gone, now.
I awoke in the lap of the woman, and inside some sort of building. "Hey, keep it down," A guy's voice said nearby. "Your friend just fell asleep."
I sat up slowly, trying to keep her undisturbed. "What, happened?" I asked softly.
"Don't know," the guy said. "All I know is that the revenants in charge tossed the two of you down here. Where's your masks?"
"Masks?" I asked. I felt around my face, feeling the metal on it. "Is that what this is for?"
"Yeah. Purifier masks. There's some on the table." He pointed at the table behind him, where there were masks laying on it. Nodding, I stood and walked over, grabbing a mask and attaching it to the frame on my face. I walked back over to the man. "Looks good on you. Without the masks, we Revenants would become part of the Lost."
"Revenants? Lost? Sorry, but I don't remember anything."
"It's fine. Revenants are humans who died but got kicked awake again. So long as our heart stays intact, we keep coming back. Lost are Revenants who have succumbed to bloodthirst- something that happens when we go too long without drinking blood- and have become monsters. Revenants lose part of their memory when we die- big or small. Your case is a little more rare since you don't remember anything."
A loud clang echoed through the room, and a voice yelled, "Three, Four! You're wanted up here!"
"Looks like they want you and your friend. Wake her up and go; don't want to leave the bastards upstairs waiting."
I nodded, feeling incredibly drained. Gently, I shook the woman awake. "Hey, wake up." She blinked blearily up at me. "Grab a mask and let's head upstairs; the guys in charge want us." She nodded and yawned. She went over and grabbed a mask, affixing it to the frame on her face. Together, we made our way up the ladder and out to where there were a few others.
"Hmph," a man with long, blond hair grunted. "All dried up. Just like the others."
"Y-yeah, all dried up. T-there's no use searching with the miasma like this. Let's," he was cut off by one of the other revenants hitting him with the butt of their weapon.
The man pulled out one of the strange transparent fruits and held it out. "Do you know what this is?"
"It's a blood bead," another of the guys answered.
"That's right," the blonde said condescendingly. "Now, I want you to search for blood beads in the tunnels ahead of here. You can do that, right?"
"Y-yeah."
"Good. Now go!" he yelled. His minions pushed the other around and down the tunnels. "It's only a matter of time before Silva's collectors come by for the levy and we won't have any to give, so they'll strip the shirts off our backs." He shook his head in disappointment.
"Next group!" a revenant yelled nearby. We were herded away before the blonde stopped us.
"Ah, ah, ah," he said. "I'll keep this one here with me- as a form of insurance." He pulled the woman away from our group. "You can have her back in exchange for any blood beads you find."
I stepped forward to beat him up, but one of his goons pushed their weapon up against me- my breast in particular. Snarling, I pushed his gun away and turned away. It wasn't worth it. Not right now.
"Oh!" he said to our retreating backs, "And I heard that the Hunter's been showing up recently. Make sure you don't get yourselves killed."
We went down a small pathway which ended with a drop. The man with me commented, "That's a long fall."
"Enough stalling!" the revenants behind us yelled. They kicked us down the shaft.
We hit the ground hard. I groaned in pain. That hurt. "Yeouch," the man with me groaned. "Hey, you okay?"
"Physically? Ow. Mentally? No," I answered, not getting up from where I was lying on the ground.
The man laughed. "I'm Oliver Collins, nice to meet you!"
"Nice to meet you, too, Oliver," I said. "I'm." I paused. "I'm Ale. Al. Lex. A. Alexa? I think my name's Alexa. I'm not sure."
"That seems like a serious case of memory loss if you can't remember your name."
"I don't remember anything. The only thing I can reliably remember is that I don't remember anything. It's honestly frustrating."
"I can imagine. Either way, we need to find the blood beads so we can get back to your friend."
"Right." I grabbed a random pipe I found lying around and stood up. "Let's go."
