"I'll see you on the other side" was the last thought that Percy had before everything went to shit.
A huge storm surrounded him effectively leaving him blind beyond the machine. The sound of the electrical and magical charges around him threatened to overwhelm him. And when his panic was about to come into full fruition the inescapable and ever so threatening voice of the one eyed bastard attacked right in the very moment when everything could go wrong.
Percy yelled a scream so powerful that it mixed with all the other sounds. His ears popped and he had to restrain himself or else he felt like he was going to explode.
A big roaring tornado of energy engolfed him and he sweared to himself that he could hear voices for just the faintest moment.
A loud crack followed by what it felt like a thunder hit him with such a force that every sense in his body and mind shat down all at once.
And everything went black for just a second. At least that's what he thought.
He opened his eyes really slowly. The light sneaked itself between his eyelids blinding him for a moment. A throbbing pain assaulted his head and when he tried to move a sudden dizzyness almost made him fall.
He decided that a better option than that would be to vomit, and so he did.
He cleared his mouth and opened his eyes wide. Around him everything had seem to explode. And that included his clothes.
The whole machine laid dismantled, half gone while the other half had melted into hot pools of bubbling metal and Earth. The chair remained affixed in it's place though his clothes had been teared apart like a monster had clawed it's way to kill him only to stop a mere breath away.
So he was almost naked in the middle of a steaming pile of garbage. The clouds of smoke blocked his view but something was very clear, he was not in Whitestone anymore.
Thinking of his home brought new pain to his mind. He reached around looking for his weapons only to find that the container had been torn apart, everything inside of it gone.
Or maybe not. He pulled himself closer, yet still without the force to properly stand up, and put his arm as far into the container as he could.
He tried to touch the bottom and failed but found something blocking his way a few centimeters atop of it. He took hold of the objects and pulled, and his hand came out grasping Animus with intent.
He fell to the ground watching the gun, thought of putting it away but reconsidered and kept it at his side, and then he tried to stand up.
It was hard, with all the yelling and tearing his muscles were doing, but he managed it. That's when he realized he was in the middle of a huge crater, one he had probably created in his travelling.
What was just outside the outer ring? He thought it was some kind of crop catching on fire, but had no time to investigate as he heard the unequivocal sounds of hooves against the soft ground.
Suddenly, out of one side of the huge circle, a horse appeared with a young lady mounting it.
As the horse stopped abruptly to one side Percy could see that the girl was a half elf of black hair, with a big brown hat covering her freckled face and clothes that could only partain to a farmer.
He started to lower his gun, the one he had automatically pointed, as soon as he realized this was probably not a threat.
"Holly cow." The girl said with a familiar accent. She turned around and yelled to someone he didn't see. "There is someone in here uncle, come see!"
She turned around again to take a better look at him, trying to control her horse who was trying to get away from the steaming mess. She decided to get down to get closer.
Her hair was braided and although his glasses were broken, he did see a smile on her lips.
"Howdy partner, what you doin' down there?" She asked like it was a casual conversation.
"Ehm," He started. He lowered his gun completely.
"What's that?"
"Nothing important." He replied. "If I may ask, where are we?"
She looked around as if looking for the answer then looked back straight to him.
"Ma uncle's camp, right now, right about… in the middle." She said.
"This a big hole you're in, big explosion too, your clothes burned out in it?" She asked with something that he wasn't able to difference between mischief or innocence.
He automatically covered himself and blushed.
She laughed at that.
"Here, let me help you get of there mister." She said as she extended her hand to him.
He hesitantly took a step forward and held her hand for a second while she pulled to help him.
When he got out he looked around only to discover they where in the middle of a cornfield. A very big one, at least from his point of view.
"What's your name mister?" She asked at his side.
She was almost as tall as himself, and had an air of stubbornness around her.
"My name…" He started.
And then his head hurt like the seven hells. His mind spiked against him and he felt a crack appear through it like it had been fractured. He held his face with his free hand, trying to cover the pain that he was in.
What was his name? He tried to summon it. His name, he had said it countless times, his friends had joked about it with him till there were no more jokes left. It was his sign, his symbol, the seal of his bloodline. And yet, for all his might and intelligence, it did not come to him.
He looked for it everywhere, and only found blanks and forgotten words. He felt abashed but hid it too.
"I'm… I'm not really sure." He answered still holding his head.
The girl looked concerned for a minute, but her tone didn't change.
"Well, that's no good mister." She said. "You may have hit your head in the explosion, uncle will have to take a look at you."
He nodded.
"Estelle's the name, by the way." She added extending him her hand. He shook it. "Now if you care to follow me, I'll take you to the estate where we'll can see your wounds and all that cus I think uncle's not coming, that lazy goose."
Percy started to follow her but immediately stopped as his mind overcame the numbness and he was able to think straight one more time.
"I'm sorry, where did you say we were?" He asked one more time.
"Uncle's farm, already told you."
"Yes, yes, but where is this farm?"
"Oh, you are lost mister?" She asked, turning around with curiosity in her eyes.
"You could say that." He offered with a little sarcasm.
"Okay, we are south of Westruun, big city, at least the biggest I've ever seen, they sell everything there. Or at least that's what uncle said." She answered trailing away.
Westruun? How had he travelled this far in space? He hadn't accounted for the possibility of appearing somewhere else than where he was before.
"That's actually better than expected, this puts me closer to almost everywhere, finding them will be far more easy from here." He said, without realizing he was talking.
"Finding who?" Estelle asked bringing him back to Earth.
Percy looked up from the ground, and saw a clear blue sky with a shining sun brighter than any he could remember. This was not a place where Vecna ruled.
"Vox Machina." He said with what almost resembled happiness.
"Who?" Estelle asked again.
He was taken aback by this, who didn't knew them? They had saved the continent various times even before the whole Vecna thing happened.
"Vox Machina, the shits…" Her face didn't seem to recognize that. "A group of morons? Vax, Keyleth, Scanlan, Grog, Pike, Vex?" Me?
He saw her face register every one of the names he said, names he could still remember though not his own, and with the same expression not recognize any of them.
"How could you not know us?" He asked.
She took a sudden step forward and put a hand on his shoulder as she looked directly into his eyes.
"Calm down mister." She said. "You'll explain everything to me in time, but for now it's really difficult to refer to you without a name, so i'll give one to you."
He started to complain but she cut him of.
"Its only until you remember, don't be a cry-baby." She said joyfully with a big smile.
"Okay." He sighed.
She looked thoughtful for a minute, studying him from every angle.
He suddenly remembered how naked he was and how exposed he should feel about it.
"Mmmm, How about Vic?" She finally asked almost out of nowhere.
"Vic." He repeated.
"As in Victor!" She answered cheerfully. "You have a Victor's face."
"That…" He said, as he heard her words come out or her mouth, "is a stupid name."
She laughed, and he discovered that he actually quite enjoyed her laugh. It was a sound that he had grown unaccustomed to hearing.
"But your face screams Victor!" She yelled while laughing. "So I'll call you that, and then when you remember you'll correct me if needed!"
"If needed?"
"Who knows, maybe Victor's your real name after all, Vic." She winked at him.
"I don't think so." He started once again to complain but stopped himself.
"That's not important, we stopped the Chroma Conclave and saved even Westruun how could you not know about this?" He asked now with concern in his voice. If this was a joke, he was not into it.
"The chroma what?" She answered still unfaced by his words.
He didn't understand what was going on. Had she been living under a rock her whole life?
"The chroma conclave." He said once again. "You know, five dragons, five colors, the black one had this Goliath tribe that took over the city and destroyed part of it?"
"Are you sure you are talking bout the same Westruun?" She asked with his concern on her voice. "The one I know has been standing there my whole life, no dragons or Goliath, whatever those are."
He looked at her with intensity behind his eyes. If she was lying, she was very good at hiding it.
"But, that doesn't make any sense." He started while he paced back and forward. "If Westruun was never attacked by the conclave, or taken over, or..." He stopped himself one more time and abruptly turned against her.
He grabbed both of her arms with trembling hands.
"What, what time is it?" He asked.
She looked worried for a moment as he took her but didn't made any move at all.
"It's the middle of the week mister." She said sounding as worried as she looked.
"Nono, what year is it?" He snapped again without letting her go even though he wanted to.
"What year?" She asked. "Why I think it's the 782 after the calamity. What is happening Vic? I don't understand."
He let her go, and dropped to the ground, the panic settling in his body.
782.
The year was the 782.
That was almost thirty years before Vox Machina would meet each other.