It was warm, as if the sun were shining on his back, when Brandon awoke. He ignored it at first, until his senses came back to him. He sat up, scratching his head, and looked around. It took him a few moments to register the greens and the brown around him.

He blinked a few times and his eyes scanned the greenery around him, but didn't register it until a few moments had passed.

"…nuaagh!" He cried and scrambled to his feet.

He was in a forest, surrounded by magnificent trees and plants of a type he'd never seen before. Next to him stood a shrub with wide leaves and a purple flower that looked similar to a lily. Little rays of sunshine shone through the thick tree leaves, one dropped onto his leg, lighting up the blue fabric. The grass underneath him was soft and long.

Brandon scratched his head, turning in a circle to see everything around him. "…where the heck am I?" He asked, not expecting an answer of course. The boy paused, crossing his arms and tapping his foot. It didn't feel like a hostile situation, it wasn't like he'd woken up in a dark room or handcuffed, but it was pretty strange… Maybe he was on a TV show or something? …That didn't make sense either.

A sudden wind shook the trees and rushed down onto him, Brandon raised his arm to cover his eyes. Some sort of weight lifted behind him and the boy looked back to see he was wearing a cape.

"Oh cool! A cape!" He laughed and spun around in the wind, letting it carry the fluttering fabric. The boy struck a pose, letting the gust rush against him. He probably looked so cool right now.

As the wind began to subside Brandon looked down at his clothing. It certainly wasn't the pajamas he'd gone to bed with last night. He wore a shirt which buttoned down in the front in a jagged pattern. It was split in black and white while his cargo pants were a dark blue. The cape was a lighter blue with a collar that stood up at his neck. Admittedly he felt like a wizard with it on. Which was cool. He also wore some sort of chain mesh under the shirt which could be seen at his shoulders as the shirt was sleeveless.

There was some object with a noticeable weight in the pockets to his cargo pants. He reached down and, unsnapping them, unsheathed what appeared to be two crossbows, loaded and ready to fire. "H-Holy…!" Brandon stammered and nearly dropped them on the floor. What the heck were things like that doing in his pockets!

Curiously, Brandon took a closer look at the weaponry. The crossbows seemed simple enough to fire, just pull the trigger. Reloading didn't seem too difficult either. The bowstring was taut and strong, and the wood seemed of quality as well. If Brandon were going to fight something or another, it would be a good weapon to have on hand, short of a gun.

The boy twisted his mouth at the weapon, but decided to keep it in his pockets for safe keeping. Of course he had no intent to fight anyone, so the act seemed unnecessary.

…although, perhaps it would be good protection, seeing as he had no idea where he was.

After a short while of stumbling through the forest, Brandon found himself a nice road to follow. With luck it would lead to a town of some sort, where he could at least get his bearing as to where he was.

Fortunately his walk wasn't as long as it could have been as a carriage rode up behind him. It was designed as if to be horse drawn, but the creatures pulling were not exactly horses. They stood in a bear shape, but much larger and thinner. One was colored in a light brown and the other in a reddish tint. Both had long fur, pointed ears and a face similar to a boar.

The carriage stopped a short ways in front of him and the driver called back to Brandon.

"Young man! Do you need a ride?"

Brandon hesitated, as he had been taught to by his parents, but there didn't seem to be much other of an option and he wanted to be polite as well. He ran up to the side of the carriage and looked up at the driver. He was a man in his late forties with a rough brown beard. He wore a straw hat and suspenders in a brown color with a faded red shirt underneath. He was large and strong from years of hard work and had rough looking hands. His appearance may have been brazen, but his smile was warm and he had kind, blue eyes.

"Hello young man. Would you like a ride into town?" He asked politely, patting the spot on the wooden seat next to him. "It's not a long ride."

"Oh wow! Thanks a lot mister!" Brandon grinned up at him and started to climb up the wheel spokes. "…but I can't just go hitch a ride without paying. I don't have any money."

The man laughed as Brandon dropped onto the seat beside him. "Well then how about you help me with a little work once we get to town?"

"Oh of course!" The boy replied. "Thank you very much for helping me mister."

"It's no trouble at all!" He chuckled and spurred the beasts back into motion. "And call me Arthael."

"Okay, Mr. Arthael. Call me Brandon."

As Arthael had told, the ride was fairly short, hardly an hour. The scenery was largely unchanged, but still beautiful for Brandon. He'd never seen such a thick and well grown forest with such beautiful plants before.

Arthael was fond of laughing. He had a deep booming voice with a contagious laugh and jolly attitude. Brandon found it very refreshing and spent his time eagerly listening to the stories the man had to tell of his childhood. Growing up in this place seemed like it would have been a lot of fun, Brandon was admittedly jealous. From what he'd heard this area lacked any modern devices Brandon was used to, he could only assume most of the areas around here were the same.

The boy could hardly wrap his brain around the situation. It didn't feel like he was even on…earth anymore. Which he knew was stupid, but it almost made the most sense. To be honest, the idea was too much for him to take in, so he just took it as it was; he was in a new place with new people and he should check the area out for a while.

As the carriage turned into the village, Brandon took in the sights with wonder. Every building was built from stone and straw as if from an ancient time. The people worse clothing of a slightly more modern design, generally more simple than the clothes he was used to seeing on people, usually in solid colors, with an occasional fancy hat on a woman. They passed one or two people who carried a weapon of some sort, like a sword or a bow and arrow, not a gun in sight. Brandon found it to actually be a bit calming.

"Here's our stop." Arthael declared as the beasts came to a halt at the side of a particularly large building, which appeared to be a tavern. The man turned toward Brandon and motioned to the boxes behind him. "I need to harness Sax and Jahn for the night. Would you carry those top three boxes into the tavern? I'm friends with the owner, just tell him you're with me and he'll show you what to do with them."

"Okay!" Brandon saluted and hopped in an uncharacteristically nimble fashion onto the ground. As Arthael led the beasts over to a stable a little further away from the tavern, Brandon hoisted one of the fairly heavy boxes into his arms. He stumbled toward the door where some kind person held the door open for him.

He stood, awkwardly, in the middle of the tavern, shakily holding the delivery. "Uhh… excuse me? I have some packages for the owner."

"That would be me." A man called from over behind the bar, Brandon could see him from the corner of his eye. He was thin and tall, at least thirty with a long blond beard and messy hair.

"Um I-I'm with Mr. Arthael!" Brandon called. "Can I please put this down?"

"Oh you're with Arthael?" The man stood from his seat and came over. "Here, I'll show you where to put it." The man took half of the weight into his own hands and led Brandon downstairs into a cellar where the box was placed in a corner.

As the two of them made their way back up the stairs the man offered Brandon his hand which the boy shook cheerfully. "I go by the name of Chaston. What's yours boy?"

"Oh I'm Brandon; it's nice to meet your Mr. Chaston." Brandon smiled and ran up the stairs and back to the crates.

For the next few minutes Brandon and Chaston carried the three crates into the cellar, until finally they returned with none left to carry. Arthael met them at the cart where he and Chaston exchanged friendly remarks and laughed. As they headed inside to presumably catch up, Arthael beckoned Brandon in after him.

Arthael and Brandon sat at the bar while Chaston stepped behind a door, presumably to get them something to eat.

"It's on the house." Arthael laughed and patted Brandon on the shoulder as he took a sip of his drink. It was some sort of fruit, although to what kind, he wasn't sure. "Chaston always treats me to a free meal during my stay in this town. You see, he and I grew up together, right here."

"Oh really?" Brandon blinked a few times as he slurped away at the ice cold liquid.

"Yes, so don't worry about the food. He'll take care of us for a little while."

"Here you go." Chaston called as he dropped plates of some sort of meat and rice in front of them. "It's the best in town, give it a try."

"Thanks!" Brandon cried and dug into his food like an animal. Although his appetite on average was fairly large, he was hungrier than usual, after all that walking and laying in the forest.

"Oh wow, this is delicious! Thanks a lot for this Mr. Chaston!"

Chaston laughed. "It's a pleasure." He took a seat at the other end of the counter and began to clean an empty glass. "So Brandon, where are you heading?"

"…hm." Brandon took a moment to swallow. "…actually I don't really have an idea. I guess I'm probably trying to get home, but I have no idea where I am."

Arthael raised his eyebrow. "You must be pretty lost then."

"Yeah, I am!"

Chaston stood from his seat and left the counter. After a few moments of nothing but the sound of Brandon chewing he returned with a large piece of paper. Spreading it out over the counter, he beckoned the two over.

Brandon looked over the intricately drawn lines and features for a few moments before realizing it was a map.

"Your town must be nearby; maybe you can find it on here." Arthael suggested and took a sip of his ale.

"Oh! Great! Thank you!" Brandon stood on his chair and, placing his hands on either side of the map, pressed his face hardly a few inches from the paper, scanning the contents profusely.

…nothing looked familiar at all.

Brandon looked up with a hopeless look on his face. "Aw… I don't even see my town area on here…"

"Here." Chaston flipped the paper over, revealing a map on a much larger scale. "Here's a map of our continent. Look for anything familiar and let's see if we can at least pinpoint where you should be headed."

"Got it!" Brandon nodded and resumed his earlier position, looking, if possible, more seriously into the paper. Chaston and Arthael watched him in amusement. They exchanged a quick glance; the boy certainly was an interesting one.

"…I don't recognize any of this…" Said the boy, after a long time of checking, rechecking and checking a third time.

"Well that certainly is a predicament." Arthael tapped his bearded chin.

Brandon plopped onto his seat and took a defeated sip from his drink. "…aw… How am I gonna get home then…?"

Arthael patted the boy's back and smiled at him. "Don't worry Brandon. I'm sure you'll find the answer soon. Why don't you stay here for a little while until you can figure things out?"

Brandon nodded his head. "Okay."

"I've got a spare room. If you help me out around the tavern you can stay for as long as you like." Chaston crossed his arms and smiled at the boy.

"And you could hang out with me for a while, maybe we'll stumble upon some clues if we travel around." Arthael added. "It's your choice, why don't you think about it over night? I won't be leaving until the morning."

Brandon grinned at both of them. "Wow. Thanks a lot. You guys are so much help!."

"Ahaha!" Arthael chuckled and pointed to Chaston. "Get this boy another plate, he's already clean!"

Chaston rolled his eyes. "Alright." He leaned over the counter to Arthael and muttered under his breath. "He keeps reminding me of you when you and I were young."

Arthael laughed in a booming voice. "So he does!"