Chapter 2: Re start

Nikolai had heald his breath, he waited for the blast or for the creature to start ripping him apart. Neither of this things happened, as time felt as if it moved at a crawls pace a bright light almost blinded him and he fell on his knees coughing violently. He felt as if his lungs were burning, he looked around and saw he was most definitely not in the school. He seemed to be somewhere where the sky was a clear blue color

He slowly grabbed his backpack and opened it. He grabbed a bottle of water and drank it, he looked inside and saw his things seemed to be where they should.

He stood up and looked around him, at this point he was sure he was either dead or hallucinating. He was in the middle of a market place that alone was strange, but the people who walked past him was the strangest part. It looked as if he was dropped in one of those old fantasy books he used to read. There were humans, sure but he also saw humanoid lizards, humanoid dogs and other crazy humanoid creatures.

He quickly pulled his PDA out and tried to locate where he was on the map but quickly realized the map didn't show him, even worse there was no signal which he knew was impossible as even deep within the zone he could sometimes get the tail end of a radio broadcast.

He quickly noticed how people were trying to steer clear of him. They probably had never seen someone dressed like Nikolai. Then again his gas mask didn't exactly look friendly. They probably thought he was a beggar of some sorts. Deciding that gathering information was the best course of action he grabbed his bag and started walking.

He stared at amazement at what he saw, this truly was something different. It seemed as if humans and these humanoids lived in peace, or at least some semblance of it. They were talking, buying, and selling as if it were the norm. Still Nikolai couldn't be sure so as he walked he kept his hand in his holster just in case.

The streets were long and winding, to Nikolai this felt like a maze, it was almost too much for him to take in and that was saying something as he lived in a place where sometimes the laws of reality don't apply. As he turned the corner he started walking down an alleyway. Nikolai instantly felt danger as if he shouldn't be here. Then he saw three men come out of the shadows. 'Bandits….' Nikolai thought as he prepared to unholster his revolver but then he realized using a gone in what seemed to be a medieval world could probably end horribly.

He had read about medieval times and he wasn't exactly keen in getting burned to crisp. He retracted his hand and instead put his hand on the handle of his bayonet. As he got closer he could make out better the possible assailants. The first one was quite frankly a midget with a bowl cut. In Nikolai's opinion he could probably punt the pipsqueak. The second one was taller, still a bit shorter than Nikolai. He was a burly fellow, he wore some sort of white turban? Nikolai couldn't quiet put his finger on what it was. He also wore a white shirt and a green vest.

And the last one was probably the leader. Had light blue and pink hair, this left Nikolai quite confused, he was sure you couldn't actually dye your hair in medieval times, he was slim and had a chain around his neck. This group of misfits made Nikolai chuckle a bit it was a far cry of the drunk gun-wielding bandits he normally encountered.

"What can I do for you?" Nikolai asked sarcastically. The thugs noticed it and glared at him. Without wasting a second the leader lunged at him. Nikolai sidestepped and grabbed his arm quickly twisting his wrist making him drop his knife. He then proceeded to grab his head and smash him against the wall knocking him out cold.

The taller guy tackled him to the ground. Nikolai would have had no problem dodging him but there was a rather small detail he forgot about…. He was carrying about 50 Kg of equipment and items. He wasn't exactly nimble with that weight. He did his best to get him into a chokehold but as he was attempting that he saw something that confused him to no end. A piece of ice was forming on top of them; Nikolai's adrenaline kicked in as he used all of his might to move out of the way as the piece of ice dropped on top of the thug's head with a thud.

The last bandit seemed as confused as he was. Not wasting a second he got back to his feet and sucker punched the pipsqueak, the guy had no chance and dropped like a brick. Nikolai looked around trying to find where the piece of ice came from. He had seen fire come out of the ground with no reason but this? This was something different. Then out of the corner of his, he saw her.

A girl white-haired girl, as he turned around he was awestricken by the sight in front of him. The girl had pale white skin that looked as if she didn't get enough sun. She had a white short dress with two pieces of fabric hanging from her arms which had had a golden crest with a purple background, long white boots and a white flower on her head. He quickly regained his composure and spoke up.

"Thanks for the help I owe you one," Nikolai said. The girl looked at him confused, almost as if she was looking at an alien. Then he remembered he had his gas mask on. Quickly he took it off and put it back in his bag.

Emilia didn't know what she expected to see when the man took off his mask. But she surely didn't expect what she saw. She saw a young human teen, he had long brown hair and blue eyes. The one thing that stood up out for her was the scar going down his left cheek going down his neck.

"Not the butter face you expected?" He said smirking. Emilia slightly tilted her head confused.

"Butter face?" That's a term she had not heard. She also noticed the teen had a thick accent she hadn't heard before.

"Nevermind…. Anyways could I get the name of my savior?" He asked letting out a small smile.

"Emilia" she simply responded. The guy brought his hand to his chin as if he were thinking about something.

"Emilia, thank you for the help. I really appreciate it, I'm in your debt. But before you tell me how I can make it up to. Could you tell me how you did that ice thing?" She looked at him confused, had he never seen magic?

"It's water magic, a pretty simple spell actually."

Nikolai's brain just stopped working for a second. Making ice appear out of thin air is anything but basic! He wouldn't even fathom what difficult spells looked like. Nikolai had slowly come to a realization, he would get nowhere alone. He needed help and this girl could be useful. If he sticks close to her he could learn more about the world before going on his way.

"There's nothing 'simple' about making ice appear out of thin air" he said as he checked on the thugs. They were out cold and probably wouldn't wake up any time soon.

"Have you never seen magic? You must come from a boring land…"

"Who said that?" Nikolai asked, then he saw it. A small cat floating over Emilia. Nikolai had seen some weird shit but this was definitely in the top 10. "Well, two things… Number one the zone is anything but boring and second thing is what the hell are you!?"

"Too loud…" the cat said as he scratched its ears.

"The zone? I've never heard of that place… Um.." Emilia hummed as if she were trying to remember my name.

"Name's Nikolai, Nikolai Kyznetsov. And well it's obvious you wouldn't have heard of the zone. It's a land far away from here, doubt people here would have heard about it." Technically it wasn't a lie, wherever he was it wasn't his world.

"I see…" she said. Nikolai noticed something interesting. Elf ears, or at least that's what he assumed. "Well I'm glad that you're okay but I do have to go now." As she walked passed him Nikolai stopped her.

"I'm in your debt, is there anything you need help with." Nikolai said smiling.

"Well…" Emilia looked hesitant as if she was about to say something.

"Lia it's okay I don't sense any malice in him" The cat said softly to the girl.

"My insignia got stolen, I need to get it back." She muttered.

"Is that it?" Nikolai asked amused. "Well the way you're acting it does seem it's important to you. You're in luck I'm really good at finding things, after all that's a stalker's job."

"Stalker?" She asked confused. Man she really was cute, she reminded him of a puppy a lost puppy.

"That's what the people in the zone call themselves. We hunt for artifacts and sell them to whoever wants to buy them."

"That seems easy" the cat mused.

"That's what rookies say before they encounter a bloodsucker and have their spine forcefully ripped out" Nikolai said chuckling. Emilia on the other hand was horrified by the description. What kind of place did he come from? "Anyways… Lead the way!"

Nikolai had found his partnership with Emilia to be quite fruitful. He had been learning about the city and its people. He found out the humanoid citizens were called demi humans, an interesting term if he were to be honest. He also learned a bit more about magic, a subject which seemed to be necessary if he wanted to survive. Maybe after this was all said and done he could have Emilia teach him magic.

He also realized something quite unfortunate. While he did understand the language he couldn't read. This came as a surprise to the young stalker has he was well versed in many languages including English and German.

The search of the insignia on the other hand had been slow. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. It also didn't help that they found a small child and Emilia insisted on looking for her parents. After a while they did find the kid's father. The man was selling what seemed to be apples and insisted on giving them some. The thing Nikolai found quiet amusing was the fact they called the apples appas.

After what seemed like hours they found a lead. A man was able to match the thief's description with a girl called Felt. Thankfully he even gave the location where they could normally find her. As they walked through the city towards the location Nikolai saw how the buildings got older and the area looked poorer.

In some ways it reminded him of the small apartments he lived in when he was younger. The slums were in many ways what molded him when he was younger, it gave him character and a will to fight. Still he hated seeing people living in this conditions, it was unfair to him. "Reminds me of home" he muttered.

"Excuse me?" Emilia asked curiously, Nikolai sighted.

"Reminds me of when I was younger, when I lived in the slums. They were a bit better but I totally understand why the thief stole. Don't get me wrong I'll help you get it back but still…"

"It's okay" Emilia said giving him a smile that warmed him up. "If you don't mind me asking where do stalkers live?" Nikolai let out a hearty laugh.

"We live wherever we can. We're always on the move, you just need a roof over your head and a defendable position."

"Doesn't sound like a nice place to live in" The cat which he learned was named Puck added.

"It isn't, but even when you're facing death at every corner."

"Then why do you live there?" Emilia asked.

"My father was a stalker, so was my grandfather. It's what my family knows best. Some go for the promises of riches, other's for the legend of the wish granter at the center of the zone. Whatever the reason the zone draws us in with its siren's call."

"That's quite poetic I'm surprised!" Puck said.

"A fellow loner told me that one. I didn't make it up" Nikolai said chuckling. "Anyways, let's get this over with. I'm getting the chills"

"Scared?" Emilia asked.

"No, my gut tells me something is awfully wrong. And normally my gut feelings are right."

"Well, Nikolai I'm entrusting you Emilia. It seems I'm out of time" Puck said earning a confused look from Nikolai.

"What do you mean? Are you going to sleep?" Nikolai asked.

"Something like that. Maintaining this form isn't easy. It uses a lot of mana so I have limited time outside the crystal." Puck explained.

"I understand, don't worry I pay my debts in full. Emilia is safe I promise you that."

"I'll take you up on your word" Puck said yawning as he slowly vanished.

"We'll be alright" Emilia added.

"If things get hairy you know where to find me" Puck said, Emilia nodded. After a few seconds he completely disappeared.

"That was quite the sight" Nikolai said. "This land is full of surprises."

"Nikolai if it's not much to ask can you tell me more about your home when we find my insignia?" Emilia sked.

"Of course! Well then, let's get this over with." Then Nikolai noticed everyone seemed to avoid them. He could see out of the corner of his eye that people were running inside their houses and locking the doors. "Well it seems we'll have to go through every building…"

"That won't be necessary. I'll ask the lesser spirits for directions" Emilia said confidently.

"Lesser spirits?" The only spirit like creatures Nikolai had seen were poltergeists and scorched ones. Scorched ones were spirits of people who had no made it to the other side and walked in the zone following their normal routines. While docile if you were to bump into one of this creatures you'd suddenly die of a heart attack so being aware and walking around them was a must.

"Lesser spirits are spirits that will one day reach Puck's level. But before that they must gain strength and awareness of their surroundings. After that they become full spirits." Nikolai saw as she closed her eyes and muttered a few words. After a few seconds he saw some lights gather around her as they flew in circles around.

After a few seconds the lights subsided. Emilia smiled and motioned me to follow her. After a few minutes we arrived at some kind of bar. Or at least that's what it seemed like.

"Okay Emilia, we don't know what's inside so stay outside" Nikolai said as he dropped his bag and pulled out his sawed off shotgun. He checked inside and saw it was loaded. He pulled out his night vision goggles and put them on.

"There's no need for violence, maybe we can talk to her" Emilia asked hopeful. Nikolai looked at her incredulous.

"Look I made a promise to Puck to keep you safe. I'll go inside check if everything is safe then you can come inside. If I need help I'll call out to you okay?" Emilia looked hesitant but in the end she gave up.

"Okay…"

"Good" Nikolai knocked on the door. "Hello? Someone there?" No answer, he tried a few more times and still nothing. Something was up and his fight or flight senses were going off. He knew there was someone inside, question was could he actually kill them? He slowly put his hand on the door knob and turned it. He was surprised to find the door was open.

Nikolai slowly walked in shotgun in had as he looked around him. As he walked deeper into the building he saw that there seemed to have been a fight. Then that familiar metallic smell hit him. He saw a body of a burly old man on the floor, his guts spilled out on the floor. He then saw it out of the corner of his eye something lunged at him. Barely having enough time he dived to the side. Aiming his shotgun at his assailant and unloading the shells. The thing moved out of the way as Nikolai scrambled to load to more shells.

"Come out you fucker!" Nikolai hollered. He saw something moving in the celling's beams he shot again but the thing dodged it, it was moving too fast.

"Nikolai are you okay!?" Emilia asked barging inside without even realizing the danger.

"EMILIA NO!" as Nikolai reached out to her something blurred passed him. He saw Emilia fall face as a dagger came out of his back and then he was hit with unbearable pain. As he saw blood gushing out of where his hand should be.

"AGHHHHH!" Nikolai screamed. He dropped his shotgun and unholstered his revolver. He kept shooting until finally he hit the thing in its leg.

"You little bastard, you actually hit me" A feminine voice said venom dripping out of every word. As the world turned darker and the sound of the fire drowned out Nikolai felt cutting his stomach open.

And Cut yeah chapter 2 finished! Sorry it took so long guys, college has been pretty much hell. Thank you for the kind words you've left remember feedback is always welcomed!

Now on a more serious note. Nikolai, the world he comes from and his past will slowly come out. Didn't want to drop it all at once as I felt it would be unnatural. Anyways next chapter should come out next week so stay tuned in for that! UltimateMetroMan out!