Chapter Two: Guided by Grace

Subaru's senses began to return to him, though he wasn't appreciative of that fact.

The first sensation that came to him was pain - a pounding in his head as well as a throbbing in his back and both shoulders. The next was numbness, a tactile unfeeling across the majority of his skin, at least on the front of his body, which he'd been laying on. These experiences were followed by a bitter cold, far worse than what he'd felt outside the chapel.

Lastly…heaviness.

His body felt bogged down by something, as if he were wearing an ensemble made of lead. Grimacing, he slowly pushed his eyelids apart and attempted to clear the blur that fogged his vision. After a moment, he was able to ascertain the cause of the majority of his ailments.

He was laying face-down in shallow water, which had soaked his tracksuit and likely tanked his body temperature, leading to a sense of numbness in his icy skin.

"Wh-," he croaked, his thoughts being interrupted by a coughing fit at the realization his throat was drier than sand. He tried pushing himself to his knees, only for his left arm to give out from under him, and a stabbing pain to ripple through his shoulder. "Agh, I think it's dislocated. It hurts."

Rolling slowly onto his back, he tried sitting up and went nowhere, another pain assaulting his hips and lower spine. He began to panic at the thought of being stuck in this unenviable position.

"I can…feel my legs, so I don't think I-I'm paralyzed," he concluded, "but the pain is bad. I'm no expert but things feel broken."

Rolling back onto his stomach, he took a moment to survey his surroundings as he caught his breath. He seemed to be in some sort of cave, though exceptionally well-lit for one. There was some kind of golden tree several meters away, giving off its own light that illuminated a door, likely his way out.

He used his good- er, less damaged right arm to pull himself fully out of the water and onto what he'd consider a shore. Exhaling sharply into the mud beneath his face, he looked to his right and froze at what he saw.

A person, an actual human being, sitting in a chair, facing away from him. He seemed to be…glowing? Not dissimilar to the tree at the end of the cave.

"H-!" he croaked, coughing more dryness from his windpipe. "Hey! H-hey! Over here!" The figure paid him no mind. "Hey, man! I need help! I'm hurt, a-and lost, can you help me up?!" Still no response.

'What the hell is going on?' he mused to himself, beginning to drag himself closer to his one hope. "Please, sir, p-please, I need help bad, I'm-" Subaru's pleas were cut short at a realization that made his eyes widen exponentially, and a disbelieving breath rattle on his lips.

He could see through the man.

He was translucent. Transparent, even. Subaru could clearly make out the setting of the cave on the other side of him, simply by staring through his semi-corporeal form.

The boy began to hyperventilate, but his panic both heightened and subsided simultaneously, when the specter spoke.

"Brave Tarnished."

The voice was faint, the raspy tone of a defeated old man, and seemingly disconnected from the world as a whole. Still, Subaru could somehow tell, the phantom was speaking to him.

"T-...Tarnished? My name is Subaru. Subaru Natsuki! I don't know where I am, I was on my way home a-and I-"

"Brave Tarnished," the old man interrupted. "Take the plunge. Of learning, and remembrance."

Subaru continued to stare up at him in shock. "Th-the plunge? What do you-," though before he could finish his query, Subaru noticed the drop immediately in front of the slouched gentleman. Hesitantly and with great effort, the boy pulled himself to it and peered down, seeing a substantial drop that led to what looked like another exit from the cave.

"Recall the arts of war," the spirit continued, "and your warrior's blood."

The boy looked back over his shoulder incredulously at the old man, wanting to inquire further, but before a word could be formed on his lips, the now-all-too-familiar feeling of ground giving out beneath him forced his prone form downward once more.

"N-no, no!" he screamed. The impact between his back and a ledge halfway down the drop forced a bloody cough from his mouth, before that surface, too, crumbled away and allowed him to continue his descent. He wanted to scream again, but he was choking on blood. It was dislodged from his airway when he landed once again in shallow water, this time on his previously-injured left shoulder.

"Ghk-agh!" he screamed, clutching his badly wounded arm and rolling to his right side to alleviate its pressure. He continued to cough the blood from his throat, watching it land in the water beneath his cheek. It took several minutes to catch his breath and confirm that he wasn't going to pass out from the pain.

He rolled back onto his stomach and pushed up slightly with his right arm, blinking the water from his eyes. Once his vision focused, he saw an exceptionally bright light several meters in front of him. If he didn't know any better, he'd say it was…moving? No, not moving, more like…swirling.

He bit his lip to distract from the pain in his back and shoulder, and began to drag himself toward the light. The effort was making him dizzy again, his vision beginning to blur. 'Shit,' he thought to himself, 'I'm…I'm gonna pass out after all.' An angered groan slipped through his clenched teeth. 'That light. It feels hopeful. I can get there. I know I can.'

With that thought, Subaru resolved himself to make it to the mysterious light before unconsciousness could take him. He'd make it to that hopeful light, and he'd find a way home. He had to.

With every push he made, with every exertion of force he produced to drag himself forward, his vision dimmed, as if the power used for sight needed to be temporarily redirected to his limbs in order for him to move. Once he was immobile, the ability to see would once again return to him, until the next push.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Subaru had made it to the mysterious light. It…it was a campfire. No, wait, not a campfire, it wasn't a fire at all. It was…a star? Or something. Whatever it was, it was bright, and it was warm, it was surrounded by tiny flecks of itself constantly swirling around it, and it…called to Subaru. It told him to reach out. It told him…to take it.

So he did. With his one good arm, Subaru reached out slowly, feeling the warmth build with every centimeter of distance closed. He reached, further and further still, until finally, his outstretched fingertips made contact with the hopeful light.

Euphoria.

His eyes widened as the golden light filled him, giving him a sight of some sort, not of anything physical, but of purpose. His typically-brown irises shone a bright gold, and he saw the trail of gold dust that had been previously encircling the star-like object begin to extend before him, almost leading him onward.

A whispered gasp escaped his mouth, and a single tear fell from his momentarily-golden eye. He didn't know where he was, he didn't know how he'd gotten here, and he didn't know what lay at the end of this golden trail, but one thing was certain.

Subaru Natsuki knew where to go.

A smile stretched across his tired face as the familiar shadow of unconsciousness descended upon him. The exhaustion of effort and injury had finally caught up with him, and right there, in the middle of a strange cave before a strange light, in seemingly a strange world, inhabited by strange creatures…Subaru fell asleep.