Chapter 2: Joining The Party
All of the color in my face must have drained away as the ring of starved beasts slowly inched their way closer to me. Their intense stare was fixated on the standing hunk of flesh they intended to get a bite from, protected only by some cotton pajamas. The eyes of the wolves concealed under the trees' shadows were scarily accentuated, while the rest had bared teeth glistening from the sunlight above. Their coats of fur were an inky black, almost looking like they were created solely for a sinister purpose. Did normal wolves look like this or was I tripping? It was pointless to spend even one moment searching my wildlife knowledge; the only thing I knew was there were about a dozen of these vicious predators closing in and it'd only take one to rip me to shreds.
As if their appearance wasn't terrifying enough, the growls were rising in volume as they approached. It didn't matter if this was an intimidation tactic or a way of communicating. It scared me to the bone, and all I could do was stand completely still and desperately think of how to respond. Running was basically serving myself on a silver platter… should I try to be large and imposing instead? I recalled that being a strategy for dealing with more natural-looking predators, but in this case it'd probably make me look like a bigger meal to feed more of them. Not that I was really bulky to begin with. Honestly no survival guide could've prepared me for a nightmare of a situation like this.
'This is the crappiest luck I could ever-'
Several of the wolves instantly pounced forward without any warning, running on all fours in a starved sprint towards me. More of them followed suit, realizing this would be a first-come-first-serve type of attack. All I did was hold both trembling hands in front of me in paralyzed anticipation while looking away.
Instead of a sharp array of jaws piercing my skin, I felt something soft knock me over and take me for a tumble on the grass. Everything became a blur in that instant of motion, but I caught a glimpse of a wolf leaping over my original spot getting shot by an arrow midair. A pair of other members of the pack collided into each other, not expecting to be beaten to the prey by something else that supposedly saved him. The one that was shot let out a whimper as it crashed onto the ground, its body starting to surprisingly dissipate into black, ash-looking particles that floated away into the air. What even was this? The fact that I wasn't dead by now was shocking enough to me.
The 'thing' that tackled me to the ground had quickly risen to its feet, and now I could tell it was actually a person. She had flowy silver hair that stopped at the shoulders, and her sturdily-built body was partially covered in black-and-gold armor that looked very out of this era. To further confirm her outdated appearance, a battle mace was held at the ready in her strong grip. One of the predators decided to take a charge at her, and I watched in silent awe as she took a prepared stance without any fear in her green eyes. With impeccable timing, the armored one swung the weapon downwards and bashed the beast's head into the ground. Two of the wolves were now seemingly deteriorating into nonexistence, but plenty remained.
"Danchou, behind!" a voice shouted from nearby.
Another bloodthirsty attacker leaped at my rescuer from behind her, but an arrow struck the back of its head a mere second before it could bite at her skull. The young, silver-haired fighter turned and revealed a pleasant smile that looked very oblivious to the dangerous clash happening on the spot.
"Thank you!" she voiced her appreciation in a cheery tone I wasn't expecting from her.
The one who made the saving callout ran onto the scene with nimble movements. Her long, golden hair trailed behind her and it was topped by a blue bow, and she wore a short white dress decorated with some matching blue. Just like the weapon of her armored companion, her bow looked old-fashioned but I could clearly see it shot with crazy precision. The wielder reached for another orange-feathered arrow while dodging a wolf's violent lunge toward her.
"Don't run away!" the one with the mace said to me, the first time either of them acknowledged my presence since saving me at the start. "We can't protect you if you're not with us!"
So they were indeed trying to rescue me. I don't know why exactly, but I knew I must've looked like a bewildered idiot who was still lying on the grass while witnessing the fight. Admittedly I was still too shocked at the situation to even consider fleeing, so I continued watching the two's efforts with the hope that they wouldn't let me get harmed. If either of them happened to show any signs of a struggle, there was absolutely no way I could be helpful in the slightest unless as some kind of bait distraction. They both fought like they knew exactly what they were doing, though. I saw the archer slide on the grass beneath a pouncing wolf and shoot her bow directly into its underside, while in the background I saw her comrade launch another one into the air with the mace as if she was hitting a home run. Their ability to keep this up while making sure none of the predators got near me was pretty stunning.
One managed to slip by and took a chance to have a bite at me, causing me to spring up from the ground with a panicked yelp. This caught the attention of the strong girl, who ran over and hastily grabbed the beast in a headlock. It gnashed its teeth viciously at her in an attempt to escape from her firm grip.
"One up above!" she groaned to the blonde fighter during this display of sheer strength.
Adjusting her grip on her foe, she tossed it into the air and sent it flying right over to her comrade with little effort at all. Not a single bead of sweat was trickling down the other's tan forehead either, and she shot the flying wolf after sending a sharp kick to the head of the one she was occupied with.
Soon enough there were only four of the black beasts left, and they actually ceased their attack and backed away somewhat. Their eyes were glowing with rage at the resistance these two saviors were giving them. After growling loudly at us three, they all ran away until they vanished into the shadows of the forest. This obviously looked like some kind of tactical retreat rather than a decision made from fear.
After the threat was gone, my two rescuers hurried to me as I brushed some loose grass off my damp pajamas. The one with the bow put away her weapon into a leather quiver and visually scanned my body for any injuries. "Are you alright? Did they bite you at all before we came?"
I almost choked on my words at first as I recovered from my shock and panic. "Yes… and no, they didn't hurt me…"
They both let out a small sigh of relief. Was their arrival possibly a sign of good luck for me? Even if this was just a dream, I'd take any good fortune I could get.
"I'm glad," the silver-haired one said between a couple deep breaths.
"Anyway, we need to get out of here quickly," the other cut in. "We're not chasing them, they're only trying to lure us into more. If we linger, they'll just return here with plenty of others. Come on!"
The pair started running in the opposite direction of where the wolves retreated.
'Are we seriously running?' I silently complained, watching them get further away. 'After all that?'
They both clearly knew more about this place and its dangers than I did, so I put my gripes aside and took off after them. They considerately let me catch up to them, and soon we were moving as a trio. It was rather pathetic that I spent the least energy in that whole deadly experience, but it was me the girls had to slow their pace for. My body was still aching very much from my fall into the river. As soon as we could stop… if we ever would… I'd have plenty of questions for these two. The pain surging through me was intensifying with each step, and I nearly tripped over while trying to maintain my pace. The armored one noticed and stopped to a complete halt.
"Here, hop on," she said after bending over slightly.
I couldn't believe it. Was I really about to have a piggyback ride during a survival situation? Something told me my body would thank me later, though, so I hesitantly took position on her back and let her grab my legs to keep me from falling off. As soon as I was on, she resumed the run and somehow caught up with the other. My jaw almost dropped, but then I realized I probably weighed nothing to her anyway. The terrain was gradually changing as we made our way, with some slopes and a few rocky inclines and drops. After what felt like a few more minutes, the tanned girl raised a hand in the air and we all stopped. The one carrying me set me down with uncharacteristic gentleness.
"We're safer here," the girl who was leading the escape stated. "Let's catch some breaths for now."
I slowly made my way to a small boulder nearby and took a seat on it, grimacing in pain as I tried to get at least slightly comfortable on the hard surface. The two girls remained standing; the piggyback runner stretched her arms, while her companion placed down two large packs she had been carrying.
I decided to finally show my gratitude to them. "Thanks for saving me back there. I really appreciate it… but why did you both do all that? For someone you don't even know, either?"
"It's an unwritten rule," the archer girl started. "We don't let anyone fall victim to the Lost. We also happened to be at the right place at the right time, so there's that."
The Lost? What was she even talking about? It was all spinning around my head as a confusing blur, but she sounded pretty serious about it. The other girl gave me a friendly smile, however.
"And just because we didn't know you then, it doesn't mean we can't know you now," she said. "Do you have a name?"
I hesitated for a second, but I decided these two could be trusted for now. They've been my only sources of help so far in this crazy place, and the fact they were both badass fighters certainly wasn't bad either. If they were willing to keep me safe for the near future, I could possibly gain some info from them and hopefully either find a way back to my bedroom or eventually wake up from all this.
"My name is Tyler… Tyler Kaftka. I'd definitely be happy to get to know you both as well."
"I'm Shirogane Noel!" the silver-haired one introduced herself, placing a hand on her chest. "Knight captain of the Shirogane Order! I'm glad to meet you."
Just as she had described herself, she indeed looked like a knight. I tried my best not to look at a massive thing… or massive pair of things, to be more exact… on her chest but I could see that half of it was protected by black armor with elaborate gold trimmings and decor. Her left shoulder, as well as her lower arms and legs, were covered by similar armor. There was also a black-and-gold tiara-like headpiece atop her head. Her silver hair had a single braid on the right side, while the rest of it flowed loosely to her shoulders. Underneath the armor was white upper attire and a short blue skirt, and a long white tunic piece went around her backside. This appearance and her strength left an imposing impression, but her personality seemed very warm and cheerful.
"And I'm Shiranui Flare," the other girl said. "I'm happy to be of help to you."
Her combination of golden hair, tan skin, and burnt orange eyes made for a rather beautiful appearance. There were two pale strands of hair, and it was all arranged behind her with a blue bow. Another blue bow, this one much larger, was just below her back while a white bow was on the front side of her matching short, white dress. Her shoulders were bare but the arms were covered by long loose sleeves. White leggings were worn over her legs, too. There was one thing in particular about her that couldn't go unnoticed… her ears were kinda long and pointed, definitely not like normal human ears. It made me wonder if these two girls were somehow cosplayers of some sort, but the way they fought earlier led me to guess they actually weren't. This could only leave one option that seemed very crazy to me, so I wanted to confirm.
"Are those ears real…?" I asked, blinking multiple times in confusion.
"Hey, that was very impolite to her!" The knight said to me with a frown.
"It's okay," her companion told her, actually sounding slightly amused by my disbelief. "I'm a half-elf. Everything about me here is real."
I couldn't believe what I was seeing and hearing, but my baffled self decided to just play along. "I'm sorry. I just… haven't seen that before. Anyway, it's nice to meet you both, Shirogane and Shiranui."
"Oh, the names are just Noel and Flare," the half-elf corrected me. "You can call us both by those."
"I'm so sorry again!" I facepalmed, knowing this wasn't a very good way to treat people who just saved my life. "This is all just very strange to me."
I knew there were some places back in my own world… assuming this wasn't somehow still earth… that had family names before the given first names. This must've been like one of those places. This discovery made me wonder how I could understand what they've been saying this whole time, though.
"Don't worry, your name is also rather unfamiliar to us," Noel commented. "Not to mention your clothing is also strange, at least for these parts. Speaking of which, where are you from? Do you have a home to get back to?"
I swallowed once. If I could trust them with my name, then I guess I could trust them with the ridiculously unbelievable story of my unwanted arrival to this place. Maybe explaining it all could hopefully be a start on learning how I could get out of here. It was just a question of how they'd receive this story.
"I… I don't know how to get back. This might sound a little crazy, but… I don't think I'm from this world."
A long, awkward pause followed. Noel and Flare simply just stared at me without a single blink. I couldn't even return eye contact with how uncomfortable I felt at that moment.
"Eh?" The two girls eventually said in unison.
