Starbound Destiny: Mondstadt Chapter
Chapter 1:
The Stranger Bound by Echoes
Silver_Lining
-O-
[To do list:
Find food.
Wash clothes.
Widen perimeter.
Set trap for dinner.
Note: Not necessarily in that order.]
"Hm. Looking good."
Nodding to himself, he set aside a tiny note he had written earlier today. Noting that the pigeon meat he had hunted for still needed time to roast beside his campfire, he got up and headed towards a nearby pond to wash up.
A stranger in an even stranger land, he felt a need for a routine to stick to, else he would quickly lose sight of what he was supposed to do. He wasn't necessarily forgetful, but having a tangible list of tasks to work on gave him a familiar sense of comfort. Maybe he was the type to feel satisfied by a sense of progress? Or was this just some habit he had picked up at some point in time?
…He had no clue.
Due to his amnesia, any explanation seemed plausible.
That was his working theory, at least. For a whole week, he had waited for his mind to register his surroundings as something familiar. He had been confident that he would regain his bearings eventually, considering he had no problem recalling the things he had done so far. However, as days passed, he would still find himself perplexed by the geography of the land, as if it was new to him. Not only that, he realized that much of his personal information remained out of his mind's grasp. He couldn't even remember his own name, much less where he came from.
The water felt chilly as he dipped his uncovered feet into the pond, but not uncomfortably so. Small blessings, he supposed. The sun hung high enough to suggest that the water had had enough time to absorb its warmth. Being a pond, the water should be stagnant no matter how fresh it felt on his skin, so he made a mental note to scout for a better campsite whenever he could.
"What do you do at times like this?" he bemoaned to himself as he, still in his undergarments consisting of a sleeveless black undershirt and a pair of black boxer shorts, dipped his body into the refreshing waters. "I guess we're back to square one? Let's see…favorite color, let's go with that. Hmm…"
He took one look at his current clothing and groaned, "Black's fine, but…I refuse to believe I'm such a boring person."
Cupping his hands together to wash his face, he paused as the water reflected his features. Black hair kept in a short, messy cut. Dark blue eyes stared back at him, and he could see the apprehensive curiosity that his awkward smile was trying to hide. No signs of facial hair, with a hint of fat hanging on his cheeks which indicated that he was in his twenties at the oldest. His skin was colored a healthy tan, so he assumed he was not an indoors-type, though he supposed his muscle tone should have clued him in on that far earlier.
He stared for a bit more, but no matter how long he spent taking in his features, it still felt like he was staring at a person rather than a reflection. It was a feeling he knew would spiral out of control if he fed it any attention, so he made the executive decision to appreciate the smaller things in life instead. "Not shabby at all, I'd say. Heh," he tittered, thumbing his chin. "Not quite a ladykiller, but I bet I can break a heart or two~"
He also decided he must have been quite the vain person prior to his memory loss, considering how naturally narcissism came to him. Of course, that risked implanting a character trait that did not line up with his true personality in any way, but if his brain wasn't going to cooperate, why should he?
The water felt nice and refreshing as he splashed his face with it, as if his worries were washed away along with the grime. He wondered whether he should take off his undergarments beforehand, but probably due to some inherent laziness, he reasoned that he might as well wash them while bathing. He had a campfire going to dry himself afterwards, so he wasn't too worried about catching a cold. 'Provided those weird flower monsters don't pay me a surprise visit,' he reminded himself.
A lot of the flowers he had encountered were edible, but he had learned the hard way to stick to fruits and berries when foraging.
Not long after, he found himself sitting by his campfire, drying his body while absentmindedly flipping the pages of the travel guide he had taken from the previous tent owner's satchel. He had tried consulting the book for a suitable fishing spot, but as the closest lake was several miles away, he decided to test his luck with bird hunting. A small multi-tool pocketknife and a classic flip-top lighter lied next to him, tools he had used to skin his game and start his campfire prior. They were the only tools he had found on his person when he first awakened, and had been indispensable in completing the miscellany of tasks he faced daily. He counted himself lucky that whoever left him out here did not leave him completely helpless, despite the lack of provisions otherwise.
Laid next to those items was an even more peculiar item; a black mask. Its shape resembled a gas mask, and it would cover his face from the nose down when worn properly. So far, he hadn't found any use for it outside of concealing his identity, so he tended to wear it around his neck, letting it hang by the link like an oversized necklace. Just in case he ran into some toxic gas, he had reasoned—who knew what he could run into in the wilds. He didn't know what to make of the mask, but he could only guess that it was his since it was in his bag when he first woke up. It didn't seem to be any sort of casual wear, at least.
Turning a page on the travel guide, his eyes scanned through several passages which included the names 'Dadaupa Gorge' and 'Windrise'. Excerpts of the author's personal experience colored the entry, with decidedly…uncommon admittance on their part. He had a hard time deciding whether the writer's recounting of bizarre and gory experiments that they either had or wanted to conduct there were simply their idea of a dark joke. He, for one, found it morbidly amusing.
"Lucky I can understand the language. Would've been a nightmare if I couldn't even ask where the toilet is," he nonchalantly spoke to himself. "I guess that's a good sign I'm from around here. Maybe."
The letters had taken some time to decipher the first time he tried reading them, but after some basic trial-and-error, he managed to make out what the letters mean. Fortunately for him, the letters speak the same language he himself was using. He wasn't quite sure what language it was due to his memory loss, but it seemed that his brain was still wired to the language itself. From there, he took solace in understanding that what he lost were episodic memories rather than semantic ones, which was a relief. At least he would not be forgetting how to string complete thoughts any time soon.
Finished with reading, he put the travel guide back into the satchel. He noted how he had grown accustomed with how it felt in his hands. At first, he had been too concerned over what could have happened to the tent's owner to focus on finishing the book. After a while, though, he just assumed they forgot where they last set up camp, or the items weren't that valuable to come back for. Either way, he no longer felt too guilty about perusing the items as he pleased. Besides, as much of a wilderness the plains of rolling grass around him seemed at first, he wasn't too far from civilization, as he discovered a few days ago.
His current camp was situated on a hill, which on top of helping him not lose his way back, allowed him better visibility while planning out his scouting path. Throwing his gaze leftwards from where he was sitting, his eyes landed on the visage of a castle a couple of miles away from his camp. From his last perimeter sweep west, he had managed to get close enough to the castle, and what he saw was an impressively large structure settled on an elevated land in the middle of an expansive lake. He had also caught sight of windmills, standing high behind the already imposing castle walls. It was very likely that the previous tent owner had returned home there.
"…And I guess that's gonna be my next stop, sooner or later."
Being that close to any settlement should be good news to him, yet he couldn't help but feel nervous. Having lost his memories, he wasn't sure if he was in any state of mind to be interacting with people. Not to mention he did technically steal, so encounters with law enforcement would be a hassle. That being said, it was the closest sign of civilization to where he first woke up, so it was his best lead to recovering who he was. Who knows, maybe that castle was where he came from.
"Should set up a closer camp. Check out the patrol schedule of those knights. Once I get that and the layout of the castle down, sneaking in should be easy," he murmured to himself. Up until now, he had seen several people clad in armor walking around the wilds, their frequency increasing the closer he got to the castle. He had managed to keep a low profile, avoiding those knights whenever he caught sight of any. It would be difficult to explain who he was when he had lost his memories, and who knows what trouble that would get him into with the knights.
He reached for the abandoned leather satchel again to take out a pen and pulled out his earlier to-do list. He puzzled on what he should write before settling on 'recon castle'.
"Hmm…" he hummed while twirling the pen on his thumb. "Somewhere near the banks overseeing the castle should do, right? Can't get too close or I'll get found out. Best case scenario, I make a run for it back here…guess that makes this camp HQ. Worst case, they bring me in and get me jailed for stealing some nice lady's purse."
He doubted it would ever come to that point, but being extra careful would only benefit him. Stumbling around carelessly around a forest area had led him into an ambush by some unsavory folks just a couple of days ago. Bandits, or something more organized, he reckoned. Words had failed to convince them that he was not worth robbing as he quite literally only had the clothes on his back, especially when they seemed to think his clothes would be worth a lot of money. He ran away as he had no interest in walking around naked (it gets pretty chilly at night), and it was only through sheer luck that he escaped successfully. Luck, and an aggressive troupe of masked humanoids that he and the bandits chasing him ran into.
He finally let himself sigh. His hand reached out for a skewered pigeon meat in front of him and, after checking that it was well cooked, brought it to his mouth for a bite. For now, he would put the problem of future encounters to rest.
Next time, maybe it would be easier to just kill the—
…
Huh?
The skewered pigeon dropped to the ground as his hands gripped his head tightly to nurse away a sudden headache. By the time his ears could hear the throbbing, it had started to fade. He gasped, letting out a breath he didn't realize he was holding.
"What…the hell…?"
Left dizzy by what just happened, he took a moment to stop his vision from swimming. Whatever caused the headache was a mystery. It was possible that he had overworked himself over the past few days, or perhaps he had caught a disease of some kind. But he had been fine so far, and made sure to watch out for anything that seemed poisonous during his food-gathering, so it didn't make sense for him to suddenly get ill. Perhaps, even beyond his sudden headache, the bigger mystery was how natural it was for him to think about killing someone.
…No, it wasn't just that. The brain's capacity to learn is indeed exceptional, but people don't instantly become professional-level chess players just by playing one game. Meaning…he had long been accustomed to such thoughts. Thinking back, the fact that his train of thought went down the steps of a castle infiltration like it was no big deal should not sit well with him, either. A shiver went down his spine as his reeling mind slowly came to grips with what just happened, realizing that he had taken his memory loss too lightly for his own liking.
—That's right.
There was no guarantee that he was a good person.
Gritting his teeth, he swore under his breath. He did not like that prospect.
"Damn…what a blindside. A prison escapee who fell and hit his head on a rock. Of course. That possibility's still there. If it turns out that's how it is…going to that castle would be a bad idea." Scratching his head, he set aside his meal and took out his list again, scratching out his previous note in frustration.
It went without saying that he had lost his appetite for the moment. In lieu of that, he grabbed his tools and went to get the rest of his clothes, currently hanging to dry on the branch of a nearby tree. His mood had completely soured, but stewing over the uncertain would have him waste the rest of the day, something that he would hedge a bet will bite him back in the future. For now, he needed to focus. Recovering his memories was still his top priority, and no matter how risky his destination was, the castle unfortunately remained his best path to accomplish that.
Shaking his head, he took down his clothes from the tree branch it hung from. He momentarily paused to take in how it looked, and supposed he could understand why those bandits had tried to rob him. The top was a long-sleeved black zip-up jacket, with zippers running down the elbow which can be opened to shorten the sleeves. It had a high collar and a hood wide enough to cover his whole head from the elements. The hems were lined in deep blue, muted enough to not contrast much with the black. A logo in the shape of a white flower with petals arranged in a double-star formation was sewn on the left arm, while the right was emblazoned with the Roman numeral 'III'. Modular pouches decorate the torso, attached there by Velcro patches. There were also two big pockets on the stomach area, left empty at the moment. The inner part of the jacket was mostly colored bright orange, a huge contrast to its muted outer colors. It seemed to be a different material sown onto the jacket in a mesh pattern. Aside from that, there were two inner pockets, which were also empty.
He usually wore his jacket unzipped, tightening it with the utility belt around his waist instead. It was black, and had a metal clasp at each ends. From the belt hung two pouches on opposite sides, each about ten centimeters wide. These pouches helped a great deal during foraging, and were currently filled an assortment of nuts, berries, as well as pebbles to fend off the occasional wild boar. Also hanging from the belt was a makeshift slingshot he had made from carved wood, and next to that was a sheathed knife he took from the leather satchel in the tent.
Hanging next to the jacket was a relatively small black backpack. The backpack had contained the gas mask he set aside earlier, a pair of brown fingerless gloves, and a couple strands of what seemed to be film tapes. However, the tapes were surprisingly strong and flexible, having a rubber band-like elasticity to it. Not exactly sure what they were, or what their original function was, he had used them to craft his slingshot.
He opened one of the jacket's chest pockets and put his pocketknife inside, back where he first found it. He then checked the state of his belt pouches, after which he put his flip-top lighter in one of them.
The pair of dark brown pants that came with it was fairly normal, if not for the leg pouch attached to a belt sewn around the right thigh. They were empty, but he suspected they were used to contain something for emergencies. Concealed weapons, perhaps? His black boots, the only articles that looked borderline generic, were worse for wear compared to his other clothing. Though still intact, the material it was made of was obviously worn, its roughness visible to the naked eye. Despite that, the soles had held themselves up well. From their weight, he assumed that the soles might be iron-tipped.
Overall, his clothes were quite striking. The design was a bit too techwear for his taste, especially with the utility belt, but he had to admit it made storing things on-the-go easier.
His clothes aside from his undergarments were waterproofed, an attribute that he had grown to appreciate whenever it rained. Being the only things that he could safely call his own, he felt like he owed them a lot for keeping him safe. They proved to be durable enough to not have any tears despite how reckless he had been so far. It was embarrassing, but he couldn't help but feel as though his durable clothes served as a constant throughout his predicament, like an enduring link to the identity he had lost.
His hands reached out to his unfamiliar, yet nostalgic clothes.
Despite everything, he found himself chuckling.
'I'll be alright,' he thought as a sense of calm washed over him. Just like his clothes, his identity was not going anywhere. He will retrieve his memories, all in due time.
Taking down his clothes, he heard a light metallic noise coming from one of the pockets. Odd, he thought, as he was sure neither his lighter nor his pocketknife made that sound before. Curiously, he checked each of the jacket's pockets as well as the pants for any loose metals, worried that it might get snagged on some terrain later. Sticking a hand into a pocket near the one he put his lighter in, his fingers touched something that felt like metallic chains, and he was struck with shock when he pulled it out and saw what it was.
A necklace. Not just any necklace, but one with metal sheets hanging from the chains, words carved into them. A collection of dogtags.
—Just like the one in his dream.
His eyebrows furrowed confusion as he brought it up to his face. "What…?"
"KYAAAAAAAAH!"
His shoulders jerked in surprise.
He would've thought that he had imagined it, but his ears had so clearly heard the scream as it cut through the otherwise peaceful noontide sky. Head swiveling to the general direction of the scream, he squinted his eyes to search for its source. "…The fuck was that?"
Panic rose within him as he failed to find anything. The scream was high-pitched and feminine, not unlike that of a young girl's, and the distress behind that scream was apparent. Hurriedly, he threw on his jacket and pants while almost tripping as he stomped into his socks and boots, all while his utility pouches swung around. As he slung his backpack onto his back, he hurriedly pocketed the dogtag necklace into his pant pocket and, after scrambling back to pick up his mask, took off to where he believed the voice came from.
At the time, he didn't know why he felt such levels of concern for someone else. Not a moment before, he had been stricken with the possibility of being an amnesiac criminal, as well as the risks of encountering anyone with that possibility in effect. And yet, his legs carried him forward all the same. If asked about this later, he would most likely say that the reason why he did so eluded him.
That being said, he would likely admit to being relieved that his heart was moved by that sort of irrational compassion.
Sliding low to a halt, he ducked behind thick shrubbery. Peeking over, he saw the cause of the scream he had just heard. A fair distance away, a group of dark-skinned humanoids dressed in what looked like tribal loincloths stood in a circle. He noted that these were the same humanoids he encountered the other day, when he was being chased by bandits. They looked like goblins at first glance, but were about as tall as he was if they weren't hunched. They had ashen black skin that contrasted their bushy, ashen blonde hair that grew out wildly like a lion's mane, from which he could see their elongated ears peeking out. And with their toned musculature and wooden clubs, they were more than a little intimidating. Their faces, covered by what seemed to be wooden masks, were directed towards the very target they were surrounding; a dark brown-haired little girl in a blue, short-sleeved one-piece dress and brown beret, cowering in fear.
"A girl? Never seen her during my recons…" he noted before turning his attention to her assailants. "Those masks again…the hili-whatevers was what the travel guide called them, wasn't it?"
He cursed under his breath—voice muffled as he put his mask on. From where he was hiding, he couldn't see any way for the girl to escape without risk. Three of the six masked humanoids were armed, and even the unarmed ones were not quite the opponents he could see her taking on.
"How did you even get yourself into that situation?" he whispered, glowering at the girl's predicament.
One of the masked humanoids started inching towards the little girl, yelling something in a language seemingly native to them in intimidation. It worked, as the girl began backing up even more, only for another one of them to begin stomping angrily and swing its club at her. Though it missed, the girl stiffened as more tears stream down her face.
"H…Help…" her strained voice whimpered.
Still hiding, he reached for his makeshift slingshot and the pouch on his belt that contained rocks. Judging from the distance between the group and him, his shots may hit, but they wouldn't do any lasting damage. At best, he could get their attention, and the girl can use that chance to escape.
…But why would he do that?
What if this backfire on him somehow? Assuming the little girl came wandering from the castle, there was no doubt the knights would get involved eventually. By then, it would only be a matter of time until they tracked him down, and things would definitely go south if he truly was a runaway criminal. Would he trade the secretive edge he had over his would-be captors for that little girl? Would he jeopardize the search for his identity over this singular event? Moreover, there was no way to tell how strong the masked humanoids were. If they changed targets to him, was he confident he could win? Or better yet, survive?
He heard the little girl yelp as she tripped when one of the masked humanoids swung its weapon at the air to scare her again. They all slowly closed in on her in unison as the girl lost even the ability to scream in her fright.
'Come on, move.'
His limbs had locked themselves in place. Was it hesitation, or fear that made it so?
'Move!'
Gritting his teeth, he forced his trembling arms into position.
'Does the future matter if ya can't live with yer present?'
A voice continued to echo within his head. A voice that was bafflingly familiar.
'Does the present matter if ya can't live with yer past?!'
Then, like the moment before a firework explodes, he realized whose voice it was.
'MOVE!'
Surging with adrenaline, he pushed his fears away and stood up from his cover, slingshot pulled back to its highest tension. In one breath, he took aim, mentally guessed the arc trajectory, and took his shot. There was no time to properly calculate for better accuracy. Right now, even a pebble hitting the ground near the humanoids' feet was enough.
By sheer luck, his shot managed to hit one of the humanoids at the back of its head, causing it to fall forward and roll around in pain. The other humanoids looked at their injured comrade in surprise, but were too caught off guard to realize where his shot came from. "Heh…haha…guess I'll give them another hint," he said with a shaky grin as he loaded another pebble. The follow-up shot was not as lucky, and it barely grazed the shoulder of one of the humanoids, but it finally got them to turn their attention to him.
"HEY, FUGLIES!" he shouted as loud as he could to hide his shaky breath. "PICK ON SOMEONE YOUR OWN SIZE!"
There was no telling whether the masked humanoids understood his words, nor if his voice carried over through his mask. Though, judging by how they started incoherently yelling back at him while wildly waving their weapons around, it was safe to say he got their attention. Quickly looking to the girl in blue who was still sat on the ground surprised, he shouted, "You okay, kid!? Can you run!?"
Taken out of her shock, the girl hurriedly responded, "U-Um! I s-sprained my ankle, so I can't…!"
He clicked his tongue, realizing how hard his task was becoming. Nevertheless, he shouted again, "Got it! I'll get them away from you, so just go when we're gone!"
"Huh? W-Wait, but what about—"
He didn't have time to wait for her to finish as the masked humanoids began running towards him, brandishing their weapons. 'Alright. All I gotta do is lead them away from that kid,' he began to think, but stiffened as he caught himself mid-thought. 'But…where to? I can't run too quickly or they'll lose sight of me and come back for the kid, meaning I can't risk running back to HQ.'
He began running away, making sure to keep to an open road until he was sure they were far enough from the girl. The dirt path he was on would eventually lead him down to the entrance of a valley, and although he had not cared to survey that area before, he should be able to lose some of them there somehow.
The lower section of the hill he was on curved inwards into a crevice that formed a small valley at the center. Most of his scouting had been either to the west or north of the hill where he made camp, while the path he was on led southeast. Too much activity was seen down this path for him to do a stealthy recon, mostly from patrolling knights, so up until now he had ignored the location out of fear of compromising his current base of operations. But with pursuers hot on his trail, he had no other options but to bank on his limited knowledge of the area.
…Ah.
What was that about things biting him back in the future again?
As he finally reached the valley's entrance, he stopped in his tracks and felt his heart drop. Standing in front of him were wooden structures styled in the same tribal motif as the masked humanoids' clothes. And it was not without reason, as multiple masked faces turned to look at him, surprised by the uninvited guest who appeared at their doorstep.
—Yes.
They had built a camp. It seemed new, but nonetheless already inhabited by more masked humanoids, armed with clubs and shields. There was even a bigger masked humanoid brandishing a huge battle axe, standing at roughly twice his height with arms as thick as his torso. "Oh c'mon, how are there more of you?!" His frustrated cries were answered with nonsensical yells and grunts from his masked pursuers, who had effectively doubled in numbers. Panicking, he immediately took off sprinting down the dirt path once more, the humanoids right on his tail chasing him like an angry mob.
'Come on, think! Was there some place in that travel guide that's good enough to lose them!?' he frantically thought, instinctively vaulting over a panicking boar that charged towards him in surprise. The wild boar managed to scatter some of the masked humanoids tailing him, but the bigger axe wielder simply backhanded the poor animal out of its way and continued its chase.
Reminding himself to keep his breathing even, he hurriedly recalled a mental map of his general area. If he kept circling the hill, he should eventually reach some archaic ruins, an area the travel guide listed as 'Thousand Winds Temple'. The ruins of a fallen temple should provide enough hiding spots for him to lose his pursuers, so he steeled his resolve to run until he reached it.
Relief washed over him as he ran past pillars both broken and intact, hinting that he was on the right track. He picked up his pace. He would need time to look for a hiding spot when he reached the temple. However, his newfound hope was immediately dashed away, as standing guard near what he assumed was the entrance to the ruined temple were more masked humanoids, crossbows in hand.
He broke into cold sweat. He had not expected the masked humanoids to have taken the temple as well.
The humanoids standing guard quickly noticed him and, quickly realizing he was not one of them, took aim with their crossbows. Bolts flew above him as he stumbled into a side roll in panic—one of the shots streaking in flames threatened to burn his hair off. "Woah, woah, time out! Can't we talk about this?!"
With his pursuers from before closing in behind him and archers shooting in front of him, he was forced to take a detour and broke rightwards to a short cliff, which lead to a drop of about 3 meters in height. Dropping down, he rolled to bleed off his momentum, head immediately on a swivel as he tried to think of an alternative escape plan. Unfortunately, multiple scraping noises cued his pursuers' early arrival as they clumsily dropped down from the cliff themselves. The bigger, axe-wielding humanoid let out a roar, rallying its allies to corner their target who was quickly running out of options.
He looked ahead, noticing a huge stone door embedded into the cliff's face. 'A part of the temple? If I can reach it, I can—' His thought was cut short as the crossbow archers from before also dropped down, cutting off his final escape route. Cursing under his breath, he turned to face his other pursuers. They were spread out with weapons drawn, slowly but surely closing in on him.
Now he was definitely out of options.
"…I'm assuming a simple apology wouldn't cut it?" he shakily asked, cold sweat dripping down the side of his face as his mouth spread into a nervous grin. The masked humanoids replied with more nonsensical yelling, though whether that was a reply to his question or not was lost on him. Not that it mattered, anyway.
His feet moved backwards bit by bit, pressured to keep a distance from the melee fighters. The archers had him in their sights, but had not taken their shots, presumably to avoid friendly fire. Small blessings. As it stands, though, it was only a matter of time until they run out of patience and decide to attack him. The axe-wielding humanoid certainly seemed to be running thin on that.
Somehow, being forced to look at death in the face loosened his tension. Was he the type to easily accept his fate when presented with no way to avoid it? Sighing, his right hand grabbed the small knife dangling from his belt.
"Sheesh…how did I get myself into this?" he asked aloud while sounding like he had given up, granting him a confused snort from the big axe wielder. "Yeah, yeah, dumb question, I know. Decided to stick my nose where it didn't belong, juuust couldn't help myself…"
Perhaps it was karma, he thought. Trying to help someone in trouble led him to being in that exact position. If it wasn't so life-threatening, he probably would have found it funny, in an ironic way. 'No good deed goes unpunished', 'a bleeding heart leads to a heart that bleeds' and all that. He wondered if he truly did the right thing, risking his life to save someone he didn't even know. All this time being careful, trusting only his instincts and whatever fragments of memory he could reclaim, and finally he was getting close to rediscovering who he was. And now, he had thrown all that effort away just because it felt right.
What was he thinking, anyway? No proper weapons, no memories, not even a name to himself. He was in no place to be playing hero, not when he didn't even know if that was who he was.
A weak laugh escaped his lips.
Belatedly, he remembered that he left his fowl skewers by the fire. Must be burnt to a crisp right about now.
"Ah, fuck it." Unsheathing his small knife, he brought it in front of his face in a reverse grip, staring at the big axe wielder with shaky arms. With the amount of masked humanoids present, he doubted he would be able survive this fight, and that wasn't even taking into account the towering mass of muscle in front of him and its massive axe. He was scared shitless; yet another clue to the person he must have been, a massive coward. Be that as it may, he wasn't going to let the person that he was go down without a fight. "You reap what you sow, right?"
Perhaps even more than a coward, he was also a sore loser. What a troublesome character.
"There you are!"
He blinked.
He lowered his arms, eyes scanning left and right. Yet again, a feminine voice stopped his thoughts in their tracks. It couldn't be the little girl in blue from before—she was in no condition to chase after a sprinting adult given her twisted ankle. Adding to that, the voice was different—an energetic voice laced with a sense of calm urgency that belied any sort of panic, as opposed to the desperation that was present in the little girl's voice. That being said, he had no visual on the owner of this new voice.
Regardless, the voice then spoke again, "Hang on! I'm coming to save you!"
From the sound of it, the person calling out to him was behind the masked humanoids. The big axe-wielder blocked his frontal view, so that must be where the person was. Perhaps noticing this to be the case as well, all of the humanoids turned to face the person as well. As they did so, he caught a glimpse of the person's features from afar. It wasn't much, but he saw a lot of red and…bunny ears?
TWANG!
"Whoa!" With a start, his body jerked to the side, the sudden motion putting him off-balance. His mind took several seconds to process what just happened, and his eyes focused on one of the crossbow archers that stood behind him, apparently having tried to take a cheap shot at him. His eyes then traveled to where the shot hit, and landed on a wooden bolt embedded in the big axe wielder's now-bleeding back. He had somehow dodged certain death at the hands of one of the crossbow archers behind him, and while that was indeed a miracle, that wasn't the end of his problems.
Breathing hard, the big axe wielder turned to him and roared. Though hurt, the towering mass of muscle didn't seem too impaired by the arrow in his back. Fueled with a mix of pain and rage, it charged at him while lifting its axe up for an attack. Flinching in surprise, he panic-yelled back, "Yeah, uh, not a lot of saving going on right now, lady!"
"Ahh! J-Just hold on, I'll stop him!" the voice frantically exclaimed in response.
'So much for "calm urgency",' he lamented as the enraged axe wielder got closer. The axe was hefty, its blade wider than his two shoulders. A blow from that weapon wouldn't just kill him, it would cleave him in two with no effort. At the same time, though, it did make the attack predictable. As the axe wielder brought the axe down in a heavy chop, he rolled left and hurriedly sprung up to his feet again. Taking care to keep the archers in check to avoid any more cheap shots, he jumped back to put more distance between himself and the axe wielder, breaking through some wild bushes.
'Right…I can do this,' he thought to himself, more to calm his nerves than any sort of objective assessment. 'I just need to hold out until whoever that is comes to take care of these bastards. If she can hold her own, I can use her as a distra-!?'
For the third time this day, his thoughts were abruptly halted again. Though this time, not by any voice that brought him out of his reverie. He suddenly felt weightless. His gut tightened as if instinctually aware of what was going on, even before his brain caught up. Almost in slow motion, panic replaced confusion as his arms waved frantically to regain his balance midair.
He was falling.
A hole? A cave-in? How did he not notice it?
"WAAAAAAAAHHH!?"
Letting out a pathetic scream, he frantically twisted his body to adjust his fall any way he could. He had time to turn his body to face the ground and avoid a potentially lethal impact to the back of his head, but he wasn't able to transfer his momentum anywhere else and ended up awkwardly breaking his fall with his limbs, arms crossed to cover his face. He grunted painfully as he hit the ground in an unceremonious belly flop, his elbows and knees taking the brunt of fall. The suddenness of the impact nearly robbed him of his consciousness.
A white cloud of dust obscured his surroundings due to his fall. He coughed, feeling the vibrations from the fall impacting his lungs. He checked his arms and legs to make sure, half in fear of finding them horribly mangled, but to his bewilderment they looked to be in perfect condition, aside from his roughened clothes. A welcome surprise, considering the alternative. He breathed a sigh of relief, and as he did, a white cloud formed from his breath. "It's…cold?"
The sudden drop in temperature prompted him to scan his surroundings. He had fallen into what seemed to be a cave, wide enough to be mistaken for a quarry. Though the space seemed naturally-formed, the fact that he had landed on what felt like concrete floor told him that might not be so. Crystalline structures jutted out from random spots of the cave, their blue glow shining faintly. Frost had gathered around the cave—not enough to blanket the whole area, but enough that he understood why the trees here had withered. He surmised that the frost was what got scattered around when he fell.
Finally, he looked up, finding the supposed hole he fell through. Faintly, he could hear the sound of struggling—no doubt coming from the unknown woman that came for him, likely fighting against the humanoids. He must have been blind to not see an opening that big, but he supposed being preoccupied with avoiding death by battle axe would do that to your spatial awareness. The hole he fell through was high enough that he doubted the masked humanoids would jump down to chase after him, adding to the fact that they have something else to worry about. While that was all well and good, the fact that he didn't end up a smear on the ground just brought up more questions. Did he land on a heap of snow or something?
Such queries were put on hold, however, when his feet felt the ground tremble slightly. He looked around, fatigue and annoyance building up from his seemingly unending problems, and realized he had somehow missed something big when taking in his surroundings. A curious growth of some kind was settled at the center of the cave. It looked to be some sort of giant blue flower, about the size of a big tree. Its petals hung lazily around a spear-like protrusion, growing out of the center of the flower, settled somewhere within a mass of roots. He had never seen a plant like this before. Tempted to inspect it, he moved towards it to get a closer look.
…Only for it to suddenly bloom.
No, perhaps 'bloom' wasn't quite accurate. The petals contracted around the protrusion before it rose with a thick tendril that snaked its way out of the mass of roots that was its foundation. The tendril revealed the flower's true size, standing taller than most trees he had seen—its corolla comprised of huge petals and vines extending to its sides, so much so that he could see nothing but its daunting size. In place of the normal reproductive organs of a flower, the center of the corolla was made of a crystalline matter that thrummed with the same blue light that the crystals around the cave was. It swayed to and fro, shocking him with how alive it was, until its crystal center was in direct line of sight to him.
Then, the flower surged with energy so intense that the air around him shook, as if it was screeching.
Putting his arms up to shield his face, he gritted his teeth and endured the tremor. The vibration shook him to his core, forcing him to drop into a stance to steady himself. As the noise passed, he slowly lowered his arms, and was immediately forced to jump back to avoid the flower as it smashed the ground with the whole of its corolla, sweeping left and right in a messy arc.
"Give me a fucking break!" he exclaimed, eyes wide and half-laughing in incredulity. "First tribal barbarians, now giant monster flowers? What is this place!? Why can't I remember anything about shit as crazy as this!?"
The flower pulled itself up to its full height. Predicting that it would do another slam attack, he hurriedly jumped back to avoid it. However, he was not prepared for the follow-up wave of frost that burst forth from the ground, knocking him on his back. He groaned in pain as he skidded on the concrete floor, but adrenaline pushed him back on his feet, allowing him enough time to dodge another frost wave. In the process of doing so, however, he tripped and fell as he lost the feeling in his legs. Looking down in panic, he found that frost had begun building up on his legs, most likely from getting hit by the earlier attack. He pulled himself up, only to yell out in pain as another wave of frost hit him and blew him back a few good meters.
Trembling as the feeling of numbness crawled all over his body, he once again pushed himself to stand back up, managing only to get on all fours. Eyes trained at the monstrous flower, he tensed in preparation to dodge another attack. Though, judging from his condition, he would only be able to roll desperately to move out of the way.
Perhaps sensing that its target was weakened, the giant flower lowered its head and began to surge with energy once again. It was visible even to the naked eye that it was focusing its energy into the crystal core at the center of its corolla. He might not know what was coming, but if his instincts were to be trusted, he would not be walking out of that attack alive.
"…Damn it," he weakly said through rattling teeth. Thinking of a way out of his current situation proved difficult with adrenaline pumping through his veins, and the cold certainly didn't make things any easier.
He could feel it. Was it the cold that was creeping up his nerves, or was it the enclosing grip of death? Between the dulling of his five senses and the screaming of his survival instinct, the sensations bled together. The more his mind screamed to move, the slower his body responded. Figures, he supposed, that not only did he have a mind that stubbornly refused to remember, but also a body that would not cooperate with him.
'Move!'
Ah…he was hearing things again. The same voice that commanded him to stand up and save that little girl in blue. Was this the voice of his conscience, or his instinct? It was all too familiar to him, and just like before, he remembered whose voice it was. The lab coat woman from his dreams. That rough yet warm presence that reminded him of a thorny sunflower. Despite him never dreaming of her saying those words to him before, they echoed within him all the same.
He wondered why his mind deemed it important that he remember those words. By all accounts, he had no reason to believe they were real. Just dredges of his dreamland stupor that abstractly took shape due to his period of loneliness. If he couldn't remember anything about himself, then why should he believe his dreams?
Yet…
It gave him enough reason to desperately cling to life.
"I can't…die here," he told himself, trembling as he struggled to pick himself up.
His fear of dying was there, but on the precipice of overtaking it was something even stronger, almost tugging at his heartstrings to make sure he would stay alive. A sense of duty to the person he was, the person he had forgotten—the person that the lab coat woman wanted to live. Should he die here, without even figuring out who he was, he would not only be doing a disservice to his past self, but also to that woman. And the idea of letting that kind of burden drag him down in death was not one he found any fondness for.
But…looking at it objectively, there was nothing he could do. In the face of a giant flower preparing to blast him to kingdom come, he was powerless to do anything to prevent his death.
—It was right at that moment.
Something fell from the sky, landing between him and the flower with a squeak. It was sudden enough that the flower stopped what it was doing and looked down inquisitively at the foreign object, which prompted him to do the same.
"…A…doll?"
It was a red plush doll, humanoid in design and with bunny ears attached to its comically large head. It was quite big, though not abnormally so by any standard. Lying on its back, a wide smile was spread across its face, a sight contrasting enough with his current situation that he inadvertently loosened his muscles. Did it fall from the opening above? So many questions ran through his mind that it was at risk of short-circuiting—chiefly, 'why a doll?' and 'why here?'
As if that wasn't weird enough, the doll then started to stand up. On its own.
And then it…began dancing.
"?"
By now, his caution had completely dissolved into confusion. In any other circumstances, letting that happen during combat would have severe repercussions. Luckily, the giant flower was also looking at the plush doll curiously, as if wondering whether the object was a threat or not. Surely not, he thought. After all, it was just a doll. By the time the giant flower realized this, it would certainly turn its attention to him once again.
That was to be expected, but he should have learned by now that he should curb his expectations.
That is to say, he shouldn't have been as surprised as he was when the doll suddenly exploded.
He wasn't proud to say that he had let out a girly yelp when the explosion happened, but to his credit, the complete incredulity of an exploding doll warranted it. The explosion happened just as the flower brought its crystal core closer to the doll to inspect it, and thanks to that, it took the full force of the blast head-on and limply fell to the side. His mouth opened and closed several times as he processed what just happened, torn between feeling relieved that his life was no longer in danger and ashamed that his salvation came at the (tiny) hands of an exploding plushie. Fortunately, his state of disbelief did not last for long as he then heard someone call out to him.
"Heeey! Are you okay down theeere?"
It was that energetic voice from before, and it came from above him. Looking up, he indeed saw a figure slowly descending on a pair of wings, arms outstretched to keep her balance midair. His interest piqued, he wondered if angels were common here, but the wings then retracted somewhere into her back as she neared the ground, cutting his thoughts short.
It was then that he finally got a good look at his rescuer. Long, dark brown hair billowed behind her like a small cape. Wide golden eyes that exuded an almost childlike curiosity adorned a round youthful face, peering through a pair of gold-framed leather goggles. She wore a long-sleeved red hoodie top under a leather armor that showed a gap just above her chest. The wide cuffs were rolled back to reveal similarly red gloves. Her dark brown shorts were…dangerously short, leaving her red stockings and white thigh-high boots to cover the rest of her athletic legs, and even then, it showed off her thighs. Two small bags hung at opposing sides of her waist tied by a belt; a curious red jewel decorated with two red feathers hanging from one of them. On top of her head was a large red ribbon that gave him the impression of a rabbit.
The girl lifted her goggles to her head, quickly giving him a once-over before exhaling loudly in relief.
"Thank goodness, you're okay! I was really worried when you suddenly disappeared on me!"
"Uh…yeah," he replied awkwardly, eyes still trained on her appearance. Either the cold was getting to him, or this was the first time he had talked to the opposite sex. Hoping it was simply the former, he shook his head to clear the cobwebs in his mind and forced his teeth to stop rattling against each other. "You're…the one from before…"
"Yup, that's me!" the girl responded with a beaming smile. Straightening up, she brought her left hand behind her and her right to her chest, then sliced the air diagonally down in a form of salute. "Outrider Amber, reporting for duty! Looks like I got to you just in time, huh?"
'So the doll was her doing…' he noted mentally, still trying to accept that an exploding doll saved him from a very cold death. Noticing that he was looking up at the girl in an inappropriate position, he tried to push himself up off the ground, only for his legs to buckle and drop him onto his butt with a grunt.
"Woah, easy there!" The girl quickly approached him in concern. Her eyes darted to his frosted legs and widened in realization. "So you're hurt, after all…"
The attention made him feel embarrassed. It was weird, but considering 'sore loser' might be a forgotten trait of his, her concerned tone might have hurt his pride. Trying to abate that, he inadvertently responded with a forced laugh. "Ahaha! Oh, this? Nah, it's no big deal. Just never fought a giant flower before, so y'know, some trial and error was necessary."
To be fair, it was only partially a lie.
She slowly nodded before reaching down to touch his leg. The sudden contact would have taken him aback if he could feel his legs; as it was, he simply regarded her with curiosity. She took a moment to inspect the damage before nodding once again and turning to him with a serious look. "All right, I think I can thaw your legs. Just hold still for a bit, okay?"
"Oh…sure," he replied hesitantly. He wasn't certain who this person was and why she was helping him, but at the moment, there was nothing he could do but take advantage of her generosity. Assuming she was planning to start a bonfire to melt the frost away, he rummaged his pocket to lend her his flip-top lighter. No sense in wasting time by rubbing two sticks together to do it, after all. However, she simply brought her hands together near his legs and pursed her lips.
"I'm not used to doing this, so bear with me for now."
"…Excuse me?"
The girl closed her eyes and exhaled slowly, holding both hands towards his frozen legs. Unsure of what she was doing, he opened his mouth to ask her, but his words died in his throat when he saw flames sparking to life between her hands.
—Pyrokinesis? Magecraft? Spirit summoning?
Multiple guesses flew through his mind in response to what he was seeing. The flames fluttered over his legs, melting away the frost. He could already feel warmth coming back to his legs, the heat chasing the leftover numbness away, before that same warmth spread all around him.
"Sorry it's taking a while," the girl finally spoke up, an apologetic smile present on her face. "I've never used Pyro like this before, so I have to concentrate. Wouldn't wanna accidentally burn your legs, right?"
"Uh, yeah…no problem. I think it's working." He paused, still taken aback by the girl's kindness. He found it ludicrous that she apologized even though she was the one helping him. At some point, he started gritting his teeth in shame. Had he really thought of using her as a distraction before? Leave her for dead at the hands of those masked humanoids? The guilt tugging at his conscience might prove that he wasn't purely evil, but he must be a real piece of shit.
Pulling himself out of his depressing thoughts, he realized that he hadn't referred to her by her name. As someone who was desperate to regain his identity, it was an impertinent gesture to not treat hers with the same importance. No way he would let himself live down such hypocrisy, criminal or not. "…Amber, right? Thanks for the help."
The girl, Amber, widened her smile into a genuine grin in response, appreciative of his words. However, in doing so she broke her focus on whatever spell she was using to keep the flame between her hands lit, so it was immediately snuffed out. "Oh, no!" she exclaimed. "Hang on, I'll start it back up again."
"Nah, no need. I think that did the trick," he said while waving her off, shaking his now wet legs to dry them off while checking whether he could move them again. There was still a phantom numbness around his calves, but not enough that he would trip on his own legs again. He stood up, taking note that he stood slightly taller than his rescuer. Her appearance made him think she would be taller, he figured. "I'm gonna need a good warm soak after this, though. You wouldn't happen to know any hot springs around here, would y—"
He caught movement from the corner of his eyes. Looking up from his legs, he saw to his horror that the giant blue flower had risen up again. "Wait, that thing's not dead yet?!"
Amber had already turned around even before he finished his sentence. At some point, she had pulled out a recurved wooden bow and notched an arrow onto it despite him not seeing any signs of neither bow nor quiver before. Though she looked ready to fight, her feet slowly moved backwards as she worriedly kept her attention at the giant blue flower.
"This is bad! It was playing dead to buy time to regenerate its core!" Amber exclaimed.
"It knows how to play dead!?" he repeated incredulously, not expecting a plant to show anywhere near that level of intelligence. It wasn't like it needed that either; something that strong had no need for tricks, especially judging by what it was doing. Once again, his instincts screamed at him of an imminent danger as he felt energy surging towards the crystal core on its corolla, preparing for the attack it was doing before Amber came to his rescue.
Panicking, he grabbed Amber's arm to get her attention. "We gotta go! Whatever it's doing, that amount of energy is no good!"
Taken aback, but probably just as eager as he was to retreat, Amber's eyes darted around looking for an escape route. All the while, the flower lowered itself to the ground and the air around it began swirling to its core. Just as he thought they were done for, Amber grabbed his right wrist and yanked hard as she practically dragged him away. Good timing, too, as a freezing blast of wind that immediately froze everything in its path would have hit them otherwise.
He had no time to complain about the sudden movement as Amber immediately warned him, "Heads up! The exit's just over there!"
In front of them was an elevation that led to the cave entrance, requiring them to climb up some rock formations to reach it. The giant flower's attack behind them was continuous—the freezing beam coming out of its core angling ever closer to get them. Amber had already ran up the elevated ground, using her own momentum to carry her upwards with a cat-like grace. He, being nowhere as agile, simply leapt up and reached out to the edges of the rocks with his two hands, pulling his legs up into a standing position afterwards. In doing so, they just barely avoided the giant flower's attack, and together they sprinted out of the cave without looking back, flakes of frost from the flower's attack narrowly missing them.
It was only when his eyes had to adjust to sunlight again did he finally let his muscles loosen up. He pulled his mask down and inhaled huge gulps of air as he immediately fell on his rear again. His vision swimming, he had to keep himself from dry-heaving from the shock of it all. Today was not turning out to be a normal day, at all.
To his side, Amber looked winded as she put her hands on her hips to catch her breath, but nowhere near as exhausted. Clearly, she was in better shape than he was.
"Hah…hah…that"—he gasped out between heavy breathing—"was not okay."
From the corner of his eyes, he saw Amber sparing him a momentary look before bursting out laughing. Carefree and sincere—were it in any other circumstance, he might have found her laugh endearing. As it was, he tiredly threw her the driest look he could manage in his current state. "I'm glad…you find our near-death experience…suitably amusing."
Waving one hand in front of her while wiping a tear from her eye with another, she tried her best to keep her laughter in. "Sorry, sorry! I'm just glad you're okay enough to joke around." As her laughter subsided, she turned to him with a curious look. "You are okay, right? Anything hurt besides your legs? You fell a long way down, after all."
He took a moment to inspect himself. As he wiped away sweat from his exposed cheek, the back of his hand treaded over some light cuts on his face, and his chest stung from getting hit by the ice blasts, but thankfully he didn't find any severe damage on his person. "I don't…think so? That flower roughed me up good, but other than that, I'm okay. Something must've broken my fall down there."
She breathed out a sigh of relief. He appreciated that she took his words at face value, considering he wouldn't know how to explain how he survived the fall otherwise. The same guilty feeling from before rose within him again, but he pushed it down and took in his surroundings instead.
The cave entrance had let them out to a beach, seemingly ways off from where he had been when the masked humanoids had him surrounded. The sun still hung high, but he could tell some time had passed from the shift of its angle. The sea stretched far to the east, while the beach ran its course to the west, meeting a grassy plain. Huge rocks shaped by coastal erosion peeked out from under the water as the calm waves splashed into them. As if put under a spell, he let himself momentarily bask in the atmosphere of this new area. Inhaling deeply, the scent of the sea nearly overwhelmed his olfactory senses before he breathed it out. Recovery from his exhaustion came quick, allowing his mind regain its focus.
"Where are we, by the way?" he asked Amber.
"Oh, this is Falcon Coast! East of Windrise, stretching out to the sea alongside Cape Oath, which is that cliff over there…" Amber started to explain, pointing at a tall cliff a good distance away from them in a very tour guide-like manner before trailing off. She seemed to remember something important as she turned to face him with wide eyes. "Wait, that's right! I was going to ask you where you're from since you don't seem like a local!"
"I…don't?" he responded in confusion.
"Well, I've never seen you around Mondstadt before, that's for sure. You're also dressed weirdly, so I would've noticed if you were. I thought you were with the Adventurer's Guild from the logo on your left arm, but I guess not…" His eyebrow twitched as Amber casually observed his outfit. He couldn't sense a hint of sarcasm in her voice, and considering she appeared to be the honest type, that might be a genuine opinion of hers. 'That makes it doubly insulting, I like these threads!' he fervently thought.
Holding her chin with one hand, Amber started pacing back and forth in front of him while he was still sat down. "And since you don't even know where we are, you're either new here or was born yesterday. Obviously, it can't be the latter, so…"
"Uh…goo goo, ga ga?"
Long tresses of brown hair swished around as she turned to look at him in momentary confusion before showing him the meanest frown he had seen on her face thus far—and even then, it ended up being adorable more than anything else. "Hey, I'm being serious here!" she exclaimed indignantly, hands balled at her sides. Despite himself, he scratched the back of his head apologetically as she scolded him. "Sorry, force of habit," he apologized, quickly adding under his breath, "…I think."
Clearing her throat to regain her composure, Amber then continued, "Anyway, are you from Liyue, then? You're traveling way further than any of our usual Liyuan traders. I can escort you back to Mondstadt if you're lost!"
He tilted his head in confusion. "I thought we're already in Mondstadt?"
"The region, yes, but I'm talking about the city itself," Amber replied, looking progressively more intrigued as he inadvertently showed more of his ignorance about what seemed to her was common knowledge. "You really don't know anything about where we are, huh? Then maybe you're not from Liyue at all…?"
Amber's question made him flinch. Had he blown his cover this early into the game? Fortunately, she was too busy thinking aloud to notice it, but he doubted that would last long. He decided to change the subject before she started asking more damning questions, and so started to stand up on his trembling legs. "Ahem, well, uh…thanks for your help, Amber. Would've been turned into fertilizer if you weren't around. I dearly wish there's some way I can repay you, but I am simply a humble traveler, so I'll be on my way now~"
"Not so fast, mister," Amber cut him off, surprising him enough that he fell on his ass again. She gave him a stern look while putting both hands on her hips. "First things first, I'm escorting you back to Mondstadt. Then we'll get someone to check you for injuries just in case."
"I…don't think that would be necessary," he replied with a nervous chuckle.
"You bet it is!" the brown-haired girl exclaimed while proudly puffing out her chest, the red ribbon on her head flicking back at the motion. "As an Outrider Knight, it's my duty to look out for people going out and about whenever I can. Escorting guests to safety is just part of my job! Besides, there's been an increase in hilichurl activity recently. As you've just experienced firsthand, traveling on your own is not safe nowadays, especially this far out of Mondstadt."
He groaned internally, already seeing how his arguments against her would fall on deaf ears, especially when she had a point. He had seen for himself how the masked humanoids had started building camps in spots he had believed to be vacant of them, clearly indicating a territorial expansion. Assuming that was what Amber was talking about, then that incident wouldn't be a one-time occurence. There was no other choice but to take her up on her offer. The castle was on his to-do list, after all, and while being escorted in wasn't an ideal entry for him, it was better than nothing. He was about to relent and thank her generosity again, until he realized what she called herself.
"Wait…Outrider Knight?"
Amber blinked, confused as to why he parroted her title back at her. "Yeah, I'm an Outrider Knight of the Knights of Favonius. Well, the only remaining one, that is. But don't worry! That just means I'm the best one there is!"
He didn't have a mirror on him, but he was pretty sure blood drained from his face at her confirmation. He had to keep himself from cursing aloud at the realization that she was not just any random stranger, but a knight. And as a knight, her presence posed an obvious risk to him and any potential of him being an amnesiac criminal. Not to mention, she had now seen his face as he had taken off his mask. A deluge of thoughts flooded his mind as panic rose within him now that he knew he could not let Amber bring him to the castle. In an effort to turn her offer down in the most unsuspicious way possible, he put on his best poker face and lied through his teeth.
"Oh, right, yeah, um…actually, no, I-I'll be just fine, Miss Amber. I'm just a humble, uh…berry-picker! From a village far away, yeah! I'm sure yer a busy person yerself, ain't no way I'm making you go through that much trouble just fer lil ol' me, no sir!"
Not good. His face was stiff and he ended up stammering through his very bad lie.
"Why are you speaking funny all of a sudden?" Amber asked, tilting her head as her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Also, berry-picker? That's not a real job now, is it?"
"H-Hey, rude! This 'ere job's a family business!" he retorted, faking indignance as best as he could. His performance fell flat, however, and he found himself having to contend with his audience's unimpressed stare.
"Riiight…now you're definitely suspicious. I'm afraid I'm gonna have to insist on escorting you back, now."
"Ugh…"
Part of him began thinking if he could outrun her given a good enough running start. Maybe he could fake a leg pain and lower her guard enough for him to throw some sand at her before escaping. There was a chance she'd use her hidden wings to chase him down, though, and if it came down to it, he would have to fight her. Given her bow, she would have the range advantage on him, so he should start by making himself look as unthreatening as possible to open her up and drive his knife into—
…
'…Damn, I really am a piece of shit.'
Just moments ago, she had saved him from certain death. Yet, here he was, already plotting to murder the girl he owed his life to just to escape. Was this who he was? Was this murderous bastard the identity he had lost? Was this what awaits him at the end of his journey? Just like before, the sudden disconnect between his thoughts and beliefs brought about a headache. His hand had already reached for his right temple to massage the pain away, hoping to hide the sudden weakness before Amber realized, but the guilt that his violent thoughts caused him brought his head down bit by bit. And, just like before, it disappeared as suddenly as it appeared.
"Are you okay?" Amber asked, her change in tone telling him that she had indeed noticed his current state. "You…look like you're in pain."
Blinking back into focus, he looked up and realized Amber had approached him, though she kept an arm's distance from him—cautious, but concerned. Despite a very apparent reason to distrust him, she was ready to help him again just because he was in pain.
'…God damn it.'
He couldn't keep this up. It would be a different case if he really was a criminal with the intent to back it up, but right now he had lost his memories. In his current state, he could tell that he wasn't comfortable with the idea of killing, even if his mind had been attuned to allow himself to immediately railroad to such thoughts. The person he was right now was not in sync with whoever he was before, whatever that meant for his journey of self-rediscovery. A contradiction that big would definitely pose a big obstacle, but he would have to deal with that later.
For now, he understood one thing. Whoever he was, he was too dangerous to be handled with kindness alone. Which meant that being imprisoned was not a worst-case scenario, but rather a suitable outcome—no, a necessity, should he want to prevent himself from hurting someone.
He drew in a shaky breath.
"…Sorry, I'm okay. You're right, you should…bring me in." He could feel his nerves calming down. Having said and accepted that lifted an unexpected weight from his stomach, prompting him to chuckle apologetically. "Sorry for the outburst, I…I dunno what came over me."
There was a break in the conversation as a stunned Amber seemed to silently consider what to do with him. The sudden shift between him not wanting to be brought to the castle to reluctantly accepting the idea must be suspicious on its own. He only had himself to blame for being such a contradictory mess, unfortunately. Though, maybe having Amber frontload her suspicion was a good thing, if solely for the fact that he knew he was dangerous enough to be treated with nothing less. He was about to offer a word of assurance to break the silence when the brunette shook her head and smiled.
"No, I'm sorry, too. That was a bad joke," she said, yet again apologizing when he couldn't see any reason for it. "I should've said this sooner, but I came across Chloris before I found you. Blue dress, brown beret. Ring any bells?"
It took a moment for him to realize who she was talking about. "The kid who sprained her ankle?"
Amber's face brightened. "Yeah! She was limping down Windrise when I met her. She knew the knights patrol the roads, and I happened to be around by coincidence. I asked if she needed help, but she told me there was a stranger with a weird mask who saved her from hilichurls up the valley and asked me to help him instead. It took me some time to find your tracks, but the amount of hilichurls chasing you did help with that."
She approached him, crouching down to his eye level as if to show him she meant no harm. "And that's how I found you!"
"…That so? And the kid's safe?" He felt his shoulders relax. He couldn't explain why, but for some reason hearing that made him feel…relieved?
"Windrise is relatively safe so long as you stick to the main road. Chloris knows the area more than anyone, so she knows how to go back to Mondstadt from where I found her. I wish I could've walked her back home, but she was really desperate to find help for you."
"That's…good. Glad she's okay," he said before giving Amber a curious look. "Thanks for the news, but why tell me?"
Amber took a moment to pick her words. "Well…you look really nervous when I mentioned bringing you back to Mondstadt. Call it instinct, but it seems like you're afraid of the city…or of me." He couldn't help but flinch as she nailed her suspicions on the head, but she merely laughed while waving his worry away. "I met someone just like that some time ago. Don't worry, just like her, I can tell you're a good person."
The suggestion was generous, considering his inner turmoil a moment ago. He doubted someone so ready to murder their savior was a 'good person'. Even without knowing his hidden intentions, Amber had no reason to place such faith on him when she barely even knew him, yet she did so with a demeanor that bordered on carelessness. So, confused as he was, he slowly asked, "…And what makes you say that?"
"You saved Chloris, didn't you?" Amber responded, making it sound obvious. "There's no way a bad person would do that. And good people don't have anything to fear in Mondstadt! So, you don't have to worry about me doing anything to hurt you, okay?"
He hated being treated like a child. But…somehow, this felt different.
Maybe she did so to make it perfectly clear that she meant him no harm. Or maybe it was to show that she believed he meant her no harm, as false as that idea was to him. He didn't know if he deserved the sentiment. He was a dangerous person—he could tell that much. Combat capabilities notwithstanding, the way his mind readily delved into extremes was enough for him to fear himself. That he had lost his memories simply meant he no longer had full control of his faculties, or rather, of what they were capable of. If the headaches weren't there to stop his intrusive thoughts…
…At the same time, he did choose to save that girl in blue, even though there was no benefit for him in doing so. There had to be a part of him that appealed to his better nature, otherwise why would he do that? If his headaches were a mental defense against the murderous part of him, then…maybe he was more of a good person? He wasn't sure how his morality scale was balanced, but if nothing else, the bigger part of him was more comfortable with being a good person. And at the very least, one person saw him as 'good'. That surely amounted to something. If he couldn't trust himself, perhaps it would be okay to believe in the one seeing him from the outside.
"…Thanks, Amber."
Her reply came with a wide grin that fit well with her sunny disposition. "Don't sweat it! You seem pretty disoriented, so something bad must've happened before you got lost here. Whatever it is, I'm sure the Knights of Favonius can help you somehow!" She stood back up and extended a hand to him, looking to pull him up to his feet. "Sooo…with that out of the way, wanna come with?"
There was an infectious optimism behind her words that he couldn't help but smile back. Though there was no telling whether the knights could help him, at the moment, it was a non-factor. The girl standing in front of him with an outstretched hand had given him something far more important. The faith she had that he was a good person had unknowingly given himfaith in his lost identity. Though he found himself undeserving, pursuing his lost memories was the least he could do to honor that faith. And if the path to repaying her began with taking her hand, then take it he would.
*GROWLLLL*
His hand froze just before it touched hers as his stomach growled loudly, killing any dramatic tension that had just built up. He could feel his face heating up in embarrassment even before the bewilderment on Amber's face completely morphed into mirth, and he had to look away to protect whatever pride he had left when she finally couldn't contain herself anymore and burst out laughing.
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, this idiot missed his breakfast. Can't really focus on food with musclebound freaks chasing me with sharp weapons, can I?" He once again gave the red-clad girl a dry look as she laughed at his expense, though his hand impatiently rapped on his stomach, demanding it to stop making embarrassing noises.
"No, no, I—haha!—understand, really!" Amber replied in-between her laughs. She continued only after she made sure she could keep her giggles down enough to speak properly, wiping away tears from her eyes. "My bad, I didn't notice it's past lunchtime already. We really took our time with our little skirmish, huh?"
Sighing, he pulled himself up to his feet. "Between the half-naked barbarians and giant ice plant, I'd figured as much."
"Wow, when you put it like that, it does sound like it's been a long day," Amber commented in awe. She hummed shortly before coming up with a good idea. "Tell you what, let's have lunch when we get back. Good Hunter, my treat!"
"Uh…if you're sure," he tentatively replied, already feeling like sitting back down just by how overwhelmed he was. "Wait, this is getting a bit much. Saving my life, escorting me back to safety, and now you're buying me lunch? Sorry, but I can't owe you more than thi-"
*GROWLLL*
Looking at him in amusement, Amber at least had the decency to cover her smile with her hand this time. "Well, that guy definitely agrees with me," she said, pointing at his stomach. Unable to mount a counterargument, he could only mumble compliantly. He wasn't in any condition to turn down a free meal, especially not after today's ordeal.
"Then let's go! We'll take care of your injuries, then we take care of lunch. Hope your stomach can hold out until then…" Amber seemingly stumbled on her words, once again turning to him with eyes wide in surprise. "Speaking of, I haven't asked your name yet."
"Oh, right…" With everything that happened, he forgot to mention his situation. He supposed there was no harm in letting Amber know, though. In fact, seeing as he was relying on her this much already, it was only fair that he let her know.
"Well, you can call me whatever. I lost my memories, so I don't have a name."
"…Huh?"