Allan was left in the lands of the dark and before he knew it, he passed by countless stars and planets in the path of a lightning ball instead of a comet.
Time was not important, nor something that could be. Traveling at a speed where nothing mattered but its destination unknown. Forcing its way through the clusters of meteoroids, piercing through the comets who occasionally went against its path. It has forcefully changed directions many times, more than it could be counted as the journey went through the many planetary constellations of life or death ones.
It moved steadily, with the power of what was not stopping, and at last, it reached a place where it could not pierce or destroy. A planet which was surrounded by others, and around the massive sun which let life be free on these planets, a ball with Allan inside, let go and reach the fine line to the planet which was in its path, or maybe it was the other way around.
They were orbiting around the massive sun. A small, unnoticeable lighting ball went in a straight line through this planetary constellation.
In the hours it took it, the lighting ball soon came before the atmosphere which was standing in its path, yet there was no stopping its descent.
Thís planet was shrouded in clouds, fog and twisting white clouds were visible from outer space. Two halves of the surface could be seen in the lands of the ocean. Its size was a few dozen thousand kilometers, which could be considered as a smaller kind, but nonetheless a healthy-looking one.
Piercing and falling, the ball fiercely penetrated the atmosphere and headed towards the lands below. Fortunately, it did not land on the fields of water, which took the considerable size of the surface. It made no disturbance with its journey. The presence of its descent was hardly noticeable in the grand scheme of the universe or the planet itself.
With a bright screen of light. It landed with a thud in the wild forest. The impact pushed the trees away and birds fled from the region.
It was currently the middle of the day. Light did not make much of a noticeable difference. No steam or smoke was coming from the location of the impact. It was a smooth and successful ride with a journey across some parts of the universe.
Time went on. Hours passed with life, what did its course.
Animals in the forest were oblivious to their sudden guess in their home ground. The bloodied body of Allan was laid in the pile of debris and junks of shiny metals, gems, and some kind of crystals. His chest was seeping with blood. He was completely bare, with only his crotch, which was hidden behind a book. It was his spy diary, which unbelievably survived its journey across the regions with what perhaps no book ever did. It was looking rather worn down, and it was hard to say if the content within was still good or not.
Hours passed. The sun slowly hid behind the horizon and night began its domination. Silence within the forest made it rather eerie.
A slight beat could barely be heard around this forest.
Thud.
Thud.
Allan’s surroundings began to change as twisting ghosts of beasts and demons danced and stare around the laying Allan, whose mind was still absent. Their bodies were hardly distinct and noticeable only in the place at night.
There were all kinds of beast and demon images, but most of them were hardly recognizable with an appearance that was twisting within their sliver of existence. They visibly howled and their anger shined through their performance and gaze, but the silence still prevailed. They were perhaps not of this world, but it did not matter to them.
This went for an entire night and even after the sun gradually rose from the distant horizon. The light illuminated the world, yet ghosts did not dissipate. They became vaguer and harder to see in the shiny sun. It seemed that they wanted to hunt for Allan for some reason, but they never came close, as they had no form.
The morning sun warmed up the time after an eerie night.
A beating sound was continually heard from Allan’s surroundings. Like a melody that would not dissipate until the end of time.
Not so far away. Amidst the light of dawn, two figures clothed in green and gray cloth walked around the forest. One big and one smaller. A rough-looking man, past his prime, walked by a tree. He looked behind him, towards the smaller person with a hood and bow in hand.He gestured for a preparation. There was a standing deer with rather big-looking horns. They were hunting for some food.
A smaller figure, silent and with a certain amount of practice and skill, pulled the bowstring.
Whoooosh!
It hit the deer right at his neck, but it did not move at all. It remained frozen in place, still staring in the same direction.
“Huh? Something seems wrong. Wait here.” Rough-looking man said. He walked towards the deer with an arrow in its neck. Normally, it would run away at the slightest hint of human presence. Forget the arrow in its neck. They learned and had instincts against such predators and fleeting was sometimes their only choice.
As he walked by, in just a few moments, he poked the deer for a reaction.
“Is it dead?” He wondered.
Just as he turned in front of the deer’s field of vision, it panicked and bumped into the man. It struggled in confusion and pain as the arrow came to effect just now. Deer jumped and run as it rammed towards the thick tree, where it stumbled and hit it head-on. It twitched for a bit as the life disappeared from its body.
“How strange? Was it sick? I have never seen anything like this before.” The man argued loudly as he got up from his ass.
“Are you alright, Father?” A rather young-sounding girly voice asked in mocking worry. It was that small figure that just killed the stationary deer. There was hardly anything to celebrate about it. Just the fact that they had a successful hunt was all that mattered, but even if they did not, that would be fine too.
“Of course. Don’t worry about such small matters.” Man answered.
“I just worry about you. What is wrong with that?” She asked.
“Worry about me when we meet actual danger.”
“That is fine with me, father.” His daughter bluntly said.
“Something is wrong with this forest. This unease and sense. I have seen nothing like that. The deer that you just shot was totally beyond its senses.”
“What could cause that?” She asked.
“We will see. This is our forest, so what choices do we have? Let’s go forward. If there is something wrong, just tell me fast.” The man said as he observed the forest and bushes. He was experienced in such things. This was his home since his daughter came to be.
“Alright. I have no problem with that, apart from the fact that this is all yours.” She answered. They carefully advanced. Forest went quieter as they walked on, but echoing beating tones started to be heard by them.
“F-father. My head. It started to ache so badly again.” She groaned in pain as she held her hand against a nearby tree.-
“Now? Something beyond unnatural is there?” He looked at his daughter and checked her face, which was quenched in an uncomfortable face. Her face, of somewhat of a teenager of about 14 to 16 years, came to his view.
“I can manage just fine. Don't worry about me too much. I can get used to it, but it is rather uncomfortable.” She said as she shooed her father's hands away.
They kept going until a view that was hard to explain was revealed beneath their eyes. Both of them saw something different. Mess on the ground amidst the shiny metals and treasure. In the center of it all was a naked boy who looked like he went through the torturous war itself. Blood was around his body, with most of it on himself.
“Uh? What sort of mess is this?” Man wondered. He looked at the surroundings and himself if this was real or not. Echoing sounds were coming from the boy in the middle of this messy sight, which was surrounded by destroyed trees.
“F-f-father? T-this is?” She cried in shock as she backed off.
“What? Do you see what I see? He came closer to his daughter as he tried to calm her down.”
She breathed heavily as she stared at the scenery behind the tree.
Dancing images of beasts were in her field of vision and they stared and surrounded the boy in a bloodthirsty manner. Upon sensing the distraction from unwanted guests. All barely sentient ghosts flew in their direction before dissipating into thin air as they met their end. The pair of father and daughter was stuck for a while as they experienced the feeling of death which passed through them.
“What happened? Sarey, what did you see? What the hell was that? Are you alright?” He asked in worry.
“B-beasts... All kinds of beasts were around that boy.”
“Beasts? I did not hallucinate either?” The man asked as he was lost in thoughts.
His daughter, after checking that everything seemed normal once again, decided to come forth. She fearlessly walked in front of the mess that was around Allan.
“Hey! Where are you going?” The man barked at her.
“It is fine, father. There is nothing wrong here any longer.” She fearlessly said.
“Fine. Let me see first who we got here.” He said as he moved forward. Moving closer to Allan as he checked him first.
“What is that beating sound? Is he still alive? His wounds look rather severe. I don’t think it could be possible for him to live.” The man thought to himself.
“Ehm. Father, is he alive? He looks like he went through hell.” She asked as she approached Allan without fear.
“I guess so, but I am not sure how. The amount of wounds on his body is hardly something that someone could survive.”
“Really? I can see that he is alive. That beating tone, I bet it is his heart.”
“There are a lot of things in this world that don’t make sense sometimes. Maybe you will understand it one day, better than I do.”
“You talk like you know everything there is.” She said in a mocking manner.
“Your teacher is better than that and the money I am paying for him. Hmph. He better be worth it.“
“It has been more than 2 years since then. Are you still angry at me for forcing you to get me a teacher? He is really cheap for his capabilities.”
“Forget it for now. We will have our hands full of this mess for a while. I hope no troubles will come with this mess.”
“Father, do you think his injuries can be treated?” Sarey asked after getting the other stuff off to the side.
“You think so? Just look at his chest. There is no way his insides are alright. I taught you that much.”
“I will take him home. Let’s see if you are wrong or not. Hmph.” She nonchalantly said as she checked his body.
“You are stubborn, as always. Fine then, but he shall be your responsibility and if he dies, you will bury him yourself.” He said sternly.
“And you are negative as always, father! Same as always.” His daughter talked back to him. It wasn’t the first time, nor the last time.
“You take him, meanwhile I will check this mess here first. It looks like it crashed from above. Weird.”
“How am I supposed to carry him in such a state? Wait till I make something to carry him with and you will help me as well.” She said as she did not make a room for arguing and went to a nearby tree to cut some branches to make a basic stretcher. Father, who had no room to talk, just accepted it helplessly as he looked around. These were a problem of having a teenage daughter.
He started to check the surroundings and not worry about the distinct tone of thuds that echoed around this region. Looking at the debris and things lying around the bloodied Allan. There were considerably big chunks of shiny metals with jewels and gems on a side. Most of them were hidden behind the soil and stone debris, which made them harder to see, but they would not escape the eyes of the experience.
“What we do have here? I have never seen such gold coins. They are definitely not from our country, but that shouldn’t be the case. The gold currency is widely accepted throughout the continent and there shouldn’t be some mad nation who would go against the power of gold coins which are currently on the market.”
“Jewels, gems, and a heavy metal, which were impossible to move. This is probably some high-value alloy from dwarven nations. probably, or... now way in the world...” He got a hunch that something is entirely different from what he expected to be a mess. Something that could potentially mean endless troubles, or maybe endless incoming things which were something that he thinly recognized.
“I feel the troubles from this.” He muttered.
