1 Chapter 1: His World

"Man." Darnell sighed tiredly, placing himself at the edge of his bed, it's wooden frame creaking slightly under his weight. "Busy day." He spoke to himself as he recollected the days events in his head.

He lied down, before wrapping himself in a woolen blanket, as he had every night before, and just as he had done every night before, he thought. A thought he's always had slinked it's way into his mind, among the marketplace and a tavern he often frequents. This thought irked him the most, like a worm wriggling inside of his head, jostling around parts of his think tank that he just couldn't itch. Nobody else had seemed to notice but him. "Why are my old memories so…. weird." The thoughts themselves weren't weird, but how they felt. The felt fabricated. Fake. Engineered.

He pondered the thought as he always had, before letting out another sigh, this one, slightly disgruntled. He didn't think anything was wrong with him, and he certainly hadn't been through anything horribly traumatic through his life, at least anything that would merit this. His mind slowly lost clarity as his consciousness faded into a restful slumber.

Morning came. Rays of scintillating sunlight careened through his window, assailing his tired self. But he knew, once he got a lick of sunlight, sleepy time was over. The gears in Darnells head turned, churning away with all their might, and so his slumbering soul rose. Like an animated corpse, slowly, raising from the dead, he lifted himself up.

Waking up wasn't his specialty, he had found over the years. Nonetheless, it's something he had to get good at if he were to be a functioning member of society. Just like every morning, he crept out of bed, discarding the woolen blanket he had enjoyed his nightly refuge in, put on his clothes, and headed to the restroom to prepare himself for the day, his floorboards creaking as he wandered towards his destination.

The mirror stood before him, stuck to the wooden wall by a metal nail and thread. He took a moment to ponder his reflection. The dark grey, ashen skin that covered the entirety of his body, his teal eyes, the pair of black, metallic horns that jutted from his skull, and the mess of black hair that usually reaches down to his shoulders, now in utter disarray atop his head. It's all he's ever known. He looked normal amongst his kind. Darnell grumbled to himself as he brushed the mess of hair back with an ivory comb, tying all but his sideburns back with a strip of thin leather. He liked it like that. Besides, he thought it made him look like a serious badass, capable of kicking ass, which he very much was not. "There we go." He said to himself, finishing up his hair. "Let's get this party started."

"Ah, not quite." He mumbled, retracing his steps back into his bedroom. His house wasn't the biggest house by a long shot, only the royals and wealthier of the populace had the luxury of enjoying the larger houses. Darnells house was relatively small in comparison. It had a bedroom, a living room, a restroom, and a kitchen. For one individual, it was more than was needed. He'd always wished he could have a better one, one that didn't have wooden walls, or random support beams dotted throughout the settlement, but he never had the gold to buy one. Grabbing the short sword he kept on his nightstand, he strapped it to his belt and left the bedroom. "Can't forget that." He'd never had to use it before, but it was one of the few comforts he could afford himself.

He twisted the handle of his front door and was immediately bombarded with rays of sun once more. He strained his eyes trying to see until they could adjust moments after. "Today's gonna be a good day."