1 Chapter 1: Brave New World

I woke up to the a deep thumping followed by a rattle. Rattle, rattle, THUMP. Rattle, rattle, THUMP. The constant noise forced me to crack open my eyelids and peer out. I was a brown wasteland, maybe a battleground. The thumping became louder and the constant rattle told me that it was a drum of some kind, signaling for something.

Coughing I got up and almost immediately went down again. I had leaned on my right arm and it screamed in pain when I bore my weight down upon it. Heaving, I turned and sat up, massing my right shoulder and looked around more clearly. I was laying on a field of brown grass and to my right was the brown flatland covered with the same dead but dense grass that I was on. It stretched out for miles and to the horizon I saw dots moving and lines marching? And from those dots came that thumping echoing sound. Around me were pieces of metal, charred and broken. All around was more metal and when I took a look closer, I made out a what appeared to be a hand. I crawled up to look closer. The hand belonged to a body or what appeared to be a body but looked misshapen.

Fuck. Was I on a field? A battefield?

Breathe. Breathe, breathe, it's fine. I inhaled to the full capacity of my lungs and exhaled. Inhaled and exhaled again, repeating it a few more times. I focused again on the dots that had now become large lines. Wait when had they gotten that large? I squinted harder and my fears were confirmed, this group was moving towards me and at quick speed.

Gritting my teeth, I leaned on my left arm and forced myself up. To my right was the brown flatland but to my left was... a forest? The word forest felt too easy, too inexplicable for what lay ahead of me. After a a meter clearing, there was the densest group of trees that seemed to go dark within a few feet of looking in. Between the large group moving towards me and the ominous forest, I decided to head towards the trees.

I walked or rather limped slowly, my right leg asleep and pricking my thighs when I put my weight on it. I half limped and half crawled into the forest. The daylight seemed as if it had simply been extinguished after I had gone a few feet inside the woods, replaced by the dark hue that belonged to the night. Pine needles swatted my face and the ground was uneven, hard to navigate in the darkness. I looked back and after scrambling forward a little, I saw the dots and lines turning into bobbing shadowy figures. The deep boom of the drum was making the ground vibrate slightly, every few seconds. I backed up even more into the forest, far enough that I would be spotted but still be able to view the incomers.

They moved at a steady pace and as they got closer, I saw they were more red than black. The line spanned maybe 25 feet altogether, all on mounts. It looked like they were wearing armor or some type of battle gear that was had been dyed red from head to toe.

I really didn't want to meet this group, whoever they were but I wanted to know where I was. I tried to calculate my chances: go out there and figure out where I was or hide here and try to pick up information?

I decided hiding was the better option and look above at the tree I was under. Could I climb it before they reached here? Might as well try.

My right shoulder didn't just hurt now, it burned and a knot in my shoulder throbbed so painfully I thought I would pass out from the pain. I had made my way up the tree and it had required me to pull myself up with both arms. But at least I was up and the group was so close I could make out faces now.

I had never seen faces like these before. The faces were pale and small, the chin looked pinched but the bodies were tall. The mounts they rode looked like horses I had seen before. Before? When had I seen horses before?

Before I could keep going down the train of thought, the group stopped. A few feet away from where I had woken up. A small shape dismounted and walked closer to where I had lain, peering closely to the ground.

They, she?, looked up to the riders and spoke in a language that was more melodic and rhythmic than any I had heard before. What shocked me was that I could understand it.

"Whatever it was, it used to be here." The shape spoke while tracking with her eyes the path I had taken into the woods. "It went in dorsla." The last word didn't translate. Was it the name of this forest? The shape peered in, trying to find me I guessed.

One of the riders spoke, the tallest one in the group, "If it's in dorsla then it is dead and we do not pursue." The other shapes behind nodded ever so slightly. "Fresa, can you determine where it came from?"

The shape, Fresa, looked up the rider. "Elain, I cannot. I do not understand how this thing can just appear. The mother soil may have given birth to it or the sky masters may have dropped it off but there are no tracks expect the ones that lead to dorsla."

Elain didn't speak but give another nod. The riders all turned around once Fresa had mounted her horse beast. She looked back into the woods and for a heart stopping moment it seemed like she was looking right at me.

But her gaze swept over again and she followed the riders as they rode away.

I sat in the branch occupied by my own thoughts. The mother ground has given birth to a thing? What did that mean? Did I just appear out of this air? Then how did they know? What was this place? And why was I here?

These thoughts swirled until I realized that on the tree across from me, were another pair of eyes.