Blank Space

"What do you kno... If I kil- all... be free!"

"Everyon... He's not- Vail Anym...! Fight!"

"Please stop this! Vai... Bang"

"Ugh... Take yo.. with me!"

"I'm tired... I wish... PHSSSSS"

***

Silence. Just, Silence. How long has it been like this? What is this, where am I? Wait, who am I? I'm feeling tired again as if falling into the darkness like a comfy blanket. But I feel like I'm missing something, something important. Am I dead? In some void with my thoughts? Everything is blurry, I don't know anymore. Let's rest...

Splash!

"Ugh! What the heck!" I feel a sudden jolt of coldness as I wake up disoriented. Looking around I seem to be in some shallow water from a pond. The area is a forest. Branches of the trees seem to twist ominously. Sunlight barely passes through the dense foliage. 

'How did I get here?! Why am I here? What is this place...' I try to take a deep breath to collect myself when I notice something seems off. A sense of dissociation comes despite it being too dark to see, there are too many things I can see and feel. I easily notice moving creatures like small rodents and bugs as if I have honed my instincts on them. Another aspect is while I may have panicked at first, my mind calmed down way too quickly. I end up trying to infer where this is by looking through various hints, as if someone doused me in cold water.

'The trees aren't a breed I recognize, they feel too distorted and unnatural to come from nature. It's almost as if they are enclosing something. The pond I'm in is shallow and stagnant, with no river I could've flowed from. And there is the rubble of some unknown material that is like silk near me. So the only place I could've come from is above...' 

And low and behold when I look up, There's a massive cocoon-like object with a hole the size of a person torn through. "Well then, ain't that something..." I may have found out where I came from, but now there are a lot more questions I need answering. Getting up , the first thing needed to do is find someone to talk to and get some answers. While getting up though, I ended up catching a glimpse of my face from the water freezing me in my tracks.

"This..." The reflection didn't show an inhuman monster, as one might think. It showed sharp brown eyes and pitch-black hair. The face was average, but familiar. So familiar that it made me realize something.

"Who was I again?" Odd, why did I only think of this now? I had a life before this but the details are vague. What was my name; What did I do, and how did I end up in this situation? As I was thinking, there was a small sound in the distance heading this way rapidly.

BOOM 

The twisted branches blocking the outside world broke. Then, many bandit-like people burst in. The most vicious one took the lead to examine the area only to find me in the pond. He looked at me for a few moments before yelling out to someone. "Lent! Where the hell is the livestock vermin? All I see is some scrawny-looking guy!"

Someone who seemed much more timid than the others walked up to say. "It shouldn't be wrong Brutus... the artifact my cousin gave me read energy readings of a New Blood in the area for sure!"

Brutus slaps the back of his head as he says. "Well, I don't see any now, do I? Hey you, have you seen anything strange here?" I proceeded to ignore him. I wanted to meet someone to find out what was going on. But, finding out my identity became more important to me than dealing with trash.

'New Blood? A term I never heard of, but that could be unreliable due to lost memories. It could be a clue to this situation I found myself in. It feels as if I'm on the verge of remembering who I am but at the same time not quite there.' While I was contemplating, the guy Brutus didn't take kindly to me ignoring him.

"....Ha. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Look at this guy, thinks he's some big shot to ignore my words huh." He has a big smile and bulging veins on his forehead. He slowly approaches me while grabbing the giant axe on his back.

He stops in front of me in a 'intimidating' manner and whispers. "I'll give you one last chance to speak. If you don't, I'll take a limb each time I don't get the answer I want. Got it?" 

'Hmmm, what was it again? Something about being some rogue?' No that's not right either...'

Once again, I disregard him as I'm stuck in my thoughts, leading him to bark loudly like a dog. "That's it you bastard! You're done now!" 

He picked up his axe and prepared to swing it at me. "Tsk, too loud."

Blech

'Huh?'

"...Huh?" My hand ended up instantly piercing under the chin and into the brain, turning it into mush. Brutus could only let out one confused sigh before dying. I proceed to take out the hand just as fast before his allies could even comprehend what happened.

Thump

Once his body fell to the floor, only then did those bandits realize what happened.

"He killed Brutus! Let's get him!" They proceed to get their weapons ready as they are surrounding me. But something more important than that occupied my thoughts.

'Did I kill him? Because he bothered me a little?' Yes, I'm just as shocked as everyone else. I didn't even realize I killed him until the hand left his pierced head. As if my instincts led my movements to kill him in the most brutal manner. What's even more perplexing is how I feel nothing of such an act.

'I'm not entirely sure about my past, but I don't think I was someone who felt nothing when taking a life... Did my mentality change as well? But I guess before looking deeper into it, I should get rid of the flies buzzing around.'

***

'Wha- what is this...'

After the stranger's killing of Brutus, everyone felt shocked and angry. They proceeded to surround him. But something else bothered me, where did he come from? So I stayed behind to get a better look when I noticed 'that'. I giant cocoon hovering the center of the pond, broken into pieces.

'No way...'

"Everyone back off It's a humanoid New Blood!" My cousin told me about them, the ones considered the true force and soldiers of the New Blood. We've only been capturing defects that slipped through the net so far.

'But this makes no sense... How did he get so deep into Native Blood Territory? And the energy readings from the artifact are too low to be a humanoid New Blood. Wait, the artifact?' After checking the artifact, I noticed a shocking fact. The energy readings are rising, fast. We have no idea how strong it will be so we should back off while we still can, but...

"You expect us to leave without avenging the boss?!"

"Whatever this humanoid whatever you call it is, we can take 'em!"

"That means he's more rare and worth more right? Hehehe let's make a fortune."

'IDIOTS! They have no idea what they're up against. But I can't just leave them... I have no way back otherwise. Okay calm down, If we can use that artifact we might have a chance.' 

"Everyone I have a way to get him so hold him back as much as possible!" this isn't so bad right? If we capture him, my cousin might pay alot for the body and I can be the new leader?! No one would be able to mess with me then... But I didn't know then.

That I walked into hell itself.