Drenched (Chapter 2)

Ugh... why the fuck do I have to wake up with the shittiest of migraines? The man questioned himself mentally as he finally managed to round together a shred of reasoning from his drowsy mind. He managed to push himself off the earthy floor and finally had the chance to observe his surroundings.

He saw a deluge of colors, ranging from different shades of green, the occasional blue and the brown of from the earth, as well as the trees. He'd found himself in a forest, or a jungle of some kind. He takes a moment to take in the sights before finding a tree to place his back upon and think on his circumstances.

Retreating into his mind for a moment, he tries to sift through all the memories he had of the past, trying to find his name, only to realize something... he doesn't remember his name. He has memories of his life, his family, his friends, but no mention of his own name. How strange. But he also finds fragments of another life, the memories of a man with a name.

Arthur Burton. A young man from Loen and the noble heir to his father, Brigadier General Watts Burton. He'd studied etiquette, language, not to mention the military training that was performed in preparation to join his father in the Loen Military. He had left Backlund to head to the Southern Continent and join his father in Faoltec city, but that time would never come.

The group that was escorting Arthur were ambushed by what the young man assumed to be desperate natives, looking to make enough money just to survive. Arthur was wounded by a rifle shot, then he was finished off using a revolver, with multiple shots to the chest, killing him... Or that was what was supposed to happen. It seems death is never that simple, huh?

He tried to get up, only to be stopped by a spike of pain within his torso. It hurt like hell, and he could feel it all over his chest. He slowly removed his shirt and noticed something rather alarming... he had several scars in the shape of bullet wounds. Well, that explained the pain, if nothing else. Arthur grit his teeth, as he got up, pushing through the pain as he began to walk. He shambled over to the river, the very same one he emerged from and looked into it.

A young man with black hair, fair skin, and orange eyes looked back. Arthur stared at his reflection for what seemed like forever, before he simply shook his head and decided to focus on it another time. Something he also noticed was his muscles... and his strength. He walked up to a tree and knocked on it, before throwing a punch at it. The punch landed, and as pain burned into his fist, he noticed that he had made a slight dent in the thick tree.

He parsed his mind, and realized something. He was a Warrior now. Not a warrior in the literal sense, but in the sense that he was a Sequence 9: Warrior. He clapped his hands together and took a deep breath, in from the nose, out from the mouth. He repeated this for a moment, before he took a final breath and calmed himself.

Why a Warrior? Arthur asked himself, as he realized what kind of situation he was in.

He was in the middle of the Southern Continent, in Eastern Balam, and he was a Warrior of all things... Well, it's not like things coul-He stopped himself. Arthur knew what kind of problems would come of that line of thinking. For now, he needed to consider the small stuff. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and all that.

Arthur looked himself over for a moment, trying to find anything that could help him... and he finally realized he had nothing other than the clothes on his back. Great. He marched on anyways. He needed to find civilization first. Arthur looked around for anything that could help him, anything that could bring him to a town, or a city of some sort.

He looked at the river for a moment. He glanced at the direction that the current was heading in. And he began to head in the opposite direction.

If the raiders who killed the original Arthur dumped his body in a river, it had to mean that the river was close to the road in which he was ambushed, and if he could find the road? He could reach Faoltec City.

Bingo. Now he has a plan. Time to follow through with it.

And so he marched, and marched, and marched. He stayed by the side of the river, hoping that he would be able to reach the road before the sun set... And soon enough, he found it. The road. It was a distance away from the river, but Arthur was happy that his hunch had paid off. He reached the road, and looked around for a moment... before he noticed something off in the distance. Something on the road.

Was it a person? An animal? Or something else entirely? He went forth to investigate.

He hid in the bushes to the side of the road, making sure not to step on anything that seemed dangerous. He crept closer and closer, until a smell hit his nose. The smell of blood. Arthur knew what this was. But still he hid, and crept closer. He hoped nobody had decided to check the corpses, or return to the scene of the crime. It seemed nobody had.

He glanced about, looking for any signs of recent activity, but it seemed like nobody was here. Arthur was alone. Alone with the corpses of this body's family. He abandoned his hiding spot, and marched closer. He noticed the corpses of the guards were still here, and some of their horses. The bodies were cold, even he could tell from a distance.

Arthur then glanced at the carriage, tipped over and full of bullet holes. He climbed atop it, and opened one of the carriage doors, with a strong stench of blood emanating from within. He saw them. Both of them. Damian, Arthur's younger brother, was riddled with holes, the most noteworthy of all was the bullet wound in his skull. Nobody could've survived that.

Arthur glanced to his mother, and found that she had less bullet wounds. She probably bled out. Not a nice way to go, especially not with your son's corpse next to you. Arthur shook his head. Nobody deserved this, a child and their mother least of all. He whispered a quick prayer, and he left. He began to walk in the direction that carriage was originally headed to. He remembered one of the guards mention that Faoltec wasn't too far from here. It would be a good place to recover, and plan things out. Maybe even meet with his father. That could be nice.

And so he began his march once more, the only thing accompanying him being the shadows of his family in his head. He didn't know what this new life would bring him, but he would need to plan things out. The end of the world was about to arrive in due time, no?

This is gonna be fun Arthur said to himself, as he continued his walk, more exhausted than terrified at this point. Things just weren't going his way today, huh?