NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1: Lost In The Snow
"Where even am I?"
The words seemed to leave his lips as quickly as the thoughts swirled around his mind. It was nothing but a foggy sea of fragmented information: bits of his past, his name, and nothing else about how he had gotten there. The cold, as harsh as it was, proved to be the least of his worries. With a fool's fake sense of bravery, he threaded the snowy lands, walking through the harsh snow.
"I'm Mark; I'm 19, and I know for sure this is not where I'm from. Where even am I?"
His questions flowed, moving along the tip of his tongue, and yet no one could offer him an answer. His eyes closed for a moment, as if providing shelter for his thoughts to hide in, and yet the very moment the darkness enveloped his vision, fear ran through him like a bolt of lightning.
"The price...for power costs...balance must be kept...within you, take this...your soul a glimmer of hope...he who seeks...the ending..."
His mind rattled as the images of his body floating through the darkness struck at once with the power of a thousand suns. Nothing made sense; nothing that he had known clicked in that moment, not even the notion that it could all be a dream, for the cold against his skin felt like blows to his very being.
"What even is that memory? Who was that...or more likely...what was that?"
His arms wrapped around himself to try and shelter his body from the cold. Nothing could answer his questions, no matter how much he tried looking left and right. Before his very eyes, snow ruled eternally, down to the last speck of ground beneath his feet. Partially frozen, the snow felt like sand beneath his feet, grainy and solid enough to accommodate his weight.
"Never have I walked on snow like this...so solid...and so vast..."
His breath quickly turned into fog, lingering in the air for a few moments before dissipating like his life up until that point. No logical thought could answer his questions when he knew that, just a little while ago, he had finished his finals and was finally ready to enjoy his freedom.
"Nothing but dust in the wind now..." came the words in his mind, ravaging what little stability his mind held. Slowly, the cold got to him, making his movements sluggish, slow, and steadily eating away at his life.
"Heh... is this how I die?"
The words met no answer again, and yet he saw something move—a tiny someone coming closer as his vision darkened.
....................
Warmth. Fleeting thing, and yet it enveloped him to the brim. He squirmed a bit under the weight of his own limbs, trying to regain control over what should have been his frozen corpse. Bit by bit, light came into his eyes—light for which he had never been more grateful to witness. He scanned the area, a tiny room with bland colors and shades of brown that seemed to blend in well with little variation. The bed itself was soft, and the sheets kept him warm.
With stiff limbs, he sat on the edge of the bed, trying to look around. To his surprise, his clothes were dried up and neatly put aside on a chair. His usual pair of large, black pants with the side pockets he so loved lay beneath the large white shirt he wore before somehow being taken to that frozen place. For a second, he thought it all a dream, until a short gaze out the window revealed a familiar place—one that no logic could explain.
"Is this... no way, no, it can't be... Belobog?"
A sharp pain struck his head, coming along with a flood of thoughts—the memories from the game that the town was in. He couldn't recall all, and yet he knew enough to realize that the place he was in was the ever-frozen planet, Jarilo-VI.
"Agh...just my luck... Not sure if I should be happy or annoyed that I nearly died..."
He put together what little he recalled, and he soon figured out a possible case scenario for who it was that saved him.
"Lynx...must be her...and judging by the view from this window, the place I am in should be close to Serval's workshop, if not right there..."
He stood up, the large clothing he wore reminding him of pijamas.
"Wait... if my clothes are there... then..."
He let everything linger as he took a deep breath and let it out slowly, calming down his mind. Without hesitation, he checked in to make sure that no one had mingled with the privates, and to his relief, nothing had been touched. The sigh that left his mouth carried the weight of the world on itself.
With the thought that someone had to undress him in order to change him into dry clothes, he changed back into his attire, and surprisingly enough, the temperature was warm enough that, despite the frozen landscape, it felt like summer. Changed back into his clothes, with his sportswear boots on, he headed out, having made up his mind as he gathered every piece of information he could recall, even if not all he knew came to him.
"Price... those were the words of that being, whatever it is—a price for some sort of power I'm unaware of, and yet it must be dormant somewhere within. Who knows what it is, or if the price is my memory, but it would make sense. Balance, so knowing the entire future would ruin it... and thus, I got power, lost memories, and all that... it sure makes sense, and yet it feels like a bit of a stretch, but who knows?"
With those thoughts in mind, he stepped out of the room into a long hallway, the simplified design giving it a tinge of an eerie look, one that reminded him of horror movies where something would just appear from a wall or someplace he'd least expect.
As he made his way down the hall, he could hear two people talking, with a tinge of worry in their tone.
"Where exactly did he come from?" asked who he thought was Serval, due to her familiar voice.
"I have no clue. No one should be able to leave the city as they please, and judging by his attire, he's from no normal place. The Underworld seems to be a possibility, and yet even that is a stretch considering that it is isolated from the outside world."
Judging by the voice, he thought it to be Gepard, her brother, and sure enough, he was right. With a steady hand, he knocked on the wall, since there was no door. Both turned to face him, and Serval's face betrayed a hint of relief, while Gepard was a bit more on guard.
"Seems like a good choice for the captain of the Silvermane Guards, and yet I shouldn't be much of a threat. After all, they had enough of a chance to check if I had something on me, like a weapon or whatnot."
His eyes met those of Serval as she got closer, a tiny smile on her face.
"There you are. Finally awake. How did you even end up lost in the blizzard outside the city?"
Right at the core of the matter. He tried to betray no emotion, even if his heart was in deep turmoil. The thought that his family, his life, everyone he knew, and all he had done left him in shambles that he couldn't reveal. However, one thing annoyed him most: he had to take his finals, and only then was he sent to someplace far away.
"Lost...outside the city...I have no idea..."
His words rolled out in the most monotone possible way, leaving both Serval and Gepard stunned. However, he was telling the truth, even if partially. He had no memories of getting there, no matter how he looked at it. So, instead of saying he's from another world or something, he chose to mold the truth to his liking.
"You...don't remember? That's a new one. Amnesia?"
He nodded.
"Partially. I do recall some details, like my name, age, whatever... and yet I can't seem to recall how I got there... speaking of that... how did I end up here? I recall having almost died from the cold."
She nodded, all while Gepard watched from behind. Their eyes met for a brief moment, as if testing the waters, looking into each other for any falsehood. None was found, despite the partial truth—after all, it was no lie, just not the full image.
"Oh, you sure were in luck. It was our little sister; she found you during one of her expeditions. She was so worried that she covered you with all she had on hand, then ran for help. Gepard, my brother right here, was the one who carried you back."
Gepard nodded, a silent 'no problem' between men, which he was quick to catch and reply to with the same gestures.
"I see... so you're all siblings, got it. Well, thank you all for the help. I think I would be out cold right now if not for you. Also..."
He tried to gather the courage to outright ask it, even if the question made his cheeks heat up a tiny bit.
"Who changed me out of my wet clothes?"
Serval stared at him for a bit, yet she couldn't help but laugh out loud at his question. Gepard sighed and shook his head ever so slightly, crossing his arms.
"Oh, so that's what you're worried about? Well, don't be... I made sure to be gentle."
He nearly choked on his own breath at those words, yet laughter caught on to him as well. They both shared a lighthearted moment, much to Gepard's dismay, yet at the end of it, she switched back to a more serious mood.
"Anyway, now that we're done with the jokes, do talk about yourself and what you remember. Your name, age, and who knows, maybe we'll be able to figure out where you came from."
He nodded, recalling the most basic bits of information about it.
"I'm Mark, aged 19, and I have literally no clue as to how I got here...more like how I got out there, in the blizzard, with no equipment on me or anything that could help me survive."
"Oh, Mark, nice to meet you. I'm Serval, and I already told you about Gepard. It's good to have a name to attach to the face." she said as she studied his face intently. For a moment, Mark could feel the tiniest hint of a smile appear on his face, and yet he held it in—barely, it did come out as a half-assed one. Her eyes quickly took note of his defined jaw, his hazel eyes, and the slightly large nose that added the finishing touch to his features. He was young, yes, but his gaze spoke silent volumes about the depth of his character, treating her own eyes with a gentle glance.
She pulled away, taking a step back, then looked over to Gepard. She gave him a tiny nod, to which he answered by lowering his guard.
"Guess I passed some sort of test right now. Alas... sooner or later, I will have to start talking about the stuff that I know. One way or another, if I am here, I have to prevent a few deaths from happening, starting with that of Cocolia... yet how am I to actually make it work?"