Chapter 1: a friendly stranger

A man appears out of thin air and is in the middle of nowhere. It’s peaceful, with nice green grass, and tall healthy trees. A light breeze makes them sway, and its cool air awakens the man. He slowly opens his eyes and sits up.

He...is naked. He has a little hair on chest, some hair on his arms, and it’s a jungle under there, and on his head is a full head of curly brown hair. He’s fair-skinned with dark green eyes. He stands up; he is about average height. He looks around, trying to get a bearing on his surroundings.

Another breeze hits him, and he realizes he’s naked, in the middle of nowhere. He looks around trying to see if there's anything he can wear, but there isn't anything. 

Just then, he hears a loud voice behind him. He turns around, and far away he sees a very tall and intimidating man. "HEY YOU...WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE...WHY ARE YOU NAKED?"

The man covers his crotch and waves at the stranger. The man yells back, "HELLO. CAN YOU HELP ME?" The stranger nods, and he walks up to the naked man.

The stranger gets close to the naked man. He's so tall that the naked man has to look up to meet his eyes. The naked man embarrassed, gives an awkward chuckle. "Hehe...you um...got any spare clothes? I lost mines." 

The tall stranger looks him in the eye, judging him. He then nods and waves the naked man to follow him.

"We’re not that far from my home, ill give you some spare pants. We'll also give you something to eat, if you'd like." The tall stranger walks and the naked man follows.

While they walk, the tall stranger asks, "what's your name?" The naked man responds, "Oh, m-my name is Carlos." The tall man looks back at Carlos and gives him a weird look. "Car...los? Never heard a name like that before. You from a faraway place?" Carlos tries to come up with something. "Uh...yeah...I guess. To be honest, I think I might've hit my head or something. My memories are foggy." The tall man rubs his chin and thinks to himself, "Naked, can't remember, weird name. Definitely was imbibing weird concoctions. Doesn't seem dangerous though."

Carlos asks, "what's your name?" The tall stranger looks back at him. "My name is Gerand Duthan." 

"Ger-and? Strange name, never heard of it, are you from a faraway place?" Carlos gives Gerand a cheeky smile, and Gerand chuckles. "Hehe...my kind of guy. I think you and I will get along just fine." 

After half an hour of walking, a big cabin house comes into view. "Over there is my house. Me, my wife, and daughter live alone." Gerand turns to Carlos and gives him a stern look. "I don’t want my daughter seeing a guy's willy swinging everywhere. You stay outside, I’ll come get you something." Carlos understands; he nods to Gerand.

The two make it to the cabin. Carlos, as instructed, waits outside. From his view, he can see a chicken coop, another cabin, an outhouse, and a pleasant garden filled with all kinds of produce. 

Carlos hears footsteps. He looks to where they’re coming from and sees Gerand holding a pair of pants. "It’s all I got. We can head down to the capitol and get you something proper, but for now this'll do." Carlos grabs the pants and quickly puts them on. "Thank you so much!" Carlos says enthusiastically. "I’m surprised you're willing to help a crazy man in the middle of the woods, hehe!" Carlos laughs, and Gerand joins him. "Ahahah...well, these days no one can afford to let their fellow man down when they need help."

Carlos, curious, asks Gerand why that is, and Gerand scratches the back of his head in astonishment. "Oh boy! You really must've hit your head pretty hard not to know. Okay, I'll explain, but first ill introduce you to my wife and daughter. I'll answer your questions during dinner, alright. We'll have all day to talk then." Carlos nods to Gerand.

Gerand walks, and Carlos follows. He opens the door for Carlos, and Carlos heads inside. Inside is a nice cozy cabin. To Carlos's right is a kitchen and dining room. It has a warm, cozy fireplace with all kinds of cooking utensils and dried foods. OnTop of the fireplace is a strange sword. It’s straight but jagged, and it looks like it’s made of stone, yet parts glint here and there. The handle has an ominous skull design right at the center. On his left are two doors opposite each other. In the middle is a rocking chair with a short woman sitting in it. She’s reading a book she looks up to see Carlos. "Oh, you must be the stranger my husband was talking about. Welcome, my name is Sharin, Sharin Duthan." Sharan gets up and shakes Carlos's hand all the while giving a warm smile. 

Sharin is a short woman, slightly shorter than Carlos. She has long and loose snow-white hair. Her eyes are golden yellow. She wears a long, white, simple sundress.

"Nice to meet you. Im Carlos." Carlos shakes her hand. "Will you be staying for dinner? We have more than enough to feed an extra mouth, and it would be fun to hear your story." Carlos looks a bit embarrassed. "Oh wow, if I could remember my past, I'd be glad to tell it, but I don't, so I can't. Again, thank you for dealing with me. Id be grateful for a meal." Sharin gets excited. "Well, id better get to work or else no one's eating." She leans into Carlos's ear and whispers. "Gerand can't cook worth a damn; you'd be better off eating mud, hehehe." She then walks to the kitchen and gets started.

"I guess ill introduce you to my daughter. She's probably practicing outside right now. Follow me." Gerand walks behind the other cabin and follows a trail. At the end of the trail is an opening with straw dummies, swords, bows and arrows all kept in an open shed. In the middle of all this is a woman with snow-white hair and red eyes. She’s about Carlos's age. She gets up, smiles and runs towards Gerand and gives him a mighty hug, nearly throwing the giant Gerand off balance. "Daddy!" She yells out. She looks at Carlos and gives an inquisitive look. "A friend of yours, Dad." Gerand pats his daughter’s head and chuckles. "hehehe, no no. We just met. I was just showing him around the place." 

"Ohhhhh." The woman holds out her hand to Carlos. Carlos shakes her hand. "My name is Rey. Nice to meet you!" Carlos stutters a response. " M-my name is Carlos."

Carlos is enamored. He finds her extremely beautiful, and Gerand notices. "Alright, alright, you two met. I think that’s enough."

Rey asks. "Are you staying for dinner?" Carlos nods. "Yes, I have a lot I need to ask your father since I seem to have lost my memories." Rey frowns. "Awww... well don’t do that next time hehe. I'll see you guys at dinner then. I want to keep training." She runs back to the middle of the field. 

"Come on. I have a guest room you can stay in for the night. Then tomorrow we head out to the capital." Carlos nods. "Sounds like a plan." Gerand then leans in to Carlos and goes face to face with him. In a low, menacing tone of voice, he says. "Leave my daughter alone! I dont know you at all, so she's off limits unless I’m around, got it!" Carlos has a cold sweat and puts his hands up. With a squeak in his voice, he responds, "Got it." Gerand then stands up straight and chuckles. "Alright, let’s go. You can rest for a while until dinner is ready." The two head into the main cabin where Sharin is cooking. Gerand opens a door, and inside is a cozy bedroom. "Used to be my daughter's bedroom. But you know kids once they get to 'that' age. So, I built her that cabin out front. The bedroom is yours for the night." Carlos does not wait; he sits on the bed. "I can't say it enough, thank you." Gerand just nods and closes the door.

Carlos is exhausted, and it doesn't take him long to fall asleep. When he opens his eyes, he sees an office desk. On the other side, he sees a burly man with opaque glasses and wearing a tight business suit, with tie. He’s currently looking at some documents intently. He doesn't take his eyes off them as he speaks.

"Very good progress, Carlos. That man you meet is a hero whose power you're going to need." He looks up at Carlos. He takes the papers and puts them aside. He smiles at Carlos. 

"Who...are you again, hehe?" Carlos gives the man an embarrassed look. "Ah, right, you've lost your memories. I'll fill you in, but first." The man extends his hand to Carlos. Carlos shakes his hand. "I’m John, your personal guide and travel agent."

Carlos cocks his head to the side."My travel agent?"

 "Yes, your travel agent. Let’s get you filled in shall we."

A lady behind Carlos sets a cup of coffee in front of Carlos. Carlos thanks the women and takes a sip. John leans in as he begins his explanation. "You don’t have much time. In 10 years, an invasion will come." John snaps his fingers, and a map appears before him. He then draws a line with his finger along the top edge of the map. "See this line of mountains and notice how they coincidentally make a line from one end to the other." Carlos leans in to inspect the map and notices the peculiarity that John mentions. He also notices an obvious gap. Carlos nods, and John keeps going. "You're in luck; the entire world is separated into two distinct sections. We’ll just consider everything in your section, Section A, and the other section B." John points at section B. "The invasion will only come from all of section B. The mountains will make travel impossible. But if you noticed, there is a small gap. That gap is the most important location. You must go there and establish a defense.”

Carlos nods and asks, "Ok, but what can I do?" John looks up from the map and at Carlos. "I have given you a very special ability. You can write runes, but only you though. These runes speak to the ether, and you can make almost anything you want; you just need to know what works and what doesn't." John touches Carlos on the forehead. In an instant, Carlos can see every rune and how to draw them. “I’ve also given you knowledge of how each rune works and what each rune generally does. But to unlock their full potential, you’ll need to experiment.” Carlos shakes his head and snaps back into reality.

"Did you get all that, Carlos?" Carlos slowly nods to John. "Yes...yes, it’s a lot, but it’s sinking in now." Carlos rubs his eyes. He takes a deep breath and chuckles. "Hehe you know... this doesn't seem like it's going to be too hard. We have a very good choke point and a very handy ability. Might take a year off just to relax hehe." John leans in and is not smiling. "Don't." John shakes his head. "Look, Carlos, I can't give an estimate. All I know is that it’s going to be a massive horde." Carlos holds out his hands. "I’m just kidding; calm down. I'll get to work as soon as possible. For now, I think it’s best to get my bearings and ‘experiment’."

John nods."Yes, that sounds good.” John sits up straight. “When there’s something important I need to tell you, you'll wake up here. I'll keep an eye on you to see how you're doing."

Carlos looks embarrassed and scratches his head. "uhhh... does that mean your gonna look at me pee and stuff?" Carlos blushes. John immediately shakes his hands. "Oh nonono. I don't need to see anything like that." John chuckles. 

Carlos takes a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank God. I really don’t want that at the back of my head." John fervently nods. "Yes, yes, none of that, hehe nooo hehe." John sits back on his chair. "So, is there anything else you want to know?" Carlos shakes his head. "For now, that’ll do." John smiles and nods. "Very well."

John snaps his fingers, and a bright light engulfs Carlos. Carlos wakes up in his room. He looks out of the window and sees that it’s getting dark. Curious, he heads out of the room to see if dinner is ready. Sharin sees Carlos and waves him over. Carlos walks to the kitchen and asks. "Is there something you need, Sharin?"

"Yes, can you be a dear and go to the training yard? Dinner is ready, and my guess is both of them are at the yard. Can you get em over here as I prepare the bowls?" Carlos nods and says, "Of course. I'll go get em right now." Sharin clasps her hands together. "Thank you kindly dear." Carlos waves goodbye to Sharin. He opens the door leading outside and heads to the training yard.

When he gets there, he sees both Gerand and Rey training together. It looks like Gerand is showing Rey proper form and how to use a sword effectively. As Carlos gets close enough, he yells to them and waves. "DINNER’S READY." They both look at Carlos and head to the shed to leave their gear. Once done, they head over to Carlos and walk with him to the house. 

They all reach the house and take a seat. Rey takes a bite and shows visible excitement. Gerand eats like there's no tomorrow, and Sharin takes her time. Carlos takes a bite and finds he really likes the food. Rey eats like her dad and finishes first. Rey then thanks her mom, gets up and leaves. Then Gerand finishes his meal, then Carlos, and finally Sharin. 

With them finally done eating, Gerand speaks up. "So...what do you wanna know?" Carlos thinks for a moment and remembers that they had an unfinished conversation. "Well, I guess lets start were we left off. You were talking about these being 'hard times'." 

"Oh right. I guess ill give you the quick version." Gerand then closes his eyes and puts two fingers to his temple. "Were suffering two disasters currently. The first is the population issue. The women can only birth one child any other after that will suffer disturbing mutations and die. The second problem is the pests." Gerand then takes a deep sigh and places his hand over his face. "We were already trying to rebuild after a devastating disaster, before the pests. At first the pests were benign it was an easy enough threat to deal with. But as time went on it got more and more serious to the point where the king decided to build a fort on the divide to keep the pests at bay." Gerand gives a pained sigh and looks at the floor. With an anger in his voice he rambles "First the necromancers then the pests and we cant make enough people to deal with it all! Hell even the kingdom, eth-hiem, is half dead due to the necromancers betrayal! Massive sections of the kingdom are just crumbling away since there's more kingdom than people!" Sharin takes a hold of Gerands hand to calm him down. Carlos goes wide eyed and shakes his head. Under his breath all he has to say is "damn." He then scratches his head trying to figure out a way off this depressing topic.

"Did you help fight the pests?" Gerand nods at Carlos. "For a good while, I was fighting alongside a friend of mine and with my wife. But we've been fighting for over 50 years now, and we grow tired." Carlos is again stunned. At first glance, both Sharin and Gerand look like they’re in their 40s or 30s.

Carlos is curious to know how old both of them are. “Wait, how old are the two of you?!” Sharin and Gerand both chuckle and hold hands. “We’re both 120 years old.” Carlos is dumbfounded. How could these two look so young at 120? “But…how?” Carlos asks. 

“My wife's talent was the ability to reverse time. For a very long time, we kept reverting ourselves to when we were young adults.” Sharin then chimes in. “Of course, once we had Rey, we settled down and stopped fighting.” Carlos nods and another question pops in his head. "But why are you two aging then? Did you two decide to stop being young?" Both Gerand and Sharin laugh at Carlos's comment. Once they both stop, Sharin explains. "Sweetie, I cant use my talents anymore. Having a child completely drains women of there talent to give the child a chance at life. As my husband mentioned I can have more children but the ether is cruel to babies and destroys there tiny, innocent bodies." Tears begin rolling down Sharin's eyes "its very cruel." She quickly composes herself and gives a smile of reassurance. Carlos feeling like he did something wrong apologies and Sharin responds. "Oh nonono dear dont be sorry. Its just a cruel fact of life. Its not your fault."

Carlos is intrigued and wants to know more about this weird problem affecting women. "So has this always been an issue or is this something recent?" Gerand rubs his chin and tries to answer the question. "To my knowledge it wasn't always like this but it was a problem before I was even born." Carlos nods, "I see." Carlos feeling like hes gotten all the information he can get on this topic switches to a different topic. 

In a insecure tone of voice Carlos asks Gerand a question. "Don't you know how to get to that divide...fort...place you were talking about?" Gerand gives Carlos a baffled, nearly disgusted look and just says "why?"

"I need to go there. Its important." Gerand shakes his head angrily. "I do but I will not take you there. Absolutely not!" Gerand, curious then asks. "Like I said its been overrun why do you want to go there? You dont know who you are and I would assume you dont even know what your talent is." 

Carlos gives an awkward answer. "I...something tells me that I need to go there. That I can help... I think?"

Gerand facepalms and shakes his head. "And what makes you think you can take it back!? What even is your talent!?" Carlos looks side to side and asks in a shy, low tone of voice, "talent?". Gerand takes a deep sigh and shakes his head. "Oh, boy. You want to take the fort all by yourself and, I would assume, hold back the pests. Yes?” Carlos nods at Gerand, and both Gerand and Sharin shake their heads in unison.

Carlos doesn't let them get him down. "Look, I know it’s a long shot but my entire being is telling me to go to that fort. Maybe, before I hit my head, I had a strong enough 'talent' I think." Gerand just sighs. "I commend your bravery, but don’t go." Carlos stays adamant and only says "I must go!".

Gerand chuckles. "Hehehe ok Carlos how about this. I'll train you in how to use a sword, how to discover your talent, and even let you stay a while longer since the fort is not too far from here. How about it?" Carlos looks stunned but is suspicious about the offer. "And the catch?" Gerand then stands up straight and looks Carlos dead in the eyes. "I know a safe spot. It will show you what you're up against. If you can look it dead in the eye and still not back down, I'll help you." Carlos doesn't even take a second to think about it and nods at Gerand. "Deal! We go when you're ready." Gerand gives a mighty laugh as Sharin shakes her head. "That's the spirit; you're going to need it." Gerand then walks to Carlos and grabs Carlos by the shoulder. "Early in the morning we head out, got it?" Carlos nods and gets up. "Well, if I don’t wanna be tired, I better head to bed then. I'll see you in the morning." Carlos heads to his room. Both Gerand and Sharin look at each other. "He’s got guts, or hes just plain dumb." Sharin has a worried expression. "Please be careful." Gerand gives a disarming smile and hugs sharin. "I will, now lets go to bed." They both go to there room and go sleep.