All I remember is waking up in some sort of forest. I don't know where I am or who lives here. The only memory I have is of some sort of winged horse with a horn… I’ll dwell on it later, but right now I need to find civilization and a place to rest. My name’s Sebaste, and this is my tale…
“I really wish I knew where I was…” the armored figure muttered as he walked through the forest. “Hell, I wish I knew how I ended up here…”
He had been walking for ten hours since he had woken up with no memories in the forest, and so far had seen no sign of civilization, but he kept getting the feeling that he was being watched by someone or something.
“Wait, is that….?” He looked at what appeared to be a post in the middle of the forest. “Huh… it is a signpost, but I don't recognize any of the names…”
The post had arrows pointing to what looked like cities, but with names that could not be real. “Las Pegasus? What is...AAGH!” A burst of pain ripped through his mind as the same memory ripped through his mind. At that same moment, something whizzed by his head. “What the?!” he exclaimed, pulling out a unusual looking object and scanning the forest.
“Okay, whoever you are, come out where I can see you!” the figure said as he aimed what appeared to be a weapon of some kind at the trees. “I’m warning you, I’m not in the mood for this!” At this, several unknown figures appeared in front of him, an odd looking aura charging between what looked to be antlers. “What in the name of… who are you?” he asked in confusion.
To his surprise, one of them spoke in what sounded like a British accent from Earth. “More to the point, who are you, creature? Are you a Minotaur?”
The figure snorted. “If I was a Minotaur, I’d have horns on my head and hooves for feet. I’m what's called a human.” As the figures moved into the sunlight, they were revealed to be deer, two bucks and one doe.
“A Hue-man? What's a human?” the doe asked.
“We’re practically hairless apes, except on the top of our head. The
name’s Sebaste,” the armored figure introduced himself. “Where exactly am I out of curiosity?”
“Oh, you mean like the creatures the Ablions use?” she answered before shaking her head. “That is not important. You are currently in the kingdom of Athrain.”
“Athrain? Never heard of the place… heck, I don't remember seeing
names like Las Pegasus before. My mind’s been a big blank ever since I woke up in the forest, except for this memory of some sort of winged horse with a horn…” Sebaste said. “And Ablions? What is this place? I know for a fact that deer aren’t supposed to talk!”
“That’s speciest,” the doe responded, looking a bit miffed. “I have no clue who this ‘horse’ is, but it sounds like what they have in Equestria to the east.”
“Sorry, I’m just really confused as to what happened to me and why I ended up her- AARGH!” Sebaste cried out in pain as his mind was hit again by the same memory, making him clutch his head and fall to the ground, dropping his weapon in the process. “Fragging hell, why is this happening to me?! That's the second time today!”
The doe was conflicted before she ordered her troops to grab his weapon and hoist him up, “We shall take him to Shalak-alkurla in order to see if he tells the truth, amongst other things,” she nodded to her soldiers. “I am sorry, but you must understand. You are a suspicious individual. The dragons have sent forces in the past to try and take the Fragment from our neighbors.”
“Fragment? Lady, I have no idea what you're even talking about. Like I said, I woke up in the woods in Spartan armor with no memory of how I got there, and I have no idea what's going on!” Sebaste said as he shook off the soldiers. He then outstretched his left hand and a new weapon formed in it out of thin air. “And if it's as dangerous as you say, I’ll need to be armed.”
“Use it against us and you will-” the doe’s foreleg smacked the stag who had started speaking.
“Very well. You know what not to do with it, yes?” she asked him, glaring at the stag as she removed her leg from its resting place in the stag’s face.
Sebaste nodded. “I’m not one to make rash decisions. As long as no one tries to do anything stupid to me on the way to where we're going, I won't use it against you. And believe me when I say you’ll be fighting a losing battle,” he said to the doe. “By the way, I never got your name.”
“Sh’lika Akluri,” she said before offering a hoof to shake. “You can call me Akluri.” Sebaste took the hoof and shook it gently.
“A pleasure to meet you,” he said, before taking his helmet off, revealing a young face, about 20-21 in age with reddish brown hair and piercing blue eyes.
“Shall we start moving to the city you mentioned? I don't think you want to keep whoever's there waiting.”
“Quite right,” she said motioning her soldier forward. “I do have a question. Your accent,” she widened an eye, “where might it be from?”
“I… I don't remember…, all I can remember is waking up in the forest, I don't know anything else…” Sebaste said. “The only memory I have is of an equine figure with a horn and wings…”
“Well that’s odd,” she muttered, wondering about the man’s history.
“Tell me about it…” the Spartan said. “I’m here with no memory, in a strange forest, surrounded by talking deer,no offence, and with no idea of how I even got here…” He shook his head. “But I’d rather not dwell on it. Let’s just get moving.” He then gestured for her to go ahead of him, saying, “Ladies first.”
She nodded, moving forward with her troops, “By the way, I did not get your name either.”
“Sebaste. It’s Sebaste,” the Spartan replied as he followed. “So how many kingdoms are there?” he asked. “I only saw the names of a few cities on that signpost.”
“That depends on how you view our politics, really,” she responded. “In truth, there are a few capitals, but each one rules over a radius of a certain distance from that city. We keep rough ‘boundaries’ for the sakes up cartography, but in actuality, each kingdom can co-govern with several others in one town alone.”
Sebaste snorted. “I don't even know what your politics are, but I have a feeling that I’ll be learning them soon enough.”
She nodded sagely, “That is indeed a very likely path.”
“So I’m guessing you're a general or some sort of Commander to have this many soldiers with you in order to protect you from any threats?” Sebaste asked Akluri.
“Of a sort,” she muttered.
The Spartan shrugged and decided to not pry into her business. “So I noticed that some of your soldiers had some sort of energy charging between their horns. Is that normal here?” he asked, remembering seeing the balls of energy charging between the buck’s horns.
“Not for a doe,” she said, “but definitely for the bucks.”
“Heh, well, for us humans, we don't have a whole lot to defend ourselves with, but we do have one advantage; we invent and create things to defend ourselves with. This thing I’m holding right now is called a railgun. It uses magnets to spin the bullet inside and fires it at supersonic speeds,” Sebaste explained, holding his weapon up.
“...I can not see a reason you would tell me about an advantage you would have over us,” she raised an eyebrow.
“I’m not, I’m just saying that for what we don't make up for in strength, agility or otherwise, we make up for in ingenuity,” Sebaste said. “That's how we ended up the top predators on our world.”
“Oh, that makes much more sense,” she nodded as they walked through the trees.
As they walked, Sebaste desummoned his weapon but kept an eye on his HUD for any threats. “You mentioned an Equestria; how many countries are there in this world?” he asked after a few minutes of silence.
“I am not certain, but I do know the species that exist in the where we are, in the West. Deer, such as myself, and breezies in some of the more desolate regions.”
“I’ve never heard of these ‘breezies’, but deer are creatures that my world is familiar with,” Sebaste admitted. “ I shouldn't be surprised at this point if those breezies talk as well…”
She nodded, “They do talk, though I hear that they’re only talkative with their own.”
They soon exited the forest, and Sebaste got his first look at the town that they were approaching. “Wow…” he said in amazement.
Ahead of him stretched a massive expanse of large trees connected by walkways, each tree peppered with windows and deer crossing the walkways. In the center was a massive tree, nearly twice as tall as the rest, and often referred to as the ancestral home of all deer, Thefnoris .
“I’m… impressed, I’ve never seen anything like it before!” Sebaste said, gazing at the sight, “Guess I was ‘bark’ing up the wrong tree.” He then joked.
“Wordplay,” the doe remarked before shaking her head, “just terrible.”
Sebaste shrugged, “Eh, I just trying to lighten the mood. So what’s the story behind the town?” He asked her, “It looks ancient…”
“It’s grown with the trees,” she said, simply, “this town’s older than most on the continent.”
“Huh…” As they approached the gates, two sentries spotted them and one called out, “Halt, who goes there?!” while both aimed their weapons, a pair of crossbows, at the group.
“Sh’lika Akluri, escort, and captive!” The doe responded.
Sebaste gave her an annoyed look at that. The sentries, hearing this, lowered their weapons as one yelled “Open the gates! Let them through!”
With a creak, the wooden doors opened wide to allow the party to pass through. As they walked through, Sebaste caught sight some of the other sentries giving him a curious glance while whispering to each other. He turned his head just in time to crash into a Buck wearing what was apparently military robes.
“OOF!”
“AGH!”
The two crashed into the ground, Sebaste lying on top of the buck. The Spartan scrambled back onto his feet and said, “I'm so sorry! Are you alright?”
“I am,” the buck said, shaking himself slightly, his rather shaggy fur covered in leaves as he looked towards Akluri. He gaped and turned to Sebaste, dropping into a charge-stance. “Who are you and what are you doing with my kilari?”
“For the last time,” the doe groaned, “I am not your promised one!”
“But, your father,” the buck protested, receiving an angry glare as Akluri motioned Sebaste to follow her.
Seeing the buck get ready to attack, Sebaste had summoned another of his strange weapons and was aiming it at him, now that the situation had been defused, he desummoned it, and moved to follow, as he passed, he answered, “The name’s Sebaste, and I'm what’s called a human. And you’re lucky she stopped you when she did, else things would have gotten messy.” With that, the party moved on. “Sorry about what just happened…” he said to Akluri.
“He is...He is a fool, it is not important,” she answered.
Sebaste frowned under his helmet, “If you say so…” He looked around at the city and asked, “So where are we going exactly?”
“To the center tree,” she said.
“What!? Sh’lika, are you sure that's safe? You’ve seen him summon those strange weapons, he may turn on us when we least expect it!” One of the bucks in the group spoke up.
Sebaste turned to him and said, “If I wanted you dead, I would’ve slaughtered you all on the way here! But I have no intention of harming anyone unless they're stupid enough to attack me!” He finished with a glare.
The buck paled as Akluri smirked, walking towards the tree again, “An enemy is only an enemy if you make him as such.”
“Yes, Sh’lika…” the buck gulped as they approached the tree. Two guards, a doe and a buck, approached the group, one keeping an eye on Sebaste as the other spoke to Akluri.
“We were not expecting you back so soon, I’m presume this ‘thing’ is the cause?” the doe asked.
“Hey, this ‘thing’ has a name you know!” Sebaste snapped, shocking the guard.
“What in Lord Oberon’s name?! Who and what are you?” She exclaimed.
“I’m really getting tired of having to repeat myself… The name's Sebaste, and I’m a human.” Sebaste said in annoyance.
Akluri nodded, “He is with me, we wish to speak with him. If he’s not available, then the advisor will do.”
“He is available, you may enter.” The guard said, still shaken by Sebaste speaking.
“Who exactly is this he you’re talking about?” Sebaste asked, giving them a confused look.
Akluri looked at him before talking, “He, is my father.”
