Before Xen could get a grasp of the situation, he started to hear faint footsteps and a strange chatter coming from the surrounding forest.
At first he thought he was hearing things but the footsteps grew closer and the voices grew louder.
Putting the peaced together Xen realized the impact may have attracted people and other animals nearby. He didn't want to trust a random group of people in a forest in a world that he just appeared in. Especially out in the middle of the night. In the off chance, it could also be some weird creature he's never seen.
Xen slowly made his way towards the bushes of the forest and away from the crater clearing trying to stay as silent as possible.
He decided that staying hidden would be good but it would also be better to see who these people were before he went around asking for their help.
It wasn't until Xen reached the bushes that he remembered he was still half-naked in his boxers. The cold night air almost seemed to be strong enough to make him freeze on the spot. He stayed huddled near a bush trying to take shelter from the wind but it did very little to help.
In such a situation, he didn't know whether to go closer to the noises or go farther from them. Xen could hear a series of audible yelling and swearing near the crater at this point.
Peaking out, he was only met with the silhouette of three male figured protected by the shrouded darkness of the night.
A shudder went through his spine noticing one of them was carrying a staff that held a vibrant, blue flame which flickered to purple every few moments. The staff wasn't necessarily touching the flame, but instead, it was as if the flame was floating. It was the first time he's every seen true magic.
The 3 men were investigating in a very thorough manner as if looking for something.
It didn't take long for Xen to make a decision. Once again, he began to set off into the dark woods thinking it would be better to risk dying in the dark than to be captured by the 3 men. Admittedly, it was a stupid thought. Who in their right mind would enter a forest instead of going toward signs of humanity.
In his defense, humanity is probably more dangerous and scary than being out in the woods. Plus stranger danger exist. Xen couldn't take the chance that these people were slave traders of something. In the end it honestly didn't matter.
Before he could get far, he heard a sudden noise, a mix of a gurgle and a howl. A green humanoid creature with dark yellow eyes entered my vision. It was covered with a sort of leather garment sewn with bone. Its facial expression reminded him of the Joker from Batman yet a hundred times worse.
In it's grimy green hands was a wooden, tattered club. The thing looked at Xen in silence and so did he, like a predator meeting its prey.
A goblin.
A creepy gnarled grin appeared on its mouth showing bloody, black teeth.
Xen took a step backward hokding his breath only to stumble and crawl back through the brush of trees. He fell back into the clearing near the crater. His fear continued to build up internally as the goblin followed his lead, slowly stepping closer.
The goblin continued advancing toward Xen slowly turning more animalistic than human like. It began to crawl on all fours teasing him knowing he was an easy kill.
Breathing heavily, Xen stood back up still holding his breath, getting into a position to fight the goblin like he had any chance of winning.
In the next moment, the goblin lunged towards him letting out a mixed sound of a cackle and growl. It extended its club backward ready to swing at him when a purple ball of flame hit it away from him.
Shocked, Xen's eyes slowly followed where the goblin landed, watching it burn and writhe in a cyan flame as its life was usurped from the world. He stood their in disbelief watching the smoldering remains of the goblin.
Xen's eyes quickly turned, fixated on the direction the ball of flame came from. The only thing giving off light was the flame staff.
The three men who were investigating the crater were staring at him with serious and questioning expressions on their faces. Xen could finally see that the three were elders but they gave off the same feeling when he first met Eichi.
The old man who held the staff of blue flame was the first to step forward. The first thing Xen noticed was that he had a ragged, dark red blindfold. It seemed charred and although it covered the man's eyes it didn't seem to serve the right purpose. It looked too long to be used as a blindfold. The man himself wore black robes and it covered his frail and thin body.
Without any warning, the man pointed his staff toward Xen. The flame on the staff grew brighter into a cyan blue.
"WHOA FUCK!"
Xen yelped still shaken from the short event, "d..don't shoot!"
He took a step back ready to run for it.
"Who are you and what purpose do you have being here?" although old and hollow the man spoke in a calm demeanor. His voice was clear, yet raspy and held authority.
Xen raised both his hands to show innocence like hewas being arrested. It honesty was kind of stupid since this man couldn't see that and only the his other two companions could.
"I'm Xen, Xen Takeshi, I can explain just don't kill me," he frantically exclaimed.
The blind folded man who seemed contempt with Xen's answer nodded as if to say continue.
Before he could answer again, a ear shattering ding went off causing him to loose his balance and a digital message materialized in front of him.
Moments before he dropped to the ground the old man caught him with the staff.
"Boy are you okay?" the man asked helping Xen back up.
A monotone, male voice began speaking to Xen. He tried covering his ears and closing his eyes but the ringing continued. With one eye open he read the message that popped up.
[SYSTEM RESTART WILL NOW BEGIN, THE USER WILL BE PUT TO SLEEP IN (5) SECONDS]
Xen could only stare at the message window in confusion seeing the timer drop down. What he wanted to do was explain himself to the old man but what came out instead was, "what?"
The old man who was speaking to him cleared his voice. He repeated the question a second time thinking Xen didn't quite understand him.
Slightly startled, his attention was back on the blindfolded man. He realized that the three men weren't able to hear or see the system which was in front of him. A glimmer of excitement and fear pressured his chest.
When he looked back at the system it was already at 0.
"Shit, not again," Xen said.
A sudden, electrifying shock went through his body without warning. He let out a scream as if he was shot, toppling over to the ground unable to move. He writhed in pain as all his senses faded out slowly.
The men quickly approached him surprised by what just happened. A ringing deafened his ears which stopped him from hearing anything. Their mouths moving yet nothing came out.
They had concerned looks on their faces as his vision slowly blacked out to emptiness.