"Ddgdg sdfsdfsdf ??"
"Fsdfwefwwfefwfdsfffsfsfs fsfsfsfsf ffsfs wwetwtwtetw dsgdgdsgsgd ??"
"Fsfsfsfsf ?? dsfg wggw ?? gggegwggwge ??"
Strange sounds continued to echo with a somber tone, growing louder and louder each time...until the wrathful wails forced open his eyes.
Greeted by the warm and subtle orange glow of a humble lantern, his vision tried to focus on the softness of the light above him. Each blink passed following a soothing beat, slowing the chorus of chaos in him, quieting his spirit.
As more of the world slowly made sense, that was occasionally blotted out by the passing shadow of a figure looming near him, the person whose shadow was the only thing he could glimpse now had a recognizable form to him, resembling a doctor, at least that's what he thought after taking in their appearance.
With hair that met her shoulders in gray, bound by a pin of some metal into an unconventional braid revealing twin scars that ran from her cheek to her right ear. Yet in spite of these features, the gentleness of her nature had her visage lit with an uncanny beauty.
He tried to get up, but the sudden and persistent sensation of nausea cautioned him to sit instead. The figure approached him with a wooden bowl and glass vial in hand. While he laid in bed, holding back the urge to let loose his insides, placed her hand over his chest and another on his forehead before she began a silent chant. As she continued he tried again to speak:
"hfg hfg hyer ht, klll. hfg hfg hyer ht?"
He couldn't understand a single word...but what was stranger was that as he tried to respond, nothing seemed to come out.
All the words fell on deaf ears, as he could only mouth the words in a futile attempt to communicate his distress. He tried and tried...and sadly each time nothing would come.
Eventually, the doctor motioned to him to stop as he started coughing.
Someone who looked like a nurse walked over to them and handed over a syringe with a violet solution. The doctor took it and proceeded to inject it into him without haste.
As the mysterious fluid began coursing through his veins, taking only a few minutes before his nausea was gone.
He got off the bed and tried to ask the doctor what was in the syringe but still, nothing managed to come out
"It's alright, speech should soon follow after you've managed to establish equilibrium. Don't rush it, or you might cause yourself some damage"
"Huh...how did I...I understood you?", he thought to himself as the doctor's calm voice suddenly produced sense in his words.
He stared at him, bewildered at the fact that he was able to understand him. Though, the doctor snapped him back to his senses as he told him to get dressed and make his way to the room at the end of the corridor as soon as possible.
"But I don't have any clothes" He murmured in an inaudible tone.
"The nurse has provided you with basic attire, we understand that you arrived here completely bare. C'mon, hurry up" She said with a mild chuckle.
He could do nothing at that moment but listen to the doctor as he took the clothes and went to get dressed behind the divider.
Once he was dressed...he followed the nurse out of the room, leading him to the room at the end of the hall. The doors to the hall opened.
"Please make your way inside. They've been expecting you" The nurse ushers him into the hall before closing the doors behind him.
Inside the hall, he noticed other people in similar attire to his, though there were far fewer than what he had seen during his fall. Looking around, no faces came to mind as familiar.
The doors on the western edge of the room opened up as two gentlemen walked in and one of them took a seat behind the centralized desk in front of them.
His attention along with the rests shifted towards the figures...until he let out a sigh as he started lighting the cigar from his coat:
"I can't believe they expect me to do this for the 9th time today"
"All right, I'm guessing you all have some questions, but for the sake of making this easier for you and a little more bearable for me. I'll tell you what I know about what's happened and Daitei over here can handle your questions"
He along with everyone else was eager to respond but as they struggled...the collective choking forced Daitei to stay their attempts.
"It'll take some time before you can talk, try not to strain yourself and just listen, for now, you can start sir"
"Thank you, Daitei. Truly to speak simply and slowly. I know the potion may not have taken to most of you so some of my words may escape you. Do any of you remember what happened, how you came to be here?"
They all stayed silent, hoping that someone may finally give them the answers they need.
"Right then. You lot arrived as you shattered the very sky, you who rode your broken stars into our world…that is what our ancestors described, what the High-Court Realm-Breakers expected when they completed the Divine Rite of the Lumen`weave. You stand before us, true in your form, as the Shardbearers."
"Sh-ardbearers?"
"Yes–" He moved about the room to the centered desk, an ordinary collection of oak-like chairs nestled neatly into the wide dark brown table.
"I did say that this would be a lot for you. But yes, you are fragment holders, each carrying a piece of their Old World. You walked across your Old World and breached the Sacred Boundary to enter our Grain."
"You are saying a whole lot without saying much" A burly individual questioned as he watched the figure drawing in a few puffs of smoke.
"Well it would be unreasonable to expect you to understand it all, at least right now. Take in only the fact that you are all far from home"
"You do understand that you're asking us all to bother with something that has nothing to do with us? Why should any of us care, because to me it sounds like you just kidnapped us before trapping us in a strange place trying to convince us of stranger things" A burly individual raised his tone from frustrated to enraged before approaching the commanding figure and Daitei, having pushed through the crowd.
The commanding figure took a few long and heavy draws of his cigar, never looking away from the man that approached him as he did.
"Do you know who I am?" The man slammed his hands against the desk, and still his rage granted him very little attention, marked by how neither the commanding figure or Daitei moved to restrain or act against him, letting him speak as best as someone in his condition could.
"Who you were is why you are here, if nothing you are who we need right now. We can make due with your poor decorum" The commanding figure spoke honestly, but the man was beyond words that were not what he sought, going as far as grabbing him by the throat in growing rage.
"You will unhand" Daitei summoned a fierce serpent, a few lengths greater than the man. It appeared from a spark of orange flames, born with a quiet snap of his fingers. The beast took shape with scales of cracked and burning earth, coiling itself around the man before binding him tightly, forcing him to the ground.
A display of the fantastical that sent the rest of the group back, putting as much distance as they could from the writhing man, all but four people from the crowd remained where they were, watching to make sense of exactly what they were looking at.
For outside their fall, nothing had shown them that his world was not theirs until now.
"Have any of you witnessed something like this in your Old World?" Daitei asked.
"You should have seen it, even if it was for a moment...this place, it's different. And I'm not...I'm not saying foreign, I mean this isn't our home, OUR world....we aren't on it. That much was plain to see, a violet colored sky and deserts with rose-gold sands"A much younger looking figure, with a mess of ashen-white hair wildly flowing down his back that covered most of his appearance.
"That and the floating islands make a good case" Another added, with hair the most vivid of reds, she stood apart even the four that remained ahead of them.
"You managed to take in the landscape while you were Walking?" Daitei's attention moved from his prisoner to the two as he awaited their response. A slight chuckle slipped from under his breath.
"I wouldn't call falling from the night sky, Walking, but I did manage to glimpse quite a bit. It's at least enough for me to know that this is…someplace else" The young man answered, his voice growing a little horse as he did.
A smile grew across the commanding figure's face at his remark.
But before Daitei could push their curiosity even further, a deep and sudden heat erupted from the base of his chest up to his throat, with a searing pain that had him quiet down.
"All right, that's enough, I still need to brief the other groups by day's end. If we have any more interruptions, I'll have Daitei feed you to his familiar"
"Good, now that you grasped the reality of your situation, it will make what I have to say next a lot easier" The smoke of his cigar that obscured his face, a single heavy breath cleared the air around him.
His appearance showed a firm and dense musculature. With hair of medium length, shaved at the sides, with the rest of his mane braided down to his shoulders. Dark in color with wild bangs covering an expression heavy with a net of scars and worry and eyes the hue of bright burning coals holding a surprising expression of youth.
"First, allow me to be as firm and frank as I am allowed to" The commanding figure stood up from his desk before standing above the overly excited figure, still writhing in his binds.
"I ask that you help us. That you help this world. You, as Shardbearers are…were brought here for a purpose we couldn't fulfill ourselves" Placing his hand on the fiery restraints before dispelling the form of the serpent, before helping him up to his feet.
"As we've said. Your kind are not of this world, and it's for that very reason you were summoned here. For without you, our world may have fewer summers in its future." Seeing the commanding figure's full stature worked to embolden his words to the crowd, listening with greater intent than before.
"You know, when I was a young boy, I wanted nothing but to defend the coast of my homeland as a ranger while my companions would play the role of daring pirates. Our days were filled with wonder, hoping to remedy our boredom as any youths would" Putting out his cigar, the smoky veil's disappearance showed his mood ladened as his shoulders slumped slightly.
"Sir…" Said Daitei.
"It's all right, Daitei. But when the seasons changed, in foreign and unnatural ways, the summers brought with them ceaseless droughts while our winters wrought senseless death with a cold that would bite through your cloak and into your bones. Famine and plague, and death filled my days, with wonder long gone"
The crowd held their tongues, as their throats closed up with the weight of the commanding figure's words choking them with silence.
"When the seasons changed, the women birthed children that never knew of springs and autumns. It was then that we stopped playing. None of us played until the seasons changed. The wonder ended once the things with unspeakable names bleached my home in unholy flames"
"I am Count Galland Arlosse, and as I stand here before you, I represent one of many nations all across our world. All of whom invested into a singular hope, that when those unspeakable things return, that we might have the strength to send them back"
"You want us to fight?" Said the fiery-haired girl.
"No, we need you to fight. For what we have left, we've done everything in our power to protect. Bringing you here has been our last resort" Daitei added to the commanding figure's words.
"And what if we choose not to?" The ashen-haired boy asked.
"Then it would be the advent of truly dark days but you would be free to do so"
"And if we said yes, what exactly could we do? We are just ordinary..."
"No, the Dustborne are ordinary, such as Daitei, and you've seen what he can do. Imagine what the Shardbearers are capable of" Count Galland answered him.
"I have spoken with you honestly and have presented you with a choice. If you choose to fight, you can remain in this room, and though the journeys may be tough, as your strength matures, you will find your way home"
"Or you can move to the next room using the same door Daitei and I used and live out your days away from battle. We will help you find sensible accommodation and support you with a generous stipend of 12,000 `marcs for the first winter. Following that, you will receive a yearly income of 2,000 `marcs alone with a servant to care for you in homestead or inn of your choice"
"We may have brought you here to fight but that does not mean we will cast you you aside should you choose not to"
"It can't be practical to spend your money on warriors that won't fight?" Another of the four that stood outside of the group, standing with golden hair and a darker complexion, different from the rest of the group. With eyes of shimmering and piercing red, his calm nature complemented their intensity.
"Any questions?" Daitei turned to the confused audience.
"Uhh...so you're saying we don't have to fight, and we'll still get our money, no tricks?" A meek shallow voice echoed from behind several others in the crowd.
"Yes, of course, the stipend. 12,000 `marcs will be paid to you. If you wish, you can find several inns outside this building that will offer you room and board until you can figure out what you want to do next" Hearing the statement made, multiple Walkers rushed towards Daitei
"Then can we get it now, please?" The mob boomed loudly.
"Simply head to the first floor of this building, the door to your right will take you there. State your purpose and they'll accommodate you..."
Before he managed to finish his statement, the mob left in haste…
"How often do you practice that speech of yours?" The young girl asked as he rolled up his sleeves and pulled out a pad of paper from his desk, ripping out a page before asking Daitei to pass along a few quills.
"Remember you should try and limit your speech. It will come back to you soon. For now, there's something more important I need you all to do" Handing them each a piece of paper.
"Try and remember your name" While they looked at him with some confusion, once they actually tried they found the words slipped their mind.
"Worry not, it's quite normal. Our predecessors believed it was the cost of making your way here, a constraint ensuring that you couldn't not carry with you what could halt your work in our world"
"You keep talking as if we wandered over into your world, remember you people summoned us. You are responsible."
"That is true, young lady. And as Shardbearers, I will guide you to the best of my own ability. All I ask is that you fight for my world"
"When you said we need to fight the season, what exactly does that mean?"
"You seem more curious than concerned. What is your name, young man?" Galland looked upon the ashen-haired boy
"..."
"It's all right if you don't remember. Memories are usually the first thing to return after you regain your strength..." Daitei tried to console him before he was interrupted as the young man spoke without hesitation.
"It's Winn, at least that's what I could remember. I'm not sure if it was a first name, last name or even a nickname. It's there, at the front of my mind"