Wet.
The first feeling that Mannus could recognise after he had blacked out was moisture on his cheek. Not just a slight drop of water, but instead a body of water that soaked half of his face. As he attempted to breathe out of his nose, the ripple of blown bubbles sent his body into a nervous shock.
"Gah!" His body shot up and his eyes widened, lids ajar with shock. The traveller frantically turned his head back and forth to scan his surroundings, before returning back to the puddle. The sight before him sent his mind into a frenzy. Mannus' hands splayed back out behind his back, propping his body up as he dragged himself away from the puddle. "What the fuck...?"
Worn, discoloured leather shoes. Grey pants that were finely tailored to be loose around the thighs and sharp on the hips to give a slimming effect. A shirt and jacket that didn't look entirely dissimilar from the Divine Constabulary uniform. Long, shaggy black hair and a haggard beard. Face-down, in a puddle. He knew this man. It was the Maidknight's friend. The one he had bumped into this morning. But why was he here? Again? This late? Mannus didn't know how he passed out from two ales. Perhaps he was drugged?
"U-uhm, one second..." Slow. So slow. His body was sluggish and unresponsive, as if stuck in place. His stiff bones cracked and popped as he adjusted himself, standing up before he leaned down to pull the man off the floor. It was only as he had managed to prop the man up against a wall that he remembered his name. Egos - that's what the Maidknight called him, at least. "Egos?"
A protracted groan was earned from his question, the same kind of sound Mannus imagined a whale would make in its final hours of living. He was still puzzled about the entire situation - how did he even end up back in the same alleyway from earlier? From what he could recollect, Sekiel's Hollow was a good thirty minutes away from where he was. Or maybe it was closer than he had imagined?
"Back the..." Egos mumbled out slurred words that fell lazily from his lips; drunk men don't make for impeccable orators. He didn't seem to catch that Mannus knew his name, and instead continued, "FUCK up..." he barely managed to sputter out the end of his sentence with a splattering of saliva accompanying his words as punctuation.
Mannus wasn't one to provoke people needlessly, so he simply let go of Egos, letting the drunkard stumble over himself until he eventually found his balance, now hunched and lumbering in the middle of the alleyway. His weight shifted unevenly with each step he took, but at least now the man wasn't berating Mannus for trying to give him a helping hand. As Egos wandered past him, Mannus decided to simply let him go on his own way. It was a strange coincidence, but there was no reason to pester someone who clearly didn't want to be helped.
He took a few moments to assess the alleyway again. It was the same as earlier - obviously. It's not like anything would've changed in such a short period of time. But as he turned back to the main street route, he noticed Egos' frame disappear out of view, and something shiny fall out of his pocket. Did he drop something valuable? Despite his uncivil attitude, Mannus didn't want to let the man lose something important to him just because he got too drunk. As he followed behind, he reached out for the object, lifting it into his hands.
He almost dropped it when he picked it up. In the palm of his hands was a shining sphere - just like the one he had found earlier that day. He reached into his back pocket, fumbling around for the other sphere that he had collected before - but it wasn't there. A pang of recall sent a shock through his body. This all felt too familiar. Mannus stumbled into the main street and looked to the sky: the last sight he remembered before he fell unconscious. When he looked up, now unobscured from the alleyway, the sky was clear. Despite this, what he saw only brought about more confusion; it was daytime. Mannus couldn't believe it - he must have been unconscious through the entire night. When he looked on either side of himself into the busy streets, Egos was nowhere to be seen. The Maidknight wasn't there either. He was alone again.
"Get yerself a drink to start off Aeterna's Harvest the right way! Come get yer' drinks here! Half-plute for a bottle or one plute for three bottles!"
What? How was that possible? The start of Aeterna's Harvest? It should've been over by now. Baffled, all the man could do was ask the stranger to help him to figure things out. As he approached the woman who bellowed out into the street, she tilted her head quizzically.
"What can I do for ya, mister?" A gentle smile formed casually on her face.
"What day is it?"
"What day is it? Are you a comedian?" She laughed at his question, adjusting her hair as she spoke. A silence ensued until she realised that Mannus was, in fact, not joking. "Are you from out of town? It's Aeterna's Harvest, the first day of the year! You're here at a good time."
Mannus tracked back, one foot behind the other, putting as much distance between him and the Ataran lady as possible. He couldn't understand what was going on. There was something off. It felt as though he was replaying a memory, but it all felt too real. Part of him hoped that he could wake up and this deep uneasiness in his stomach would dissipate. The only thing that he could do was retrace his steps from earlier. He desperately hoped that he would be able to get some answers about exactly what was happening - perhaps he just had an immensely vivid dream? Or perhaps a premonition?
There was something afoot. Something he couldn't wrap his head around. He hoped that Thee Sekiel would have some answers for him - after all, he was the last person that Mannus had talked to before passing out.