Speaking of people, I could hear footsteps heading straight towards my direction. I stretched my arm and sat up from my position. "Who's there? Please don't be creepy if you don't want to end up like Mr. Bird here."
"We're Delvers!" a voice called out from afar. "We're on patrol around this area."
I squinted my eyes and saw a group of people heading towards me. They all wore a full adventurer garb, Indiana Jones-style, and has a pickaxe behind their rucksack. They also wore a whistle necklace around their neck. "Dear lord, finally, actual human..." I muttered to myself.
Knowing that perhaps a whistle seemed to be an essential thing, I put on the black whistle the creator gave me before they could notice. I inspected it for a moment and found my name carved below it.
'HAIOS' the carving said in plain English, but there are also a few symbols below it that probably spells out my name too in this world's language. "Damn it, I gotta learn how to read..." I muttered to myself.
Soon enough, the gang made it to my camp area. Three men and one woman, some wearing blue whistle and one wearing a black whistle. "Hi, the name's Haios. If you're hungry, help yourself. This bird is a bit too much for myself."
The four of them stared at me in a mixture of confusion, disbelief, and amazement. More specifically, they're staring at my black whistle. Maybe it's a big deal, I don't really care. It looks cool, anyway.
A teenage boy with spiky hair and a blue whistle stepped forward. "Haios, right? I've never seen or heard of you before..." He said while staring at my whistle. "I can't remember anyone so young being a Black Whistle."
"I am much older than I look buddy..." I said with my best deadpan look. "Now why don't you all sit down and introduce yourself."
The teenager spoke first. "I'm Nat," He pointed at a boy wearing glasses. "That's Sieg." He pointed at the woman standing behind them all. "That's Lena, she's our supervisor for today." Finally, he pointed at a huge man standing behind them all. "That's Habo, we met just now and he decided to come with us."
"So, a black whistle..." Habo said while sitting down next to the giant bird's carcass. "How did you get that whistle?" he asked with that broad grin on his face.
"I took it out of my bag." I replied simply. "But the truth is, I can't remember anything. I woke up in this forest being attacked by this huge bug so I killed it. Then I got hungry so I grabbed one of these flying turkeys from above the sky."
Habo smirked a little after hearing that. "I saw yer handy work alright. Been a while since I saw anyone who bother killing Gogouge, it doesn't even taste good. Were you trying to get its poison?"
"It's creepy, it pissed me off, and the world is better off without it." I listed off all my reason for killing that bug. "Though, I didn't think about harvesting the poison, maybe I should..."
'clink' before I can stand up from my position, Habo handed me many vials. "Here you go, paralyzing poison for anything that pisses you off later."
I smirked a little and grabbed one of the vials. "You can have the rest. You were the one who harvested it anyway." Then I pointed at the bird's carcass. "Also, you can have that if you want. Better than leaving it to rot here."
Habo chuckled a little after hearing that. "Unfortunately I am on my way to the Seeker's Camp." He grabbed one of the boys with his gigantic hands. "Maybe Nat here would appreciate your donation?"
Nat, who's having his hair ruined by the mountain of a man, could only give me a weak smile. "Thank you very much Haios!" he exclaimed.
Sieg, on the other hand, is still eyeing me with curiosity. "Umm, if you don't mind me asking, how did you lost your memory?"
I sighed a little after hearing that. "I don't know, but let's keep the sleeping dragons lie okay? Maybe it's for the best." That was complete bullshit, but a good one judging by how he doesn't seem to want to ask anymore.
"So where are you going Haios?" Nat asked.
I glanced at the direction of the literal hell hole. "Down, I guess,"
"It ain't gonna be easy kid." Habo said. "But I got a feeling that there is something about you than meets the eye." He smirked a little and patted my head. "I'm rootin for ya kid."
I grinned a little and swathed my machete. "Thanks," I looked at the rest of the gang. "So, are you going to take that?" I pointed at the giant bird carcass.
"We will!" Nat exclaimed with a mixture of relief and excitement in his face. "Lena, this means mission success right?" he asked the woman wearing a purple whistle.
Lena rolled her eyes. "Sure, but you're not getting any credit for this." Then she walked towards me and smiled a little. "Thank you for your donation Haios. I'm sure the children will appreciate it."
I smiled back at her. "Sure! It's no problem at all!"
With that, Nat, Sieg, and Lena start picking up the giant bird. Although it's pretty big, the bird itself is very light, like how most airborne creatures are.
Then, right before they left, Sieg and Nat came running towards me. They both took out an envelope from their pocket. "You're heading into the abyss right?" they handed me the envelope. "If you meet a girl named Riko or a robot named Reg, would you please give this to them?"
I took the envelope before putting it into my backpack. "Rico and Reg huh?" I smirked a little and folded my arms in front of my chest. "Sure, why the hell not? Got nothing better to do anyway."
The two of them bowed down a little. "Thank you very much, Haios!"
We bid each other goodbye, leaving me with Habo. He looked at me for a moment with that giant grin on his face. "Well Haios, even without your memory you seem to be pretty skilled in navigating this place."
It doesn't take much for me to deduct that he wanted to test my skill. "You wanna race?" I asked him, earning a laugh of excitement.
"First one to the inverted forest, wins." Habo said.
"Inverted Forest?" I asked in slight confusion.
"You'll know it when you get there." Habo exclaimed before jolting away into the distance.
I don't know exactly where he's heading, but I know for a fact that our destination is downward. "Well, time to put this baby into use." I grabbed my grappling hook gun and held it with both of my hands.