Amidst the cold and tundra, a body lay stiffened amongst the snow stained with crimson red. He was almost colorless, his skin was pale and his hand grasped his moccasin covered chest which had a small blood tainted hole in it. Flakes of bright white snow pummeled down upon the unconscious youth; collecting onto the blood-stained snow and melting instantaneously.
Shroosh
The boy gasped awake, his bright yellow eyes jolting awake; panting ferociously. "What the hell" he exclaimed in his terror. He patted his face, seemingly checking to see if it was still there.
This is Dall, or moreover Dall's essence.
A pang of throbbing pain struck through his chest, shooting him up. Dall moved his hand and saw the warm crimson mixture that had already begun drying. The moccasins that he had strangely been changed into had a large tear on his left pectoral; the leather was stained with blood. Strangely, there was no wound—in a bloody scene that you would expect to find a large gash, all that was left was a scar in the wake.
Had someone drugged him and kidnapped him? Dall was lying in his bed before he had the weird drugged sensation; like he was falling through a void of blue. It was a state that denied all physics.
This wouldn't explain the torn moccasins, nor the pool of blood in the snow around him. How could he bleed yet be unharmed. All he felt was cold from the frosted forest around him.
He noticed tracks in the snow, the shoe prints seemed to be a strange pattern, looking rough. almost smooth as though they were pure leather; small red fur skins—supposedly from animal hide—scattered the snow body floor.
Dall rose from the ground; if he stayed put any longer, he'd end up a frozen corpse. Did he seem shorter than usual? Dall observed the distance from his face to the ground.
On second look, these strange peasantry looking clothes appeared to be of a hide he didn't recognize; Dall was an avid hunter in the upper regions of New York when he visited his family, though he had never seen such a bright red hide. The fur was pure red, with spikes of white protruding from the tips of each strand. It was well crafted clothes, but still had the essence of a worker—remnants of poverty seen in its tears and stains.
A hand-me-down huh? Dall jested to himself internally.
What should he do next? If he sits around in this one spot night will fall, and who knows what nocturnal animals will be out here, who knows where he even was. Though, if he wanders aimlessly he might end up encountering a wild beast or dangerous natural terrain. The best course of action would be to follow the footprints, but this could lead him to danger. It's still the best option..
Dall started off, following the remnant footprints in the snow. Walking through the forest helped him notice some absurdities: the trees looked as though they were birch, but they were large like redwoods, and the bark was left unpeeled. It was a strange type tree he had never seen before, they were all around him, as far as he could see was an ocean of these weird birch variants. Is this a foreign nation? But how would he have travelled so far in such a short time? Dall pondered as he walked.
...
Southwing Embossy, Northern Region in Alteria,
"Is it done?" a short man with long black hair spoke up sharpening needles in the darkness of the small cottage. He had the air of an assassin, donning a black robe and face mask.
A larger brutish man walked closer to the fireplace, with a flick of his hand and an incoherent chant, flames shot out of his hand and lit the wood in the fire. The bloodied snow on the mans leather shoes began to melt at a faster rate. "Without error even removed the tracks halfway, when's the pay? Brrr~ how can you sit in such a cold place Crowe?"
"Cold?" Crowe laughed. "The client will send the pay in a week's notice; still... why would some big-shot noble want a back-village slave assassinated?"
"Don't sweat the details." The large man laughed as he sat down to begin carving a new set of arrows for the ones he lost in the assassination.
"..." silence enveloped the room fire-lit, the only sound was the the large man's knife chipping wood, and Crowe's heavy breathe as he started off towards another room.
Swoosh The fireplace's flame cut out in an instant, the room was thrown into an aquamarine darkness, colored only by the slight glow of the teal moon in the sky. "Damn wind" the big man got up and started walking to the fireplace.
Thud
Crowe turned in the darkness—his senses had been improved from years of assassination, so he could barely make out Reshin's body lying on the ground.
It was too late though; with one more thud and the sound of a solid skull rolling across a wood floor, all went silent.
...
Dall walked for about an hour now—or so it had felt. Halfway through his trek, the footprints in the snow vanished, as though the person up and disappeared.
The sun had set and a strange aquamarine moon had presented itself; Dall could only brush it off as an effect of the latent drugs still in his system—though deeper down he was beginning to have doubts. Was this denial?
It doesn't make sense in any form however. Where would he be? How would he have gotten here to this strange place with weird birch trees and endless snowy abodes; this strange place with aquamarine moons and multicolored stars.
The world looked normal, yet the cosmos were stunning. Dall couldn't even fathom the cosmic projection in the sky above, he often stopped during this walk to gaze upon the strange astral landscape.
Thankfully, the first good news in an hour had come, in the outline of the snow covered forest, a large cavern could be seen through the moonlight; it was completely silent around him, only the sound of his leather shoes stepping through the snow could be sounded across the vast terrain, echoing off the mounds of white snow around him. The landscape was uneven, often there was hills and mounds that were made of solidified snow and stretches of uphills that lasted for miles. It was impossible to see up the mounds due to the vast expanse of trees densely packing around him. This cavern stood out through, as it was projecting a dim red hue. It looked like the mouth of a prior mound, that had been cut into a rough cliff and narrowed open by moving snow. However, it went deep.
He made his way to the dark cavern; the moonlight sparked in and showed that the cavern went in extremely deep, the depths of which were unknown to the visible eye. There was no other choice though: freeze out there, or maybe survive in here, the fear of death shifted its blade on his throat. He could almost feel the cold-steel pang of the reapers scythe on his neck; there was no use waiting around.
Clack, Clack
Dall's footsteps echoed through the cave. Inside was slightly dark illuminated by a red light from above, water seemingly could be heard dripping from inside, it was unusually warm; he felt like he stepped into a furnace. The walls were made of a thick white stone—the source of the light was red glowing stalactite on the cavern roof that illuminated the area slightly.
He began walking inwards even deeper, following the guiding light of stalactite to see his footing along this rough, yet still wide and traversal, cave terrain.
When he reached an opening, seemingly the ending of the cave, of where there was a good amount of light and the cave entrance could no longer be seen; he sat down and began to make way to sleep. Rest was the most important thing at the moment, he had been walking for hours previously, and was utterly exhausted. He could do without food or water until the next morning.
Speaking of water, the source of the dripping had become apparent: in the corner of this large opening was an eroded pocket, which freshwater from melted snow was dripping into, filling the pocket into a small reserve.
The opening at the end of the cave was large, it was roughly 12 feet high and 20 feet in circumference. The ceiling was adorned with colorful red stalactite and the illuminated walls reflected white.
Dall lampooned to himself Its only SLIGHTLY better than my apartment in manhattan. Though that was all jests to keep his spirits up in this strange, strange scenario.
He had found a location of flat ground along the stone wall and laid himself down, hoping to rest. Most of the cave was filled with rocky and rugged terrain, so this odd flat cutting in the ground was the best choice for a bed. He laid down facing the wall; hands clasped together under his head as a cushioning pillow, but this is when he noticed a medium sized hole in the rock wall, towards the bottom. It would be unrecognizable to anyone else if they hadn't laid down and faced the rock. It only caught his attention because the hole had a blue light shining through, and seemed to be deeper than he thought. Dall sat up reached out to feel it. He thought that he'd be able to feel the thickness of the wall when he reached inside.
This was a mistake, or maybe it wasn't, but when he did, the whole stone wall begun to glow, and shake violently. Illusory blue neon lines that began appearing on the rock wall were forming; they looked like a projection, glowing like a hologram. The circle was equated with a variate amount of connected lines forming strange shapes and patterns, letters that were unrecognizable were filling the inside ring. The circle began to spin violently; a large whirring, like rocks being dragged together, interrupted the silence.