'Who even is this guy? They're skilled.' He took a step back, waiting for the perfect opportunity. 'Why do they keep acting like I'm their chum or something? Just shut up.' He thought, deflecting an attack with his trusty blade. For some reason, he couldn't quite remember his foe's face or gender, or anything for that matter. 'Doesn't matter. They'll die like all the others.'
It was as if he was fighting a blank shadowy image. Cold crept through his clothing.
He overstepped. A fatal mistake that cost him his victory. But then, he felt a concussion come over him and his entire body was in utter shambles. The scent of blood, the feeling of hard wood and a sudden burst of light. He listed everything his gaze caught before his vision had decided to leave him.
Everything went blank. Was anything really clear in the first place?
* * * * * * *
Balance.
A simple concept, encompassing harmony, steadiness, equilibrum... Equal opposing forces.
It existed in all aspects of creation as far as the known universe was concerned. Light and Dark. Yin and Yang.
Mediation. Symmetry. Proportion. It went by many names and took many forms.
But one might say that a monumental form of balance, was…
"How the hell did I get here?!" An obviously irritated voice questioned no one person in particular.
Dark blue eyes with a visible hint of frustration darted around the unfamiliar territory, recognizing it as some sort of forest.
The soil was dark brown, logs were littered all over the place and a golden-furred ferret leaped over his slumped body.
He stood up from the tree he had found himself leaning on, dusting off leaves and dirt off his garments. He inspected himself.
Clad in light grey armor consisting of a chestplate and leggings, as well as a blade strapped to his back, he appeared as a warrior. His eyebrows scrunched up and his eyes burned fiercely, as if an appaling realization had hit him.
"WHY. DON'T. I. REMEMBER. WHO. I. AM?!!!"
With each utterance devoid of calmness and edged with vexation, he offended the tree with his fist and each time it shook until it completely fell over.
It produced a booming sound that sent birds in the area flying and smaller critters running. It had been no ordinary tree. It had been a moderately dense tree and he had knocked it over with his bare fists.
With urgency, he inspected himself further. 'There's got to be something!!' From his chestplate to his boots, he found nothing of interest. He placed his hand behind his back, unstrapping the sword and scanned it intently.
The sword had a clear, silver blade that showed his reflection almost perfectly, giving the impression it was made from glass. The hilt was shaped like the bones of a demon's hand.
At last, he located something. A scribbling engraved on it. A name.
"Raten Heifer."
"Don't move!" A group of people attired in armor surrounded him in a circle, directing the blades of their weapons at him threateningly. Immediately, he was aggravated but stopped when he noticed they all had medallions with a distinct symbol he had seen before. A sword passing through a heart.
Raten's sense heightened as enigmatic fury and bloodlust built up inside him. He raised his hand swiftly, alerting his opponents who were ready to take him out. However, a sharp pang moved through his head, one so overpowering that he fell down, unconscious.
"Did he... knock himself out?" Among the group, a teenage girl skipped closer to the passed out Raten. She bent down, her mischievous, dark-violet eyes analyzing his body with curiousity. She stood up straight and tucked back her mustard blonde hair and just stayed hovering around him, inspecting every bit of him.
She kept the whip she was wielding on her waist and dusted off some dirt that had gotten on her body-fit, red armour.
"Be careful, Annie."
"Why, Ace? He looks completely harmless to me," Annie continued, studying his face. He looked sixteen, the same age as her but that was just a guess, with raven black hair possessing fringes that went just past his ears. He was also six feet tall, and the more she looked at him, the more enchanted she was. "In fact, he's kinda hot actually. Huh?"
She heard boots move towards her until they were right by her side. She recognized the person as Ace. Like Raten, he was six feet with a fairly spikey head of brown hair complemented with golden eyes and a darker skin tone.
Like Annie, he also placed his weapon- a chain consisting of a spearhead at the end- by his waist and it clanked against his silver and black armor.
"You're right. He's not your run-of-the-mill soldier considering his armor. I don't know if anything's wrong with him," Ace pondered on what to do with the strange person, "but I don't think we should kill him."
_ _ _
Raten took in a large gasp of air as he awoke. "Where are they?!" He found himself lying in a bed in some sort of room. "Where am I? And where's all my armor?!" He was topless. He heard the squeaking of the door handled and faced the direction of the noise.
Someone came through, dressed in a lab coat.
Raten's first instinct was to assail the man with a punch but his hands were constricted by chains tied around them. In fact, his arms and legs were all tied up in tight chains.
The man's eyebrow arched as he recognized the intense bloodlust seeping from his eyes and just sighed. "That's not a very nice way to look at your doctor. I helped treat all your wounds and there were a lot. I was also told that you have amnesia so you must be very confused." The doctor chatted and he had picked the word 'Amnesia'. That explained his memory loss.
"I'll be right back but first..." The doctor sprung out a collar with a crystal embedded in it and placed it on Raten's neck. Then after, he arrived at the door but before stepping out and in some unclear way, he dismantled one of the chains. "Put on the clothes up there while I'm gone."
The doctor slammed the door shut, leaving him there with clothes on the rack. Afterwards, all the other chains came undone. A minute went by before he attempted to escape, twisting on the door handle but it failed to open.
'If that's not going to work, then...' Raten clenched his fist, ready to bust the door open. Unbeknownst to him, the crystal on the collar had flashed. Before his fist could make contact with the door, he felt his body halt. It felt as though if he punched the door, something terrible would have happened. It was enough to overpower his will.
"That must be what this stupid thing's for." Raten's bitter gaze moved from the collar and settled on the clothes that had been left behind. 'Those aren't too bad.'
He slipped on the clothes and they fit his personal style so well. They were completely devoid of any bright colors. That was something he remembered.
The top consisted of a grey-lined non-modern, high-collared jacket that was overall very smooth to the touch with a white sleeveless v-neck underneath. The jacket was loose-fitted and was just short of not being his length. The bottoms were black trousers of similar material of the jacket and white, ankle-length boots.
While waiting for the damned doctor, he conducted a few tests and realized what the collar did. It prevented him from doing anything remotely violent.
He grimaced before lying on the bed and staring at the wall in thought. He remembered something, no, more of just a feeling before he had passed out in the forest. It was a natural feeling and he knew he had been covered in it before blacking out.
Feeling his chest, he recognized a scar that had been dealt to his body by some sort of blade.
"The chill of ice."
The door swung open, giving him a light jolt. However, he was greeted by a different person. A man with a no-nonsense face, featuring dark garments with dark orange hair that reached past his neck. Sheathed by his side was a sword and with a single stare, he emitted an overpowering aura that was capable of shaking Raten's insides.
Although he did not remember anyone or anything before his amnesia, he had a feeling his life was going to change forever.
That's when he remembered something else.
"The Four sources of power."
However, it happened. By some force of nature, a chain of events, the Equinox was shaken.