Arwin finally awoke, and the last thing he remembered was being swallowed by the sand. He had a strong headache with only one question on his mind.
'Where am I and what happened to me?" The entity's emotionless face flashed before his eyes, making him grit his teeth, but that was the least of his problems, as the place he now found himself posed a greater concern.
He was in a cave with glowing walls. The walls had weird crystals of all sorts of colours, clinging onto them like moss spreading throughout most of the cave.
The crystals also formed stalactites and stalagmites that hang from the ceiling or rise from the ground of the weird cave.
"Truly, where am I? Does anything like this even exist on earth?" he continued to observe the cave, feeling around for its texture as he looked for a way out.
His investigations brought him to a circular room which had one giant stalactite that hung from its ceiling. He sat down next to the wall, gazing at the glowing sand that dropped down from the ceiling.
He reached out for it, a thought entering his mind 'Wow, so even the dust glows.
Suddenly, the ground began to tremble as small cracks appeared in the crystals on the wall and ceiling; Arwin got up in alarm and looked around only to hear another voice call out to him.
"Hey, don't just stand there. If you don't want to die, RUN!!" Arwin turned to the source of the sound and saw a boy with dark blue hair slide down a slope formed by crystals towards him.
Behind him, a strange lizard-like creature with dull blue scales burst from an opening after him as it let out a roar that slightly shook the cave. Arwin froze as his mind failed to register what he was seeing.
Meanwhile, a thought took root in his mind, 'Am I going to die?' but just then the strange boy grabbed onto Arwin's hand and dragged him along, "I said, run dammit".
Arwin came back into his senses and followed the boy running as fast as his legs could carry him, in front of the opening he had just come from, and if they were lucky enough, it would also be their escape.
Around them, the entire cave was in chaos as deep cracks spread through the crystals on the walls of the cave, pieces of the shimmering crystals falling to the floor, increasing the threat looming over them.
The monster got closer, and he was getting tired. The boy in front of him grabbed him by the hand and threw him forward, sending him flying through the opening in the cave as the boy followed soon after.
The monster crashed into the wall, causing the stalactites to plummet to the ground as the entire room caved in on their pursuer.
Arwin bent down and touched his knees as he let out a hoarse breath "Thank you for helping back there" Arwin now had a better view of the boy; he had dark blue hair and light purple eyes that gave the boy a handsome appearance.
The boy also had a great physical build and wore a black leather armour; his eyes illuminated a sense of confidence and skill, though when the boy actually spoke, that image shattered.
"Nah, don't worry about it, it's my job to rescue the weak after all" Arwin resisted the urge to retort to the boy as he forced a smile and answered. "Yeah, but where are we?"
The boy scratched his head for a bit and answered in an unsure voice, "I think we are somewhere in the Juzo glowing caverns, but not exactly where in the Juzo glowing caverns".
Any respect that Arwin might have had for this guy quickly disappeared as he let out a quiet sigh, but before he could say anything else, the boy quickly asked, "But anyway, who are you?"
Arwin froze. There was a hint of suspicion in the boy's voice as he spoke, but that wasn't the reason he froze, the actual reason was that he didn't know. He did not know his name.
He rummaged through his memory, but there was nothing he simply could not remember. 'Could it be that that entity actually replaced him and, by doing that, stole his identity? '
Arwin gritted his teeth, a sense of dread overtaking his very being, but suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by the boy's words, "So, aren't you going to tell me your name?"
Arwin turned to the boy whose voice had now gotten cold and eerie; he had to come up with a name at least to go by for the time being. His thoughts became rapid as a quick name took its place in his head,
"Hal, you can call me Hal, yeah, that's my name" The boy didn't seem very convinced about that lousy reply, and Hal wasn't proud of it either, but what was one to do when pushed into a corner in a strange world he knew nothing about?
"Okay, Hal, my name is Tailow Roseheart, and I am a hunter of the Silver Sword Hunter Company. Nice to meet you, but if you don't mind me asking, then what are you doing here?"
Hal did not have an answer for this question, though; he knew almost nothing about this place, so fabricating something from scratch was impossible "I don't know, I just happened to wake up here. Apart from that, I know nothing else"
Tailow looked at him for a while as if considering his statement, as Hal's own eyes noticed the sword sheathed at his side, causing Hal to tremble slightly, but just then, Tailow's lips curled upwards as the boy soon spoke with a joyful tone.
"Well, I don't know if you are telling the truth, but I hope that you can at least wield a dagger" Hal felt cold terror slowly manifest within him, "And why would I need to know how to use a dagger?"
Tailow's smile widened as his voice hid its own form of terror "Well, if we want to make it out of here alive, then we will have to fight our way out, cause the monsters of this cave are not going to let us just stroll by, you know".
Hal gave a simple giggle, though it was more than fake "And what if I don't know how to wield a dagger, then what?"
Tailow stood up and positioned his sword around his waist, and said in a calm voice, "Then you will have to learn how to wield one along the way" Tailow reached into the bag that was on the other side of his waist and retrieved a dagger that he tossed towards Hal.
Hal struggled to grab the dagger as he held the sheathed blade by his chest and looked at Tailow, who smiled broadly at Hal before turning around to follow the route. Hal knew he had to follow through, though the thought of facing monsters left him rather frightened.