Izuki
Papers stacked higher than should even be possible surrounded Izuki. Frantically rummaging through the stacks to find the right one, his medium-length jet-black hair fell all the wrong ways. His eyes were sunken with dark rings, encasing them; he hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in a long, long time.
“Ah! Where is this account file?! And why, why, why have we not switched to digital already?”
Izuki’s boss didn’t even seem to remember his name until it was time to yell at him again.
Why do I work so hard?
As he was rethinking his life, a blinding pain hit right behind his eyes. A voice resounded in his head. It was a cacophony of multi-layered voices that was louder than anything he had heard before.
"Find them!"
Izuki let out a painful groan.
“W-what? Find who?”
“FIND THEM!”
Izuki was getting very dizzy, the pain only growing worse. He tried calling for help, but the only sound that escaped his lips were pitiful whimpers. The room spinning, nausea threatening, pain unbearable.
Then everything went dark.
The pain fading slightly, Izuki tried to orient himself. He had no idea how much time had passed or where he was. Trying to look around, his eyes a little blurry, he could see… nothing. There was nothing around him, and it felt like he was falling.
The voice resounded again, this time much quieter and much closer. No pain followed this time.
“You must find them.”
Izuki attempted to spin to try to spot the source of the voice, but it turned into a hopeless flail. With nothing to give his body purchase, all he could do was fall.
“What?! Who are you?! What in the hell is happening?”
No answer came.
He was suddenly overwhelmed by a blinding light.
After a couple of seconds, he felt the ground beneath his feet. The light receded, revealing a grand forest with trees reaching and bending unnaturally high into the sky. The trees’ canopies were blocking almost all the light from entering.
No, no, no, this isn’t happening.
Izuki closed his eyes.
Wake up! Wake up!
After a couple of seconds, he opened his eyes again. The same trees were looming above him, staring down at him from above.
Izuki, attempting to calm his nerves, tried to see where he was. As far as he could see were unnaturally tall trees. He looked down at his slender frame, checking for damage. He was fine, without a blemish on him. Everything was in place, except for his clothes.
He stared unblinkingly at the weathered tunic with a flimsy white shirt underneath that reached to his wrists. What surprised him even more was the rusty short sword on his hip.
Still inspecting his clothes and sword, a short distance away a twig snapped.
Whipping his head around, he saw a small green creature with gnarled teeth snarling and sprinting at him.
Izuki, in a panic, reached for the short sword on his hip, but wasn’t able to grab it in time. He fell to the ground, trying to back away from the abomination sprinting at him. Instantly, the green menace was on top of him, slashing and clawing. He let out a guttural, panicked scream as he tried to lever the creature off, but he was too weak. In a mass of flying green limbs, Izuki felt multiple punctures, slashes, and cuts form along his too-skinny body.
I can’t believe this is how I die.
Just as Izuki had just about given up, his fingertip felt strangely hot. At that same moment, a tiny spark emerged from it. The ember shot towards the green creature’s eye and hit, momentarily blinding and staggering it. With a shriek, the creature fell backward off Izuki, holding its eye, trying to orient itself.
Not wanting to miss his opportunity, Izuki quickly pulled the rusty short sword from its scabbard. He lunged at the creature with unpracticed strikes, missing more than once.
Exhausted and hurt, Izuki watched as blood fell from the creature’s mouth. It tried one more desperate attempt to kill its prey, then fell to the ground with a soft thud.
Out of breath and shocked, Izuki looked down at the corpse of the creature he had killed.
“O-oh god, that’s a goblin!”
“This is another world! And was that magic I used? This is like the games I played when I was a kid!”
Grabbing his hair, the situation finally hit him.
“I’m… so… fuc—”
More rustling from a different direction hit Izuki’s ears. A primal Instinct took over: run.
Before he even knew what he was doing, he was already running with everything he had away from the source of that noise. Deathly out of shape, he ran and ran and ran, barely keeping his feet underneath him most of the time.
After what seemed like an eternity sprinting away in a panic, his legs gave out. He crawled toward a large bush and shoved his way inside, earning a plethora of small cuts and scrapes from the branches.
Then he waited, trying not to breathe too loudly, even though the only thing he wanted to do was gasp for air.
There were no sounds around him except for the rustling of leaves and the creaking of trees. It seemed as if the corpse he left behind was enough to deter the would-be pursuers from chasing him.
I need to get out of this forest. Maybe find some people. There’s got to be people, right?
Slowly emerging from the bush that he had crawled into, he began in the same direction he had been running- away from whatever could have almost killed him. He had never been more alert in his life; every sound made him jump, and he was constantly checking over his shoulder. He pressed forward.
Hours of careful walking and hiding later, he saw a slight break in the trees where light was being let in. Creeping towards the light, Izuki saw a vast, open land: sprawling fields and rolling grassy hills. The sky was a darker blue than he was used to. It was unsettling.
Izuki scanned his surroundings. As far as he could see, there was nothing but the rolling hills; however, there was a dirt trail that presumably led somewhere. Better follow that and get away from that damned forest as soon as possible.
He got far enough away from the forest to feel a little safer and finally calmed down a little bit. He realized how hungry and thirsty he was.
God, how long was I in there?
Bloodied, hungry, and tired, he traveled the road, his feet dragging behind him. The sun was high in the sky.
How long are the days here?
His fear seemed to be coming true, as the sun seemed to be falling quicker than he was used to. After three more hours of walking, the sun was gone, and he was plunged into darkness.
The moon crested the horizon. It was huge, blue, and way too close. Izuki felt as though it could crash into him at any moment.
“Six-hour days? Giant blue moon? Give me a damn break!”
The night was eerie. The beautiful rolling hills glowed with a blue hue cast by the giant moon.
Izuki kept walking. It was all he could do.
A distant silhouette appeared over one of the hills. As it grew larger, He realized it seemed to be a broken-down house with nothing around it...
A small, ramshackle house stood in front of him. It was not in good shape. The roof was missing an entire section, and one of the walls had a large gap in the stones.
To Izuki, it was a paradise.
He slowly entered through the broken door, trying to be as quiet as possible in case someone or something was inside. From what he could tell, he was alone.
The cobbled floors were cracked and dented, with vegetation growing between the cracks. There was nothing inside except for a lone table in the middle. It, like the rest of the house, had seen better days.
Relieved by the shelter, Izuki quickly realized this was not the end of his problems. He was hungry—and thirsty. Very thirsty.
“Are you lost, my child?”
Izuki spun, his hand reaching toward his short sword.
Standing in front of him was the most stunning woman he had ever seen. She had long, flowing white hair that seemed to move with the wind, even though they were inside—or as inside as you could be in a house like this.
She radiated a green aura that matched the color of her eyes. A soft smile rested on her face as she looked at Izuki.
The radiant woman took a step toward Izuki. He took a small step backward.
“Do not be afraid, child. I am here to help.”
“W-who are you?”
A distant look appeared in her eyes.
“I’ve had countless names over the years. The people of this time call me The Mother. Here, take this.”
A small flask appeared in her hand. She extended toward him.
“Drink, my child.”
Izuki hesitantly took the flask and stared at it. After one last glance at the woman, he tilted it back and drank.
Instantly, a cool sensation washed through his body. It felt as though everything he had gone through in the day had been erased. His fatigue vanished, and his cuts and bruises slowly began to mend.
After emptying the flask, Izuki wiped his mouth with his dirty shirt and stared at her.
“What are you?”
“That is not for you to know, my child. At least not yet. We will meet again, Izuki.”
With that, she vanished as if she had never been there.
“I… I didn’t tell her my name.”
Izuki suddenly erupted into laughter.
“Ha! I can’t do this. This isn’t real!”
He had never wanted to be yelled at by his boss so badly.
“You know what? I’m just going to sleep. Yeah. I’m going to sleep, and I’ll wake up back at my desk.”
With that, Izuki found a corner away from the broken wall and layed on the hard ground.
As sleep slowly overtook him, a quiet voice echoed in his mind:
“You have to find them.”
Sleep took Izuki.
