Runes - A Tale Of The Abyss 1 Chapter 1 - Alive...

Ouch! Hurts! It hurts so bad! F**k! What the f... AH!

It felt like someone was playing with his rib cage, like someone had stick in a large rod and was spinning his insides like it was soup. Griff was about to faint because of this pain. Suddenly he heard a voice, it was shouting something. Even though he could not understand what the other people were shouting, he understood this one.

"ALIVE! This lad! He... he's alive! A miracle blessed by The Gods!"

That was the last thing Griff heard before fainting finally due to feeling very very cold.

He was back to being unconscious. He felt like he was drifting in eternity. He saw only the black void and nothing else around him. A faint light could be seen near the end of his vision. He did not know if that was his eyes playing tricks on him or if it was real. He chose to ignore it and kept drifting in the void, wondering what had happened till now. He heard a whisper again, but he did not make out any meaningful words of it. He decided to ignore that as well. His name was Griff. He had no surname, not one that he could remember at least. He felt tired, he just wanted to sleep now. But was that really what he wanted to do? Griff was puzzled on what was going on really. He only knew his name and nothing else. His memory? Well he remembered bits and parts but it made no sense. His last memory was that of closing his eyes. It was really not something you could call a memory. He only knew that he had laid down to sleep. He did not, however, know what kind of room he was in when he laid down to supposedly sleep. Other than that and his name, Griff knew nothing. He felt lost, like he was in an abyss drifting apart. Perhaps what he was seeing now, this black, pitch void was his consciousness. He wondered what kind of a person was he? He did not know his own personality. It was actually a pretty sad taught. Oh, the light, its growing. Griff taught that it was time to wake up. The light slowly engulfed his body that was floating in the pitch void. Blinding his eyes.

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Griff's eyes scanned the room he was in. He saw a small sofa in front of him and a rusty door to the left. There was a window to his right, opened wide. Sunlight was shining on his face and he could see the blue sky. To the left of the bed he was lying on was a small table. It had nothing particularly interesting on it. He focused his attention on the walls. The walls were painted white but had withered over time. Wherever he was, it was obviously an old place. He was now focusing his attention on himself, his body. He was bandaged all over his torso. His arms and legs appeared to be fine but he had minor burn marks. He touched his face, it had nothing on it. In fact, it felt totally normal. He tried standing up by boosting himself up, using the bed. His legs felt numb but they would work. He casually approached the doorknob and turned it. The door was open, but as soon as he opened the door, a red light shone. The doorknob which had been glowing faintly green had turned red after he opened the door. He may not remember anything but this was obviously some kind of alarm. He started to move fast towards the left end of the medieval looking corridor. As he walked he saw a mirror attached to the left of the wall. He stood in front of it. He saw what he looked like for the first time. His hair was pitch black on his left side and snow white on his right side. His eyes were black, like one was looking in an abyss. His facial features were remarkably intriguing. His face looked young, he guessed that he was probably either 16 or 17 years of age. His body was not bulky or muscular looking but it did not look weak. He was thin, probably of hunger.

"Halt!"

Griff turned around to see a man clad in guards armor run towards him. "Wait, boy! Your not allowed to leave your room yet. Let me escort you back so you can wait for the doctor."

Griff nodded as he had nothing else to do. The guard walked him back fo his room and told him to stay put. The guy then darted back with his armor making loud noises. Griff sat on his bed and looked at the ceiling, waiting for this supposed doctor to arrive. Griff did not know how much time had passed but there was a knock on the door and it slowly opened. A man in white, linen clothing came inside. "So, I see that our patient is awake. They had said that you had no chances of surviving and here you are."

"So, your the doctor?"

"Indeed, you can call me Dr. Jonas. Now tell me, do you feel any pain or anything at all? Any memories?"

Griff lifted his head and spoke:

"Yes, but I only remember my name, Griff."

"I see, we do not have any means of curing your memory loss young man but we will do our best to help you. Do you remember anything of how you got injured even if you don't know anything?"

"No, It's all hazy to me. I only remember lying to sleep and suddenly I awoke here."

"Griff, well, how should I say this. Last night there was a great fire in the forest of Ulthir to our east. The towns hunting squad was passing by the forest when the flames engulfed them and they suddenly came across you. As they were running they came across you. You had an iron rod sticking out of your chest that were crushing your rib cage. Your arms had burn marks and you were screaming with pain. Does any of this seem familiar?"

"No, doctor. I do, however, have a question for you. What is this place?"

"Here? This is the medical treatment center for Ange Town. A hunting town situated near the mountains. We are a town of the nation of Kulva."

"Thank you doctor."

"Does it ring a bell? The name Kulva?"

"I don't know but I feel it may or may not."

"Alright then Griff, I'll be taking my leave. I'll visit you in a couple hours to check if your fine. Your health has stabilized and we can send you out but with your memory loss it seems dangerous. Stay here for a while longer."

Griff nodded as the doctor left the room. The doctor had brought a clean set of clothes. Griff quickly changed to them and looked outside the window. Wait here? Stay? Oh hell no. He was not going to listen to that doctor. If he was stable and healed, he had no reason to stay here. He looked outside to see he was on the ground floor. He jumped and started to sprint. He would not stay here, not to rot as some mad man with memory loss. Hell, perhaps he was crazy but screw it! He wondered, what is this place and where it will lead him to. He ran and ran across the woods and made it to the edge of a tiny cliff. Below, he could see a town. This was probably Ange town. Griff heard a noise and turned real quick, fearing it was the doctor or a guard that had chased him down. He saw a small caravan approaching from the left on the muddy road. The driver shouting "Lad, what are ya doin out in these woods? You from Ange?"

Griff thought this was his best chance and nodded slowly. "Need a lift?" Said the old man sitting on the horse in the front. Griff replied "Yes" and got on the horse behind the old man. Together with the rest of the small caravan, they traveled downwards the cliff and to the entrance of the town. Griff got off and thanked the kind commoner. From now on, the world was his. He was going to explore this mysterious land. A shout from the guard waiting in front of the town woke him up from his daydreaming. "Lad! Are you new here? Cmon, Ange's a border town you don't need any documents of sort to enter just come in." Griff walked towards the entrance and thanked the guard, walking towards the small village. He first needed information and this was the best place to learn more about this nation of Kulva.

Chapter end