Halo (Etrian Odyssey Fanfiction)

Chapter 1

No one ever truly realizes how connected they are, not only to their personal families, but to those around them, and even to the earth beneath their shoes, the towering trees that rose so high into the sky that all you would be able to see when you looked up was a thick canopy that barely allowed the streams of golden light to shine through, allowing for little flowers to soak up that sun and grow in even the most shadowed of places.

It was all a matter of perspective. If you took that moment to think, to understand, you would be awed to discover that every living creature, human or otherwise, are all connected by some cosmic, unexplainable string of fate, shining a million different colors, and binding together even the most unsuspecting of broken hearts and blood shot eyes.

My head hurts... why does my head hurt? Did I get hit? What hit me?

Nothing made sense, nothing in the large area was familiar to the young man who was struggling to walk, stumbling over protruding roots, weakened by something he couldn't see, something he couldn't remember. All he understood was how badly his head was aching, something thick and hot was dripping down the right side of his temple and down his face to his cheek.

The palms of his hands had been scraped up badly by the rough surface of the tree trunks he would fall against, bracing his numb body against the towering trees for a long moment before his head stopped spinning and he remembered how to walk again, taking a few staggering steps forward before slamming against another trunk.

His vision was blurring in and out of focus right around the edges, and there were wisps of light green hanging in his eyes, but he couldn't tell if it was from the foliage of the heavy woods around him, or his own hair. Was it his hair? Gosh, he couldn't seem to recall what color his hair even was. Why wouldn't he be able to remember something so simple and obvious as that?

The more he walked, the more confused and panicked he became. Where was he? Why was he stumbling around like a newborn? Why did his head hurt so badly? His entire body felt so heavy, but there was this voice at the back of his head, a familiar voice, screaming at him, telling him to run, don't stop, find the guards, find someone, but he was so confused.

Why did he have to find guards? What guards? He was so tired, so dizzy, he didn't care about finding any guards or soldiers, he wanted to stop running so he could rest. Things would make more sense once he'd rested some. Staggering from between two towering trees, his eyes fell upon a large clearing, so inviting with the clovers on the ground and the little purple flowers blooming from between the green. It was beautiful, and perfect, and after managing a few more steps he fell to his knees, then promptly onto his hands, heavy pants burning through his lungs as his shoulders heaved.

Green hair fell over his shoulders and veiled around his face, blocking out his view of the clearing and pooling onto the ground beneath his head. It was light green in color, like lime or mint, and he couldn't help but stare at it numbly, feeling utterly baffled. Was that his hair? It was long, why was it so long? Did he like it long? Wouldn't that naturally get in his way? His eyes turned away from his hair and instead locked onto a tiny spot of red that had appeared suddenly on one of the clover leaves.

Curious, he lifted one of the hands that were planted against the ground and instead reached out to touch the little spot before turning his hand so his palm was facing him, and stared at the red smeared across his fingers, eyes growing wide when another spot appeared on the heel of his palm, then another, dripping down his wrist.

It took him a moment to slowly raise his trembling hand to his head, a hitch catching in his throat when he felt a hot substance cover his fingers, pulling his hand away to see it was covered entirely in red blood.