Mat felt himself drown.

He opened his eyes, finding himself in the middle of a downpour laying down on damp grass. He coughed out the rainwater pooling in his mouth before trying to sit upright, gasping for air until his breathing soon settled.

His body was heavy. He glanced down, finding himself wearing a suit of metal armor complete with gauntlets. The rain pitter-pattered against its metal hull.

Mat blinked once, patting all over his armor with his hands.

"A suit of armor." He muttered to himself with a joking tone as if he was backtracking to this being a dream. He then pinched his own two cheeks, earning himself a sharp pain that shook him entirely awake.

"Not a dream." Mat nodded to himself before turning to stand. He tried to look around, but with the heavy downpour and white mist obscuring everything, all he could see was the grass beneath his feet.

"Where… am I?"

A green light appeared in front of Mat. It then zipped through the air like a buzzing fly, going left and right and up and down, leaving in its trail a set pattern of letters that eventually formed to words floating in the air in front of him.

[Guide]

You are currently in the world of Suna. Exact position unknown.

Mat blinked a number of times, staring at the glowing texts in front of him. It then faded into thin air soon after. He was caught wide-eyed by what just happened.

"Suna?" Mat muttered under his breath. "Was there a place like that in Manila?"

Last time he checked he was with his friends, letting themselves loose on the night after graduation. He did feel like he'd gone too far with the drinks and dancing and overall making a fool out of himself, but all he expected from it was a deadly hangover and embarrassing photos spread all over Twitter the next morning. He surely didn't expect all this.

Sure, this could've all been a prank set up by his friends, but this was too weird of a situation to be one. It wasn't funny either. His friends could've drawn dicks all over his face or even called up his ex, but this was too much for even them to do.

Mat then turned to the floating light that wrote the text. Now that he took a closer look, the light was actually made up of a tiny glowing orb with pixie wings fluttering against the rain.

"How did I get here?" Mat said to the light. He's now lost it, talking to a mysterious light as if it could understand him in the first place. But if what it did wasn't just a coincidence, this fella might be the one ticket for his ride back home.

The light then dashed left and right, forming words in the air in front of Mat like it was spelling out a message to him.

[Guide]

Unknown.

The text then faded.

Mat sighed. He really was on his own. Here drenched under the rain, out in the middle of nowhere with nothing but a suit of armor and a mysterious buzzing light accompanying him.

"I guess college can wait."

Mat stripped off all the armor he wore, taking him a while to unlock the belts and fastenings. He felt pretty sluggish with all of it on like he was carrying around weights, so he dropped them off where he stood, prompting a loud clunk with each metal piece down.

Underneath all the armor was another armor- a coat of chainmail covering most of his body. After he took the mail off, he found himself with a simple linen shirt and brown shorts that complimented his brown complexion.

"That's better." Mat flexed his arms.

He then asked what the armor was all about, but all the light wrote was the same 'unknown' message, repeated for every question he asked after the first one. He had a vague idea in mind as to what's happening to him, but he shrugged it off aside. He always was wary of his own assumptions, mostly because of his guesses ending up dead wrong.

Mat glanced around. Through the thickness of the mist and the downpour of the rain, he could make out a silhouette of a forest in the near distance. "Let's get out of the rain first, more questions later."

Mat trudged onwards, heading for the forest.

. . .

As he neared the woods, the grass in turn grew thicker and taller, now almost up to his waist. The mist had now settled, with the rain stopping to only a pitter shower left. Finally, he had a wide and clear view of the world around him.

It was still dark, with grim gray clouds overhead, but he could more or less see his surroundings.

Mat was in a prairie, with grassland and meadows as far as he could see. The dark atmosphere and grim backdrop didn't compliment the scene, but he could picture the beauty of the place once the sun came back up, with dew glinting against sunlight and flowers blooming.

That would've been the case, if there weren't dead bodies and corpses sprawled all over the place. Now, without the mist to obscure Mat's sight, everything around was clear to him.

There was a recent battle here. And not just a battle- it was a full on massacre.

The bodies were fresh, still laden with blood and gore. A wound to the face, a slash to the throat, a pierce to the eyes. He could vividly imagine what happened, almost as if he lived through the battle himself. Almost as if he was fighting alongside it.

Mat spat out vomit, dropping to his knees. He clutched at the mud and grass below him. He couldn't see their disembodied figures, but he caught the smell of rancid blood. With no rain to wash away the smell, it eventually loomed over the area.

Mat could feel a sense of dread burbling inside him. He had many experiences with gory shows, but to see it- feel it firsthand was something entirely different. His trembling hands were proof of that.

Mat took deep breaths, regaining his composure after a short while. His stomach still churned at the sight, but he could more or less manage to stand and continue on his way. He only hoped the bodies wouldn't rise out of nowhere to bite him.

Mat turned to the light floating beside him. For some reason or another, it ended up following him. He wasn't complaining though, it was better to have someone tag along with you, even if that someone is a mysterious floating light that might or might not have any intelligence whatsoever. He grimaced as he turned again to the bodies.

"What happened here?" Mat watched and waited for the light to finish writing the words in front of him. To his surprise, the light had given him an actual answer this time.

[Guide]

This battle is part of the war between the Holy Knights guild and the Blood Men guild.

Guilds?

Mat didn't want to be wrong, so he held off the thought screaming inside his head. Though the more he denied it, the more proof was coming to light in front of him. Medieval armor, wars, and guilds. A floating light trailing from behind. It was clear that he isn't in the world he knew of from before, and yet he still denied it.

Mat turned again to the light. He choked on his own words, afraid of confirming himself. He eventually forced the words out from his mouth.

"Holy Knights?"

[Guide]

Holy Knights is a guild founded by the alliance of humans, elves, and dwarves.

Mat paused, staring at the screen just before it faded into thin air. He stood where he stood, not saying a word just before letting out a deep sigh. "I still don't believe it."

He then turned to the forest in the distance. He started onwards, through the tall grass and past the bodies, inching closer and closer to the woods. The rain had already stopped for a while, yet he still trudged forward.

"Fuck me. I shouldn't have left all the armor back there." Mat wanted to double back, but he didn't want to pass the dead bodies a second time. The smell alone made him want to hurl, but to think of seeing all the bodies again, his stomach was shaking in its boots with just the thought.

"Guess that's on me."