The boy was given a rather… peculiar answer. “Ah… um, ok? So do you guys have a telephone or something? I can just get a buddy to drive me home. How the hell did I get here anyway... ” Derb was confused at a lot of things, he needed answers and a phone was the best way to get them. Maybe he'd even report the little cult i this area while he was at it. His question only went and brung another bout of confusion to the people.

“Telephone? Is that an object that uses telepathy? This is merely a village, we… couldn’t have accommodations that extravagant.” The explanation shocked him, what kind of excuse was that? What the hell was happening? Telepathy? Is this some shitty rolepl-

All of a sudden a sharp spike penetrated his skull. At least, it felt like it.“ugh... jeez, my goddamn head.” He started feeling the throbby woozy feeling again. The old man noticed his discomfort and stepped in to help. “Oh, how foolish of me, let me fix you up boy.” Derb leaned his head forward to get better treatment, only to notice the man had no bandages or medicine in his hands. A thought hit him, he didn’t get hit by a tranquilizer or anything the last time he was knocked out… and the girl didn’t look like she could take him down either. if neither of those were the case thenwhat the hell knocked him out?

His answer was answered by the man’s voice taking on an ethereal tone. Light took on physical form and started swirling in circles towards him. “Heal”. What proceeded to happen was the second most horrifying thing to ever be done to the boy. The hand placed on his head started surging light, instantly connecting to him… All he felt after was absolutely mind-numbing pain.

Now, he could have said he took it silently like a man, but in reality, he couldn’t even let out a squeak. It was like an electric current running through his body. It completely caused him to seize up. He felt like he was being tased in the head while eating every type of pepper in the world at once.

The man frowned at his ghastly appearance and stopped before he caused any actual damage. “This… how old did you say you were, child?” The old man asked him, confused at such a wierd occurence. With all the grace the boy could muster, he responded... by swinging his fist at the old man in front of him.

'If I was going to be taken down by fucking magic or whatever I’ll take the weakest looking one with me.' was the thought going through his now semi-delirious mind. He planned to take out the old man and then run, hoping the commotion would allow him to escape. He lost all hope when the old man caught his fist. This… this old skeleton with skin hanging off it blocked his shot...

"How old are you? Do you even remember your name?" The old man asked, acting like Derb's punch meant nothing to him. He knew he was screwed, no way he'd make it out of here unarmed. With the last of his dignity, he defeatedly uttered his name. “My… my name is Derb, Derbemiah. I am 19 years old.” The old man nodded grimly before waving his hand in front of Derb’s face and muttering a word under his breath. Derb closed his eyes and instantly went to sleep.

The old man sat down in the crickety old chair left in the room. with a single wave he motioned everyone to leave. He had never seen something quite like this. The boy seemed to be of royal descent. He had a way with words that signified education and prosperity, something only found in royals or scholars. He definitely didn't have the minds of a scholar. Him being a royal could be catastrophic. After all, if he felt so inclined he could have this whole village burned down. This fear was offset by the fact that Derb seemed like he was magically crippled. The light attribute spell "Heal"only harmed dark attributes when theyre at their weakest.

Any person past the age of ten gains resistance to most non-harmful light spells. He was most likely meant to die in this forest. These weren’t considered a no man’s land for nothing. Demonic beasts filled the forest, searching for anything that could help them grow into even more savage monsters.

He could already picture the situation… a child born with a strong darkness attribute, shunned in a light-attributed royal family. They probably thought the wife been unfaithful. While a child could be born with a new attribute, it was extremely rare. Especially so with extremely strong blood. It was why commoners didn’t have very strong but diverse attributes.

Without proof, they kept the boy until he grew up to look nothing like his father. He was probably exiled the moment he even so much as stepped out of line. Though, that did raise more questions… How had he not noticed any groups passing by to leave the boy? It was as if he… as if Derb had come falling from the sky. The group he was associated with must have been quite powerful. that just made it all the more baffling that they hadn’t seemed to have noticed the village.

All this was made much more awkward since the boy didn’t even seem to know what happened to him. It was as if all this held no substance in his eyes. Well, all that could easily be chalked up to shock. But it’s how he dealt with this pressure that scared him. it was as if he had no trust in anyone. The boy managed to persuade one of his student to leave. After that, he immediately attacked the one remaining.

Well, all these questions could easily be answered as soon as the boy woke up.

“Someone… turn off the lights…” Derb muttered as he grabbed the nearest blanket to pull over his head. Unfortunately, he made the mistake of grabbing the robe of the old man, earning him a glare and a shock spell. the spell was enough persuasion to properly wake himself. The noise was enough to attract the attention of everyone, bringing them back inside. “Oh, what the... ugh, my head... Huh?" Derb finally pulled himself together, only to see everyone crowded around him.

He didn't mind it, rubbing his eyes in order to wake himself. "Could... someone here explain everything?” Derb didn't feel threatened anymore since they obviously didn’t want him dead. By the confused and pitying looks the group was giving him he assumed they didn’t mean to intentionally harm him either. He decided to go for the pity points. “I… I don’t know where I am, and I’m not even sure if I can get back home… could you all please help me understand this situation better?” Tell the truth but never reveal your hand. Faking emotion was how he got through high school and work. By god, he wasn’t going to let this be the exception.

Immediately almost all of their faces softened, the little blonde girl seeming to be the most affected. Noteworthy. This seemed to work on everyone to some degree except for one guard in the back. He was the partner of the... unattractive guard. He seemed a lot more rugged than the rest, looking less suspicious of me than just cautious professionalism. Well whatver, a captive audience was a captive audience. Derb wasn't about to let one guy affect him. “I’m… sorry about acting the way I di-”

“No, he’s not.” Interrupted the stupid girl with glowing eyes. those cursed lie detector eyes were literally the worst thing tthat could happen to him right now. He raised his hands in defeat, acting submissive. “Ok, ok, but that’s only because I was hit in the head by your friend over there. I wasn’t in the best state to think rationally, so don’t blame me." He leaned in close to her, inspecting the freaky glowing irises of her's.

"And what might your name be, oh child of the wondrous eyes.” He hated that he had to praise her even though she talked like that. It made him feel like he was a child. “My master is the one who… who taught me that…” she said, still clearly not used to compliments. “Is this your… teacher then?” Derb looked at the old man who stopped his punch with as kind eyes as any eye could muster.

“Do I have the pleasure of knowing your name, good sir?” Derb was tense all over, it was five against one and this old man could take him all on his own. He absolutely needed to make a good impression. “My name? You must realize the situation you’re in, child. Aren’t there more important questions you should ask?” The old man dodged his question like a pro. It seemed like no one was going to answer Derb’s questions so he took a bolder approach. He stood up from the bed in order to seem more imposing. confidence was key when it came to making others accept you, after all. He needed every little thing in this situation. “Do you know where I am? Where is the nearest place I can go to?”

Derb... already realized he wasn’t on earth. Nothing on earth was able to use fucking magic! Everything seemed to subvert his expectations in the scariest ways here. These “people” were much stronger than those on earth, and it seems they only got stronger as they grew. “I… I also need time to rest… I haven’t gotten any rest from any of the times you guys knocked me out…”

Derb was getting embarrassed, having to ask for handouts from the people holding him prisoner. “I need food as well… if you don’t um, mind I mean.” This earned him a chuckle from the blonde as she ran out of the room, only for her to come back seconds later with plenty of fruits and nuts… and by god, cheese too! Before Derb sullied their thought of him anymore with the drool escaping his mouth he finished the converstaion. "Could you all please leave me to rest? I promise I won’t try to escape…”

This garnered a look of surprise from everyone in the room, to which the black-haired child spoke up first. “You’re no longer in containment, we were just trying to repair our earlier… misconceptions.” She said looking towards the guard, who could only look down in shame. “You’re not considered to be a threat to anyone in our village, you should understand.” I couldn’t help but hear the mocking tone in her voice in the last part of her sentence.

Nevertheless, that was quite the good news. Derb didn’t expect to hear that after everything he’d done. “Oh, thank you. I won’t waste much of your time, I’ll merely stay to eat and rest then I’ll be out of your hair.” he waited a bit before understanding that no one was leaving. He knew it couldn’t have gone that smoothly. They looked like they were trying to tell him some bad news, as if this already wasn't bad enough. Once again the black-haired girl, completely unaware of the tension in the room, spoke up.

“That’s not going to be possible for a few years at least. Don’t you even know where you are, silly!” she was grinning from ear to ear at the revelation. It made me want to smack her upside the head. He took back his earlier statement of her being the more mature of the two girls.

Fortunately, the elder fulfilled Derb’s desire and bonked her on the head with a fist. “Unfortunately, that does seem to be the case. You’ll have to live in the village in the meanwhile.” He had questions, of course, no one was keeping him anywhere unless they had a good reason. “With the magic beasts so dense in the area it’d be a wonder if you could make it more than a mile out the barrier without being torn to shreds.” Derb stilled his tongue, that seemed like a pretty good reason. It was better to seem like he understood whatever that meant, or else he'd be estranged more and more.. “I’ll… ask more when I’m better, could you all please leave me alone for a bit… I need to sort things out. Ah, wait, leave the cheese.”

And like that, everyone went outside. He knew they were probably being so empathetic so out of sympathy since something like this would freak anyone out. After all, he was found alone and the first thing they did was attack him. This was bigger than that, though. He had lost all his friends, family, reputation, and charm of his old world. any person would be reduced to tears at such a revelation. Derb was definitely in that percentage of any person, and as he was left alone with his thoughts for the first time since this whole debacle started… he began to cry.

Of course, that didn’t stop him from scarfing down the cheese.