Dear dairy,

It has been a long time, and new thoughts have been bubbling in my head that I have to attempt at doing again! I feel so much better each time I get them out. So this is my next creative thought that came to mind...

A New Beginning

Hello there, I seem to have been transported to a new world. I closed my eyes to rest from a hard days work for just a minute, but when I opened my eyes, my surroundings changed.

My name is Travis, I work at an office job where I do a little of everything there. I adapt quickly and try to problem solve as much as possible. I try to stay positive in each new situation I’m pushed into, and show willingness to understand what’s happening around me.

Having my surroundings suddenly change from the office to a dirt path in the wilderness, makes me think I fell asleep. I see strangers approach me from one end of the dirt path coming closer to me. One of the strangers in the group of five, rushes ahead to see if I’m friendly. The person stays in a guarded stance even though I have no weapons on me?

“Hello, are you resting after the invasion that just took place? Why do monsters have to raid towns! Do you want to join us on our travel to a protected town? It’s pretty much a city but we all call it a town too. I’m assuming you are heading there too?”, said the excited stranger.

“Invasion? Well I was resting for just a moment, then noticed I’m here. I can’t believe it. I’m sure this is a dream. I can join you guys on the travel, safety in numbers right?”, I responded back in a quick manner, showing a friendly smile.

The rest of the group approaches, the stranger that talked to me, I can’t tell what gender s/he is. Even after talking to him/her, the rest of the group speaks to this person. An old man with a scowl shakes his head in disagreement with me joining, and the rest don’t seem to mind.

“I don’t remember seeing your face at all in town, and I know every face in town! Are you some kind of hermit? A bandit scout? I’ll kill you, before you can take us by surprise!” The old man has an arm raised at me, while he shouted. Heatwaves start to appear in the air. The hairs on the back of my neck start to stand, sensing danger. I jump to my feet and leap to the side. A flame jets out in the place I was standing, scorching the area close by. Beads of sweat appears on my forehead, as I look at the scorched spot in disbelief. I really felt that heat close by, and didn’t wake up from this dream!

“I’ll be damned if I let you take advantage of our people, you stinking bandit!”, yells the old man.

“Stop! He is no threat and looks genuinely confused at why we are attacking him! I think he’s just a hermit, and not a bandit!”, yells the person I first spoke with. The old man lowers his arm and stares angrily at me.

“Well, are you a hermit from this area? If you’re a bandit, your group has no chance against us. I’m the blacksmith of our village, that means I’m trained with the earth element too!”, the old man says sternly at me.

Adapting to this situation that is a dream for me, this would be my ‘area’. So, I nod rigidly at the old man. “Yes, you are the first people I have encountered, and what was with the flame? Also, what do you mean by trained with the earth element too?”

The old man’s eyebrows then raise, “Oh, so you are a hermit then? That the first you seen magic? Oh I love the look on a person’s face when they see magic for the first time. I know for sure, that was the first time you’ve seen magic. My experience tells me so.”, the old man crosses his arms and nods with a smug grin.

The other three shrugged at what just happened, and they started to walk ahead.

“Wow, that was really your first time seeing magic? Hermits are interesting people, weird clothes!, says the excited person. “Also, what is your name? My name is Bailey!”

“My name is Travis, if you don’t mind me asking, but are you a boy or a girl?”, I say with a little shyness by saying an awkward question.

“Oh right! You don’t see people much? Or at all? Well I’m a girl, I guess this just proves further that you are a hermit eh?”, says Bailey.

I know that gender isn’t a big deal to me, but I was super curious if it was a feminine boy or boyish girl. Since her face tells me she is female, but her body says otherwise. The old man, has bulging muscles and a gnarly looking beard. The beard makes him look like a reliable defender! The other three, two males and a female. They seem more concerned with reaching town, rather then a hermit with no magic.

The way the are all are dressed makes me think of those medieval shows, but the old man is wearing something like me, a blue plaid shirt and black jeans. Bailey is wearing a brown shirt and vest, with black jeans too. The other three are wearing similar clothing as Bailey’s, but the way the are stitched together is noticeable. They look very worn.

“Well it’s nice meeting you Travis, but we need to catch up with the rest of the group! Come on, let’s go!”, Bailey jogs to the rest of the group. I jog towards them too, then bandits cut down one of the males leading the way. A spout of blood flies in the air, a fatal hit.

“I fucking can’t believe it! How was that hermit not a bandit? You guys got less vigilant because of him. Arghhh!”, the old man loudly complained while he rushed to the bandits. The earth beneath the bandits shifted and they stumble. Then a stream of flames from the old man and the female burns them. The bandits scream in agony. My stomach feels queasy as the smell of burnt flesh reaches my nose. Three bandits just got burnt to death by the old man and the lady. I still haven’t woke up from this dream. This all feels too real! Did I just witness a person killed, then three people burned to death? The answer, yes, and it’s sickening.

“Damn it! They got Todd, he was a good lad! Arghhh!”, the old man shouts mournfully at Todd’s body. “Well let’s bury him quickly, we are still not safe from the invasion. We’ll have to say a quick goodbye this time. I’m sorry, we are all sorry this happened Todd.”

We dug out a grave with tears, even though I didn’t know Todd, I cried for him too. That could have easily been me as well. Bailey, who was in the back of the group has a good sense of surroundings is usually at the front, but was busy speaking in the back with me when that happened. I feel like I’m at fault, but the group disagrees. They knew the risks when they ventured forward without Bailey’s awareness.

This group, the way they are all accepting of death, it feels like a culture shock to me. They keep moving forward though, and I feel my respect grow for them. I’ll try my best to spot any danger as well, or something strange.

That’s when the hairs on my neck stand again, I look to the rear of where we just walked away from. The gravesite, the scorched bandits smell must’ve attracted something to us. I see a few big shapes pounce onto the charred remains, and they start to gnaw on them.

“Behind us, there is a group of something there! Hopefully they won’t come after us? They do seem distracted by the bandits remains?”, I yell at the group worriedly. I grab a close by thick tree branch to protect myself with.

“This just keeps getting better huh? They were that close to us already? Let’s kill them, they destroyed our home!”, the other guy shouts towards the monsters and launches a huge spear of ice towards them! The monsters stop eating, and dodge the ice spear flying at them. They are now very agitated at being interrupted and charge towards us. The old man shifts the earth around the tall trees close to us, the tall trees fall down and strike the monsters. Bailey rushes away from the fight, while taking out a bow, and pulls back on the string. An ice arrow appears, then she fires them repeatedly at the monsters. The lady then jets flames out at the trees causing a small pyre, the monsters scream in pain. The monsters finally reach us and strikes the ice guy, he is flung backwards at an incredible distance. The other monster strikes me as well, I defend with the tree branch, the branch shatters and I am flung backwards as well. The flames from the old man and lady continues to burn at the monsters to the point were they retreat, not finding our group worth fighting anymore with the way they are being injured.

The ice guy has a couple broken ribs from being struck. My shoulders and elbow are scraped up and bruised badly. Luckily I didn’t break anything from that strike. The pain is throbbing, as the group gathers together.

“It looks like they are gone, we injured them pretty good, ahahaha one of them got trapped under the burning trees. So we’ll eat that one quickly and continue forward. We gotta make sure we are fed for more fights ahead”, says the old man with a smile, I’m sure he is happy nobody died from that encounter, just me and ice guy being injured.

“What is the names of the rest of you guys? I know Bailey’s name, my name is Travis.”

The three of them nod in acceptance, looks like they have come to terms that I’m one of them now.

The ice guy painfully responds, “My name is John, I was the guard leader in our town, and this is-“, John was going to introduce the lady but gets interrupted.

“-and this is Jane. Nice to meet you Travis, I’m the Blacksmith’s daughter. My dad’s name is-“, Jane was going to introduce the old man but gets interrupted.

“-and this is Bob! You’re right, we didn’t want to know your name. A person that might attack us, or die right away. You defended yourself very well from that monsters strike! No broken bones eh?”, Bob says excitedly.

Now that I had a moment to introduce my self, and they doing the same. I took a closer look at the monster burnt up underneath the charred tree’s remains. It looks like a warthogs head and hooves, but has a feline looking body.

Nothing like what I’m familiar with, now I wonder if it will taste like pork? Then John comes over and then butchers the monster with a hunting knife. Long strips of meat is wrapped around a stick. The group then assembled a campfire remarkably fast. I would’ve fumbled doing any of the tasks. I did grab some branches and added them to the fire without realizing. Is this how a group of people familiar with cooking behaves? I feel very comfortable with them. Reminds me of my job at the office, with how everyone operates as expected to get results. Our results currently a nice pork-like smelling meal.

Another monster is lured by the smell, but the group doesn’t look like they are willing to attack it, or that both sides feel any threat this time? The monster approaches the meat over the campfire and starts eating, the group just watches it eat the food.

“Guys, you do see the monster eating our food, right?”, I ask in confusion. Why did they just collectively stay silent, and trying their best not to notice the monster in front of them.

“What do you mean? Oh the meat is slowly disappearing! We need to cook more of it! John go wrap some more meat on a stick, we are being visited!” Jane says impishly, poking John in his broken ribs.

“Ahhh! I know, I know! I’m on it!”, John painfully responds and hurries to the butchered hog for more of its meat.

“This is good, can you please heal our injuries? We are happy to offer as much food as we can in return!”, Bob says happily while avoiding eye contact with the monster.

I look directly into the monster’s eyes, “You can heal us, if we give you food?”, I ask the monster. The monster’s eyes having its eyes shining in a low blue light nods.

“Of course I can, I’ve healed so many already, it’s expected of me. I don’t remember seeing you before. I’ve seen most of the people of these lands around this region. You come from far away?”, the monster unexpectedly speaks to me, while holding eye contact.

“Oh, yeah. I recently just discovered magic is real too. Makes me wonder if everyone can use it as this point. How does one learn magic?”, I ask the monster. Bob responds though, “We become activated once we feel it come into our bodies then we control what comes out. My body being a better conduit for magic, I’m able to use earth and fire elements.”

The monster nods at the blacksmith, “Yes, since there is no teachers of magic all you beings learn it at random times, then become better at it, the more you use it. Using it too much damages your body though and lowers the effectiveness of magic until the damage parts recover over time.”

I nod at the words of Bob, and the monster. During our conversation, John already got more meat prepared to eat. “If you don’t mind, I would really appreciate your aid with my injuries!” John asks in a respectful tone.

“Sure, here you go.”, the monster then licks the injured area. I watch in amazement as I see the saliva healing his scrapes and broken bones. Then the monster sniffs and licks my injured areas. A strong itching occurs to my injuries where quick healing happens. A sense of relief envelopes my senses as the monster’s saliva completely heals my injuries.

“So, there is a chance that you just haven’t been activated yet. Most of your kind are tuned to fire or ice. So it’s a matter of time if you’re working with extreme temperatures.”, the monster continues on after licking me and John.

The monster looks like a reindeer with a bear shape body. Really husky looking, with a lumbering around on hooves feel to it.

“Good to know, so it’s just a matter of time then. I feel excited to see which element I’m activated with.”, I respond with wonder filled in my eyes. Excited for the future, I’ve accepted that this isn’t a dream anymore. Ever since the smell from the bandits and that strike from the group of monsters made me feel it more. This is real now.

“My name is Travis, it is a pleasure meeting you. Do you have a name?”, I ask with happiness.

“Yes Travis, it is nice meeting you too. My name is Victor.”, the monster responds happily for me asking his name.

“Well, thank you guys for the meal, I gotta get going. Farewell!”, said Victor.

We all say goodbye, then eat the remaining meat, then head back towards town.

After awhile we encounter another group of people travelling slowly in the same direction, but as if they are searching for something. They all have pouches, backpacks and are very well geared in armours. There is six of them, three on one side searching and the three on the other side doing the same.

“Hold on for a moment guys, I’ll check them out! John get ready, just in case of a fight!”, Bailey said in a loud hushed voice, towards all of us while staring forward. John says, “Okay Bailey, do your thing.”

We watch as she quickly approaches, then slows down to talk with one of the other people. A man in a heavy suit of armour with a battle-axe coated in flames, speaks with her. Then the flames from the battle-axe disperses, then Bailey turns around and returns to us. Looks like they are friendly then.

“They are searching for death elemental monsters, they’ve been taking the townspeople close by. We are close to town now. They say it’s okay for us to pass by, I told him that we are people from a recently destroyed town seeking safety from their town”, Bailey gives us a report on her conversation.

Bob nods, then pauses for second. Then glares in the direction where the battle-axe man is standing. A shadow leaps from the bushes and at the battle-axe man’s neck, tearing the man’s neck apart in sprays of blood. Another shadow leaps at the other guy nearby, he was lucky enough to parry the attack and launch lightning at it.

The three on the other side of the trail rushes over to help, but the monster that attacked the battle-axe guy, successfully grasps onto another neck on the people approaching. The other two guys close by both launch ice spears into the assailing monster, causing it to collapse on top of its victim.

The monster shocked by the lightning tries to attack the lightning guy multiple times, but is too slow. The other guy close by, that is still alive from the ambush, launches a blue flame that brightens the surroundings. The monster wails as it collapses from the attack.

The battle is over with two out of the six being killed off. I think to myself again, that could’ve easily been me. I really hope I learn magic soon, so I can use it to defend myself. I wonder if they would let me have the equipment of the deceased? Or is that disrespectful? I didn’t ask earlier with the other guys that died because I felt uncomfortable with the thought. After seeing how easily one can die from an ambush, had me thinking otherwise now.

“Hey is it okay if I can inherit some of that equipment to defend myself?”, I ask politely, fearing I’m being rude.

“Sorry but that stuff is going to their relatives in town, it’s an agreement we all came to if each of us passes away and there is survivors remaining.”, the lightning guy responds shaking his head at me.

“You can get better equipment once you get a sponsor, or buy it for yourself in town.”, the lightning guy says to appease my worried look.

I smile at the guy, “Thanks for letting me know. I really didn’t want to appear rude from wanting it. Everyone here is fighting for their lives out here. I just realized how much more serious it is now.”

“You use magic, or are you waiting for activation still? If that’s the case you can take Mason’s shield, it’s meant for defending life, so best for you to have it until we are back into town.”, lightning guy passes me the shield from the other guy that was rushing in but got pounced on, and killed. Two ladies and two guys remain in their group, two ice users, a powerful fire user and lightning user. The two ladies are ice users, the two guys fire and lightning. Tears are welled up in all their eyes as they collect the rest of the equipment into a pile and bury the bodies. We help them carry their stuff back into town.

We safely made it into a huge town!

That covers the first arc of the story, I have more of the structure to write. I just want to see if it's worth continuing before doing so. Thank you once more for listening to me dairy. More positive experiences in life to be had!