Chapter 2

The second chapter.

As if floating in space, Jeremy was weightless in this seemingly empty, but burgundy-shaded world.  The walls of it were immeasurably far away.  What looked like patterns of weaved threads in flat rows seemed to make up the wall, every direction in which looked an equal distance from where he was.  No sound was heard except that of emptiness. 
            “Hello?” Jeremy’s voice did not echo, but was not smothered right away.  ‘Well, here I am.  I wonder when I’ll wake up,’ he thought and sighed as he looked down, not necessarily at anything, hoping this was all a dream.  ‘I wonder how long I’m going to be kept here’.
            Right as he finished that thought, a ray of light hit his face, which temporarily blinded him again.  He fell to the ground on his back.  Sitting up he saw that he was in an opening in a grove of trees with short, green grass under him and a few bushes spread around.  The sun barely made it through the green leaves that made up the canopy overhead.  He looked down at the grass and ran his hand through it, being distracted in his admiration its soft nature. Just then, he noticed something in front of him.
            Slowly, Jeremy looked up.  Some sort of blackish-brown lace-up boots, which tops were covered by plain dark-green pants under a black-red, segmented lower robe, and a burgundy and tan upper tunic-like vest with sleeves that go to half his arms length.  He looked up the man’s raised face, which was more the face of a young adult, which was staring down at him.
            “I presume that you are Jeremy,” he said with discontent.
            “Yes, I am,” Jeremy answered.  ”And I presume you are someone I am important to,” he said somewhat sarcastically, surprising himself a bit.
            An opening, like the rip only moments before, appeared next the man and another next to Jeremy’s face.  He reached his hand through so that it is out of the other opening, and then forcefully hit Jeremy onto his back with a blast of what seemed like nothing.  Jeremy made a painful noise and sat up; rubbing his neck from a bit of whiplash, and saw the opening was gone. 

“Don’t be sarcastic with me,” he said forcefully.  Clearing his throat, he continued, “I go by the name of Rederick.  You may only call me Rederick or Sir, understand?”
            Jeremy nodded his head in agreement, a little frightened.  “Can... I ask you what those things are?” he nervously put his hands up to signify the opening that Rederick made earlier.
            “Those are openings, or portals, between our world and the nether,” he said, as if reading a dictionary.  “If you are referring to that which I hit you with, that was a simple blast of"’magic’, as you might say.”
            “Right...” Jeremy said almost as if he did not believe what Rederick said.  “So, what have you brought me here for?”
            “To evaluate you,” he said blankly.  “Why are you here, who are you, and what do you intend to do here?”
            “I’m not sure of any of that myself, I was sort of just dropped here with some odd scars on my chest.”  When Rederick did not respond to this, he tugged down the collar of his shirt to show the scars and purple lines all over his chest.  Rederick’s expression did not change as he squinted at Jeremy, and then motioned to him that he’d seen enough.
            “You are not accustomed to this world yet, those will fade presently,” he said with a dull voice.  “You will be fine.”
            There was a moment of silence.  The wind rustled the leaves through the trees, and the chirps of birds and cries of various bugs could be heard far in the distance.  Rederick put his hand in one of his upper-robe’s pockets and dropped stone in the shape of a drop of water with a necklace string on the ground. 

“Put it on and never take it off.”  He turned and walked away.  He made an opening, stepped into it, and it closed behind him.
            ‘What’s his problem?’ Jeremy thought to himself.  He stood up slowly and stared at the necklace, laying a yard away, before approaching it.  He looked at it doubtfully, reached down and picked it up.  Holding it by the lace part, he looked at the dark green stone that was attached.  ‘Moreover, what is this?’
            He looked around him at the trees.  There were no real distinguishing factors among them to tell which direction was which, and the sun was blocked by the foliage.

‘I might as well take the benefit of the doubt,’ he thought.  

Jeremy put the necklace that was given to him on, and started to walk in the opposite direction that Rederick had gone.
            ‘That guy must be looking for me by now,’ he thought.  ‘Lance… I think.’ 

            Jeremy walked through the woods, looking around at the trees and ground, trying not to lose his way through what looked like the same scene over and over.  Every once in a while a bird would fly overhead, calling out, and a squirrel would scamper up a tree.  Other than the occasional encounter of those, the woods were somewhat lonely, which almost added a different dimension to its beauty. 

Being lightheaded reminded him that he hadn’t had anything to drink since he woke up, even though Lance had given him something.  He tried to recall a memory of just before he fell asleep, but something clouded his mind, and stopped him from seeing it.

      ‘I’ll think about it later,’ he concluded, ‘when I’ve had something to drink… and eat.’  His stomach felt empty.

After some time, he saw a clearing through the trees, and a loud thunking sound could be heard from far away.  He picked up his pace and walked faster, hoping to meet someone.  After pushing some bushes and low-lying branches out of his way, Jeremy finally made it to the small clearing he had seen.  A massive, human-like figure was hunched over in the middle, and a small roof over a pile of chopped wood was a few yards away from it.  The only thing that seemed odd and stopped Jeremy for a moment was the size of the man.
            “H-hello” Jeremy managed to say.  “Can you help me?  I’m kind of lost.”
            The large figure lifted his head at the sound, and stood up, still turned in the other direction; its booming voice could be felt.  “One moment.”  The figure raised its hand in front of it and drove it straight down in a chopping fashion.  The same “thunk” was heard, and two even pieces of chopped lumber flew out to either side of him and hit the ground.  The large figure turned around, rubbing his arm across his forehead as if wiping away sweat.  “What might I help you with…?”  His large voice paused, “little human?”
            He stared at the man for a moment.  His body was twice the size of Lance’s, which makes it probably three to four times the size of any normal human.  The large man’s shoulders where wide, his face was loosely the shape of a square, and his white, short hair spiky.  His incredible muscles made his blue shirt a little too tight stretched over his chest.
            “W-well, I was wondering how to get to the shrine, since, well...” Jeremy started to feel intimidated.  ‘It’s were I was going to go anyway,’ Jeremy’s thoughts finished for him.
            “I wonder what a human is doing on this side of the shine, it’s dangerous.  You never know where those hungry spirits are,” he said somewhat jokingly.  He smiled and chuckled, “especially one such as you.  You’re too flimsy to put up any sort of fight.  Don’t worry, I won’t bite.”
            Jeremy looked at the man with confusion.  “What about you, isn’t it dangerous out here for you?”
            The large man reeled back in laughter.  “You are a funny one, little human, but I am not a human.”  He slapped his chest, and then points to his forehead, where there are two little horn-like stubs on either side.  “That’s why they call me ’The Rhino’.  I am not human.”  He laughed some more.
            “Well... then...” Jeremy’s voice had lost all its force.
            “Oh! Right,” said the Rhino, “the shrine is in that direction.”  He pointed to the right of the roofed wood-pile to his right with his large, beefy hand.  “You can walk there pretty quickly from here, unless you want me to throw you,” he started laughing heartily again with a big smile on his face.  “Just joking,” he said, rubbing his right eye with one of his fingers as if he was crying.
            “R… right.  Then I... will be going now,” Jeremy said as frightened as he was confused.  He rigidly walked in the direction he was pointed.
            “Be careful, little human!” says the friendly booming voice.  “Hopefully we will meet again!” 

The sound of thudding and wood splitting could still be heard as Jeremy shifted uneasily in the direction he was pointed, bothered by what the large man just said.  He did not care, nor even had the composure, to turn around and ask the large man what he meant by any of it.

Jeremy walked through a small bush at the tree line and walked through it, reaching a thin path, deciding to follow it. 

Author's Note

No note I can think of.