Some sparks lit up the night, in the darkest parts of the forest. The already dense essence gathered around a single spot. Something began to take shape, began to absorb all the ambient essence. The woods were silent. No creature was nearby to call out and even the wind stopped blowing. At a single point, close to the ground, something started glowing. Something appeared in the light, barely noticable behind the glow. It started out small, like a marble. That marble grew and started to have irregularities. With some imagination you could see a head forming, until it actually looked like a fetus. It took shape according to human development, but way faster than any human could grow. What used to be a fetus was now a baby. And you could barely blink your eyes before the baby had formed into a toddler. Still in fetal position, unmoving and unalive. The toddler grew into a child and the growth rate slowed down. It still grew, incredibly fast, when compared to a normal growth rate, but noticable slower than before. When the body looked around 14 years old, the lights faded, until there was merely a faint glow around the shape. When there was barely any light left, the body started to move. Its lips opened a tiny bit and a small breath was let out. Then it opened its eyes. 

It was night when I woke up. I didn't exactly remember how I fell asleep, but I must have been tired. Maybe drunk too, because there was no way I would fall asleep in a forest. My body felt hard to move, so I let it rest. Laying on the forest floor, the fresh air filled my lungs. The trees grew close to each other and there was plenty of ground vegetation. Only in my spot was a tiny clearing. I tried to remember things, like how I got here, but it all felt so far away. Like it happened a long time ago. There is probably still something in my system. I remember laughing with people. Friends? Family? I can't see their faces, but I know for sure that I had them. Did I have a forest close to my house? I think so, but I also somehow think this isn't that forest. My cat should be nearby. What color cat did I have again? And my keys... Crap, I am naked. Did I lose my clothes somewhere? I am never drinking again.

I didn't manage to fall asleep until morning. Lucky for me it was summer. Even though it was a bit cold, there was no direct danger for hypothermia. But even as some rays of sunlight graced the forest floor, most were held back by the many branches and leaves of the canopy. Finding my clothes would be hard, if not impossible. I toyed with the idea of waiting until my memory came back, but there was no telling when that would happen and I was already getting hungry. Though walking in a random direction could lead me deeper into the forest, nothing was ever gained by sitting in one place. 

The air was cold and humid, but it felt comfortable. Like a soft blanket in your lungs. After walking for about an hour, the forest seemed to get lighter. Light shining through the leafy roof became more consistent and the moss on the forest floor reflected the sunrays so it had a golden, cozy feeling. It was very much like those forests they film for advertisements, but I still hadn't found my clothes and after walking around so long it was quite chilly. I didn't think I was going to get them back anymore. They were officially lost. Forever. At some point I found a small creek that I followed downstream for a while, hoping to find a lake with a city or village around it. Maybe some tourists that could be asked for direction. It would make sense for people to gather around water. Already feeling embarrassment for ménage à troi them naked, but the other option was to bury myself alive in the woods. It was something that had to be done, no matter how much I hated it. 

Some leaves were rustling, and when I looked in that direction a dog came out. It was the largest dog I had ever seen. Looked a bit like a deerhound. It stood still and stared at me. I am not scated of dogs, but this one was huge. I went through my knees and held my hand out. If this dog was a pet and not part of some wild pack, it might be able to lead me back to its home! I could reall use a place with people right now. The dog set a step forward, as if it was considering approaching me. Then he walked faster. Walked like he wasnt going to stop at my hand. Sped up even. And then he went right past me. I looked back at where he was going and saw a group of three men, dressed in dark colored clothes, stand at some distance behind me. One of them ran towards me, yelled something. The dog seemed to go at him, running fast now, though I knew a sighthounds top speed was much faster than this. Then one of the men behind shot an arrow and the dog yelped as it fell down. It didn't get up. I fell on my butt in shock. Was it okay to kill a dog just like that? I guess it was attacking them, but I would never have had the guts to just kill like that. It made me shiver a bit thinking how much danger I had been in. If the dog had decided to attack me instead, I might have been left with a badly bitten arm. Or even killed by an arrow, if it missed. 

The guy who had been running towards me had come close without me realizing. Underneath his hood he had a short brown beard and very light brown eyes, almost orange. He took off his coat and placed it on me. Then he lifted me on my legs and hugged me. 

"We will get you back home, I promise." 

It threw me off a bit how large he was. Sure, he didnt look small, but compared to me he was a giant. I didnt speak. I kind of wanted to, but always found it hard to talk to strangers, and its not like he asked me some question I had to answer. So in silence I walked next to him, assuming we went to a city, and assuming that city was close.

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It took longer to get there than I thought. I estimated it took around 2 hours. We could have been faster if I didn't need to take that many breaks, but the earlier walk, the cold, and the lack of breakfast had taken its toll on me. It was embarrassing, but the men were very patient and never said a bad word about me. 

The first thing I saw about the city was a wooden pallisade surrounding it. There were guards stationed here and there, but the entrance itself wasn't guarded and we could just walk straight through. Inside the city the buildings were made of stone with wooden details. Not the neat rectangular brick I was used to, but irregular pieces of rock, held together by cement. The streets were narrow and there was not a cat in sight. It all felt very unfamilliar. 

"This isn't my city..." 

A fear crept up to me. Something I read about in stories, but I never thought possible to happen to me. I might be in another world. 

"This is Motse, what city are you from?" the man who lent me his coat, who was called Catch, asked.

I didn't recognise the name at all. Not from where I lived or nearby cities or something you might see on a map. I couldn't imagine what theories they would come up with if I told the truth and that city didn't exist. It might be better to chalk it up to memory loss, which is partially the truth anyways.

"I don't know, I can't quite remember..."

Catch looked at me with pity. Great, just get this over with... 

"I will make sure you are taken cate of, don't you worry." He placed a hand on my shoulder, as to physically reassure me.

At least it sounds like I won't be thrown into an unfamilliar world which leaves me to risk my life fighting against monsters which somehow makes me enough money for a place to stay on the first day. Always thought that sounded a bit unrealistic. If some new guy with 0 knowledge or skills could get rich, why wasn't everyone adventuring? It calmed me down a bit. Catch sounded reliable. I would have nothing to lose from following him around a bit.

First we had to go by Catch's job, for him to say he was out of the field and to report his findings. I had assumed Catch was a classic fantasy adventurer, fighting monsters for quests and loot. The building would have been a grand guild hall with a reception and a quest board and plenty of tables for hunters to rest and drink, but reality was a bit different. The building was grand, all right, but it was more like an office building. We skipped straight past the reception and went up a floor to something like a shared office, where Catch filled in some files and put them in some container, which had a strange, but comfortable feeling about it. He also put in a letter, probably about me. The initial files seemed to have disappeared by the time he put in the letter, but he didn't seem alarmed or worried. Maybe it was magic. All fantasy worlds had magic, right?

Catch looked pretty young, but he already had his own house. It looked pretty small and cramped between other houses, with a street somehow even more narrow than the others, but the inside was pretty big and the window placement gave it a spacious feeling. He led me upstairs and showed me an empty room. This would be my room for the time being. He didn't have a spare bed, so he put some blankets on the floor. Good enough for me. I was already thankful to have a roof over my head. I didn't really feel like repeating my night in the forest.

Since Catch had the rest of the day off he showed me around a bit. We went to the market and he let me pick out vegetables for tonight. I didn't see anything I recognised, so I picked whatever seemed the most familliar. It was green, a bit lighter than most vegetables, and had long, flat, thin leaves which spread out a bit like coriander, but was way larger. It had a stem that was a bit thicker and looked crispy. The root was already cut off. Just hope I didn't look too clueless about the vegetables. The last thing I wanted right now were questions about where I came from. Catch bought some meat that looked like chicken. 

Catch also introduced me to some of his friends and aquantances. People I could run to if something happened. His words, not mine. The vegetable lady for example, I heard she adopted some children and is always looking to extend a helping hand. She looked very nice. Also the tailor. I could always walk into his shop for any reason. Then his ranger friend. Yes, Catch was a ranger, not an adventurer, not sure about the difference, but they were Catch's closest friends and they often hung out together. He also led me to the ward building. The wards were the soldiers that were stationed guarding the wall. There were also some walking around the city or just lounging in the ward building. He didn't know any of them personally, but wards are supposed to help with any conflicts people cannot resolve by themselves. 

With that the day came to an end. The people here didn't live by a clock so much, even though they had some to tell time, but instead calibrated everything to the sunrise and -set. In the dark demons were much more likely to attack, so everyone but the night wards were supposed to go home and be safe. Even though there was no law requiring people to stay inside, people just did it like it was common sense.

The food was pretty good. The vegetable was sweet and soft, though it still required a knife to cut. The chicken turned out to not be chicken and was slightly chewier, but combined with the sauce it was alright. 

After dinner we talked a bit. I thanked Catch again, because he is really going out of his way to make things comfortable for me. We went over tomorrow and how he will have to work tomorrow, but can get off early, much like today, and help me find my way in society. But I won't be allowed to follow him along and have to stay home. I didn't have much of an issue with that. If he was an adventurer -or ranger as they call that here- it would be dangerous for an untrained person without skills to face off monsters. I would much prefer to stay home and experiment a bit. Today was a bit hectic, but now I know I'm in another world, maybe I can get a skill menu to show up tomorrow. Maybe I got some crazy skills to practice tomorrow.