"Ahh.." slowly breathing out I lock eyes with her.

That white short hair.. Beautiful turquoise eyes, and her face is mesmerising. Is she a foreigner? She looks Chinese. And around my age at that. Given she actually is around my age, she must be 19 or 20.

10 seconds pass in a blink of an eye, I've never been interested in relationships before nor has anyone taken my interest, however there is something special about her. She feels extremely familiar, do I know her? I should speak to her..

Getting up to move over so I can speak to her, I feel the train rumble and instantly know something is wrong. She seems to be confused as well however I have no time to question further as I feel train is sent off the rails.

The last thing I see is that womans look of concern and horror, however the concern seems doesn't seem to be for her self?

An indescribable feeling, however locking eyes once more I feel relieved even though I know I'm about to die. A sad smile appears on her face however immediately after, a blinding light of an explosion fills my vision.

The light gets dimmer however my vision is still red even though I have my eyes closed, it feels as if someone is shining a torch in my eyes.

"Am I dead?" I question myself, opening my eyes I'm in disbelief as I find myself laying on a sort of stone alter in a small ruins.

"What the fu-" Nearly all the stone slabs are displaced causing wholes for light to shine through on the walls and grass growing in between the cracks on the floor. Although there is no roof, the alter that I'm laying on is mostly in the shade of a tree that is towering over the walls of the small ruins.

My clothes are missing too? I should probably find some as soon as possible and figure out where I actually am. Even though my thoughts are all over the place, that woman won't leave my mind.

Pondering on my new found situation for a moment I decide to get up. Since all my bones and joints feel tight I stretch and hear nearly, if not, all my joints crack as if I hadn't moved for years.

Exhaling I decide to walk about, only peaking my head out around each corner I turn, since I have no clothes. Not that I'm uncomfortable though, I'm 189cm, toned, and quiet confident in my looks. However I'm not too keen on putting myself on a sex offender watch list for indecent exposure.

Out of the ruins I find one room that's particularly well kept, peering into the building, there's a set of clothes with a fancy looking robe with a sigil on the back all laying on a wooden table that has seen better days.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

Putting on the clothes they fit fairly well although a bit small. Under where the clothes were is a worn down notebook despite the clothes being in near pristine condition. Opening the notebook it's a language I've never seen before, although I've never seen this language I start reading it as if I'm fluent in it. It's a weird feeling, as if it's like breathing it comes naturally to me.

"If I am to be correct my research proves that black magic is extremely useful for warrior's given they do not take advantage of the power and become corrupt. I doubt the church will ever approve neither will the gods even if it is only to be a few warriors to learn it. I suppose only madmen will learn black magic for power. Especially in this age of prosperity. However this could open up a new path for humans to tread. I've decided to train elite warriors that will use black magic in secret, no longer will the kingdom have to take requests from the messager's, no longer will the kingdom be pushed around by the other empires anymore.

- Nicholas Chambers"

"..What is this guy on about? 'Warriors', 'Black magic', and 'the Kingdom'? Where the hell am I exactly?" I ponder over it for a while and the only conclusions that makes sense is this is either a insane individual wrote this or I'm somewhere else entirely, dimensional travel maybe? Is that possible?

Taking a second to calm down I decide to pocket the notebook in the robe and waste no more time here to read it. Before I leave I notice a bookshelf with one singular book on it, next to the door I entered from. Picking up the books the title reads "apprentice guide to mana" curiously I pocket the book as well deciding to read it when I leave this place.

Since outside of these ruins is mostly forest I try to look for some sort of path. Near an open space of the ruins however I find what I'm looking for, a gravel path leading into the forest.

"I've got no choice, right?" cautiously I head down the path, really I have no reason to be that on edge, but since the notebook about black magic and a so called "Kingdom" I really have no clue what to think of this place, some part of me thinks I might be a sick joke while the other thinks I'm in a purgatory, after all, I should've died on that train, why am I still alive and well? Oh well. No need to think about it for now, driving myself insane will do no good if I want to survive.

Walking down the gravel road I stop, and everything's quiet. No foot steps, no wind, nothing.

Weird, being alone with my thoughts makes me realise I may be in more danger than I thought I was in, I have no food, no water, and no shelter.

Starting to walk again I start to think about how i'll solve these issues. "The best thing for me to do right now is find civilization. It's not exactly ideal for me to starve out here. I don't even know if i'm alone in these w-"

Getting cut off mid sentence I see a reflective shine of light from a bush followed by that same light to be travelling towards me quickly. Instinctively I move out the way and end up with a graze on my cheek.

"You fucking idiot, you missed!" Hear voices coming from the bushes the projectile came from. A deeper voiced man from behind me speaks up. "We can't let the noble escape or everyone from the village is as good as dead, kill him."

As I notice that I've been surrounded, I immediately start trying to calculate an escape.

1, 2… if there is 2 in the bush, 5 in total? Why are they attacking me? Maybe I can reason with them "Listen, I think you have the wrong person, you called me some noble right? I'm no noble so we can just go our separate ways right?"

"Don't try to lie to us just so you can live! That robe is clearly the robe of a noble. I bet our village will be destroyed within a day after letting you go!" I hear a higher pitched voice of a woman say from the bush the projectile came from.

"Listen, really, I'm not a nobl-" as I start to speak again another arrow is shot, this one impales my left arm. I want to scream but I can keep my calm and just barely only groan in pain. I grab at where I got shot and wonder if it's worth it to remove the arrow.

A skinny man from my right walks up to me and starts laughing, refraining from cursing them I just keep my mouth shut to find a way to escape or gain an advantage.

"Listen here if you obediently walk with us back to our village we'll let you go for a price. Promise" the skinny man says with a grin, it's obvious they'll kill me no matter what. He puts his hand on my shoulder, as he does so I see a knife attached to his side, the handle facing me. A trap? Stupidity, maybe?

As he speaks I slowly reach for the knife, given the fact its my only option. "We'll let you go for, say, 50 gold, how does that sou-"

Ahh I see, it wasn't a trap, he's just stupid. Even in the pain of my arm inpaled with an arrow, I can still laugh. However everyone else surrounding me, their faces are pale looking at the man who's throat has been widely sliced open.