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My Second Life is a Quest!?

Reader mode
How does Sympathy Magic sound? Like voodoo dolls, you have to have another object very similar to the target in order to have an effect on it. I like how limited it is, the requirement to get hairs or blood from a person is hard, as is the necessity of preparing a scale model before being able to affect the terrain around you. It's much less open-ended than other forms of magic, and it's more clear what it can and can't do.
 
Vote Tally : My Second Life is a Quest!? [Posts: 3-29]
##### NetTally 5.2.0

Task: 【NONE】
— Voters: 18

[X] 14 yeast old
No. of Votes: 9
[X] zangetsu101
[X] Azazel
[X] gac
[X] ICantRember
[X] Ruleworld
[X] Samandriel sanctus
[X] Sky63689
[X] Vulcan92
[X] World Reader

[X] Concept Magic
No. of Votes: 6
[X] zangetsu101
[X] Azazel
[X] firefrost12123
[X] Samandriel sanctus
[X] Sky63689
[X] Vulcan92

[X] Game of Thrones
No. of Votes: 6
[X] zangetsu101
[X] Azazel
[X] krzys2000
[X] Samandriel sanctus
[X] Sky63689
[X] Vulcan92

[X] Code Magic
No. of Votes: 5
[X] sinofsloth:)
[X] Alian Weiss
[X] gac
[X] Ruleworld
[X] seadonkey07

[X] Fairy Tail - start of show, Magnolia Town
No. of Votes: 5
[X] sinofsloth:)
[X] burningclaw2
[X] gac
[X] KenNM
[X] Ruleworld

[X] 14 years old
No. of Votes: 3
[X] sinofsloth:)
[X] burningclaw2
[X] KenNM

[X] Cyberpunk 2077 - Start of Videogame, V's apartment
No. of Votes: 3
[X] firefrost12123
[X] Alian Weiss
[X] seadonkey07

[X] Symbol Magic
No. of Votes: 3
[X] krzys2000
[X] burningclaw2
[X] KenNM

[X] 15 years old
No. of Votes: 2
[X] Alian Weiss
[X] seadonkey07

[X] 18 Years Old
No. of Votes: 2
[X] SilverSlyr
[X] firefrost12123

[X] Dragon Age Inquisition- Just before the Inquistor sets out to the Hinterlands, in Iron Bulls camp set up
No. of Votes: 2
[X] SilverSlyr
[X] firefrost12123

[X] Game of Thrones - Before Robert's visit to Stark, King's Landing
No. of Votes: 2
[X] World Reader
[X] ICantRember

[X] Summoning Magic.
No. of Votes: 2
[X] ICantRember
[X] maggiemee

[X] 12 yeast old
No. of Votes: 1
[X] maggiemee

[X] 16 yeast old
No. of Votes: 1
[X] krzys2000

[X] Catalyst Magic- A mix of a fusion and collection type magic. Alex can take crystalized aspects and elements from defeated enemies, allowing him to fuse them to create new spells and abilities. (Rage from a Rage Demon+Strength from a Pride Demon= Strength of Emotion: The angrier you get the stronger your spells) With enough work you could possibly learn to fuse Aspects into items to empower them. Medium Audience influence, as we could be smart about what we get and give opinions on what Fusions should result in, but QM could also decide what it results in.
No. of Votes: 1
[X] SilverSlyr

[X] Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
No. of Votes: 1
[X] maggiemee

[X] Summoning Magic. A mix between the fantasy of magic and the work of a public relations/hiring representative. Alex can call upon the aid of a wide range of magically summoned entities. Angels, djinn, demons, spirits, fae, androids, humanoid mortals, etc. However, Alex must outline the task or service he wishes for the entity to be able to provide, and the end result of his summon will be heavily influenced by what he chooses to offer/sacrifice/provide the summoning as payment. Chosen by us, the audience of course~ Once summoned, entities are loyal to their summoner, but that can look vastly different depending on their nature.
No. of Votes: 1
[X] World Reader


Total No. of Voters: 18
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

So, I'm going to Game of Thrones. I know... approximately nothing about it, beyond what I got from osmosis. This is going to be interesting. Going to have to use the wiki a lot. If anyone has any links or helps, it's appreciated.

Secret Secretion said:
How does Sympathy Magic sound? Like voodoo dolls, you have to have another object very similar to the target in order to have an effect on it. I like how limited it is, the requirement to get hairs or blood from a person is hard, as is the necessity of preparing a scale model before being able to affect the terrain around you. It's much less open-ended than other forms of magic, and it's more clear what it can and can't do.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

It sounds good, but you need to put it in a vote. Also, voting is closed for that - for now - but you can keep it for the next time. Anyway, to writing...
 
More White. Snow White, to be precise. New
Place: White

I stared at the screen, studying the words in it. It wasn't what I expected, but it also wasn't something stupid or useless. In fact, if I understood things properly, it was... potentially really strong. With time. Which didn't mean that I would have that time, but, well... I could just hope. Still...

"Concepts. That's... an interesting kind of magic."

[You have been granted: Concept Magic.]
[Concept Magic: A magic that is based on the observation of the world around the user. By observing and extrapolating various aspects, your repertoire of magics grow. You can also mix the various concepts together, adding, or subtracting, them.]
[Sub-Magic: Enchanting (Locked), Alchemy (Locked)]
[Current Concepts Known: /]​

No freebies, uh? Sort of expected. Also, there was no real mention of how I would acquire these concepts, just... observing. Observing what, though? Anything? Or specific things? I wasn't sure. "Any explanation?"

I had asked mostly for a hope of something happening, but I didn't really expect for something to happen. Yet, an explanation appeared.

[Observation of anything and everything around, with the intent of observing, will grant insight in how a concept work. With the word 'Concept', we are talking about anything and everything that exist and can be perceived in some way. A bird in flight could grant the concept of Fly, or Wings, or Movement, or Feather, or Bird.]​

"Well... at least I'm not going to run out of things to learn anytime soon." I muttered, reading the latest message. Then, finally, the White all around me started to change: it shivered and trembled, long colorless lines streaking around the place.

"What...?" I turned my head - and I had a head. And a body. And hair, and clothes, and... everything that a male body had. Feelings came a moment later, with pressure and heat and cold and... shivering. Pinpricks, like pin and needles. And more. Slamming against me, like a truck.

I fell. And then kept falling, as another screen appeared in front of me. With more words. More information. I was barely coherent enough to read them.

[World Destination: Westeros. Before Robert Baratheon's visit to Winterfell.]
[Appropriate Age: 14 years old.]​

"What?!" I screeched, my voice reaching a pitch that was... not really masculine. "Come ON! Not there!"

Silence.

"At least it's not Brockton Bay... Or Warhammer..." I muttered to myself, before I saw the White change. It was now white. And black. And blue, red, gold, streaks of silver on blue, splashes of red and green and spring and summer, a circle around autumn and winter, before...

...I fainted.


Place: Somewhere cold. And snowy. (Wolfswood)
Time: Unknown (First day of 298 AC, barely after midnight)
Situation: Fucked

The first thing that I felt when I woke up was the cold. It was a dry and powdery sort of cold, but it made me shiver. Not too much, as I was still just arrived, and also dressed in heavy clothes. Furs, and wool, and... something like linen? I wasn't sure. But it was... appropriate to the setting. No boxers for me.

I admit that I shed a tear to that. Then, I got up - wobbling a bit, as I had just recovered a body, and also I was shorter than before - and patted myself. The pants were made of some sort of... cotton, I think. Or more wool. Maybe a mix? I didn't know. But I was pretty sure that they weren't really waterproof. So I patted the snow away. The boots were soft leather, sewn tight and didn't felt like I had to break them in.

Which was good, as getting a blister in this situation would suck. Still, they were far from the comfortable shoes that I had in the modern world, so...

"Ouch." I muttered, in pre-emptive pain, before looking around.

It was dark. But there was no wind, at least. The only light that I had was the moon, and even that was just a few patches behind the snow-heavy clouds, and the canopy of the evergreen trees that surrounded me.

There was an intense smell of pines. Along with something sharp that I could only categorize as the smell of 'coldness'.

"S-so..." I wans't shivering - yet - but it was only because of the heavy furs. And I knew that if I remained here, I would freeze to death before dawn came - assuming some other beast didn't grab me before. "Better start. While I walk. I guess. I hope. Fuck me."

Muttering to myself, I collected my hair and lifted up the hood of my jacket, covering most of my head. Only my face was uncovered, and I had a thick scarf to cover it.

"What was the rule? Waxing moon, back to the west, waning moon, back to the east?" Rubbing my gloved hands together, I tried to find a better spot to see the moon. As long as it wasn't full, I could have at least a better idea of the directions... Assuming that the moon in Westeros worked in the same way. But I was in the woods, in the dark, during a snowfall, without food or water, and with no idea where to go. The fact that I could see was already a miracle.

"If I can't find a way out, I'm going to have to dig under the snow and sleep there." Muttering to myself, I finally managed to see the moon in full, through a gap of the canopy. Full. Of course. The only reason why I didn't yell in frustration was because I didn't want to attract the attention of any beast that was around. Wolves, bears, boars... anything like that. Nope.

So, I just looked at the moon, looked around, and chose a random direction. I doubted that anyone was going to come and search for me, after all.

Direction vote: Which way I'm going? You can choose a specific city, or just a direction.
[] Write In


Without a watch, or a way to measure the movement of the moon, or... anything else, really, I didn't have a way to know how much time had passed. It didn't matter, I just walked forward. Slowly, trudging through the snow, using a random fallen branch as walking stick to help my movement.

It didn't help as much as I hoped, but it helped slightly. At least, it helped in not hitting a sudden rock underneath the snow. Better than nothing.

And, while I was walking, I tried the whole 'observation' thing that the screen in the White had told me. Considering the place and the situation, I focused on the snow.

I watched the way the snowflakes twirled in the air before landing. I felt how the snow compacted underneath my feet where I walked. How it formed a thin, glimmering crust where new flakes didn't reach. How it seemed to irradiate cold around itself, even if I knew that it wasn't how it worked. How it was soft. And yet sharp. How the smell of cold air was making my nose feel like it was going to bleed. It was multitudes in a single thing.

So, I walked, and observed.

How does Observation work: Once Alex has chosen a subject, the audience choose what he learns. As before, Write-Ins are welcome and encouraged. Some example of what Alex can learn from Snow: Cold, Soft, Snow, Light (Weight). Please keep the concept learned attinent to what Alex is observing.
For more complicated concepts, there may be a minimum of votes needed, or something. I haven't decided, yet. I'm open to suggestions. So...
What does Alex Learn, if anything?
[] Write In

And also, does something happens? Can be anything: pack of wolves, boars, men finding him, stumbling into the Heartwood... Your choice guys. Just remembed that Alex is me with a better body, but with basically zero ability to defend himself. If you put him against a pack of wolves, this quest is going to end very quickly.
[] Write In
 
Ohhhhh, Enchanting and Alchemy as sub magics are interesting. I can't wait to unlock those. As for my Votes...

[X] North
[X] Observing Snow? Try to get the Concept of Cold from it, maybe it'll gelp warm you up?
[X] Anything Happen? Alex stumbles upon a dilapidated Hunters cabin. No way can he find food or anything, but maybe he can stay the night inside and scavenge some old clothes better suited for the cold?
 
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[X] North
[X] Observing Snow? Try to get the Concept of Cold from it, maybe it'll gelp warm you up?
[X] Anything Happen? Alex stumbles upon a dilapidated Hunters cabin. No way can he find food or anything, but maybe he can stay the night inside and scavenge some old clothes better suited for the cold?
 
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[X] North
[X] Observing Snow? Try to get the Concept of Cold from it, maybe it'll help warm you up?
[X] Anything Happen? Alex stumbles upon a dilapidated Hunters cabin. No way can he find food or anything, but maybe he can stay the night inside and scavenge some old clothes better suited for the cold?
 
[X] Winterfell
[X] Observe Snow. He could try and learning Cold and put Not before it...
[X] Observe Trees to get Structure to start making a temporary shelter
 
[X] North
[X] Observing Snow? Try to get the Concept of Cold from it, maybe it'll help warm you up?
[X] Anything Happen? Alex stumbles upon a dilapidated Hunters cabin. No way can he find food or anything, but maybe he can stay the night inside and scavenge some old clothes better suited for the cold?
 
[X] North
[X] Observing Snow? Try to get the Concept of Cold from it, maybe it'll gelp warm you up?
[X] Anything Happen? Alex stumbles upon a dilapidated Hunters cabin. No way can he find food or anything, but maybe he can stay the night inside and scavenge some old clothes better suited for the cold?
 
Adhoc vote count started by Yuki no Yue on Sep 30, 2026 at 6:37 PM, finished with 9 posts and 6 votes.
  • [X] North
    [X] Anything Happen? Alex stumbles upon a dilapidated Hunters cabin. No way can he find food or anything, but maybe he can stay the night inside and scavenge some old clothes better suited for the cold?
    [X] Observing Snow? Try to get the Concept of Cold from it, maybe it'll gelp warm you up?
    [X] Observing Snow? Try to get the Concept of Cold from it, maybe it'll help warm you up?
    [X] Winterfell
    [X] Observe Snow. He could try and learning Cold and put Not before it...
    [X] Observe Trees to get Structure to start making a temporary shelter
Click to expand...


This is a test to see if the tally program of the site works better than the one I used until now.

It... looks a little better. Anyway, voting is still open, at least for another four days or so.
 
Walking towards the Dawn New
Place: Somewhere cold. And snowy. (Wolfswood... somewhere)
Time: Unknown (First day of 298 AC, three hours after midnight, seven hours to dawn)
Situation: Starting to improve slowly

I kept trying to Observe the snow that was still falling down from the dark sky, trying to grasp whatever kind of 'Concept' it could have. The main problem was, of course, that I had no idea how it worked: I was going entirely blind. Barely a hope and a prayer - to... no one, really. Just... In general - while also trying to fall into a sort of meditative state. Not that I could, I had neveer been able to meditate in my entire life. Still... It was worth a shot. If nothing else, I could distract myself before ending as a frozen corpse in the snow.

Who knew, maybe I would stumble on some bandits, while shivering to death-

[Concept understood: Cold]​

And then... I understood.

It was so much more than I could have ever thought it would be. It was just too much, too sudden, too - ehe - cold for me to- And then I was fine. Better than fine. I could feel the interaction of the movement of heat in a single direction - away from a body - and how it stopped the molecular... even the atomic movement of matter and energy. The steady march of everything towards entropy, the loss of... movement, heat, life? I didn't have the words for something that I knew intimately, as much as I knew how to breathe or how to see or smell or taste.

It just was. And I knew how to...

My hand lifted upwards, up to my eye level, before I closed my fist. There was a rush of energy - Magic - from the center of my body. Something lower than my heart, but higher than my stomach, something around my sternum, or behind my lungs, but deeper as well. It wasn't coming from my navel, nor from my head. And not from just one point, either. It was more that it came from my entire body, collected in that unspecified point inside my body, and then moved to my hand when I called upon it.

A moment later, I stopped getting colder. Somehow.

I knew how it was working, to... a certain level. I was using my mana - well, whatever energy magic used to happen. Lacking a better word for it, I was using mana - to stop the heat from escaping my body. Or, in other words, I was stopping myself from getting colder. Which is not something I thought I could do. But, apparently, I could.

It was awesome. And strange. But mostly awesome. Then...

"Am I going to cook myself from the inside out?" Blinking, I looked down at myself. If the heat couldn't escape my body, but it kept building... In theory, I would end up slow cooked. Like a steamed piece of chicken.

Shivering in fear, and shaking my head to dispel the images that had come into my head, I returned to my walk. I had no idea where I was going, or if I was even going somewhere, but, well... Remaining still in the middle of a forest at night didn't sound like the best idea, when you knew that no one was coming to search for you.


Place: Somewhere cold. And snowy. (Wolfswood... somewhere)
Time: Unknown (First day of 298 AC, four hours after midnight, six hours to dawn)
Situation: Tired

I was tired. Which, hey, it made sense: I had been walking in tall snow for the last... I don't know how long. The only thing I knew was that the snow was high enough that I could have been skiing on it, if I had a pair of skies.

My attempts to add more 'Cold' to the snow to freeze it and make a sort of... sled, or something like that, didn't work. Somehow it either came out too slippery, exploded into shards - which, beyond being pretty, were also pretty sharp - or, in one occasion, made a sapling explode as I brought the internal temperature of the tree low enough that the sap froze and expanded all at the same time.

That... made me think of doing the same thing to a human body, and I decided that I didn't want to think about it anymore. After that, the experimentation had been shelved and I kept walking. In the dark. And the snow. But I wasn't cold.

Also, for some reason, but I chalked it to 'Required Secondary Powers', I didn't cook myself by stopping the heat from escaping my body. Either that, or I hadn't produced enough heat to cook myself alive, but was working towards it.

For the sake of my mental health, I chose to call it the first option and shelve the whole thing.

...

It was really boring, walking in the forest at night. Sure, at first there was the mortal terror, the fact that I was sure, in the way someone walking in complete darkness in an unfamiliar place, that someone or something would pounce on me and savagely rip me to shred, or the panic of getting lost and dying of thirst and starvation in the middle of a forest... And I was starting to work myself up to a panic attack, so better focus on what I was thinking before.

It was boring. After a while, the human mind can't keep pumping the panic-chemicals and adrenaline and stress chemicals and whatnot: it has a finite supply. So, I went into a sort of... half-bored, half-stressed lull, where I kept walking, hoping to find something. Someone. Somewhere.

Anything, really. I don't deal well with boredom.

Fortunately, just as I was startingo to consider how I could use semi-controlled Cold application to section one of these enormous trees - or more than one - to build a half-working shelter, I stumbled onto a clearing in the middle of the creepy, dark woods.

It was almost something out of a movie: the trees opened into a clearing that didn't have any trees, but a dilapidated... Hut? Cabin? I'm gonna call it a 'hut', less horror movie vibes than 'cabin'. It was made of wooden logs, that looked between 'frozen' and 'well kept'. However, it had a hole in the roof, where it had collapsed due to the snow accumulating over it, and no windows. Well, no, it had windows, but it didn't have any glass. Instead, there was some sort of wooden slats, similar to a shutter - covering the openings. The door... was there. Sort of. It was there, but it was half open, for some reason.

All in all, it looked like the classic abandoned hut. If it was an erborist's hut, an hunter's hut, or the refuge for some smugglers, I had no idea. Still, it was a shelter. Even if it was in bad condition, it was still a shelter. It was more than what I had before a moment ago.

The insides were dark, as the only light came from the hole in the roof and what little reflected light the snow gave through the windows, and covered in dust. No cobwebs or bugs: with the cold that was in here, they were all probably underground or... wherever they made their nest. Beyond that, I could see a crude square chest - no metal fittings or locks, which was... an interesting detail - secured with a frozen leather cord, a couple of chairs, and the frame of a bed. And a firepit in the center of the building.

It was cold. In more than one sense. It was cold like a dead things is cold: empty, devoid of movement and purpose and life. My first steps left tracks in the frozen layer of snow and dust inside the hut, two perfect shapes, before the floor turned clean enough that my imprints couldn't be seen anymore, beyond a vague outline in the dust.

Testing the wooden slat that probably had held a mattress, I found it built sturdy and still solid, so I sat down and breathed for a moment. Just... a minute.


Getting back up after sitting down had been particularly hard: my legs felt like they were made of lead. Still, I managed: there was a chest to check. I didn't think that there would be anything useful inside, but who knew: maybe I could get lucky.

...I wonder if there was a way to get the concept of 'Luck'...

...

Probably not. I felt like it was something too complicated and too high level for me, right now. Still... Need to keep it in mind. Just in case.

The chest had... nothing useful. A few pieces of leather, rotting cloth that was once a cloack, some firewood - not much, just a couple of logs and a few branches - underneath, and... that was it. Nothing more. No treasure, no secret compartment, nothing. And yes, I checked. Just in case.

My eyes slid towards the firepit for a moment. Should I try to light a fire? If I managed, I could get the 'Fire' concept, or... something like that. The main problem was... I had no way to light a fire. Or...

I looked down at the smaller branches. There was one way, maybe. Maybe. If rubbing branches together to create enough friction to make a fire worked...

"Nah." Shaking my head, I checked the chest one last time, moving the leather and cloth on the bedframe. Maybe there was something hidden under the wood: a piece of flint, a knife, something...?


Nothing.

"Not my lucky day, uh?" I hummed to myself, before trying to adjust the improvised bedding materials to offer at least a little bit of softness. Not that it worked, but, well... worth a shot.

Lying on the old bedframe, only rotten cloth and leather as a mattress, I looked towards the logs that formed the roof. There was a chance that they were weakened - structurally speaking, for all that I knew about it - and they would fall and crush me. With a bit of luck, it would be a quick death.

Still... I observed the 'Darkness'. As much as it's possible to observe something like that. I tried. And kept trying.

Until I fell asleep.

My first night in Westeros had passed, and I was still alive. For now.

Voting options:
Alex is currently observing 'Darkness'. Does he learn any concept?
[] Yes
-[] Write in what concept he learns
[] No

Does anything happens in the morning?
[] Yes
-[] What? Remember, you are not choosing Alex's actions, only what is happening to him.
[] No

What's the closest town/city to him?
[] Write In

Sorry for not giving a whole week, but I got excited. Hope you liked the update.
 
[X] Concept Learned: Yes
-[X] Deception
[X] Anything Happen: Yes: A person comes across the cabin.
 
[X] Yes
-[X] Lacking (darkness is Lacking light)

[X] Anything Happen: Yes: A bandit comes across the cabin.
 
[X] Yes
-[X] Shadow (I liked Worlds better)

[X] Anything Happen: Yes: Alex is woken up by being poked with the cold nose of a hunting dog. If there's a dog around, where's the hunter?
 
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[X] Yes
-[X] Shadow

[X] Anything Happen: Yes: Alex is woken up by being poked with the cold nose of a hunting dog. If there's a dog around, where's the hunter?
 
[X] Yes
-[X] Shadow

[X] Anything Happen: Yes: Alex is woken up by being poked with the cold nose of a hunting dog. If there's a dog around, where's the hunter?
 
Alex is currently observing 'Darkness'. Does he learn any concept?
[X] Yes
-[X] Dark Worlds (Deltarune)

Does anything happens in the morning?
[X] Yes
-[X] Alex is woken up by being poked with the cold nose of a hunting dog. If there's a dog around, where's the hunter?

What's the closest town/city to him?
[X] Torrhen's Square
 
Adhoc vote count started by Yuki no Yue on Oct 11, 2026 at 7:50 PM, finished with 6 posts and 6 votes.
  • [X] Anything Happen: Yes: Alex is woken up by being poked with the cold nose of a hunting dog. If there's a dog around, where's the hunter?
    [X] Yes
    -[X] Shadow
    [X] Concept Learned: Yes
    -[X] Deception
    [X] Anything Happen: Yes: A person comes across the cabin.
    [X] Yes
    -[X] Lacking (darkness is Lacking light)
    [X] Anything Happen: Yes: A bandit comes across the cabin.
    [X] Yes
    -[X] Shadow (I liked Worlds better)
    [X] Yes
    -[X] Dark Worlds (Deltarune)
    [X] Yes
    -[X] Alex is woken up by being poked with the cold nose of a hunting dog. If there's a dog around, where's the hunter?
    [X] Torrhen's Square
Click to expand...


Well, Shadows it is. Also, dog. Frankly, I'm more of a cat person, but whatever.

Only one voted for the town, so that one wins by default.

Kinda sorry that there are only six votes, but I hope that more people will come see the more the quest go on. Anyway, onto writing.
 
Sharp Awakenings. New
Time: Night
Place: Abandoned Hunter's Hut
Situation: Fucked

Still... I observed the 'Darkness'. As much as it's possible to observe something like that. I tried. And kept trying.

Until I fell asleep.

My first night in Westeros had passed, and I was still alive. For now.

How could someone observe darness? It... Darkness wasn't something - Kingdom Hearts notwithstanding - but it was hte lack of something. An absence. How can you observe the absence of something?
And I just realized that I have answered my own question. You start by realizing that something is missing, then you start analyzing that. Or, at least, that's how I interpreted the whole thing. So, I started thinking and looking at the wavering darkness on the ceiling. Slowly, it resolved into more distinct, even if still abstracted, shapes. Degrees of black onto the dusty brown-grey of the semi-frozen wood that formed the ceiling.

The fact that the 'bed' I was laying on was extremely uncomfortable didn't help, but I was tired enough that I just ignored it as much as possible.

Still, I kept my eyes trained on the ceiling, watching how the darkness shifted and changed, how it lengthened, stretched, turned shorter, or deeper, and all of sudden I realized that I was looking at the shadows of the trees outside, when...

[Concept Understood: Shadow]​

...the meaning of what a shadow was slammed into my head. Contrary to before, I fainted right away, both my tiredness and the effort of learning two concepts so fast, so close to each other too much for me. Yet? Or ever? I didn't know.

I just knew that the shadows greeted me when I fell asleep.


Time: Morning/Mid-Morning (First day, First month, 298 AC)
Place: Abandoned Hunter's Hut (Wolfswood)
Situation: Alive. Not Cold

I would like to say that I woke up slowly, as the cobwebs of sleep and dreams kept my eyelids closed and my mind muddled, but I can't. Because I felt something cold, wet, and cold press against the skin on my side, insistently. I screeched, a high-pitches sound, jumping up in surprise and fright.

"What the-!?" Looking around, my eyes fell onto a... wolf? dog? mix?

I only knew that he was big, packed with muscles, a sable and white coat, sharp white fangs, and deep amber eyes that glittered like gems in the morning light. And that he was looking at me with an unnatural intelligence.

Or, at least, he had been intelligent enough to find the only spot of my body that my clothes didn't cover enough to stop the freezing nose to reach my skin. And give me a big enough fright to definitely wake me up.

"Ok..." I managed to say, curling on myself and trying to stay away from the... wolf/dog that was looking at me with a curious gaze, but also had a lot of fangs. "Nice... wolf and/or dog... I'm not good to eat..." No, I didn't know what I was saying, I was just trying to speak in a soothing, calming tone, as I didn't have a way to remove the wolf/dog from this place that wasn't lethal. And I didn't want to kill an animal, unless I was going to die suddenly.

The wolf/dog 'boofed', putting his paws on the bedframe and leaning forward to sniff at my face, tongue lolling and eyes glittering. I leaned back.

There was the smell of blood in the air.

I would say that my blood ran cold in my veins, but I couldn't be cold. Not even from that. Still, it was a strange feeling, knowing that I was terrified, but that I wasn't paralyzed by the feeling. It was unnatural, and I didn't like it. My body didn't know how to understand it.

I didn't know how to understand it. In fact, I moved from terrified to confused all of sudden, remaining still. Just... like I was rebooting my mind, looking straight in front of me. Until I saw the wolf/dog come closer. And open his mouth. In a moment, I understood what it was going to do.

"No." I didn't shout, but I did push the wolf/dog backwards, one hand on his nose. "Don't lick me. I'm a cat person. Don't you dare." He was pushing his nose against my hand, trying to reach my face, tongue lolling out, a dopey doggy grin on his face, his tail wagging violently behind him. "No, no, I don't want to be licked, keep your tongue to yourself, don't you dare...!"

"Heel, Buddy." The voice - masculine, deep, scratchy, old - took me by surprise. And the wolf/dog. In fact, the animal turned his head towards the man that had just entered the ruined hut. He was a stocky man, built solid, dressed in grey, dark blues and browns, a small shield embroidered on his chest, in brown with three green trees, with a hunting bow on his back, what looked like the sheathe of a knife or a sword at the belt, at least three knives that I could see, the quiver for the bow, and the pouches hanging at the belt. And the two dead rabbits hanging on a rope, tied by their hindlegs. "Don't bother the..."

The man - the hunter - gave me a long look, and I gulped. And I was still pushing the dog away. "The lad." And he nodded, clicking his tongue sharply. The dog - Buddy? - whined and turned to look at the hunter, boofing again, low and pleading. Only to get a second click of the tongue and a sharp, staccato whistle, which made the dog whinte even more, the tail drooping down. He even gave the hunter a second, pleading look.

It did nothing, except make the hunter sigh. "No, Buddy. That stopped working after two months. Heel." The dog stopped whining and sat down near the hunter's feet, somehow looking grumpy, but not as sad as before.

Smart dog.

"Ah... thank you?" I managed to say, uncurling a little, while rubbing my hands against my trousers. More from nerves than anything else. "I'm... Alex."

"Alex." The hunter looked at me, studied me. But he didn't seem to be particularly cruel, or predatory, or... anything else, really. Just... observing. Of course, I knew that it didn't mean anything, but, well... I could hope that things would go well, and wouldn't end with me dying horribly.

...slavery was banned in Westeros, right?

"I'm Emmon." The hunter - Emmon - said, taking a step forward, slowly enough that it was clear that it wasn't some sort of threat, but also self-assured enough that made it clear that he didn't consider me a danger, and cocked his head to the side. Buddy, the dog, did the exact same thing. It was a bit eerie. And also a bit funny.

"Emmon of Torrhen's Square. And from where do you hail, Alex? Why is a child of no more than two and ten years in an old, abandoned hut in the middle of the Wolfswood? The first day of the new year?"

It was the first... Really. I would have looked upwards, unimpressed about it, if it wasn't for the fact that there was Emmon here. Also, I had no idea what or where Torrhen's Square was. I was guessing a town or village or something like that. Still...

I could just tell the truth. Well, some of the truth.

"I... come from nowhere, have nowhere to go. I have no one that I can call father, mother, family, in this world." I tried to keep my voice as toneless as possible. Not sure if I managed. "And I don't know where I was: I found myself in the middle of the forest, alone, without food or water, and I just walked until I found this hut. So I went to sleep. And I'm four and ten, not two and ten." Dumb way to count years, but that was just my opinion.

Emmon looked at me, a look of profound skepticism on his face. Still, he didn't say anything. But I could... No, I could imagine what he was thinking, but I couldn't know for sure, and whatever I could imagine would be tainted by my biases. Better to not judge before having at least a solid idea.

"Nowhere to go. Nowhere to go back to." Emmon hummed, one hand going to a small knife at his belt, fingertips tapping at the handle, absentmindedly. It was more of a tic than a threat, or at least I hoped so. "Ye know how that sound, lad, yeah? Awfully suspicious."

I gulped a little, trying to not start to cry in fear, or attempt to use what magic I knew: I didn't want to kill someone that hadn't hurt me, or done anything to me, and using Shadows when I hadn't had the chance to understand how to use them was just a recipe for disaster.

"I... I know. But it's the truth. There's no one around here that will claim me as part of their family. I can swear this." Licking my lips, I fidgeted a little to not squirm too much, fingers twisting together. Emmon hummed again.

"Say that I believe you, lad. Still doesn't explain why you're here. And how you're not frozen stiff. Or shivering." He took another step forward, his hand firming on a different, bigger knife. I gulped, before my mouth fell open, wondering what to say to salvage a situation that I hadn't even notice that it was spiraling down towards a possibly deadly confrontation, when....

GGRRRUUURRGGHHH...

I froze and turned red, not in panic, but in embarassment: my stomach chose that moment to grumble, as I hadn't eaten anything since last night, and now that it was already late morning, I was starting to feel hunger.

'This is how I die. Not by blade or arrow, but by embarassment.' I thought, eyes wide, face reddening more and more with every moment it passed.

Emmon, however, stopped for a moment, before he emitted a loud, long, belly laugh, head thrown back, one hand on his own stomach. That was even more embarassing.

"Here, lad." He took out a square of something from his pouch and threw it at me. "Traveler's ration. Will hold you up until we're back at Torrhen's Square. You can stay at my house for a night, at least. Then we'll see what to do with you. Come, Buddy." And Emmon turned and started walking out of the hut. I followed him: I didn't really have any other option, not realistic ones, anyway.

So, I followed behind the much taller hunter. And... wow. I was really short, against him. Curious.

So, that's what happened. For now. Now, up to you: What does happen? Is Emmon trustworthy? Or does he have something in mind? I don't know. You all can choose, though.
[] Write In (Example of possible votes: social position, if he's tricking Alex or not, if he's going to ask for something back or not, anything that would fits with a hunter.)
 
[X] Emmon takes Alex back to Torrhen's Square. He is not tricking Alex outright, but he is expecting something back for his troubles. He is a decently respected huntsman in Torrhen Square, but ultimately a commoner of simple birth. He lives with his kindly old mother, who rules the local laundry maids of the castle with a wrinkled fist!
 
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