Chapter 1: Awakening
First, warmth. A feeling of warmth. Then Pain.
"Ow. My head hurts!" Lorenth though.
He opened his eyes slowly. The bright light hurt his eyes and it took a moment for his eyes to adjust. The blue skies were overhead and the sun was pouring down.
Lorenth moaned as he tried to sit up. He was sitting in the middle of a wide field somewhere… the grass underneath him was soft. Trees lines the field on all sides. Maybe "field" wasn't the correct term, it was more like a small clearing the in the middle of a woods. He could hear birds chirping in the trees.
"Where am I?" he thought.
He couldn't remember anything. Well, that wasn't true. He could remember his name: Lorenth; age: 26; likes and dislikes, and so on. He just couldn't remember anything about where he was from, how he got here, or what he generally did in life. It was like most of his memory was just a big black void.
He struggled unsteadily to his feet. His clothes. They didn't feel familiar. He was wrapped in loose fitting robes? No not robes, they were some sort of rough cloth. He blinked as everything still became clearer still.
Not robes. He wore a pair of rough brown pants, and some sort of dark red blousy shirt, the ensemble was completed with a yellow sash tied around his waist. His feet were clad in brown sandals made of a course leather, with metal buckles around his ankle.
He reached up and rubbed his throbbing head. Then he stopped… What!?! Wait a second. Where was his hair?
In a mild panic, he reached up and ran his hand across his head. He could have sworn he had a full head of hair, what was this? He was absolutely completely bald! Why? Did some sick joker shave his head while he was sleeping?
He looked around to find something to check his reflection, but there was nothing.
Then he spotted the bag on the ground. Next to him was a simple brown bag tied onto a staff of some sort. The staff was simply a wood rod with a small iron band around the ends. He reached to untie the bag, but stopped before he actually reach the bag. That was strange. He pulled up his sleeve and found that his entire arm was covered in a tattoo! His hair AND someone had tattooed his arm? What the hell? Strangely, it didn't hurt. It was like the tattoo was old and had already healed. He pulled the sleeve higher with a sense of mild trepidation to see what it was.
Thankfully, at least whoever did it to him had a good sense of taste. Wrapping around his arm was a phoenix tattoo made with brilliantly colored black, reds, orange, and even metallic gold inks. It coiled up his arm and… he peaked inside his shirt, yes… it covered his entire shoulder as well. It was impressive work, and seemed almost like the flames glowed. He had never seen a tattoo with this much detail before.
He furrowed his brow in thought, but decided that in his condition it was too much. Instead, Lorenth reached for the bag on the ground and untied the knot.
There wasn't much inside. It looked like a bottle filled with some sort of clear fluid, a small container (he opened it and sniffed the contents) filled with a salve of some kind, and a single gold bracelet. There were also a few scraps of meat. That was a relief… he was feeling mildly hungry. He popped a piece of meat in his mouth and chewed. It was dried meat for sure, though he couldn't identify the type. It tasted salty and good enough to eat.
He put on the bracelet, and then he tied the bag back onto the staff.
"Well… now what?" He said out loud.
He opted to explore his surroundings. He hadn't completed his first circuit of the clearing when he heard some noises in the forest. It sounded like something large was coming this way!
Looking around he spotted a cluster of low bushes just inside the edge of the forest. That would have to do. Without any fanfare he grabbed his, he assumed, stuff and took cover behind them.
Rustle, rustle, rustle. The noise came near and stopped. Lorenth held his breath.
"Are you sure you heard something, Strix?" A voice came from the woods nearby. It was high pitched, but sort of had a raspy.
"Shhhhhh. You'll give us away!" The other voice spoke just as loudly. Whomever these folks were, they obviously weren't very smart.
"Whatever, there is no one here! I told you that you were hearing things… hey! MM MMMMM MMMMMMMM!"
"SHHHHH-YELP!" Strix practically screamed, "Hey no biting, Tilly!"
"Then keep your hands off of my face!" Tilly replied.
"That's it. You're going down! Aaaaaaah!"
With a crash two little blue goblins came rolling into the clearing, punching, biting, and clawing at each other.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Josh_Williquette
Josh_Williquette Welcome, dear reader, to a brand new world! You'll meet some familiar creatures, some new ones, and I hope you have a lot of fun!
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