*Chirp *Chirp *Chirp
Hearing a sound far from familiar, a man tiredly rose from a sheet out of curiosity and caution. With his head hurting, and his back in pain, he could scent a faint smell of alcohol wafting in the air. It has been years since the last time he drank, but he remembered it well since it was the only thing keeping him going all those years back before he woke up somewhere else.
'Urgh, am I hallucinating?'
However, something else started startling him. His below was rather soft and his surroundings were dark as ink. There wasn't the wood log he usually leaned on, the bonfire he lit just the night before, nor the morning light that brought him to his wake.
It wasn't the place he last slept in.
"What is...this? A bed sheet?"
Touching around the bedsheet, he could feel the sweat that soaked practically the whole thing, a thin blanket at the other end, and a fallen glass bottle lying next to it. This was another confirmation of his doubts, that he had once again woken up somewhere else.
As his eyes got used to the darkness, he grabbed ahold of the bottle and slowly stood up from his sheet. Both his headache and backache have numbed considerably, so he believed it was best to start moving.
Scanning around, he could sense no immediate danger approaching him so he decided to search for a source of light instead. As a matter of fact, since there was no natural light in the room at all, he could still barely see anything at all. Hell, his other senses are doing most of the work to help him visualize the whole place.
'There are so many empty bottles lying around, and what's with all these stacks?'
With every move he took, his feet touched another bottle, sending it against another to produce a clinking sound. He also stumbled upon trash bags, the source of the stinking smell mixing in with the alcohol. Ultimately, he decided to pick up the fallen bottles and set them standing upright for more space to move in.
After a little while, he finally reached what seems to be a door, feeling a small protruding knob with his left hand. Just in case, he took a stance to prepare for any incoming traps.
*Click
The door wasn't locked nor did any traps got triggered upon its opening, but the man still pushed it slowly. Light began to slowly seep in, taking the man by surprise and revealing the room in its entirety. Taking a step back, the man covered his eyes while still in his stance. It was unbelievably bright for his standards.
'Tch.'
Little by little, he took off his hand and carefully opened his eyes. In front of him was a steel railing on a small gray pathway with little cracks. Stepping out, he discovered a small cover above his head giving some semblance of shade that was overwhelmed by sunlight.
"How long has it been since I last saw a sun that bright?"
From the deepest part of his memory, most of the places he woke up in had tame to virtually no sunlight. There was even one where the moon took over permanently, leaving the dark sky to reign over the region. That was why he was taken aback by this trivial happening.
Walking to the railings, he took a look around the place. To his right was a stair leading down to the ground level, which extended toward what looks like a main road, albeit less rough and filled with tall poles on the side. The poles were connected by some sort of black cords, and on it were the culprits of the noise that woke him - the birds.
He doesn't understand what the cords are, but he felt it was for transmitting something since it ran in a long line. As for the birds, he couldn't help but think they were miniature versions of what he slayed in the past. Even the eggs were bigger than them.
Past the road was a building that looked somewhat similar to his, aligned with many others of different shapes and sizes, all of which look unlike any designs in his head. People were also walking cheerily in proper clothes, a sight he never witness before. Last he remembered, most were in tandem, in despair, or just eager to fight against others for their sakes and goals. It was as if everything was at war with each other.
He was in shock and thus decided to head back in and organize his thought.
"Please wait right there, Mister!"
Just as he turned back, a feminine voice called out for him. It was a language he didn't know, but he instinctively understood what she said. He wasn't sure it was him but he turned around once again to see two people in dark black attire running up the stairs. Their outfits bore a mysterious elegance aura to them, making the man think he was dealing with someone rich, even though he had never seen those before.
"Yes?" He replied, feeling nervous at the encounter.
"Can you please come with us for a moment?" Bringing along a hurried manner, the woman with brunette hair tied into a ponytail asked him.
"Um, what is this about?"
On second thought, he was wary of these shady-looking people. For the record, black was a beautiful color, but never one of good revelations. At least to the man, he had never met anything positive that was black. They were all either trying to kill him or working against him.
"Ah, right. Where are my manners? I am Jane and the guy behind me is Joey, we're from the Returner Association."
"The Returner Association?" The man tilted his head, confused by the name.
"Yes. Our Association detects Returners and sent people to collect them for questions and possibly help accommodate them with basic needs so they can adapt to this new environment. We're in charge of dealing with Returners of all kinds so that they don't wreck things over. To put it simply, you are currently in our custody as a Returner."
"Huh?"
There was a lot for the man to take in. First was the peaceful scenery, next was the strange building structures, and now he was to be dragged away for inquiries forcefully by two individuals he knew nothing but the name of. There was only so much he could swallow.
"Can I...refuse?"
"Technically, no." The woman let out a stone-cold answer.
"What if I don't comply right away?"
"Then we just have to resort to force." Both the man and the woman began exuding fierce mana, but he thought nothing of it.
"What if I beat you two?"
"Then you'll be hunted by the whole association. Keep in mind we're nowhere even near the strongest force they have."
Even though the woman was smiling, there was an obvious threatening undertone to what she said. The man didn't know how strong or how many there are, which meant things could turn out badly and extremely troublesome if he chose the wrong answer. The way she expressed herself also indicates she was serious about what she said.
"I see..."
The man is naturally a cautious man who always seeks the best way to survive, so it was for the better that he followed them back to their base. Granted, he didn't have much choice either way.
"I have no choice."
"Great. We have a car parked over there. Follow us."