Awakening

"Ugh, where the hell am I?" Adrian groaned as he awakened, opening his eyes to study his surroundings. He seemed to wake up in a lush green forest, filled with trees and grass. It was similar to a jungle. He stood up and curled his fists in anger.

"That bitch!" he screamed, angrily punching one of the nearby trees with all his might. However, instead of hurting himself, he seemed to have left a dent on the tree. Surprised, he backed away and looked at his fists, perking an eyebrow up in confusion. While he'd always been strong his entire life, damaging a tree to such a degree with a single punch was a realm of strength he knew he'd never been able to reach.

He tested it once again, punching another nearby tree, once again leaving the tree with a rather – no, very – noticeable dent. Looking around at the surrounding trees, he realized they were much shorter than he was used to; he seemed to have become taller than before. Either that or the trees shrunk. Confused, he walked over to a nearby lake to see his reflection, only to back away in alarm.

"...Why am I so much younger?" Adrian inquired to himself, feeling his smooth skin. He'd died at the age of 46, his hair already showing signs of going grey, a couple of wrinkles pronounced on his face. However, his reflection looked more like himself in his mid 20's. Now that he was thinking about it, he felt much younger as well, his body light and full of energy. However, he had no time to think of these things. The sun was setting soon.

"Now, where did that bitch send me?" His immediate surroundings weren't filled with anything that stood out. In fact, you could probably find a replica of this place anywhere on earth. His inner monologue was interrupted by some rustling. His instincts took control and he quickly prepared for a fight. However, he realized it was merely an insect that came out of the treeline.

"What...is that?" It was something Adrian had never seen before. It looked like a scorpion, but was much too big to be one; it was more or less the size of a lobster! Before he could think anymore, the insect looked at him and hissed like a snake. Adrian immediately upped his guard and grabbed a stick on the ground near him before preparing for a battle. If this insect was anything like a scorpion it was probably venomous, and Adrian couldn't afford to be poisoned when he didn't even know where he was.

The insect jumped towards Adrian and attempted to attack. Adrian, however, was prepared. He quickly took a step back, effectively avoiding it. The insect, after a moment of confusion, simply attacked Adrian again. Adrian noticed that its way of attack was the same as before, so after avoiding it once more, he prepared to strike the insect on its next attack.

Like Adrian predicted, the insect once again jumped off its hind legs and attempted to attack him. However, instead of sidestepping like before, Adrian brought the stick he was carrying down with all his force, interrupting the insect's jump and crushing it into pieces.

'...I forgot that my strength improved greatly,' Adrian thought, looking down at the dead insect. It was completely unrecognizable, having now become a mess of guts and pieces of flesh. 'Now what the fuck even was that? I am sure that something like that didn't exist on Earth.' He stopped thinking to let his eyes wander the surroundings, sighing profusely. 'I still have no clue where I am…' Suddenly, something caught his eyes. 'Is that smoke?' He noticed smoke coming between the trees in front of him. This got his hopes up; maybe he could find people there! Of course, he knew that these people might also be hostile, so he grabbed a tree branch before moving towards the smoke.

Watching the sunset to his left, he determined that he was heading South. However he wasn't even sure if the sun still rose from the east or not, so this was just speculation.

-

"I can't believe the master wants Manticores alive. That fucker doesn't realize how hard they are to catch alive," a man exclaimed in exasperation.

"The master doesn't give a shit about us, Draquero," another replied, chuckling grimly.

"Even so, does he not realize that Manticores are extremely aggressive, and a single sting would kill us within minutes?"

"Of course he knows that. But it doesn't matter. We have a job to do. Think about it. If we succeed, maybe he'll give us enough coins to visit a brothel and get some drinks," Haraphos reasoned.

With that, Draquero's face shot up with excitement. "Hehe, I heard that the whorehouse got a new one from the west. Apparently she's from Lys. Lyseni are said to be extremely beautiful. Gold platinum hair, delicate facial features-"

"Quit dreaming. A night with her would probably be expensive. I doubt that even your life savings would get you a single session."

"Tsk, but you don't know that for sure, do you?"

"I do. Now shut up and set up your tent. We're gonna settle for the night before continuing hunting tomorrow morning." The two men sat around a campfire, dressed in light armor and equipped with spears. As the sun set, they both started to set up their tents, intending to rest for the night and continue hunting the next day.

All the while, they were unaware that someone was watching them. Through the trees, there was a giant man. Standing around 6 foot 8, physique packed with muscles, he looked extremely intimidating. However, in contrast to his large size, he was as silent as a lion stalking his prey. Masterfully maneuvering amongst the jungle, Adrian calculated every step in order to not make a sound.

Upon approaching the smoke, he started to hear a conversation between two men. He was caught by surprise when he noticed the language the men were speaking. It sounded like nothing he had ever heard, but what really surprised him was that this language he had never heard before, was perfectly understood by him.

Taking advantage of this situation, he quietly eavesdropped on the two men, hoping to figure out where he was. After listening to their conversation, he was 100% sure the world he ended up in was not Earth. The clothes they were wearing were far too ancient, and he was sure he'd never known of any "Manticores" in his life. Lys was also a place that he had never heard of.

He quickly formed a plan and waited for around an hour for the two men to fall asleep before approaching their camp and stealing whatever rations of food, water, and weapons they had. As he looked through their bags, hoping to find some sort of map, one of the men woke up.

"Hey Draquerro, I'm gonna go take a piss. I'll let you know...when." Haraphos became quiet upon noticing the massive man in their camp going through their stuff and quickly took a knife out of his boot, pointing it at Adrian. "Who are you!?"

Adrian cursed his bad luck. Of course, he would get up to take a piss now. "My name is Adrian, now if you would be so kind as to tell me how to get to whatever place you hail from?"

"How do you speak our tongue!? You do not look like you hail from Mantarys! Stranger, identify yourself truly!" Haraphos was getting more aggressive and took a step forward before putting the knife in front of Adrian's neck. At this point his partner, Draquerro also exited his tent. Once he noticed the stranger, he also brandished his own knife and prepared for a conflict.

"It seems I won't get a break huh?" Adrian sighed, before preparing himself for a fight, once again.

"What did you say str-." Haraphos' shout was interrupted as Adrian grabbed the hand which held his knife, taking advantage of his attackers' surprise, quickly disarming his opponent, and used the knife to stab him in the neck.

Haraphos struggled to breathe, clawing at his neck, his eyes open in horror as he stumbled to the ground. His gasping was futile, and his eyes quickly became devoid of life, his body limp. The man was dead.

"Haraphos! You'll pay for that, you bastard!" Draquerro growled. Blinded by fury at the death of his close friend, he rashly charged at Adrian. Adrian, in contrast, was completely calm, parrying his opponent's strike before disarming him easily. Afterward, he grabbed Draquerro's arm and dislocated his shoulder.

"AHHHH! YOU-" Draquerro's screams of pain were muffled as Adrian pushed his face into the ground below.

"How do I get to Mantarys?"

"I will never tell you any – AHHHHHH!" Adrian broke his arm before he could speak any further. "OK OK! I'LL SPEAK!" The man was crying in pain as he began speaking. "Straight south for a mile or so, you should arrive at a road. If you take the road south you will see Mantarys. Now please let me go! I told you everything I promise!"

"Let you go?" Adrian inquired, inserting his knife into the man's neck, ending his life quickly. "I never said I'd let you live." He stood up, dusted off his clothes, and took anything of worth the two men had on them. Adrian then set off, in the direction Draquerro informed him.

'Mantarys huh? Let's see what kind of world I ended up in.'