1 The Journey Begins! (Along with the troubles…)

Ander woke up to a pounding in his head as he struggled to open his eyes. Despite the lack of sight, however, there were a few things he could make out about the situation he was in: the cold ground under his hands and a distinctly stony texture. The air was humid, making his entire body feel damp as he got a distinct scent of mould and mildew wafting through what he assumed to be an enclosed area.

And of course, there was the feeling of the wind being knocked out of him as a foot crashed into his ribs.

~CRACK~

"You should know we don't take too kindly to people like you acting up, low-caste."

Ander coughed up what he could only assume to be blood. He would have liked to have gotten up and beaten the shit out of the aggressor, but unfortunately, just one attempt to shift his balance and rise up told him it wasn't gonna work. Aside from his already existing injuries, this body's proportions were different from his original, too lanky and tall compared, and the muscle memory just wasn't there.

[Really left this body in a nasty state for me, whoever you are…]

Ander braced himself for another kick, but nothing came. Instead, he only heard the distinct sound of the ground being spit on, as the man began to walk away.

"I guess I should leave some for the guys upstairs. I don't know what you did to piss off the High Echelon, but whatever they do to you is going to be much worse than anything I can do to you."

Ander heard the sound of footsteps reverberating through the darkness, followed by the sound of a gate closing. Groaning, Ander pulled himself upright into a sitting position, his breathing ragged as he tried to get some semblance of an understanding of his situation.

"I thought these sorts of plots were supposed to start off with some sort of boon or something…. This just feels like a punishment."

Andre wanted to try and recall what had happened and how he ended up in this situation, but the pragmatist in him knew it was better to focus on the predicament at hand. Obviously, whatever was in store for him was going to suck, so it was probably for the best to find a way to escape before they got to him.

"Hey, I'm nothing if not resilient though… I've had hangovers worse than this."

Chuckling to himself, Ander tossed and turned He wasn't sure how long it took, time being fluid through the darkness and pain, but after a long while of ragged breathing and dull throbbing, the pain subsided enough for Ander to pull himself to his feet. His right eye was a little less swollen, and after a while he felt confident in being able to open it, finally revealing the area in full detail… or at least it would have if it wasn't so empty. It really was as simple as he'd seen, a basic holding cell which hadn't been cleaned or otherwise maintained for a long while.

That said, there was something he did notice in his inspection… Ander took a deep breath, steadying himself before moving closer to the bars. Sure enough, the ceilings seemed to be interwoven with mossy roots from above, revealing the compound to be underground. Furthermore, the area where the bars were placed in seemed to be rather unstable. If he could-

"So this is the guy huh?"

His formulation of an escape plan was quickly interrupted by the sound of a woman's voice. Andrr tensed up a little, expecting a guard or some sort, or perhaps the "High Echelon" that the man had spoken of. Instead, coming out of the darkness was a petite woman clothed in a simple leather tunic. She didn't look all that remarkable, except for the large wooden staff she carried along with her. Narrowing her eyes slightly, the woman took out a pair of keys and opened the gate without any issue, leaving Ander confused.

"You're Zaris, right? I'm here to bust you out of prison, but we need to move quickly."

[Zaris… that must be the original owner of the body… shit, this is a pickle]

Before he could say anything though, the woman grabbed a hold of his arm and began pulling him along, a somewhat anxious look in her eyes as she traversed the hallway.

"I know you're going to have a lot of questions, so just bear with me for now ok?"

"Alright, I'll trust you for now then…"

The woman gave him a thumbs up, beckoning for him to follow. Ander realized it was probably for the best though, since she knew the area better than he did, and he followed her throughout the dungeon.

The state of the cells and the compound's general aesthetic made Ander feel more certain of an earlier assumption he'd made, that this was some sort of fantasy world that he'd reincarnated into, but he couldn't place a finger on much more than that, something that was still nagging at him. Still, as the two slipped through the relatively quiet hallways, Ander decided he was satisfied with just avoiding this place from now on.

"Alright, so I have everyone distracted with… well, a distraction up there. We should be able to slip through the back passages without any issue, but I still need you to be on your guard, alright."

"Alright, you don't have to tell me twice…"

Sighing, Ander continued to follow along, and eventually, saw the exit, a literal light at the end of the tunnel. Looking around to make sure no one was still in the area, the girl took one last breath before stepping out. Squinting through the brightness, Ander followed suit, right into the blinding light. The second thing he noticed right after was the distinct smell of sheep, and the sound of bleating permeating through the air.

"Alright, you're going to need to start running now. Don't worry, I'll be right behind you."

"What?"

"Don't question, just go!"

Startled by her sudden command, Ander reluctantly began to run. Then, he figured out why:

"These damn sheep! Fucking hell, catch those damn bastards before they escape!"

Ander looked back, only to see a group of men running after him and his companion in full armor, waving swords and spears. Most strange of all, was the dozens of sheep that seemed to be stepping in front of them, as if entranced by some sort of strange power, one which forced the guards to wade through a sea of livestock.

"Alright! Sheep barrier, let's go!"

Ander couldn't help but grin, a wave of exhilaration passing through him as he escaped the clutches of the prison. Seeing a forest up ahead, he could only conclude that it had to be the place he was supposed to run to.

Thus, he ran, making his way under the cover of the treetops into the shade of the trees, jumping over root and shoot alike as he sped through the forest, up until he couldn't go any further. Ander heard the sounds of fighting behind him, yells and groans of injured men intermixed with the bleating of sheep, seemingly from within the forest itself. With all that fighting, there was no way that-

"Whew, barely made it out of there… hey, what are you looking at?"

Defying all expectations, the girl from earlier made her way from her hidden spot in between trees. Now that he got a good look at her, she was almost doll like in her appearance, what with her porcelain white skin, blue eyes, and blonde hair. What broke the effect was the nonchalance she had in carrying around her blood soaked staff; While she had been pierced with an arrow in her arm, had a notable gash on her leg, and generally looked bruised and battered, the brunt of her annoyance seemed to be focused on Ander himself and his surprised expression.

"Hey, I didn't mean anything by it! I was just worried you didn't make it out of there."

The young woman simply rolled her eyes.

"Uhuh, well, I'm going to let you know now, I'm more than capable enough to handle a crowd of rabble like that. I'm a lot tougher than I look, and from what Ive seen, tougher than you are. You're lucky that we need you, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered to bust you out of prison."

"Uh… who even are you?"

The girl's eyes narrowed even further at this remark, shooting a judgemental death glare his way as if to chastise him for even asking when they were just out of trouble.

"My name is Philia. That's all you need to know for now. What you *should* be worried about is moving forward, we have to meet up with my partner."

"Your partner huh?"

Ander's mind was all over the place right now, but even so, he knew better than to bite the hand that fed him. But… now was also probably a good time to get something off his chest.

"Ok but uh… I'm going to be 100% honest. I have no idea who you are, or why I was in jail. I barely remember my name."

"Wait, what?"

Philia turned around slowly, as if worried that looking back would confirm that he was not in fact joking. Ander nodded solemnly; It was about as close as he could get to telling her about his situation… Philia looked at him, her eyes darting around to see if she could find any indication that this was a bad joke, that she wasn't completely screwed. Unfortunately she found none.

"Ah, well… fuck."