2 Awake, Who The Hell Are They?

- ORIS OUTSKIRTS -

Darrel was a smart guy neither was he a pushover, back home people used to call him a fusion between a nerd and a jock though he belonged to neither group. He could handle both a football and a calculator, he was the perfect example of an all arounder.

His parents had noticed this about Darrel when he was still young, there was no sport that he played without displaying a hint of potential, and when his school reports came, it was surprising to find him at the top of the class with the straight-A nerds.

As fragments of his memories engulfed him, Darrel felt the noise in his ears grow louder until his mind became numb and his head started to hurt.

The pain escalated quickly and Darrel felt a warm tickling sensation coursing through his body.

"What the?"

The veins in his arms suddenly glowed a light blue hue, as a similar color appeared in his vision.

The strange feeling and the unusual sight were things that Darrel had never experienced in any dream or virtual world before, not even an adrenaline shot could compare to the sensation of power he was experiencing right now.

As the feeling proceeded, Darrel's hands started to emit blue sparks that appeared like the cackling of electric cables.

"Could this be magic?"

This was the only logical explanation that could match the insanity that he had experienced since waking up in a crater a while ago.

"Are these sparks the only thing I can manifest with this… my magic?"

Darrel looked down at the extravagant glow he was radiating, he had no idea what kind of magic these sparks were, nor could he tell if it was possible to utilize them during combat. However, he could barely contain his glee and immediately started to imagine a variety of phenomena that could have induced his body to acquire magic.

His first thought was the agonizing pain he had experienced earlier, Darrel wondered if it was a part of his body's transition to the conditions of this world.

Darrel's second thought was that perhaps the runes around the crater had induced his new powers, however, without any definite proof, it would be hard to solidify any of his theories.

"I guess I will figure it out eventually..." Darrel muttered.

After pondering on the might-be cause of his current state, Darrel proceeded to stretch out his hands toward the sky.

His fingers twitched as he readied himself to fire his magic, but before a bolt of magic could be released, Darrel heard the sounds of horses galloping like a flood of water and a person shouting above the noise.

"Over there!" A man's voice boomed in the distance.

A moment ago, Darrel had been trying to find a clue as to how he could find a way to civilization, but his mind had suddenly been engrossed in his acquisition of magic that he could care less about who was coming his way.

Unfortunately for Darrel, the individuals that had appeared seemed keenly interested in him.

"Could he be one of them?"

The first individual exclaimed cautiously, but the second one had spoken in a much bolder tone, the speaker's voice sounded more composed like the voice of someone in charge.

"A magic user? How inconvenient."

"I don't recall seeing him among the others." Another in the group added, but Darrel was yet to mind their presence. "Perhaps he slipped out with the other escaped prisoners."

'Prisoners?'

The statement caught Darrel by surprise so he immediately turned to face the people who had accused him of being such.

Four riders approached as they descended the hill on the back of their horses while looking down at him, the individuals wore fancy-looking armor like those worn by knights from fantasy worlds, fashionable, meticulously decorated, and extremely durable.

The first two from the group wore a set of helmless silver-plated armor lined with golden trims, while the other two wore a full set of gold-gilded armor with unique inscriptions carved on each one, however, both of their helms had a different design as though to indicate their individuality.

The two individuals in golden armor also wore golden capes that fluttered lazily behind them in the desert breeze.

"Surrender yourself prisoner and no harm will come upon you." One of the helmless riders proudly ordered him.

Darrel froze on the spot as he gazed at the Knights in awe, for a moment he thought the individuals had come to rescue him, but the thought perished a moment after realizing what the Knights were talking about as they glued their focus squarely upon him.

'I'm guessing this won't end well...'

The exuberant force of magic he had manifested earlier faded faster than a temporary high and before long, Darrel realized that the knights had been speaking to him all along. Darrel felt slightly guilty after ignoring them when they called out to him earlier, but he justified his actions with one single thought.

'I am not a prisoner.'

"Are you deaf fool?!" The knight bellowed with displeasure.

"Who the hell are you?"

"What is this 'Hell' he speaks of?" The knight murmured back to his companion.

"Not sure." The second rider replied. "He must be drunk on mana, I will take him in."

One of the knights in silver armor drew his sword out and then charged at Darrel on his horse.

Magic users were known to be disadvantaged in close-ranged combat, especially against heavily armored and riding opponents. The knight seemed to know this, as he immediately discerned Darrel's weakness and exploited it.

'What am I standing still like this for?!'

Darrel pondered in shock.

'I have to find a way to fight back.'

In that split second, Darrel assessed his options and then recalled how horseback opponents had difficulty with nimble foes who used the horse's linear speed against its rider.

"Haaaa!!"

The knight on the horse charged closer with his sword waving in his right hand.

Darrel quickly jumped out of the way to dodge but in the process, the knight's horse heavily brushed against him and he was sent crashing to the ground. Pain shot up quickly across the side of his body that had been hit, but the duration of the pain quickly faded away just as fast as it had come.

"Wait is this how it feels to lose Health Points...?" Darrel squirmed astonished by the outcome. "Could this be part of the physical laws of this world? Or did my body get bestowed with pain-suppressing abilities?"

In his original world, some virtual games gave users the feature to experience their avatar's pain, but even though this granted users this trait, the device was still incomplete, and only pinching sensations that lasted for no more than five seconds at most were felt when the highest level of pain was received on these virtual devices.

'All that pain in such a short burst…'

No device could fully replicate the pain that virtual avatars actually felt instead of the human players when they took damage from attacks during the game.

'In that short time, I am sure I felt every bit of pain that I was supposed to feel from that hit I took... even though it was brief, the pain was real.'

As Darrel continued to contemplate what may have kept his pain duration earlier to a minimum, the knight that had attacked him slowed and turned around.

"Tch. I suppose that's what kept in-game characters going even after receiving brutal life-threatening attacks."

Darrel got up from the ground weary of the Knight who was now circling him like a vulture, he looked down at his hand confused about how his magic had dissipated and he could not trigger it again.

'Darn!'

On the other hand, Darrel barely knew how to fight and had no actual combat experience apart from thousands of visualizations of how he could beat up his local school bully who had tormented him for most of his early childhood.

At this moment in time, Darrel seemed helpless and his only logical move was to find a way to escape from there. Fortunately for Darrel, his opponent did not know this and was cautious enough to give him some breathing room.

"Finish him!"

The knight from earlier exclaimed at his comrade who seemed to be wary of Darrel. Seeing his companions supporting him the knight in front of Darrel nodded and then looked down at Darrel and pointed his sword at him.

"This is your last chance, surrender now and you will not be harmed further, prisoner!"

'Again with the prisoner stuff?'

Darrel glared at the knight defiantly, then shuffled slowly as he shot swift glances at the other three in case they chose to intervene. Even though they underestimated him, Darrel knew that his opponents could easily gang up on him if the situation called for it.

'After all, there was no law that kept them from not doing so.'

"Or was there?" Darrel muttered under his breath.