The mad screeching of tyres on asphalt.
A blur, then a sickening crunch as metal connected with soft flesh. A body was flung into air as easily as how one might throw a wad of paper into a wastepaper bin.
Everything happened much too fast for anyone to react. They could only watch in horror as the events unfolded before their eyes, as swift and flawless as a well-rehearsed skit. Some people pulled out cellphones to dial for necessary aid, but it was too late.
A pale hand lay motionless in a growing pool of blood.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The teen awoke with a start. Around eighteen years old, he was tall and lean, with long and wind-swept brownish-blonde hair pulled loosely into a low ponytail and his fringe completely obscuring his right eye. An open jacket, with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows, and covering only half of his torso, was thrown over the white shirt he was wearing; the neck dipped low enough to barely reveal the toned muscles of his chest. The legs of his grey trousers were slit such that the lower half of his calves would have been fully visible, if not for the leather of a pair of army boots peeking out underneath. A number of small belts crissed-cross over a long strip of dark cloth, strapping it tightly to his wrists.
His expression would normally have been that of a bored and disinterested one, but at the moment it was merely stunned. Glancing around to take in his surroundings, his eyebrows gradually furrowed. He was in a large open plain, seated on the springy grass under the shade of a rather large tree. The sky was bright and clear, the sun shining dauntingly down on him, but the area was surprisingly nought of any sign of life. Creatures would normally gather at large open spaces, but there wasn't even a chirp of a bird to be heard, nevermind any other humans.
Where... The hell am I?
Getting to his feet and dusting himself off, he looked around once more. When he squinted into the distance, he could just barely make out the sight of a rather large town. Since he had a bird's eye view of the town, the blonde correctly assumed that he was on the peak of a tall hill.
This isn't right... I should be in- ... And what's up with these clothes? Dammit!
He directed his now-irritated stare in the direction of the town. Well, first things first. I should get to civilization and find out why the hell I'm in a foreign location I've never seen and definitely shouldn't be in.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The town was no less strange than the hill he set off from, to say the least.
A hybrid fusion of modern and medieval, the town didn't even look like it belonged anywhere on Earth to begin with. The road he was walking on was grey in color and paved; reasonably wide, seven people would most likely be able to walk side-by-side without fear of bumping into one another's shoulders. All the buildings he had seen were all made of old brick and wooden beams and had thatched roofs, none of them more than three stories tall. What some of the buildings were functioning as was the teen's biggest clue that something was wrong with his situation... Not that he hadn't already realized that, of course. The vast majority of them were ordinary grocery shops, restaurants or even houses, but as for the others...
"A weapons shop...? Who still uses swords and axes in this day and age, when everyone's using guns and advanced technology?" he muttered in a complete monotone. . Only his slightly gaping mouth gave away his confusion as he took in his surroundings. "And... A magic shop...? Alchemy?"
He never was very good at expressing his emotions through his voice, resulting in his permanently flat manner of speaking. That, coupled with his poker face - or rather, unchanging bored expression- unfortunately frequently led to people misunderstanding him, thinking that he was disinterested and couldn't be bothered to talk to them. There were times when they would be correct, though. Despite his appearance and age, he was an unusually good judge of character, being able to instinctively tell whether someone was trustworthy or not. If he deemed them to not be so, he wouldn't even spare them the time of the day.
