><>2nd person POV<><
::: Previously: You found a town after a long time heading eastward on your black stallion with white speckles on it's snout. When you arrived at the small town, which was kept away from you by a draw-bridge, a cluster of well trained monsters attacked. When you finally made it across the bridge, you had been knocked out by an arrow hitting your shoulder-blade. :::
"...And then there was a HUGE explosion! I was barely lucky enough to get awa-" You wake up slowly, listening to a story someone is telling. They stop once you groan, signaling that you are awake. "H- he's awake! Guys! Come here!!" The girl talking before yelled. Wait, had she been talking to nobody before?" You keep your eyes closed as you slowly sit up, only able to use your right arm since your left is basically tied to your chest with a ton of bandages. Several pairs of feet run in and surround your bed. You hear the mumbling voices of men and women ranging from probably your age to sixty.
"Young man." The oldest addresses you. You face his voice and squint your eyes open. The room around you is surprisingly modern, not much in it but a few lamps and- wait lamps?! How do those exist?! And how do you know about them? There must be some new crafting recipes or something you don't know of. "Do you mind telling us what you were doing so far away from any town just before nightfall?" You don't even need a moment to come up with something, you already have several listed in your brain.
"Pretty simple actually." You scoot back against the headboard of the bed, grunting a little in pain. "I have been living alone for a while and wanted to visit the nearest town. I am not even sure what year it is anymore since I lost track living in the forest for so long." You explain. You itch your shoulder only to find there are only bandages covering your skin. Your face suddenly heats up, feeling awkward for several related reasons.
"Oh, wow, it is the year 2019. What town did you originally live in?" The oldest man answers and asks. You think in your head, that means it has been three years since you died as Anna.
"Thanks.. um.." You ponder what you should answer for as your hometown. "...Bricksburg." You answer, unsure how everyone would react. You just chose the town you remember living in the longest.
"Bricksburg?! You mean the town that was destroyed two years back?!" One of the older women standing around asked with shock. Your eyes widen a smidg, trying to hide the surprise that your favorite town had been destroyed.
"..Yeeeeeeasss.." You stretch the word hesitantly, not sure if this was a trick yet.
"Oh, dear! That must be why he left for the forest! I am so sorry your home and family possibly were destroyed.. Maybe, you can help us know who or what destroyed it. There were no survivors, sadly.." The same older woman said. You just internally scream, pretending you had known all this the whole time. You sigh and fake cry to cover up your red hot face, several of those tears being real however. You may not have had a family, but You did have some good friends that lived there, most of those friends having families of their own. Everyone shows faces of sympathy and try to comfort you. One hands you a glass of water, but you aren't very thirsty. One by one, people leave you to your quiet self. You had stopped fake crying almost right away since that was out of character, but you keep up the depressed look and occasional sniffles. Eventually it was just you and that girl from earlier. From the looks of it, she might be a couple years younger than you, blond hair, brown eyes, slim short figure, wearing jean and pink.
"I can finish my story if you want!" She pipes up suddenly. You look her way confused. Had she been talking to YOU earlier, while you were ASLEEP?!
"Um, what story?" You ask.
"You mean to tell me you weren't listening?!" She scoffs, suddenly offended. You just shrug.
"I was asleep."
"Well! I thought you were in some sort of coma or something, s- so you could still hear me!.. Did you hear ANYTHING I said before?" She looks at you, half angry but also hoping your answer was yes. You just slowly nod, no. It is awkward the next few minutes until she gets up and leaves uncomfortably. You look around, taking in a good scope of the room. The only window in the room is covered up by curtains, wait, how are curtains in this world too?!.. Never mind that, now that you look back, you yourself had helped find all kinds of new crafting recipes a while back, so old apprentices of yours must have continued your work and started selling their creations or something.
After deciding that the calm place around you that has managed to keep you safe this long, you call it safe and let yourself go back to sleep. You should be back to normal by tomorrow if they had given you any healing potions.
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Two days later you are just fine, nothing left but a small scar on your back from the injury. Well, there is also this girl, same as before, who seems to stalk you every now and then, but she doesn't seem like a threat.
After passing out, you had been taken into town and recovered in a large home owned by several older families living together in it. The town is pretty nice. The town is so peaceful it is hard to believe such a place exists. Along the main streets merchants wait for customers and children play with their neighbors. The occasional pets chase eachother around joyfully, without a care in the world.
You just stand leaning by the front door of the large house you have been staying at, watching the streets while munching on some cookies a couple nice neighbor-girls gave you. You enjoy simply watching as the citizens walk around doing their own thing, entertained by each of their individual traits.
It pains you deep inside, knowing what is on it's way to this town. Several times you have warned the hosts' that something extremely dangerous is coming, but they all seem too gleeful to even consider anything bad could happen.
"Oh, young man, our town is so far away from the war, we will never see the explosions or smell the smoke, ever." They keep telling you. Well, if they don't want to believe you, at least you warned them. Now, you need to focus on something that will help you reach your goal.
You go inside and begin packing your things. Since your older black shirt was stained so badly, one of the older men gave you one of his loose dark red shirts, which should be helpful if you were to ever bleed again and not want others to know about it.
After you have everything, you say thanks to the older folks there and leave for the horse stall. Thankfully, they had taken good care of your stallion. You walk into the stalls and find your horse, who seems pretty spoiled by the looks of it. Too many carrots in his stall for him to eat. At least he hasn't been in there long enough to get fat.
"Alright prince-horse." You chuckle at the sight of all his goods. "Heh, I guess that isn't too bad of a name, now isn't it? Prince?" The horse doesn't respond, but you decide to name him that anyway. "Alright, Prince. I heard of a nearby coal mine where someone is asking for young -- capable recruits to go with him on a mission further north-west, now doesn't that sound like a great way to get to where we are going?" You ask the large mammal as you saddle him up. You have never talked to Prince about your plans before, so it isn't like he would know to agree or not. Also, he is a normal horse. Not Mr. Ed. Nevertheless, Prince winnies a little in agreement and you smile. You guide the stallion out of the stalls and hop on top. Then you trot through town on your horse, following the signs to the coal mine.
When you reach the entrance of the mine, you see several miners entering and exiting. Beside them, in the shade, you spot a small group of young men, all with horses of their own standing over to the side. You park your horse near the others and walk up to the small gathering. One of them is small with a massive backpack, another is a person you didn't even realize was a lady until she was in focus, with a muscular build and tall, proud, stance. On top of that, her dark brown wirey hair is also pretty short, not even down to her neck. There were a couple other guys you saw that didn't stand out too much. If anything, you were the one who stood out, probably one of the tallest in the group, now worked hands and used muscles. The second tallest was probably the lady. Now that you think about it, you are probably going to end up the muscle of the crew.
The one who is in charge, talking to everyone, looks pretty average. He has a pretty basic build and plain dirty blond hair. He notices you walking towards him and the others and smiles slightly, stopping to step forwards and shake your hand.
"Thanks for joining us...?" He hints the question for your name.
"Cody. Cody Cobblestone" You fill him in simply. You guess he isn't that short, only about half a foot shorter than you.
"Well, nice to meet you, Cody.. I am Andrew, the one who recruited you all here." He introduced.
"I can tell." You chuckle, making it known that you are not stupid.
"So, yeah. I just filled everyone in on what we are doing. Carter, mind filling Cody here in on what is going on?" Andrew asks. He then turns to set up some things on his horse while everyone else does the same. Carter walks up to you -- he being the small one with the large backpack -- and explains everything as we saddle up.
In short, there was a young king who was recently kidnapped and taken just northwest of this town. Andrew had been assigned to get a team together to rescue him. Simple enough. That should be perfect for your plan. Amazing how well things turn out. Only, this town.. no one believed you..
"What's wrong, Cody?.." Carter asks as you and the rest of the group ride over the hill away from the town, following Andrew. You have been nothing but silent, worried for the citizens of the town. You look up at Carter quickly, you two riding side by side.
"Hhhh," you sigh in defeat. "No one in town believed me when I told them this place will be attacked soon. I am worried things will turn out just as badly as Bricksburg.." You say.
"Heh, attacked? Nothing wrong can happen here! And even if it were ever attacked, my dad is the best warrior in existance!" The young man boasts. Now that you see him better, he only looks maybe sixteen or seventeen. "He will protect everyone." The boy says. You just smile weakly, knowing how things would really end, but not having the heart to tell him...