Suspicious

...

...

...

".... ARGHHHHHHHHHH!" Jeremy yelled as his eyes opened. His breathing was heavy, his eyes dilated and whole body drenched in sweat.

The heavy breathing made it hard for him to speak. He turned his head left and right to see where he was as he felt the tight constrictions were no longer around him but the aftermath of the horrible sensation could still be felt.

Bright.

Green.

Brown.

Jeremy's vision became clearer as his eyes starts to adjust. He was in a middle of some ancient ruins located in the middle of a vast plains. The sun was reaching is peak, indicating that its probably just about the afternoon, around eleven ish.

The ruins he was in looked like bits and pieces of crumbled buildings. Stone pillars half broken with steel wire frame jutting out littered at least a kilometer in radius from where he stood.

Where was he?

"Mister!!!!!!!!!!!!" a voice echoed as soon as he started to walk. Curious, Jeremy turned his head to see the source of the sound.

It was a band of people. Three to be precise. The one right in front and the dude who just called out for him was a male clad in light medical armour with what seems to be a sword on his belt. Another right behind him was another dude but this time clad in heavy armour with a shield hanging on his back. Lastly there was a female in white holding a staff.

'Am I perhaps in some weird medical fair?' Jeremy though as he stared peculiarly at the approaching party.

"What are you doing here in the middle of nowhere mister?" The person in light armour asked as he came close.

"I... Erm... I'm not too sure..." Jeremy said as he realised he didn't had a answer for that.

"Righttt... What are you supose to be?" the person asked once again.

"Stop pestering the him Adam" The guy on heavy armour spoke as he pat the person wearing light armour, known as Adam, at the back.

"Aren't you a tad bit curious Irshad?" Adam said as he turned and asked the dude in heavy armour, Irshad, cheekily.

"I'm so sorry for my friends. I'm Hana, what is your name!" the girl spoke as she look apologetically at her friends.

"I'm Jeremy... Erm... Where are we?" Jeremy asked sheepishly.

"You..." Hana was taken back by the question with a weird expression slowly creeping up her face.

'Do you really not know where you are?' Hana though as she stared at the person in weird clothes disbelievingly.

They were far north within The Hundred State Coalition, the Ruins of Dagith. The nearest settlement from here is a good 2 to 3 days journey away by foot from any direction. How on earth did are you in the middle of nowhere but don't know how you got here?

In truth, both Hana and Adam had reservations over this guy. They are adventurers from Lanceport, a small city in The Hundred State Coalition. There have been reports that something have been attacking merchant caravans who are passing by the area to and from Lanceport. The only reason why anyone knew there were attacks was due to people noticing fresh wreckage in the area along with reports of people leaving but never returning. No one knew who the perp was. Because of this, both Hana and Adam, have their reservations over him and is trying to dig out as much info from him in order to decide whenever they should or should not trust him.

"Ok look, I'll be honest with you, just a few moments ago, I was still walking home to Emerald Park apartment when everything turned dark. Next thing I knew, I was already here..." Jeremy said as he scratched his head. He didn't know what was going on or why was there people cosplaying in a middle of a nowhere but seeing how these are the only signs of life as far as his eyes could see and they seen decent, he might as well just tell them the truth in hopes that would help him figure things out.

"Apartment? Emerald Park? What in the world are you talking about..." Contrary to what Jeremy was thinking about, whatever he said seemed to have just made everyone there even more confused.

"Erm... Where are we..." seeing their confused face, Jeremy knew something was right. Immediately after that, he reverted back to the question that he previously asked.

"We are in the Ruins of Dagith. It's a good 3 days journey to the nearest town which is Lanceport, where we came from. Seeing how you are wearing weird clothes, are you perhaps from one of the bordering kingdoms?" Adam answer and asked curiously.

"I don't think that's the case, I've been to both Surian Langat and Hei Hua village, nobody in either village dress like that as well. I highly doubt he could have came from any further seeing how he doesn't even have a horse with him..." Irshad said as he rubbed his chin.

"Surian what?" Jeremy said as his mind went blank.

Where in the world is that?

Where in the world is he?

"You really don't know do you..." Hana said with a sad pity on her face as it dawned upon her that he has the face of a person who was genuinely at a lost.

Jeremy shook his head in response, clearly still trying to churn the information at hand.

"If that's the case, have you seen or heard anything? We are actually here on a quest to investigate some attacks by a mysterious foe..." Irshad said as he rubbed his head.

"I don't... All I know is one moment I was there and then next I was here..." Jeremy waved his hands as if indicating he teleported from one place to another.

Just as he did that however, something caugh Hana's attention as she stared at Jeremy shifting his body from left to right.

Clink clink clink

Before she could enquire about it, a weird small round black object flew to where they stood.

"It's a bom!" Irshad yelled as he pushed all 4 of them towards the ground away from the precieved landing spot.

BOOM!

a small explosion occurred not far from where they stood, leaving behind a small black crater about a meter in size.

"I guess we found our perps. Thanks mate" Adam said as he struggled to get up on his feet while staring at Irshad.

In a distance, a few shadowy figure emerge from the ruins.

As they walked closer, their apparel became more apparent. Light leather amour, similar to what Adam was wearing, except that they had a face mask covering their mouth. Making it hard for anyone to discern their identity. There was three of them in total. Two of them holding a hatchet while the one at the front most had two daggers on his side belt.

"Tsk" The figure cluck his tongue as he stared at the party of four in disdain.