The First Awakening (aka A New Beginning)

With a throaty groan Ryu tried to open his eyes, but was met with bright piercing light. Lifting his hand in front of his eyes he tried to get up but fell back as suddenly a sharp numbing pain shot through his chest. He tried leaning on his left arm as a second try, but had to lay back again as the pain struck again, shooting from his ribs through his whole body, numbing muscles and hampering breath. "Whoa easy there, you're still far from recovered" a voice spoke. It sounded... learned, but not at all old. "Try to lay still. Your wounds were, and are, very serious." Letting out a short labored sigh, Ryu lay back, still holding his right hand in front of his face to block the light. Taking a deep breath (not too deep, the pain was still present) Ryu tried to speak, but only a weak sound came out "W-where...?". "Easy now...don't strain yourself", the anwser came, "You're in good hands, don't worry" Starting to feel the edges of irritation at not getting a straight anwser, Ryu tried again "Where...is this place? Wh...who are you?" He had to take his breath after talking, his chest started to hurt pretty bad...breathing hurt. "I'm a doctor, and as a doctor, and you a badly injured patient, you should follow my advice and stop talking, and sleep some more. You can ask your questions after you rested." Letting out something that was between a sigh and a grumble Ryu gave up his efforts. Eyelids started to droop...But...Don't want to sleep...don't...want...to.......Where.........Kaz.........Whhh---.......

Waking up from a sleep that felt was going on for days, Ryu carefully peeked one eye open, then opened the other one when seeing that the light was out. Feeling a lot more awake than last time, he moved his head from his position to try and look around some. He wasn't going to try to sit up again, for his chest still felt pretty pain-ridden. The room was empty, to Ryu's disappointment, and sighing again he tried looking around for thing to recognise. The walls were painted (was it paint?) in a warm purple and green that seemed to soothe the nerves, and there was a ornately carved framed window to his left, with the shutters closed. Beneath the window was a pot with a strange kind of plant in it. The plant was made of all leaves, but at the end of the leaves were moderatly big yellow bulbs that seemed to be the only noticeable source of dim light in the room. Arching an eyebrow and blinking several times Ryu tried to think if such a plant was really possible...maybe he was just dreaming and...Drawing a deep breath he gasped as the pain once more attacked his ribs, and slumped back on the bed. Pain...means no dream...means...what is this place??? Taking another good look around the room, Ryu saw several more pieces of furniture: a chest with drawers, a table, 3 chairs... all worked in the same intricate ornate pattern as the windowframe. It nearly seemed like some exotic medieval work. What - the - HELL - is - this - place....??? This started to get weirder and weirder by the minute... When that doctor comes back, he'll have a *lot* of explaining to do...

But waiting was an entirely different thing altogether. Getting up was out of the question really, the pain in his chest would kill him by only getting up, and there was nothing to do once you got past looking at the weird furniture and plant and gave up trying to figure out where the source of light in this room really came from. The only thing really seeming to emitting light was the plant, but if that was the case (how could such a thing be possible anyway? a lighting plant?), there should be shadows on the other side of the bed, but no such thing. The entire room bathed in the low dim light. The whole place seemed to be made to appear cozy and welcoming, the color also adding to the aura of tranquility. This was sure as hell no hospital room...or it would be a chamber where the dead were shown to family...but Ryu wasn't dead...he didn't feel dead...he just felt...mangled...and...extremely tired...and........--NO! Must keep eyes open...can't fall asleep now, I need to stay awake for when that doctor comes back...must... Just when Ryu's eyes started to drift close and he had given up on keeping them open he noticed the door opening slowly. A narrow stream of light cast into the room and grew a bit wider, but was suddenly blocked by a narrow figure, not likely to be the doctor. Squinting his eyes against the piercing light, Ryu tried to take a good look. Fairly tall, just a bit under his own length, long strands of hair to the waist -hmmm...female?- nice curvy hips -hmmm...female...- long pointy...ears??? He must be very tired if he's seeing that. Thinking it might be better if he had some more rest he laid his head back with a sigh and closed his eyes, waiting for the doctor to come again.

The feeling of a warm hand on his forehead woke Ryu and a smiling face looked down on him. "Your fever seems better" the face said. Ryu recognised it as the doctor from before. "You must have quite a few questions, yes?" Hesitating visibly, Ryu frowned at which question to ask first. "Well...yeah...ehm...Where...eh" Before Ryu could come up with a decent question the doctor anwsered "You're in the Sylvan tree city Tyranna. You were found in the eastern desert, half dead and brought here by the Sylvan people". Arching an eyebrow quizically, Ryu looked straight at the doctor. Sarcasm and contempt were heavy in Ryu's voice "Really 'doctor'...You think it's fun getting hit by a truck, hearing your best friend die just before you see darkness all around you, and then hearing some lame joke when you first wake up from being near dead??!!" The shock on the doctor's face was almost enough to make Ryu laugh, if he wasn't so dead serious. "What's a...'truck'?" the doctor asked. The word 'truck' came out so hesitant and wrong that Ryu had no choice but the believe that the man really didn't know what a truck was. "Truck...car...motorized vehicle...?" The doctor shook his head in confusion. Ryu still had trouble believing the man's ignorance. "Okay then...What kinds of transportation you do have here?" Scratching his head the doctor anwsered "Ehmm...carts, weelbarrels, boats, but those not here... Ehm, for the rest there's the horses and the Sa'araath" Ryu goggled at that last. It came out so natural "What the f--...eh... what the hell's a Sa'araath?" At that question the doctor flashed a small smile "Ah, that're those weird lizards the Sylvan ride into battle, but they're also used for long distance travel over rugged areas. I know, they take some getting used to, hehe." Thoughts ran through Ryu's head. This guy sounds so damn serious, yet he's talking complete nonsense and bullcrap. Ah were did he get into now... A knock came at the door and what appeared as a servant girl came entering with in her hands a platter with a bowl filled with some sort weird mushy looking meal. The first thing Ryu noted where to clothes: a lush green robe embroided with leaves and forest patterns, darker green in the middle, and at the edges the patterns turned a sparkly gold. Aiming his gaze higher he saw a young, pretty face with very light asian features, eyes coloured deepest emerald, and long pointy ears sprouting horizonally from under long golden blond hair. It took a moment for Ryu to notice that he was staring openmouthedly at the servant girl. Those ears! Those......eyes! That.........face! That's a freaking ELF!! A freaking bloody living real life ELF!! WHAT THE FUCK???!!! Gulping down a lump in his throath, he hoped he didn't say that last out loud, he was already being rude enough as it is, staring so...extensively. But still... An ELF? C'mon man, what is this, freaking carnival? halloween?? out of time dress up party??? Ryu very much wanted to scurry over and pull those ears to see if they were real. But he could barely move as it was and he didn't want the girl to think him rude *and* loose-fingered. Tearing his gaze away from the ELF-girl servant he instead stared at the doctor. He had to work his mouth several time for moisture before Ryu could produce anything more intelligent then 'Duuuuhhh'. "You...you...were for real, weren't you...?" Nodding slowly the doctor motioned for the girl to put the platter on the table nex to his bed. She made a small bow before taking one last look at Ryu and leaving as swiftly and soundlessly as she came. Shock still had Ryu's mind in a jumble when he tried to take it in and think about it rationally. So that doctor-guy wasn't pulling my strings after all... What name did he use? Sylvan? Hmm, it did sound kind of fantasy-like. Agh... Lifting a hand to his head he tried to supress the ache between his eyes. It was when he closed his eyes that he noticed the scent wafting from the food. That smelled good and Ryu reached for the platter...or tried to... The doctor noted the attempt and helped Ryu by putting the platter on his lap on the bed. "It's deer-meat broth with haiki leaves, had it made for you to help you recover." "Ah...thanks" Trying a spoonful of the pappy broth, Ryu nodded and smiled at the taste "This is good!" The taste brought back Ryu's forgotten hunger, and soon he was attacking his meal like a starving predator. The doctor gave a small nod and moved for the door "Well i'll let you eat then. Be sure to get some more sleep after you ate, in case you didn't notice, it's late evening here now." Ryu nodded and mouthed a quick 'thanks' and 'sure, will do' between spoons of tasty, meaty, warm heavenly food.
After he finished, Ryu pushed the platter on the table and tried to lay comfortable. The filled, warm feeling made Ryu sigh with a content smile, and he tried to straighten out his thoughts. What a weird awakening... A human doctor telling me I'm in some god-knows-how-it-was-called Sylvan city, after being found in some bloody eastern desert after getting hit by a freakin' modern technology truck in mid-city. Whatever became of Kaz? damn bro...where are you? What happened? Did that guy say I was alone when I was found? No, he didn't say anything about that...Shi--- aarrggg...I hate not knowing...Please don't be dead...please...you can't be...you were my best friend, my brother...my brother...curse it...curse...luck...damn........this........
The fatigue from the shock and Ryu's wounds finally caught up to him, as together with the satiated feeling from the food it started to work it's wonders on Ryu. Sleep came...

But it would not come peaceful, this night...