Eros came awake studying himself with a frown. He certainly remembered it being a little more painful the first time he had travelled through realms. Given that this fissure had been the first he had even jumped through he had been unprepared for the impact. His body had spun and twisted to a weird angle so when he had been ejected from the other side he had been jettisoned into the hard ground causing a lot of damage to his body. His eyebrows creased as no such pain or discomfort came, something was wrong. His mind was foggy and he couldn't figure out why he was re-living this memory. 

Shaking his head, he focused his mind, he'd make this right. The scene around him blurred as he changed the surroundings. He was reliving his past for a reason, this needed to play out the correct way. But why couldn't he remember why he was doing this...

Starting the scene from the beginning again.

The fissure roared to life in the middle dirt-ridden track surrounded by trees. The swirling mass did last long, it regurgitated Eros violently before collapsing in on itself and vanishing. His body skidded across the ground at an ungodly ankle as sticks and stones embedded themselves into his skin. He collided with a nearby tree, his head impacting it hard and crabbing his brain for a few minutes. He came awake with a gasp as everything seemed to catch up with him. He ached all over, his body heavily battered and bruised. he squinted trying to study the night sky, with no moon in sight his surroundings were engulfed in darkness, he could at least tell it was some ungodly hour of the night.

Forcing himself to stand he winced as pain shot through him. He appeared to be more hurt than he thought, he hadn't expected that travelling through realms would be quite this painful. His insides were twisted in knots and his body felt as though it had been thrown into a whirlpool made of rocks. As he dug a stone from out of his shoulder he surmised that was probably due to the ground he had landed on more than the fissue itself. Maybe diving into a fissure wasn't the best way to enter one, next time he'd try just stepping through.

With a cringe, he pulled out a small protruding stick from his collarbone. Was there anyone around? He couldn't tell. His head ached, and there was also a strange throbbing behind his skull. Lifting his hand to his forehead, he rubbed at the skin. Pulling his fingers back he felt a warm tacky substance on them, he couldn't see yet but he knew they were coated in blood. He creased his brow, how much blood had he lost?

His vision was poor and taking a long time to kick in, the blow to the head the likely problem. He had no sense of direction, he didn't even know what to expect of the human realm, let alone the layout. Did they have streets like Alarious or were they primitive cave people, surely they were civilized. That had been a stupid thing to forget about before his trial. So much knowledge was forbidden to those who hadn't been through this very trial.

One thing he was sure of, his clothes were far too flashy for a commoner, probably entirely for this realm. With much protest and added grunting and cussing, he stripped off his Alarian uniform leaving on his simple white shirt and black pants. The rest he tossed, hiding them away behind some trees and bushes. He could always get new ones when he returned home, but for now he simply needed to blend in as best as he could manage.

Next would be food and shelter. Shelter was the first priority as he could smell the moisture in the air, rain was coming. Though food would be interesting. He swallowed the lump in his throat; the thought chilled him to the bone, in the human realm only one thing could sustain an Alarian and it was blood, all part of the curse. Not that they couldn't eat regular vegetables and cooked meals, but it would do nothing for his particular body type and makeup.

Barefoot, cold and bleeding, he began walking towards the faint lights in the distance. A possible village, he had at least studied some of the cultures and traditions of humans. But honestly, it had been rather confusing, why did they need so many religions for starters?! His plan, just to feign ignorance and learn while he was here, probably the best course of action.

Making his way down an unmarked trail, his ears were ringing, and his vision playing tricks on him. He swore he could see a single light bobbing in the distance, slowly closing in on him. Squinting, he tried to make out what was coming toward him in the utter darkness. He heard a sharp intake of breath and an animal noise he'd never heard before. Something slammed into him and he was thrown to the ground by some sort of wooden object.

"OHMYGOD! Daniel! You just hit someone!" A female voice rang out as his eyes started to become heavy.

His body didn't want to move, he had already been sore and injured and now he was utterly defeated by some wooden box. He lay in the dirt, arms spread wide staring up at the night sky in a daze. Blinking a few times he tried to make out the people that suddenly blocked his vision, but he couldn't focus. He groaned as someone moved him, he felt that his hip had been dislocated, great! Just what he needed.

A warm hand was placed on his chest, but he was already half gone. "It's okay, we're going to help you, just hold on." Her tiny panicked voice all he heard as his eyes rolled back in his head.

🏹 🏹 🏹 🏹 🏹 🏹

He came awake with a gasp, his breathing heavy as he looked around his new surroundings. He hadn't known where he was before, so it was no surprise he still couldn't figure it out. At least he was inside now, the sound of rain hammering down outside was deafening only adding to his anxiety and fear. A simple knock like that had made him pass out? This wasn't good, he was much weaker than he had thought. Had he come to rely on the aura's power so much already?

Coming to his senses his eyes scanned his surroundings. The room housing him was made from wood, not stone like he was used to. It was barely decorated with furnishings and had a single window that led to the outside world. He was currently lying in a bed, with fresh bandages on his wounds. He frowned, in a normal situation they would have healed by now. He had expected that his body wouldn't be the same but had hoped that it would still be accelerated. He winced placing his hand on his head. He'd honestly had it worse in combat training, this was like him starting from square one all over again, back to being a rookie.

Sitting up he realized his hip was just as stiff and sore as the rest of him, but it was no longer dislocated. He'd been helped. What had hit him? The wooden object had been led by some type of animal on four legs. The beast had been massive! But the humans had tamed it, impressive he thought.

He heard a light singing coming from the other side of the room. His head snapped up as his body stiffened, his gaze fixated on the entrance to the room, then flicked to the window. He could simply jump through the small opening and escape... but they had helped him, they surely didn't mean him any harm. He slid off the bed and attempted to move to the door. His legs didn't want to obey him completely, they wobbled and protested as he shifted his weight from one leg to the other.

He reached for the door handle, turning it slowly making sure not to make a sound. The door opened slightly allowing him to peek through the small space. A delicious scent woofed in taking him by surprise. His eyes widened and his mouth began to water, he'd never smelt anything like it. Opening the door fully, he stepped into what looked like a hallway. He made his way quickly and quietly towards the light humming and the aromatic scents.

Just around the corner, he was amazed to see a young girl cooking and dancing alone to her own song, she had long blonde hair, large green eyes and she was wearing a long flowing gown. She was only around twelve years of age. The sweet innocence reminded him of his niece Aveyon.

"Beautiful isn't she?" He jumped as he heard the male voice behind him.

He hadn't even sensed another presence, which was concerning. His head turned to look at a dark-haired, tall, well-built man. He was smiling at the girl as she danced and sang to herself. Not the word he would use to describe the child, cute maybe.

"Glad to see you awake my man, we were getting worried that you wouldn't wake up." He extended his hand in greeting, "Mate, I'm really sorry for hitting you with my cart hey, didn't see ya there, it being dark and all."

Eros smiled weakly and took the man's hand shaking it, a strange human custom as a greeting. "Thank you... I'm new in these parts, so I don't believe it was entirely your fault."

The man laughed, "I'm Daniel, that's Elaina and you are?"

"My name is Erosvent." He realized he should have made up another name as Daniel frowned at him. "Eros for short is fine." He added. "Forgenor and all, the names are a little strange I know." He attempted to cover.

"Wow okay, hailing from a long way I take it! So what brings you to this part of the country?" Daniel asked.

Eros frowned, "I'm really not too sure, I'm rather lost at the moment, I have no clue what to do with myself."

Daniel smiled kindly at him, "Not to worry my man, being mugged then being hit by me, believe me, I understand. You are more than welcome to stay a while and figure out your plans. Hey, we don't mind, it's the least we can do."

Eros nodded his thanks, he was glad that the first humans he had met seemed to be kind. Even though they had been the cause of some of his pain, they were a nice family, at least on the outside. The thought lingered a little too long for his liking.

"I don't like staying for free, so is there anything I can do to help you or your daughter?"

Daniel laughed, "Elaina here's not my daughter, as for money, we-"

Elaina cut him off, "Now, now, none of that. You will need to heal first before you even think about any work." She looked at him with an expression that a child shouldn't wear. 

She was far beyond her years. Her eyes were worn and she had bags under her eyes. Her skin was pale and her form skinny. The clothes she wore covered every inch of her skin, and the scarf around her neck seemed out of place for the warm room. Eros also caught the irritated look Daniel shot Elaina for cutting him off. The stern glare set alarm bells off for him.

"Now sit you two, before dinner gets cold." Placing two bowls on the table in the center of the room she pulled a chair out and motioned for the two to follow.

Daniel was the first to move, he took a stern hold of Elaina's arm. She winced as the action appeared to hurt, his grip clearly a little too tight. He abruptly yanked her toward him causing her body to jolt forward. Her eyes widened in fear as his hand found a fist full of hair as he whispered something into her ear. 

Eros shot her a concerned look but she averted her gaze. If they weren't family what exactly were they to each other? This behaviour didn't seem normal, but who was he to judge he'd only been here for a few hours. He chose to make no comment on the matter. Not because he didn't want to, but more so for the small child, he didn't wish to make her life more stressful. There was also the fact that he doubted he could take the human in his current state.

Eros slowly moved and sat down opposite Daniel, Elaina spooned a thick brown liquid that had lumpy bits of oddly coloured things into his bowl then moved to do the same to Daniel's, "It's lamb and vegetable stew, hope you like it!" She added as she seemed to see his amazed expression.

Was he meant to pick the bowl up, or was there a method to eating the food in this world? He glanced over at Daniel to see him using the tool that was beside his bowl. Picking the small metal piece up he mimicked Daniel. He gasped as the stew hit his lips, it was hot, but that wasn't what surprised him, the flavours were amazing. So strong and delicious, they made his mouth burst to life. He began shovelling the stew down, not stopping for air. Alarious never had anything like this, as the textbooks said Alarian bodies were fueled and fed by essence only, food was never something they needed.

Daniel laughed, "Love, I think he likes your stew more than me!" Elaina giggled as she sat herself down between the boys and started eating herself.

Eros fought hard to react to the way that Daniel spoke the word 'Love'. It turned his stomach. Keeping up the thankful stranger act was his best choice at the moment.

"You must have been hungry. You've been sleeping for days now." She added before beginning to dig into her own bowl.

Eros's eyes widened as he looked at Elaina in disbelief, she nodded at him. "We were rather worried you weren't going to wake up." She repeated Daniel's line from earlier.

He put his spoon down and looked into his empty bowl, "I-I hope I wasn't any trouble." This wasn't good, he'd been with them already for too long. Did they know something about him they shouldn't?

"We do normally travel around a bit, but with the storm coming in like it did, you were no trouble at all," Daniel concluded.

The situation was starting to make him feel uneasy. Something just didn't feel right, especially about Daniel. His actions, his phasing. Eros couldn't shake the unease.

"Are we in a type of inn?" It just occurred to him that if they traveled around a lot then why would they have a whole home like this?

Daniel shot him a look, before his expression softened and he laughed. "Not quite. An older couple live here, we are lodging until the storm passes." He shrugged. "They were kind enough to let us stay in exchange for doing some chores around the farm."

Eros nodded along and focused a smile. The man was lying through his teeth. "Are they around? I would like to thank them for their help as well." He queried.

Daniel shook his head. "They are sleeping at the moment in their rooms. However, I'm sure you will see them tomorrow."

"Of course, it does appear to be quite late, how silly of me." He glanced over at the large pot of stew. "It is a shame for them to miss out on dinner though." He added. A test, it wasn't actually that late if dinner had only just been prepared, he wasn't that daft.

Daniel narrowed his eyes on the Alarian. "Elaina can bring them something later, can't you dear?" His gaze never left Eros's.

"O-Oh of course, I'd be more than happy too. I'll bowl up some now while it's still hot." He didn't miss the slight hesitation in her words, she clearly was uncomfortable at the mention of the couple.

"I think I'll head back to my room." Eros raised a hand to his head making a pained expression. "I'm still feeling a little light-headed."

"Of course my boy! Rest up, tomorrow is a new day and you certainly need your rest." Daniel's smile was no longer friendly in his eyes. Instead, he found it intimidating and slightly off-putting. He didn't like this place.