A Place Called Home

by FoxUnderFire

Prologue

Once again I found myself running through some woods being followed by a mob of people with weapons. Only thankfully this time they were not trying to kill me with said weapons. Actually I was in some book of sorts I can't quite remember the name of.

Right now me and the mob here were chasing down a murder. The money on his head was near one million in any form of payment. Apparently he had killed a family in cold blood, a mother, a father and two children.

All this and I had still probably had more blood on my hands than the man I was currently hunting. But I don't think the people that currently held an assortment of improvised weapons would appreciate that type of hypocrisy. Of course I no longer cared, a deeper look into human nature assured me that being a hypocrite was if anything but universally natural.

Now then, you're probably wondering why I'm writing this, I have to say most likely because I need something to make me feel like I'm not alone. In all my travels I've had only one thing that stayed the same.

Pain.

Pain was always there sitting in the back just watching, waiting to make an appearance. But I learned to ignore the pain pretty quickly. But I still enjoy the fact that he is always by my side through thick and thin... always there taunting me with the memories of a life that seemed to be from another person yet they were all too familiar.

My life hasn't been rainbows and butterflies.

I've done things I think the trolls would be disgusted by. And they boiled people alive so they could be fed to their pack. How can I live with myself? Simple, I don't, I ignore my emotions and my ability to care that the things I do are evil and bad has died with my innocence.

You're thinking something like "What kind of person are you?" Truth be told, I don't think I'm even human anymore. I guess the only thing you can call me is a reality jumper.

"What's that?"

I'm a sentient being that fell through a temporal distortion in time-space. In short, I randomly teleport to alternate realities. And due to being disassembled on a molecular level, transported through afore mentioned time-space, then being reassembled almost instantaneously, I have a higher senses and strength than most humans.

And I'm durable, hard bastard to kill due to my cells adapting to being broken down and giving me a higher regeneration rate.

I've been in the game a long time.

To long for the things I saw.

For the things I did.

I don't feel sorry for anything I've done in the past.

Like I said that died, pretty fast too...

So hopefully that explains why I'm running through these woods with a mob. I think I should get back into the story.

---

I started to wear down, most of the towns people returned a couple of days ago leaving me and the kings men to hunt for the murderer. They had bloodhounds for every other guard, six total.

I had caught a glimpse of the so called "Murderer" earlier. He hadn't seemed exactly like he was the type of person to murder in cold blood or even at all.

He probably hadn't actually killed anyone. But whatever happened some powerful people wanted this man dead. And he was willing to do so for the huge payout. The currency might be worth something in the next reality.

I readjusted the enchanted bag on my back as I saw the men to start and move out.. I felt around for my dagger Zandacor.

I had the dagger built for me by a bunch of elves about 50 years ago. It stayed eternally sharp and grew or shrank to fit the users needs. Pretty damn handy if you ask me.

I followed closely behind the guard captain. The bloodhound came to a stop and sniffed a tree. Soon it left in search of the murderer's trail. I went to the tree and I could tell the man had been here, the sent of fear and sweat was still slightly fresh.

I turned and saw that the captain and his guards had already turned and left. I looked around and found what I was looking for, the man had cut through the brush on the left of the tree only a light footprint marking his way. I didn't care that the guards left, that just meant that I would get the reward for myself.

I followed the trail for a hour, keeping a brisk run, until I came to a clearing.

I saw the man an the other side.

I yelled at him,"You there! Stop!"

Of course I didn't think that he would actually stop. I just needed him to be confused enough so I could cover the distance and pull out Zandacor.

I tackled the man right after he realized that I was the one to yell out at him. I had pinned him to the ground when he looked into my eyes with fear and started screaming,

"No! Please I didn't hurt anybody! I'm innocent, please believe me I don't want to die!"

"I don't care. I just want the money on your head." I said, deadpanned

"You're a monster! You would kill an innocent man just for some money?" I unintentionally flinched at the word monster.

"Yeah, pretty much."

I raised my hand to bring down the dagger on the man's heart, when I noticed something I hadn't during all the commotion.

I felt slightly sick to my stomach and felt like something was tugging me from my body. I knew what this meant it had happened to me many times in my life.

I looked down at the man who was sobbing underneath me and said, "The god's are on your side for now, but you still have to worry about the guards."

I was only able to see the man's confusion for a second before my vision turned white.

Quickly I rolled off the man and ran blindly into the open field. Then I couldn't run for I had no legs. I tried to think about that but I couldn't without a brain. I tried to ponder this but that sent me into a paradox that could have lasted a minute or a millennium, my sense of time was distorted whenever I jumped.

And then as quickly as it happened I could feel again. I felt grass under my hands. But I was still blinded by the white, that was okay though, for it usually lasted about a minute before I could see anything again.

Then I heard a shuffle on the grass, something was near me.

I hid Zandacor behind my back and stuck my left arm straight out, while switching to a low crouch. Something was wrong, my vision was completely white still.

I strained my senses to their enhanced max, struggling to hear another sound. And then I heard it, another shuffle and a low gasp as whatever it was saw me. I shifted towards the sound and waited as I guessed the new person watched me.

I was the first to break the silence,"Stay back, just give me a moment, if you try to attack me I won't think twice about defending myself."

"Alright then, just stay calm ain't no reason things gotta get ugly."

I was surprised to say the least, the voice sounded like it had a country accent. But I couldn't think straight, the white in my vision started to go black. Right before I passed out I said the only thing that I could think about,

"Aw shit, rednecks."

Comments

[Zero Moment]

Seems pretty good so far. Nice work.

[Leather]

Rednecks are the best kind of necks there is.