I felt a brisk, cold feeling enveloping my body as my dreams started to dissipate into the back of my mind. The feeling was unmistakable: it was water. As I stirred from my sleep, I quickly realized that the need for air was increasing rapidly. I lifted my hands from my sides and shot myself up, lifting my face out of the water. I gasped heavily, as my need for oxygen was incredible.
How long was I out? Was I just sleeping face first in a pond? How did I get here? These questions racing through my mind were unrelenting as I tried to regain my composure. I felt extremely nauseous as I lifted my head up to get a view of my surroundings. It was blurry, and I couldn't make out much other than the greenery and trees. I wiped stars from my eyes and tried to give the scene around me another look. When I opened my eyes, I found quite a few things out of the ordinary.
"What...what the fuck." Was all that could escape my lips. Four...no, five pairs of eyes were staring at me. The figures looked like... cute pony like creatures with oddly shaped horns protruding from their heads. I blinked a few more times and smacked myself in the face with a bit of force. Sadly, the force wasn't strong enough to unsee the sight before me. I looked up again to see more of them gathered around the pond I had been sitting in. I took in a deep sigh as I went over a few options for my next course of action. I got up on my feet and noticed the water was barely over my ankles. I calmly walked out of the pond and I wiped what dirt I could off of my clothing. I waved at the creatures and walked behind a few trees. I slumped against a tree and let out a calm and collected...
"WHAT THE FUCK!?"
Am I on some sort of alien planet? What are those... things? Are they friendly?
"Calm down, Anon. Take deep breaths and chill the fuck out. We need to figure out what's going on and see if we can go back home." I told myself. "Can you remember the last thing you did before coming here?" Nothing helpful came to mind. I was playing some random ass battle royale game that came out a few days ago. The events that took place after that were a blur. I sighed and thought for a moment longer. Maybe I should just walk around? Walking always cleared my mind. Maybe I could come up with something or remember what happened before all this mess.
I slowly rose from my position against the tree. I took a deep breath before turning around.
Yep, they're still there, standing where they were. Still staring at me... Maybe I should ask them about this place. They don't seem to be hostile, just a little curious maybe?
"Hello? Can you all understand me?" They nodded in unison with little to no change in their facial expressions. Well that's a surprise. "Can you guys tell me where I am or how I ended up here?" No one moved. They didn't make an effort to respond like they did with my first question. After taking another look around, the group had amassed to around twenty or so creatures. Maybe I should ask simpler questions. "Can you guys talk?" They shook their heads. This was strange, but I came up with another question that might help my situation. "You guys wouldn't happen to know someone I could talk to, would you?" they nodded. "Great! Could you show me?" A much larger one of them emerged from a bush beside me. She was slimmer than the others, and something about her screamed that she was their leader. She gave me a look showing little to no emotion, before gesturing her hoof towards an opening in the trees. The opening looked like a path that led deeper into the forest. "Is it dangerous?" I questioned. She shrugged. Oh, Wonderful...
I had been walking down the path for about 10 minutes. My clothes were still soaked and I was getting fairly cold. Maybe I should set up a fire or something. A fire sounds like a great idea... How does one start a fire? I remembered in survival shows the guy would always have a tool to help with that or he would have some weird stick spinning mechanism that would take forever. I could always just slap some rocks together for forty five minutes with no result. The severity of my situation was starting to kick in as I realized I had no survival skills at all. How would I get food? How would I make proper shelter? I wasn’t ready for this shit. Maybe those creatures could help me once I get some more answers... Given the situation my only option was to keep walking down this path until I find something that could speak.
I saw a figure rise it's head from a bush to my left. She looked similar to the other creatures I met before, and sported the same look of zero enthusiasm. She had a light coat and orange mane. She seemed like the rest, and most likely wouldn’t say anything. Probably gathering materials for the village or something. I might as well give it a shot.
"Hello. You wouldn't happen to be able to speak would you?" I asked. She said nothing. This was getting a little frustrating. "Do you know anyone who can speak? I need some answers about where I am." She tilted her head, most likely not understanding any of what I just said. "Ugh, anyways sorry for bothering you, I'll be-”
"Yeah, I think I can help you out with that." she chuckled.
"Wha-what?"
"Sorry about that, I couldn't resist. It’s been so long since I’ve made a joke or pranked someone like that. The look on your face was so priceless."
"A prank? Wha-”
"Anyways, my name is Autumn Blaze. It’s nice to meet you!" she said, grabbing my hand and shaking it vigorously. "It's so good to finally talk to someone like this again! You don't really look like anything I've ever seen around here. I'll have to add you to my list of things that I've never seen before since leaving the village. That's a pretty... loong, long? Yeah, it’s a pretty long list. I'll have to show you it!" She broke from her tangent as she got a better look at my condition. "Oh! You seem really cold! Maybe you should come with me and we can start a fire. Oh, Oh maybe we could tell some campfire stories, and you could tell me all about what you are! I can tell you about the kirin if you like!"
"Woah, woah. Slow down there. Please. I'm trying to piece a lot of things together, and I'm starting to get a headache from all this confusion." I sighed before continuing. "So you guys are called kirin?"
"Yup!" she exclaimed. "What are you called?" she asked, giving me an inquisitive look.
"Well uh... I'm a human." I'd never had to explain what I was. It felt kinda weird. "I'm assuming they aren't very common around these parts."
"A... Hooman?"
"A human." I chuckled a bit as she tried to pronounce it. At that moment, I could see her eyes light up, before a devious smile grew across her face.
"But hooman just sounds so cute! And no, I can't say I've ever heard of anything like you." That's disappointing but not entirely unexpected.
"Well I don't suppose you know of anyplace I can stay for the night, or clean my self off?" I asked, really not wanting to spend more time cold and wet out in the middle of a forest. She put a hoof under her chin, and scrunched her face a bit. I could almost see a light bulb appear as her head shot up from thought.
"Oh my gosh! You could stay with me! My home isn't too far away. You can feel free to stay as long as you like. You're really just wandering out here all by yourself?" She questioned.
"Yeah... I have. Not the most pleasant experience, as you can see." I said as I gestured towards my soaked clothes. "Anyways are you sure your alright with me staying with you?"
"Yeah, it’s no big deal. Just as long as we can talk and you can tell me about where you're from, and I can tell you how cool it is, and then I can show you all my collections, and I introduce you to all my friends!" She responded excitedly. Wait...
"These friends of yours... Do they speak like you do?"
"Oh yeah, for sure! I'll introduce you once you get there! This will be so exciting!" she seemed to be getting really giddy with excitement as she processed what the future could entail. Honestly, I was just happy that more kirin could actually speak. Maybe they could tell me what’s up with my situation...
"Then by all means Autumn, lead the way." I gave her a light smile and gestured for her to lead. She hopped at that and began to trot with a bounce in her step. I felt a bit better knowing someone so friendly came my way. I could have very well been attacked by some wolf or bear or something... But this cute innocent kirin just lit my path and was about to show me to salvation.
We came up to a shabby wooden house that looked a little reminiscent of those that were in the village. It was partially built into a tree, but most of it was made of planks of wood and other materials that would be gathered from the surrounding area. The thought of the house was quickly dwarfed though as I looked over the cliff side which the home was sitting upon. I got closer to the edge to take in the view as Autumn trotted next to me to take in the sight as well.
"Wow... This looks amazing." I muttered. There was a bright rainbow in the distance, sitting on top of the horizon, overlooking a savanna. A winding river looked as if it was there to split the scene in half, yet also hold it all together. I could faintly make out mountains and groups of trees scattered throughout the lands we could see from the cliff side.
"Oh, you think so too?!"
"Yeah...The way the light shimmers off everything..."
"Like it all suddenly woke up the moment you saw it..." we both trailed off as we looked over the beautiful view. She looked like she was going to continue speaking, before she caught me looking at her. When our eyes met, I could feel my heart skip a beat. Her golden yellow eyes seemed to take my breath away as I became lost within them. I could see a faint blush across her cheeks form as she looked back at me. She broke the stare as she averted her gaze to the ground and cleared her throat.
As I snapped out of my trance, I began to think of ways to clear the air. A question came to my mind.
"So why don't you live with the other kirin in the village?" This was a bit strange, but I would be lying if I said she didn't stand out from the others.
Her demeanor seemed to take a hit almost immediately after I had asked. Her head slumped towards the ground and her expression fell.
" Yeah...After the whole vow of silence thing. It's uh... kind of a long story." she didn't look back at me as we continued along the path to what I assumed was her house. Her tone reflected what I saw in her expression, and it hurt my heart a bit to see such a flip in emotions. As much as I wanted to ask about the whole 'vow of silence' thing, I didn't want to pressure her about anything uncomfortable, so I tried to comfort her as best I could.
"Rather not talk about it?"
"No..."
"I can underst-"
"I'd rather SIIIING!" She burst up and started spinning on her hind legs. Music started to fill the air and I was utterly shocked about what was happening. She was going into song.
"What the fuck..."