Luna’s eyes opened wide as she gasped for air. This was immediately followed by her coughing as something was sucked into her mouth. Luna didn’t realise soot rained down from above until a few grey flakes hit the back of her throat, but it wasn’t her fault. She’d only just woken up.
Pushing into the sturdy ground with an elbow, she transitioned onto her side then onto her hands and knees to make sure no more soot got into places it shouldn’t be in. Because of this, Luna got a good look at her hands. Thick, fingerless black gloves covered her pristine white skin.
After waking up, people often need to wait for all of their faculties to start working properly, and the brain is no exception. Now kneeling into the red earth, Luna didn’t recognise those black gloves. Why was she wearing them?
Besides seeing her hands, Luna’s bright blonde hair had dropped down the sides of her face when she was getting up. Bringing a large amount of golden hair over her shoulder, Luna brushed through it. Despite lying on red dirt, which had clearly gotten onto her clothes, her hair was spotless. Not a single speck of dirt had found a way to stain her perfect golden locks.
Throwing her hair back over her shoulder, Luna decided to give herself a proper look over. Her torso was covered by a buttoned up white shirt, but on top of that was a black coat with a gold trim. Atop her right breast was a golden medal, the moon in the background and a roaring dragon in the forefront.
The badge grabbed her attention, so Luna moved it about to see a pin holding the golden medal to her thick white shirt. Unpinning it and bringing close to her face for closer inspection, she was curious why she believed a moon was in the background. It could just as easily be interpreted as being the sun. And why was there a dragon?
Staring at the badge confused wasn’t going to get her anywhere though, so she slowly stood up while pinning it back onto her coat. Once it was secure she dusted off small bits of red dirt from her skirt, which was white with a golden trim. Black stockings covered her legs and there were boots that went half way up her shin. She was almost entirely covered, with just a bit of skin showing between her skirt and stockings.
Moving past what she was wearing, Luna noticed that, strangely enough, there was no sound. The only thing she could hear were her own movements. No birds chirping, people speaking, weapons clashing. Nothing.
Next was the location. What was this place Luna found herself in? Covering her face with her right hand, she looked to where soot fell. But she couldn’t see anything, like she was just looking at a black abyss. Since looking directly up wasn’t bearing any fruit, Luna looked around, but that didn’t help much either. Red earth as far as the eye could see, with just some variety in the elevation. The tallest place around was a mountain that pierced the black abyss above, but there was no way to tell direction in this place. She couldn’t say if it was North, East, South or West.
Besides that large red mountain, there was nothing. Just some hills here and there to break up an otherwise desolate place.
But then something else came into view. A creature. No, monster was a more adequate term. Whatever it was, the monster stood around three feet, half of Luna’s height. It was humanoid in stature and was hunched over slightly. Perhaps it was a little taller than Luna’s quick observation led her to believe. Thick brown horns left its creepily baby-like face. Those horns stretched backwards about a foot and curled down into its head.
Before Luna could complete her observation, the monster tilted its head at the sight of the woman and let out a shriek so loud Luna thought her eardrums might burst. Luckily those black gloves blocked sound well enough and, besides a bit of ringing, her ears were fine.
Luna being fine wouldn’t last long, however. The monster rushed her, and it was fast. Stupidly fast. It started off around twenty feet away, but it covered that distance in a split second. It was clearly attacking too, as it lunged forward with a four-fingered claw stretched out towards its target. The woman only had to glance at the sharp nails on this monster to know they’d effortlessly cut her skin.
Reacting to this quick attack, Luna began taking a step back and raised her arms to cover her face as that was where the enemy’s hand was aiming. But then something flashed into Luna’s mind. It was a first-person view of presumably herself repelling an enemy who had lunged at her with a knife. The vision overlapped with what she was experiencing in the now, allowing her to combat her enemy.
The monster may be small and quick, but Luna was definitely bigger and stronger than it was. Since she was stepping back anyway, she used that to her advantage. Still moving back, Luna used her left hand to strike at the inside of her enemy’s arm. Now the claw was aiming at nothing but air. And Luna didn’t stop there. Since the monster was so close, she grabbed a horn and, using its momentum, slid her foot aside so she could slam the creature into the ground, face first.
Wasting no time, Luna embedded the tip of her foot into the monster’s stomach, kicking it and sending it flying. Once the monster came to a stop, a nasty display was created on the red earth. It would appear the creature’s body didn’t like being struck in the stomach as its most recent meal exited through its mouth. But Luna paid it no mind. Instead, when she smashed her enemy into the red dirt, something had caught her eye. A sleek black and silver object shaped a little like an ‘L’ rested right where she was lying not a few minutes ago.
Luna glared at the monster that had finished sorting itself out and was approaching her again. It was moving sluggishly, but the monster’s sluggish movements were still almost a sprint by human standards. Without a second thought Luna knelt down, picking up the item rather aggressively. Despite not knowing what it was, she again saw something in her mind. This time it was showing her how to use this item. This weapon.
Still kneeling, she gripped her weapon tight, raising it in front of herself and pointing it at the monster. Pulling the trigger shot something out the end pointed at the enemy. A powerful sound rang out as the black top of the weapon moved back and forth, followed by the monster having some of its horn blown off and staggering back.
Aiming lower, Luna pulled the trigger again in hopes it wasn’t a single-use weapon, and she was in luck. The same loud bang echoed in her ears and the top of the weapon moved horizontally as the monster got hit in the gut just as it was preparing to shriek again. The creature staggered backwards but wasn’t dead from that hit, so Luna aimed higher and shot.
Third time's the charm. The monster fell to the ground and didn’t get back up. Whatever this weapon fired, the power was incredible. It created a hole in the monster’s forehead, a hole the size of an eye. Red blood certainly didn’t show up on this land’s dirt, but it did stain the monster’s grey skin.
Realising she’d been holding her breath, Luna panted heavily as she lowered the weapon. No point aiming at something that was dead.
Standing tall over the dead monster, she briefly looked over her weapon before looking at the enemy that lay not far from her feet. What is that thing…? She thought, almost wanting to kick it to make sure it was down. Something told her a shot to the head was more than enough though.
But this brought up a major issue she was having. Luna couldn’t remember much at all. The only thing that came to mind was her name. Besides that, and the two visions she’d received, she didn’t know much. Who was she? Where was she from? Why was she here? Luna didn’t have answers to those questions, but she absolutely wanted to find out. Luna wanted to know what the hell was going on.
“Only one way to answer those questions…” Luna said quietly to herself. Even she was surprised by her voice. She didn’t know exactly what she looked like, but based on her pure white skin she believed her voice would be quite gentle. That wasn’t the case though. Her voice demanded attention. It was almost otherworldly, with a hint of authority. A stern voice.
Putting her surprise at her own voice aside, Luna looked up at the large mountain in the distance. She may not remember anything, but there were still certain instincts within her, guiding her. Getting a vantage point to look at the surrounding area was the only thing she could do right now. Finding something that stuck out in this wasteland was her first goal, getting her memories back would have to come later.
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