It had been twelve days since the time he first fell through the rift into this land. Having only brought enough supplies to last him the 2 days between his home town and the neighboring village, he had failed to bring the necessary equipment to survive a long journey. Leaning on his makeshift staff he could think of nothing but reaching a road or possibly carving his name into the staff, so they could at least identify his body when he turned up dead. He had managed to learn enough of the area to make a map in his sketch book but realized that it only told him what he had already confirmed after his encounter with the wolf pack, that there weren't really any good sources of food down the path he traveled. He still can't believe that while on his journey to collect taxes from the neighboring town that he'd end up in an unknown land with hardly any supplies and no weapons. But he kept moving forward thinking that he might eventually come across a place he knew and be able to head back home. And without even noticing the hill, he tumbled down and landed flat on his back in the middle of a road.

Nhieling was wandering in the forest for a lambda mission he have been hired for. Argyre was really a beautiful one, still wild. One of this last place on the world that humans haven't destroy.

Nhieling suddenly found a corpse in the middle of the road, it was still in a good state, and recently he had fall short on supply part for his experiment over human body, it was his lucky day after all. After getting to the body, he push it with the feet, to return it, and heard a growl.
Alive eh?... Nhieling started looking around : No one to be seen. Hmm helping him to die would only be an act of charity, no?
After few second of hesitation, Nhieling finally decide to save him. The night was falling, and he had no one to speak to, so at least it wasn't a total waste.
Sigh, I hope you'll at least entertain me with a good story.

Nhieling draw out some water, and force it between his lips, when the stranger start coughing, he let him recover his strength, and start preparing the encampment.

Tsun couldn't get up after landing on the road, in fact not even feeling the impact of the ground as he landed. He might have fallen asleep had he not been kicked in between the ribs disorienting him even further. He let out a grunt and the next thing he knew water was being forced down his lips. Ugh...

After a while he was able to gather his senses and realized he was no longer on the road he had fallen on to. He heard the hitting of two cans and jerked up, Who's there? turning to see a odd puppet propped against a tree before feeling an ache all over his body causing him to fall back down.

Nhieling used his puppet to draw his new "companion" near to the fire. His state wasn't critical, but he'll need some food and sleep to recover. Wolf were grinding around the camp, Nhieling wasn't really worried about his ability to take care of them, so he let his puppet patrol around the camp. Still, he wouldn't be able to progress on his own mission without letting him here, and that would mean his death.
Shit... Nhieling couldn't let him die after saving him, would be illogical. Nhieling draw out some medicinal needle from on of his back, and use them over the stranger body. With this, he would be able to wake up by the middle of the night with enough strength to eat by himself as well. During this time, Nhieling just wait, cross-legged, meditating and watching the movement of the wolves.

He awoke to the howling of wolves that made him shudder. He felt the heat of the fire and realized that he was not alone and tried to steady his breathing. There was a man sitting across from his who initially ignored him as he got up. The odd thing was, he didn't feel the same excruciating pain as he did the last time he was awake. He moved his joints and winced in a slight pain as he move his left leg.

Great, more wolves... was the first thought that came to his mind. But then he felt something was off, the wolves weren't coming any closer to where he was than they should have, from what he heard there were enough wolves that they wouldn't have to be so cautious. So that meant the it was he who most likely saved him and kept the wolves at bay. He felt more at ease, even picking up the food in front of him that apparently looked like it was purposefully left out for him and gradually felt life return to him.
You saved me, and have even protected me from those who wish to do me harm... My name is Tsun and I wish to repay my debt to you as soon as possible, I hope you will not deny me this honour. he grunted. I may look weak but give me a day or so and I'll be back on my feet. If that is too much to ask for you may release me at the earliest convenience. He bowed his head and offered thanks for the food before finishing it off.

Dont worry too much, said Nhieling, with an ironic smile, I'll make sure to ask you if I have a favor, but I dunno if you would really be able to grant me something I couldn't already get by myself through...
Anyways, since you're awake, mind explaining me how you end up in casual clothe, out of nowhere, without any water and food? I recognize that adventure can be nice, but here it's closer to suicide.

Nhieling didn't know what to think about this man, having been with him for a few hour now, he had definitly feel some ki from him, but not enough to make him a strong foes, the one that can survive without anything here.

Are you here for some training? Because there is nothing here except from tree and beast, so coming here just to get lost would be kinda... strange.

Honestly, I don't know where "here" is. Tsun made a grand gesture as if to point to the surrounding area. He rubbed at his left leg before continuing on.
No matter how I look at it I'm here out of my own volition. Before I came here I was getting ready to deliver taxes for my master. My master, Viron wasn’t going out as often and woke up later than usual on pick up days. It was one of those days where you can tell the storm was coming, but I wanted to reach the next village before the end of the week so I can head home sooner. He sighed heavily and looked around for a moment.
In fact it was stupid of me to have tried to beat the storm’s advancement the day I left with the taxes. Viron wanted to put off the journey until after the storm passed, but I was anxious to be on my way. So I took off that day thinking that I would have around 6 hours before the storm reached the peak, which I thought enough time to reach the next village over before the downpour became unbearable, I packed food enough for two days just in case anything went wrong... but I miscalculated, almost half an hour after I took off it was almost impossible to see, the oddest part of it all was that my map was showing emptiness in a place where I knew well... He pulled out his sketchbook and turned to the page he drew last before coming here, showing him the giant gap in the map where a forest surrounded it on all sides.

I decided that I would have to stop at the cave just less than 3 miles west of where I was before heading on, but then a gust of wind knocked me off my feet. And that’s when it happened, where it all started for me...

My insides felt as if I were being pressed in by all sides, and I felt a twinge in my body, my Ki started to pressure me as if reacting to something that almost burned my whole body, it left me suffocating, gasping for breath. And after what felt like an eternity there was a flash and… nothing. Next thing I know I'm here, wolves are attacking me, which I barely managed to escape and I moved forward hoping to find signs of civilization.

Hmmm... Nhieling looked at Tsun's sketch : It was a really precise map of the surrounding. Everything was on. Nhieling was astonished : Just by running around, you've done something so good? Even a pro geographer woulsn't do something this good...
Anyways the "here" is the Argyre, basically there is nothing but tree in kilometers radius. Not surprising you didn't found your way out of here... May I know more about the place you're coming from? About you, who you are? I'm curious by nature, and since I have nothing to do unti dawn.

He felt a hint of paranoia coming towards himself. Tsun still didn't believe he could fully trust this person, but seeing as he owes this person his life he saw no reason to lie. Argyre? I never heard of it. But if what your saying is true, this can't possibly be the Human World anymore. As he thought about it the idea was further cemented by the fact that the person he thought was a guard had absolutely no humanistic features he could see.

The place I come from is a small village of about maybe 300 people. lived there with my master Viron the tax collector for that district. The truth is, I have no real past, my first memory is being surrounded by four other children in an orphanage, one of them telling me my name was Tsun. He found it odd that he was revealing so much about himself to a person he barely even knew, in fact he didn't even know the person's name. Myself? I'm just a tax collectors' assistant, but more recently I've been the one travelling to collect the taxes so if anything I'm a tax collector.

Once again he heard a howl coming from outside the camp sight. He was thinking of what service he could offer to a man whom he could already tell was more powerful and more adept in the ways of this land. The more he thought about it the less he could think of, if anything he thought it would be better for him to simply ask the man to point him in the direction of the nearest town, but he his pessimistic self thought he'd just die if he were to do so. What else is there to know? I mean, I enjoyed art when I was younger because of my need to remember everything around me, so I could help with maps... I've lived off the land for so long I can hunt and trap well. But honestly, I'm just an average person... He sighed as he admitted what he thought was the truth.
What I'm really wondering is as to yourself as well as this place, is there any way I can learn more about the people of this place? It doesn't seem like there are plenty of them around. He could begin to see the first rays of dawn coming along through the trees.

The human world eh... Nhieling was thinking, his history sort of made him think to Bex's one, instead Bex didn't have a clue about how to come back to his home.
Hmmm... Where to start, first, we're here in the magic world. Seeing Tsun surprised look he add : Listen to the end please.
The human world and the magic one are linked by magic passway, making us able to travel from on to another freely as long as you have access to one of them. I'm pretty sure you've already read fairy tale and all of the crappy story, here, it's reality. Meaning that all the thing you've heard in the many legend over earth are inspired from this world. Or to be more precise, the one that inspired this legend are now living here.

To explain him further, he pull his puppet from the darkness. I was guarding the encampment with this, since I'm a puppeteer.

I suppose all of this may seem like insanity to you, so if you have any question, just feel free to ask anything.

Tsun could not help but be surprised by what the man was saying, but he kept listening like the man said. What surprised him even more was that his conjecture was correct, that the guard was no human as well as this place... what was it? Argyre? was not of his world. He was terribly confused but he kept his wits about him. He had already confirmed that this place was too different to be of the Human World during the last near two weeks he had been traveling. The trees were old and rustic compared to the young trees that he had traveled through the last three years he had spent with his master Viron. He accepted the fact although with a little disbelief, but as with everything he always expected this to be true, it was one of the possibilities he had thought of during his conversation with this man. I'm sorry for asking this, but since you said feel free to ask anything, What was your name again? And why are you here in the first place?... If you don't mind my asking that is.

Oh ! Sorry, a bad habit of mine. You can call me Nhieling. I always forgot to present myself...
What am I doing here?... A work, a work... Nothing more... Nhieling was sort of evasive about his presence here, since the work he have been assigned wasn't really... legal.

I was wondering, you spoke before about your job, "tax collecting" are the people in your area so dangerous that a tax collector need a proper ki training?

I have a little game if you don't mind, a question each, since we can't move before the sun will get higher than the tree, it's too dangerous to move here at night.

Nhieling was curious about this guy, getting out of nowhere, like this, Nhieling didn't think that any superior being was bored enought to make this joke called fate, but still, he was probably the only human in the area, the only one that could have found him, and him was maybe une result of an incredible low probability phenomon.

Ki...? I was born with it or well rather... by the time I could remmeber anything I was already able to do this. He never really fully understood the concept of Ki simply because it was an inherent trait which was molded from birth and since he had no memories before the age of 7 or 8 it had always been a hard concept to grasp. To answer your question, It's not necessary to have it but, the travelling is sometimes through dangerous land and some people are... unwilling to pay their dues. Normally it wouldn't come down to a fight but, when it does the people are normally desperate and will do anything to not pay so I would say that in most cases having a control over my Ki has only helped me.

After what he thought of as an adequate answer he still was wondering as to what Nhieling was doing here. He had said he was doing 'work' but he wondered as to what type of work it was and moreover how he came to belong to the Magic World. So how did you come to be in the Magic World or err. Can you describe magic to me?

[I thought you meant 'what are you going to do now?' just let me know if that was wrong.]

Tsun was beginning to understand why he was able to manipulate the puppet guards now as he explained it, but he still felt slightly confused by it. Well if I thought about it before and I thought you were doing it as a scientist's approach. Since you were manifesting your own motions into the puppet but... the puppet seems to react to things you do not, so I believe that you have "breathed life" into the puppet or moreover set a function to it like "guard" and so without your own manipulation it "guards" but I couldn't be sure.

He got up to start stretching, his body was feeling more limber compared to when he woke now that his Ki had been replenished. My only real goal right now is to repay the debt I owe you. And after that...? Try to find a way to head home. And if I cannot find one I'll just have to get accustomed to this land, maybe see if I can learn any magic and work as a mercenary. He took a moment to stretch his arms before commenting about the wolves being gone and whether or not they should keep on moving.

By any chance, would it be possible to learn magic if I were to stay here?

[Actually I miss a few letter :o but yes it was this]

Hmm, actually you can say that I breath life into my puppet, but now, I'm totally controling it, it's a spiritual spell and a scientist one at the same time. I manipulate it using magical thread, like a classical puppet, but I move it using my mind, my instinct, it's by the scientist way that I become able to use it, but then how to explain the fact that I'm able to use it so freely? It's because deep into myself, I imagine my doll moove, and they become reality, and there is also a part of the magic.
Where start magic, and where it end... There is a fundamental question.
Concerning magic, you could learn it for sure, I could even learn it to you, since you'll have an hard time finding someone more knowledgeable about magic, but I'm... an hard teatcher. Once you pass the basics, my method are very efficient, but maybe a little harsh.

Now... Nhieling stood up. it you don't mind I have something to do here, since you won't be able to leave this forest without my help, I suppose you'll have to follow me this time.

Mind talking while walking? I would like to know : What are your aim in life? What do you want to do? To become? What are your dreams? It's said that one man can only been understood by knowing his dreams.

You seem to ask for much and offer little in reply yourself. But when Tsun thought about it, truthfully the life he had now was at a dead end, it had run its course. He realized that being a tax collector wasn't a job you aspired to do. He honestly had nothing left for him in the Human World except for Viron. And even then Viron wasn't that great of a master. He had saved his life and took him in and protected him after Tsun had almost died in the forest, but he had since then repayed his debt, even more than that he was supporting Viron now. If anything Viron had always told him that there are no connections that should be made that you aren't allowed to leave. Logically speaking, he could choose to stay in this world, a world with far more possibilities than the world he used to live in.

As Tsun was walking he made note of the path they used and the nearby surroundings that they passed by, noting as to what the puppet was doing. [color=#FF8900I have no aim in life. What I want to do? What I want to become? If anything I would like to do absolutely nothing, in fact come to a point where I have the power to be bothered to do nothing. I would like to become more powerful so that I can life with no debt to anyone, so I must first become more powerful in order to pay my debt to you. I only dream of a world where there is no good and evil simply what there is. Because without evil there would be no need for good, and without good no one would be able to judge a man for his actions but himself. I wish to have a power over my own decisions without anyone trying to judge it.[/color] He realized the irony of the statement but found it comfortable enough to leave it as it is. So first and foremost where are we going? After hearing the answer he asked, Whate are you planning to do there, Nhieling was it?

Nhieling was kinda amused, finding someone so young with such a point of view wasn't really common. Must present him to Mortimer though Nhieling...

So, you have no aim, no power, you're don't seem to be the kind of guy to hope anything from fate, god, of whatever you want to call it... Kinda disillusioned don't you think?

Nhieling was thinking, right now he didn't have any use for this kind of guy, but at least he was interesting, a good actor to be in this grand puppet show that was life.

I'll be honest, people like you are legion in this world, and most of them end up as "nobody", or end up dead. It's... in my power to make you strong... Sure it won't be easy, as I said I'm neither nice nor pedagogue, but I can teach you long forgotten magic, or whatever you want.
I can give you an aim, I can't do anything about hope, but at least I can make an use of your life, and just be sure that I'll never judge you ehehehe ~ Said Nhieling with an evil laugh.

Tsun spent most of the rest of the journey contemplating what Nhieling had said. When he said that "people like you are legion in this world" it automatically knew that this world was not a world of peace as well, but that this world also had wars. He was slightly dissapointed but he was slightly ammused at the thought of being cannon fodder although he saw himself more as a support troop either way.

Later on that day he answered saying Well that all depends on what side your on. Because at this moment I know nothing of this world, I know no difference between good or evil... So to me I would refrain from siding with either good or evil, he bowed hoping not to offend Nhieling But nonetheless I have no use of magic that doesn't defend myself or weaken others. If you could teach me either of those though, I have no qualms with the method taken, my endurance and mental capacity are my strongest points. He stopped for a moment remembering the last thing he said. Honestly, Sir Nhieling, I have no wish to become one of your... puppets, but I could work for you as long as it is within my own self-interest. So whatever course you take I will be behind you if you ever lose your way. For now you know my aim, to repay my debt I owe you, and...

Well, I've thought about it recently and I don't believe I have any true reason for wanting to go back to the Human World. I believe the my life has run its course back there, and if I were to stay there I would have gone as far as I could, so I wish to be in your care for a while. He bowed. Arigato.

Who have say one of my "puppet"?
I'm not interested into tool, I can get them for myself. It's more... a common agreement. People may call me evil, but I don't care, I'm the true neutrality, I work only for myself. Let's say that I can grant you the occasion to become someone, but in return I'll have some...task I would need help with.

See it another way, if you want something, you pay something, this is how the world work. It's only by achieving thing by your own strength that you can get something.
Just follow me and I can give you something to do of your life, and the occasion to get stronger, but it's just a deal, nothing more, nothing less.

Nhieling was amused, this guy was kinda funny, but his way to see the world was interesting, a little paradoxical, but he was young, it wasn't possible for him to been totally free from the preconceived idea.

I can swear it : No one can live on his own. I despise humans for what they are, but at the same time I love them. It's because they're imperfect and limited that they're so great.
Everyone have to make choice, life itself is a choice, I've made the one to work for myself, being for evil of good. I don't judge my employer, I just accept the mission. It's just that evil often pay more than good deed.

They were getting closer to the mission place. Nhieling was still doubting about what to do of Tsun, but he through it could be interesting to let him his chance.

He felt as if the conversation was skirting around the same topic but he didn't seem to mind. After all the man was the only company he had in this new world and he had nothing else to do. Honestly Tsun contemplated where he would be right now if this man hadn't picked him up on his travel. He also liked that this man was neutral, he believed that picking sides was kind of hypocritical, because if the side you picked ever decided upon something that went against your morals, if you left you were a traitor, if you stay you're going against the very things you stood for. But what intrigued him the most was that Nhieling talked about humans as if he wasn't one of them, he found it odd but at the same time a refreshing point of view none of which shared with a person he met in the Human World.

Alright then, I will follow you for now. But as a true neutral you should understand that if I leave its only because I choose to. For now I have a debt to repay and you have a err.. mission to carry out? I wish to help you if I can. ANd if at the end all I did was bother you, I will gladly go on my own way, but if not, I wish for you to teach me as you may.

I'm ready to work... this slow pace has given me time to heal. Is there anything more you wish to tell me?

I like speaking, but I like to hear people speaking about themselves even more actually eh...

But now not the time, Nhieling turned back being serious. SO... I have to encounter someone, to be more precise, I must encounter my contact into the forest at about 5minute from our position. The only problem is that my employer gave me precise consign, and there will probably be someone else at the meeting point, waiting for ambushing us.
We'll do it this way : You'll make you pass for me, and encounter the man at the meeting point. He'll give you bag, you're forbidden to look what's inside. During this time, I'll take care of eliminating the ambushers.

Nhieling throw a badge at Tsun, it was a round badge, all black, with a red cross in the middle. It's the only thing you'll need to recover the delivery.

Nhieling was thinking, having Tsun meeting the contact instead of himself would free his hand for the other part of this job.

Okay, are you in?

I can always scope the area out to check for ambushers but... if you're worrying about them they probably can hide their Ki better than I can detect. So I will go along with the plan as you wish. He picked up the badge and asked in what direction it is to start moving out, he considered if he'll have enough energy to run if the need arose, and believed he'd have enough to make it out, if not he could always... he thought about all the situations where he's had to force his Ki channels and shivered. But, after being told where to go he hesitated for a moment before moving onwards to the meeting point.