Palladi had no clue what had happened. She didnt know where she was before, but in the middle of a freezing woods with seemingly no way out- and nothing to defend herself with- was definetly not where she wanted to be. She wanted to be... Well, she had no clue, since even remembering her name was difficult!

Dont give her that look, what would you do in this situation? And you better not say "remember where I am" because she physically couldnt do that at the moment.

Annoyed with the chilly air and layer of snow on the ground, Palladi marched onwards. The colorful dress she wore was not helping the bite of the cold. Wind cut through it as if it were butter.

She pulled off the metal bracelets she was wearing to stuff them into her bag. They meant something to her, she could tell, but metal got cold really fast. Its not fun to have cold metal on your wrists.

~~~~~

The sun took far too long to appear. Its rays lent warmth to the trees, making it almost bearable. With how much better it got, she almost didn't realize that there had been no mobs during the night. Only bitter wind that seemed hellbent to make her night worse.

Palladi continued on. Hopefully she could find a warmer biome. The day passed quickly. Palladi found a flower peeking up from beneath a layer of snow, but that was really it. No animals were in sight.

~~~~~

Night arrived quicker than it should have.

~~~~~

Palladi was so offput by a sudden change in temperature, she only just noticed the hissing noise behind her. As she realized she took off in a sprint away, but the blast of the creeper still caused her mind to swim. She was able to pick herself up however, and continued on, dashing out of the way of the getting larger amount of mobs that surrounded her.

Many arrows nicked her skin, and Palladi found a few spiders sinking their fangs into her ankles, but she was still mostly unscathed.

By the time the day arrived, halting the anger of the spiders and burning most of the other mobs that stayed out, she was exhausted, bruised, and in need of shelter from the  zombie that was currently chasing her.

Ahead, in a small clearing, she saw her saving grace. It came in the from of a small hut, and a tall stranger with long blonde hair.

~~~~~

Mangane was a very interesting person. She was kind, even if it didn't seem like she would be. She offered Palladi a place to stay, and forgave her for barging in uninvited.

Mangane also got down to business quickly.

"We need more supplies. We are in the middle of the country and there havent been towns at all along the river. However, I have not seen the entire thing. There may be somewhere downstream. For now we should gather wood and food, and prepare so that we may later go downstream to find civilization. Any objections to the plan, Palladi?"

"Well, yeah. But first can I rest up a bit? I got kinda beat up by all of the mobs that were out tonight. I also don't remember when I last sleep to I'm probably going to fall asleep on my feet at this rate!"

She nodded, and Palladi laid down on her bed to rest up a bit. While she rested, Mangane went out to gather some wood from the surrounding trees.

~~~~~

Within a few days, they were ready to leave the cold little his they'd made. After crossing the river , they started back downstream. The two of them talked some during this time. The two enjoyed this time.

~~~~~

The river they were following did not lead to a village or city, but to a breathtaking expanse of water, with large oaks surrounding it. In the middle of a dense forest, low on food and supplies, the duo were back to square one, with no direction.

Palladi sighed, "Well that's disappointing. This area is really pretty though! We should totally set up a little base here, am I right?"

"We do need to get some more supplies... I guess we shall."

"Woo!"

They used the small amount of wood they had left to build a quick shelter. Palladi then led Mangane through the area surrounding the lake.

There was a little cave nearby. Mangane noticed it. They found a few torches in their inventory and plunged into it. Holding out their stone pickaxes for a measly amount of protection or if they find any ores to mine.

Palladi was the first to notice the blood on the floor. She bent down to examine it. It was still wet. Whatever had bled had only been through here recently. She could see the trail of red going down into the mine. She beckoned Mangane to it, and pulling out their swords they started to follow it.

~~~~~

The reason for the blood showed up soon enough, a skeleton's arrow just grazing Palladi's arm. A dull sting appeared, but nothing adrenaline couldn't mask.

The skeleton clattered its teeth in anger. Loading another arrow, it failed to see Mangane sneaking up to it. Just before it sent the arrow off, she stabbed her sword through its head and kicking the body off it. The skeleton vanished in a poof, leaving a bone in its wake.

Suddenly, a freightened voice made itself known, "Hello? Actual people? Is... Is the skeleton gone? My friend is hurt. Do you know how to help him?"

A person poked their head up from a mound of stone. Their face was scratched up, some of the marks old scars, some still bleeding cuts. Seeing the girls he pulled a heavily injured man out. He looked worried about him. There were cuts all over his body, and an arrow sticking out of his thigh.

Palladi knelt down. "Alright. Mangane can you hand me some wool?this arrow can't stay in, but its probably holding in a lot of the blood."

Putting the wool Mangane handed her to the side, Palladi quickly snapped off the arrowhead and pulled it out. Blood started gushing from the wound. She snatched the wool up and used it to cover the wound, adding pressure to stem the flow of blood.

~~~~~

After a bit of tending to the unknown man, Palladi started speaking, "What's your name, by the way? With all of this chaos I missed the chance to ask. I'm Palladi!"

They nervously looked at her, "Me? Oh. I'm Cobalt. My friend is Nickel. I mean I think we're friends. We did just kind of wake up somewhere in this cave system without knowing who we are, but he is very nice!"

Mangane and Palladi glanced at each other. There was something suspicious about four people having the same experience. Two? That could realistically be a coincidence. But this was four.

They needed to figure out what was happening.