He Knows Not Where He Be [Open]

"Urgh, my head hurts," were the first words that he had spoken in several weeks. He didn't quite recall what had brought him to this moment, but he remembered that it involved trying a new spell combination. He had fallen into a bright orb of light, and for this entire time had been lost. He rubbed his temples, shaking his head as he looked around his surroundings -- it wasn't anywhere that he recognized, though the buildings in the distance implied that he was in Zakat right now. He felt around his body to make sure that he was capable of recognizing things around him, before pushing down and attempting to get to his feet. He made a sound of shock and fell on his ass, groaning and shaking his head again, "Seriously, where am I? Zakat, right...? I guess that it really threw me off -- I don't even know what day it is, to be rather honest," he sighed lightly and slowly stood up, rubbing his eyes and stretching himself out. His clothing was covered with something that seemed to be magical residue, and he brushed it off to have it sparkle in the light above. The sun was warm on his face, and he yawned tiredly because of it.

"I expended just a bit too much energy doing that, it seemed. I don't even remember what command I used. I guess I'll have to just keep experimenting." yawning again, he looked around. There seemed to be a few carts trailing down the road he'd awoken beside, all listing in the same direction. A town? He decided that would be his destination, and began to follow the carts -- if he were in Zakat, however, he would have to be careful not to show himself off as an Arcanist; at least not too much. He hoped that his particularly explosive entrance wasn't noticed.

And the headache had suddenly been made worse, as a woman approached him with a hand on her hip, glaring at him, “Are you insane or something? Do I have to report you?” Report him? Okay, he would admit that he probably did something out of the ordinary, but coughing up a bit more arcane smoke and rubbing his temple wasn't going to assist his case very much. He raised his head slightly and looked at her for a few seconds, taking in her features -- she was a blonde, as you'd expect from Zakat. She had blue eyes, and an expression that said 'I'm not taking your shit'. He wasn't sure if this was going to make things easier or more difficult for him.

“Experimenting with explosives, no matter how far from town you are, is extremely dangerous, but the fact that you’re sitting out here talking to yourself like that… You some sort of mad scientist? I will report you, you know.” He rubbed his temple slightly and shook his head, "I, ngh, don't know what you're talking about. I was experimenting, yes, but not with explosives... why does it matter, exactly? I have a headache; being accused of something that I didn't exactly try to do isn't going to make things easier on either of us." He sighed lightly and dusted off his clothes, trying to at least look somewhat respectable. "It'd be useful to at least get the name of my accuser; Daigoro Ito is mine. I can assure you, I'm not some kind of villain." He frowned in annoyance, but would give this person his ear anyway. It was the right thing to do, after all.

She spoke of other people, and he admitted internally that, yes, it could have been an issue if he'd hurt someone. He sighed lightly and gave a nod of acquiescence, though didn't make any kind of comment besides that. He'd let her finish talking, because he felt like interrupting her was a one-way ticket to being hit by a frustrated woman. You're just lucky I wasn't a few feet closer because it's possible that it could have been me. I don't like someone threatening my life because of their recklessness." He frowned, "To be fair, I wasn't starting here -- when I started, I was in a safe place that was relatively far away from any people that were possibly under threat." He responded to her, and she seemed to be calming down. She introduced herself as Eira, pointedly avoiding giving her surname to him. He nodded in understanding, before getting her question.

"You're obviously not Zakatian and you're not from Osynius either. You look like an Arcadian or a Salan." He raised an eyebrow, shaking his head lightly. He recognized that venom towards Arcadians in her voice, and frowned at it. This wasn't going to go well, was it? That said, if he didn't tell the truth now, it would come back to bite him in the ass later -- he would just have to take the ramifications of the time. If that meant she didn't want to deal with him, then he'd just ignore her and go on his way. "I guess that, legally, I am Arcadian. That said, I was born in Ezon, and that's where I call my native heritage from. I'm assuming that, from your blonde hair and your attitude towards Arcadians, you're a native? I don't blame you for disliking Arcadia; they're pretty terrible." He sighed softly and adjusted his clothing, tilting his head to the side. "That said, I'm glad to have human contact. The past few months have been unbearable. Thank you." He frowned again and shook his head, making sure his hair was at least somewhat presentable.

"Well yes, my parents did force me into it. I was only six at the time, or something. I don't know the specifics. My head's a bit muddled right now..." He tried to make it clear that he was a bit of a mess, mentally, but at the same time he was secretly celebrating the fact that he was able to hold coherent speech after not having physically spoken for several months. He took in a breath and waited for her to keep speaking, "The past few months? Why have you been alone all that time?" If she didn't have that obvious distrust towards magic he could be properly honest with her, but... eh, screw it. "It's... complicated. Here, but not. The space between spaces. Long story short, I messed up and got trapped in suspended animation for quite some time. It's not really a good story. A few months back... I was in Iserlohn. I had a meeting there with an old acquaintance. I tried something fancy to get home, and it failed on me. C'est la vie." He shook his head and stretched out, before nodding in agreement. She was right, they needed to get moving. He might be able to use Emperor von Zarkonheinz' name once, but after that it wouldn't work. He didn't fancy doing so just yet. He bowed slightly to her, "I'll follow you, ma'am. I literally know nothing about the area, so would appreciate the help of someone who did." He nodded and followed after her, keeping a careful eye on their surroundings as they went.

Along this way, he decided to try at make some light conversation. "Eira, was it? Has anything particularly large happened to the world in the past few months? Even if it's just Zakat? I find myself pretty out of it on current events..." Hopefully he'd get to find out anything interesting. Or terrifying. Terrifying news meant things to investigate, even if that little voice in his head told him not to.

Aha, contempt for Arcanists!  Just what he needed.  He'd heard it in her before, sure, but to have her say it straight like this, he just couldn't ignore it.  He would, however, not act as if he'd noticed it.  No need to bite the hand that feeds you, especially when you're in a position where that would be a bad idea.  He didn't know his way around and, while he could quite easily teleport himself anywhere he wanted, he wasn't feeling particularly up to it right now.  Wasn't exactly in the best of positions, energy-wise.  He'd instead focus on resting and getting himself back up to it.  Though he, apparently, wouldn't be resting at her abode.  That was expected, especially when he was aware of the distrust she held towards him.  Unfortunately, Dai wasn't exactly in the business of lying to people, especially when those people held your life in their hands.  So again, he accepted that it was the way it was and simply continued onward.

Of course, the thing he couldn't ignore was something that she said that didn't add up.  Worldwide assassination attempts, he had heard about.  But it was the fact that, apparently, there had been no attack on Zakat.  "That's... what... can you repeat that again?  Did you say that nobody from Zakat was attacked?"  He looked at her with a slightly incredulous expression.  His memories told him otherwise.  His memories told him that he had been attacked alongside the Emperor of Zakat, Tsubine.  He shook his head slightly and looked around, trying to work this out.  "Who is the current Emperor of Zakat?"  That would tell him what he needed to know.  He was certain of it, he knew he remembered that assassination attempt.  So why didn't the world know?

He blinked a few times, trying to take this information in. What did she mean? What was she talking about? Who was this 'Andrei Novak' person? He rubbed his temples lightly, trying to consider the situation he found himself in and trying to work out where he had come from. Had he gone into the future? Had he... what was going on? He staggered slightly, though he wasn't sure of why. He tried to understand what was going on more - he was sure that she could see the look on his face, the expression that he wore. His expression was intense, serious, worrisome. He stepped forwards and opened his mouth in an attempt to speak but his voice came out dry and ragged. His breathing and heart rate spiked. He stumbled again and reached out, holding a nearby fence as he attempted to gather himself again. "What are you telling me... why is... I don't understand..." Everything was wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Incorrect. Wrong. False. Untrue. Lies. Incorrect. Wrong. Wrong. WrOnG. WRONG. WRONG.

He groaned lightly, slowly sitting up as his consciousness flickered and returned. He breathed out and a light crackle of energy escaped his mouth harmlessly. He could taste the energy in the air around him and his senses as an Arcanist told him that everything was different. He looked around in an attempt to see if the woman was there but his vision was still blurry. "E-Eira...?"

He rubbed his temples lightly, smiling softly at her worry. It wasn't that he wanted her to feel worried, mind, it was more a case of being kind of glad that she was worried. He was wondering if she had just left him on the side of the road - a fair consideration to make, especially with the disdain she had shown for his status as an Arcanist. While he probably wouldn't have blamed her, he certainly would have resented her, at least a little bit. He slowly sat up, rubbing his eyes and shaking his head. She asked him what had occurred and handed him a bottle, Dai accepting it and chucking it back pretty ravenously. Had the sun gotten to him? No, no, he remembered what was going on in his head before he fainted. He shook his head and looked at her with a concerned expression.

"Put simply, my memory of reality doesn't match up with what you've told me. I think I went a bit too deep into thinking about it. That, combined with my already being weak from what occurred earlier and the heat of the sun above threw me for a loop and I went down. It was not a pleasant experience." He sighed, staring at the ground wistfully. "I don't understand, though - why is my memory different to reality? What happened in this time? I distinctly remember... I'm sure I remember an attack, an assassination attempt. I was in Zakat, too..." He shook his head again, frowning pointedly. "I know for a fact I'm not losing my mind..."