"Ouch!" I exclaimed as I burned my hand on the scalding hot water of the dishwasher as I opened it for the 100th time. I removed the tray from it, along with the now clean metal bowls. Nursing my `tender hand, I returned the bowls to their place in the kitchen. My boss, the cook, placed another bowl covered in cupcake batter in their vacant place. I glared at her, but she just shrugged and told me to keep at it.

Finally, it was closing time. I washed my hands for the last time and scanned my fingerprint to clock out on my shift. Brushing my hair out of my face, I began the walk back to my house. It would be a long walk, at least 30 minutes. Anyways, hi. My name's Harrison, but whatever. I work at the outdoor mall near my house, in the cupcake shop. Not the best job, but it pays minimum wage, so it's better than nothing. Lots of people judge me by my appearance. That might be because I have the left side of my hair dyed cobalt blue, but who knows, right? I'm kidding. Well, back to the present.

I kicked at a rock on the sidewalk, knocking it a few feet down the path. I aimed another kick at it, accidentally knocking it into the road. I shrugged and continued with my walk. I slipped into my thoughts, thinking about upcoming finals and testing. It was early may, so tests were a few weeks away. I still had to take my history final, and I hadn't started studying for it yet.

"Woah!" shouted as I accidentally tripped over a large rock. I rocked back and forth for a few seconds before my body decided to give up and crashed to the ground. My head bashed against another large rock, resulting in a throbbing pain. I swore and sat up, rubbing my head. Now that was going to leave a mark. I winced, and tried to stand up. I made it to my feet, and managed to stand up for a few seconds before my knees gave way and I crashed to the ground. I felt my eyes closing, and before I knew what was happening, I was out cold.

I opened my eyes. Where was I? I was lying on my back in the middle of a forest clearing. I blinked slowly, taking everything in. I tried recalling what had led up to this, but my memory came up blank. I sat up, taking a look at my clothes. I was just wearing jeans and a plain purple t-shirt, but I had a gray backpack on. I opened it, finding it filled with colorful binders, a strange gray box, some sort of smooth black rope with strange ends, and a change of clothes. I took the items out, looking at them all individually. There were five binders in total, black, purple, green, blue, and red. They were all packed with papers covered in writing. I put them aside and took out the gray box. It was covered with buttons, with the buttons covered in numbers. I poked at the buttons for a minute, but got no reaction. The rope was only about five feet, with one end heavy with two metal prongs sticking out of it, and the other end ending in a strange shape. I put all of the items back in the pack and pulled it on. I thought to reach into my pockets, retrieving another small box. This one was skinnier, and had very few buttons, only two. I pushed them, but they did nothing, just like the other box. I put it back into my pocket. Maybe it would be useful later. I began walking in a random direction, when I heard shouting coming from the direction behind me. I ran towards it, finding another man yelling at a cave.

"I know you're in there! I saw you run in, you flea-bitten tramp!" I shouted. I cocked my head in confusion, wondering who, or what, this man was yelling to.

"Hey man, what's up?" I greeted him casually. He responded by turning around and pressing the point of a sword up against my neck. "Woah, whoa. I'm not sure what I walked in on, but I'll just head the other way," I told the angry man.

"Wise choice. This Keidran is wanted for burglary in my village, and I'm going to be the one to collect the bounty," He spat on the ground. He turned around, ready to face the cave again. I pulled the small box out of my pocket. It was small, but I felt like it would hurt a bit when thrown. I lobbed it at the man, hitting him right on the head. He collapsed immediately. I whistled. I hadn't expected my throw to be so spot on. I quickly grabbed his sword.

"Hey, is anybody in there?" I called into the cave. Nothing happened for a minute, but then a pair of glowing yellow eyes blinked out at me. I stepped back, unsure of what to do. What was a Keidran, anyway? Before I knew what was happening, a pair of strong arms tackled me. "Aah!" I screamed, hoping I hadn't just made a grave mistake.

"Woah, thanks for saving me back there," I heard a relieved voice say. "You can open your eyes now," I chuckled. I opened my eyes to see a strange sight. A wolf was looking at me with a bemused expression in its eyes. The weirdest part was that it had the proportions of a human, with legs and hands instead of paws. The only thing was it has a tail between its legs. "Hey, I'm Frank. Pleased to meet you," My eyes rolled up in my head. This was too much. Everything faded to black once again.