Chapter 1

"Excuse me! Excuse me, sirs? Uh…adventurers?"

I scampered through the thick underbrush toward the two dark haired figures. They were the first humans I'd seen in the hours I'd spent wandering helplessly through this unfamiliar forest. I wasn't quite sure if they were adventurers or not. The dog tags that marked people as part of a Guild weren't visible with their flared shirt collars, but the weapons strapped to their sides and the fact they were in the middle of this wilderness made it seem likely. I hoped they weren't bandits. They seemed too well dressed to be bandits, but I really hoped they weren't bandits.

The two men stood at a slight angle, hands resting lightly on the hilt of their swords. As I drew closer, my steps instinctively slowed to a halt a good sword length away from them. My eyes flickered from their swords to their expressions nervously.

Shit…are they bandits?

Wringing my hands nervously in the folds of my robes, I plucked up my courage once more.

"Um…I'm sorry to bother you. My name is Sophie? I'm a Healer from the Magnolia Order as you can probably see from my robes," I gestured awkwardly at my dirt stained white and gold robes that marked me as a member of the humanitarian group. "I'm not sure how, but I woke up in these woods with no idea how I got here. Could you point me toward Itaveli City?"

I left out the part where I'd stupidly picked up a glowing stone a passing Mage had dropped at the marketplace. Being transported to the middle of nowhere without food or water with the stone nowhere in sight? That's what I get for trying to be helpful. Stupid. So stupid of me. Even toddlers knew not to touch unknown magical items.

The taller of the two with long wild black hair turned to face me fully. His dark eyes bled blood red and his pupils split and spun. I yelped in surprise and stumbled back, wondering if I'd stumbled on weirdly humanoid demons instead of adventurers.

"What language are you speaking? What do you want?"

I paused at his unintelligible words. That…wasn't Elvish or Dwarven or any language I'd heard before. Oh no. This was going to be hard. Oh no where the heck am I?

With no way to understand, with no way to communicate properly, I chose the only language that is universal. Money. My hand dipped into my pocket slowly. I telegraphed my every move because these men were clearly dangerous and clearly suspicious of me. I reached past my small bag of coin, as I was sure that the money I had on hand would mean nothing here, and instead grabbed the brooch I'd bought today at the marketplace. The gold brooch I'd bought for myself to celebrate my 23rd birthday.

I held out the pin shakily. My eyes wide and face twisted into one of pleading.

"Please. Help me, please?"

The two men exchanged glances. The taller one reached out and plucked the brooch from my grasp and studied it thoughtfully.

"Aniki?" The shorter man questioned.

"It's real gold." His strange eyes darkened back to its original black as he tucked the brooch into his bag. Without another word, he turned around and started to walk away. The shorter man's gaze lingered on me a second longer before he turned to follow his companion.

I hesitated for only a moment before scrambling to follow. To my relief they didn't protest me tagging along so I hope this meant they were willing to lead me to civilization.

We'd been walking for a good hour when I finally stumbled in exhaustion. It had been who knows how long since I'd last had anything to eat, and I'd been walking in thin-soled sandals for hours before I'd run into the two men. I'd drank some water from a stream earlier, but it was only when I'd wandered far from it that it had occurred to me that I should have really followed the water. Stupid. So stupid. I was really in fine form today.

My left knee hit a jagged rock as I fell. I hissed in pain and frowned as blood stained the bottom my robe. This. This was why I didn't become an adventurer despite the huge demand for Healers. Well…that and the fact that the Magnolia Order orphanage had kindly taken care of me, a poor homeless orphan. Plus, considering my track record recently, I would have probably died in my first dungeon.

Thankfully, the two swordsmen had stopped so I didn't have to scramble back up to follow. Instead, I pulled up my robe and rolled up the loose pant leg underneath to reveal my injury. It wasn't too bad, but it was still bleeding briskly so I gathered my Mana to my hands and began to chant a spell for blood clotting, sanitation and superficial lacerations. My hands glowed a golden light and the wound swiftly faded. Pleased, I switched my chant to a spell on healing of torn fatigued muscles and skin and directed it to my feet.

I glanced up and froze. The two men were staring at me with those eerie red eyes again. There was a palpable air of intense interest and shock. Had…they never met a Healer before? Healers were definitely on the rarer side and if this truly was as far away from my home as I imagined, than perhaps it was their first time.

The shorter man swiftly knelt down and grabbed my leg, running two fingers over where the wound had been previously. I yelped and tried to pull away, flushing red. His grip was like iron though. Thank goodness I'd shaved recently was the first inane thought that popped into my brain.

"Kekkei genkai?" He muttered.

The two men exchanged glances again before the one holding my leg dropped his grip. I scrambled to pull my clothes back into place, still blushing furiously.

He pulled up his sleeve and unwrapped the bandages on his left forearm. A cut on his arm, clearly made from some sort of sharp blade was held out to me.

The silent order was obvious. Once again, I started to chant the necessary spells. My Mana levels were lower than normal due to my exhaustion and hunger but luckily the wound was easy to heal and had not festered yet. Within seconds, it was done.

The one with wild hair crouched down to examine the healed arm. His eyes returned back to black again. "Name?" he asked.

"Huh? What?"

A slow blink. He pointed to himself. "Uchiha Madara."

The other man followed suit. "Uchiha Izuna."

Oh. We were doing names. And it was unlikely they were both named Uchiha, so their family name must be given first here just like the Speratin people. This wasn't Sperata though. I would have at least recognized the language and I know that even the most rural people in Sperata spoke some Common.

I had no family name though. I'd been abandoned as a baby and it had been the caretakers at the orphanage who had named me Sophie. There was only one choice then.

"Magnolia Sophie."

Madara nodded with a…not friendly, but less hostile expression. He reached out toward me, and the next thing I knew I was hoisted up into his arm. The crazy man was holding me like a toddler with only one arm! I wasn't very tall, pretty petite actually, but it was still crazy that he was able to carry me so effortlessly.

My incredulity delayed my response. By the time I had processed what had occurred, I had to bite down a scream as we were suddenly moving at a ridiculous speed! What kind of speed enhancing magic was this?! I hadn't heard him chant any spells and no way was he wearing enchanted shoes as any enchantment able to do something like this would have been positively reeking of magic.

The wind stung my eyes and the blur of the ground rushing by made me nauseous. I clenched my eyes shut and turned my head into Madara's shoulder. What was happening? Why were we suddenly moving so quickly? Was I being kidnapped? Could one be kidnapped if I'd followed them first? Did we just ditch Izuna or did he have super speed too? Why does Madara smell like smoke? Did he do barbecue? Would they feed me some barbecue? Was I the barbecue?

My stomach clenched with hunger and I decided then and there that even if I was to be dinner, if they fattened me up a bit first I might not mind so much.

A/N: Thank you for reading! This is my first time writing anything that isn't nonfiction so I hope it isn't too bad. Mostly writing this to relieve stress and to be a bit more creative. Also English is not my first language so feel free to point out any spelling or grammar mistakes. Hope you enjoy.