The Paladin

Genesis - Chapter One

-Unknown Location and Date-

He woke up, still dazed from the attack. He looked around, trying to see where he was but couldn't. Everything was still a blur and his head hurt worse than it had ever did before. He gripped his head to get his world to stay still. He heard someone speak to him.

"Well, good to see you are doing better." Slowly everything stopped spinning, thinking he was in a hospital. He opened his eyes and saw a woman in rag like clothing looking at him with caring eyes and a wide smile. It was clear that she was not a nurse and he wasn't in a hospital. It looked like a hut of some kind, with hanging herbs and meats. She dapped his head with a wet cloth, cleaning his wound with the burn of alcohol. "You were carried here by a man I have never seen before. He looked familiar though." She ringed out the cloth and rewet it. "You had lost a lot of blood, but there is a strengthen in you. I can say that you are lucky that I know healing arts."

"Thank you, ma'am." He weakly said. 'Damn it...what happened?' He reached for the back of his head and whatever wound was once there was now gone. "I think I should be fine." She helped him stand up.

He wobbled a bit, slowly got balance and walked outside. The sunlight made him shield his eyes 'Oh shit, where am I?' He thought as he finally could look around. Fear and panic spread through him as he saw a desert, not a city. The people of the small town looked at him with wondering eyes. Maybe of his clothes being very different from what they had, or the blood on his jacket. Somehow, the town looked familiar to him, but could not place it. He turned to the woman "Where am I? This doesn't look like Pittsburg."

The woman gave him a frown "Sorry, I never heard that place, but this is Graten."

'That sounds familiar, but from where?' Matt nodded "If I may ask, what is going on?" She looked confused. "Is there a major war going on?"

"Yes, the Zodiac War. Clyde and Taylor Wrath are hunting the last two Zodiac Warriors, Scorpio and Aries."

It was then he felt all color from his face vanish, knowing what she was saying. She had just said the plot of the first Dark Oath game. He now thought he was being watched on some crappy prank show, but it was strange that they would go through all of this detail just to prank a nobody. "Thanks. What do I owe you ma'am?"

"Nothing. I believe the Nine have told me to help you. They have brought you here for a reason."

Matt shook her hand and took the same pack that he used to attack the beast. He didn't know what was in it before, but he found it was now it was full of food, a map and glowing liquid. When he was out of the town, he looked for his phone. He had to call someone to find out what was going on. He found it but discovered that it was broken. "Shit. Well this is great. I am so fucked right now." So, he just kept walking until he spotted a ruined town. It was getting dark and he knew he should find some sort of shelter, no matter what it might be. In some ruins of a house, he sat down to get some sleep. With the dying light he gathered some wood to make a fire before he began to look at the map. It was the world of the game, or at least a few towns and cities with Xen, the main city. "Well, if this is a prank, it's a damn good one" He laid down and sighed. "Fuck my life."

He finally began to doze off when the ground started to quake. He stood up, stumbling all over because he had never been in an earthquake before. Then the quake ended. Looking around, there was nothing, but he had a feeling that something was coming. He found an old rusty sword so he picked it up in time to see small meches that looked like scorpions. He panicked, but something told him to focus. He did, then swung at each one that jumped at him. Something kept these things coming, because he was fighting for five minutes, and he was getting very tired. When they stopped coming, he took the time to drink some of the glowing water. If this was just like the game, it should heal him right up and restore his energy.