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At the start of everything, one could only see was pitch black, there was nothing, yet, on these eons of nothingness, they felt the presence of many, a weirdly comfortable feeling in a place where there shouldn’t be any.
Amidst this realm of nothing and everything, they woke up.
Laying on the floor, the awoken creature could only see the ceiling of wherever they were, which shined on a pale blue color.
The floor wasn’t the most comforting place to be, so they quickly got up and decided to investigate the surroundings, soon after, it hit them.
Not only they didn’t know where they were.
They didn’t know who they were.
They tried looking into their mind to see if there was anything to remember: some moment, friendship, hobby, memory, even their name.
Nothing. Zero.
They observed their own body, which consisted of a pure liquid metal that shined in a gold color, looking behind, they noticed a small blue tail resembling a wire.
Realizing having an existential crisis on the spot would probably be a bad idea, and driven by their curiosity, the just-awoken decided it was best to move forward, hoping to find something or someone to help them.
Wandering through the caves, they marveled at the size of the boulders, which towered them like they were nothing. Were these really that big, or were they just that small? They couldn’t tell.
A few moments of walking had passed when suddenly the floor started shaking below their feet, this made them paralyzed, and they could only stare when from the floor a massive snake-like creature composed entirely of a chain of rocks emerged.
This creature was way bigger than any of the boulders they were so amazed about just a few minutes back, and it was looking just where they were.
Not having many ideas, they tried to raise a hand to convey they were not a threat, however, this didn’t cause the desired effect, since either because the creature did not understand, or did not care in the slightest, it let out a massive growl and seemed to prepare to rush against them.
This left them with one simple thing to do:
Run.
However, that was easier said than done, because not long after they turned around and started running the best way they could, their physiology bit against them, since they couldn’t run very fast, and their movement was more sloppy than anything.
On the contrary, the rock snake was surprisingly agile, and could easily catch up to them, in just a few seconds, it started coiling the smaller creature with its body.
They tried to escape the creature, but its grasp tightened, with no hope of sneaking out of it.
Relying on their instinct, they managed to spread some concentrated electricity from its body, but unfortunately for the little creature, the rock snake didn’t even bat an eye.
While being raised closer to the creature’s face, the situation seemed hopeless.
They were about to be eaten by a gigantic monster before they even figured out their name, an ending for something that hadn’t even started…
…No, they were not going to give up that easily. From the interior of their body, invoking an ancient force, they created some metal projectiles that they directly targeted to the creature’s eyes, making it flinch and freeing them from its grasp.
Once they hit the floor, they sprinted through the cave, hoping to lose the now-even-angrier creature.
Regrettably, their efforts were futile, since once the snake recovered, they caught up to them with ease, now slamming them full force with its body.
The hit itself… It surprisingly didn’t hurt much, but it still was potent enough to make them fly towards a wall, which did hurt quite a bit.
They could only stand against the wall, looking at the furious creature getting closer and closer.
They closed their eye, expecting the worst, when suddenly…
“Hiya!” a voice echoed through the cave, followed by a strong impact.
Once they opened their eye again, they could see the creature now had a slash marked on its forehead, and more notably, a new individual was floating in front of it.
From the distance, they couldn’t tell exactly what they were, but at least it looked like a sword.
“Stand back you jerk!”
The snake attacked the new party throwing a large boulder at them, and despite the size comparison, the sword tanked the boulder almost without budging at all and immediately counter-attacked enveloping itself in a shadow and swiftly slashing the creature in its head once more, and while it didn’t seem too affected by it either, it still left another mark on its head.
Seeing how things were going, the giant decided to retreat, and reluctantly dig down into the cave, leaving the two smaller beings alone.
“Welp, good that didn’t go too far, I would’ve totally smashed that guy, haha!” the sword laughed while getting closer to the attacked mon’.
Upon closer inspection, the sword had a blue piece of cloth attached to its pommel, with it, it was holding its sheat, also, they noticed its voice had a rather feminine tone.
After covering her blade with the sheat, she tried to talk to the now-saved.
“So, you ok?” they could only nod in response, “good, those guys look all tall and scary but they are mostly a bunch of pushovers,” she said.
She pondered a bit, “What are you doing here alone? This may not be the most dangerous place out there, but you should still be careful around here.”
They tried to explain to her, but they quickly realized they indeed had no idea, so they just stood there, in shock.
The sword looked confused, “Can’t you talk?” She inspected them further, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you ‘round here, and we aren’t exactly a lot.”
That question made them wonder a few things, could they? So far they haven’t spoken to anybody, but considering they were forming coherent thoughts, they figured they probably could, so it was worth a shot.
“Y-yes, I can,” they said, figuring they could, in fact, speak.
“Cool! I ask again, why are you here?” the sword insisted.
“Well I-” they tried to say something, but what could they even say? As far as they know, they have just woken up in this cave.
“You…?”
“I-I don’t know, I don’t know why I’m here at all,” they sincerely said.”
She was taken aback “Thaaaat’s weird, you don’t remember anything before that?”
Once again they tried submerging into their mind, looking for some memory to pop out, but nothing was there.
“Nope, zero.”
“Hmm,” the sword remained in silence, “maybe this is a case of amnesia?” She suggested, “Not much else occurs to me.”
“I guess so?” Somehow they weren’t so sure that was the case.
“Oh! I haven’t introduced myself, have I?” she realized, “Silly me, call me Exca! I’m a Honedge, if you can’t tell.
Exca extended their sash as if it were a hand. They thought for a second, but eventually, they extended their arm too, promptly doing a ‘hand’shake.
“Do you at least remember your name?”
They tried to recollect something again, but it was in vain, thus they just nodded.
“You need a name then!” The Honedge said excitedly, “Let’s see, you seem to be made of steel, so what about… Steely!”
They just stared at her, unimpressed.
She giggled, “Nobody said I was good at names, I’ll still call you that, though.”
She turned around, “Well, since I figure you have nowhere to go, what about you follow me? I have something to do here, and after that, I can present you to the people in the village! Haha, they’ll love to meet a new face.”
She turned around to meet the just-named-Steely’s eye, “So, you in?”
They shrugged, “I have nothing else to do, I suppose.”
“Yayy, I have a partner now!!!” Exca beamed, “Let’s go! Follow me!”
She started floating quickly deeper inside the cave, and they had to start sprinting to catch up with her.
“Hey, wait a second-”