All around him the fires burn. The flames licking his frail dirtied ankles. He could hear the screams of the people. Everyone he had ever known gone in a haze of red and orange.
"Jin! Jin!" They call to him in their screams. They echo and cry and wail as everything they were turns to ash. And suddenly, it was silent.
The silence was the worst part. When they had already faded away and all that was around him was an ashen snow. It was similar to a gentle snowfall, but it carried with it the souls of many.
"Jin!" A dull muffled voice echoed. "Jin! Jin!" It calls, the voice becoming clearer and clearer as Jin turns to look at the source. A small ray of light, shining down on him. The grey ashen clouds parting to reveal the moon many leagues closer than it should be.
It was almost overwhelming; it intimidates Jin as he looks at the pearl.
Then at the snap of a finger, Jin shot up, panting. He pants heavily as he recalls the nightmare that has plagued him over and over again. He looks down, realizing he was laying somewhere soft. The purple glowing flower remained in his hand, tightly gripped as if it might slip out otherwise.
"Why hello, little one." A soft, almost ethereal voice coos. Jin turns to the source behind him. Above him was a rather plump elven beauty, her silken blonde hair falling over her shoulder delicately.
He looks at her with a bit of shock, realizing that it was her thighs he had been laying on. Her long pale fingers come up and gently start to inspect him, feeling his skin and checking his temperature. It was a gentle loving care, the same one that he had often received from his mother.
"Is there really a need for that?" Another voice calls. The other voice was feminine, but it had gruffer to it. It sounded like a battle-hardened veteran's voice, a woman who had seen it all. He slowly turns to look at her, expecting a scarred, mangled woman in a massive suit of plated armor.
But instead, it was another beauty. Fully clad in black, the pale human woman wore a black coat that covered her black tank top which left glimpses of her pert chest. She had an assortment of necklaces and jewelry adorning her neck and arms. She also wore black skin-tight pants that fit snuggly against her round thighs. And finally, her black combat boots that were stamped in the ground.
Jin's eyes came to rest on the powerful rifle resting against her leg as she sat leaned forward on her elbow. The he glances at the magical staff beside him, a blue crystal weaved among a twisting spiral of wood. It probably belonged to the elven woman.
Neither of them looked anything like the dirtied leathers of the peasants he had known his whole life. Even the weathered metal armor of the militia who attacked his village or came to collect taxes looked less valuable.
Jin sits there frozen as he realizes how trapped he was. The elf was behind him and the human was in front of him, both of them having weapons that look deadly. Slowly, like the string of a violin, the black-haired woman's mouth stretches into a smirk as she looks down at Jin. Jin could barely bring himself to gulp down his fear.
"Marim, stop intimidating the boy like that!" The elf says softly as she pulls the boy in, holding him under her breast as she pouts at the other woman. The one with the rifle scoffs and leans back.
"What? I'm not doing anything. I'm just looking at him, Lil." She protests as she points at the boy. "If anything, he's the wrong one for thinking I'm some evil woman." The looks at Jin with a fierce gaze.
Jin wiggles out of the elf's grasp, catching his breath for a moment before the two women look at him again. They remain silent as he stands to his feet, still clinging to the flower.
"Wh-Who are you?" The boy says with a meek confidence. The two women look at each other then at him. They both have blank expressions on their faces.
"I am Lileen Everswall. A Summailian high elf. And a sorceress of the Adventurer's Guild." The elven woman says as she stands up and bows gracefully. Her body is cloaked in a long navy-blue cloak with a hood attached. Underneath is a simple elven dress that ends partway down her thigh, leaving just enough fabric to cover herself. Below that is brown thigh high boots that lace up her leg and small side pouches full of herbs and supplies they might need in their profession. And finally, her staff; it was arm's length, but the crystal on the end was a blue gem that was the size of a fist. The handle was made of an odd twisting wood that seems to grab at the gem at the end. As she bows, her plump front end spills forward.
"Sup' I'm Marim Frihn, call me Mar. I'm from Rennalim, a fiefdom just south of the empire along the coastal mountain range. I'm just a normal old human, but I can shoot an arrow out of the air. Pretty cool, huh?" The black-haired girl says. She stands just slightly taller than Lileen, but her figure was noticeably thinner than Lileen, whether it was from muscle or from lack of fat was unknown to Jin. Her short black hair frames her rugged look well, giving her a striking attractiveness. Her jewelry was all dark metals and bright gems with her favorite clearly being a red gem that shows up on multiple of her garments.
"She's also a member of the Adventurer's Guild. One of the top Ranger's around." Lileen says as she butts in. Marim pushes her out of her face.
"Hey! Let me tell my own freakin' story, you damn tits-for-brains!" Marim and Lileen struggle as they bicker for a minute. Jin looks at the two of them, wide-eyed for a moment. Then he starts to laugh, at first slow and hesitantly, but it quickly becomes a loud joyous laugh. The two women look at him for a moment in shock, but Lileen smiles and Marim smirks.
"Oh, so you think it's funny that she gets to butt in on my introduction?" Marim says with a grinning laugh. She walks up to Jin, patting him on the back.
"I'm glad to see you are feeling better, little one." Lileen says with a soft smile as she walks up and hugs at Jin's head. Jin's laughter quickly turns to crying as a rush of emotions overwhelms him. The two women flinch at the sudden change but comfort him, nonetheless.