"Do you remember our childhood together?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"It has to do with everything."

"I remember enough of it, why?"

"Because it's gone now. Gone like your family, gone like your friends, gone like your home."

"What do you mean, 'gone'…?"

"You're still asleep, I see."

"Asleep?"

"Wake up, Trevant."

"Wake up from what?"

"WAKE UP!!"

Two eyes shot wide upon, revealing themselves to be blood red. Their owner was heavily panting, as he attempted to normalize his increased heartrate. His head felt heavy, as if full of something, making it difficult to concentrate his thoughts clearly, as he placed a palm across his forehead and groaned, communicating his discomfort. His vision was blurry for a time, as he turned his head about, in order to examine his surroundings. The darkness made it very difficult to clearly see much of anything, and the man could not even distinguish whether it was currently morning or still nighttime.
Rubbing the sleep from his face, his memories began to return, and his thinking became clearer. This was the Menomori Forest. He'd come here for a purpose, despite all the warnings against doing otherwise. There were rumors of strange creatures and evil spirits within this forest, entities long forgotten in time. If travelers weren't killed by those, rumor had it that they additionally risked becoming endlessly lost unto death, in this thick, dark, foggy, and haunted bamboo forest. Yet, despite all these deadly dangers, it would be here that the handler of blades would still find himself in search of clues and knowledge. He was not here for knowledge of magics, scrolls, or even ancients weapons, however, but he was here for a much different reason, compared to the majority of the forest's visitors, one which few went through such great lengths as him, in order to find; He was here in search of purpose.
The world around him was so foreign now, and his previous understanding of it was long outdated. Those currently living seemed far too stuck in the present, ignorant of the past, and uncaring of the future, in order understand the world around them deeply enough. They could provide him no answers, for few barely even know the history of their own city. All people seemed to care about nowadays was eating, drinking, and sleeping. No one seemed to have a mind for the deeper aspects of life, especially when it came to seeking out one's purpose. Seeing as the living of this world seemed completely useless for providing insight concerning such matters, the blademaster was now in search of the unliving, in order to receive his desired answers from them. Rumor also had it, that not every spirit in the area was evil, yet there was also supposedly an undead city, filled with very wise spirits, spirits with the blademaster was greatly seeking the wisdom of.
Reaching into his bag on the side of him, he pulled his tinderbox, and begin the process of hitting a piece of steel against flint multiple times over tinder, in order to begin a fire. The process, under normal circumstances, was generally not a greatly distracting one, yet due to the dead silence of the forest, the whole effort appeared rather loud, as it echoed from his location, The man had hoped that it wouldn't gain the attraction of the rumored evil spirits, or other dangerous creatures, supposedly lurking about the forest. Despite this risk, however, he still needed to complete this process, in order to light his torch again, so that he could navigate through the deep darkness of the forest.
As sparks flew onto the tinder from the flint and steel hitting together, and he blew upon it it, the small material began to greatly smoke, and a small fire began to appear, causing a pleased smirk upon the Blademaster's face. Lighting his torch with one hand, he placed all his material back into his backpack with the other hand, and slungged the backpack around his shoulder, while beginning to slowly stand up with his lighted torch, in preparation for his continued search.