You woke up to find blood in your mouth, the sun in your eyes, a ringing sound in your ears, a burning smell near your nose, and a pounding sense of pain all across your body.

You sat up, spitting the blood out of your mouth and blinking the bright dots out of your eyes. The ringing was gone by this point, along with the smell, though the pain still remained. Everything hurt, like you just got tackled by fifty professional linebackers at the same time.

No bruises though. Your skin looked smooth, unblemished, and pale. A little bit too pale when you thought about it; you looked like the type of person who didn’t get much sun. Maybe you stayed in your room all day, watching TV or playing around on your laptop. Or maybe you spent most of your life in a hospital bed, hooked up to dozens of machines, with the only source of light being a flickering lightbulb. Or maybe you were a zombie.

You found that any of these ideas seemed possible to you. The fact that you couldn’t tell which one was true was the worrying part.

Moving hurt, though thankfully the pain seemed to be fading fast. So you waited a bit, laying back on the cool morning grass until the pain was gone.

The sun shining down on your face and the cool dew between your fingers was a relaxing contrast. You felt like you could just fall asleep here.

But no, you couldn’t waste the day away sleeping on the ground. You had better things to do, like figuring out just where the hell you were. So you stood up and gave your surroundings a good once over.

It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and you were in the middle of a field of flowers. You couldn’t tell what type of flowers, but they looked pretty and came in all colors of the rainbow.

You knelt down and picked a few flowers, turning them over in your hands. Your fingers were itching to do something and when you let them have free reign, you found yourself making an elaborate flower crown fit for an elf princess. You were not an elf princess -- you checked your ears to make sure -- but you wore it anyway.

You were tempted to see if you could make other flower clothes -- a flower dress would be especially cute -- but figured you might as well stick to the clothes you had. Which were a white T-shirt, jeans, and red tennis shoes. How boring.

At least the T-shirt had a picture of a cute cat on it. That was something, right?

You picked a few more flowers and held them in your hands like they were a bridal bouquet. Then you spun around until you were facing a random direction and started walking.

And walking.

And walking.

And walking some more.

All you could see for miles was flowers. Flowers, sky, sunlight, and chirping birds. No cars or roads or buildings or humans or anything you could use to get yourself back to civilization. You would have even settled for a dragon or a broken down spaceship at this point. You could probably tame a dragon if you tried. And a broken spaceship well, you’ve managed to work with worse. You think.

Eventually your feet started to get really tired and the sun firmly settled itself high in the sky. By that point you decided you needed to take a well deserved break.

You laid back on the grass, your bouquet falling out of your fingers. You were going to have to get back to walking at some point, but for now you wanted to rest.

Good thing these flowers are so soft…

You closed your eyes.

*BOOOOOOOOM*

“Fuck!” You jolted up, your eyes flying open only for you to see a smoldering pile of rags land a foot away from you. You scrambled to your feet and backed away, your fists raised in preparation for a serious beatdown.

Nothing happened though. The pile of rags didn’t attack you. Nor did it explode suddenly. You cautiously poked it with your foot, and flinched back when you heard it moan. You squinted at the rags and realized that it was a slightly crispy person, and not a bunch of sapient clothing.

You used your foot to flip the person over on their back and came face to face with a young boy. No older than sixteen if you were being generous. Blond hair, blue eyes, freckles, what looks to be the beginning of some muscle definition underneath his mostly ruined shirt. He would have looked pretty cute if not for the painful looking burns on his face. Also half of his hair was burned away, revealing a bright red scalp. There was steam coming off it, which was probably not a good thing.

Most of his clothes were ruined, either being burned completely or -- in the case of his pants -- ripped to shreds. Only a few scraps of cloth kept you from getting a naked eyeful, of which you were thankful. You had no idea how old you were, but you had a feeling that it was way older than this kid. You weren’t planning on robbing the cradle anytime soon.

Other than his messed up clothes, you noticed that he also had a sword strapped to his waist. Or what was left of a sword. At this point it was basically a few pieces of scrap metal attached to the hilt. You could even see what was left of it scattered all around him in half melted piles.

It made you wonder how the hell this kid managed to survive an explosion hot enough to melt steel. He sure looked like a normal human boy, albeit one with a sword. Maybe he survived using magic?

Was magic even a thing?

It sounded possible when you thought about it. At the very least, you didn’t feel as though you were talking about something make believe or straight out of a fairy tale. And this kid did just fall out of the sky or whatever.

Said kid moaned, reminding you of the fact that you had a severely burned kid lying in front of you. You could question things later; right now you needed to give him what little medical care you cou--

*Bzzzzz*

The air visibly distorted before a portal appeared a few feet away from you. It was green, swirly, and looked all kinds of dangerous. Especially when a similarly colored three headed dog just walked right out of it.

It would have been intimidating with just one head, considering it was the size of a small horse. With three it looked downright terrifying. Smoke was coming out of the middle dog’s nostrils, while the one on the far left drooled, its spit hitting the flowers and causing them to sizzle up. The dog on the far left had glowing green eyes, ones that looked like the fires of hell were burning inside. All three of the heads had mouths full of razor sharp teeth, claws that looked like they could rip up cars, and low rumbling growls that made shivers run down your spine.

You could see all six of its eyes scan the field for a second before locking onto the burned kid, then you. Their eyes narrowing, three headed dog snarled and launched itself at you.

Shit.

You felt yourself tense, before scrambling to your feet and trying to make a run for it.

You barely took a step before you felt something slam into your back, sending you tumbling to the ground.

“Fucking fuck! Get the fuck off of me --” You felt jaws clamp around your arms and neck, the teeth biting into your skin and filling you with pain --

Wait.

You weren’t feeling anything.

Well no, you could feel the three headed dog’s breath on your neck and could feel their teeth, but -- you couldn’t feel them biting into you. There was this sense of pressure and sharpness -- like you were getting poked with an especially sharp pen -- but there was no pain. You couldn’t feel them penetrating your skin at all.

You heard the three headed dog let out a confused sounding noise before you felt them clamp down harder. Your skin didn’t so much at budge.

“Get off of me!” You tried to wiggle out of their grip but alas, you weren’t given super strength to go with your super durability apparently. The three headed dog growled again and started jerking at your limbs and neck, probably trying to rip you apart. No dice.

Another growl before you felt a wave of heat engulf your head. Something wet splashed against your right arm while you felt another attempt to rip your arm off on your right.

You didn’t feel any pain though, and the three headed dog still had a killer grip on your limbs and neck.

It basically left you and the dog at a stalemate. It couldn’t hurt you and you couldn’t get away, so the two of you pretty much just laid there in the field of flowers. The dog growling and snarling at you, and you trying to breathe through your mouth so that you wouldn’t have to smell dog breath.

You probably would have stayed like that forever -- or at least until the three headed dog got bored -- if not for one thing.

“H-hey! G-get your hands o-off her you m-mutt!”

Oh shit, the kid.

The three headed dog snarled before suddenly flinging you away like you were yesterday’s trash. You skidded for a good few meters before coming to a stop, your face buried in flowers and dirt.

You laid there for a good long moment, questioning the life choices that brought you to this point. It was only when you heard the kid’s screams that you decided to leave the midlife crisis for another time. Right now, you have a brave kid to save.

Said brave kid was doing as well as could be expected for someone who recently got blown up -- which was not good. He barely managed to avoid the three headed dog’s swipes and attempted bites, sprinting and rolling and crab walking away from the dog’s lazy attacks even as he tried to fight back with what was left of his sword. Maybe one in ten of his attacks managed to hit and even then, they didn’t seem to do much damage.

You sprinted over towards him and managed to make a flying leap towards the dog just as it decided to stop playing around. Two of the heads snarled, their mouths filling with acid drool and fire -- only to let out a pretty hilarious sounding choking noise when you body slammed your way onto their back.

Their attacks missed the kid by an inch, hitting the ground and melting/burning the flowers. You took advantage of its surprise to wrap your arms around the middle head and then your legs around the acid one, closing their jaws. That left the third head to try and gnaw at your face but thankfully, you were invincible.

The drool still got into your eyes though, and you had to resist the urge to wipe them with your hand. You tried blinking the drool out of your vision, but it just seemed to spread the drool around.

Ugh.

Through your blurry vision you saw the kid painfully raise what was left of his sword towards the dog. “M-miss! Get out of the way, you’re going to get hurt!”

“Don’t worry about me, kid!” you barked. You felt a wrenching sensation near your arms and legs as the two dog heads tried to get free. You managed to hold on, but only just barely. “Just hurry up and fucking stab it!”

“But --!” The kid looked at his sword helplessly. “But my sword’s broken!”

“Well then just fucking claw at it or something! Beat it with the hilt! Kick it in the balls! Just do something!” The dogs wrenched their heads back even as the third dog head started biting into your shoulder. “Fucking hurry! I can’t hold them forever!”

The three headed dog bucked like a bull and you almost lost your grip when you felt a wave of flames wash over your arms. It didn’t hurt you, but you couldn’t help but balk at the heat of it, loosening your grip slightly. That was all the middle dog head needed to wrench itself out of your grip and you felt yourself swing downward, your legs’ hold on the acid dog’s head the only thing keeping you from falling to the ground.

“Um! Um! T-there! The portal!” Upside down, you could make out the kid pointing at the green swirling portal, which hadn’t disappeared. “Q-quick! We can run there and escape!”

You grunted and relaxed your legs, falling to the ground head first. The three headed dog stumbled back, the sudden weight loss confusing them. You used that moment of distraction to sprint towards the portal, the kid hot on your heels.

You heard an earth shaking roar behind you, the sound of rapid foot falls, the sensation of teeth just grazing the back of your shirt -- before the portal washed over you.

There was a brief falling sensation in your stomach, a sense of weightlessness -- before you found your feet hitting smooth ground. You stumbled forward and collapsed, all of your energy leaving you at once.

For a moment you just laid there, breath leaving you in harsh gasps, your heart pounding in your chest. When you felt like you weren’t in danger of having a heart attack you stood up and took stock of your surroundings.

You were standing in the middle of a dirt path. On either side you saw a dense forest, filled with trees, bushes, and the occasional animal. It looked like a normal forest aside from the trees, which were so tall that you had to tilt your head back just to see the top. No flowers though, which was a relief. You must have landed a long way away from that field.

Beside you, looking like he needed a trip to the emergency room, was the kid. He was crouched on the ground, kneeling with his hands on the ground like he was about to worship something, his body visibly shaking. “W-w-we made it! We made it! We’re alive! Thank the gods!”

“Yeah.” You sighed and rubbed the back of your neck. “So long as that three headed dog doesn’t come back. What the hell was that thing?”

“C-cerberus. Rank C monster. Th-the guild th-thought it was just a pack of wolves attacking sheep. I thought I could handle it on my own, b-but --” He let out shaky laugh. “I couldn’t even p-protect them. The farmers. They just -- i-it was too strong. I could only distract it. Give them a chance to r-run. I was too -- too weak.”

“Oh,” you said awkwardly. You searched for something sympathetic to say and came up with: “Well uh. That sucks. I guess.”

Shit.

The kid didn’t seem to notice or care about your horrible social skills. “I thought I was -- I thought I was gonna die.” He stared blankly at the ground. “I almost died.”

“Uh…”

His eyes landed on you. “You. You saved me. Thank you. Thank you so much.”

“Uh…” You looked away, not sure how to respond to something that sincere. “You’re welcome, man. It was no big deal.”

The boy looked unsatisfied with your attempt at downplaying. “But --”

“Look, we should probably go. You know, before that thing comes back,” you said pointing behind you. “I don’t know about you, but I’ve had enough of three headed demons dogs for one day.”

“R-right.” He took a deep breath and got to his feet. “Of course. Here, I’ll g-guide you to the city. It’s just that way,” he said, pointing in the distance. “We just need to keep straight on this road.”

“Thanks…” you trailed off.

“Kyle. Kyle Winters,” he supplied. “And can I ask your name?”

“Sure. It’s --” You stopped. “It’s -- uh…um…”

Shit, what was your name again?

Kyle mistook your silence for something else. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I-I understand if you want to keep your identity secret. Your Skill is very powerful, so…” he trailed off.

What a nice guy. “Oh well that’s -- wait, what? My skill?”

“Um, yes. Your Skill.” He gestured towards your everything. “You can deactivate it if you want. This forest is safe since most of the Adventurers cleared out the monsters here a while ago. They don’t even bother to spawn here anymore.”

You had so many questions you didn’t know where to start. So instead you focused on the skill thing. “What are you talking about? What skill --”

Kyle kept glancing at your arm for some reason. You looked down at yourself.

“Oh.”

Your skin was dark blue. Dark blue and looked like it was made up of some strange rock. When you touched it -- how could you still feel things? You were made of rock! -- it even felt like rock. Sturdy and unbreakable.

No wonder that damn dog couldn’t bite through you.

You stared down at your hands, feeling strangely comfortable with your sudden transformation. You would have thought you would have felt horrified or freaked out, but no. If anything you felt a bit irritated.

And really tense, though that was probably from the dog. You had no idea when that thing was gonna come back after all.

You forced yourself to take a deep breath so you could relax. Then you flinched, tensing up slightly when your skin abruptly started fading back to its normal milky white.

At your sudden tension your skin stopped changing back to normal -- before slowly changing back to the rocky dark blue.

You relaxed. It started changing back.

You tensed up. It got dark blue.

Relax. Normal.

Tense. Dark blue.

“Huh.” You relaxed again and watched carefully as your skin turned back to normal. “That’s convenient.”

Kyle, who was watching you the entire time, had an excited look on his face. If not for the horrific burns he probably would have looked like a puppy. “That’s so cool! How did you get that skill?! Was it a Blessing? Or is it magic? Can you teach me? Please?”

You balked a bit at the sudden barrage of questions. “Uh, I don’t --”

“Oh! Sorry, sorry, I got a bit too excited. It’s just -- that’s a really cool skill. I mean, A Rank C monster like that can bite through steel with a single chomp, but it didn’t even hurt you! And it looks so cool! It’s like you’re made of stone!”

He reached out a hand as though to touch you before letting it fall back to his side. “S-sorry, I just really like cool skills. D-do you think you can teach me, or…?”

Can you teach him? Also, what the hell was a Rank C monster? “I don’t think so. Sorry.”

“Oh.” He deflated a bit before perking up. “W-well, we should still get back to the guild. Can’t let a Cerberus wander around in the middle of the flower fields. A-and it might portal back any second so. F-follow me.”

You and Kyle started walking down the dirt path.

Well, more like limping in Kyle’s case. That damn dog really did a number on him. There was blood on his ripped clothes, burns on his face and chest, and a bleeding bite mark on his right calf. And since his shoes were gone, he was forced to talk on the pebble covered path barefoot.

You gave him a worried look. “Hey, do you need me to --”

“No thanks, I’m fine!” He smiled then winced after he did it, his burned skin probably making it painful as all hell. “I might need a h-healing potion or two. Maybe three. Or Four. B-but I’ll be fine! Really!”

“...are you sure? I can carry you if you want --”

He waved his hands. “No no no! I’m --”

Kyle tripped over a stray rock in the path, almost falling on his face. You managed to catch him in time, though not before you pressed one of your hands against one of his burns.

He let out a noise that sounded like a mix between a gasp and a sob before crumbling in your arms.

“Kyle?!” You checked his pulse and relaxed slightly when you felt a steady beat.

His face looked clammy and even unconscious his body was tensed up from the pain. Poor guy must have passed out from the stress and pain of it all.

You shifted your grip and hoisted him into a princess carry, making sure not to hit or rub up against his burns. He was heavy but nothing you couldn’t handle for a few hours.

Besides, you could faintly make out a few buildings up ahead if you squinted. Shouldn’t take you too long to get to the city. Hopefully you could get some answers there.

Starting with your name of course, because this amnesia thing was really getting old.