Aleric’s eyes slowly fluttered open, chestnut-colored pupils adjusting to the change in lighting. Steadily, everything came into focus as a curtain of leaves and branches filled his line of sight. What is this? Where is he? He stared at the branches, trying to understand where he was.
Finding that he had absolutely no idea, he simply rubbed his eyes, his limbs were stiffed and more sore than it had ever been. And he could see why.
Aleric stared at the ground with wide curious eyes. One of his legs dangled in the air as he felt rough bits of bark scratching through his white dress shirt. He slept in a tree? Why was he up here? Sure, he had read of these moments in books, but it was a lot less comfortable than they had made it out to be.
Wait… The young man blinked several times, grabbing the tree trunk to hold him steady. What book? Where was this book? How did he get here? No, wait. The blond quickly shook his head. He shouldn’t interrogate himself about things he knew he didn’t know. No matter how much he try to search through his mind for any hint of a memory, there was a dark void in its place with only his name floating in its depths. And yet…
His eyes flickered to every cranny of the tree, his mouth slowly moving as a calm contemplating voice spoke. “A white willow. Salix Alba – a species of willow native to Europe and western and central Asia.” He breathed; his long slender fingers traced the crevices in the dark-colored bark. “The bark is used as medicine to relieve fevers and pain. Contains a substance known as salicylic acid that is used to make aspirins…“
His hand slowly dropped to his sides as Aleric suddenly pulled away. A thoughtful look took over with a tilt of his head. How is it that he knew what a willow tree was and its medical properties yet he can’t remember anything else about himself except for his name? “How peculiar.”
Despite how strange and confusing the whole situation was, Aleric couldn’t help but feel a little excited. There were questions on his lips yet no one to answer them. As much as he liked answers, the search for them made it all the more exciting.
Quickly, Aleric pulled himself up with vigor. Unfortunately, as he did so – BAM! - his head took a collision course with a branch he could’ve sworn wasn’t there before. Added to the fact that his body was still stiff and aching, it was no surprise as he tottered off the branch and – none too gracefully – fell. And, much to his dismay, there were even more branches waiting to make his first step of adventure even more miserable.
After a few smacks with five different – and fairly large – branches and a 15 feet fall, the bruised young man miraculously made it to the ground in one piece.
With a face full of soft grass, the young blond let out a muffled groan, counting his blessings that it wasn't sharp rocks.