Stygian Mage

Step by step Soren crossed the forest, eventually reaching the dirt road he had been to yesterday. He could easily see the traces left by the clash. Except for the burnt bodies, others had already turned into skeletons; bones scattered around.

He could clearly see the marks left by the wild predators.

After staring at the scene for a while and remembering all the things he went through since yesterday, he finally decided to choose a direction to move on.

Since it was early morning, he could easily deduce the directions. Of course, the directions were based on what he knew from back home.

Seeing that he was ambushed here for the Initiation Stone, the town must not be far from here. If I follow this dirt road I should be able to reach it by today; at least I hope so.

He chose the direction after thinking for a while and started moving.

It was summertime and the atmosphere was hot.

He kept walking even though he was tired and dizzy from the blood loss.

Sweating from the heat made him feel a pleasant cool sensation when the wind hit his face and body which was his only salvation.

If not for his peculiar situation, this whole thing would have been a good adventure trip for him.

He tried to think of different things to keep his mind distracted from the depressing thoughts. Suddenly a sound of water flowing reached his ears.

He stopped and looked towards that direction. At first, he thought he was hallucinating but as he focused his blurred mind, he could tell it was real.

That’s definitely the sound of flowing water. A stream or a river maybe, should I go look for it?

He checked his water bottle which was already running low on water. He was hungry, thirsty and injured; all at the same time.

He thought hard about whether to go look for that water source or not.

I don’t have much water and don’t know how long it will take to reach that town. I should look for it and maybe something to eat too; I haven’t eaten anything since yesterday.

Too bad I couldn’t take the meat of that beast last night, Ah! My stomach’s going to implode!!

He clutched at his growling stomach. He had already thought about taking that beast’s meat last night but after considering everything, he decided against it.

First, he had no way to light a fire and he didn’t want to eat the meat raw. Second, he could not carry it, as emergency food, and wander in the forest as its smell would attract unwanted attention.

So he had no choice but to fight against his hunger.

But he could not fight off his thirst so he moved in the direction of the sound.

Soon, he found a stream flowing nearby the path. Delighted by what he saw, he quickly ran towards it.

As he was reaching it though, he suddenly stopped. Since he came here, he had suffered quite a bit and that had made him extra cautious and careful.

He checked the area around the stream carefully and even scanned the stream for anything that might harm him, but could not find anything. Finally confirming that it was safe, he let out a sigh of relief.

He quickly went to the stream, kneeled down hard, and dipped his face in it; felling the cool water on his skin. He opened his mouth and sucked in mouthfuls of water with his head still submerged in it.

…………

After satiating his thirst thoroughly, he got out and shook off the water from his face.

Finally being refreshed, he washed his face and mouth properly. He also washed his wound and again wrapped it in the cloth. He then refilled his water bottle after drinking some more water.

Finishing everything, he looked around, searching for something to eat.

After looking around for a while, he found some blue colored berries. He carefully went to the shrubs and picked the berries one by one.

Soon his pockets were filled with around 20 berries. He didn’t eat them yet as he had to check them for the poison first.

Solving his urgent problems, he again embarked on his journey towards the town. He had cooled down quite a bit now and was fine with walking in that hot temperature.

He kept moving on the dirt road and soon the sun was directly on his head, signifying afternoon. The temperature was only increasing and the wind blowing against him also didn’t provide any relief now.

Soren wanted to rest but he decided to move on to find the town.

Time passed as he kept walking while being alert to his surroundings.

Soon the sun could be seen heading down towards the horizon.

Night came more quickly in the forest compared to the plains.

Darkness was almost upon him when suddenly he could see the end of the forest. Getting energized by the sight, he ran towards the exit.

Running while panting hard, he soon reached the end. He stood at the end of the jungle with the support from a tree and looked outwards.

He could see the dirt part extending towards a direction which looked like a never-ending snake. Concentrating in that direction, he could see some lights.

Smiling happily on his discovery, he started running again, completely forgetting his fatigue. He ran while panting heavily; gasping for breath.

He pushed himself regardless of his body condition as he was very desperate right now. His injured arm was already numb from pain so it didn’t hinder him much.

Halfway through though, he suddenly stopped and stood there catching his breath. He calmed himself down and tried to think everything through. Looking back on everything, he started to think about what might happen once he reached the town.

I might be questioned about my identity. From what that motherfucker (red-haired man) said, people like me might not be that rare here. Still, I should think about what I will answer.

Thinking things through, he soon decided upon a course of action to follow.

Walking forward until the town was almost completely visible, he stopped again. This time he started looking around. Soon he found a fairly dark looking place with sparse trees on the side.

He looked around to confirm that no one was there and then hurriedly walked towards it and dug a hole under a tree; hiding all his stuff, wrapped in a cloth, in that hole.

He then filled the hole and made a small mark on the tree just above it.

Completing all this, he was finally ready. He quickly moved towards the town again.

………..

There were two guards on the left and right side of the gate, sitting on wooden chairs. They looked like they were in their 20’s.

They were wearing full body armor with a sword at their waist. The dull silver color of the armor combined with their lethargic attitude created a lackluster and dull atmosphere around them.

One of the guards noticed something. He lifted his head up and looked at the figure of a strange young man running towards them. He then said to another guard, “Oi! Mark, you deal with this one. I am not getting up.”

The other guard by the name of Mark replied, “No fucking way! I dealt with the last one; it’s your turn now. Ah! I am really hungry.” He sighed and grumbled.

The first guard looked annoyed upon hearing this reply but still got up while grumbling, getting ready to do his job.

Right hand on his sword hilt, hanging on his right side of the waist; he lifted his left hand and signaled Soren to stop.

Soren stopped in front of the guard upon seeing the stop sign. He looked around and checked out the guards together with the town walls.

The stone wall was almost 10 meters in height and looked quite old; cracked in many places.

The gate was around 5-6 meters in height and made from wood. It was built into the wall itself and relied on hinges to open and close; it also looked quite old and beaten up.

The guard soon brought Soren back from his trance.

The guard said annoyingly, “Oi! I am talking to you. Show me your Identification and state your residency status.”

The other guard was also slightly attracted towards this upon hearing his partner shout.

Soren had already decided on what to do before coming here so he was not flustered.

He didn’t wait long and said, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to annoy you. I actually…don't have any Identification. I just arrived...in this world yesterday.”

He hesitated slightly when he mentioned his situation. It was a pretty weird situation and Soren himself knew that if someone would come up to him said those same words, he would deem them crazy.

Soren stared at the guard, trying to get a read on his thoughts. He was completely ready to run for his life if he sensed any danger.

The guard was stunned upon hearing Soren’s reply, forgetting to even close his opened mouth. The other guard, Mark, also got up from his seat completely unable to hide his astonishment.

A “Holy Fuck!” came from his mouth as he stared at Soren.

The first guard glared at Mark for shouting like that in front of Soren but soon regained his composure and muttered in a low voice, “A Traveler! We haven’t got that in quite a while now. A Traveler of his age is quite rare too.”

He looked at Soren, checking him up and down. Soon he bowed politely and said, “Welcome to our town ‘Eastwood’. Ah! First-- Welcome to our planet, ‘Traveler’. You must have gone through a lot on the way here. Please come in, I’ll call my captain for you.”

The guard warmly welcomed Soren which completely caught him off guard.

Nonetheless, Soren followed the guard inside the gate and entered the town. Soren’s heart was beating fast as he imagined what would happen to him.

He didn’t even have time to properly observe the town as the guard led him to a building by the side. There was a sign outside that building that said ‘City Guards’ in big letters.

Strangely, he could read those letters.

The guard led Soren through the door and entered the guard’s barracks. It was a big ground with a big but old building in front of it. There was also a field to the side which looked like it was used for training.

They entered the building in the front and entered a room after crossing a hall.

Soren saw a table in the middle of the room with chairs placed on the two opposite sides of it.

Multiple files and document looking things were stacked on the table.

The guard gestured towards a chair politely and said, “Please wait here for a while. I will call my captain for you.” He looked at Soren’s wounded hand and said, “I will also send a doctor for your wounds.”

Soren slowly sat down on the chair while looking around. He kept looking around the room trying to look for any clue he could get.

Soon he heard footsteps coming from across the hall. He kept acting normal but his heart was already beating heavily. The footsteps got near and soon an old man wearing a white robe entered the room.

He looked to be around 50 years old. He seemed to be the doctor that the guard mentioned.

He quickly came to Soren and put his bag down. He then held Soren’s wounded hand and opened the wrapped cloth.

He first cleaned the wound with some disinfectant and then took out a sewing set from his bag. He slowly stitched Soren’s wounds, applied some medicine paste on it and then wrapped the wound in a white bandage.

He then stood up while packing his bag and walked away. During all of this, he didn’t speak a word to Soren.

Soren was fine with it as he also stayed silent and stayed still during the process. Slowly, he clenched and relaxed his fist and felt that pain had subsided quite a bit.

…….

After waiting for a while, he again heard a footstep. Soon a burly man in full silver armor entered the room.

The man looked to be in his 30’s. He had a square face, short black stubble. His hair was also black and cut short.

His hairstyle reminded Soren of the military hairstyle. The captain had a long sword hung on his left waist. He walked towards the chair opposite Soren and sat down.

For a while, he stared at Soren without saying anything. Soren reciprocated the action, staring back at the captain.

After the staring contest went on for a while, the captain broke his silence at last.

He smiled and said politely, “First of all I would like to welcome you to our planet and our world, Traveler. My name is Brady Carnago. You can call me Brady or Captain. We rarely have any Travelers in our area. Please forgive any impudence my subordinate might have shown you. From what I heard, you arrived here yesterday; it must have been hard on you, being alone. If you don’t mind, may I ask you, where and how did you arrive?”

Soren was somewhat expecting the polite attitude from seeing the guard before.

He had already prepared all the answers so he did not think much as he replied, “Thank you for your warm welcome Captain. My name is Soren Farrow. You can call me Soren.”

He continued, “It was not that hard; I was quite fortunate I guess. As for the answers to your questions; I arrived here somewhere in the forest near the dirt path. As for how; I have no idea. I was completely unconscious at that time.”

The captain had the same expression on his face as if he hadn’t heard anything. They both chose to ignore the wound on Soren’s arm which definitely signified that he was anything but fortunate.

The Captain looked at Soren and slowly put both his elbows on the table, holding one fist in other and putting them in front of his mouth.

He stayed silent for about 3 minutes and then opened his mouth and said, “I know you must have a lot of questions so allow me to give you the answer to the most important question you might have right now.”

The captain stared at Soren as if wanting to read his expression. After around 10 seconds he opened his mouth and said, “There is no way to go back to your home.”

Soren had a calm expression on his face even after hearing that. His heart though betrayed his calm attitude; he was completely shaken to the core. Although he had an inclination before, he was hoping that someone might have found a way.

Slowly, he felt the coldness of despair spreading through his body. Releasing a slow breath, he closed his eyes.

So what! If no one else did it, I will do it myself. I have already decided on it; I promised them I will come back no matter what it takes. I don’t have time to despair.

He opened his eyes and they had regained their calmness.

Instead of being calm, they were more close to being emotionless.

Actually, it would be wrong to say that he was devoid of emotions. He had just buried them in his mind; He didn’t need his emotions to achieve what he wanted–instead, they would get in his way.

The captain frowned a little and then sighed after looking at Soren’s calm eyes. He had seen the same eyes a few times before.

Different people have different reactions to situations; he had met quite a number of people and had seen different types of reactions.

He could find out much about the person by seeing their reaction to certain situations. According to him, Soren had the eyes of a person willing to do anything to achieve what he wanted; killing their emotions, becoming completely rational and pragmatic.

Soren was already showing signs of moving on that path. These kinds of people were quite dangerous according to the captain, but they could become extremely useful if they were used properly.

While The Captain was looking at Soren’s face; trying to look for information from his expression, Soren too was doing the same. While not as experienced as The Captain, he could easily guess what the man sitting in front of him was thinking.

He was not at all athletic but he had his own advantage.

He had a very logical and analytical brain. He could easily understand any complex problem and didn’t have any problem in learning extremely complicated things.

Coming into this world; this trait of his had become a life-saving trait. He came on top in the clash with the beast because of it.

In front of The Captain, he was sitting silently but his brain was working continuously. He already knew what the man in front of him wanted from him: it was to use him.

His face was completely calm, his eyes cold and emotionless but his heart was very anxious.

He had never been in this position before. He had to tread carefully here as his life was at risk now.