Kat was alive! The realization was the first thing that hit me. After the ground, of course. By now my confusion had already passed a little. Honestly, after seeing Kat disappear in front of me, my thought process had been pushed to its limits - but this was on a whole other level. Secretly, I still hoped I was dreaming, but this felt real alright.
Here I was - in a completely strange place, maybe even world by the looks of it. Unless this is one huge prank. But he seemed serious and that horse with the star looked really convincing.
A heavy lump started forming in my throat. My family was gone, my home was gone, my friends were gone. With no one I knew, where could I go? I wanted to see my Mom. And my sister. Was Kat here too? What happened to her? What if I die? Will I ever see my family again? My eyes were getting all teary now, my mouth quivering.
All of these thoughts had filled my mind with fear and sadness. Not willing to show myself in public crying like that, I rubbed my eyes with my sleeve.
But, after thinking about it a bit longer, I realized that this wasn't the end of the world. And something deep inside of me was leaping in joy.
I have always had this burning hunger for adventure. For something bigger. Life had always seemed too easy for me. Sure it sounded nice: get a good job, find your soulmate, have a family and kids. And, in the eyes of society, this was considered a successful and satisfying life. But, to me, this always felt a bit "average".
A real adventure is what I had always subconsciously craved for. And now, finally, my opportunity was here. And I should be overjoyed, but I couldn't completely leave my family behind. They must be so worried. Maybe they think I'm dead... I really wanted to see them again and tell them I was alright.
I was mentally having a back and forth discussion on how bad my situation was or not. I think my "you will definitely die" side was winning for the most part. After a while, I realized that this thinking was useless. I was here now and had to make the most of it.
I would find a way to return home if it was at all possible.
All I needed was a plan. A clear objective I wanted to achieve. And right now, my first priority was to survive. And then find Kat, if she was here at all. And right now, what I needed, was information.
We had been walking for what felt like at least five hours straight without a break. I was quite fit, but that was a bit much even for me. I was thankful for the shade provided by the forest trees or else I certainly wouldn't have made it. Ferras was comfortably sitting on Stargate while I was slowly dying next to him. Mostly of boredom though.
He hadn't spoken a word and I was too shy to start a conversation. But any more of this awkward silence and I'd go crazy. I had so many questions. About this place. And him. And how come I fell here just as he was riding by? I mean, what are the chances? Was this really a coincidence?
I looked at him. Now that I think about it, he's actually kinda cute. With his light brown hair and green eyes... Wait, what was I thinking?
Just as I was going to say something, Ferras asked me: "So what are those weird things around your neck? Are they weapons?" Startled I looked at him. Huh? It took me a few seconds to understand his question. Unconsciously, I put my hand up to touch my headphones. My headphones! They came with me! I was so happy I had them. They always made me feel so much more comfortable.
"Oh, these? They're called 'headphones'. And they're not weapons. You listen to music with them. You want to try?" He gave me a skeptical look. "How exactly does music come out of them? Do they work by magic?" Curiously he took them from my outstretched hand and inspected them. I laughed. "No, not really. It's called solar energy. See there?" I pointed to the top of the white headphones. "It's almost invisible, but it recharges whenever it's exposed to sunlight. And it also reacts to my voice. I can choose any song, make it louder or quieter and I can even make them loudspeakers!" I always got excited when talking about my little treasure. I loved music so much, my mom bought me the newest model available on my sixteenth birthday. I always had them with me as a token from home.
I blinked back tears, unwanted tears, thinking about home.
"They are also waterproof and quite damage resistant." I blabbered on, covering up my sadness. I absolutely adored them. I looked up at Ferras, who looked even more confused than before. I rolled my eyes. "Never mind that. I'll just show you. Come down here." I motioned him to lower his head to me. He didn't lean down far. Only far enough to see it up close. Why was he looking at me like that? Was he afraid I'd stab him or something?
I snorted. Yes, fear me! The almighty 1.5-meter tall warrior...
I clicked the power off button and set it to standby mode. "Now watch out, I'm turning it on. What music do you like? I have hundreds of songs downloaded." Finally talking again and ending this one-sided conversation, Ferras said: "I don't listen to music. I always fall asleep the moment the instruments start playing."
"I see... I guess that's classical music for ya. I'll give you something with more beat then." I tried to give him the beats, but he veered away.
"I don't trust you. If you really want to show me, put them on first."
Ouch.
I squinted at him. Something told me, that in this world, technology was similar to the Middle Ages, except when magic was involved. Which would also explain the dark green cloak he was wearing, the leather bands across his waist and arms, the old fashioned gloves and his fancy boots.
I nodded as I took the headphones back. "I can see what you mean, so let me show you. I will activate them and put them on to prove that it's okay." I placed the BlueFire headphones in my outstretched hands so he could see them clearly and said the 'BlueFire, on' activation phrase.
My beats lit up blue. Overdramatically, I place them on my head and stare at Ferras.
He was staring right back full of amazement. He's probably never seen anything like this before.
"Tada! I'm still alive as you can see. Now, do you want to try?" Even though he still looked very skeptical, he gently took them from me, treating the headphones like they were made of porcelain. Carefully he inspected them again, looking at the BlueFire from all angles. Before he put them on he did one last check by... hovering his hand over them. I didn't understand why but after that he seemed satisfied that it was safe.
"So, what do you want to listen to? I assume no classical music. Maybe some pop? You probably won't like rap either. Or how about just a mix of all? If you want to skip a song just say it out loud. Okay?" I looked up expectantly.
"What did you say?" Ferras yelled at me. I flinched.
Oh. Right. Soundproof Headsets.
"Never mind," I yell back. "Okay, BlueFire, play playlist 'Meow'" I think this should be fine. It was my personal playlist and since I had quite an eclectic taste in music, it almost had every genre in it.
Surprised, Ferras jerked back in and stared intently into space. I laughed. He looked so funny all focused like that. "I'll let you use them for a while I guess." I put the songs on shuffle play and picked up on the silent walk where I had left off a few minutes ago. Only now it didn't seem so bad anymore.
Casually we continued down the winding dirt road. The forest was teeming with life, enchanting us in its spring green glory. I picked up some beautiful looking flowers and admired them. Their fragrance was sweet and intense. They reminded me of a garden in the Netherlands I had once visited with my family. The flowers looked very exotic and occasionally also poisonous. So, every time I wanted to pick a new kind, I first consulted Stargate for his opinion. Or rather he made sure I didn't touch a dangerous one. Most of them were fine, but apparently, the black and pink ones were very, very poisonous. When I reached for one, Stargate basically body checked me away, nearly throwing Ferras off, who was deeply sunk in his thoughts.
I was a bit concerned about what songs he was hearing right now. I was sure that some of them would definitely be deemed improper by this society. The chance that he would come across one of them was pretty small since I had so many other songs on that playlist, but it was possible.