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Chapter 7 - The Promised Land

A strange and soft hum woke Wyn and brought him out of the darkness that he had been confined in. He could feel his brain stirring awake and the motion in his limbs returning. He felt a damp, itchy feeling against his skin and a throbbing pain in his head. His eyes fluttered open slowly, and as he did, memories of the previous night flooded back to him. He wondered how he had survived the dangers of the ocean as he glanced around his surroundings.

He was in an odd place. He found himself resting on a wooden medical exam table in the center of a large wooden room filled with other wooden tables and shelves. Strange-looking liquids of different colours in metal jars and bottles and baskets of peculiar and weirdly-shaped plants sat on the tables and shelves that surrounded the room.

With a grunt and a sharp breath, Wyn tugged himself up and sat upright on the exam table. As he did so, he noticed that there was someone in the room with him. A man, tall, curly-haired and freckled, turned to look at Wyn.

The humming Wyn had stirred awake to disappeared. The man, who held a bottle of sparkling purple liquid in his hand—he appeared to have been mixing the liquid while humming to a tune, when Wyn had awoken—curved his lips up into a cordial smile.

"Ah, you're awake! Here, drink this." The man held the bottle of liquid out to Wyn.

Hopelessly muddled, Wyn shook his head. He was not about to drink a strange liquid from a stranger.

"Who…who are you?" Wyn managed to choke out. His voice was harsh and rasp, as though he had not drank water for a long time. "Where…where am I?" Wyn coughed.

His body and his mind were sore, and he found himself with a great lack of energy.

"You're in our medical room," The man answered as he pushed the bottle of liquid to Wyn. "Go on, drink it. You'll feel better."

Wyn studied the man's face. He looked warm and amiable, and Wyn reckoned he could trust him.

Wyn reached for the bottle of liquid reluctantly. He did not know how thirsty he was until he lifted the bottle to his lips. He finished the fruity yet bitter liquid in one gulp and felt better almost instantly.

"Are you feeling better?" The man asked.

Wyn nodded his head. He cleared his throat before speaking, and was delighted to discover that his voice had returned to normal.

"Who are you?" He asked. "Where am I?"

"I'm Lorin," the man answered. "And I told you, you're in our medical room."

"Medical room? What medical room…" Wyn's thoughts floated to the events of the previous night. He had a thousand thoughts racing through his brain. How did he get here? How is he alive? Where is this place?

Wyn paused for a few moments as he tried to sort out his thoughts. "Is this…" he gulped. "Is this The Promised Land?"

"The Promised what?"

Abruptly, the wooden door across the room flew open. A grey-haired, pear-faced elderly man with aged eyes that evoked wisdom and intelligence entered the room.

"Good to see you that you're up," the elderly man joined Wyn and Lorin. "How do you feel?"

"Erm…I…I…I'm feeling…" Wyn stuttered as he tried to find the right verb to describe his current state of mind. "Rattled."

"Rattled?" The elderly man raised his eyebrows in concern. "Yes, I suppose you should be after what you went through…"

"What did I go through?" Wyn interjected.

"We were hoping for you to tell us," the elderly man said. "Me and my apprentice—" the elderly man gestured to Lorin "—found you on the beach, absolutely drenched and unconscious. We wondered what could possibly have happened to you and brought you back here to heal you."

"To heal me?" Wyn frowned in confusion.

"Yes, we wanted to help," the elderly man nodded his head. "It seems you're still rather ill. Let me help you."

The elderly man reached forwards and hovered his right palm over Wyn's chest.

Wyn watched with uncertainty and confusion as the elderly man closed his eyes and began to recite a line of some sort.

"Mens sana et munda cordis, anxietas, et quasi ignis probabuntur…" a white glow emerged from the palm of the elderly man's hand.

Taken aback, Wyn gasped, and his eyes popped open in surprise. He withdrew from the elderly man, moving backwards until he hit the edge of the exam table and fell towards the ground.

"Blimey! Are you alright?" Lorin moved to Wyn and held a hand out, but Wyn stood up by himself and shook his head in addled fury.

"How…how did you do that?" Wyn asked with a raised voice, bewildered and perplexed by what he had just witnessed.

"Calm down," Lorin tried to placate Wyn. "You're clearly very sick."

"No!" Wyn exclaimed. "That…that was not normal," he stuttered in agitation.

"You're confused, boy," the elderly man said with a cool composure. "Let me help you relax…" he held his palm out to Wyn, to which he avoided him.

Frightened, Wyn circled the room, keeping Lorin and the elderly man at arm's length.

"What are you doing? We're trying to help you!" Lorin frowned, but Wyn remained disconcerted and appalled.

Once he had reached the door, Wyn bolted out of the room, ignoring the shouts of Lorin who called for him to stop. He dashed through the sitting room—where every wall was wood—and reached for the huge wooden door, to which he guessed was the front door. He swung the door open with what strength he retained and stepped out of the room.

The lively chatter and the soft patter of footsteps reached his ears. The coruscating sunlight poured into his eyes, blinding his vision for a short moment. When his sight had cleared, his eyes roamed across the village in front of him in awe. He stood, frozen, in silent wonderment as he took in the impossible sight that surrounded him.

Everywhere he looked, there was something unusual occurring. Baskets were floating in the air by themselves, following behind their owners, carts were moving by themselves as their owners walked beside them without pushing, and the sunflowers in the window of a shophouse across from where he stood were dancing and smiling at him.

Wyn was astounded.

"What is this?" He muttered to himself.

"What are you doing? Come back in with us," Lorin and the elderly man had joined Wyn at the door and were urging him to return inside the hut, but his words were fuzzy and almost inaudible to Wyn, for disorientation and dizziness had overtook his mind.

He turned his body to face the two men, and without warning, he dropped to the ground.