"Ahh!" I yell. There is a spider, one half the size of me, chewing the little pebbles that lie alongside the river. I quickly stand up and back away. And then, I notice it.
This spider has a head similar to a lion's.
Now having a view that isn't dominated by fear, I can see that this spider shares more factors or genes with a lion instead of a spider. It's basically a lion, just with eight legs. And it seems to be an herbivore. After all, I'm not dead yet.
So, I have two choices. I could either leave it be or approach it. Which choice should I make?
That's a stupid question to ask. I'm obviously going to approach it. Because first of all, I'm not a pussy. And I'm dying to know how a lion-spider acts and behaves. Hell, I might even be able to tame it. That would be a fucking dream.
I approach the lion-spider slowly. I have to make sure it doesn't see me as a threat. I think that's how it works. To be completely honest, I don't completely understand the animal brain. Well, I don't understand anything about it really. Though, it couldn't be that hard right?
The lion-spider roars when it senses my presence.
Okay. Okay. Okay. I might be completely and utterly fucked. Oh God, it's approaching me.
"What do I do? What do I do?" I half ask, half scream. It is now walking towards me, each step an individual threat and warning.
Finally, it reaches me. The eight legged lion and I are face to face, though I'm a bit taller since I am around 185 centimeters tall. It's violet eyes are staring into my emerald ones. Out of fear, I don't look away.
It's been about a minute and we are still gazing into each other's eyes. I think we're having a battle of dominance or courage, but I really have no idea.
This staring contest is getting on my nerves. I was hoping that it wouldn't be a predator but now it seems I was wrong. Though, it was kinda stupid of me to approach it without observing it more. I guess that's what happens when you mix curiosity with impatience.
After a couple more minutes, it surprisingly turns away and ignores my presence.
Odd.
Well, I won't take up any more of its time. Refreshing myself with another handful of river water, I take my leave from the lion-spider.
"Welp, I'm back to walking now," I mutter to myself. My stomach growls at me. It's angry because I haven't eaten anything since I came here. Though, it's not really my fault. There is no food around. There weren't even fishes in the river. And I'm not gonna eat random plants and bugs to see if they're edible or not. If I wanted to commit suicide, I would have attacked the lion-spider.
Speaking of the lion-spider, what a weird creature. Or a mix of creatures. It's hard to see the lion-spider as its own separate entity. It seems like God just mixed two animals to make a new one. Unoriginal, am I right?
Also, it seems to be a herbivore. Well, that's an educated guess. Most carnivores of its size would have attacked me. Maybe it saw me as a threat. I really have no idea what it thought.
This world is proving to be a confusing one. It's really weird, yet so similar. Like I was isekai into a game or something. I wasn't really expecting this to be honest. This world is like a balance of two extremes.
One extreme is a world similar to Konosuba or Goblin Slayer. A world that is different, yet really similar to Medieval Europe. The other extreme is a world similar to Berserk's. They have worlds sharing similarities with Earth yet have distinct features that make them entirely different. For example the world of Berserk is defined by violence and edginess.
This world seems different. It doesn't seem to be different but it doesn't seem to be similar. Maybe God's trying to lure me into thinking this world is the same. Or maybe the Lord wishes to see how one would fare if the world had a few tweaks.
Wouldn't that be funny?
If this whole world was just a pointless test, a test server you could even call it, to see how humans would fare in it. This world would be an update to Earth's.
Maybe it would be a new game altogether. Instead of updating Earth, he'll destroy it. I'm pretty sure it says he will in the Bible. Also, speaking about the Bible, when does Jesus return to Earth? My guy been taking his sweet tim-
Wait...I hear something. It's hard to place the sound, but I can tell it's getting closer. Oh shit, maybe it's the lion-spider! Maybe that is how the lion-spider catches prey. It lures their opponent into a false sense of security and then attacks them when they are unguarded. A common murder taticitc.
I turn my head around to see not a lion-spider but…..other creatures. They share the build of a jaguar but they were dark green instead of brown. Well I think jaguars are brown. The one in Go, Diego, Go! is brown.
These creatures also had two horns on top of their heads, kinda like a goat just the horns were straight. More horns streaked their body in a vertical line. From their backside to their neck, there were horns. Though, some horns were gone in the middle. I assume that they were removed so people can ride them. It is kinda unnatural just to have a random horned spot, at least to me.
However, the most odd thing about these horned-jaguars were their eyes. The normally white part of the eye, or the sclera, is black. The iris on the other hand, or the colored part of the eye, is yellow...no golden. It's like they are Sith Lords but they have black sclera. Also, the pupil is also black. To be completely honest, I don't even know if they have a pupil or not. It's like they put a small golden ring in their eyes.
Small gibberish reaches my ears. It's not a regular cat "meow" or "roar" but it sounds like an actual language.
Can these fucking jaguars talk? I always wanted a talking cat. One like Garfield, but less of an asshole.
Wait a minute, how are they talking if their mouths aren't moving?
Are they psychic!?
This is the type discovery I was looking for! A psychic horned-jaguar? Such an odd creature sounds like it belongs in a work of fiction like Adventure time. Honestly, this is incredible!
"Ouch," I mutter to myself. During my internal ramblings, I apparently was hit with some sort of long metallic stick. I look up to see where the hell the stick came from. Then, I finally notice them.
There were two humanoid creatures riding the jaguars.
Jesus, I'm stupid. Of course jaguars can't talk! Why did I think they have psychic powers? This might be a new world, but I'm pretty sure the basics and the foundations of this world are the same as Earth's. The lack of food must be getting to me.
The humanoid creatures say something to me again. I don't respond because I have no idea what they are talking about.
Luckily, I haven't eaten for a while. So right as they were getting frustrated due to my lack of response, my stomach growls. Stomachs are great life savers.
They got off their horned-jaguars and are now approaching me.
I wouldn't call myself a pussy or anything, but these guys were fucking scary. While looking much like a regular human being, they have distinct differences. First and foremost, their eyes are red. Scarlet red. And they have these weird demonic looking markings around their face.
Not to mention they both have giant swords on their backs. I can't even call them swords, they just look like a giant curved piece of metal. Kinda like the one Guts have in Berserk but holy shit, those things are huge.
They are wearing black tank tops and black cargo pants. Talk about being edgy and emo. Over their head and shoulders, they wear a black cape and hood. These guys look sketchy as hell.
As they approach me, one of them reaches into their pockets and pulls out a…
Loaf of bread?
Not gonna lie, that's a relief. I'm really happy to know that the food these people eat is generally the same thing I eat. I would've died of starvation if they ate worms and shit.
They hand me the loaf of bread and I start devouring it immediately.
Damn, this is shit is crazy fucking good. Better than any bread from Earth.
The scary men, well I think their men, get back on their horned-jaguars. One of them pats behind them. Oh, they are gesturing to me to get on.
I might as well just listen to these guys. They probably are just some random adventures that wanted to help a guy out. Good hearted people. There are always people like that in isekai.
Although, there's always a possibility that they are some backstabbers. Just look at what happened to Nafoumi from Rising of the Shield Hero. No one can trust anyone these days.
But I don't really have a choice do I? I would save a lot of energy if I ride with these men. And I don't even know the region I'm in. It'd be stupid to try to reach civilzation where I don't even know where civilization is. This is my only course of action.
Slowly, I get on the jaguar. Not gonna lie, these horns are pretty nice. I can lay against them.
Traveling in this new world is odd. Apparently, the colors appear to change when you're traveling faster than walking speed. I also kinda feel light-headed. These jaguars must be going crazy fast. This speed that they're going at is giving me headaches. Though, it doesn't even seems that they're going that fas-
Oh, I see.
I start laughing. My laugh is weak from fatigue. I can barely even make a sound.
So, it seems I was poisoned. Well, more like drugged I guess. That bread probably had a substance on it to make me feel this way.
I can barely keep my eyes open. It wouldn't be so bad to close them, right? The beautiful and lovely sun would never let anything bad happen to me right? The sky would wake me if I was in extreme trouble right?
I look at the sun and the sky, who are both smiling at me. But their smiles don't comfort me anymore.
Why do their smiles look so fake?
That's my last thought as I fall asleep.