Pain. That was the first thing he felt, long before he opened his eyes. For a time, all that registered on his mind was nothing but a dull pain in his body, a mild ache that brought him to his senses.
Opening his eyes, he couldn't help wincing at the sharp assault of light that came rushing in, causing him to shut them tight as soon as possible.
It took him a long time to get used to the current condition he found himself in, even though couldn't make heads or tails about any of this.
At the time, the man was butt naked, was lying in a small crater, barely three meters in diameter. The crater was deep inside a dense forest. He was completely unaware of where he was or how he got there. What's more, he couldn't even remember his name.
Stumbling to his feet, he tried to scope out anything that could help him out of his present predicament, but nothing came to view apart from the dense forest he found himself in. The only things he could see were trees and more trees.
Resolving not to give up, he selected one direction and decided to stick to it. Hopefully, he would come across something of interest. In his mind, there was no way this forest could go on forever.
It took him nearly a full day's trek before the trees around him became less dense. The walk under the canopy of trees had been relaxing, but now that he got past the trees to some sort of grassland, the man resolved to be more careful.
While his gaze swept over the new area, he could make out several bright red shapes that were moving. His gaze seemed to penetrate the grasslands and the trees to spot the shapes.
It took him a while to realize that what he was seeing were animals. He could make out a dangerous-looking big cat-like animal roaming around in the grassland, as well as several animals that looked like antelopes and deers.
From the sky, he could spot several birds, and even while in the forest, he had been able to see these birds as they flew.
Interestingly, he realized that there were some animals he could not see yet knew they were there. The crickets had been making noise for a while, and still, he couldn't find them.
It appeared some animals could be seen using this special ability while others could not. The moment he made that distinction, he instinctively knew what this was.
He was using infrared vision as well as normal sight. While he completely understood this, he couldn't explain how he could do it. Nevertheless, he just took this as one of his abilities.
As he was toying around, something caught his eyesight. From the corner of his eyes, he saw humanoid shapes much farther.
Suddenly, he was overcome with joy and started sprinting towards these shapes. If not for anything else, these shapes looked a lot like himself, and that was worth celebrating.
All this while, the man had been fumbling about looking for anything that could explain who or what he was, to see like-shaped individuals brought him much joy.
Little did he know that humans were not as trustworthy as he hoped.
"Something's coming! Quick, raise your weapons!" The burly man barked the order as he raised his sword, ready to meet him. Next to him, a curvaceous lady raised her bow and knocked an arrow, ready to shoot down whatever came out of the jungle.
Minutes passed while they bated their breaths. It was not fear that gripped this group of seven, for they were not easily scared. There was nothing in the forest that could scare them, but that did not mean they could put their guards down.
Whatever their expectations were, what came out was not something they expected.
Suddenly, a butt-naked man came running in their direction before coming to a stop in front of them. Keshi, the bowman, or in this case, bowwoman, was visibly impressed.
The man in front of her was lean and well-cut, his muscles so well chiseled he might as well have been a god. Not to mention, he was well-endowed.
"Who are you?" Chege, the burly man leading the group, took the initiative to ask the man. His sword was still raised.
What he did not know was that the man could not understand what he was saying. Even if he could, that was the one question he couldn't answer.
"Where did he come from?" Keshi asked. Seeing the blank expression on the man, the group was even more cautious. Then came the long debate of what to do with him.
Some in the group believed that they should kill him, why risk at all.
Others felt that the man could hold some extraordinary background. After all, not many poor people or hermits looked that well-cut. As such, they thought that they should take him with them. If he turned out to be of value, then they could cash out big, maybe even get the recognition of the lords.
"Boss, while that is all well and good, what do we do with him now, we cannot turn back after coming this far inland?" Kilem was always the wise one in the group, able to see potential issues before they came.
"That's easy, we'll just take him with us," Keshi answered. She wanted him to tag along.
"We cannot, where we are going is too dangerous!"
"Who knows where he came from, maybe he could be of assistance. Besides, he looks like he can handle himself."
"It's decided then, we'll take him with us," Chege said with authority, "Now will someone get him some clothes! I am sick of looking at his nakedness."
"Keshi!" Keshi said as she pointed at herself, once the man was done dressing. She nodded with approval as he repeated her name. After that, she pointed at the boss and said, "Chege!" As she saw him nod, she pointed at the man as if to ask, what's your name
All the man could do was look back at her blankly. He understood what she was asking, and he would have loved to answer that, but he had no answer. He didn't even have enough to go on to come up with a lie.
"Are you sure he's not just dumb?" One of the men asked Keshi as he watched her interaction with the stranger. Keshi did not have an answer.
"Alright, from now on, you will be called Njeru," The man, Ruitha, said snickering. Njeru meant newbie or amateur. Essentially, what this man was calling him was a newb.
The man himself, Njeru, did not seem to mind, though Keshi shot Ruitha a deathly look before agreeing with him. Njeru pointed at himself and said, "Njeru," as though to accept his new name.
"You've had your fun, time to move out," Chege brought everyone back to their senses as they set off.