I awoke. The place was dark and felt much colder than the desert. It smelled like burnt wood, and the floor was an old, cluttered mattress. I could detect another stench. The dung stench was mainly used as a building material for this small but adequate hut, covered with date palm leaves as a roof.
Who or what had saved me did not matter to me at this point. I was grateful and relieved that someone could delay my death after all. But wait a minute, I did die a moment ago. I see. Someone transferred my soul to this light novel character named 'Aramoto Kakumo'. I had all the memories of his entire past. Even his deep emotions like hatred and grief were now mine. I should probably continue the story. I wonder if a happy ending was waiting for me. ,, Thank you, whoever you may be! You have saved me from certain death!" I shouted, drifting from the world of thought back into reality through the hut.
Yawning silence reigned in the hut. There was no one on the spot. I looked around the hut and noticed a jug filled with water. Before I could even reach for the small rusty jar and lose myself in it, because my thirst dominated over me and I seemed to be dehydrating, the small wooden door a few feet to my right opened.
To be seen was a graying old personality dressed in tattered rags. Presumably, he had heard my call and had rushed over. The whole body of this older man was littered with scars and minor wounds covered with a small layer of dirt. It seemed like a miracle that this person could stand effortlessly on his feet without any signals of strain.
"Drink as much as you like, feel welcome here!", the old man spoke with a confidential and good-humored voice.
,,And when you're done drinking, you can come outside with me. There's some food for you. Just call me old man because I don't have a name," he threw at me in an amiable voice, treating me like an old, forgotten friend.
I didn't have time to feel more confused than I already had for the last few minutes. I did as the older man told me and first drank the pot of icy water empty. Alive I felt, and I forgot how precious and essential water could be for life. Waking up again from my reverie and enjoying the water, I put the jug on the floor, meandered through the manure hut, and opened the wooden door.
What I could glimpse was the night engulfing the desert. Much fewer dunes than before and a fire that the old man had set to roast scorpions and snakes that he must have hunted down while I was unconscious. I wondered how far this older man had transported me and how this older man managed to do it in his condition. He looked very frail to me and anything but strong. ,,How did you transport me here and how far?", I asked this old man accusingly for answers.
,,Here the scorpion is cooked. You know, these critters taste much better cooked," he laughed at me again in a good mood and handed me the fried scorpion in his hand. ,,The High Council has been to your home. It has everything and everyone on its conscience, hasn't it?" the old man added to me in a pitying tone of voice as I ate the cooked-through scorpion in small bites.
Later realized the food got stuck in my throat, and I began to stare at the older man with a shocked expression. The high council, then? Those seem to be powerful beings in this world. So these beings have my family on their conscience in my new life. Hell, I even had a wife! Yet I only have memories of it. I was puzzled about how this older man knew what was happening to my home in this world. My thirst for knowledge, and thus my hatred of this high council, increased immeasurably.
,,The high council did you say? That's what those fuckers call themselves? The ones who murdered my family in cold blood? The ones who made a fucking massacre? Why?! Why?! Explain it to me, please! How can I kill those assholes? They must have some weak point!", I yelled in a snubbed and hateful manner at the old man to whom I owe my life.
Hatred and a sense of revenge were the only emotions that accompanied me at that moment. The older man stared at me and began to gasp and grunt as if on nothing. "They are afraid. You see, there is a power that can kill these demons, and that's the reason they kill. They want to intimidate and hide their fear of this seemingly grotesque power with cold-blooded events." and then showed me my necklace, which was no longer on my neck. This ordinary necklace? This is supposed to be a weapon that these mighty creatures are afraid of? I carried it with me all the time, the whole trip, and didn't know what use it was?