Aidan made himself comfortable by using the grass as his sofa and bed. He lay on the ground with a hand on his head while Gomon stared at him with furrowed eyebrows. By the look of his expression, Gomon was sure to ask more questions about his world. Not that Aidan wanted to keep it a secret, but it was night time and he needed some sleep.
"Why are you silent?" Gomon said. "Tell me about this world of yours."
Aidan sighed. He wanted to sleep so bad. The fight against the cultist had drained him so much. But he couldn't let his friend in the dark. Though maybe he should put some shadows in his story and keep it the same as what he told to Maninsov. There was no doubt that they would meet later.
"About my world." He told Gomon about his world. And just like before, he said that his world was on another continent just without the sky blocking eels and the magic.
"No Sky Eels?" Gomon said. "How can that be? The book said the eels enveloped the whole world, protecting us from vile creatures lurking among the endless void. According to the book; if your world has no eels, it would be destroyed."
Vile creatures lurking among the endless void? Did he mean the alien? The human did fight a few alien races, but they win quite easily.
"It's not destroyed." Aidan shook his head. "We won against the vile creatures you said. Yes some of them were more troublesome than the others, but our technology swept them out of the galaxy pretty quickly."
"Galaxy? Is that the name of your world?" Gomon asked.
"Well... A galaxy is a huge disk floating in a limitless void and is made of stars and planets." It was more complicated than that, but it should be enough.
"A huge disk? Stars? Planets?"
Sadly, that description gave more confusion than clarity. How could he explain a galaxy to a magic civilization that was trapped within its world not just by gravity and the atmosphere, but also by giant eels?
"Gomon, the world we live in. What do you call it?"
"We call it by many names. But I remember there is a book that calls our world 'Inworld' and I don't even know why most people would choose that over a much better name like Zesaolea, Nephus, or Zostryke."
Aidan chuckled. "You're lucky. Back in my place, we have a world called Kepler-452b and HD 126525. Try to spell it without stuttering."
"You have more than one world?"
"Of course, we have billions of world within our grasp."
Gomon was speechless. It was not his fault to be ignorant about the world. Whoever put those giant eels in the sky was the culprit. With them blocking the stars from sight, the sentient race within this world wouldn't know that there was a world beyond them.
"How can you have more than one world? How did your people do it?"
"We fly, Gomon. We pierced through the clouds and explore the void. Many people in my world pioneered the exploration and after two hundred thousand years, we have colonized more than tens of billion planets."
Gomon took a deep breath and held his chest. This information seemed like too much for him. Hopefully, he didn't get a heart attack from the shock.
"What you tell me is world-shattering, Aidan. For all my life, I thought this world was the only one. I didn't know beyond those eels was a vast space with endless lights that beckoned us to explore them. We have to get back to your continent Aidan. I want to explore the planets, stars, and galaxies you told me."
"Slow down, buddy. We only have one galaxy, for now, so you have to make do with that."
"I don't care. Let's go and explore the stars. I want to know them all."
"Well, about that..." Aidan explained his ordeal to Gomon.
"So when you wake up, you found yourself falling from the sky?"
"Yeah, I was shocked. I thought someone threw me off my hovering apartment, but that wasn't the case."
"How did you know you weren't thrown?"
"Well, except for the obvious giant eels blocking the sky and the giant birds that wanted to eat me, my favorite hugging pillow was not in my arms."
"Right... weird, but okay. Everyone has their own problem."
"What's wrong with hugging pillow?"
"Nothing," Gomon said. "Anyway, as a native of this world, I should officially welcome you. Our first alien contact."
"I'm a human," Aidan said.
"But you're not from this world. That makes you an alien."
"That's not true because we both can communicate without problem?"
"Does the alien have a problem with speaking?"
"Not really, but they have cultures so incompatible with us that we decided to eradicate them."
"You killed them because of cultures? Sounds like racism to me."
"When you know your friend is the guy who likes to eat human tongue as breakfast, it's hard not to kill them you see."
"That's bad."
"Yeah. One time they negotiated to let them eat the tongue of the dead. We disagreed immediately and burned their planets."
"You burned their worlds?"
"It's not a very hard thing to do. And it's very effective too."
"Don't you think it was a waste? Look at how many resources a world has."
"Their planets weren't that valuable. Besides, we can remove the flames and mine their planets anytime we want."
"I cannot believe your world has the power to do such a thing. Exploring the void, burning the planets, it seemed like you guys are gods."
"Haha. The more we advance, the more we thought god is stronger. In ancient times, even creating fires with sticks was deemed an act of God."
Gomon nodded. "Your story gives me a new goal, Aidan. I have decided that I will make something similar to that spaceship of yours. I will fly through the clouds and explore the stars, hahaha."
Aidan took a small rock and threw it at him. "Don't forget about the eels. I think they are your biggest roadblock."
"I know. I will think of something for that."
Aidan smiled. If Gomon meant what he said, then he would become the pioneer of space exploration from this world. It was inevitable. Nothing could shackle living beings from expanding outward. When they ran out of space on the ground, they would start to look toward the sky.
He also wanted to do that. Exploring the unknown was frightening but also exciting. There was this feeling that he felt about exploring. An expectation. Imagination that ran wild before the curtain fell and the mystery revealed itself. No matter what it was, it would be worth it.
But first, he had to get out of here. He needed to get stronger so he could do anything he wanted. And this world seemed worth exploring, so he was going to do so before traveling among the stars with Gomon. That was the plan if he succeed in building a space rocket. The world already had golems and Manufactured Consciousness so nothing seemed impossible.
"No pressure, Gomon. But I expect you to succeed. And when you do, make sure to bring me with you."
Gomon chuckled. "No problem."
"Alright. Let's get some sleep. We'll need the energy for tomorrow."
"You're right. Sparkling eels, Aidan," Gomon said before he lied down and closed his eyes.
Sparkling eels? Well, the eels did sparkle like twinkling stars at night. Such a weird thing. "Good night, Gomon."
The next day.
Aidan woke up with light shining through the leaves he used as the rooftop. The air was fresh and the light was warm. It was a good morning.
"Morning, Gomon. How's your sleep?"
Gomon stretched and pushed himself to sit. "Eel rise, Aidan. It's not as comfortable as my bed at school, but I couldn't afford to complain right?"
"I also miss my dorm. I've only slept on that bed for a day and now I already missed it."
Gomon laughed. "Let's go out. I think everyone is waiting."
Aidan and Gomon exited their humble tent.
"You've woke up, good." Feval approached them.
"What's wrong?" Aidan asked.
"We need to go now. Everyone is getting hungry and thirsty. Some looked like they are about to collapse."
"What about sending me or the other children of fate to scout ahead for food and water?" Aidan suggested.
Feval smirked. "I already did. And we have found a lake."
"That's good, then we have nothing to worry about except food."
"I wish that is the case."
"What's wrong." Aidan frowned.
"Although we have found the lake, the journey to get there wouldn't be easy."
"Is it that far?" Aidan asked.
"Worse. It's that tall." Feval pointed towards the distance.
Aidan turned and saw a pink cloud passing by the mountain. "This will be hard."
"I know. They know. We can't delay anymore. The scouts have brought some water for the others, but the amount they could bring was minimal. And we can't afford to send them back and forth to the mountain. their energy is limited."
He knew what would happen next.
"I see. Then what do you need me for?"
"I heard that you are proficient in the internal healing technique."
"So?"
"I hope you don't mind using that ability to restore their energy so they can bring water from the mountain."
I knew it, Aidan thought.
This ability could restore the health points and the energy points of the target. Aidan knew this, but he didn't expect Feval also knew. "I have no problem with that."
"Perfect. Come, let me bring you to them."
Aidan followed Feval to a tent where three men sat. Their clothes were patched with holes, and sweats poured from their forehead. Even children of fate had a hard time climbing a mountain. He guessed in any world, mother nature was the strongest.
"Thank you for the water," Aidan said. Even though he didn't get some water, he still thanked them for their selfless act. Climbing a mountain back and forth for a handful of water was not a fun thing to do.
"Relax and control your breathing. I'm going to restore your energy." Aidan touched the three of them, surging his energy, he channeled his power from his heart towards their body. After a few seconds, he stopped the transmission.
"How do you feel?" Aidan asked.
The three of them stood before jumping up and down. "It felt like having breakfast."
Aidan laughed. "Maybe we should find some beast nearby. That way water and food will no longer be our problem."
"I agree," Hussav said. "Most of us haven't been eating for weeks. A lump of roasted meat under the rising eels would be perfect."
"Yeah! I haven't eaten for a month now."
"I want some meat! I have eaten some grass, but it doesn't taste good."
"Why would you eat grass?"
"What's so surprising about eating grass? A few days ago, I ate the cultist's toenail for breakfast."
"Toenail? You should eat some flies like me. I heard they have some meat in them, though my tongue didn't feel it."
The malnourished former captive started bickering with each other about what kind of food they had eaten. And as time went by, Aidan decided to close his ears and return to his tent.
No one wanted to know that you had eaten your friends' waste when they were asleep you disgusting creep!