On the morning of a day two months after we got here, I could tell that autumn had arrived.
The leaves on the trees began to fall off and we started to notice a chill in the air.
It was worrying, because finding food in the winter would be much harder... And truthfully, surviving the destruction of an entire world only to starve to death in another sounded pretty pathetic.
Because of this, we were preparing to do some traveling soon.
As we got ready to start our day normally, suddenly Isabella stopped.
"Hey Mizik...? Do you hear something?"
"Like what?" I asked curiously.
"Kind of like...I don't know... I've never heard a sound like this before..."
As she spoke, I began to hear something as well.
It was faint, but I heard a strange noise... I couldn't describe it even if I wanted to.
The two of us got up and walked out onto the porch of our treehouse and looked in its direction.
There was a large metal cylinder with wings headed straight for us...
Moments later...
WOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
The two of us flinched in terror as the massive object flew well above the treeline and kept going. It made an incredibly loud noise and shook our treehouse.
"Wh...what was that!?" Isabella shouted.
I jumped up onto the treehouse roof and looked at the object.
The strange metal cylinder had two sets of wings.
They didn't flap like a dragon's wings and there was a smaller set on the tail.
Additionally, other round objects underneath the wings seemed to be making the noise... Potentially keeping the object in the sky, as well.
Could it have been a metal dragon?
I couldn't imagine anything else... Perhaps something similar to a dwarven machine, perhaps...
Regardless, I felt the need to learn more about it.
"Isabella...should we follow that thing?" I asked.
"Sure. Sounds interesting, but why?"
The old Isabella might have protested, but with Bravery, she was inclined to jump into danger at any given moment.
"Maybe it'll lead us to civilization?" I said.
"Well, we were planning to leave soon, anyway so... Let's get ready and just go!" She said cheerfully.
That was easy. But what was that thing!? It reminds me of a dwarven machine... But I don't recall ever seeing something capable of flight...
After that, we made a mental note of our current location, then headed in the direction of the flying machine.
"Hey Mizik, what kind of people do you think live in this world?"
"Hard to say. But I just hope they aren't hostile. Although we are technically invading their world..."
"I hope they aren't angry with us for cutting down a couple of trees. But I don't think I care if they are or not. Is that rude?"
"No. It's probably just an effect of the sword. In all honesty, it would be kind of silly if they got mad at us for it. There are probably hundreds, if not, thousands of trees here. And it isn't like we burned down the forest or anything..."
"Right...but we could have. That would have gotten their attention."
"I can't tell if Bravery is driving you crazy or not, Isabella. Are you sure everything is fine?" I asked worriedly.
"I'm not crazy! I'm still me! I'm just getting comfortable voicing my inner thoughts, is all. Bravery wants me to not be scared of speaking out," Isabella declared.
"She's not very nice, is she?"
"Bravery is nice. Probably nicer than Vengeance. Although, she is very strict..."
I smiled as I shook my head.
That damn sword was making her act out in the strangest ways...
We continued moving for a while and occasionally, I would climb a tree to check out our location. We made sure to mark the path on the way forward. Eventually, we started hearing another sound.
This one sounded like rapidly beating wings.
"Is that...another flying thing?" Isabella asked curiously.
"I don't know. I'll check," I said.
I climbed a tree quickly and had a look around.
A moment later, a hovering machine flew near and paused mid-air when it came close.
The machine was much smaller than the one we saw earlier and was kept in the air by a long, rotating blade on top. There was a long tail on the end with another smaller rotating blade.
"What the hell is this thing?" I said aloud.
The wind this thing was making was causing the canopy to shift slightly... It was also very loud...
I could see a window on the front of the machine where someone was sitting and staring at me.
It was a human.
I figured I must've looked pretty strange. I was wearing long pants and a tattered shirt while holding Vengeance in my right hand as I gripped onto a branch.
Suddenly the man sitting inside the machine turned and said something to someone in the back, then the machine turned to the side.
A door opened and someone else was standing there.
"....!?"
"What?" I said.
They were speaking another language...
I need to get Isabella. She might be able to communicate...
I put Vengeance away then held out my hand. I pointed down and jumped off of the tree to get to Isabella quickly.
I heard the man yell something at me as I let go, but once again I didn't understand.
As soon as I hit the ground, Isabella jumped in surprise.
"Waaah! Mizik!? Why do you keep doing that!?"
"Sorry, there's a flying machine above the canopy. Someone was inside. They tried to speak to me, but I can't understand them."
"What makes you think I'll be able to understand them?"
"Well...you speak four languages, right?" I said.
"I do, but that doesn't mean the people of this world understand any of them! Still, I can try just in case. Let's go."
I was starting to feel a bit silly...
I mean...of course, that doesn't mean they'll understand her! It's still worth a try, though.
After a few minutes, both of us had successfully climbed up and now stood atop the canopy near the machine.
As soon as the man in the machine saw Isabella, he raised an eyebrow and looked at her strangely.
I could tell he was probably surprised at how beautiful she was. Although, he seemed more fixated on her hair.
Pink hair isn't very common in Avernia, but it's not weird.
I had seen people with all sorts of hair colors in Avernia. Isabella's hair was pretty uncommon, but not completely abnormal. Especially for the Victoria family. Her hair color was perfectly normal as far as they were concerned.
Isabella began speaking to the man in another language.
The two of them went back and forth and Isabella quickly switched between four different languages but the man continued speaking the same.
Eventually, he shrugged and shook his head.
".....!"
"Mizik, I can't understand any of what this man is saying. I've never heard that language before. What should we do?"
"I don't know..."
I looked at the man and suddenly he had one of his hands up as if telling us to stay put.
I shook my head and pointed in the direction of the other machine we saw before. The man gave me a confused look and said something to someone else in the machine.
After that, he motioned for us to get on the machine and it moved closer to us.
"I think he wants us to get on board with him. Is that okay?" Isabella said.
"I trust you to protect me. Let's go."
I jumped up into the machine and the man stumbled back with a look of surprise on his face. After that, I reached out my hand and Isabella took it after jumping.
A young woman was sitting in a seat on the other side of the machine.
After we were aboard, the man closed the door and we started moving. We had to hold onto bars hanging from the ceiling as the machine lurched forward.
"Hello?" I said to no one in particular.
".....?"
The young woman said something and the people within the machine began speaking with each other.
"You should probably give up, my love. They don't understand us..."
"Good point. How long do you think we should stay here? Should we wait until we've moved and then jump out?"
"If we jump, I can make sure you don't get hurt when we hit the ground. I won't take no for an answer!" Isabella said stubbornly.
"Very well. We can do that...just be gentle..." I said.
Isabella hugged me and looked into my eyes.
"I'm always gentle, right?" She said with a wink.
"Sword," I said.
"Sorry!"
I looked and saw the other two people staring at us curiously.
Both the man and the woman were staring at Isabella's hair.
"....?"
The woman spoke seemingly at Isabella.
"I don't understand. Please leave me be."
The woman pointed at the two of us and said something again.
"....?"
"Umm..."
I decided to introduce us.
I pointed to myself and Isabella and spoke clearly.
"Mizik. Isabella."
The woman pointed at me and Isabella and repeated.
"Mizik...Isabella?"
I nodded and she smiled. Then she pointed to herself and the man.
"Mirelia...John."
"Nice to meet you," I said with a smile.
The woman shook her head and shrugged.
Perfect...we're stranded in another world and nobody understand us... Awesome...