After Basar returned home that night, he saw Dan doing something in the kitchen. He asked Dan, "Hey kid, Hesta said something about reservations today; do you know something about that?"
"Yes, he asked for alcohol and dirima meat for two people; I doubt he can pay though," answered Dan, feigning ignorance.
Basar interjected, "He sure can; he found a dimming symbol; he will receive a hefty sum for that kind of information."
"I see." answered Dan, but inside he is thinking, "Damn that bastard, he gets one good thing after another."
He sighed and said, "I am going to sleep; I have to leave early tomorrow morning for hunting."
Few hours later..
Dan woke up and opened his windows. It is still dark outside, but the darkest hour has passed, meaning the fog has left the chain of settlements. It is safe to go outside, and now is the perfect time to catch those cowardly creatures.
Dan brushed his teeth and had breakfast. He put his equipment in a bag and started walking towards the wall. He didn't go outside but climbed the wall to watch what was going on the other side. He saw that, after the fog left, those creatures were also returning to the forest. He searched for a safe route among these creatures.
He came down and started following the route he had discovered. After some time, he arrived at a place that is a few kilometres away from the 7th settlement. It is a small, open grassland with nothing but black grass. This is his hunting ground.
Dirimas are rabbit-like creatures that are not very strong but are very agile. If they sense danger, they will hide underground. What makes them special is that their meat is not rubbery like that of other dread spawns. Thanks to their tender meat, they are expensive and in high demand. The good news is that Dan had developed a trap.. a trap especially to hunt them.
He opened his bag and took out all the parts needed to make the trap. After setting up four traps in different places, he hid behind a nearby rock. The waiting begins.
It was still dark, and occasional howling of dread spawns could be heard. Hidden behind the rock, Dan observed the traps for any kind of movement. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a multicolored, bright light covered the whole place. Dan was so mesmerised by that light that he stayed rooted in his place. He had never heard or seen anything like that before. When the light faded, a single humanoid figure could be seen.
That humanoid figure wore a skin-tight suit of silver color, and covering his head was a half-metallic, half-transparent material helmet. "Is he an othersider?" he thought. Although he had never seen them, he heard those othersiders wear flashy and luxurious clothes. They are nothing like this person's bizarre clothes, and what the hell is that twinkling bucket on his head? While he was trying to understand this situation, the figure finally moved.
That figure stood still for a few minutes and then suddenly turned around and waved his hand in Dan's direction. The moment he did that, Dan felt strength leaving his body. He fell to the ground, completely paralyzed.
Dan watched in horror at the humanoid figure. That figure is mumbling some gibberish. Then that figure mumbled something again, and his clothes magically vanished. Surprisingly, that figure is a human like him. That figure spread his arms open, inhaled the air, and mumbled something again. A few moments later, he glanced at Dan and started walking towards him.
But after taking a few steps, that figure staggered a little like a drunkard and fell right into one of Dan's traps. At the last moment, that figure mumbled something in panic, but alas, it was too late. Dans' stomach churned as he watched the trap rip that human in two. If he was not paralyzed, he would have emptied his breakfast on the ground. Two severed parts of a human figure lay there motionless. But the horror didn't end yet.
A few seconds later, something came out of that severed corpse and started flowing towards him. Then that silver-colored half-liquid entered his body. Dan watched all this in horror, and his mind went blank.
After an unknown amount of time, Dan opened his eyes and sat down. It is morning already, and his whole body is feeling funny. If not for that severed body, he would have thought that it was a dream. Dan got up and surveyed the surroundings. About 3 hours have passed. Two of his traps caught two dirima dreadspawns, one failed to catch anything, and the last caught a human being.
What a dose of bad luck first thing in the morning! Standing in front of the corpse, he started talking to himself, "I wish it was a dream."
"No, it wasn't a dream," answered a robotic male voice.
Dan jumped in fright and started looking here and there. Not a single person present other than these three corpse.
Dan felt threatened. What happened a few hours ago was stressful enough, and now he's starting to hear things. As if answering his thoughts, the voice spoke again.
"No, you aren't hearing anything; I am talking directly in your mind." Before Dan started panicking again, the voice said:
"Please do not panic, host. I will answer whatever questions you have."
Dan's expression became even worse as he cursed, "What do you mean? Do not panic. Some human in bizarre clothing did something to me, and I am hearing things now. How can I not panic?"
Although he said that he started calming his nerves, he has to be rational. Whatever that thing is in his head, it is the only thing that can help him understand this situation.
"Ok, I am calm now, so tell me what this situation is." Said Dan after calming down. But he soon regretted those words. A flood of information crashed in his mind, and he felt a headache so sharp it was as if he had been kicked by a dread spawn.
But after a few moments, Dan started to understand things about this world and the world that person came from.
Who that person is.. or was? Why did he come here? And what is Dan going to do now?