'What exactly had happened that made me come to this world? Maybe...maybe I died and was somehow reincarnated? But there was no reason for me to die, though. I was in good health and didn't get run over unless some truck crashed into my house while I was asleep. Tsk, maybe the taco really did kill me...".
He shook his head, having a hard time believing that. He had eaten way worse before, and besides making past a terrible moment on the throne, it never went further than that.
'No, let's do a complete review of my last day on Earth. I woke up around eleven in the morning, ate breakfast, and then had lunch a bit later. Then I went to uni, which was pretty uneventful, and came back home.'
Glenn rubbed his forehead, doing his best to remember his last actions on Earth.
'I played around and prepared some nice clothes, then ate my taco, and finally went to that party. Huh. Maybe it was the party.'
The young man scratched his chin, looking up pensively.
'...I can't remember anything after that last shot of tequila. Damn, to say that I finally got the number of that girl. I'll never see her again. It was all for nothing.'
'Well, too bad, she was really pretty. What was her name again? Ania, Onea, uh, Olga? It doesn't matter anymore when I think about it.'
Glenn sighed while feeding some branches to the fire. Conflicting emotions tugged at him, leaving him unsure of what to feel at this moment. He picked up the skewered rabbit, bringing it to his nose. It had a smell of burned meat, as well as a strong gamey scent. It looked...disgusting, to say the least. He shook his head, placing the rabbit back above the fire. Perhaps a few additional minutes of getting roasted would do the trick.
His adventurous self wanted to be happy and excited by all those strange events, but his experience until now wasn't allowing him to be cheerful at all. The memory of waking up to be devoured by one hellish creature only to almost become another monster's meal, courtesy of a certain Father Albenas who looked like he came straight out of the deepest circle of Hell, offered little comfort or confidence in this world.
It wasn't even a few hours that he was in it and he almost died a horrible death twice. A few minutes later, Glenn steeled himself, pinched his nose, and bit into the rabbit. He knew he was going to need the energy. The meat was tough, its fibers feeling stringy. It was dry, and there wasn't a drop of juice or moisture in it. The cherry on top was the gamey taste that seemed to have been enhanced by the horrible cooking. And let's not talk about the lack of seasoning or the charred bits. The young man still did his best to eat as much as he could, scowling badly at each bite.
With the sun still not rising after another hour, Glenn put his clothes back on and placed the grilled vegetables and mushrooms in one pocket, and the berries in the other. That would make a small snack just in case, and he didn't want to waste them.
He stared at the campfire, enjoying its warmth for the last minute, before picking up the biggest branch that was burning in it to use as a torch in his left hand and kept his sword in his other hand. He encouraged himself and resumed his hike towards the mountain, his path illuminated by his improvised light source.
After several hours of walking and twists and turns in the vegetation, he noticed that he could navigate more easily through the forest. It wasn't thanks to him becoming proficient in hiking, no, rather that was because of the proximity to the mountain. It seemed like the closer he got to his objective, the less vegetation there was. He finally arrived at the foot of his objective. The forest seemed to stop at the beginning of the mountain. The river he'd found earlier did flow from it, confirming his thoughts.
There wasn't anything that grew there besides some moss alongside the water. In the worst-case scenario, but he hoped it wouldn't come to that, he could eat that moss to survive. Probably. Can you die from eating moss? It would be really sad and disappointing to die from food poisoning after surviving all that. He could already see the tombstone: Glenn, a Slayer of beasts and monsters - defeated by moss.
Glenn looked at the mountain that he wanted to climb initially, basked in crimson under the big red moon, and glanced back to the forest. He wasn't particularly an expert in hiking or climbing, but he certainly thought it was preferable to avoid the crazy things in the forest in favor of the emptiness offered by the barren mountain.
At least, if something was coming at him, he would see it from far away. He threw away the almost completely burned-out torch and checked his pockets for the food he had stockpiled earlier, before finally starting the climb. It was pretty easy for now, but he was worried about what he was going to find up there, as well as the temperature. The peak stood high above him, the view unobscured by any clouds as it bathed in the red moonlight. Hopefully, it wouldn't be too cold, since he didn't have any warm clothes to protect him from the altitude.
'I should be able to find some human traces from up there. If I don't, well, I guess I'll have to go back to the battlefield or survive in the forest.' Glenn shivered, thinking back to the bloody plains. No, everything was better than this place. Even a cold mountain top.
It was still nighttime, so he was quite worried about having a hard time climbing, but he underestimated how much light the moons in the sky were shining.
'Is it like that every night here? If it is, I don't think anyone can sleep with such a light. It's quite incredible to be able to see that much at night.' He questioned, shocked by how well he could see in the not-so-dark night.
'Unless it's not, and it's always like that, and every inhabitant of this world is used to it?' Glenn imagined the world being covered in crimson darkness forever, before shrugging.
'Nah, no way.'
'If there are some moons, there should be some suns, right?'
'Yeah, there will be. Yeah.'
As he was doing his best to reassure himself and not think about the fact that he might never see the sun again, he continued to climb the mountain, slowly but steadily. After some time, Glenn took a small break. He sat on a rock, enjoying the view. He wasn't at the top yet, but he was convinced that the view he would get once he was there would certainly be breathtaking. The rabbit had brought just enough nutriment for him to not just fall unconscious to the ground. He just had to hold the diarrhea for as long as he could. He shook his head with a smirk, thinking back to everything he lived through.
'Is it normal to run into so many things in this world?' He wondered.
'I can understand the corpse-eating monster since I was on a battlefield, but as soon as I left it, I met with another creepy shit.'
'Do I have bad karma, or is it just that dangerous out there?'
After the pain in his calves calmed down, Glenn looked back at the mountain, taking a deep breath before resuming his ascension.
He thought himself to be quite fortunate that he didn't have vertigo because he was getting quite high. He wasn't scared yet, but he soon would be. Glenn just clenched his teeth and kept on climbing upward. He didn't keep count of the distance he just went through, but a glance behind him assured him that it was probably around a kilometer or so above the mountain start.
"Quite the climb, really," He muttered, gasping for air.
He was thinking of "climbing", but it was more like using some really old and big stairs, and the ascension was not hard, besides being physically straining. There was no risk of the stone shattering under his steps or him slipping down from it.
There was no point where he had to hang above the emptiness or anything like that. For the first time since the beginning of this forced adventure, it was pretty peaceful and enjoyable. Maybe he should enjoy it instead of accelerating like an idiot.
Plus, like he had guessed the view was magnificent.
Each time he turned his back to the mountain, he could enjoy the sight of the enormous forest covered in crimson-red light, with the moons shining on it. He didn't know when the sun would rise, but it would probably be quite the spectacle then as well.
A young man lying down in a hammock, an opened book on his face, his body swerving with the wind slightly. His hands were clasped behind his neck and a light snore could be heard under the book cover.
"Glenn. Miller!" A feminine voice came from far away, calling the young man, who didn't react, apparently too deep in his sleep. Angry steps trotted toward him, as a white hand grabbed the book and pulled it away, showering his face with rays of sunlight. Glenn scowled, placing a lazy hand in front of his eyes. Who dared to wake him up from such a nice dream?
"I can't believe it. You have an exam in three days, damn it!" The angry voice yelled at him, clearly animated by evil intentions. Glenn simply turned away, plugging his ears and doing his best to remain in his comfortable sleep. A process that only resulted in him being pushed out of the hammock, and crashing down on the ground. He mumbled and rubbed his eyes, pushing himself from the ground. As if nothing happened, he stretched, yawning loudly.
"What are you worried about? It's a simple test, I don't understand what you're getting on your high horses for." His voice was calm and slightly mocking. He rubbed his neck, cracking it at a certain angle, relieving an annoying pain.
A loud sigh came from the one who woke him up. A forty-five-year-old lady was looking at him with a gaze that was half-angry and half-worried, her hands on her waist in a helpless manner. Her hair arrived at her shoulders, brown in a similar tint to Glenn's hair.
"I leave you for five minutes, and you stop focusing on your notebooks. What am I going to do with you?" She asked, shaking her head sadly.
Glenn shrugged, his hands raised toward the sky.
"I don't know, but I'm pretty sure..." He looked at the title of the book, "...That reading Jankélévitch isn't going to help me," He stated, chuckling.
The wind picked up, making the hammock and the clothes of the persons flutter in it. The woman looked at the horizon, before gesturing at the house behind her.
"Come on, let's get inside."
Finally, after a bit more effort, Glenn could see the top get close. After some time, he stopped looking back and just focused on climbing. He'll take a break when he's up there. That's when it struck him. Yes, getting up there would gain him a nice vantage point, but he felt like he was in a hurry for some reason, even though nothing was hunting him or something like that. It almost felt like a need, an obligation. He had to get to the top. He didn't question it any further, pushed by this strange motivation, and got over the few meters left. Finally, his climb came to an end, and he arrived at the peak of the mountain. It was flat, completely flat as if someone had come and cut the top of the mountain to make a small platform.
"That's...gasp... weird..." Glenn said aloud, his hands on his knees, recuperating from the ascension. There was no wind like one could expect there to be, and it was the same temperature as at the bottom of the mountain.
He didn't need to be a genius to know that something was wrong with that. Usually, with the change in altitude, the air should get thinner and colder, but Glenn had no issue breathing whatsoever. It was like taking a walk in a park.
Glenn placed his hand on his waist, taking a deep breath. He shook his head, staring at his surroundings.
"Why the hell did I want to come here so quickly?" He questioned lightly, his vision dizzy from the effort. Well, whatever was wrong with this peak or himself would wait until he rested completely because he was really tired right now.