CHAPTER 4 – A NEW WORLD
The sun was now getting lower in the sky. The light was beginning to fade. Johnny had been driving for miles on the dirt path. The landscape still was a large savannah that soon started to turn into wooded areas. The road led past a few rivers with bridges and small towns. Johnny wanted to get to a bigger settlement as fast as possible to gather intel. Throughout the day he managed to pass a few caravans with merchants. The groups were a mixed bunch consisting of humans, elves, dwarves, and some others he couldn't identify just yet. He occasionally saw wildlife as well but paid little attention as he drove. He only worried about running something over. Albert would warn him of anyone coming in their direction. He would pull the prototype over and observe the inhabitants of the world.
The first time Johnny drove by a caravan in stealth mode made him question his sanity. Then he remembered where he was. Makes me feel like I'm in a fantasy game of some kind. He watched the group pass. It was small compared to the ones he saw as he got closer to the bigger settlement. There were four wagons being pulled by some sort of horse that he couldn't grasp his head around. The horses had antlers which threw him off. The wagons were filled with weapons that Johnny was guessing were smithed by the dwarves from the looks of it. He continued his way after they passed.
Johnny soon got an idea for Albert. He asked him to add clothing styles of whoever they passed after a while.
"Can you add that clothing style to the prototype data?" Johnny asked Albert as he pointed at an elf walking by. "We are in an unknown world with no way of knowing how locals would react to me wearing my race suit. Also, add any others we happen to pass too."
Albert replied. "Style of clothing has been examined and added to the list. Also, the request has been acknowledged."
Johnny was soon getting bored with the driving. He had tried to find different ways to keep himself occupied. He listened to different tunes from the prototype's terminal. He first listened to heavy metal ending with orchestra music. He eventually killed the music as he was flat out bored with it.
Johnny's boredom was getting so bad he decided to play a game with Albert. He had to pull the prototype over to look at his phone. "Hey, Albert, want to play a game." Asked Johnny as he was rummaging for his phone.
Albert responded to Johnny. "Shouldn't you be focused on getting back?" The AI asked. Johnny just shrugged at the response.
"I'm honestly getting bored out of my mind. So I thought I could come up with a challenge for both of us." He said as he finally found his phone. He scrolled through his media gallery and found what he was looking for. The photo was taken long ago in his earlier years of racing. This was way before his time when his racing career was a matter of life and death, but more for just having fun.
The event was a charity fundraiser. Drivers came in dressed up in ridiculous outfits as well as cars. It showed Johnny in an elf outfit driving a derby vehicle that had been decked out to look like Santa's sleigh. Johnny was dressed from head to toe in one of those elf outfits people would see at the mall.
Johnny grinned as he looked at the photo. "Let's see what you can come up with that is worse than this. The only rules are you can use what clothing you see the world's inhabitants are wearing."
About six hours had passed now and Albert informed Johnny what he had come up with. The results were cringy. Johnny almost lost control of the prototype from laughing so hard. The outfit made Johnny look like a court jest who was a privateer for a living. His figure had a jester's hat that was white and black. The right eye was covered with an eye patch. While his left hand had a hook. His right leg also had a peg leg. He had a jester's cloak over a privateer outfit to top it all off.
"Not bad Albert. That still doesn't beat my Santas helper outfit." Johnny laughed even harder thinking back to the event.
Johnny eventually lost track of time from driving. According to Albert he had been driving for a total of ten hours. He did pull the prototype over a few times along the way for a quick break or to do his business. By now the sun had now set and turned dark out. Johnny was starting to drift off into sleep. Albert alerted him of a big settlement as dusk began to come about. He had managed to reach a big city with fortified stone walls surrounding a lake. That was in a heavily wooded area. The plains were on one side of the city and the forest stretched out on the other side of the lake.
"I'm going to do some scouting. I'm going to need your help, Albert." He told Albert in a tired voice. Johnny parked the prototype next to the lake at the edge of the forest. "
Okay, Albert, I need you to cloak me for now." He said sitting in the prototype trying his best not to fall asleep.
"Of course." Replied Albert.
Johnny got out of the prototype quietly. He walked a little around the lake and forest a little. Realizing there wasn't anyone around. He got back into the prototype to setup camp for the night.
"Albert, could you set up a defensive barrier that no one can see me in for sleep tonight." Asked Johnny. Albert then set up a defensive barrier to keep Johnny safe for when he went to sleep.
Johnny ate some Stromboli that he had conjured up from the core. He sat in front of a campfire just drifting off into space. He took a bite out of the Stromboli and immediately spit it out into the campfire.
Albert noticed his reaction. "Is everything all right?" Albert asked.
"Well, they made the food edible, but not tasty. It just tastes bland." Replied Johnny with distaste. "Hopefully the wine isn't just as bad." Johnny replied. Johnny took a sip of wine and cringed at the taste. "That is very bitter." He sighed in frustration after spitting out the wine. "Better to just make my own meals from now on."
Johnny ate the rest of the Stromboli trying not to gag at the taste. He only had half of his wine before he had enough of it.
He decided to call it a night. He went back to the prototype and got out a sleeping bag. He then laid down and looked up at the night sky. It had unfortunately turned to overcast so he couldn't tell if there were moons or any stars. With a sigh Johnny went to sleep…
Johnny dreamed he was sitting by the lake when out of the blue. A portal began to spawn next to him on the ground. The portal started out small. It was the color of dark purple and began to get bigger. It swirled around like a whirlpool.
Suddenly, he saw wolf-like creatures clawing their way out of the portal. Their fur was dripping with a black inky liquid. Their eyes glowed a bright yellow as of a car headlight. They all ran past him as they ran for the fortified city. Everything the creatures touched turned to a black void. The ground began to shake and out of the portal came the biggest of wolves, like horrors. It turned to face Johnny. Johnny froze in terror. He tried to run but his legs failed him. The creature lunged at Johnny with its wide-open maw and snapped it around his neck. As the creature bit down, his dream went black.
Johnny woke up with a start. Albert noticed Johnny waking up. "Everything all right?" Asked Albert.
"Yeah, just a bad dream." He mumbled to Albert, still half asleep. It was still dark out. "Anything happened while I was asleep Albert?" Johnny asked as he yawned and stretched his legs.
"I felt a presence from beyond the trees. I saw something but couldn't get a good look at whatever it was." Albert replied.
"So, we are being watched even though the cloaking shield was up. Something tells me I need to be on guard." Said Johnny. Johnny stayed awake the rest of time out of worry he was being watched.
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Johnny paced the camp back and forth. Waiting for the sun to come up to get a better look at his surroundings. He decided to have an omelet as he waited. Instead of conjuring up an omelet from the core. He had ingredients from the core to make it his way. He set forth with a campfire making his meal. Johnny was hesitant to try the omelet. "This better taste good." He said aloud with worry as he nibbled into the omelet. He was surprised it didn't taste bad. He ate the omelet without really savoring it. He then finished it down with some water and let out a loud belch. By this time the sun was beginning to rise in the east.
"Well time to go see what or who had been sneaking around last night." He thought. "Albert I'm going to see what I can figure out who or what was around. Can you keep an eye on the camp and let me know if anyone shows up." Johnny asked Albert as he walked away from the camp.
"Understood." Replied Albert.
Johnny headed for the undergrowth of the forest, where Albert had sensed a presence the night before. Johnny walked in stealth mode to keep himself hidden. After a few hours of searching Johnny had found signs of someone or something that had been around. Even his years of training in the special forces couldn't help him find much of anything. Whoever or whatever they were did a good job of leaving little of any sign of being there. Johnny decided to go back to the camp since nothing could be further investigated. Johnny made his way back to camp.
Johnny wanted to visit the walled city nearby to find out more about the world. He was trying on different clothing that Albert had gathered in the data from inhabitants of the unknown world to figure out what he liked. "No that wouldn't work." Johnny talked to himself as he was going through dozens of different outfits. Johnny was getting frustrated.
He thought of an idea and asked Albert for his opinion. "Hey Albert, what do you think if I had the shard of the core cast a glamour over me. Since, I am not sure what to wear to be honest. I thought of having a glamour to deceive people into what they think I am wearing," said Johnny.
"That could work." Replied Albert.
"Although, I'd recommend you just take a single glamor so that no one will get suspicious of you changing. You can appear to be wearing whatever others expect from you." Replied Albert.
"Good point." Replied Johnny. Johnny cast his glamour over his racing suit and headed towards the walled city. Alongside with Albert hidden.