WHACK!!
" aaaah!! mommy!!" Jikad was roughly awoken by a whack on his butt.
" Do I look like your mother!?" a gruff voice barked at his face covering it in spit. The towering leather-faced bald man grabbing him by the collar did NOT infact look like his mother. He easily towered over Jikad, his bald head glistening in an almost blinding manner. And since Jikad was held by the collar, his feet dangled a few inches above the ground .
"Wh- who are y- where am I ?" seemingly confused Jikad stared wide-eyed at the scary man. The angry bald man didn't seem to like his question as his face contorted looking even angrier.
Jikad instinctively flinched trying to put as much distance between their faces.
" Shut up and get back in line!" He hissed showering Jikad with his spit again, throwing him on the ground. Jikad didn't even have time to react as he landed on his butt and the angry bald man stormed away.
"oww-what the hell" Jikad muttered rubbing his butt. It was already aching from the whack he received earlier but now it hurt even more.
Jikad felt eyes peering at him and turned to see a long meandering line of people that led to a huge imposing gate. A tall wall that seemed to pierce the heavens want for miles connecting to the gates. The entire place looked foggy and grey and everyone on the line didn't seem to look any happier than cattle being taken to the slaughter house.
He slowly got up and got in the line. The few people who had been staring at him resumed to their brooding. Jikad realized that everyone looked gaunt and exhausted. There was this eariee look in their eyes like they had survived a war but lost too much. There was also a sense of helplessness as the long line slowly moved forward.
At a glace it almost looked like they were marching to their deaths. Jikad hadn't noticed it before but there were a few people who were not in the line. They were clad in navy blue uniforms and they seemed to patrolling and keeping everyone in check. Jikad also noted that the angry bald man was also one of the men in uniform.
The was something else in the air that Jikad couldn't capture; something sinister. To his left was a forest but due to the thick fog he couldn't quite see anything past a few trees. But the strangest of all is how it was neither cold nor windy despite the weather looking foggy.
'just where the hell am I? ' Jikad thought to himself as studied his surrounding.
"purgatory"
A small hoarse voice answered from behind him as if reading his thoughts.
Jikad abruptly turned to see the owner of the voice and it turned out to be a scrawny boy about five inches shorter than he was. His dirty shirt seemed to fall over one of his shoulder seemingly to big for him. And the trouser he wore was a black so faded it almost looked grey. He had big brown eyes that seemed to sparkle with a curious innocence. A small button nose above some bow-shaped chapped lips. His brown hair stood out the most as unlike his appearance it looked healthy with big locks curling wildly. A few locks gently caressed his forehead and others framed his face.
Jikad could tell that the boy was quite attractive even though his face was half covered in dark soot.
"purgatory?" Jikad echoed his answer a bit confused. The boy nodded his head his brown locks bouncing with it's movement. The boy frowned and tilted his head a bit seeing that Jikad was even more confused.
Jikad had every right to be confused. Purgatory as he knew it is the spiritual place where people go to when they die. There they are judged on whether they're good or evil depending on how they lived their lives on earth. Depending on the outcome,they either go to heaven or hell.
Jikad broke out in cold sweat and his throat became tight.
' there's no way.... it's not possible ' Jikad worriedly thought to himself.
" Am I....dead ?" just asking it out loud made it sound even more unbelievable. His brows were furrowed in worry and anxiety as his brain tried to figure out the possibility of that bizzare revelation .There's no way he was dead.. he couldn't believe it even if the boy staring at him incredulously told him it was true.
At that very moment a memory struck him as if he was doused with a bucket of cold water. A crazy lady chanting in an incomprehensible language. The weird patterns drawn in blood on the dirty dingy basement floor. Him hanging upsidedown from the roof with his mouth gagged. The cold sharp blade slitting his throat open and the feel of warm blood trickling down his face.
Jikad gasped stumbling backwards his eyes wide in horror. His hands unconsciously travelled to his neck as he swallowed the huge lump in his throat.He audibly gulped..,it seemed his neck was in one piece as if that memory was just a cruel fragment of a terrible nightmare. He could have easily dismissed it as such ,but it all felt too real.
He could clearly remember the nausea that came from hanging upsidedown for such a long time along with the lightheadedness. And the scorching pain of the wound inflicted by the blade was not something he could just imagine.
"what do you mean "dead"?"
An inquiring voice tore Jikad from his thoughts. He brought his attention back to the brown haired boy. He seemed taken aback by Jikad's question about him being dead.
The boy raised his hand and pointed to the tall black gates ahead of them.
" We haven't been inspected yet" He rasped.
Jikad's attention was drawn to a small tent in font of the gates which he hadn't seen before.
"Inspected ..?" Jikad muttered not taking his eyes of the dark tent that people walked through before entering the gates.
"Mhm" The boy affirmed.
Jikad turned to look at the boy again.
The boy stared right back at him.
"...."
"...."
".....what the hell is going on?"
"We're going to be inspected "
"Why are we being inspected?"
" So that we can pass through the gate"
"...."
"...."
"....why?"
"Why what..?"
" Why are we passing through the gate?"
"To enter the capital "
" ...the capital?"
"Mhm" the boy nods.
Jikad sighed in frustration. The whole situation was weird. It didn't make any sense.
" Wait..how did I even get here?"
The boy frowned at his question.
"Do you..really not remember?" He asked tilting his pretty head.
" Remember what?" Jikad asked a little louder than he had intended. A few heads turned to his direction but soon returned to minding their own business.
" We traveled in the same cart from Atropos..though you slept most of the journey."
"Huh??" Jikad exclaimed again attracting the attention of a few people, and a glare from the angry bald man from before.
He instinctively lowered his voice as he remembered the painful ache in his butt.
" Atropos? What are you talking about?" Jikad had clearly never heard of the name before. He suddenly gasped as he thought..
'don' t tell me I got trafficked!?'
That was the only possible deduction of his current situation. His off- the- rails ex had sold him off to some human traffickers after doing her creepy ritual. At least he was not dead. But he still vividly remembered his throat being split... Something didn't add up.
The men patrolling in uniforms didn't exactly look like traffickers either- apart from the angry bald one,he definitely seemed like a thug.The others appeared more like guards straight out off a fantasy story....
That's when it slowly dawned on Jikad
'What if I got transmigrated into a story?'
He wondered, It might be a possibility.
This place he was seem too foreign as if it was from an entirely different world.With his father's money Jikad had traveled to a lot of places in the world and his knowledge in geography was amazing. Yet, he had never had of a place called Atropos nor a capital where people were inspected before entering.
And it was definitely weird how he had not seen a single piece of technology ever since he woke up. Even the guards didn't have guns or walkie talkies that even basic mall cops had.
He had not noticed it before but even the clothes that people in the line wore were a little weird. They were basic attire one would expect commoners from a historical story to wear.
" Do you really not remember us traveling from Atropos? You even bought wayhern porridge in Mekilher"
Jikad stroked his chin thoughtfully ignoring the boy's previous statement.
'if I really did get transmigrated into a story..., I wonder which one it is'
Jikad had read a lot of webtoons where the mc entered their favorite novel. Jikad racked through his brain but couldn't remember a single novel he'd read that matched his current scenario.
Neither had he ever heard of a place called Atropos where people drank mayhem soup or whatever the boy had called it. Did he just enter a random story which he'd never read?
Jikad returned his attention to the boy assessing him with narrowed eyes.
'he must be a character in this story.....he might even be the main character'
He sized the boy up and down taking in his shabby appearance.From his soot covered face which looked as if he had spent a few days rolling in ash and coal, to his worn out and clearly over sized clothes. His dark brown hair though beautiful,it seemed as if it had not seen a comb for a long while.
'..…naah, there's no way he's the main character. Probably some random side character at most .'
Jikad nodded to himself chuckling lightly coming to that conclusion.
The boy suddenly felt offended by Jikad's laughter even though he wasn't sure why.
They took a few more steps forward as the line progressed. Jikad realized that he was drawing closer and closer to the gates. But what bothered him the most was the tent Infront of the gates.
He was still a significant distance from it since the line was moving slowly. The boy had told him before that they were going to be inspected . But what for?
Jikad had assumed it was a similar check up that he'd gone through countless times in an airport. But if these people were in an airport security check up line, one might have thought they were boarding the airplane of doom. That's what bothered Jikad the most, their grim expressions.
'if it's just an inspection,why does everyone look like that'
Jikad turned to the boy again" hey umm..."
He trailed off after realizing he didn't know how to address the boy. So much had happened,not to mention the realization that he was in a story hence he forgot to ask for the name of the boy he had been talking to.
" Garam "
The boy answered after catching on to Jikad's intention.
"Right - so Garam,what is this inspection ?"
Garam's eyes trailed to the tent and he seemed to ponder something for a while. He brought his eyes back to Jikad who was eagerly waiting for his response.
" It is the mandatory assessment procedure that all people must adhere to at the check towers and city entrances carried out by the templar knights by the order of King Dacaris the third." Garam recited as if he was reading it out.
" Templar knights huh.." Jikad muttered eyeing the men patrolling in uniforms. So they were knights after all. It wasn't how he'd pictured knights to look like. Knights were usually portrayed wearing steel armour and riding gloriously on their magnificent horses. His eyes landed on the angry bald man who had manhandled him earlier.
'definately not how I'd picture a Knight ' Jikad thought remembering the rough whack he'd received on his poor butt.
But it was clear that these people on the line were clearly unarmed and barely looked all that dangerous. In any case they looked harmless and...tired. And even though he didn't know much about knights, he knew that inspecting random commoners wasn't what they usually did.So what exactly were these "templar knights" inspecting?
"So what are they looking for? Thieves? Murderers?" Jikad inquired not taking his eyes of the templar knights.
" No" Garam shook his head . In a serious tone he added..
" Atheists "