It's cold, Is this what death feels like? Theo thought to himself.
The void stretched on, It felt cold and lonely. And before long Theo didn't feel anything.
.........….
Shake.
A sudden jolt. Theo was snapped awake, his body stiff as he slowly sat up and looked around.
His arm felt itchy, He glanced at the arm that was injured from the wolf's scratch.
Bandages? He took a closer look at the bandages wrapped around the injury. The wound was carefully wrapped, and a strong, earthy herbal smell lingered on it.
Some sort of healing paste…I hope.
Wooden walls? He wondered while looking at the wooden walls around him. Moonlight entered through the window of a door at the far end.
He smelled a foul odor of cow dung near him, and sure enough, when he turned toward the source, he spotted sacks stacked against the wall, filled with what seemed like cow dung.
His gaze shifted to bags of dark, dried grass. Is that wheat?
Not only wheat—cow dung, sacks of blood-red potatoes, and other supplies were crammed into the space, some obscured by shadow. Behind the sacks of potatoes, a faint silver box caught his eye.
A silver box? Behind the bag of the blood red potatoes, he saw a small silver box. Out of curiosity he wanted to stretch his hand and open it.
It's not important right now.
He needed to understand what was going on.
He paid attention to the sights and sounds around him.
The creaking of the wheels, the rhythmic clip-clop of hooves. Wood rattled as the cart swayed along a rough path.
I thought it was a shed but It's moving? Is it a cart?
That makes sense, the sounds of the horses hooves and the rattling, this isn't a wooden room, It's some sort of cart. As he came to that realization, those peaceful sounds faded away by a voice.
"Leader, I still think It's a bad idea." A stern voice said, in matter-of-fact tone.
Theo immediately laid back on the somewhat soft jute bags, acting as if he was still unconscious.
"Ya jus' gotta trust me on this, kid." replied a gruff voice with a thick accent.
"Leader, I have trusted you multiple times on matters like this. Haven't we already seen the results?" The stern voice quibbled back.
Theo's ears perked up. This was his chance to understand what was going on. Are they kidnappers? Or some organ trade robbers?
Theo could just grab their attention and talk to them but he didn't for two reasons;
The first reason being, he was slightly introverted and wouldn't talk to strangers if he didn't have to.
The second and the most important reason being, The more time he spends in this strange place, The more he's starting to realize that this might not be earth. The tower, the rune-covered dagger, the massive wolf, the primitive arrows…
Everything screamed "Out of the ordinary."
So he did not immediately attract attention and chose to eavesdrop.
Although Theo didn't fully believe this was another world, he started to entertain the possibility of it and started considering it in his decisions unconsciously.
"Ah….. I dunno….Its jus' a feelin'....a strong feelin' 'bout this one." The gruff voice replied.
"Oh yeah? Didn't your 'feeling' almost empty the food stocks in the settlement last time? Didn't it almost sell the only trade wagon we have in our settlement for some rocks of an old lady? And didn't-…"
"Alright, I remember, I remember…." The gruff voice cut off the stern voice, "And I've said I'm sorry so many times, besides, Didn' that old lady make it up to us? And you can consider the food we gave to the Lunar Orphanage kids as an investment—they'll grow up and help us. And…" As he talked about the mistakes he made in the past due to his kindness, his voice softened.
"I have the same feelin' about him…" The gruff voice declared.
"Same feeling…?" The stern voice repeated, clearly asking him to elaborate.
"The same one I had when I decided to bring ya along."
Silence.
"Heh. So yer gonna believe me?"
"No, your past actions have given you the benefit of doubt" The stern voice said dryly. "And please stop the damn fake accent. It irritates me."
"Ya' know It's a habit."
"One you should change."
...…
After a while of traveling in silence, a shout reached Theo's ears from up ahead.
"Stonefell is five minutes away." a young voice announced.
"Thank ya for letting us know, Argus. Everyone let's stop here and set up camp" The gruff voice responded with an equally as loud shout.
He ordered them and that other man called him, 'leader'. He is the leader of this whole convoy; I assumed he was the leader of just this cart.
The caravan stopped and Theo could hear people dismounting their carts and walking around.
The hooves of the horses have stopped too, these horses sound off though….
Theo got up and went near the window on the door and peaked out.
The first thing he saw was an animal pulling the cart, An animal he had never seen before.
What is that?
The 'creature' that pulled the cart. It was a four-legged beast, thickly built with a broad, sturdy frame, perhaps ideal for hauling heavy loads. Its body was covered in leathery, slate-gray hide that looked almost like stone, giving it a weathered, ancient appearance yet it had clumps of silky gray hair growing on it. It had the head of a bull, but it had 2 tiny and blunt horns on the side of its head and one massive and sharp horn on top of its forehead.
Gulp.
The beast didn't look even half as menacing or scary as the wolf and the beast hadn't noticed Theo but It was still scary to see nonetheless, it was especially frightening to Theo because-
There's nothing like that on earth… He thought while gazing at the beast or animal.
Theo forced himself to look away from the creature and turned his attention to the people moving around the carts. They looked human enough… yet their attire was old like the medieval peasants—simple shirts and trousers made from a linen-like fabric, some of it resembling the beast's silk-like hair clumps. A few of them wore hardened leather armor over their clothes, patchy and worn, yet they moved without much fuss, chattering with each other now and then, each person performing their tasks without fuss. They had obviously done this often.
Some carried swords on their hips, the metal dull but sturdy, while others had bows slung over their shoulders, the wood dark and polished.
As Theo was staring, he heard footsteps getting closer to him.
Thump thump
Theo's heartbeat wildly as he laid back on the bags; he was acting.
"Leader, I'll check up on the suspicious individual." said the stern voice.
As the stern voice got closer, Theo realized something.
He didn't have his dagger on him.