After trying to rationalize what was happening, Lotus still couldn't understand anything at all.
He began to pace back and forth with his mind running miles a second.
- "What the hell has happened? Why am I here in this damn book?!"
While he was too occupied on being angry, instead of thinking about what I'll do next, a growl could be heard in the distance.
His mind immediately stopped thinking, and all his attention shifted to the growl.
- "Ayo, what was that...?"
The young man began to move his head right to left and from left to right, but he couldn't understand where the growl came from.
- "I must have imagined it."
He said to himself.
- "After all, this is all a dream. Yes, it's a stupid dream. A joke that my stupid mind played on me to let me know that I have to read that book a way or another."
But just when Lotus began to calm down, he felt a warm liquid falling on his head.
He looked up, and he wasn't graced with a very sweet vision, if I could say so.
Above him, there was a... fairly big loin, which didn't look very friendly, to say the least.
- "Um... hi?"
He began to run at his fastest.
While he ran away, the loin didn't stay still either and began to chase him.
Luckily for him, the area is filled with trees big enough to stop the loin from reaching him.
Lotus kept running and running... and running... and running... and running...
As you can clearly read, they ran a fair amount of space in only a matter of seconds.
After running a distance that is comparable to the size of the Mongolian empire, he finally stopped and looked behind him to see if the loin was still following him.
When he saw that the loin was nowhere to be seen anymore, he fell on the ground and let out a heavy sigh, trying to relieve the tension.
- "Holy, that was a pretty big loin."
It definitely was, but he didn't know what was going to come just a few minutes later.
- "What do you mean by that?"
Shut up, Lotus. I was talking to the readers.
- "Sure thing, captain."
He's pretty annoyed, as you can see.
- "Don't mock me, writer."
Don't get distracted. There's a lion right on your right.
"Yeah, come on-"
A wet, huge, black nose touched his arm as he turned right.
There was, indeed, a lion.
- "Oh."
The young man didn't even have the time to process what was happening that the lion suddenly opened his mouth to eat him like a burger.
- "Oh shi-!"
Lotus threw himself back from the lion, but letting him escape wasn't in his plans.
It rushed to Lotus to finally eat him after a failed attempt, and this time it seemed like the young man was finally going to become a "mappazzone" of broken and smashed human parts (search mappazzone on the web to find what it means).
But then, luck was on his side once again. A wolf, which seemed pretty hungry, came out of nowhere, biting the lion's neck.
Lotus, who was a lazy ass but not a dumb one, immediately used this situation to escape from the area.
He began to run, and he kept running... and running... and running... and running...
Anyway, he runs a lot, just like he did before.
While he ran, he saw a shadow of a man in the distance.
- "Hey! Hey you!"
He began to shout, trying to gain their attention.
The man turned around to look at Lotus, who was running towards him.
- "What the hell are you shouting for, dumb boi?!"
This man wasn't the chillest, as you can see.
Lotus kept running until he reached the man and stopped in front of him.
- "That... was a damn crazy situation right there..."
He says while panting, not being used to running distances longer than the path from his bedroom to the kitchen.
- "What happened that left you like this, young man?"
The man softened a little but still seemed a bit angry about his previous shouting.
- "There was a loin... then a lion and then a freaking wolf who bit it."
He explained in very short words what happened.
- "Oh, so you met them... are you perhaps Dante Alighieri?"
The man asks curiously, but with an air that shows that he knows something Lotus doesn't know.
"I'm not that Dante you're talking about, gladly."
He answers the man, with a bit of mocking in his tone.
- "Then who the hell are you, boy?"
The man asked, his rude tone again after hearing the mocking tone that Lotus let out.
- "I'm Lotus. Lotus Grayhard."
- "Who?" The man asks, mocking him.
- "Lotus Grayhard, dumb old man." He answered, a bit upset that he was being mocked by him.
-"I know, I was messing with you, young boy.
Now, seat that we have to talk."
The man finally answered, holding a bit of seriousness in his voice.
"Those animals that you met were the sins you committed while you were on the earth.
The loin was the lust you experienced, the lion was the pride you felt, and the wolf was the greed you had."
The man kept explaining.
- "The loin and the lion aren't as dangerous as the wolf. But don't worry, the Hound will eventually come to hunt it down and free you from it."
The man reassured Lotus, who was now a bit calmer.
- "Thank God then," he said, relaxing a bit after his affirmation.
"Anyway, you still haven't told me your name."
The man, realising his mistake, lets out an embarrassed laugh and proceeds to introduce himself.
- "Oh, sorry. My name's Virgil."
Lotus gives him a hum, clearly not knowing the importance of Virgil's figure.
- "Good to know then. Anyway, I was going to go to the enlightened hill since it seemed pretty safe. So, have a good day, sir Virgil."
He then began to leave and to walk towards the hill.
- "Stop, that isn't the right path."
Lotus immediately stops and turns to Virgil and, confused, he asks:
"What do you mean?"
-"Exactly what I said. Now, follow me."
Virgil said secure of himself.
Lotus, who didn't know what to do, and seeing Virgil being so secure, chose to do as the man said and followed him, not without doubts, but it's better to have a guide than wandering around without a goal.