"Am I really alive or is this just a dream?" Sol wondered.
Because if it was, this certainly wouldn't be the first time he had hallucinated being alive.
"You idiot! take cover."
From within the fog of dust and concrete around him, a voice scolded him but it was too late.
Slam!
A fierce gust of wind took Sol off the ground and through the concrete wall of some building.
"What ~ cough ~ cough ~ was that?"
Sol complained while coughing out blood.
"Boy?!"
"Boy?!!"
"Boy?!!!"
"Are you still alive?!"
With his blurred vision and ringing ears, Sol could barely catch that.
"YEAH! I'M ALIVE!"
At that moment he finally realised this wasn't a dream.
"Great! You're alive, Now what you wanna do is to run north to the underground shelter before it strikes again."
"What do you mean by it?"
"Look up and see for yourself."
Sol's eyes grew to the size of a balloon the moment it met the sky.
A giant eagle half the size of the sky lay floating above the city.
"Where the fuck is North?"
"Quick! Come, I'll show you."
Sol ran as fast as possible to where the voice was coming from, he had to get to that shelter, quick.
'But with a bird this big, is an underground shelter going to cut it?'
"Where are you?"
"Over here."
"Over where?"
"Here."
After a few back and forths of that, he was able to locate where the voice was coming from — Which was pretty hard because it came from a narrow alleyway between two buildings.
But when he turned round the corner, he was met with a sight he did not expect.
A balding old man, pressed up against the wall by a large chunk of debris that had landed on his legs.
"You–"
Before he could start his sentence, the creature above flapped its wings.
Vroom
The sound of heavy wind whistling past resounded in Sol's ears.
Thankfully they were in an alley so they were relatively unaffected by the wind outside.
Of course it would be a different case if the walls beside them gave out.
"GOOO North's that way, run as fast as you can."
Sol fought against the force of every cell in his body telling him to leave.
"No, this is actually the safest place to be, if I go out of here I'll be swept into the sky."
The larger the dose of fear the giant injected into Sol, the more rational he became.
"Stop trying to find excuses to help me, I'm a lost cause, save yourself."
"Shhh ~ Listen." Sol put his grimy hands over the old man's mouth.
"Hear a lot of people?"
Sol took his hands off his mouth.
"Ptew ~then use the underground pipes, you idiot."
"Underground pipes?"
A flood of memories foreign to him flashed briefly before his eyes.
The sewers!
"But be careful they're some shady people down there."
Probably nothing worse than this.
"Thank you for this, you don't know how grateful I am." Sol said as he pried open the steel lid to the underground.
"Don't be, you moron, It's a given for us elders to protect younglings like you."
The old man smiled at Sol then closed his eyes, resigning to fate.
"Catch." Sol flung his straw tunic on his face.
"I don't know if this helps but, I heard tying this around the wound reduces blood loss."
Sol wasted no time after that, he slammed the steel cover shut and started climbing down the sewers.
....….
Clang Clang Clang.
The cry of the copper beneath Sol's feet was the only sound that could be heard within the underground chambers.
It was only in this dark environment — relatively free from external noise and danger — that Sol could be alone with his thoughts.
'It seems I've been…what was the word for it?…Transmigrated! into some strange world with animals big enough to blot out the sun.'
Sol's heart dropped, when he recollected the size of the eagle.
'but atleast I'm not in some post–apocalyptic world where humans are raised as livestock.'
"I prefer a world with swords and magic, and people flying, just as I dreamed of but….'
"Huh?"
In the distance Sol noticed a faint flickering light.
'Someone else is in here.'
Sol stopped moving, trying to conceal the sound of his footsteps.
'Is that the dangerous people the old man warned about?'
Sol held his breath as the light grew brighter and closer.
'Please don't notice me.'
'Take a different turn.'
'I'm still too young to die…again.'
Different thoughts raced in his mind as the person got closer.
At this point, the person was close enough for him to hear their footsteps.
'Nowhere to hide.' Sol held his breath as he prepared himself for the worst.
A bright light stabbed Sol's eyes as the unknown person pointed his gas lamp in Sol's direction.
"Hey? What are you doing there all by yourself in the dark?"
However Sol was wide-eyed when he saw his rat–like facial features.
'Well well well, What have we here? A rat…in the sewers.'
Even though reason said he should be cautious he couldn't joke with himself internally.
The dangerous people he had imagined did not look anything like him.
Trying to regain composure, he hardened his expression and spoke back.
"Why would you bring a light to the sewers, don't you know there are some sick people down here."
A few seconds later ratface responded.
"I see your point, but it's better to have the light on, a slum rat like myself would know better than you."
'No way, He calls himself a rat as well.'
"If you say so…uh ~ I'm sorry, I don't know your name."
"It's okay, I don't have a name, you can call me what you want."
'At this point he's begging for it.'
Despite him giving permission to call him a rat, Sol stood true to his gentlemanly principles.
"Fellow citizen, are you also going to the emergency shelter up ahead or do you kinda live here?"
Sol walked towards ratface as he spoke, intending to keep walking as they conversed.
"Live here? No one goes in the pipes if they don't have to, not even slum rats."
At this point Ratface picked up on the hint and kept walking.
"Really? Is that so?" Sol asked, a twinge of suspicion hidden in the back of his mind.
"Yes, I just said so."
"Sorry but I just don't get it. Everyone says the sewers are dangerous but never say why. Could it be the sewers aren't dangerous but people are just afraid of it?"
"Don't be ridiculous."
Sol engaged Ratface with meaningless chatter for the rest of the walk, trying to extract some information about this mysterious world from him.
But unfortunately Ratface was a hard guy to speak to, he never spoke much — even when he did, he had to be spoken to first — and showed little emotion even when provoked with amazing humour.