He woke up on the damp grass, his skin imbued with the coolness of the night. He didn't feel cold—rather, a comforting warmth enveloped him. The fragrance of wet earth and nocturnal vegetation filled his lungs with a pure, almost primeval aroma. The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was the vastness of the sky, an unfathomable tapestry speckled with stars that twinkled with an overwhelming intensity, as if each one were welcoming him to the New World.
It took him a few minutes to process what had happened. His mind, still numb from the journey, wavered between confusion and awe. He tried to sit up, but a wave of dizziness forced him to lie back down. His stomach churned, and his head felt heavy, as if his body had not yet fully adapted to the transition between worlds. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to still the discordant sensations. There was no hurry. It was best to rest and wait for dawn.
Sleep embraced him with the softness of fresh grass and the distant lull of the wind in the leaves. As his eyelids fell, the stars seemed to dance above him, pulsing with a warm glow, as if celebrating his arrival. His last thought before slipping into unconsciousness was a primal certainty: he was in a different place, a world that awaited him with open arms.
The first rays of the sun filtered through the tall treetops, casting golden glimmers over the grass-covered ground and the wildflowers. Gabriel woke up feeling the gentle caress of the morning warmth on his skin. He stretched languidly, filling his lungs with the intoxicatingly pure air of the morning. For the first time in his life, he felt truly free.
He rose calmly, delighting in the majesty of the landscape around him. The forest was a living painting, a canvas of deep greens and bursts of vibrant color. Flowers in warm and cool hues dotted the ground like scattered jewels. Butterflies danced gracefully among the stems, and the rustling of foliage in the wind intertwined with the melodic chirping of birds. The trees were colossal, their trunks robust and deeply rooted in the earth, like ancient sentinels that had witnessed countless sunrises.
It was then that Gabriel realized he was naked. A fleeting sense of modesty washed over him, but he quickly remembered Don Anselmo's words. He looked around until his eyes settled on old Thom, an imposing tree that stood out among the others. Its trunk, more than three meters in diameter, rose toward the sky with a venerable presence. He slowly circled it until he found the opening in its bark, just where the old man had told him.
He climbed nimbly onto one of its lower branches and approached the hollow. The darkness inside was dense, impenetrable, but soon he noticed two reddish points glimmering in the shadows. Before his mind could decipher what he was seeing, a sharp screech shattered the forest's silence, reverberating among the trees. An instant later, the red lights moved swiftly toward him.
It was a scrillch.
The creature burst into daylight with swift, fierce motion. It was small, no larger than a cat, yet its appearance was strangely menacing. Its plump body was covered in short, razor-sharp spines, similar to those of a porcupine but with an unsettlingly lethal capacity. Its red eyes gleamed with a primitive, determined intelligence. Though it fed on leaves and fruit, its territorial nature made it a fearsome being.
Scrillch didn't attack without reason, but when they did, they were lethal. They could fire their spines with astonishing precision from over ten meters away, injecting a deadly venom into their enemies. However, within their own species, a strict code of honor prevailed: they never used their venom in territorial disputes, instead relying on headbutting duels to resolve conflicts.
But Gabriel was not a scrillch. And he had just invaded its home.
The impact was sudden and brutal. The creature lunged at his forehead with a fierce headbutt, knocking him backward onto the grass. A sharp pain shot through his skull, and for an instant, white flashes clouded his vision. From the ground, he blinked several times, focusing his gaze on the small being, which watched him from the edge of the hollow with an expression that seemed like a mix of indignation and warning.
The scrillch let out another piercing screech, but this time, the sound gradually changed. The vibrations shifted, modulating into a different tone. Gabriel, still dazed, frowned as he realized they were no longer mere warning cries.
It was a language.
And he was understanding it.