Chapter 67: Adventure (1)

The floor felt cold under him, and he instinctively moved over to try to escape the uncomfortable chill. Chill? Lucid snapped awake, but all he could see was darkness.

“Myeong-su?” he called.

His friend should be there, sleeping next to him. Judging by how dark it was, it was still the middle of the night. But as his eyes slowly adjusted to the dark, he realized that Myeong-su wasn’t next to him. And it wasn’t just Myeong-su’s absence that alarmed him. As his body got used to being awake, more stimuli were picked up by his nerves, and when he moved his arms, he felt rough wood against his skin. He quickly sat up, and his eyes were filled with a familiar sight, a memory that had been tucked away in a far corner of his mind. A familiar table, a familiar door and roof.

“I’m back,” he murmured, his voice barely above a sigh.

Just a moment ago, he had been filled with anger at the reality of his situation, at the unexplained violence he had been a victim of without even being given the choice to fight back. Now, he had been made a victim again, almost as if reality itself was taking revenge on him for even daring to be angry about it. And still, he had no idea why or how he had come back. Was this someone’s idea of a joke? If it was, he vowed that he would find them and burn them to a crisp.

But for now, he needed to check his surroundings, and he left the house at once. As he had thought, he saw the small peasant town stretched out before his eyes. The pale moonlight shined over the rooftiles of the empty houses. When he was younger, he had thought that the rooves were made out of simple stone, but he now knew that tiles were architectural structures made from firing a mixture of dirt and water over a long period of time. When he was younger, he had thought that the houses had been built willy-nilly, but he now knew that they had been strategically placed to keep out the western wind and allow as much of the sunlight into the house from the south.

That’s how much time had passed since he had left, and that’s how much he had grown. And still, this place was the same as ever, as if this place alone had escaped the passing of time.

The western wind blowing down from the Great Mountains passed over his face. It was so quiet that Lucid hardly even noticed it coming, and when the harsh cold pricked his skin, he gasped out loud. He quickly turned towards the mountains, and for a moment, it felt as though the moutains stared back at him, majestic and imposing as ever. The moonlight shining on the peaks was hardly enough to reveal the mountains’ full might, and the clouds and darkness looming over them made it seem like the Great Mountains as a whole were laughing at his petty resolve.

“What can someone like you do?” the leftmost mountain seemed to ask.

“Arrogant child. Know your place,” the rightmost mountain seemed to say, basking in the moonlight.

“How dare you act out? You don’t even know anything,” the middle mountain, the most imposing peak, seemed to chide.

Still, Lucid stood tall against the harsh wind. He planted his feet firmly on the ground and closed his hands into tight fists. He squared his shoulders and gritted his teeth. He needed to steel his nerves and strengthen his resolve.

“I won’t ever give up.”

No matter how weak he was, he wouldn’t give up on his rights.

No matter how weak he was, he wouldn’t falter.

His body and his mind were his own.

So he would fight, he would persevere, and he would win.

He wouldn’t submit to this, ever.

He would not be controlled.

“It’s a promise to myself, and I will keep it no matter what.”

And so, Lucid made up his mind.

****

When the first rays of sun began to chase away the dark cloak of night, Lucid left the house and willed himself to forget all about yesterday’s worries and troubles. He wouldn’t wait for someone to come like he had last time, and he wouldn’t take this unfairness without a fight. As such, he had spent the whole night thinking and thinking about what he should do next. He had a few options, to start. One was to go to Nox again. Another was to go in the opposite direction and search for anything that could trace him back to those who had disappeared.

Going back to Nox was an obvious choice, in a way. He had spent a great deal of time there before, and there were people he knew. Besides… He wanted to find Mosla’s remains. Even if he had been killed by the herd of scrofa, his house would still be intact and filled with his possessions. Lucid wanted to go back there. The only reason he hesitated to do so was because it was too far removed from his new goal. In the other world, he had spent all his time quietly studying because there was nothing else for him to do, but things were different here. He had to find clues, traces, anything that could lead him to his family. That was his goal and purpose.

That was why he had studied so hard.

He had vowed to himself that should he ever return to this world, he would be prepared to face whatever came at him. He wouldn’t repeat the same mistakes as last time, when he hadn’t known anything, and his own ignorance had caused him to panic and rely on others. That had ultimately led him to stray from his goal. He had relied on Pincheno, and he had troubled Mosla. He wouldn’t make that same mistake.

Last time, when he had gone to Nox, he hadn’t been able to find any information on the missing townspeople or his family. This meant that Nox would not be useful to him, and he had to let it go.

So he had to find a new path. He had gone towards the western peaks last time, but even those peaks were too much to fully explore. Just because he hadn’t found any clues last time wasn’t proof enough that the townspeople hadn’t gone that way. He could have missed certain areas, or they could have used a different path altogether. This was why he needed to go the mountains to check again.

Another path he could take was to go south.

He had heard that the peasant town was located at the southernmost area of the continent, but he had his doubts about this. It didn’t make sense according to the information he had gathered in the other world. No one, not even Pincheno, ever doubted that this was the most south anyone could go. However, there was no doubt that there were other mountains, though not as grand as the Great Mountains themselves, standing on the other side of the enourmous range. This meant that there was land beyond the Great Mountains, but then, why would it be called the southernmost area, as if there was nothing on the other side?

Even more strangely, no one in the town had ever mentioned anything about the south. Perhaps they had considered him too young to understand, or maybe there really was nothing beyond the Great Mountains. However, he couldn’t be sure of this fact, not when he had new knowledge that stated otherwise.

As far as he could tell, the mountains that extended on the other side of the Great Mountains were different from the green, luscious peaks of the known range. They were barren, steep rock formations that pointed towards the sky like fangs. This was why no one, be it children or adults, had any reason to go there. There was nothing to forage, and it seemed to be more trouble than it was worth.

However, was that a good enough reason to declare the Great Mountains as the border of the continent, and say that the peasant town was located in the southernmost area? No, Lucid thought. It was not. There was too much that didn’t make sense, too many suspicions. Going south also had to be a viable option.

“I have to get rid of any suspicious variables first,” he decided. That was the only way to clean up the equation and simplify the calculations.

There was still one more thing he had to take care of before heading south, though.

How much time had passed since he had last come?

This was another very important variable, but the only way to find out was to go to Nox. This meant travel, and travel meant time that he might not have. He didn’t want to rush the process by any means, but this didn’t mean he could just waste time as he wished. Who knows when he might be sent to the other world again.

He thus decided to try to figure out the passing of time by observing the peasant town.

First, before being sent to the other world for the first time, this world was going through the early stages of fall.

Second, six months spent in this world had been approximately six hours in the other world. Now, he had returned after spending two years and four months in the other world.

Third, judging by the wind’s temperature and direction, it was fall once again.

All this meant that either not much time had passed, or he had come back at a yearly interval. It could be one year or two, or maybe even decades. He would have to go down to the town to examine the houses to make sure, but only once the sun was high in its place.

But was all that really necessary?

Thinking of it, his knowledge wasn’t the only preparation he had made. It must have slipped his mind, since he hadn’t had the chance to use it much in the other world. Making his way back into the house, Lucid made a small sphere of light on the ceiling, though perhaps it was close to an ember than an actual sphere. It emitted a bright white light that couldn’t even be compared to the ceiling lights back at the institute. As the light shone down on the interior of the house, Lucid made sure to add more sources of light so that every nook and cranny was exposed to his eyes.

He then made sure to inspect every little thing, from the food in the pantry to the dust collected on the floor. There were cobwebs in the corners of the ceiling, and he also made sure to check the state of the chairs, which had been neglected for so long.

Yet his findings were odd to say the least.

The food, like the half eaten bread and the vegetables and dried mushrooms, looked to be just fine, without a trace of spoiling. Still, he couldn’t bring himself to try any of it. There was dust clearly collected on top of everything, so he hesitated to even touch it. Perhaps he might have, when he was younger, but now that he knew about health and hygiene, dusty food was out of the question.

Nothing’s changed, he thought.

Indeed, very little had. There was only a thin layer of dust on the table and floor, but the problem was that he couldn’t quite calculate the difference between the dust collected here, now, and the dust that he had seen last time he had come. If he had had a light source back then, it would have made things much easier, but the only light he had at his disposal had been the scarce sunlight shining through the window. Still, the fact that the dust was thin meant that not much time had passed.

Should he go to Nox, after all?

Lucid felt conflicted. Going to Nox wasn’t just about finding how much time had passed. Once there, he would want to visit Shapiro, which would make him want to visit Mosla’s house, which would inevitably cause him to spent a lot of time there. If he were to consider the time that it took to get to Nox and then back to the Great Mountains, he simply couldn’t afford to be distracted. He had to forget about Nox. Nox was too full of distractions. He had to forget about it. He had to, but…

The more he thought about Mosla, the more his heart ached. It felt like a pang, and it felt like a shock.

“Don’t,” he said out loud, renewing his determination.

He couldn’t make silly mistakes here. He had done plenty of that last time. No more. Not this time.

With a deep breath, he went back to inspecting the house, and the more he looked, the more certain he was of the fact that it hadn’t been all that long since the last time he had come. He had to move quickly, then. He was already late, but he had to hurry. Hurrying was the only chance he had to find even the smallest trace of his family.

****

The peasant town and the southern peak were separated by a shallow marsh, which had caused the townspeople much trouble every summer. With the warm weather came insect, and insects swarmed towards food. Food that was present in the town. This meant that the townspeople had to deal with the pesky things day and night. As if that wasn’t enough, summer also brought swarms of disgusting mice that roamed about everywhere. These were the main reasons that no one cared to venture towards the marshlands.

On the other hand, Lucid, possibly being the first visitor to ever explore the marshes, received a warm welcome from a most unexpected host.

“Ugh!”

<Adventure (1)> End.