It has been a bit over three days since Tyler was locked inside the house. From the moment he stepped in, he was not allowed to go outside, no matter what.

“After the shamaness has come and confirmed you are not a threat, is when you will be released”, is the only answer he was given by the guards, from then onwards he was completely ignored. That gave him a lot of time to think over what’s happened and his future. Unfortunately a lack of information.. Any information at all, to be more precise, always put his brainstorming to a headache-y end. There were simply too many variables and unknowns for him to formulate any cohesive plan for the future.

With a heavy sigh he slumped down on the bed yet again, reminiscent of his earlier conversation.

His only interactions were around five minutes in total throughout the whole day and they were the brief moments the girl brought him food and drinks. Since it was always the same girl that brought him foods and drinks, she visibly became more relaxed and confident around him.

Today he finally mustered the courage to ask her, what might be his only saving from insanity while waiting for the damned shamaness to come back, books. He asked her if they had any books and if so, could he borrow any of them. He was harbouring the hope that since he could understand this world’s inhabitants’ speech, he most probably would understand their writing as well.

The hope was squashed in a matter of seconds as her reply came with an apologetic expression, “Am.. the only books the village has are the ones Melisa brought back with her from her adventures.. You’ll have to directly ask her to lend you some, when you meet.. I am sorry”, with a slight bow the girl exited the house, leaving Tyler at his current position.

Slouched over the bed and emptily staring in a dot, on the wall in front of him. He reckoned he might actually lose some of his sanity of the shamaness doesn’t come soon. Being locked up in a medieval-time room like that, without any entertainment whatsoever was quite terrifying and anxiety inflicting.

At least they didn’t outright kill him. That’s the good in the bad, Tyler thought as he laid down, trying to fall asleep yet again, as that was the only thing he could do to past time. Literally.

Finally on the morning of the 4 day the long-awaited moment came. As he was slowly casting the drowsiness away from his eyes, the door to his abode swung open. Tyler watched with bewilderment and quite a bit of panic as the chieftain strolled into the house followed by three armed hunters and a woman wearing a green, void of any decorations, robe.

Eyes opening with sight confusion then understanding and finally a dose of excitement. Tyler’s mind became an ocean storm with waves of excitement and anticipation that crashed all around. The woman in front of him was definitely the long awaited shamaness that could supposedly rescue from this nightmare of entrapment.

“Oh in the name of Nansuelta, it really is a Corisan! But.. why? What is it doing here.. how?”, the woman exclaimed rather loudly, causing Tyler to cringe a bit. Her wording and reaction was.. not desirable to say the least. His future seemed bleak, dark even.

The hunters in the room tightening their grips and putting all their attention and concentration on him didn't help to easy his growing depression either.

“What do you mean Melisa!? Do you know what he is?”, the chieftain was the first to speak, the urgency in his voice seemed to wake up the shamaness out of her stupor. “I.. I think.. I am not sure. Before I try to explain, first let’s see if what he’s told you is true.”

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The shamaness, Melisa seemed to regain a bit of her self-control as she closed her eyes in concentration. After about 10 seconds of unimaginably uncomfortable silence, for Tyler at least, as the 3 hunters were staring holes through him while their knuckles became white from gripping their weapons toi hard, she finally opened her eyes.

The previously mild green-grayish colour of her eyes had turned bright green, glowing even. Sparks of energy could be seen dancing around her irises. The now glowing-eyed woman took a step towards Tyler and suddenly a huge pressure befell him, crushing him, stopping him from breathing. It was akin to that of Roxus, however, more.. powerful.. more primal, more unstoppable, like a force of nature.

“Relax, accept the pressure and it will not torment you. The more you fight it the worse it’ll get”, Melisa continued walking towards him, until she was right in front of him and then stopped. Slowly reaching out she put her hand on the still petrified and very much under-panic-attack Tyler, putting it on his forehead.

“In the name of Nansuelta, The Old and New gods, let divine judgement be our witness. Tyler, did you lie to Roxus when you told him that you do not remember your past and do not why or where you are?”

Gulping loudly, Tyler tried to ignore the pressure and get his act together to answer. It took him a couple of seconds, but finally he was able to muster out an answer, “Yes, I have not lied to Roxus.”

What followed were incredibly long, endless, excruciating seconds of silence as the shamaness furrowed her brows in concentration while Tyler was sweating buckets.

Without so much as an indication the pressure disappeared, Melisa sighed with relief and opened her eyes, now back to their normal mild green. She looked softly at Tyler, causing him to make a sigh of relief himself.

Meeting her eyes, there was something else, another emotion mixed in together with relief. However, Tyler couldn't discern it for the life of him, was it perhaps.. sadness? Or pity? But why would she look at him like that.

Finally breaking their eye contact, she turned her head to Roxus, “Everything is fine, he is not lying”, she said causing the hunters inside to yet again give a sigh of their own and relax the grips of their weapons. “That is fine and all, however, it only deepens the mystery. Who is he, why is he here, how did he lose his memories?”, Roxus continued while gesturing with his hand towards Tyler, “You said he was.. a Corsian, was it? What is that?”

“*Sigh*.. to many sighs in too fast. It is.. quite the long story. And I don’t know if it is true or not, all I’ve heard were either rumours or really, really old myths and legends. “, looking around for a bit, Melisa gestured with her hand to the outside “let's go somewhere more comfortable and get a drink or too”.

A couple of minutes later Tyler found himself seated around the table of what he came to know is the village hall, or the big building in the middle of the village where he first met Roxus. Occupying the other seats were Roxus, Melisa, the two other hunters that were with Roxus, which he now new were his two younger brothers and finally the girl that was the first sentient being that he met in this world. At the start he was baffled why she was there, but it turned out that she was Roxus’ daughter.

The setting and atmosphere, at first glance seemed really relaxed, as if just some friends were seated around for a light-hearted conversation and catching up. A cup of hot herbal tea in front of everyone further contributed for this feeling. In reality, however, it was anything but that. Every single person around the table was currently concentrated and giving of a non-bullshit vibe, the conversation to come was definitely a heavy one. More so tensed and anxious was Tyler. The shamaness was about to, apparently, reveal exactly what he was to the people of this world, which from what he got, he was a Corsian. The revelation that was soon to come will greatly affect his future plans and actions, hoping that it’s nothing too bad he took one last sip of his tea and tried to relax and think as straight as possible.

“Haah, no point in postponing it any further. Before I tell you the widely known and accepted story, I must warn you that it is just that. An incredibly old story, borderline a myth and there is no way for me to guarantee it’s authenticity. “, Melisa looked around, stopping her gaze at each person’s eyes for just a second, presumably to let the information sink and when she was certain that they are all listening she continued,

“Long time ago, in ages long forgotten and lost…”