“Do you actually know who imprisoned you in the first place?” Akaka was feeling awfully chatty, all things considered. “You’ve admitted that you have essentially no knowledge on this world or any of its workings, so I can only assume you don’t know the authority that imprisoned you.”
“Well, I mean, I heard and saw some stuff.”
-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
“We’ve reached a walled city! Look!” Echidna called out to the rest of the class, who all raced forward to see what she spotted. Relief and joy spread amongst the group as they saw what she did: A massive walled city with architecture reminiscent of medieval Arabia. It was still quite a distance away, with farmlands in between them and the city that siphoned water from the river to sustain their crops.
It had been a handful of days, about three. Though they technically did have food, one piece of jerky per day wasn’t exactly a sustainable amount to go with. It was below the bare minimum and only barely satiated their hunger. It was helped a bit by Pepe’s foraging and at the end of every day, when they started a campfire, he’d cook the roots and berries and whatever else he collected on a stick until they looked good enough.
They tasted horrible, but they hadn’t poisoned any of them yet.
As for other matters, like that of using the restroom, they let pairs go out and do their business out in the wild. They used papers from their backpacks to wipe. On the second day, they took turns in groups using the river itself for a bath.
Teach had to go last, staying with whatever group wasn’t going to make sure they didn’t peak.
Eventually, the group made their way to the city itself, but were stopped at the gates by a guard who caused everyone to go silent.
“Halt!” A guard had approached them, seeing their bizarre clothes and deciding to hold them up out of suspicion. “State your name and your business.” But the act alone wasn’t what caused them to stop in their steps, no, it was their appearance. Namely, the guard looked like a humanoid cat. They were their size and standing on their own two legs, but rather than skin their had fur the color of sand and eyes without whites. Feline ears twitched with the cacophony of the city behind them and they had a fluffy and flexible tail just swinging about. On their body, they wore a mix of chain armor, weathered cloth, and plate mail. They also held a spear, the wood well worn with use.
“We are just a lowly band of travelers from a faraway land seeking shelter in your fine city.” Talle Bleu was the first to recover and the first to speak, adopting an exaggerated accent and speaking in vague terms in order to avoid divulging more than they had to. There was no telling what could set someone off, after all.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
“That’s business, not name.”
“I’s mean, is it really business? It’s more of a purpose.” An absolute goliath of a woman with myriad tattoos over their body walked out, clad in similar armor as their feline companion, though obviously fitted for her own body. “Business implies coin, but I’s heard not of coin yet.”
“It’s an expression, Yehil.” The cat-person sighed and turned to face their coworker. “And you’re taking business too literally.”
“You’s using it too loosely.” The giant, who stood even taller than Hailey at around eight feet, rolled her eyes before noticing the band of thirteen sweaty kids and their teacher. “My’s God! What are we’s doing holding up suffering children?”
“They’re not children! But even if they were, they’re odd children.”
“I’m 29.”
“Odd not-children and someone positively ancient!”
“Not everyone is a Feline like you’s, who’s members birth by the hundred and fall by the dozen.”
“And we’re like, uh, well I’m seventeen.” Aurum tried to remember who in the group was what age, but gave up after remembering she had no clue.
“And not everyone is born a Gargant! You consider those from one to forty Mournstorms a child!” The feline guard let out a long suffering sigh as they took a moment to make sure the fourteen were still there. “Fine, may we agree that the people in front of us are reaching the cusp of adolescence?”
“Very well, you’s have an agreement.” Yehil and the feline shook on it before remembering they had a job and there were people with carts they were holding up. “Oh, yes. The mask is not detecting any odd objects on them’s, correct?”
“Nah, nah, they’re clear.” The feline looked at a small wooden mask charm on their neck, which seemed to be mundane. “But I still thought they were’s odd, you know? The clothes, that’s all.”
“I see, I see. You’s have a point, I know, but they’s are still clearly suffering! I mean, they’s are sweating so much I fear they’ll collapse any minute.” Yehil pointed it out with remarkable cheer despite the self admitted fact that it looked like they’d collapse from heatstroke.
“Whatever, whatever. They can come on through, only cause it seems like the next merchant ahead wants to have our head for wasting so much time.” The guards parted and allowed the class to file through. They had been passing around Pepe’s canteen while the senior provided shade with his body and the umbrella for Rosa, whose sleeping form left no indication if they were in danger or not of being damaged by the heat.
Though it had already been confirmed by the appearances of the guards, they were totally floored as they entered the city. Water ran through the streets in smaller canals, a system of flowing water with boats acting as a sort of public transportation. There were fountains and even a palace with a waterfall in the distance, the water contrasting greatly with the dry brick and stone floor and walls.
But it was the people, wearing robes and turbans and other items, that truly confirmed how bizarre the world they were cast into was. There were men with green skin that stood as tall as Hailey, a giant bird person flying in the air, a person with goat horns dancing merrily as they acted as a bartender in an open walls establishment, and an actual freaking Centaur giving a ride to a person clad in silk and jewels!
They were in a fantasy land.
-/-/-
“So, you weren’t aware of the land’s peoples?”
“No, it’s all just humans back on earth. Well, I mean, I guess we do have animal people if you really want to stretch it.”