Chapter Two – Who The Hell Are You

"So we meet again Truck-Kun..."

  What in the hell is wrong with this kid? That was the first question to pop into my head; the child's expression was overly serious to say the least, the choice of words strange, the manner of dress abnormal. This kid was most certainly, beyond reasonable doubt, a weeb. I couldn't think of any other reason he'd use honorifics, yeah he was probably a weeb. I took a deep breath and exhaled; standing around judging the sad, sad little boy wasn't helping the situation. Down to the facts; in front of me was another human being; one who undoubtedly had a better understanding of the current situation than I did. Even if all I got out of a conversation with the child was a location it would make the effort worth it. I pushed the door aside and stepped forwards into the light, the child startling turning his lantern on me casting a beam of light into the shadows.

  "Who's there?" The boy cried stepping backwards blasting me full force with a ray of lamp light which burned its way into my eyes momentarily blinding me. I cringed at the light attempting to blink away the colours that had lodged themselves deep within my corneas. Damn: it was going to take ages for my eyes to adjust again. 

"What the hell don't point that my eyes!" I yelled waving my hands in the kid’s direction warding off the stream of light. The boy slowly lowering the lantern letting it rest on the ground before drawing something from his hip.

"Who are you?" the child questioned again this time his tone more serious; less frightened, though it seemed odd hearing it come from a child. No odd didn't cover it: it was unnerving  

"My name is Harold Blood, and who are you" I returned squinting in the darkness attempting to look at the boy as once more my eyes had to adjust to the darkness of the woods.

"You're from earth." He ignored me asking a question of his own the child growing tense. No it wasn't a question; the child’s eyes seemed harder now, catching in the light, clear and burning. The kid definetly understood what was going on. 

  So this place really wasn't earth, well I'd decided that the second I'd laid eyes on the dragons. Still it seemed I wasn't the only one who had been dragged into this world and that meant there was still a chance; I could find Julia.

  "Yeah I am, and you are too right?" I gave my reply looking the child up and down. He was seven years old that was my current guess. He was tall for his age, with soft brown hair that seemed flecked with red, and light brown eyes that constantly shifted between warm and cold. Of more interest though were his clothes; they were hand made, the cloth of his shirt seemed rough and the buttons looked as if they were made from bone, the shape slightly crooked about the edges. His trousers were some type of thick hemp and his shoes leather. A red sash was worn about his waist; a sword resting therein, well a scabbard the blade had been drawn and was now pointed towards my throat.

"Not exactly; my name was Sasuki Sota and upon my death I reincarnated into this world with all my memories intact. My mind and my soul are from earth yes but this body is not. Here my name is Rimond Gale and I am heir to the Gale knightly house." So this kid was Japanese, at least at a guess. Or rather he had been? Still he seemed like a weeb. I really didn't understand what was going on; mainly the stuff about reincarnation. Ah, things just seemed to be getting more complicated. "And you, if you're from earth I assume you built this truck." 

"What do you mean built? Also could you put the weapon down?" I sighed rubbing at the back of my head. The child scowled before nodding as he sheathed the weapon at his hip and let his hand rest upon the pommel. 

"So you didn't build it then... Where did it come from" The child cast up sceptical eyes that seemed to hover about my right shoulder, refusing to look at my face. This kid was getting weirder by the second.

"I crashed this truck into a videogame store, and the next thing I knew I was falling out of a tree. Now could you please explain to me exactly where in the hell I am?" It was about time I got a few answers of course before that could happen a harsh voice split the air.

  "Rimond!" The voice cut through the darkness of the woods: stirring in the night, "did you find anything; we're planning on heading back to the village." A series of lanterns flittered beyond the tree line, drawing close, the figures of men printed in black here and there large lamps mounted on long poles carried in their grasps.

  The child grimaced; "just a couple of scorch marks. I think this is where the dragons were but I can't find anything else in this darkness." Rimond called back in a light hearted voice raising his lantern up from the ground and waving it through the air.

"Then we'll head back, come on lad." the crowd of lights began to shuffle. 

"I'm gonna keep looking for a bit." The child gave his response, expression flickering conflicted; "I think there might be something around here." 

"The woods are dangerous even for you, your mother will worry, come home and-"

"The dragons will have scarred off everything else in the area; I'll come back after a few minutes. It's not like I'll get lost, I know these woods better than you and I'm more than capable of handling myself." The man huffed at the child response gesturing for the group to depart. 

"Cocky brat - do as you will. Just make sure you come home safe and sound. The other beasts may be cowering in their dens but that doesn't mean the dragons are."

  The lanterns roamed downwards in the dark shrinking into mere specks of light before vanishing. And once again I was left alone with the brat.

"What was your question?" The child huffed glaring back up at me, "You wanted to know where you were right?" Rimond dropped the lantern to the ground before neatening his outfit and marching about within the scorched glade within the glow of his lamp "Welcome to the world of Garrat; you are currently standing on the Corsire continent in the Daumine kingdom ruled by Olfas Daumine and his daughter Wesmire Daumine. This is a world of myths, magic and transmigrators of which you are now one." Rimond smiled giving a short bow before raising his head and glaring down his nose in my direction. Somehow I got the impression he had been waiting a long time to say just those words.  A sigh escaped me, this kid really was cocky, obnoxious too, definitely a weeb; there was no doubt.

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"So this really is another world..." I grumbled below my breath reaching up at grasping at my chin. "Do you have any idea what it is we're doing here?" The brat's haughty attitude reasserted itself without further delay.

"We're transmigrator; people who have come to this world from earth. There are three general methods of transmigration; reincarnation into a new body where your mind and soul are brought to this world and placed in the body of a child or possibly an adult, that just so happened to be what happened to me. Summoning where a gateway is opened up and you are sucked through it, you know the basic hero stuff really. And finally transposition occurring when a person dies and their physical body is shunted over to this world, I'm guessing you're the latter." I stood still for a short moment before I gave the kid a nod as he marched about the glade in the direction of my truck. "Honestly you're in a fairly unfortunate position. When people come to this world there is an exchange, they're given power, status and ability in equal measure to what they've lost or what they've suffered. Being transposed means you can't be given status or any major abilities without the intervention of a god or other being. And if that were the case you wouldn't be as confused as you are now. It looks to me like you brought this truck with you into our world, which means it is the only tool you have here. Most people in this world possess increased physical and mental faculties as well as magical powers and abilities putting you at a disadvantage since you will be unable to use magic. For example I myself have increased statistics in every field; I've reached level thirty through hard work and effort, and gained an apprentice rank in swordsmanship and magic." The child shrugged. "This world is basically your' standard run of the mill fantasy but if you don't have any money, weapons or skills then survival is going to be pretty tough. Ah I know I think I can help you out." Rimond grinned, turning around arms akimbo "If I introduce you to my family they could probably help you find work here, as a knightly household they have a fair amount of influence over this area; call it a gift from one transmigrator to another."

  I stared blankly ahead as the child continued to ramble, I got the acute feeling that the brat was looking down on me. Someone really needed to knock some sense into this midget’s thick skull. Ah it could wait 'till later I had more important stuff to worry about. So I had been transported to another world... Okay ignoring the fact that the given scenario made just about as much sense as giant magical fire breathing lizards, I had somehow ended up in another world, and most worrying: Julia was nowhere to be found. But If I had been transported truck included, then surely she would have been dragged along as well. I'd have to ask Rimond, no way around it. "Hey, someone else was caught in the accident with me. If they died too would they be brought here?" I questioned pushing forwards grabbing the kid’s shoulders, eyes wild and wide open. It was best not to mention that this 'someone' was a cat - the conversation would go quicker that way. "What happens then, do they appear in the same place or different places?" Rimond shrank back a hint of fear creeping into his gaze. 

"How should I know, I died alone!" he yelled back. I grit my teeth releasing his shoulders. The child released a sigh, and unclenched his fist that had been wrapped white knuckle about the hilt of his sword. He shot me a glare before mumbling low beneath his breath and turning back up to face me. "Okay then tell me how you died and maybe I can think of something." I gave the kid a nod, it was best to just go along with this cocky brat for now; he obviously understood what was going on a lot better than I did, and if he really had lived another life on earth then he was probably a couple years older than I was. 

  "I work for an electronics company; I was delivering some hardware to a game store when some school kids got knocked in front of my truck. I tried to swerve; the truck was moving too fast..." I swallowed hard trying not to recall the sensation of the truck colliding with the child or the spray of blood that followed. "I hit one of them, jumped the curb and crashed into a game store. Then I was here." I finished as succinctly as possible. Rimond nodded, 

"and where did this happen, what time, what day, did anything strange happen before hand?" He folded his arms in front of his chest and furrowed his brow. 

"It was near the centre of London not too far from Westminster Bridge I suppose. I think it was around noon, maybe one in the afternoon on the twenty-eighth of June. And as far as I'm aware nothing strange had happened before hand no." The child paused for a moment his body visibly stiffening. 

  "And what happened during the crash, don't skip any details." Rimond pushed, growing clearly tense. 

  Maybe there was something to this, I breathed hard and recalled everything I could remember; I needed to find Julia. "I was exhausted and I turned into an empty street on my way to deliver some spare parts to a game store. The traffic lights were green and a group of foreign students from china or somewhere were waiting besides the road. A girl was pushed into the road by accident I think, and after that a pudgy kid rushed into the road and pushed the girl out of the way. I tried to swerve but I was going too fast and I hit the boy. After that I froze up and..." The boy raised his hand in order to silence me, the tension having been replaced with a strange glint in his eyes.

"Go back a bit; what did you say about the students." 

"They were Chinese I think; and the girl was pushed into the road by accident, and the boy rushed in to save her." 

  "Not that, what did you just say about the boy?" Rimond repeated his tone stern, his voice raised. I was starting to get a bad feeling about this. 

  "What, that he was kind of fat?" 

  And that was when things started to devolve. "Ha, ha! You bastard, not only do you run me over with your' crappy truck but then you start insulting me. Do I look fat to you!" The child screamed drawing his sword and marching forwards, the weapon raised overhead glinting in the lantern light. "Do I look fat to you?" This kid had some real issues...

  Rimond swung haphazardly the steel dragging its way into the dirt as I stepped back to avoid the wild strike. But at that moment the child froze. He didn't tense or shiver, he froze in place, almost as if time stopped, although a heavy bead of sweat was already forming on his forehead. He looked up slowly into the night a vague fear caught within his gaze, causing my eyes too to follow his path catching a glimpse of the four serpentine eyes that waited therein. Gigantic eyes coloured pallid yellow; illuminating a face of pale blue scales and a row of disjointed teeth. There wasn't even enough time for me to register the waves of fear and adrenalin pumping through my veins; the dragon leaped forwards, mouth wide open, eerie blue flames roiling within.

  Ah, great, everything just kept getting better and better.