His initial excitement settled down considerably.

“A city surrounded by wilderness…”

It wasn’t any kind of wilderness. The vegetation, and the terrain, was vast and majestic, beyond anything he previously saw. Those short moments when he went outside were enough proof to confirm the information he got from Ella.

“By the look of things, humanity seems to be on the brink of extinction…”

The reason the city was still standing was thanks to some mysterious power that kept the monsters away. The common people did not have access to detailed information, but this fact was among the first things someone learned while going to school.

A world full of wonders, unfortunately, deadly for most people. Despite this, there was still hope. Some people could get way stronger than normal, and were able to fight the wild, ferocious monsters that lurked beyond the city walls. Magical abilities were also a thing.

Most of the information he found out led to this conclusion: “A lone city in the middle of nowhere… Surrounded by a mysterious forest, gigantic mountains, trees, and baffling monsters that could kill you before you even manage to blink. How wonderful…”

His body trembled involuntarily. It still seemed a little surreal. ‘Maybe I will wake up tomorrow back in my room?’

This time, Gorn got lost in his thoughts. There were so many variables, and possible answers, that it drained him completely of energy. In the end, he fell asleep.

.

.

.

Gorn’s eyelashes trembled, and his eyes slowly opened. “This is?”

He was still in that unfamiliar room: “So everything that happened yesterday was not a dream?”

Happiness and sadness were both present. Even though it was morning, excitement started to surge yet again. “This should be interesting…”

A part of him was very eager to unravel every single mystery that came towards him. “Time to go to school, right?”

Education was a very important aspect inside the city, and a great tool to potentially change one’s fate. Since he now knew there was some order in place, roaming around a little wasn’t going to be a problem as long as he acted humble, and respectful.

Jumping to his feet, Gorn got dressed into a black pair of pants and a thin, violet sweater. The clothes appeared to be made of low quality linen, but were acceptable nonetheless.

It was very quiet inside the house. By the look of things, everyone was out already. As he exited the house, Gorn’s heart started to beat increasingly faster.

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

Once outside, he was greeted by the sight of numerous people walking in all directions, apparently busy with their own agenda. There were also vehicles that looked like cars.

“How intriguing…”

The roads were not made of concrete, but from some sort of stone, mixed with a few other things. At least that was what he thought it was. The cars were extremely simple compared to what he was used to, and their design was rather lacking.

Some people had huge swords on their backs, and were dressed in what looked to be different kinds of armor. For a moment, Gorn thought he was watching some sort of cosplay. Old and new seemed to intertwine in a weird, but beautiful way.

Walking for a few minutes, Gorn was mesmerized by the beautiful nature, as well as the complex ornaments that existed through-out the place. Some houses looked shabby, while some appeared to be out of some sort of fantasy book.

‘Strong and weak, rich and poor,’ thought Gorn, while carefully observing everything in his path. It took him only a very short amount of time to figure out that the social hierarchy in that place was very uneven.

The weather was almost perfect, allowing him to see far away into the distance. The enormous mountain, and trees far away, were a fearsome sight. Some of them were so tall, that he actually couldn’t see the top.

Seeing such fauna made his heart tremble with excitement. Just imagining himself exploring that place brought forward a great deal of exhilaration.

Hour after hour went by, and Gorn was still exploring, and analyzing everything in his sight. His face was covered with a smile almost the entire time. Eyes glowing with enthusiasm, the journey continued. At this point, it was too late to go to school, nor that he planned on going there anymore. Taking his time, analyzing the location took priority.

Before he even knew it, it was already getting late. ‘Let’s go back for now.’

Without any problems, Gorn found his way back. It wasn’t hard to mark a few buildings as checkpoints, thus making it very simple to keep track of his position. He never had trouble with orientation before, nor was he going to start now.

After some time, he reached his home. Just one look at it was enough to see that it was among the simplest houses that he saw. He had no issue with that.

‘I wonder if it’s going to be a problem that I got home so late…’

His concerns soon turned out to be speculative. The house appeared to be empty. At a second glance, shoes that weren’t present in the morning were now neatly arranged at the entrance. Two identical pairs, and one smaller. The girls were home.

‘How quiet…’

It was awfully quiet. The atmosphere was also a little depressing.

‘Fuck!’ cursed Gorn, his excitement settling down yet again.

Going to his room, Gorn sat on the bed, and made some order with the information he found during that day.

‘In a way, this is just like any other city…’

There were striking differences, ranging from architecture and nature to how the people dressed, what they did, and of course, what was beyond the city walls.

As he was deeply immersed in his thoughts, one of the twins came to tell him that it was dinner time.

“I’ll be there in a moment,” said Gorn. Changing into other simple clothes, he exited the room.

This time, the dinner was even more awkward than the day before. Ella was also rather quiet, resulting in a stale state of affairs. The hard situations Gorn initially thought about never came. No one appeared to have any doubts about his identity, or have any suspicions regarding his behavior. They were just too busy with their own problems.

After a short time, the room was empty. Each one of the girls went to their rooms without saying anything much.

‘This is too depressing…’ feeling the need to do something, Gorn went towards Ella’s room. Knocking gently on the door, he asked: “Want to play a few games before going to sleep?”

In the next instance, the door was opened, and Ella greeted him with a smile: “I do!”