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Chapter 5: A New Day
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Token: Lesser Steam Fish Token (Rare) x1: This token is imbued with the essence of a lesser steam fish. Lesser steam fish range in level between one and five. Tokens record information about a life form and includes details about its manner of death. Every monster and intelligent creature produce a token upon death. Tokens cannot be fabricated or falsified.
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Logan’s eyes opened from his first slumber in his new world. His second life had begun—though it had started with getting dropped unceremoniously in a hot spring and almost dying to a psychotic, carnivorous fish on his first day, this would be his long-awaited fresh start.
He closed his eyes and took in a long, deep breath, held it for a moment, and exhaled. Hopefully this one would be different.
No nightmares interrupted him when had fallen back asleep, and he woke feeling rested and refreshed. He pulled himself out of bed, wishing that he could keep the soft furs on him forever. He donned the clothes that Huck had left last night, equipping them from his inventory.
The boots he’d placed at the foot of the bed, and he pulled them on while he sat, yawning, enjoying the cool air that blew in from the cracked-open window.
"Good morning! What are we doing today?" Mikey’s chipper voice shattered his peaceful solitude.
Does he even sleep?
Logan was used to being alone and took great comfort in it, had he lost that luxury forever?
“That remains yet to be determined, Mikey. For now, I’d like to go through the sacred ritual of slowly, calmly waking up.”
"But you are up. You’re awake! I could tell you were awake the exact second it happened, partner!"
The last word carried an odd twang.
Can't hide much when we share the same body.
Logan stared wistfully at the boots. Clearly Mikey had no concept of human customs, let alone his own personal traditions.
“I like to take my time in the mornings. It’s no biggie.”
Logan twisted to either side, cracking his back, then looked out the window. The sun was just beginning to rise, the sky still a dark grey that grew gradually lighter with the passing minutes. The sun, but not his sun.
His thoughts turned to Huck and Ryan. They’d helped save his life and offered him, a stranger, their home, clothes, and hospitality, asking nothing in return. He had Mikey and Susie; perhaps more desirable companions could be found, but they were his. Already, he had more attaching him here than to Earth.
Maybe in time it will be my sun, he thought.
“Was that supposed to be a cowboy accent?”
Silence.
"Maybe," came Mikey’s slow reply.
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"Susie and I looked through some of your memories. Westerns are amazing! If they have horses on this world, we’re definitely going to get one, right?"
He had wondered what they’d use for transportation. The look of the village made him doubt combustion engines had been invented yet. If horses didn’t exist, that’d be a problem.
“Whatever we do, you’re not going to roleplay as a cowboy. Neither is Susie.”
Mikey pouted, and Logan moved to the door. He wondered if the others were awake.
Opening the door slowly, he moved into the main room. There was a small fire going in the fireplace, and before it sat a hulking figure stirring a pot hung above the flames.
Logan cleared his throat and began to call out. “Good mor—“
“BOO!”
A creature leapt from the shadows beside the doorway, landing in front of him with arms spread wide and high above its head.
Logan stumbled backwards, falling against the door behind him. His outstretched arms caught the door, and he held himself upright in an awkward half squat.
Ryan playfully lunged forwards, laughing, and tackled him, causing them both to fall to the ground in a heap.
“Good morning!” Ryan said, standing.
How do kids have so much energy in the morning?
The sun was barely out, these people must have an arduous schedule if they're used to getting up this early, he determined. He helped Logan to his feet as Huck called to them from his seat at the fire.
“Good morning, little guy,” Logan said, a smile tugging at his lips.
“It seems the gremlin’s taken a liking to you, lad,” Huck said as they two of them joined him on the stool.
“Breakfast isn’t much, I need to grab some food at the shop this afternoon. How was the soup last night?”
“It was great, thank you. Actually, I think I can help with breakfast if you don't mind,” Logan said, standing as he opened his inventory.
To Huck and Ryan, it looked as if Logan was staring through the fire as he tabbed over to the “food” page. With a thought, a huge slab of fish meat appeared in the air a foot in front of him.
“Shit!”
The fillet collapsed onto the ground where it’d appeared and fell forwards, crashing into the pot and onto the wall above the tall fireplace, the center of it bowing inwards towards the flames. Logan looped his arms around it, quickly to avoid burning himself, and dragged it to the center of the room.
Luckily, the slice was wrapped in a waxy paper and didn’t get too dirty, but what was supposed to be the morning’s breakfast lay sizzling and popping in the fire. Well, I fucked that one up.
He wondered where the paper had come from, and how the meat had already been sliced. His inventory had said he had twelve of these, if that was true, then he could survive on the steam fish meat for months.
“Sorry, I didn’t realize it would be that big,” he said, making an awkward face and rubbing the back of his head with a hand.
"I bet that's the first time you've had to worry about your meat being too big, huh Logan?" Mikey asked in his mind, a mischievous smile twisting his nonexistent lips.
"Master Dileva is above average height for the human male population and is within standard weight, he has the expected amount of meat, if not more, cretin," Susie retorted, her airy, deprecating tone giving him the impression of a snobby school mistress or noblewoman.
"That's not what he meant—wait, why am I defending you—both of you, quiet," Logan said.
He massaged his face with his hands, exasperated. Huck and Ryan look at him curiously, but their attention was soon directed at the fillet. They stared at it in disbelief.
“That’s alright,” Huck began, eying the huge, wrapped parcel.
“I’d barely started the soup. You had that on you the whole time?”
Huck had heard stories of people with amazing powers, he’d listened to traveler’s tales of folks from beyond the mountains that could breathe fire, move the earth, and perform incredible feats of strength. The travelling merchants that’d spread those tales had even demonstrated some little trick or two on occasion or displayed a strange item, but this was something else entirely.
“Yeah, and some other stuff from the fish too, I meant to tell you sooner.”
This man was certainly strange. If he had this meat, what else had he collected from the monster? Huck looked at the several foot long fish fillet on the floor of his cabin; It must be worth a few hundred bronze, and Logan had made it appear from nowhere.
“Want to add some to the stew?”
He thought the magician’s voice sounded nervous, but he must be making it up.
How could he be the nervous one, making things appear out of thin air?
“Uh, yeah. That would be great. I’ll store the rest after, I think I have some salt in the kitchen.”
Huck was still confused about the man. He hadn’t appeared dangerous in the springs, in fact he seemed utterly clueless. He had no weapons and didn’t carry himself like any sort of fighting man, but he’d made the steam fish disappear, and now he was pulling its parts from who knew where.
He liked Logan though and had decided to trust him. Maybe, somehow, he was as helpless as he appeared.
“Oh yeah, take this too,” Logan said before absently looking off into space again.
Logan removed one hundred silver coins and fifty bronze coins from his inventory. They appeared in a hefty, generic brown drawstring bag like you’d see in a cartoon movie, the only thing missing was a dollar sign.
He extended his hand to Huck, who cautiously took it while looking for answers in Logan’s smiling face.
He opened it and his eyes fell on the heap of coins.
“Thank you! But this is more than I can accept, you surely could’ve dealt with the beast on your own,” he said, thrusting the bag back towards Logan, who stepped backwards with his hands raised placatingly in front of him.
“I couldn’t have, honestly. You saved my life and offered me your home. This is the least I can do to thank you. I’m going to go for a walk. I’ll be back soon, no need to wait on me. Good?”
Ryan got on his tip toes, sneakily peering into the bag in his father's hands.
There was a long pause while Huck looked contemplatively at the heavy bag. The money in his hands was more than double what he'd managed to save in the last several years.
“Okay, yes. I’ll have breakfast ready when you get back. I may be at the mines by then, but I’ll leave out a bowl for you. Thank you again, Logan. This is more than anyone could ask for. If any of the village numbnuts challenge you out there, not that I expect them to, give them my name; Huck Haydren.”
Logan nodded at the burly man, then with a smile, a wave, and a rough tussling of Ryan’s hair, he stepped outside into the cool morning air.