Chapter 26

Pino POV:

‘Talk is cheap’, it’s a phrase that I learned from a professor of mine when I first started college. He said that to me because I thought up a lot of alternative history scenarios. I’d preach about how easy it’d be to do this or that if only they’d made the right move at the right time.

‘Talk is cheap', was my professor’s only reply.

I understood what he meant, it’s easier to make decisions or find solutions when you understand every element of a problem. That, however, didn’t stop me from believing if I were ever in a precarious predicament, I could easily work my way out of it.

The immature notions of a child.

Now that I’m on the hot seat, I understand the gravity of building something massive, something that’s only ever existed in my mind as far as this world is concerned.

At times I doubt myself; Do I really have the ability to create a strife free world? Are my ambitions too massive? How do I even go about any of this?

For the weeks after I made my resolution to Attila, I battled with these questions, and many more.

It’s easy to believe that I’d made this decision in haste, or at least I’d convinced myself as much. One second I was cooking bacon and the next I was promising to save the world, it was quite the leap. I had to dive deep and really look at myself to come to a satisfying conclusion.

When I first got here, the only thing that I felt was fear. It clouded my mind, pushed me forward and helped me to survive. Fear of predators, fear of hunger, fear of thirst, fear of death…

If it wasn’t for other mind, if it wasn’t for the Pino that I was, I likely would’ve been torn apart by wolves within hours of me appearing in this body.

After the initial fear wore off, I was beset by something new, and foreign, to my 21st century self. The struggle to survive, a daily battle of: Will I eat? Where will I sleep? Will I die today?

Questions like that ate me alive, there were nights when I’d go hungry or my throat would feel like pavement from the lack of actual drinking water. It was those moments when I decided to be better, do better, and actually live rather than purely survive.

I found the clearing, built my mud and clay home, refined my hunting techniques and braved winter. When Attila came, I was finally no longer lonely, and for the most part I stopped talking to myself.

Yet this, once again, brought its own new set of challenges. The human mind is always active, always moving, planning, and dreaming. I’ve finally secured my life, there’s almost no danger of death or hunger. I could live out the rest of my life in this clearing, in these woods, living in harmony with the land until I die of old age.

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Is that what I want?

I asked myself, am I satisfied with dying in some corner of a foreign world? Knowing what I know, understanding that I can change things.

At first I didn’t understand what I was feeling as I settled into the monotony of hunt, eat, sleep.

‘Is it boredom?’ I asked myself. No, I’ve been bored and this isn’t the feeling. It's something else, something deeper.

I found it to be a sadness, and a deep depression, only staved off by the constant need for activity that my environment wrought. The depression stemmed from the fact that I knew I could do, and be so, much more. It’d been something that I had neither the time nor will to face. Perhaps Attila was the catalyst, but I was just waiting to erupt, looking for a reason besides my own selfish and proud desires, to make a move.

Which brings me to this moment…

How exactly does one change the world? What steps would I have to take…

While leisurely lying on a hammock I’d set up, I listlessly pondered the empire that hadn’t even stepped out of my brain yet. There was a slight wind that caused the lively grass to dance and whisper.

I let the sun wash over me as I stretched, “Talk is cheap, I just have to make a move and see what happens from there.”

Enjoying the moment for just a bit more, I hopped out of the hammock and made my way back to the house.

“Attila!” I called out, as he scampered over I began speaking, “Today is the beginning of everything… I think that we have to leave this area. There’s nothing and no one here.”

“In fact, this is a place for the broken to die quietly.” I continued while reminiscing about the events that led me to this forest. “So!” I affirmed, shaking myself from darker thoughts, “We will have to leave soon, we’ll gather supplies like food and water. We will also make a few extra spears for protection…” I trailed off because Attila didn’t seem to be following too well.

“Why would we leave from here? We have everything, the house is the nicest I’ve ever lived in, and there’s always food and water. Is there any reason to move away from this paradise?” He asked, a confused expression on his face.

“Attila, the grass is greener wherever you water it.” I sighed. “We can make this paradise anywhere, but if we want to make a better world, the type that we talked about, we’re going to have to leave this place. We have to find more people, and rally them to our cause, to our clan.” I said.

He pondered for a moment and seemed to understand. I silently nodded at his epiphany as I went into the storage room and began to count the supplies. I know that we can’t bring everything, so I rifled through the dried meats for the biggest and relatively “freshest” of the supplies and began to pack them into a backpack. The “backpack” wasn’t much more than a large piece of sun dried hide with four puncture holes and a large stick running through it, still, it served its purpose.

As I picked through the supplies and chose the best of them, Attila came from behind me and asked, “Are we moving a bit too fast? Maybe we should wait a while, and prepare more.” He suggested.

I turned to him with a serious expression saying, “It’s been over a month, Attila.” There was a brief flicker of confusion that dressed his face before he remembered what a “month” meant. “During that time, I’ve thought long and hard about the world I want to live in. We have the opportunity to create a beautiful utopia!” I exclaimed

‘Although he probably doesn't even know what that means’ I thought

“The world… will likely turn into a brutal place, filled with greed, oppression, and death. We can prevent all of that from happening, we can be the first of the Greats!” I said, my heart beating furiously in my chest.

Not a single man can deny his fantasies of conquest and grandeur, but in the modern era it's almost impossible to achieve something like that without being jailed or worse. The unexpected situation I’ve found myself in allows me to pursue the fantasies I’d never dared to say aloud… I’d be a fool to overlook this opportunity.

Attila stared at me hard, trying to understand what I meant. He had multiple questions, and I answered all of them. Slowly he began to understand what I envisioned, a large number of people, living in harmony and working towards the common goal of a thriving and successful life. Basically the life that we lived, but for all people. Not only that, but the atrocities that happened to his family, and his tribe would never be repeated.

That was an idea he could get behind.

Rapidly nodding his head, his breath quickened as he asked, “So what will we name the clan?"

“Huh?”