"Sir? Sir?"

Rodent shook out of his daze after he heard himself being called and stared up to see that the village was closer than expected. He'd been gone for so long inside his mind that it was like he had teleported here. For a moment, he paused to collect himself—ready to make his first proper contact.

During all that walking, he could enter the past, process it, and deal with the dormant things inside his head. He felt like he was still making progress overall in his quest.

He chuckled and laughed as, though he didn't care about walking in those stories that he read as a kid, now, in that other world, he didn't mind it so much.

His attention was then brought to two iron guards before him now, each with a spear and a sword strapped to their waist, heads hidden within their helmets. Three broad slits in their visors revealed some of the dark interior and the faces within—but it was hard to peer through and see the exact details.

"Hey, hey! Finally! Other people!" Rodent rose up with a giant smile plastered to his face. "Normal people, too! Was worried that was never going to happen." His head shook as he then steadied in place. "You two are people, right? It's okay if you're not, but there's something about not seeing another human face that just… I dunno."

He exhaled and placed his hands on his hips. "It just does something to you, I guess."

Both guards didn't need to have their faces seen to know that they were blinking intensely at the moment, both turning to the other to be assured that their confusion was shared and that they were currently going through the same things at the same time.

The first guard snapped out of it and nodded his head. "Y-Yeah. We're human. We hail from the mainland."

"The mainland?" Rodent asked.

"Y-Yeah." The first guard nodded again—except more hesitantly. "The mainland." He tapped a little sigil on the left side of his chest plate. "See?"

"Ah, cool!" Rodent agreed and nodded, standing in silence and the breeze for a moment before coming to speak again. "So… where is that?"

"Where is what?"

"The mainland."

"T-The… the mainland? It's…" The first guard's breath trailed away as never had he been asked such a question before. "Fal'qe Kingdom. But surely everyone has..."

He checked in with the second guard—who decided to take over for the processing man.

"How about you?" asked the second guard. "And where does one such as yourself hail from."

"O-Oh!" Rodent snickered as he leaned back. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

Both guards glanced at each other.

"We…" the second resumed a second later. "…are willing to give you a chance."

"Oh! Then I'm not from here."

The first guard stepped in. "We gathered that."

"Yeah. I'm from Earth."

"Earth?"

"Earth."

"…Earth?"

"Yeah—Earth."

"N-No—we got the name." The first guard was annoyed without trying to sound annoyed. He was evidently failing. "Just… we haven't heard of that before. Ever."

"Oh."

"Is that… a village? A place?"

"Nah." Rodent's head shook. "It's a planet."

Both guards blinked.

"A planet," the first said.

"Yeah," Rodent answered.

"Earth is a planet."

"That's correct."

"N-No. Ah." The first guard sighed, shook his head, composed himself, and settled on the stranger again. "Once again, you're missing the confusion in our voice. How are you from another planet? That doesn't make sense."

"Maybe there's something wrong with him," the second guard interjected with a softer voice, his armour clinking from his subtle movement. "Look at him. Seems like he's been alone in the wild for a while." The second guard focused on Rodent. "Are you injured at all? Any bumps on your head? Dealt with any improper use of magic?"

Rodent chuckled loudly. "Ahaha! So there is normal use of magic here?"

Both guards glanced at each other.

"Dude." The first guard turned back to Rodent. "Where are you from?"

"Earth!"

"WHERE'S EARTH!?"

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"I dunno. A solar system?" Rodent's head tilted as he thought about it. The sky above was primarily grey and depressing. "I was never really good with that kind of stuff."

The first guard staked his spear into the ground and removed his helmet, revealing the head of a man in his late twenties. He was pale, incredibly skinny, and had darkened, exhaustive eyes that clenched shut as a gloved hand touched against them.

Rodent perked up at once. "Hey! You're human after all! That's so cool."

The second guard leaned back. "W-Why… are you acting like this is your first encounter with a human."

"Because it is!" Rodent returned with a smile. "I mean, I did meet a girl when I popped into this world—but she had fanged-like teeth and could throw storms at me." His eyes bounced from side to side in consideration of the event. "That, and her hair was amethyst, and seemed naturally so." He nodded. "She was close enough to human, I guess. When she wasn't trying to kill me."

The first guard, already rubbing his face, turned and stepped away. "I-I'm sorry, but—I need a moment." He moved toward the village's gate. "You handle him for a second. I… need to just not think for a moment."

Rodent, in watching the man leave, smiled at the second guard. "Hehe. Looks like I still have that effect on people even here."

The second guard, shaking his head, also pulled off his helmet. He was black, trimmed, built and kind. He held his helmet against his waist while looking at Rodent. "Apologises for him. He's—"

"No need to explain—I get it." Rodent stepped forward and offered his hand. "My name's Rodent, by the way. Sorry for not introducing myself sooner."

The second guard made a face at the name but did not let it stop him from shaking Rodent's hand. "Frual. My partner's Javen."

"Nice to meet you, Frual."

"Rodent… is that your real name?"

"It's the name that I prefer."

Javen shook his head and turned so his shout could be heard from the two. "What happened? Someone insulted you, and then you decided that the insult worked better than your real name?"

Rodent nodded happily. "That's about right."

Javen's head fell back into his hand. "This freaking guy…"

Frual raised his hand and shook his head. "Don't pay him much mind. He's upset over what we must do to hold a decent job."

"I told you," Javen started from a distance, "it's better to just be mistreated closer to home!"

Rodent smiled and nodded at them both. "Seems you two work well together."

Frual shrugged. "We just happened to wash out at the school at the same time."

"That also works."

"So… how did you get to this place, Rodent?"

"Well… I met an old man… who I'm pretty sure is more than just an old man… even though I didn't believe in these things before." Rodent tapped his foot, turned his head, and entered a deep thinking state. "I then fell into a puddle that was actually a puddle that blew me out of a pond in this world."

Rodent chuckled as a realization blossomed upon his face. "H-Hey! I just realized that all those things I went through all started with a 'p'!"

Javen smacking himself was heard in the distance.

"I came through to a powerful woman waiting to kill me—before she decided that I would probably just end up dying in the wild." Rodent pointed over his shoulder at the direction that he had come from. "And then I came from those woods back there. Everything in there tried to come alive."

Javen snapped upright and thundered back over. "Y-You came from Warro Woods!?"

"Is that what it's called?"

"YOU WENT THROUGH WARRO WOODS WITHOUT KNOWING WHAT IT WAS?"

"Why are you shouting?" Rodent asked while plugging his ear with a finger. He was sure some spit from Javen's shouting had landed on his face. "It was the only thing that looked like something for miles. Figured I'd take my chance and see where it led." He wiped his face next. "Wasn't expecting for creatures and things to break out of the trees—but all that ended up coming out was a wolf."

The men were amazed.

"Y-You made it through Warro woods?"

Rodent nodded. "Yeah! Was… more depressing than I thought it would be." He deflated a little. "I was hoping to find a good time in this world. Y'know, live out the fantasy and adventure I always read about as a kid." He glanced around him. "But… so far… everything's been different from what I expected."

Javen stepped forward. "Did you notice anything in Warro Woods? Anything that stands out at all?"

Frual tilted his head. "That's if he actually went through it."

Rodent ignored that. "Actually—yeah. There were these black splotch-like things all over the place." He used his hands to gesture their size. "About that big. Seems to be made out of a liquid or something. Either they stayed in place or started moving toward objects and things."

Both men were taken aback.

They were silent for a moment.

And then they looked at each other.

"We must take this to Steinith," Frual opened.

"You crazy? This is untested," Javen returned. "Did you forget the first half of what this guy opened with?"

"He described them perfectly."

"Everyone is found to have seen Deskar at least once."

"If there's Deskar in Warro Woods, you know what that means."

"This guy is crazy!"

"Hey, hey! It's all cool if you don't believe me." Rodent raised his hands in surrender and stepped back. "I don't know what all that Deskar stuff you're talking about is. But if you want to check it out yourself, you can just head into the woods." Rodent even pointed to it while leaning out of their view. "Most of what's supposed to pop out there won't. Plus, you'll have a nice enough wolf to help out."

He then stood normally. "Just tell the wolf that you know me. It might appreciate the company."

Frual was shaking his head and tightening the grip on his spear before looking at Jance. "Jance. This is too much to be coincidence or false. We must report this to Steinith. We must."

Javen made a face and shook his head, though he knew this to be a losing battle, exhaling hard and hating himself. He wanted to grumble and stomp the ground, hating where this was going, but looked at Rodent and examined him earnestly.

To his credit, Rodent only smiled as he leaned onto his cane, causing Javen to cease in his efforts and ultimately nod his head. "Alright. Fine. We'll take this to Steinith." He put his helmet back on as Frual did the same. But we do this properly and right. Straight information and then out of there. No extra words, alright? No extra words."

Rodent beamed with a tilt of his head. "I'm sometimes known for keeping my mouth shut!"

Both men were shaking their heads and were still doing so as they turned and led the way into the village.

----------------------------------------

[Dumi Village]

One of the many scattered villages north of the mainland before the great mountain pass to Kularal Woods. A path once connected all the villages so a great circuit could be had, but as the world deteriorates, that path—and the land across it—has become less and less survivable.