Jay reasoned that waking up in a stone cell might not be the worst thing that could happen. After all, many people have simply never even woke up again after collision injuries. But then again waking up in captivity had a potential to get plenty worse.
He took a deep breath to steady himself and squashed the rising panic in himself.
There were plenty of possibilities of what could have happened. The first thing he thought was that he had been kidnapped. Jay remembered how a fictional human trafficking cartel had set up their base to make it seem to the kids, the victims, were on another planet to crush any sense of hope for escape. Although the lie was discovered, the lie was pretty effective prior to that. These bastards could be trying a similar tactic.
Maybe what seemed like teleportation was actually his car dropping through a hole? Then he should have noticed leaving the car. Well that theory fell through. The surroundings seemed too authentic also. The stench of the mold was overpowering. Jay rubbed some rust he pinched off the bars between his fingers. The decreptedness of his cell didn't seem the least bit artificial.
Maybe he had been knocked out with some sort of concoction and his car slamming into a wall was simply staged? The alternative was these people being capable of seemingly teleporting a whole car.
Maybe aliens kidnapped him. The possibilities were endless.
Jay didn’t immediately dismiss the really small possibility of being in another world. Weakly he could refer to the theory of unpredictability existing, but mainly he didn’t want to end up like the protagonist of the series called the unbeliever. Almost the whole time while the protagonist witnessed incredible things, he proceeded like everything was fake. He had valid reasoning like how he was completely free of a case of leprosy he had been plagued with in his original world and other things, but Jay felt like things would go rather horribly for him if he made the same mistake.
Having all this time to contemplate circumstances seemed suspicious also. Jay thought his jailers would have tried achieving whatever their motives were with him when he woke up when he was most disoriented. And the less logical things seemed, the more Jay became worried.
Actually being in another world would be the worst case scenario, since that would mean “magic” was used to bring him here. The existence of magic brought with it a convenience to the elites that made most innovations unnecessary and therefore almost always meant the society developed around it would either be Utopian or a feudal society. Seeing the dark stone walls around him, Jay bet that the latter would be more likely.
He grimaced. Living in a feudal society would be horrendous. Not only could dysentery potentially kill him, the superstitions could lead to his lynching depending on how well he could ‘do as the romans do.’ The elite and powerful would be more than simple landed aristocracy. They were likely capable of feats of magic. That fact could make the living conditions horrible depending on whether the peasants tried revolting yet. The possibility of slavery wasn’t even touched.
Jay began almost hoping for anyone to come. Sitting in dim lighting with all these thoughts bouncing around his head was certainly not healthy for him. Finally the sound of footsteps reached him so he readied the pile of sand dust he gathered.
”Se ug axalo axawaxako.”
The second the door swung open, Jay was upon his captor. Or at least he tried to attack. An invisible barrier kept his kidnapper out of reach of him. One of the worst case scenarios, it was. The sand he flung floated for a brief moment. With a swipe of the man’s hand, he was sent crashing into the wall at the back of the cell.
”Pe ug uctolchaxact vo?"
Jay realized he had another issue. He couldn’t understand the language being spoken.
“Usoropt imwit je waxaupp pit civirizow dolsen weurdniz gned zo cemmen raxackuaxago!”
Jay found himself taking a barrage of invisible blows. Only curling into a fetal position was possible. A small part of him remarked on his terrible luck with getting a worst case scenario. The rest of him wracked with pain. Just before the haze of unconsciousness overtook him, fury came roaring up.
All he ever did was work and work. His dream finally came into reach and a curve ball was thrown at him? The wholly inefficient system known as society always made him feel trapped. The whole thing was built on lies and subterfuge. He simply wanted to secure a place on the frontier of knowledge!
“Ug axalo keick te fo pit toch sufjond enrupp!” The crazy idiot would not shut up.
Jay felt a curiously familiar sense of murderous intent well up in his gut as he fell into unconsciousness.
He rose to sounds of commotion. The exact moment he lost consciousness wasn't clear, but finding himself lying in the corner of the cell indicated the obvious. A dull metal tray was laid in front of him with a cup of ... beer and a lump of ... bread? Ah further proof of a feudal era. With a huff Jay shoved down the unfortunate excuse of bread and watered it down with the ... He couldn’t call it anything other than swill and almost coughed up everything.
Unnatural howls accompanied by shouts rang out, filling Jay with fear but also a sense of hope. He might have a chance at escape but could also be doomed to becoming food but he didn’t ponder about that for too long. The shouts and howls died down until the final howl turned into a yelp and a single yell of triumph rang out.
With a tortured screech, the cell door was torn out, and in walked in an ... elf?
“Pe ug uctolchaxact vo?”
She had pointed ears to go along with an entirely too perfect beauty with absolute symmetry. Caught in a daze Jay didn’t notice the elf’s proximity until she had her hands on his temple.
[Puedes entender? Wakarimasuka? Do you understand?]
A musical voice rang out in Jay's head. Startled, he pushed away the elf.
[I have no intentions to hurt you, but I need your consent to cast a spell on you. It should help you understand the common tongue and be able to communicate. Right now I don’t know what language I am speaking. I caught that I started out with two other languages but that is just the effects of the spell I am using.]
Jay nodded his head mechanically; he wasn’t sure what else to do, but found himself in a strange void the next moment. Various sounds were assaulting him slowly taking form into a language, but one inconsistent sound rang out. Curious, Jay followed it to its source only to be assaulted by a much more musical set of sounds.
[An otherworlder! The last one brought devastation upon the world!]
Various vines started to encircle Jay and that didn’t seem to be a good sign, but conveniently he found the two swords he forged recently in his hands. His first sword didn’t connect but his second slash sliced through vines cleanly. For a while, Jay hacked away at the vines. His training at the HEMA dojo became useful in the most bizarre way possible.
With no end to the vines in sight, Jay realized he had to change what he was doing. With every swing his arms were getting heavier. After cutting down all the vines of the current batch, instead of resting and waiting, he rushed forward toward what was likely the source.
He broke into a clearing after what seemed an eternity. The barrages of murderous vines became much more frantic and made even taking a couple paces a chore. Various foreign thoughts came to him in a jumbled mess, and he struggled to make sense of it.
[You will end here!] The elf declared in a craze.
A barrage of vines came from all around. Jay fought as much as he could but within seconds a vine pulled his left leg. In a panic, Jay stabbed into the ground to maintain his balance. Immediately then, like a light switch was flipped, everything in sight disappeared in a snap. He found himself collapsed on the ground, his two swords cast to the side.
Jay didn’t have to check the elf’s pulse. He recognized the glassy eyed look and curled up into a ball before the first shudders hit.
The elf would forever haunt him but Jay knew he couldn't afford to waste time. That fact didn’t disperse the turmoil though. Rationalization could help.
What were his main worries? His first was being stranded in what appeared to be a world of the extraordinary. There was no knowing what new dangers there were. Killing someone was the second reason for the tumult in his thoughts. The killing was in self-defense but he only knew that conceptually and not emotionally. The last worry was potentially being the whole world’s persona non grata and hunted down.
Three worries in total. All three worries were acknowledged but then pushed aside. They would be dealt with later. For all he knew another contingent of something could be coming.
Jay sighed. He would need to look as close to a local as possible.
Taking inventory of everything was almost back-breaking, literally. One of the maces had to have weighed more than a ton but Jay noticed so almost too late. A gruesome sight had greeted him once he came out to what appeared to be the main cavity of the cave system. About a hundred fifty corpses give or take laid scattered about the complex.
Fifteen men of various races from humans to lizardmen laid dead. Each of the fallen had about fifteen grotesque dead animals at their feet. Jay struggled to not look too long at the corpses. Some of them had their heads cracked open with grey matter spilling out while others had entrails strewn about their bodies. Large portions of their torsos seemed to have been chomped out. The silence was deafening and the rotting and decay had already started causing him to cough up everything in his stomach.
He scowled at the wasted food and decided to replenish himself on appropriated rations later. They were probably much better than the excuse of a breakfast from before. Their packaging made them seem kind of like the meal biscuits back home strangely enough.
Finding clothes and leather armor of a man who was closest to his size took some time. He ended up pulling an outfit off someone like a woodsman, probably a scout. The dead combatants appeared to be potentially extremely wealthy. Every one of them had pouches of gold and rations carrying more inside than what should be possible. Unfortunately transferring the contents of the other pouches into a single pouch wasn’t possible. Whatever enlarged the capacities of the pouches reached its limit once the supplies of another pouch were added.
Jay sighed morosely at the pile of magical pouches. Carrying around so many could be fatal if they were rare and he was caught.
Tearing anything off a magical pouch seemed too much of a risk, so Jay improvised with a makeshift bag. Everything else that looked like an insignia was torn off. Hopefully whatever militant group the dead fighters were part of was Spartan. Whether his efforts were enough would show when meeting a local.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
He strapped on his swords, completing his outfit. Seeing that the only thing he had left of his home world were his swords hit him hard, sending tears down his face. Why did such an absurd thing like a magic summoning happen to him?
Calming down took a while but getting out was simple enough. A gigantic hole led outside. His inadvertent rescuers were probably responsible. When Jay climbed outside he found himself in a wilderness. If the person who kidnapped him was hiding underground maybe the world wasn't the worst to live in. Getting his hopes up probably wasn’t a good idea, though.
With a small trail in sight and the time appearing early in the morning, Jay set off. Hopefully the nearest bastion of human civilization wasn’t too far.
Following the trail was a surprisingly pleasant experience. A deer breaking the sound barrier gave him a fright but otherwise everything was enjoyable. Despite how the stench of dead bodies clung to him, the forest felt idyllic.
What to do though? He was pretty sure he botched his chance at magically learning the language. He would stand out as a sore thumb if he didn't do anything. Jay pondered on his options as he tried to wash off the terrible smell in a stream.
Jay almost didn't notice the screaming, but once he did, he pulled on his stolen gear and rushed toward the cry. Following the sound seemed too dangerous at first. The threat causing the cry for help could be overwhelming, especially in a world of magic. Coming face to face with the threat could result in immediate death, but the potential rewards could be life saving in putting a local in his debt. The trail was diminishing and made being lost until death from exposure a scary possibility.
What he found was a sniveling boy swiping away at a pair of growling wolves with a walking stick. The beasts were clearly waiting for the boy to tire, only ever making gestures at attacking.
Jay took a moment to think about how he would attack. Simplicity was best. A slash into the first wolf would be first then a blow to the second wolf with his fist. A second strike with his sword should be more than possible after knocking back the second wolf.
With a solid plan, he rushed the wolves. His target wolf noticed and lunged at him. There was barely enough time to point the tip down towards the wolf, but ‘barely’ proved enough. The mangy animal skewered itself on Jay's bastardsword.
He managed to use the second wolf's momentum in a counter, gaining enough room to swing his sword again. However, the fight didn’t go as planned, because there was a third wolf. A third wolf lunged at him from behind.
A small part of him mused on the intelligence of the third wolf that waited to ambush him. The attack took him completely by surprise and must have been for his neck. Luckily, the moment the wolf leapt for a chomp of his neck, he had sprung forward to cut down the disoriented second wolf. The sneak attack still resulted with hundreds of pounds of ferocity knocking him down.
Jay's surprise turned into red hot anger as he wrestled with the two remaining wolves. Dying out in the woods would be beyond humiliating. Along with the haze of fury, a surge of strength followed. Pushing back their chomping jaws became trivial. Not wasting the chance he drew his shortsword and slashed through both of the wolves’ throats, who were moving oddly slow.
The oddness continued as everything seemed to move in slow motion, from the blood of the wolves trailing behind his shortsword to the leaves coming down from the scuffle. When Jay blinked, everything returned to normal.
He stood up grimacing at the copious amount of blood now on him.
“Thank you for saving me!” The boy happily exclaimed his gratitude in what sounded like plain English.
"Is something wrong?" The boy asked.
Jay shook himself out of his shock at the surprises and simply decided to chalk them up as luck for the moment. The three wolves were hopefully the last of immediate threats.
"Nothing kid. Do you live close here?" Jay answered.
"I am not a kid! I am Jax and fifteen-uousos-old you know! Besides, you don't look much older yourself! Why do you want to know about where I live?" The boy, whom Jay now knew as Jax, grouched.
Jay almost stumbled in bewilderment. Ousos probably were something like years, so his appearance should look at least ‘thirty-uousos-old’. Had being pulled from his world de-aged him somehow?
He thought about what name to use. Using his real name could be dangerous.
"I am just a wanderer named Jack looking for the nearest settlement," Jay said.
"Ok. I’ll lead to my village then. I have to repay you for saving me," Jax excitedly told him. “I need to grab my dagger and the herbs I came here for.”
Jay nodded his understanding, but one thing didn’t add up.
“Jax I see that you are an herbalist, but then shouldn’t you know this area is dangerous?” He asked.
Jax looked up from digging up a plant, “I get your confusion. The amulet I borrowed from my village’s magi to repel the local fauna and monsters stopped working suddenly.”
He finished collecting his target plant that looked like a fusion of rosemary and mint.
“I am actually surprised we haven’t been attacked again by now,” Jax remarked.
Jay quickly realized the ‘why’ to that. What had he just seen a couple of hours ago?
They stopped by a stream for him to get the worst of the blood off himself and his sword.
Jax kept on sneaking glances at him gradually more as they made progress. Eventually Jay’s annoyance reached his limit.
"What is with all the staring?" he asked.
"I just have never seen someone so pale!" Jax said in wonder.
Jay took a sharp breath. Looking closely, Jax was indeed a couple shades darker than him. Jax didn't appear to think much about the armor he appropriated, so there was at least that though.
"I’m from the north and came down here for the warmth," Jay fibbed the unspoken question.
"Well ok. Here is the village!" Jax seemed to buy it.
A few more minutes passed and Jay found himself in front of a massive wooden gate of a palisade. Strangely looking fresh, the wooden fortifications were massive. Jax led him around the perimeter of the walls to a gate, but no fields of farming were visible. They were probably enclosed in the settlement to ward off the fauna.
"Well come on! Washing uousos down the river!" Jax gestured to him wildly.
Well how would he introduce himself? He should have thought about that! Simply proclaiming himself to be a wanderer could have awful results.
"Who’s with you, Jax?" An elderly voice rang out.
"A wanderer from up north named Jack,” Jax answered.
“Why did you bring him here? Or did you have a choice?” The same voice asked.
Jax stood next to Jay one moment and in the next he wasn’t.
Jay almost bolted. The possible conclusions were all quite awful for his health.
“Wait! Wai--,” The elderly voice shouted and coughed.
The wooden gate groaned as it opened revealing a crowd of people holding farm tools at the ready. Some carried torches warding off the darkness creeping in with the sun setting.
At the apparent high likelihood of being lynched, Jay considered fleeing even more. An aged man pushed through and gestured for him to come closer, though. With no knowledge of where the next nearest settlement was, running away prematurely could mean death.
Jay settled on moving closer but staying a couple paces away. Talking and also escaping if necessary would be possible.
"I hear you saved Jax from wolves so first I must thank you," the old man thanked him.
"How should I refer to you sir?" Jay asked.
Keeping his voice calm was difficult with the threat of a mob looming.
"Just call me Elder,” the old man replied.
"Well Elder I have news and a request," Jay spoke, shoving down the panic rising in him.
He took a deep breath. They probably weren’t used to visitors seeing how they lived in the middle of nowhere. A speech would have to be improvised.
"Well go on," their spokesman beckoned him.
"I escaped from the aftermath of a fight that must have killed most of the monsters you kept out with this wall around your village.” Jay looked into everyone’s eyes to gauge a response.
He guessed right. Expressions of many changed to those of excitement. Jax’s remark about expecting an attack really helped.
“The fight was between a twisted magic user and a company of soldiers of justice. The magic user, an evil being who kept many others like myself imprisoned and dabbled in the darkest of arts, brought forth hundreds of his beasts in a pathetic attempt to preserve his own life,” Jay paused for dramatic effect.
“The soldiers valiantly stood firm despite the odds. After a long battle, the soldiers succeeded in bringing him down. Sadly they lost their lives in the effort,” he paused again but for a moment of silence.
Some of the villagers bowed their heads.
Jay spoke up, “life must go on, though. I believe those soldiers gave your village a chance at better lives, a massive chance at expansion. I hope to help with the effort in exchange for a place to stay for a while."
"We don't usually accept outsiders, but if what you say is indeed true then this is good fortune. We will have a hunter go confirm what you say. For now you may stay at Jax's place with his family. I am sure they will be more than willing to pay you back," Elder announced.
The man never seemed to be against Jay’s entry by his body language, though. That could be from the difference in culture. The gathering of people dispersed with the business concluded.
Jay could tell he had been dismissed and followed Jax.
He wasn’t sure what to expect. The massive palisade could only be possible with modern technology but was likely a result of magic. The walls must have been courtesy of whatever hedge wizard like person the village had. The dwellings appeared in line with the level of technology, however.
The interior wasn’t as the exterior would suggest, luckily. There was a kitchen and a dining room along with what seemed to be a room for socializing. The three closed doors must have been bed rooms. The smell of the house wasn't terrible at all even verging on pleasant. The interior also was entirely inconsistent with the size of the exterior and probably due to magic.
Jax called out, “mother I got some faswent for your cold!” He turned to Jay, “my mother has been bed ridden since she caught a cold yesterday.”
“Wait, did you say bed ridden?” Jay raised his voice slightly.
“Yes, why do you ask?” Jax asked.
“Come on haven’t you heard of people catching illnesses from others?” Jay’s voice rose a little more.
“Well mom has the common cold so there shouldn’t be a problem” Jax nonchalantly replied. “Keep your voice down!”
“But I am not from around here! For all I know that sickness could end up lethal to me!" Jay almost outright yelled.
Before Jax could offer a retort, a tired looking woman appeared from one of the rooms, “Jax who is making that racket?”
“Mom this person is a northerner named Jack who saved me from wolves and the elder decided we would shelter him for a while as compensation, but he is worrying about catching your cold being deadly for him.” Jax explained.
“Well people up north must have been in constant fear of sickness because of how brutal it is up there," Jax's mother pondered out loud. "Jack how old are you?”
“Around your son’s age ma'am, so around 15 uousos,” Jay answered.
He was going to have to get used to responding to Jack as his alias. Crafting a fake background would be a good experience for later.
“That’s a funny way of referring to me. Just call me Mrs. Denns. I am sure you will be fine since you’re young,” Mrs. Denns laughed.
“Ok Mrs. Denns. Will you allow me to stay while helping the village expand? I apologize for my outburst. As you can see, Elder has approved my presence in the settlement, but I wouldn’t want to impose,” Jay bowed his head to Jax and his mother.
“That’s alright, if the Elder said you can stay then you can stay,” Mrs. Denns voiced her approval. “Thank you Jax,” she accepted a steaming mug from Jax before retiring to her room.
“Well Jack I guess we are roomies!” Jax exclaimed excitedly.
Jay almost face palmed at the overexcitement. Jax would likely demand stories about his alleged travels.
Jax's room had only one bed. Jax looked at his face and realized what he was thinking. "Oh it's fine I'll sleep on the floor today. We can make another bed later."
Jay grunted, "thanks.”
He gladly took the bed. As a definite city person, the middle ages era esque world had been reeling. Jax must have thought he wanted the bed from exhaustion from traveling.
“Why do you have two swords?” Jax asked seeing Jay put them down.
“Oh these? I made them, a bastardsword and a shortsword." Jay answered. "As a wanderer you can meet lots of strange folk and a strange smith was one of them. I learned under him for a while, but I made these swords in a different smith’s forge a lot later.”
“Cool... Goodnight Jack,” Jax muttered sleepily.
Jay wondered for a moment if Jax had even listened but decided that didn’t matter. Jax not bombarding him for requests for stories was a blessing. He also fell asleep surrendering to his exhaustion.
Jax was also awake, when Jay woke up. Jax had his herbalist pouch tied on to his belt.
“Why are you getting up? Like you said the forest is almost empty. For the off chance some other beasts have moved in I have the amulet, which Magi already fixed. Plus, the amulet doesn’t work as well with more than one person,” Jax said to Jay before heading out.
Jay couldn’t go back to sleep, so his usual routine came to mind. Having routines for staying fit in any world should still have benefits. There was an incredible amount of danger to moving about without weapons, though, so he strapped his swords on before heading out.
The village was unpleasantly quiet other than the gate opening for Jax. Jay couldn’t put his finger on what exactly made the quiet of the village unsettling to him. The reason could have been the enclosing walls to his culture clash with the level of technology. The reason was pointless to ponder on, so he hunkered down to run.
Never being the fastest lit his desire to be the fastest back in middle school. Unfortunately he mistook endurance running as the answer. For whatever reason Jay’s age had been wound back all the way back to a little under fourteen years old, so rectifying that mistake became possible. Running was also useful for sorting and draining pushed aside emotions on top of keeping fit.
He never had the best sense of time but even he eventually noticed that he was being able to sprint way too long. Somehow maintaining a dead sprint for more than a whole minute had become possible. Maybe mana was boosting him somehow?
“You’re doing it all wrong!” A shrill woman’s voice exclaimed.
Following the admonishment, a stick stuck out in front of Jay’s feet. His legs tangled, the ground rushed up to him. A mouthful of dirt seemed inevitable, but at the critical moment time slowed. Maneuvering himself became possible and a few deft steps stopped his descent.
“A little bit above average reflexes for an amateur, but what is with your mana intake? It’s all over the place!” A middle aged lady sitting on her porch yelled at him.
Not even hiding her staff, she appeared to be the culprit who tripped him. That no longer mattered, though.
“No one back home could teach me," Jay caught his breath. "I decided to wander for that reason. I take it you’re the Magi named Silvia?”
“Not sure how that’s possible but here you somehow have braved the distance from the north. That’s simply my magi moniker. Do you even know how to use those?” The nosy crone jabbed towards his swords.
“What does that matter to you?” Jay asked exasperatedly.
“Well you seem to have neglected taking care of one of your swords but otherwise those seem like of excellent quality. You won’t convince Seran to teach you at that rate,” the nosy lady wasn’t losing a beat.
In order to get to the village faster, scraping off most of the blood and gunk had to suffice. The tools Jay lifted from the corpses of the soldiers he grandified would be put to good use later. The obvious question was who Seran was, but prompting the woman for riddles or rants wasn’t appealing. Living in the settlement should naturally lead to him finding out either way.
“If you want to learn how to intake mana properly, come see me tomorrow. I need to set up things for beginners.” She declared flippantly before rushing back inside, slamming her door closed behind her.
Jay could feel a headache coming. Early in the morning, already a random woman assaulted him. The rest of the day as well as the following days were likely to be uniquely taxing.