Now I was all collected, calm and hydrated. Its evening and yet I was so fresh. Usually, at this time, I would be sulking on my bed in the apartment. This seems like a pleasant break from my usual routine. Now I was myself again, I thought I should start collecting information as much as I can and make the most of this trip. Now that I realise, I held a perfect conversation with a lizard or Ragnorin, as he called himself. Wait, is that his name or his race's. Would it be too rude of me to ask him that? I was confused again? Before getting intimate, I should start with the basics but be straight with it. It often helps to build good trusting bonds.

"Sir, I am sorry, I don't know if you mentioned it earlier but could I know what is your name?", I asked hesitantly.

"Why are you afraid, young sir? There is no harm in asking one's name, is there? Anyway, its Baren Baltech of the Clovis clan. A pleasure to make your acquaintance. What about you? Do you have any memory related to your name?", he asked with a broad smile.

"Actually, I do. Its Ray, Ray Ash. Probably the only thing I am sure off.", I said, forcing myself to smile as I felt bad about lying to a person who trusts me completely whom he met just a few hours ago.

"Well, Mr. Ash. Looks like you are regaining your memories. It's a good sign", he said with the same broad smile.

"Please, call me Ray, Mr.Beltech. I insist", I said with a smile.

"Then you shall address me as Baren", he said with a stiff yet polite tone and chuckled.

I couldn't deny his friendly gesture. And now was the time for some semi-intimate interrogation or that's what I call like to call it.

"So Baren…….. just out of curiosity…….. is this your native language or is there a ‘Ragnorin tongue', or something similar to that? You don't have to answer it if you don't want to.", I tried to be as diplomatic as possible as I didn't know where the line was.

"There is no need for hesitation my friend. Actually, there is and not just one. But you see, as civilization advanced and it did aggressively after the Zarconian war, trade emerged and later, all the races presented each representative who then formed a council. In this council, it was decided that there was a need for the use of one common language that shall be known and taught to all and everyone around the land. This would help in faster and better development of social and professional relationships. Since humans were a majority in terms of population and they were very eager and cooperative, and had also played a major role in the Zarconian war. Hence Nilan was chosen as the universal language. Well, it was also pretty easy and can be spoken by anyone without having to twist your tongue or jaws too much. I hope I didn't bore you? I tried to keep it as short as possible.", he told with a chuckle.

Actually, that was quite informative. But I had a feeling there was actually a longer story to that after I heard ‘Zirconian war'. That was history and as much as I was dying to know about it, I couldn't waste my time as there were other important things that I needed to know which would increase my chances of survival. But I also had to know about my arrival in this world and try to find a way to get out of this place, in case things got hairy.

"Baren, how did you find me in that crater? I mean we have covered quite some distance by now but we didn't come across anything that looked nearly as similar as that crater. Did you see anyone carry me there?", I asked him with a discontent tone.

Because if I remember, when I was falling down, I didn't see anything like that below me or anywhere near. Hell! the greatest mystery is that I am still alive. Shit! Now that I think about it, I shouldn't have asked at all. I hope I don't raise any suspicion.

"Actually, that is a good question. You see as I and Bessie were on our merry way, singing. We saw a shining object, like a shard of glass falling down from the sky at a distance and when it finally made contact with the ground, there was a cloud of sand which was formed at the point of impact or at least that's how we saw it. We then rushed to see what happened, just out of curiosity, off course. And there you were, right in the middle of the crater, alive but unconscious.", he said with a bit of seriousness.

If he is indeed telling the truth, then it means all of the crazy ‘falling from the sky' shit is true and I did fall from over a thousand feet. But I still don't know how I got that high. I wanted to ask him more but I thought it would be rude to interrogate him like that. So I switched to a lighter topic. Before, I had heard him mention about Bessie like she was actually some kind of friend and not just a pet.

"Hey, you always include Bessie in your stories. I am curious, what exactly is she? What is your history with her?", I asked with a curious smile showing that I was actually interested in him as a person and was not a mean interrogator.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Oh, you remember her name. I see you are a good man at heart. Bessie is a Clokiren, an herbivorous animal, which has beastly strength in its legs and a very long lasting stamina. Perfect for towing carts. But for me, Bessie is my best friend and my travel buddy as I might have mentioned earlier. You are the first person who actually asked about it. It kind of makes me and Bessie happy", he said with a pleasant smile.

He seemed very happy that I asked. ‘Nice one', I complimented myself. I thought that I should rest for a while and save some of the questions for tomorrow as the sun was setting. It seemed like Baren was searching for a spot to rest too. Although every spot in this desert looked the same to me, I thought I should probably keep my mouth shut and not question his expertise.

Finally, we stopped near a small rock which had an over-shade above our head, like a small roof. I never imagined we would find a place like this. I guess he was actually searching for this place as he seemed very familiar with the route and directions.

He immediately erected a tent refusing my help, all by himself. He seemed very experienced with it. He even lent me something like a big bag made of wool. I figured it was a sleeping bag but he explained it to me anyway. I will have to think up a way to repay him soon enough. I glanced at the sky above. Everything was normal; dark sky, stars, moon……except, for one thing, there were two moons. One was green and the other was white. Both the moons were halved and the halved moons were facing each other like mirror images. I got curious again; no surprise there. I asked Baren if there was a story behind the reason there were two moons. But then I thought that it might be perfectly normal for them to have two moons. And it wouldn't have taken him much longer to figure out that I came from a world which had only one moon and most of all, the fact that I was lying all this time. ‘I have got be more careful', I scolded myself and wished Baren ‘Good Night'. He wished me back as he crept deeper into his bag and fell asleep and me too after a short while, as I saw Bessie getting cozy with itself.

The next day………….

"Rise and Shine, Mr. Ray", a loud greeting broke my sound, deep sleep.

I woke to realise that I was the last one to wake up. Baren was all fresh and packing his things up, ready to hit the road. I didn't want him to think of me as a bother and hence I hurried and packed up my stuff. While we were on the road he offered me breakfast. It was vegetarian, as he explained to me how he converted into a vegetarian. Not to be rude but it was a lame story. The rest of the day went on pretty much the same way as the previous one. I gained a lot of knowledge about his race and the different ones out there. I came to know about the traditions of the Ragnorins and their diverse cast systems. That was a lot to take in, most of which seemed useless at this point of time. But I did find one interesting set of knowledge. It was about the strange marking on his hand I had noticed earlier. According to Baren, I learned that there are thirteen major continents in this world. Each continent has a goddess who oversees and protects the citizens of that continent (or so is the belief according to me). The thirteen continents are:

1. Alcius

2. Vulkyria

3. Mestlecair

4. Precimus

5. Celetoir

6. Eqinard

7. Farutious

8. Balcardo

9. Nilfrig

10. Geldenor

11. Helinord

12. Rugridge

13. Titania

Most of the names were not even pronounceable. He said that those were the names of the continents before the war. Those names got attached to the goddess's actual names which later acted somewhat like their family names. He was about to start chanting their names when I diverted him to tell me about the mark on his hand. Either way, I wouldn't remember their names.

He explained that the mark is called ‘Soul Contractor's Brand' and it depicts that he is a contractor, a soul contractor to be precise. Here, in this world, we could trade almost anything, including our souls. It was pretty scary but was the truth. You get the soul contractor brand through two different methods. One, when someone offers you their soul as collateral for your services as they have no money to pay yet are in dire need of the services offered by the ‘contractor'. They will have to work for the contractor to repay your debt and gain the right on his/her soul back. The second was that; some other soul contractor should swear his allegiance to you. The second normally happens in the royal factions. The concept of keeping your soul as collateral was pretty grim and hence I didn't investigate further and thought of taking it slowly on this particular subject. But it was kind of familiar, like the games I played, where I could summon a hero or champion to fight for me. The only difference is that here there was no summoning involved. He later added that there were some other methods like being born to soul contractor-parents, getting a blessing from the goddess herself. After all these brands represent a particular goddess. His brand represented Tyra Alcius, the lowest one. He later explained that as we go down the list, the strength of the goddess and area of the continent increases. We were currently in Alcius.

Pity I didn't have a soul contract. I guess I am not a chosen hero or whatever I wished I was. That's a bummer. It seems that they appear on different body parts according to the goddess your contract is with. Barren tried his best to explain it to me but I got the impression that even he was not fully aware of how it works. Hence I didn't question him any further.

Again, I ran out of time as the moon showed up. But today we didn't stop to sleep. He asked me to sleep in the cart and he would be awake in case I need anything. When I asked if he was gonna rest or not, he smilingly explained that he would rather stay awake all night so that they could reach Celest early so that he could crash in his friend's inn there than sleep on a rock under this cold conditions. I saw the point in his argument but also felt sad cause I couldn't be of any help. Seriously, my incapability to assist him was eating me alive. And hence I slept cursing myself a good night as I curled in my sleeping bag hoping for a good and refreshing tomorrow. I was a bit sad too as my journey with Baren would soon come to an end.