It hadn’t taken that long since the duo entered the cabin to eat and pack. The food remained the same piece of bread and dried meat, it took a bit of water to be properly edible to Gilliam’s standard but it wasn’t bad. Especially not when considering that this was probably long-time storage-food.

Besides, he’s being fed for free, he’s in no position to complain. And yes, she was clearly doing this for her own long-term goal but for all intents and purposes she was feeding him for free.

The packing also didn’t take too long, in Gilliam’s case he was wearing everything he owned, Angela used a bit more time to get everything she needed in a backpack. She had given Gilliam a shoulder bag, something akin to a leather messenger bag that he could use to carry his own food and a few things he might want to bring.

He opted for one of her working knives, food of course and the magic book, but that was really it for him.

Looking over his clothing he was still in what he arrived in yesterday. Not certain how this world would handle a T-shirt and jeans he at least wanted to wash them. A second day in the same attire wasn’t the worst he had been through but he did consider how spoiled he normally was to just put on clean clothes fresh from the dryer.

“It will take us a few days to get to Che’or from here-” Angela explained as she was fastening some straps on her backpack. “-We’ll hunt on the way so don’t go eating all your food right away” she smiled as she pointed at Gilliam in an accusative way.

He had no response, he had realised that food was going to be problem for him, at least for a while.

“What are we going to do in Che-or?” Gilliam tried to replicate the name of the place, it sounded similar enough?

“Is that where the academy is?”

Angela shook her head as she lifted the backpack onto her back, fastening some straps around her hips.

“The academy is about two weeks on foot northwest from the Capital, so on the Northern isle. In Che’or we’ll teleport straight to the academy.”

Gilliam blinked his eyes twice, teleportation? That sounded both terrifying and amazing, the fantasy and sci-fi stories he had read and seen often had different thoughts and feelings about it, but to most fantasy nerds this was a very cool thing.

“We’re going to teleport?” he ended up voicing in a sort of hopeful tone.

“Yes, it’s a bit expensive but I prepared a token for when this day came” she smiles as she pats her thigh, most likely where the token was.

Though this was a good thing, travel wise, Gilliam was again feeling that he was being given too much. He had known her for less than a weekend and she had already pre-prepared for expensive travel. He kept reminding himself that she was getting something out of this as well as she continued explaining.

“We’ll pass through Geof’s farm and let him know that we’re leaving, he’ll take care of the cabin from there”. She had already opened the door and was on the way to leave by the time she had completed the explanation of their plan.

Gilliam didn’t have much of a choice than to follow Though he did feel a bit weird having her leave her cabin just like that she did seem really interested in doing this for herself, as she kept reassuring him.

In the end Gilliam decided to ignore those thoughts the best he could. Everytime that was brought up she seemed to have some plan that, yes, revolved around him but at the same time was for her own personal goals. Meaning it wasn’t too bad, right?

He didn’t like taking advantage of people like this but given how pushy she was, perhaps it was the other way around?

Shaking his head he couldn’t make sense of it at the moment, they apparently had days of walking ahead of them so he could talk it out as much as he wanted on the way.

Nodding at her tiny caretaker he exited the cabin with her and they set off to meet Geof!

This took about half a day, it was a surprisingly nice walk although a bit harder than expected due to the terrain. Gilliam thought to himself that he was way too used to the asphalt, concrete and stairs making up a relatively flat world. This path wasn’t even a path at all, it was just following Angela’s navigation which Gilliam could best explain as ‘somewhat that way’.

Given the terrain and how winded he got from just traversing, not much was done in the sense of smalltalk. He didn’t even get to take in the sights, not only due to the thick vegetation but also due to having to look where he placed his feet all the time. Originally he had planned to lightly train some spells as they walked, perhaps toy with some telekinesis or something but that there was no chance of that happening at all.

“I think we’ll take a break here” Angela started with a smile having heard Gilliam’s grunts and heavy breathing for... he forgot when that started so probably a while.

Just finding somewhere random and instantly plopping down he felt almost instant relief.

“I didn’t expect that we’d do a jungle hike right off the bat... I thought there was going to be at least some well-travelled path for us to walk along...” There was a hint of complaining in his voice, something she picked up on right away.

“Oh? We have some pampered cityboy here?” there was a clear taunting tone in her voice, like she wanted to try and hit a nerve or sorts to make some fun of.

“Yes, to a degree you don’t even understand.” Gilliam replied. He had not been in any cities in this world but if Earth’s own medieval time or if this was anything like stories and media then... Modern society was on an almost stupidly funny different level.

This did deflate her facial expression to a micro-pout, the joke was completely ruined with honesty.

“Well, don’t overdo it on food or water, we’re moving again in a few minutes”.

She took her backpack off, taking a small sip from the waterskin fastened to the side of it. She didn’t even look winded or even like she had been moving at all. No doubt from all her training but Gilliam did feel like this ticked his ego a little, the small girl a solid head shorter than him was doing much better than him physically... While carrying a backpack of stuff much larger than the one he was carrying. It all made sense logically but there was still something in the back of his head that made him sad.

The few minutes passed almost instantly for him as he saw her getting up and picking up the backpack again. He groaned as he got back to his feet, a little more than needed with a slight humorous tone to it. Given the little smirk on Angela she took the joke.

He was not in horrible shape, but he was not in good shape either, being a student in the world of computing was not known to passively increase your physical prowess.

They shared a nod and continued, returning to the same staring at the ground as they trekked through the jungle.

Suddenly Gilliam noticed something, he had taken a few steps on grass that didn’t have an abundance of roots and jungle in general. Lifting his head and looking around he saw that the jungle was clearing! He could see further, a large green field worthy of modern envy spread out in front of him.

There were some hills and non-jungle trees in the distance that mixed with the vegetation he came from, it seems they were leaving the dense jungle and entering something he was a bit more familiar with.

In the near distance there was a clear farm, a large barn-looking building connected to a large fenced field, surrounded by four ploughed fields where different colours of plants were growing, not far from the large building was a smaller more house-looking construction. It was a very stereotypical farm landscape.

“That’s where Geof lives-” Angela explained as she kept walking at the same pace as before. “-He’s a bit... tactless and straight forward, so don’t hold that against him” her tone of voice hinted that he might be a bit weird, she was facing away so Gilliam couldn’t confirm if she hinted anything else with that.

“I’ll live.” he replied with a pant. They might have just left the jungle but he was still not used to this kind of distance trekking. Currently he was just happy being able to look anywhere else than his feet.

First now he realised how clean the air felt. He hadn’t considered it in the jungle, though it was cleaner there as well. It was something else in the open landscape where the wind had been a bit more free but the air felt so clean, so crisp. It was nothing close to the dense polluted one back home. Since he lived in the city he didn’t have the best comparing point but it was still very nice. He did notice that there weren’t any hints of salt in the air, even though she pointed near the coast during her explanation. Perhaps the area she pointed at was larger than he thought?

Not really putting too much thought in that at the moment he just followed her to the goal, but now he could take in the sights a bit more.

Though that said, besides being large open fields, looking perfect for a field to his untrained eyes, there wasn't really that much to look at. Just enjoying the possibility to lift his head for now he followed his friend.

They got closer to the farm and a few more things had started coming into view. There were some farm animals doing... farm animal things around. Most were grazing, some were running about, some were walking towards them looking curious. The only thing really sticking out was a beefcake of a man pulling his own plough in one of the fields. That seems to be where they were heading. The man looked like he was a bunch of toned muscles grown sentient.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

It was somewhat intimidating at a distance, but it became a bit stranger as they got closer.

Angela shouted Geof’s name as they were in shouting distance, the man stopped pulling the plough and looked towards the sound. First then Gilliam noticed his horns.

As they got even closer he got a better look on him. The man looked normal, to use that term, his skin was suntanned from working outside since the dawn of time. He was incredibly well built, looked like a pleasant man to spend time with but the thing that stuck out was the horns growing out of his forehead to the sides, first growing sideways before they curved to points pointing forwards, much like a bull. He wore a brown shirt with the arms rolled up and some simple brown pants, both seeming to be some soft leather.

Gilliam couldn’t do much but stare, this was his first interaction with any non-pure human, he remembered that Angela did mention in a sentence that half-beasts were a thing. There was so much else to consider that he didn’t even realise it at the time, Angela was unique enough from before so this just didn’t register.

“Afternoon, Angela!” The man spoke louder than he needed to by two levels. His voice was like that of a bass-voiced narrator, the creamy voice that would have your ears melt.

“Hello, Geof:” Her volume was normal, at least hinting that he was just being loud. “I have come to call in that favour.” She spoke like this code was the most natural thing ever.

“Oh, so that dream of yours is real? This is the man?” Geof sounded like he knew about the prophecy, just not like he believed it.

Angela corrected him when he said dream, interjecting the word “Prophecy” as soon as he said it, but he didn’t seem to pay it any mind and just completed his question.

“Yes, he is.” she changed tone from the slight annoyance of him not using the correct terms to answering him instead, she turned towards Gilliam as she confirmed Geof’s question.

Both of them ended up staring at him for a few seconds, which put Gilliam on the spot, what should he do with this?

“Nice to meet you.” escaped his lips without him really thinking, it was more an attempt to break the awkward silence that was starting.

“Hmm... If you are the hero as Angela claims, I suppose I should be honoured or something.” there was some severe disbelief in his voice, he rubbed his chin with his mudstained fingers, leaving a patch of dirt behind.

There was also a questioning look in his eyes, not just physically looking down on Gilliam but metaphorically.

Gillam wanted to answer, but was actually a bit intimidated, this felt like the kind of person that could punt him into low-orbit. And that was before he considered the concept of horns on a person.

Angela seemed to have picked up on this and continued the conversation.

“Yes, I left the house, if you could do as we agreed that would be great”

Geof turned his focus over to her instead, letting Gilliam relax a bit.

“Yeah, that shouldn’t be a problem. Should I just sell the books or you want me to keep them somewhere?”

“Just sell them, or keep them, just keep all of it. I won’t return to that place” She shrugged at the question, it seems like she really didn’t care. Perhaps books weren’t as expensive in this world as Gilliam first thought?

They continued their conversation about plans and what to do with things for a few minutes, in between that talk there was an attempt for a date from Geof’s angle but this was quickly shot down. Gilliam felt like the third wheel when two close friends met, which was pretty much what this was, there was nothing he could do and he just had to wait.

So wait he did.

Looking around and taking in the farm it was interesting how similar this place was to Earth, the same rough construction on the barn and house, the same rough design for the plough, the same... Well, everything. The thing that really set this place apart at the moment was really Geof himself, but if you removed his horns he could just be some big strong man, perhaps adapting to this world would be easier than originally expected.

After a while of catching up, discussion about what to do with the various things in the cabin, and the cabin itself, Angela decided to change the topic to them moving on. They still had a few days of travel before they got to Che’or so they should get moving.

“I think that’s about it-” Angela changed the topic with the subtlety of a slap to the face. It was abrupt enough that Geof clearly raised an eyebrow from whatever they were talking about before, Gilliam wasn't paying that much attention.

“-I think we’ll have to just catch up another day.” She grinned at her friend who returned with a grin of his own.

“Yes, let’s do that.” he said in a commanding voice, angling it like an order more than the suggestion that sentence tends to be. Slapping her shoulder with enough force that would probably floor Gilliam, she stood fine and just smiled warmly in return. “Just don’t let it take years.” he added.

Gilliam didn’t consider that before. How was communication in this world? On Earth you were just a phone call or some form of text message away from getting hold of almost anyone in the world, no matter the distance. How was it here? Could magic do the same?

He would have to ask her about this once they got to a more traversable road on their hike.

“I can’t guarantee anything, sadly.” Angela replied with her smile fading. Though Geof was a bit pushy about the date thing they still looked like they had a good tone going. And given that it might be years between meeting friends Gilliam could understand the tone change.

Some goodbyes later and the two found themselves on the road again. Just this time on an actual road.

It seems that there was semi-steady traffic to Geof’s farm, so there was an actual dirt road to walk along now! This made Gilliam oddly happy, he could look elsewhere than his feet, he didn’t have to stress to just move forward. He felt a bit weird at how happy this made him.

Though all this, Angela was still the one leading, the main change is that this time Gilliam could walk beside her and not follow behind her.

Gilliam started up some talks this time, asking about her personally as well as the world as a whole, it really helped that she knew he was literally from another world. No ridicule for not knowing the basics and the ‘everyone knows this’ kind of tone.

He didn't learn much more about her than she had already explained, most of her life has been in training after she came of age, she got the prophecy at a young age so she had a life goal for the last 10 years, she got the first vision when she was 6 but it was not until this became a repeating thing at the age of 8 that they found out that it was a vision and not just a dream. So the last 10 years she has done different kinds of training like the academy for her magic and various trainers for her martial arts. She said it herself that her life has been somewhat boring from another person's viewpoint, she never considered it herself as she felt like she’s living for her dream.

He ended up thinking her ‘boring life’ was rather commendable, she had a clear goal in mind. As a now ex-student Gilliam also had a sort of clear goal but not properly, he was taking an education to see where to go from there with it, she had a proper goal and a dream within a dream.. Or something, due to following the prophecy.

He still hadn’t gotten used to the thought that this much revolved around him, but he ended up with the thoughts that he’d just have to see where this went. If nothing else there was the whole magic thing, something he really liked a lot.

Asking more about the world she gave him some general pointers and concepts, the important thing he took from it was a deeper explanation on something she touched on in the first introduction moment, his kind of noble status.

It seems that here in V’ida just being a mage puts you at a higher social rank than non-mages, you were literally a noble by default. The rank of noble was dependent on a lot of things, like what kind of mage you are, your power, how many elements you had and if you were a specialist or not.

In some cases, as a powerful and recognized mage you could do whatever you wanted to commoners without anyone caring, you might be questioned but a dumb comment about being looked at wrong could be enough. Naturally this changed if this person was under the protection of another mage, there was a whole different group of politics and rules when mages were involved. Not much different from the limited knowledge Gilliam had about the Samurai culture in Earth’s history.

Angela didn’t have all the specifics in mind, as she didn’t care for being crowned a noble or not, though she had that ability as a mage it was very weak. Since she could only heal herself and not properly show it, or even make a show of force, she was at the very bottom of the mage hierarchy, meaning that any social power she could obtain was simply due to the grace of her fathers’ reputation, something she wanted to get out of.

The rest of the walk was filled with small talk, a pleasant calm on the way towards Che’or.