It was bright and early when I woke up, the early air was chilly and the sun didn't reach me through the trees except in a very few spots. It was a rare peaceful moment, the first one after…

The memories started crashing down on me, and I had to shiver. I started rewatching my memories in my mind, and I started thinking about my own actions… I had not let anything stop me, I adapted almost unnaturally quickly. It was odd, how fast I changed into the brute of a man during my time in this forest, how fast I started dealing with the isolation inside the facility to stop myself from going insane… To think, I used to be a professional boxer before all this… But the change of how I acted did seem unnatural. It was almost as if there was something-

“What are you doing up there, boy!” I heard a voice ring out in the quiet sounds of the morning, and I shrugged my warm furs and my sleepiness off with a groan as I realized that Omnikia was up and ready to start the day. I leaned over the edge of my treetop platform, feeling myself shiver because of the cold as my torn clothes didn't stop the morning air from reaching my skin.

“Morning!” I shouted down at the figure of Omnikia, who was looking up at me in what I could tell were his usual white monk robes. “Why are you in the tree, young Arnold!?” I heard a shouted reply, and I could see that by his face he was partly amused, but mostly confused. His question gave me pause though, ‘Why am I in the tree?’ I asked myself silently, ‘I don't really need to sleep in a tree anymore…’

“It's just what I did in the forest!” I shouted back in a way of explanation, realizing that I was a bit too tired to think about sleeping places to realize that I could have slept anywhere else.

My answer made him pause, and I could see that he was muttering something to himself, though he was looking down so I couldn't really see his face enough to tell what he was saying. “You slept in the Eastern Woods?” He shouted a question back at me, almost unbelieving. “Well, yes!” I shouted back, “I had to sleep somewhere, and I didnt want to sleep on the ground with the animals!” I gave a rough explanation before realizing that I should probably get down and talk with him on the ground instead of yelling, so I started carefully climbing down the branches of the tree.

While I climbed down the tree, I felt my body waking up quickly with the blood rushing through my body and I could feel the rest of The Pack wake up as well with a happy greeting from them. ‘Having summons is an interesting experience…’ I thought to myself as I grinned and sent my own little good morning through the mental connection that summons all had. ‘They are always there, and ready for a fight too, but I don't actually feel any different when I don't think about it.’ I think, as I put a little bit of my attention that is not climbing down the big rough branches of the old tree to take a look into my Soul Space.

There was Alpha, seeming to watch what was happening around me with keen senses. But the other summons clearly didn't really pay attention… or do anything in particular really. Alpha did seem different from any of my other summons, though maybe it was just his natural attitude that sets him apart. Who knows?

But the rest of The Pack was all good, the other four wolves and Alpha, the deer, the bear, the lizard, the gorilla and the newest addition of the nemean lion were all chilling in my Soul Space, they were at top form though they were a little restless.

I reached the bottom of the tree and I jumped onto the ground with a quiet and dull thud on the loose dirt ground at the base of the tree and I turned to Omnikia again. He was standing straight and quietly looking to me, his eyes searching me as if he was thinking deeply about a question that he had. “How long were you inside the Eastern Woods, young Arnold?” He asked, breaking the silence almost the instant I turned around to look at him.

“I honestly don't know…” I said honestly with a sigh, recalling the time I spent in the woods and making a count in my head. “I think around two weeks?” I said eventually, and gave a nod to the old man with a wince at his surprised expression. “How did someone as young as you survive that long on your own in the Eastern Woods?” He asked, saying it seriously but also looking intrigued.

His question did give me pause however. Why would he react like that? I mean, yes it was hard to survive and there were several times that I almost died… Actually thinking back on it his reaction makes complete sense. “I think it was mostly luck.” I admit with a rough smile, realizing with amusement that I was in fact the exact opposite of ‘lucky’, but he returned the smile easily. “You must be very lucky then.” Omnikia said with an impressed and approving nod, “Not many could say they survived for that long in the Eastern Woods.”

I just gave a light chuckle at that, and shrugged the comment off.

“We will be heading into the village today, after a quick morning meal.” Omnikia said, before starting to walk back to his little house and causing me to follow with a wave of his hand. ‘I am going back into a.. Well, its probably not anything like a city from back home, but civilization at least.’ I thought to myself, feeling a mild sense of… not really dread, but unease and nervousness definitely. It had been what felt like a lifetime ago that I had been back in my apartment in Boulder City… Though it had probably only been a few months. ‘It's incredible how much one's life can change after being sucked into a portal that takes me to a different dimension, twice.’ I thought, joking a little darkly to myself.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

I walked behind Omnikia slowly, to let myself have some thinking room and to let Omnikia stay ahead with his slow walking pace. It was actually nice outside with the cool morning air and the bright colors that you only seemed to get during the early morning. We went inside his cottage after a few seconds of silent walking, Omnikia letting himself to the small wooden table which I noticed already had two spots set with a china bowl with something that looked like oatmeal and spoon. I sat down with Omnikia, looking at the food that was set on it with curiosity. It looked close to normal oatmeal, but the shape of the oats were different and they seemed to have a goldenish tint.

I just gave a mental shrug as I looked down at the meal. ‘New planet, new food…’ I thought to myself as I saw Omnikia take a bite of food and I scooped up a spoonful of the golden oatmeal and took a bite. My eyes widened slightly at the taste of this new oatmeal, it was not what I was expecting for it to taste like at all. It was sweet for one thing, not bland at all. It was like the oat equivalent was a combination of brown sugar, oats and strangely a little bit of strawberry and cinnamon. But it was not bad at all, in fact this was better than regular oatmeal.

While I ate this new food, enjoying every bite as I did, Omnikia spoke up. “Where are you from?” He asked me, looking at me from over his bowl of… I am going to call it sugar oats. Though that sounds like a modern brand of cereal.

His question did put me a little on guard though and I wondered what would happen if I just told him the truth about what was happening to me, but I just decided to answer vaguely. No harm in that…

“It's a long way away, you wouldn't know it.” I replied to Omnikia with a sense of homesickness as I said that, though he wouldn't know just how true my statement was. “Are you from a distant sect? You seemed unfamiliar with the history of the five sects when we talked yesterday.” He asked, seemingly not willing to let my vague answer get in the way. “Yes, you could say that I am.” I admitted easily, knowing that it would really tell the old man much and also knowing that it would explain a few different questions about my sudden appearance.

Omnikia nodded at that, though his face still showed curiosity as he looked over at me. “So, why did you come here, young Arnold?” He asked me without any preamble. That did give me pause, because I didn't really want to lie to this old man after he took me in as his apprentice ‘Battle Monk’ so I gave a sigh. “It wasn't really by choice.” I told the old man, and then thought I would explain a little more. “I was trying to survive out in the forest for a week before I saw the city in the mountain, so I started to travel to it to find civilization again. Then I found you and the lion.” I said, telling Omnikia part of my story while not mentioning anything from before I was brought to this planet.

Omnikia seemed satisfied with my explanation however and we continued our meal in silence.

The silence gave me time to really think about my choice to not tell Omnikia about the portal, or being from what I suspected was another universe. It did make me feel kind of bad, lying to the old man by not telling him about my past, but it felt right. It was almost an instinctive urge to not tell him about it, or something bad would happen. I trusted my instincts, and as I thought about what would happen if I just told the old man and he believed me… Well, the worst thing I could think of is that I end up dead and labeled an invader. Maybe I read and watched too much sci-fi and fantasy though.

Still… it's probably for the best.

I ate my breakfast in the small cottage with Omnikia in silence, my body and mind mostly at peace with the situation I was in for the first time since… well forever. This is like a dream really. Besides the ‘monsters trying to kill me’ thing. Magic, monsters, summons, a mysterious and potentially overpowered old teacher. Yup, this is practically a story book…

Breakfast was finished within a few minutes, and I cleaned and put away mine and Omnikia’s dishes. After that however, it was time to head into the nearby village, so I grabbed my rough survival pack and I walked to Omnikia who was standing ready to go with only a few pouches more than usual. “So, what are we going to the village for?” I asked Omnikia, having just realized that I didn't actually know why we were going in the first place.

He gave a bright smile at that question and he gestured for me to walk with him before he started to tell me. “It is time that I went on a shopping trip.” He said first then continued, saying with a backwards glance “And there are a few things that we need to do to get you into the tournament.”

I turned my head to him while we walked, “What kind of things?” I asked him curiously. “Well, we can't enter you into the Tournament looking like a beggar, can we?” He said with a chuckle, and I looked down at myself self consciously before letting out a short chuckle myself. I really did look like a beggar, didn't I? My clothes alone would let me into any homeless shelter.

We walked through the bright sunny path that cut through the trees for several minutes, and I couldn't help but notice the huge difference here from the main part of the forest. The trees were less tall, for one thing, but the main thing was all the life around us. There were bugs, birds and I swear I saw a mouse through the trees and other smaller plants and flowers. This part of the forest was entirely different from the deep Eastern Forests as Omnikia called it. More full of life, and definitely warmer and brighter. It made me wonder if this is how nature naturally looked on this world, or if the Eastern Woods were the norm on this planet.

Eventually we breached into the wide open grasslands out of the forest path, and we reached a large dirt road that led into a small but bright city with lots of cottages and houses all along the dirt roads and grass patches. I could also see that the mountains weren't very far from here at all, in fact it looked like the mountain was practically directly behind the village. “Welcome to the Green Valley Village.” Omnikia told me, with what I thought was pride in his voice.