“That…that’s one hell of a story,” Myr said as Max finished. He had told her everything. He told her about being a human from Earth, about suddenly finding himself in the desert oasis, about living there for over a thousand years, and how he was now looking for answers.
“Don’t believe me?”
“Sort of? I’ve definitely never seen or heard of something like you before, so that alone is pretty strong proof. It’s just, the idea that there's, what, an infinite desert hidden beneath the ocean and you've lived for almost a millennium and a half?” she shrugged. “I don’t know, it’s hard to tell what parts to believe.”
“No, I get that. Honestly, there have been plenty of times in the past where I wondered if I’m just in a coma or something.”
“And now?”
He shrugged. “I’ve been in here so long that I’ve just stopped caring. Either my coma isn’t ending soon and I may as well look for answers to kill time, or this is something supernatural. In which case, I absolutely need to find answers.” He turned to Myr. “And on that note, what’s your story, and what is this place?”
“Well, my story isn’t all that special. I’m a traveling merchant, buying and selling just about anything. Most of what I’ve got is food, but I’ve also got various odds and ends that most people need and even some rarer stuff for those with enough coin.” She grinned. “I even managed to get a few bolts of luxury fabric from the last town I was in that’ll make me a ton of money!”
“Fabric? I’m guessing you mean something like that woven metal you’re wearing?”
“Yeah,” she said as she pulled slightly on the collar of her shirt. “This is just steel though, the stuff I’ve got to sell is genuine gold. It’s super soft so it’s pretty popular among nobles. I’m hoping I can get the local lord of the next town to buy my stock.” Her excited expression quickly shifted to one of curiosity as she looked at him. “Say, I know you said things from Earth usually aren't made of metal, but if it’s not that then what is it?”
“I think this is made of cotton, which is a kind of plant.”
“Oh, so it’s like titanium then.”
“People grow titanium here?”
“Yeah?” she waved her arm around them. “What do you think all of this is?”
Max was surprised. Titanium might not have been too rare on Earth, but it was an artificial alloy that you couldn’t find in nature, and yet here it was literally a kind of wild grass that seemed to grow everywhere.
Max shook his head. “Okay, as interesting as that is, can we get back on topic?”
“Right right.” Myr rubbed her chin as she thought about what to talk about, considering he literally knew nothing about this world and would even need common sense explained to him. “Well, for starters this world is called Exim, and it consists of a large landmass surrounded by vast oceans. Everything here is made of some kind of metal or mineral, with none of the ‘organic’ materials you’ve described. With that said, there are distinctions between living and non-living materials, so would that count as organic?”
Max opened his mouth to reject the idea, but paused as he thought more about the question. “...I think it might? Unless I’m remembering it wrong the definition of organic is just ‘living’ and we are talking about living things, just not the things I’m used to.”
“So organic metals and minerals then,” Myr decided before continuing. She explained that the continent was divided into seven different nations that had existed for thousands of years, their borders formed and maintained not by conflict but by gulfs, mountain ranges, ravines, and deserts that made each country equally unasailable.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
The sole exception to the was the nation that stood at the center of the continent, Praesidia, which rose to prominence over a thousand years ago after an event called the Great Disaster.
“Supposedly, there was a mighty demon that slaughtered it’s way across Exim, reducing everything and everyone it came across to rubble. There are some who even say that the six coastal nations weren’t separated before the Disaster and that it was an attack from the demon that reshaped the continent and created the current borders.”
“Is that the official story?” Max asked, skeptically. “That the Disaster was some kind of monster?”
“More or less. I’ve heard some people say that it was a drought or a famine, but others will say that those were just the repercussions of the demon’s rampage.” Myr shrugged. “Personally, I think it was a huge war over the territory at the center of the continent, and the nations just want to bury it in history.”
“...When exactly did it happen?”
“What, the Great Disaster?”
“Yeah. You said it was over a thousand years ago, can you be more specific?”
Myr shook her head. “Sorry, I don’t know. I’ve only ever heard people give the estimate.”
Max frowned, but kept his thoughts to himself. “Okay, so where are we right now? It’s one of the coastal nations right?”
“Yeah. Right now we’re in Osidenis, the country furthest to the west.” She pointed towards the road, in the direction they had come from. “This road connects to Orsus, one of the largest seaside cities in all of Exim, and is responsible for a lot of fishing and deep sea mining.”
“So where are we headed?”
“First is a small town called Rikers, but once we rest up there I’m headed for Llonis, the second biggest city in Osidenis. It’s basically a midpoint between Orsus and Halus, the nation’s capital. On top of that, a lot of nearby towns and villages do business there, so if you’re looking for information Llonis will be a good place to start.”
“That’s good, but… how the hell am I even supposed to do that?” Max had a few ideas of what to look into, but he had no experience in gathering information like this. All he could think of was asking around, but not only would pestering people like this seem like a bad idea the mysteriousness of the Great Disaster made him feel like asking questions would draw bad attention to himself.
On top of that, Max was unnatural by the standards of Exim. Myr was being very kind to him, but he knew for sure that others would be either put off by him or try to catch him as some kind of exotic animal.
“Why don’t you try joining the Adventurers Guild?”
Max looked at her in surprise. “You guys have adventurers here?”
“Of course.” Myr’s brow furrowed. “Is that not a thing on Earth?”
“Only in fiction. Let me guess, being an adventurer involves fighting a lot of monsters?”
“There’s a bit more to it than that, but that is the thing most adventurers are famous for. There’re a lot of places in Exim that are either abandoned or too dangerous for people to settle down in, but sometimes those dangerous places are the only places you can find certain things, like how pyrite can only be mined in Kyan’s most volcanic regions.”
“So adventurers are just the people crazy enough or tough enough to go to these dangerous places and survive?” Max looked at her skeptically. “You really think that’s a good idea?”
Myr shrugged. “I mean, personally I think adventuring is too risky for any sane person, but you’re way stronger than me or any other toran.
“Toran?” Max asked.
She blinked. “That’s what I am, a toran, did I not mention that?”
“No.”
“I could’ve sworn I did… whatever. The point is you’re far stronger than someone your size has any right to be, definitely strong enough to be an adventurer.”
“I mean, you didn’t seem to be having that much trouble lifting way more than me,” he said, unable to accept the claim that he was stronger than torans at a third of their size.
“Yeah, but that’s just because my arms are long enough to carry that many sticks. Were you struggling with even the largest of them?”
Max’s silence was enough of an answer. While he did have trouble moving the stones at times, it was because his small stature made holding them awkward. At no point did he strain himself because of their weight.
“Okay, but what about my appearance? Being the only human in all of Exim is sure to cause trouble.”
“From what I've seen, lots of adventurers are pretty unique, so being from another world shouldn’t be too bad. If you really need to I can get you some gear to cover up with. And being an adventurer is a perfect excuse for traveling around and asking weird questions.”
Max didn’t fully believe that people would be so accepting of him being human, but some kind of disguise might work. He couldn’t do much for his height, but if adventurers were as strange as Myr says then that might be alright.
“It’s not like I have many other options.”
Max made his choice. Once they reached Llonis, he would become an adventurer.