Chapter 12

Zeik dropped the large duffel bag slung across his back against a wall, and took a seat atop it. He rubbed his sore shoulders and breathed a sigh of relief.

Around a week ago, he had woken up in a basement of some sorts with only the memory of waking up and walking to school in the morning. Assuming he was kidnapped, he immediately jumped the first person that came into view, fully expecting to get completely stomped, which he was.

The man he attacked had pulled up a table, chair, and a bowl of fruit for some reason, and explained that while he had no idea who Zeik was, it appeared that Zeik had lost his memories, and must have been confused. Not feeling like he was missing anything, but still confused, Zeik confirmed that this was the case.

It was only later on that Zeik came across a mirror, and noticed that his brown hair had turned completely black, and his eyes bright blue. Not only that, his face, height, and even his spoken languages had changed. He assumed that the man had been speaking English, since he was able to understand and communicate just fine, but it was only after did he realize that whatever they were saying, it sounded nothing like English.

The man didn't explain much, but told Zeik to head head down a certain road to reach the Imperial Capital, where he hopefully could "find the truth behind." That was an odd way of wording it, but Zeik dismissed it as probably some quirky part of the language or the accent the man was speaking in.

It was really only after he had been long on his way that Zeik realized to ask the man's name. It seemed disrespectful for him to accept such hospitality, and even the supplies given him, without a proper thank-you.

Zeik stood up and stretched. He was in one of the neighboring towns to the Capital, according to the directions he was given. The journey there would take another week, or even two. Zeik was told to restock on supplies in this town, Horiad. He made a mental map of where the town was relative to the trail, and reminded himself to go back and repay the man once he had cleared up his own confusion.

Even after a week, Zeik found it hard to believe that he wasn't part of a skit or some very well-constructed dream. Even after pulling on his hair, poking at his eyes, and generally just causing a lot of unnecessary pain for himself, he still couldn't see how this black-haired, blue-eyed 15 year old who was probably a few inches shorter than him could be him. He even bothered to spend a full minute staring into the two bright orbs of light in the sky, just to make sure there actually were two.

Zeik once again went over every possible clue in his head, coming up blank for some three-digit-number amount of times in this past week. Rather than having no context at all, Zeik felt an odd emptiness whenever he did this, as if something was missing, and something big.

"Aaaagh!" Zeik kicked at the ground in frustration, drawing a few glances from people passing by. "Why can't I have J figure this out for me, too?"

Zeik realized that he had been a bit too dependent on J, his best friend. Not did Zeik turn to him at the first sign of any unfamiliar problem, he was so well-versed in all fictional genres that he probably could have gotten a doctrine in useless knowledge.

Though, this was so far-fetched, Zeik doubted that even J would be able to come up with a good line of action that quickly.

Zeik shook off the relief that was crawling up his back. J wasn't here with him right now, and this was something for him to figure out on his own. He picked his bag back up and kept walking, trying to find an inn to settle for the night before he's forced to camp out every night again. He was genuinely surprised that he hadn't been eaten by animals in his sleep yet.

Zeik took a look at the nearest inn on the road he was on, and cringed at the sight of the prices. He certainly had enough money to stay there for a night, but it didn't feel right to be doing that when he doesn't even have an income source.

"Let's see... I've got around 15 silvers and 41 coppers, and the cost is..." He muttered to himself. "five silver per night. A loaf of bread costs around 5 copper." That means each copper is around half a buck, and each silver is 100 coppers..."

Zeik's failed to multiply for a second, and he stopped thinking about everything else to focus on it.

"250 bucks a night!? Just how nice is this place?"

From the outside, this inn certainly didn't look all that special. It looked like something straight out of the Renaissance Festival that came rolling around once every year. Surely this place had different standards from the modern world, but that was damn expensive for just an average inn.

Zeik sighed. It looked like another day of sleeping in a tree or on a rock somewhere.

Surely he wouldn't find some convenient noble offering him a place to stay anywhere near...

Right?

Zeik glanced around hopefully.

Right. There's no way it would be that easy.

As Zeik walked through the town, he closed off his nose and ears from the smells and sounds of the lively restaurants and taverns that lined the roads. He was provided enough dried meat for the 3-week journey, and he even bought some bread to go along with it. He didn't need things like a steak that costed a full silver to buy, as much as he wanted it.

Ah... but how tempting it was!

Zeik swallowed his saliva and set his sights back on the town's exit, which was just ahead. For him to be able to cross the entire town in a single day, either he's gotten reasonably faster or the towns are smaller than what he'd been used to.

On his way out, there was no "come back soon!" or "thanks for visiting!" sign that one would usually see as they're exiting a city, state, or country. Zeik thought that this felt kind of cold, but then again, maybe he was just used to everything being too warm and comfortable, sleeping at night especially.

Bit by bit, Zeik's journey Horiad had built up his frustration. Each free moment he had, thoughts were running through his head, each reminding him that this was not where he was supposed to be, and that he had absolutely no clue why he was here. As he exited Horiad, having gained nothing from the town, he drove his fist into the nearest tree, and fresh drops of blood rolled down between his fingers and dripped onto the ground.

Annabelle, his girlfriend. J, his best friend. Terrell, his little brother. Where were they now? What were they doing? Zeik slammed his fist into the tree's rough bark again, gritting his teeth against the pain that shot up his arm. He'd been away from them for at least a week. How much was he missing?

"Mom and dad are going to worry if I don't head home soon." Zeik told himself, punching the innocent tree again. "They're going to worry, but..."

Why? Why did he have to be here, of all places? Where was this, what caused this, and most importantly whose fault was it? Was he standing in a different world, or an alternate reality?

And most importantly...

"How the hell am I supposed to get back?"