Yan Yan

The next day, the young girl woke up as she looked around her surroundings. She saw nothing and remembered the things that happened last night. Her tears suddenly fell as realization dawned on her. Her grandfather was now gone, she didn't know what had happened but she clearly remembered his words, "Survive my dear! Follow your instinct for tomorrow will be the day for you to live alone. Goodbye, my dear!"

She sobbed but suddenly jolted when she heard a sound coming from the haystacks not far from her, she looked at it and saw the haystacks moved for a while before stabilizing. She then remembered that there was someone there last night. She moved closer and removed the haystacks covering the person, "WAAAAAAAAH!"

Lander suddenly woke up, there he saw in front of him was a young girl screaming covering her face with her two hands. "WAAH! Wait... What? Why are shouting?"

"You... you .... you," the young girl turned her back on him as she pointed at his body.

Only then did Lander realize that he was fully naked, he got embarrassed as he quickly put on a new set of dry-fit clothes that were still wet that he got from his traveling bag. This time he was wearing black dry-fit jogging pants and a gray sleeveless shirt. After he got fully dressed, he embarrasly apologized, "I'm sorry! I didn't intend to do that."

The young girl kept quiet before speaking while still showing her back to Lander, "What happened to my grandfather?"

Lander felt pity hearing the question. He was baffled whether to tell her the truth or not. But soon he decided to tell her everything. It was her right to know. So he went in front of the young girl and hugged her before telling her the things that happened last night.

Before Lander dozed off last night, the heavy rain stopped and he heard the old man leaving the stable. After a while, he heard a conversation which shocked him. The old man told the imps that he was the last human remaining in this town and everyone else fled. He also told the imps that his masters told him that they would come back to this town after two days in the middle of the night. He tricked them by saying that they shouldn't burn the houses and use this as a trap to capture more humans.

The imps believed everything he said. The leader of the imps was delighted hearing everything so he told the old man that he would give him a quick death and would not eat him but instead burn his body. After that, the imps left the town with a sinister laugh. Only then did Lander realize the words of the old man.

Upon hearing the story, the young girl wailed under Lander's chest. It took her a long time before she became calm. Lander assisted her to a seat before leaving her, "I'm hungry, I'll just look around the houses for food so we can eat."

The young girl didn't speak so Lander decided to leave her for the time being. Knowing that he still has two days before the so-called imps return, he has to stock foods before leaving but before that, he has to fill their tummy. He was not alone now, although he didn't want to be burdened by a young girl but remembering how the old man sacrificed himself for their survival, he couldn't let his hope down. He was not the kind of person who doesn't know how to reciprocate gratitude.

Before leaving, he noticed the tattoo on the back of his palm. He tried to remove it but his effort was futile. But because he was too hungry, he didn't mind it for a while.

He went out and was shocked when he saw the place. Then there he noticed some of the houses were destroyed. Aside from that, he noticed that this is not the typical kind of house you can find on Earth, "Sigh, so this is not Earth?"

As he was shocked seeing the place, his stomach grumbled and so he searched the area for an hour, especially the kitchen and he was lucky to find meats, and alcoholic beverages that he couldn't recognize and there were also some vegetables and fruits. He took all these things but was disappointed not to find any rice grains. He didn't also find any other recipes such as vinegar, soy sauce, tomatoes, garlic, and other basic kitchen seasonings but he didn't mind for there was salt, at least.

Lander was a decent cook, he learned cooking from his uncle when he was still seven years old and daily practices his cooking skills. He even experimented with some recipes for his cooking.

He brought the vegetables and sliced them thinly. After that, he put the pan on the fireplace. It was a good thing that the meat had fats so Lander separated the fats from the meat and used it as oil. After some time, he then added the meat and made it crispy. Then he set it aside. He then used a wok to boil the meat with bones and added some salt and a few vegetables he cut. This was a simple soup he made with only a little bit of ingredients. Waiting for it to boil, he again put the pan on the fireplace, added vegetables, and sauteed it.

After cooking he went to the young girl and gave her some, "I don't know the feeling of losing someone but your grandfather didn't give his life up just for you to cry and sob all the time. He gave his life for us to survive."

Then Lander sat beside her and devoured his food in an instant, "Yeah! That was a great meal. I should go and grab alcohol before leaving."

Before he left, he turned a glimpse at the young girl who hadn't started eating yet, "The food will not be as delicious when it isn't hot."

When he went back to the young girl, there he saw her eating nonstop as if she hadn't eaten for quite some days.

"Delicious!" She exclaimed while wiping the side of her mouth.

Lander found it funny, "Seems like you haven't eaten for days? There is still food left if you want."

The young girl turned around as he saw Lander smiling, and then she blushed. But Lander just shrugged and sat beside her as he gulped a volume of the alcoholic beverage. He then put the jar of this beverage in front of them, he asked, "What's your name by the way?"

The young girl stared at the jar of alcohol, although she knew that it was the kind of drink that her masters daily consume that is not good for her age, she hurriedly picked up the jar and drank the whole content of it while Lander was caught off guard by her action.

The young girl was not from around the area, they just arrived here yesterday from the mining site. So even though she knew what kind of drink she consumed and the effects of it, she still drank it. She was too shy to ask for water from Lander.

Lander faced palm as he saw the young girl's face turn red. Lander knew that was a strong alcoholic beverage compared to gin, "You shouldn't have drunk that."

"Name..... Yan... " Moments passed when the little girl tried to tell her name then she felt hotness all over her body.

"You should just sleep," Lander said as he carried her into one of the rooms and laid her to bed. Yan feeling tipsy also drowsed off after feeling the comfortable bed.

Lander then remembered the things about what happened last night. He was sure that he was on Earth but based on the conversations he had heard and the sight he saw this morning, a part of him believed that he was not on Earth. He had to know where he was. This was the only way for him to go home to his uncle and his cousin. But before we went out, he took out the clothes from his traveling bag and dried them under the sun.

Then he searched the area until dawn to look for clues, unfortunately, the books he collected were things related to smithing, taming, and potionery. But after reading these three books he was now sure that this place was not Earth. He saw the lists of the metals, ores, and items in the smithing book and found out that there were similarities on Earth but there were items in the book he found odd like meteorite stone, volcanic stone, and some others.

When he also read the taming book he was astounded as he saw the lists of animals to tame - wolves, bears, griffins, sphynx, dragons, phoenix, and other mythical creatures.

Also reading the third book he read the names of potions: sleeping potion, paralysis potion, poison potion, aphrodisiac potion, love potion, crazy potion, and many other potions he couldn't understand.

He could only sigh as he went back to the young girl. But as he was going back, he saw a man going up the second floor where the young girl was sleeping. He panicked and rushly went to the second floor but he did it with caution. He was a thief and a fighter, he knew that the second the man noticed him, everything might be over for the young girl.

"Hmmm, finally I never thought that I would see you unharmed despite those evil imps last night, now I can have my way with you." The man said as he licked his lips staring at the sleeping young girl.

But as he was about to do something to the young girl, he felt a pain on the back of his head before he collapsed.

Lander hit the man's nerve point with his fist. He learned this thing from a man who used to be a monk, and he used it when he was in the streets fighting for survival. He then carried this man and tied him up into a chair.

After this, Lander heard another sound from the room where Yan Yan was staying. He rushed there only to see Yan Yan holding her forehead while throwing up. Lander then went to grab her water to drink.

"My head hurts, everything around me is spinning." The young girl growled after she drank the water.

"The effects of too much alcohol," Lander told her while rubbing her back. Looking at her, he remembered her name was Yan but he decided to give her a new name. A new name that would mean a new fate. And whether he liked it or not, he had to take care of this girl.

"We should change your name to Yan Yan as it symbolizes a new beginning for you," Lander declared as she continued rubbing her back and tried to put her to sleep. He didn't even ask about her opinion about her name. Yan Yan lay down immediately which made her dress in a mess and it was able to show her beautiful thigh.

"How old are you by the way?" Lander asked another question when he noticed the tattoo on her thigh.

"Ten years old," Yan Yan replied as she coughed and wiped the area around her mouth when she suddenly saw her dress below her private part being ripped.

"Whaa... What... What are you doing?" Despite being nauseous, Yan Yan asked with fear as she tried to go away from Lander.

Lander was shocked when he saw that they had a similar tattoo, 'Coincidence? I think not! I don't even know how I suddenly have a tattoo.'

Then he went out of the room and found another garment, he also brought a jar of water and gave it to Yan, "I'm sorry, please get back to sleep."