The Cheshire Cat Does Not Mourn [Part 2]

Dust and tree debris went everywhere. I spat the gritty dust out of my mouth and nose, while waving even more of it away from my face. Even though my eyes were open, I couldn’t see anything inside this decrepit shrine. I then did what I always do: flood my brain with hundreds of trivial questions; All about this mysterious shrine: Who built it? Is it abandoned? Why was it abandoned? How long has it been here? Why did the cat come here? Even though I’ve never explored beyond the campus grounds, I’m quite certain that I would have heard something about this shrine at some point during my time here.

As I carefully walked around the dark room, my eyes started to focus in the dark. There stood the cat on the edge of what I thought was a stone well with jagged rocks sticking out at the base, with a dark wooden top. The cat was very skilled at distracting me from my questions. I stepped closer to it when it suddenly fell back into the well. Without a thought, I jumped forward to save it, but when I tried to catch it, the damp and brittle edge of the ill-fated well crumbled.

I fell in the well and as I fell, the cat vanished. Then in this instance of life, and likely death, I was surprised that the wonders of my spontaneous act didn't spawn thousands of questions. No. I had but one thought.

“Hopefully, they won’t waste too much time looking for my body.”

⧫⧫⧫

I opened my eyes to a space that had so much darkness, I couldn’t see a thing. I knew that I was lying flat on my back, likely in some contorted posture, so I just laid there. Soon my eyes adjusted, as my mind did, I must have lost consciousness. I then slowly sat up. It looks like what I fell into was indeed a well. I tried to concentrate on my situation, but an incessant, mournful howl filled this dark space, wind whistling across the opening above like someone blowing over a glass bottle's mouth. Breathing felt like a wet cloth forced over my face, heavy and needlessly difficult. This space has so much oppressive moisture that it has already seeped into my clothes… I had no signs of injuries. Good… With the dim light that I had, I noticed some of my things that fell out of my backpack so I gathered myself and carefully picked up my things, putting them in my backpack exactly how I had it. Perfect and neat. How all things should be.

I look to the mouth of the well: That shouldn’t be. I thought. There was more light than I realized coming from it. I went inside of the shrine and it was nearly nighttime. There shouldn’t be any light coming from the top. Unless, there were holes on the roof of the shrine and I was unconscious for several hours. I shouldn't ask too many questions and just focus on getting out of this well. I found some thick vines or tree roots around the walls of the well. I pull on one to test it, then I step on a stone that was poking out a little. I secured myself before climbing because my backpack was kinda heavy.

Cautiously crawling out of the well, making precise and secure movements. The closer I got to the top, the more confused I got. I started to hear a light rumble of voices. I was quickly struck with bright sunlight before I crawled my way out of the well. I blindly flung my leg over to the edge of the well to then firmly plant my foot on the ground. Once my vision returned, I completely halted my movements. Another primal instinct quickly ignited: To survive.

Hesitant.

Bewildered.

Absolute incomprehension.

And… So. Many. Questions.

I have now found myself in a completely different location from where I just was. Along with that, there were many wandering and unfamiliar eyes suddenly staring at me. To add to my already bewildered mind, I’d say ‘people’ but that might not be the right word to describe what I was witnessing. Humanoid, at the very least. I saw that many have horns of the sort: Markhor, Deer, Addaz, Sheep-like. Even fantastical ones like Oni from Japanese Folklore. Aside from the intimidating display for horned people. There were some without any, instead they had a Germanic edge, as in they looked like the atypical Elf creature. Still with a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Yet some of these people had more opulence to their stature. Which is quite interesting to me. I can’t help but wonder if some inherently have lower class status just from the species they are.

To make it more challenging for processing this new intake of information, the possibility to narrow a strict set of species just from observations and no prior knowledge would be next to impossible. Even though I can distinguish at least two. There were still plenty of others that seem to have a mix of the two identifiable ones that I can see, and then some without any of said features. Those I’d consider to be the closest to the human form.

Again, there was so much information to process, I didn’t know what to do. I just slowly slid out of the well and sat on the dirty brick ground. I can only imagine the strange facial expressions I had. They would have likely fit the strange sounds that my vibrating throat kept making. All I could do in the moment was stare blankly at the passersby, with my backpack against the well. Sitting there with my hands feeling the cold, coarse brick ground, I slowly realized that my clothes were going to get dirty. That thought was able to get me to stand up. Slowly. I then patted myself off of any dust or dirt.

"I guess this is what happens when one indulges in curiosity." I mumbled to myself.

----A-R-I-v-e----

“Wha… what was…”

I looked around for a moment, in search of the gentle voice hugging my ear. No matter, this is new and unfamiliar land; land I suddenly found myself in. With this rush of adrenaline, powered by instinct starting to fade. I had a small sense of relief. It's good to know that I am still somewhat normal, with a somewhat reasonable reaction. I then recognized that I had to assess this situation as much as possible and consider all of my options. This is the time for my true rational, analytical thinking to arise. First of all, some kind of festival was taking place. Which I like because I didn’t stand out too much. Walking around and getting a closer look, there were booths everywhere that varied in size. They appear to be some type of club or association that are recruiting potential members.

I used the word club because this atmosphere is reminiscent of my first years at Stanford, when there were many clubs and groups practically begging myself and others to join. Especially the sororities and fraternities. I had a bit of déjà vu with the situation, but then I was abruptly triggered by the memory of something very important to me.

“Damn it! I’m going to miss class orientations next week!”

This realization made me groan in anger, covering my face with both hands in defeat. I was loud enough to make the wandering people look at me, but I didn’t care, my outburst was justified.

“Well, there goes any chance of perfect attendance… Oh well, not much I can do about it right now I guess.” I sighed sadly, but still frustrated. One of the few joys in my life, stripped away. Without any remorse. I then had to collect myself and retraced my thought process.

It appears likely that being part of a group is a common way of life in this world, or at least this region of it. Typical, not much different from my world. Nevertheless, it might be advantageous for me to join one. The only question is. Which one? Looking over the groups, I dismissed most of them because of the brutish image they clearly like to boast. Then one person at a booth caught my attention.

“Pathetic.”

I muttered under my breath, as my face contorted into disgust. Someone groveling at the recruiter’s feet completely begging to join. How irritating. Wanting to be part of something so badly that you'd belittle yourself in front of a complete stranger and hundreds of bystanders. I got even more irritated. It became apparent there may be a likelihood to have a chance at a decent living in this world, one must be part of these groups. The rat race holds onto the common man even in this realm… Again, not much different from my world.

---N-e-a-R---

“What? There it was again…”

I quickly looked around in confusion. Then I thought: Cat Frankenstein, teleportation via well. I guess I shouldn't be surprised with ominous voices floating about. I looked around again to see if maybe the voice was just from one of the groups yelling. I soon got distracted by the many eccentric booths that felt like I was browsing at the mall. But then. One booth stood out a lot for me. It was much smaller than the others and had no remarkable features; I’m surprised I even noticed it. At that small booth, sat a lone individual with a dejected look. I should mention too that I believe the individual sitting at the booth is probably an elf, or something like that.