Chapter 2: The First Step

Hiroshi slowly opened his eyes.

A blue sky welcomed him, vast and infinite. The white clouds—few, light, perfect—moved slowly like calm thoughts. The sun shone high, generous. The air smelled of grass, clean water, life.

Hiroshi realized he was lying in the middle of an endless meadow, the grass blades bent in the wind as if greeting him. A stream flowed not far from him, clear, transparent like liquid glass, the sound of water creating a perfect soundtrack for a pleasant dream.

For a moment, it was like waking up from a dream.

But it wasn't a dream.

"Where am I...?" he whispered.

His voice came out flat. It didn't tremble, didn't vibrate. It was... empty.

Hiroshi slowly lifted himself up, his lifeless gaze wandering across the horizon. In the distance, a gigantic gate, set into high walls of gray stone.

What kind of place is this?

There was no panic in his voice. No curiosity. Only sterile questions, born from logic, devoid of emotional weight.

He approached the stream. The murmur of the water seemed familiar to him, but not comforting. He bent down. His reflection stared back at him.

Deep blue eyes, devoid of light.

Pale skin.

Nonexistent expression.

A human face... emptied of being.

In silence, he immersed his face in the water. He wanted to wake up, he wanted to feel something: cold, pain, relief. Anything.

The chill of the water caressed his skin. But it didn't make him shiver.

There, with his face immersed in the stream, memories overwhelmed him like a wave.

Tanaka. The bridge.

GOD. The sentence.

The heart that stopped.

The void. The light. The verdict.

Hiroshi opened his eyes wide underwater. The veins in his eyes reddened, as if trying to bleed feelings that were no longer there. He jumped to his feet suddenly. He brought a hand to his chest. Nothing. The heartbeat was regular. Calm. Useless.

He tried to smile. Just to test if he could still do it.

A mechanical grin drew itself on his face. Fake. Disturbing.

He touched his skin. It was cold. Not like the temperature of skin of someone who is cold. But like flesh that had forgotten warmth.

He whispered:

It's all true...

Then he realized that his skin seemed younger than before, like that of a twenty-year-old man.

And the gift that GOD gave me?

He looked at his clothes. They were the same ones he had worn before having that heart attack: the same white t-shirt tucked into his blue pants, and his leather shoes. He looked at his wrist but his watch wasn't there.

Hiroshi lay down on the grass again to clear his thoughts and decide what to do, starting to stare at the sky.

The color of the sky and his eyes were the same, but despite being identical they were too different. The sky seemed to be happier than Hiroshi.

What do I do now?

But do I want to return to my world? Can I return? Even though I died there? So then this is my new world?

There were many questions but they were empty, without any feeling, only intellectual.

If this is my world, how should I live it? I'm a stranger here, no one knows me.

Then GOD's promise passed through Hiroshi's mind:

"If you become a man, then you will be free"

What does this mean?

How does one become a human being?

Hours passed like this, lying down, lost in his questions without answers.

Then, after several hours, Hiroshi convinced himself that he could only get answers to his questions by doing something, because staying there nothing would happen. So he got up and began to proceed toward that gate that was in the distance.

With slowness, he began to walk.

His feet barely sank into the soft grass, leaving light footprints. Each step was measured, without urgency, as if time no longer touched him.

Arms dangling.

Relaxed posture.

Gaze fixed ahead.

And inside... the void.

In Hiroshi's mind, a reflection was taking shape. It wasn't remorse. It wasn't pain.

This... is the result of my choices, he thought. A completed equation. Action. Consequence. Time is an irrecoverable variable.

It was all so clear. Coldly logical.

Like analyzing a company report after a corporation's collapse.

It took about fifteen minutes to reach the gate.

When Hiroshi stopped in front of the city entrance, he looked up.

The walls... were colossal.

They climbed toward the sky as if wanting to scratch it. Stone upon stone, a fortress that spoke of wars, borders, and history.

Two guards in heavy armor observed him. Double-bladed spears gripped in their hands. Opaque helmets. No visible faces.

Hiroshi stared directly into their eyes without hesitation and then spoke with a calm voice, trying to make signs with his hands to make them understand that he wanted to enter.

The guards exchanged a silent look. Then one of them shouted, taken aback:

"HEY! WHO ARE YOU?"

Hiroshi thought: I can understand their language, but how is this possible?

But without wasting more time he said:

"I am a man."

The guards exchanged looks among themselves, then shouted:

"We know that! I mean, who are you? Show us your identification card."

"Documentation card?"

"Yes, documentation card."

"I don't have it."

"If you don't have it you can't enter."

Hiroshi, now trapped in this situation, didn't know what to do, because he had no idea about this identification card.

Still standing there, with his eyes fixed on the guards' eyes, he put his hands in his pockets because this was his habit when he had to think: he would put his hands in his pockets and start walking quickly, according to him this accelerated his brain's movement.

And so, as soon as he put his hands inside his pocket, in his right pocket his fingers bumped against a thin and folded object. A piece of paper.

Slowly Hiroshi pulled it out and saw it. There was writing in a strange language never seen before, but still Hiroshi understood everything as if he already knew the script.

On that paper were written personal information, the same as an identity card from our world.

"Here it is, this is it."

"Let me see here."

The guard took it in hand and began to analyze it.

"Your name is... ah, Hiroshi Nakamura. What kind of name is that?"

"It's Japanese, it's a common name from my area."

"Ehhh, wait, here it says address: Japan? What place is that?"

Hiroshi didn't want to get himself into trouble so soon, so he made up a story:

"It's a village to the north, it's a small village of only about 340 people, so it's not very well known."

The guard looked at him with suspicion.

"You have strange clothes, where did you get them?"

"I'm not willing to answer questions like that. You can only ask me about identity, you don't need to be interested in how I'm dressed."

The guard wasn't satisfied with the answer, but since it was correct, she said:

"Alright, you can go."

In that gate there was also formed a normal door to let people enter. The guard opened the door and let Hiroshi in.

Hiroshi, as soon as he crossed that door, the first thing his eyes caught were beings he never imagined were real: bipedal creatures, furry, with mixed traits between human and different animals, skin that was more hairy compared to a human, ears larger than certain people and others smaller.

But there weren't only these: there were also very slender figures, which were distinguished by their long and pointed ears.

Then in the middle of the crowd there were short ones, with big noses and thick beards walking.

And much more.

What kind of place is this?

I don't understand what I'm seeing. This doesn't match anything I know.

I have no knowledge of this place. This could hinder my path.

Then Hiroshi looked around carefully.

Stone houses, guards with weapons like swords and arrows, people buying and selling. This is definitely a historical era, more precisely the medieval one. And from the surrounding place it seems this place is a market.

Hiroshi, still there motionless like a statue staring at things, at a certain point saw two children running. One of them crashed into Hiroshi's leg and fell.

Hiroshi looked toward the children and extended his hand to help him up.

But this wasn't the same for the child. The child was terrified looking at Hiroshi's empty eyes.

"Are you okay?"

The child's voice didn't come out, he petrified, even his companion didn't have the courage to speak, and in the blink of an eye the two ran away from him.

"What happened to them?"

Hiroshi then, ignoring them, went ahead and began to walk through the market.

He saw people doing their shopping and realized that people were watching him, not directly, but they were watching him, most likely because of his clothing.

Hiroshi, ignoring them, went ahead minding his own business.

It became evening. Hiroshi had now walked around the market many times in a row and had seen much.

So GOD has granted me the writing, reading and spoken language of this world, and this helps me a lot to understand things. From what I've seen, here the form of currency is coins, more precisely three types of coins: gold, silver and bronze. Bronze is the lowest. Ten bronze are worth one silver, and ten silver are one gold and so on.

Here everyone, both humans and these creatures, live together. In fact I've also seen couples who have children and live together.

I can't understand how this is possible. Practically the body system works differently from mine? I don't know, I have to verify this.

Then Hiroshi saw that it was getting dark.

I don't have a place to stay, and not even a penny. I haven't eaten since this morning and I'm getting hungry, but I don't know what and how to do now, in this unknown world.

Hiroshi walked and left the market, and then began to see the residences. He saw small but modest houses, from the chimneys came delicious smoke of different foods.

Hiroshi passed in front of every house and smelled different delicious food odors. From the windows he saw families gathering at the table to dine together, the children were happy to see their parents returning from work.

From all sides there was a happy atmosphere except for Hiroshi: him still there, cold as ice, observing things and analyzing, completely empty inside and out.

He saw the smiles and hugs of people, but nothing had any effect on him.

He walked ahead looking for food and shelter, if he could find it.

So, going ahead, he saw a tavern and decided to enter.

As soon as he entered he saw a lot of people who were sitting there, laughing and immersed in alcohol.

Not caring, he went straight ahead to the counter.

"Good evening dear, what can I give you?" asked the girl at the counter. She had orange hair, sharp green eyes, freckles on her face, her body showed balanced musculature, she also had tattoos.

Hiroshi said directly: "Can you give me food for free in exchange for some work, because I don't have money?"