First Encounter

Kai pushed through the maze of trees. Although his spirits were relatively high when he left the shed, his inner voice kept suggesting that he was quite lost. It was no surprise, really. Perhaps it was more disappointing that he felt this way so soon, given that it had been mere minutes since he had departed on his journey. There was no real way to distinguish his path as Kai had to veer off to the sides rather often since there was no established trail to follow.

Every now and then Kai would notice insects or other small animals scutter away when he drew near. They bore features familiar to the ones from Earth yet were also distinct enough to feel alien to him. At the start of his trek, Kai had pointed his shortsword at the noise of critters scurrying away each and every time, but soon acclimated to it, simply jerking his head towards the sound for a second before continuing on his way.

As Kai trudged through the thickets, he wished he had exercised a bit more back home instead of sitting around like a potato all day. Though the heat was bearable enough, Kai still dripped from sweat having to lift his knees nearly up to his chest when traversing the overgrown shrubbery. Carrying a bulky load on his back did not help either. Kai could feel his progress through the woods drop to a snail’s pace as his legs stiffened up into what felt like stone blocks.

“This… is… torture…”

Kai huffed as he leaned against a tree, catching his breath and wiping the sweat off his face. It felt as though Etrim suggested in his letter that the journey to Lindroot would be simple, but perhaps Kai had not considered just how much time might have passed since that letter was written. Had a century gone by? Two? Three?

At the very least, Kai was grateful for the shade the forest canopy provided. Kai would also have appreciated if some more wind blew past him, but with how tightly packed the woods were, he figured that would be asking for too much.

After another period of struggling against nature, Kai came across a small clearing. He took a moment, just standing by the open field of low grass and enjoying the breeze on his sweaty body. A childhood memory of sitting in front of an electric fan after working up a sweat playing outside flashed through Kai’s head. He turned up to the azure sky, staring at the plump clouds striding across it.

Kai had recently been laid off from his job. He had worked as a basic sales analyst for the first company that gave him a chance but was assigned a random assortment of tasks that may have only been just barely within the responsibilities of his position. As such, Kai ended up a tad overwhelmed at work and ended up performing at a level that did not quite match up with what the higher-ups were looking for. Ever since he was freed from that life, Kai had ruined his sleep schedule in spectacular fashion, getting in bed just before sunrise and waking some time past noon. Though he had been just barely scraping by with some freelance work, had he not been living with his parents, he would have been going through his savings like tinder to a wildfire.

On one hand, Kai had been thrust into an unknown world with a wide range of potential threats or plain old inconveniences. What was the medical field like in a world which seemed somewhat scientifically unadvanced? Was food culture simplistic and unvaried here due to a lack of colliding cultures or suitable preservation methods to transport different varieties of foods around? Worst of all, was indoor plumbing more of a luxury here?

But on the other hand, his former life was dull and uninspiring. Wake up early in the morning, deal with a commute to his workplace, grab something to eat, go home all fatigued, take an hour or two to yourself, and sleep on repeat for the rest of his life until retirement, if he even could afford that.

At times, Kai humored what it would be like living on a farm, living off the land and meeting his own needs. Of course, he was aware that farmwork was backbreaking, but the idea of making your own life was definitely appealing. Perhaps he would try and live out a life like that in this world.

Once Kai had cooled down from his break, he noticed the faint sound of running water in the distance. Recalling the letter mentioning to follow a nearby stream to reach Lindroot, he pushed off the trunk he was resting against and continued walking.

As Kai crossed the field, he noticed the pristine stream and picked up his pace without even realizing it. When he had gotten close enough, he took a look around, seeing that the stream bank was mostly unimpeded of any obstacles like trees or bushes. That would make his trip to Lindroot go much smoother. Kai approached the stream, grabbing his waterskin to procure some drinking water, when he suddenly realized that the birds in the area had stopped singing. For a moment, Kai looked at the treetops in confusion before instinctively locking his gaze back down at the stream.

Had Kai looked back down just a moment later, he would not have seen the barbed tail shooting straight at him. Luckily, Kai managed to jump back and avoid the attack. Though he stumbled and landed on his rear, dropping the waterskin in the process, he managed to recover by rolling over back onto his feet.

In front of Kai there was a creature that he was certain did not exist back on Earth. It possessed the body of a frog, wings of a bat, and a tail tipped with a barb at the end, almost like a mix of a lizard and a scorpion’s tail. Its rear legs were entirely missing and unlike an actual frog, small, but sharp fangs lined its mouth.

The frog monster’s marshy green skin glimmered in the sunlight as it landed a few paces away from Kai. It turned to face Kai in a clumsy manner, akin to how a penguin might hobble around on foot. The creature was at most a third as large as Kai, but the speed of which it struck at him with its tail barb kept him on guard. Kai managed to draw his shortsword, despite his shaky hand. He pointed his walking stick towards the frog monster, using the staff like a makeshift shield, while keeping the blade close to his body so he could strike at a moment’s notice.

A few seconds felt like minutes as the two stared each other down. Kai swallowed empty air as he felt a bead of sweat trickle down the side of his face. He saw that his staff and sword were shaking from his nerves and could only hope that the frog monster could not make sense of human behavior.

But perhaps because the frog could somehow sense Kai’s fear, be it by smell or magick, it crept up closer to him step-by-step.

In a panic, Kai kicked up the pebbles towards it and swung the staff down at the ground to make noise in an attempt to scare it off, but to no avail. Kai could swear that the frog was even smirking at his flailing around.

Shit… I guess I have to fight my way out…

Kai gripped his sword and staff hard enough that his knuckles whitened. As the frog monster approached, he formulated a plan of attack as quick as he could. But before either Kai or the frog monster made a move, an arrow flew out from the side, piercing the frog and knocking it away.

Kai quickly turned towards the direction the arrow came from, only to find a pack of what looked like hunters. A group of four had quivers full of arrows slung around their waist and had bows resting over their shoulders. Half of the group had animal ears pointing up from the top of their heads while the other half looked like typical humans. The lone girl of the group was the only one with their bow drawn.

She watched Kai with her auburn eyes for a moment but quickly shifted her gaze to the surrounding area. After a moment, she lowered her bow before tucking a lock of her bobbed pale green hair behind her ear.

Seeing the girl lower her bow, Kai also dropped his guard. He turned to the corpse of the frog monster. The top half of its body was sent into the stream while its lower half stuck out onto the bank. A trail of hazy red trickled into the stream, fading away as it was pulled away by the current.