Strange Dream

Haruto opened his eyes to a beautiful blue sky, clear of clouds. He was lying on his back, a light breeze gently caressing his face and carrying a subtle combination of herbal and wild plant scents to his nostrils. Only the rustling of leaves, tree branches and the singing of birds could be heard.

“Wasn’t I on the morning train? Ouch! The headache is still there,” he grumbled as he struggled to sit up.

It was then that the young man was forced to realize that he was no longer on the train, or even in the city for that matter. In fact, he was sitting in the middle of a dirt road, surrounded on all sides by dense forest. Most of the trees were easily recognizable, but others were unfamiliar and very strange. Among these, a few had trunks that easily exceeded two meters in width. Their massive branches curved toward the ground, like those of a weeping willow. In addition, long strands of greenish moss could be seen hanging from them. Apart from this sea of green surrounding him, there were no visual landmarks on the horizon except for the sun rising above the road.

“In any case, that explains why I couldn’t hear any traffic or anyone around for that matter. There’s nothing here at all,” he added, scratching his head, clearly perplexed.

Haruto stood up and looked around for his shoulder bag. After slinging it over his shoulder, he took a few moments to dust off his clothes and examine his belongings. At first glance, he still had all his possessions with him, including his watch, wallet, and cell phone. In addition, the bag still contained his precious encyclopedia and work documents. With a sigh of relief, Haruto took his cell phone out of his pocket.

“Am I dreaming? I just can’t believe it,” exclaimed the young man, incredulous.

The upper right corner of the screen indicated that a little over an hour had passed since the train’s departure time and that the phone’s battery was still fully charged. However, the device was not picking up any signal or Internet connection. Even the geolocation app was not working, and the built-in compass was going haywire for no apparent reason.

“I... I don’t understand, and none of this makes any sense... But where am I, anyway?”

The lack of network coverage could be partly explained by artificial or even natural sources of interference, such as the presence of a mountain. However, the failure of the GPS location system was simply impossible, especially in this day and age when technology is omnipresent in everyday life. Under stress, unable to find a justification for such an unlikely situation, Haruto began to ramble and imagine all sorts of wild theories to explain what was happening. The various unusual theories ranged from kidnapping to the hallucinogenic effects of a new, yet unknown drug. After a few minutes, he finally pulled himself together and forced himself to take deep breaths. He then put his phone in one of his jacket pockets before taking the time to assess his position more rationally.

“It’s probably not a kidnapping. In any case, abducting someone and then abandoning them with all their belongings in the middle of nowhere is hardly credible, let alone logical,” said the young man before continuing:

“I remember seeing a bright white light in the train before landing here. Was it a realistic dream, or perhaps a forced connection to a VR game?”

When virtual reality became widely available, many crimes were committed using this technology, including data theft, ransom demands, sexual offenses, and more. It was therefore entirely possible that this was the case here. So, the man tried to open an interface window, as he would in a game, but the gesture had no effect. Unable to find a satisfactory explanation, he stopped thinking about it and decided to follow the path toward the sun. Haruto was counting on finding a gas station or a small country village. Any form of civilization would do, as long as he could get help and contact the authorities.

The young engineer had been walking along the way for quite some time. At first glance, there had been no significant change in the composition of the surroundings, but the passing of time had allowed the bright star to approach its zenith. In addition, the morning coolness had also given way to oppressive heat, forcing Haruto to take off his jacket. After this long walk, he wanted nothing more than to take a break in the shade and recover his strength. The engineer looked around for one of those large, sinister trees when a reflection in the woods caught his attention. He focused and managed to make out what appeared to be the shimmering surface of a body of water, despite the numerous branches.

Navigating through the bush for about twenty meters from the dirt road, the young man discovered a small lake. It was rather nondescript in shape and must have been, at most, a hundred meters long at its longest point. Haruto quickly took off his bag and placed it, along with his jacket, near a tree stump before approaching the shore. A cool breeze gently caressed his face and carried the sound of the waves to his ears. He then knelt down to collect some water in his hands. It was clear and did not seem stagnant, as there were no unpleasant odors.

“Perfect! I’ll be able to cool off and catch my breath,” he said before moistening his face.

The young man suddenly looked up when he heard something splashing nearby. Numerous water plants were visible here and there, as well as curious water lilies of grotesque size. These resembled enormous pie plates on which an adult man could potentially walk on. However, there was no clue in sight as to the nature of what had disturbed the surface of the water.

“A frog, perhaps? That wouldn’t be too surprising in a place like this,” Haruto thought.

As he looked down to cool off a second time, the young man noticed something strange beneath the surface. Indeed, a pair of golden spheres approximately the size of an apple were visible. Haruto focused his attention on them for a moment and noticed that they looked strangely like the eyeballs of the amphibians he used to catch when he was a kid. Those same eyes with black irises seemed to be staring intently at him.

“What the...”

His train of thought was interrupted when the surface of the water bubbled before exploding like a grenade. The blast propelled the man into the woods behind him, a few meters from the shore. When his back hit the ground, a sharp pain shot through Haruto’s body and his vision blurred momentarily. A few moments later, he sat up, covered in bruises and still dazed by what had just happened. To top it off, his clothes were soaked and torn from the branches.

A creature then emerged from the water where he had been standing earlier. The man’s nostrils were immediately assaulted by a foul smell of rotten fish. This thing was very similar to a newt. It had smooth, brownish skin covered with tiny black spots and a huge paddle-shaped tail. On the sides, at the back of its skull, were what appeared to be strange gills. They were arranged like the branches of a tree and had a slightly pinkish hue at their tips. However, the most surprising feature was undoubtedly the size of the animal, which exceeded four meters in length.

“What is this horrible beast!? It’s not a dream, but rather a nightmare,” he exclaimed indignantly.

The beast’s gaze met his, and it immediately charged toward him, opening its mouth and revealing its impressive teeth. They were small and sharp, like hooks, arranged in two rows like a shark’s. Haruto was paralyzed with fear, and all his instincts told him to run away as fast as he could. By a lucky coincidence, the amphibian moved slowly, propelling itself with its four legs, giving the young man the opportunity to regain his composure and escape toward the path.

After reaching the dirt road, Haruto turned around and checked that his pursuer had given up the chase. He then breathed a long sigh of relief as the effects of the adrenaline rush wore off. In his haste, he had neglected to retrieve his bag and jacket, but this outcome was preferable to ending his days as a meal in the stomach of a monster. Moreover, this terrifying encounter had deeply shaken him and pushed him to the brink of a panic attack.

“Such a creature does not normally exist in nature,” exclaimed Haruto.

“Damn it! It’s more like the monsters you find in books or other fiction... And why does it hurt so much? You’re not supposed to really feel pain in dreams or nightmares,” he continued.

The anxiety of the situation was inexorably taking over, and the man was fidgeting randomly. Once curled up on the ground, he no longer resembled the usual engineer operating logically and rationally, but rather a frightened child convinced that there was a ghost in his room.

A long interval passed before the young man regained his composure. Sitting cross-legged in the middle of the road, his clothes were soaked and torn in places. His body was bruised, covered with hematomas and cuts. To top it all off, he was also physically and mentally exhausted. Since the best virtual reality products available on the market were incapable of stimulating the senses to such an extent, Haruto could no longer ignore the facts and had to reluctantly admit that all this was too real to be just a simple illusion.

“Never mind. I have to survive at all costs and find a way back home, even if it means following this damn path,” he said, struggling to his feet.

Besides, he still didn’t know where he was, and the sun was still high in the sky. A quick glance at his watch confirmed that the afternoon had just begun.

“So, I still have several hours of daylight ahead of me... That should allow me to cover a good distance before nightfall,” he thought.

Just before setting off, Haruto looked around and realized that he no longer felt the familiar weight of his shoulder bag strap, nor could he see his jacket anywhere. That’s when he remembered leaving them behind when he fled from the newt’s jaws. After a moment’s thought, the man decided it was necessary to retrieve these two items. Given the current circumstances, the dry clothing could prove very useful in fighting hypothermia if he had to spend the night in the forest. Even though he was terrified at the thought of encountering the monster again, the jacket was important to Haruto because it also contained his cell phone. The device was the young man’s only means of communication, should he get even the slightest digital signal.

In a matter of minutes, Haruto had devised a plan: sneak up to the lake, distract the beast, then flee with his belongings. To do this, he found a branch long and sturdy enough to serve as a walking stick. He then found a rock by the side of the dirt road and used its surface to sharpen one end of the stick. Although rudimentary, this improvised wooden spear gave the engineer the reach he needed to keep his opponent at bay and could be thrown if necessary.

Armed and determined not to lose his life, Haruto proceeded with extreme caution as he returned to the lake. There were no obvious signs of danger, nor any suspicious sounds. With his eyes fixed on the surface of the lake and on the lookout for the slightest disturbance, the young man moved cautiously through the undergrowth.

As he approached his goal, he heard splashing nearby. Haruto froze in place, like a statue, and carefully scanned his surroundings. His heart was racing, and he tightened his grip on the improvised spear, his knuckles turning white.

“No way am I going to be caught off guard this time,” he thought.

Just as the man was about to grab the jacket and bag, he immediately smelled the foul odor that had accompanied the beast during their first encounter. Even though he knew the monster was nearby, Haruto couldn’t spot it. The tension was at its peak, and the man decided to stick to his original strategy rather than take more risks by waiting longer or, worse, acting impulsively. So he suddenly stood up and threw his spear with all his might toward the lake. No sooner had it touched the surface of the lake than the newt suddenly emerged from the aquatic plants at the edge of the shore and lunged toward the floating piece of wood. With a smirk on his face, the young engineer seized the opportunity to retrieve his belongings and then scampered like a rabbit toward the dirt road.

“That’s one thing done. Still, there’s no way I’m camping around here,” he muttered as he got back on the pathway.

The sun was sinking inexorably as the cloud cover took on an increasingly yellowish hue, a sign that the day was coming to an end. The scorching heat of the day had given way to a welcome coolness, forcing Haruto to put on his jacket. Although he was used to a certain level of physical activity on a daily basis, the young man had never prepared himself for such a long walk. His legs were shaking from the effort, the shoulder holding the bag’s strap was sore, and he was so thirsty that he could easily imagine drinking the contents of a bathtub.

To his great surprise, the oppressive forest had given way to vast expanses of meadows. The horizon before his eyes was dominated by green and golden vegetation, arranged in parallel rows. This scenery, along with a breeze carrying a distinctive aroma, was enough to tell him that he was on farmland. Apart from the chaotic layout of the fields, it was also possible to make out a cluster of houses in the distance along the road that roughly followed the course of a small river. The river zigzagged through this patchwork of land.

“A village? Finally, back to normal life?”

The pain that overwhelmed Haruto’s body was quickly replaced by a deep sense of relief. This comforting sensation galvanized the man and dulled his judgment to such an extent that he hurried to close the distance between himself and the nearest building, without noticing that there were no power lines or streetlights in sight. A few minutes later, he stopped when he reached about a hundred meters from the structure.

“Something’s not right about this place. The overall atmosphere stirs something in my memory, but I can’t quite figure out why,” said the engineer, puzzled.

The young man took his time to scan the surroundings cautiously and objectively. Apart from the acrid smell in the air, he first noticed that the ground on the road had become much looser, almost muddy in places. In addition, there were numerous footprints visible, as well as a large number of strange marks, as if heavy pieces of furniture had been dragged across the ground on their legs. Intrigued, Haruto followed one of these strange sets of tracks to their source.

“A horse-drawn cart!?”

The materials used to construct the cart were in poor condition and had a light-gray color. In addition, the wheels were made of wood and had rusty metal bands instead of tires. The draft animal did not appear to be in good health. On the contrary, the lines of its shoulder blades, pelvis, and ribs were clearly visible under the horse’s taut skin. Despite himself, the young man also noticed a brownish pile lying on the ground behind the animal. He immediately understood what it was and easily spotted all the other mounds littering the road. He quickly checked the condition of his shoes.

“Phew. I didn’t step into it, but at least that explains the stench,” he grumbled, holding his nose.

Haruto then turned his attention to the buildings, particularly their architecture. At first glance, the structures appeared to be built with solid pieces of wood. These formed large frames that were filled with a mixture of straw and pale-colored clay. Most of the walls had few or no windows, and those that did were protected by rudimentary wooden awnings. The roofs of the houses appeared to be made of thatch and were topped with a chimney made of a rough assembly of stones held together with mortar.

“Don’t tell me...”

The engineer slid his bag in front of him and took out his encyclopedia. He opened it and began flipping through the pages at top speed, looking for something in particular. Although the main topics were medieval weapons and armor, the book did contain a few illustrations of structures from that period. Haruto was speechless when he found what he was looking for in the book.

“This place is truly incredible! It matches the images of a typical medieval cottage with its cob walls in every way.”

“I’ve seen hundreds of houses like this in digital worlds, but there’s a huge gap between reality and fiction,” he sighed.

The young man was so absorbed in discovering historical buildings like those in his book that he didn’t notice the locals or the person approaching him. The person came into Haruto’s peripheral vision before saying something to him while placing a hand on his left shoulder. Taken aback by the gesture, the engineer reacted sharply, jumping back and quickly putting some distance between himself and the other person.

“Damn it! Why scare people like that? You gave me a fright, man!” Haruto shouted.

The strength of his reflexes had also knocked the encyclopedia out of his hands. However, it was saved from its unfortunate fate on the muddy ground by the presence of mind of the individual who had caused the commotion. He was a middle-aged man with a strong build, towering over Haruto by about ten centimeters. He had long, dark hair tied back in a ponytail and a short beard. His complexion was so dark that his skin could easily be mistaken for stretched leather. His dirty tunic, brown trousers, and long, supple leather boots completed the picture of a typical member of the medieval working class.

“Great... We start with a monster straight out of a fiction movie, then a village from another era, and finally a farmer... This story makes less and less sense,” grumbled the young man.

The villager was no longer paying attention to Haruto when he expressed his dissatisfaction. In fact, his light-brown eyes were shining with curiosity and were fixed on the book he was holding in his large hands. The man opened the book and turned the pages delicately, one by one. He marveled at each of the illustrations, like a child discovering something new.

While the farmer flipped through the encyclopedia, the engineer took his cell phone out of his pocket to check something. He figured that the chances of getting a signal on the device would be better once he was back in civilization.

“Obviously, I still can’t get a connection to the phone network. Nothing to improve my current situation.”

Exasperated by the lack of signal, the young man looked up at the sky and sighed loudly. When he turned his attention back to the ground, he immediately noticed that the countryman was staring at him from head to toe. The latter’s scrutinizing gaze fixed on the electronic device that Haruto was holding in his hands.

The villager abruptly ended his observation and closed the book. He then handed it to the engineer as he approached to whisper something to him. The dialect was unique to Haruto’s ears, but it strangely reminded him of the English classes he had taken during his studies.

“Would you mind repeating that? I didn’t quite understand what you just said,” replied the young man, looking perplexed.

With a look of disappointment on his face, the farmer whispered something again while staring intently into Haruto’s eyes. The gibberish was still incomprehensible to his ears, except for a few snippets. The country man then started walking, beckoning for the young man to follow him. The latter stood rooted on the spot for a few moments, confused and hesitant.

“I don’t know this man, and I certainly don’t understand what he’s telling me. It’s hard to trust him under these circumstances,” he added, looking back at his cell phone screen.

“Given the time, I don’t really have any choice but to follow him. And I have no desire to spend the night under the stars.”

He then put his phone in one of his pockets before walking after his guide.

After a little over fifteen minutes, Haruto and the countryman had crossed the entire village. Darkness was about to fall when the two men stopped in front of what appeared to be a small dwelling on the edge of the hamlet. At first glance, it appeared older and more rudimentary in construction than the buildings in the center of the village. Indeed, the cottage had a rather narrow facade and a heavy wooden door in the center. Framing the door were two tiny windows, covered by shutters.

The man turned momentarily toward Haruto and, without a word, motioned for him to wait. He then walked toward the door, knocked twice, and entered. Left to his own devices, the engineer began to ponder the next steps necessary to return home safely. His train of thought was interrupted just a few minutes later when the bulky man returned outside. He muttered something in the same strange language and gestured for the young man to enter the hovel.

“What a horrible stench! It smells like sweat, as if the occupant of the place had never washed,” Haruto muttered, pinching his nose for a moment.

Once inside, he was invited to sit on a bench facing an old table. He placed his bag and jacket at the foot of the bench. The cramped space, poorly lit by candles, consisted of a single room. It was devoid of any form of decoration or other superfluous elements. A fireplace and chimney were visible on the wall opposite the entrance, as well as a makeshift counter in one corner. It was accompanied by worn kitchen accessories, a basin, and a few earthenware jars. Opposite, on the dirt floor, was a large straw mattress. It was made of hay, on which the occupants had thrown large sheets and animal skins. Pillows in poor condition completed the sad picture.

Focused on the interior of the cottage, the young engineer had not noticed the presence of a woman and her child. She appeared to be slightly younger than the farmer and was dressed in a large, loose-fitting, long-sleeved dress of a light color. Despite her slender build, her belly protruded noticeably through her clothing, a telltale sign of pregnancy. Most of her black hair was tied back in a bun, with the rest framing her drawn face. Furthermore, her amethyst eyes, a color found only in works of fiction, betrayed her anxiety and mistrust. The boy, meanwhile, seemed terrified and stubbornly refused to leave the comforting proximity of his mother. Realizing that the tension in the air was palpable, the young man stood up and introduced himself with a broad smile. “Hello, everyone. My name is Haruto Akimitsu, and I am pleased to meet you.”

The woman stood there silently before turning to her husband and beginning to argue fiercely with him. The tone of the exchange quickly escalated, which made the engineer somewhat uncomfortable. He therefore decided to sit back down and wait for the argument to end. He took out his phone again, more out of habit than necessity, and placed it on the table in front of him. A deathly silence suddenly fell over the house when the screen’s backlight came on. This illuminated the room with a bright white light that overshadowed the candles.

Like an insect inexorably drawn to a lamp, the child had moved away from his mother to approach the table where the strange light source lay. Haruto could now see the cherubic features more clearly. Among other things, he noticed that he had his father’s brown hair and his mother’s violet eyes. Mesmerized by the device, the mother had not noticed that her son was no longer by her side. Once she had regained her senses and spotted her child, she rushed over to him to pull him away from the table. She then gave her husband a stern look before muttering something unintelligible. The farmer replied gently, then looked at Haruto with a big, mischievous smile. He then went outside the hut, leaving the young man sitting there, perplexed.

“Okay... So what happens now?”

About twenty minutes passed in complete silence, and there was still no sign of the man returning. During this time, the farmer’s wife didn’t even bother to glance at the engineer. She seemed more focused on preparing a meal by the fire. What’s more, she had kept her son within arms reach the whole time, no doubt out of fear of another incident. A few minutes later, she approached the table and placed a rough wooden bowl filled with some kind of soup on it. She then gestured to the man to let him know he could eat.

“Is this for me? Thank you for your hospitality,” Haruto said to the woman, who remained silent in response.

At first glance, the thick soup did not look very appetizing. However, the young man was too hungry after such a day to be picky. So he hastily devoured the hot meal that had been served to him.

As Haruto placed his empty bowl on the table, the villager returned home. He was carrying several animal skins on one of his broad shoulders. The man placed them in a corner of the room before turning back to the young engineer. He began speaking to him again in his dialect, while gesturing to indicate that he should accompany him outdoors. Once outside, Haruto noticed that dusk had given way to the darkness and coolness of night. He also noticed the almost total absence of light coming from the village.

“But where are the streetlights and the rest of the municipal lighting?”

Surprised by this gloomy atmosphere, the young man nevertheless noticed a few rays of light here and there. They were visible through the gaps in the closed shutters of the buildings, which reassured him a little. Without really understanding why, Haruto felt there was something supernatural in the air. He quickly realized where this feeling came from when he looked up at the clear sky. A strange, yet magnificent sight was now visible.

“Are those auroras?!” he exclaimed, unable to contain his amazement. It was the first time he had ever seen them in person.

These broad bands of green light sparkled and undulated in the sky like waves on an invisible ocean. In addition, countless stars were clearly visible in the background. The opportunity to witness such a phenomenon was simply impossible for an ordinary city dweller. First, there was the issue of latitude, but there were also the many sources of light pollution present in an urban environment. However, the most striking element of the view was undoubtedly the presence of the fragmented remains of a celestial body. The debris seemed to be orbiting the world where the young man was standing. Moreover, their color and brilliance evoked an inexplicable feeling of déjà vu in Haruto’s mind.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before, but it’s clear that I’m no longer on Earth,” he said with a sigh of despair.

A calloused hand tapped the engineer on the shoulder, pulling him out of his contemplation of the sky. The farmer looked at him kindly and motioned for him to come with him. The two men walked behind the cottage, and Haruto was surprised to discover a small barn there. Like the house it accompanied, the building also showed obvious signs of age. The structure, made of aging wood, rested on simple stones as its foundation. Upon entering the room, the young man also noticed that the space was filled with an impressive amount of hay.

The villager wasted no time and stood parallel to Haruto. He stretched his arms forward, as if ready to receive something, and looked at the young man, saying something to him. The latter understood that he had to imitate his host and took the same posture. After that, the man approached the pile of hay in front of him and inserted his hands into it like a large pitchfork. He gathered a large amount of it and placed it on Haruto’s outstretched arms. The farmer then took a similar amount into his arms before leaving the barn, followed by the confused engineer.

The two men returned to the interior of the hut. They were laden like mules, but they set down their burdens on the floor, not far from the hearth. The woman quickly spread the hay out into a makeshift mattress and completed the arrangement by laying out the animal skins that her husband had brought back earlier. Haruto realized that this was an improvised bed similar to a straw mattress, and his suspicions were confirmed when the man’s wife mimed that he could lie down there to sleep.

“I don’t want to take advantage of their hospitality or generosity. However, I am exhausted and disoriented, and I have nowhere else to go,” he whispered quietly.