Chapter 3: Humble beginnings

If your sword is a weapon, my heart is one too

“So, tell me about yourself,” she said while riding the boroki.

She was right when she said that a boroki doesn’t make any sound when it is running. It was going fast, even faster than a horse, they probably didn’t know what horses were though. While it had an incredible pace it was completely silent, it didn’t make any sound. It felt like an odd combination of a horse and an owl. It also had feathers, just like an owl but instead of being gray they were completely green. Not fluorescent green but more so dark green.

Srishta was so busy being so concentrated on looking at the boroki that he had no clue the person in front of him, the person he had his arms around, asked him something. He looked at the boroki intensely, it was the first time he saw a creature like that. He was wondering if a boroki actually existed in his previous world and he might have just never seen it or heard of it. The boroki he was riding on had a saddle but his legs were touching his body, it was a rigid body with soft feathers. It looked and felt like this creature was made to pass a desert on its own or with somebody on it. Now Srishta thought about it… It also kind of reminded him of a camel, a very strong one that runs on his hind legs. Talking of legs… The boroki had 2 big legs it was standing on, they looked like chicken legs and only had wings next to their body and no arms. This creature really did remind him of another creature he saw in his previous life… Maybe something he saw on tv? He kept look at it, it re-

“Hello, Kari to… Wait, what was your name again?”

“My name was Srishta, I am not even sure if I presented myself. I am a hardworking man that can make strong weapons and repair older ones, I have experience with those. I can also lift heavy stuff, I could learn farming and I am sure I can learn my way around these boroki also I co-”

“Why are you trying to sell yourself? You’re still scared that we will kill you? I told you we will take you in as a deal, you make us weapons and repair old ones. No reason to sell yourself like this anymore.”

“Ok, understood,” replied Srishta quickly.

“You know you never asked my name right?” she said in a smug tone

“IM SORRY WHAT IS YOUR NAME,” Srishta asked quickly, still fearing for his life.

“I told you, you can calm down now. We have a deal, I will honor that deal do not worry about that. My name is Chairo Yash, princess of the Yash kingdom and these are my brothers Chavy and Chore”

“Pleased to meet you,” he said in a very royal tone.

The boroki still kept going full speed ahead as if they knew exactly where to go with no further explanations from their masters.

“So, the Yash kingdom, where is that?”

“Our sister keeps calling it a kingdom but it really never was a kingdom, it was more so a small village that our family kept taking care of for generations as the head of village,” Srishta was surprised suddenly hearing the voice of one of the two other companions following Chairo. “Yes I can talk, most people react that way when we start talking, if we talk too soon our sister gets mad at us so we let her do the talking until we are sure we can talk.”

Srishta found that a very fair explanation. He didn’t have any siblings, but he definitely heard of stories of siblings that were similar.

“That is an understandable reason to not talk, so the Yash village where is that then?”

The other brother came closer while riding his boroki and continued for his brother.

“Well, it was a big village don’t get us wrong but it wasn’t a city either. People lived peacefully and all of that until almost too cliché from older stories a big bad guy appeared an-,” Chairo interrupted him.

“I hate it when you guys tell this small story of what happened in our village, it seems like nothing happened at all and it was a small village nobody cared about. There were people living there and our family took care of it for generations. You guys are belittling it way too much.”

“Yes, you tell us this every time but it’s just our way to handle it. Either way some big bad guy came up to our village and wanted to take it over with his goons, so he did. There was very little we could do to save the village, our father gave up his head to rescue the village. He asked everyone’s life to be spared in exchange for his head. Instead of accepting it, the big bad guy refused and asked him and his family to go into exile. Which is honestly, an even bigger shame.”

It is as if the mood of all three of them immediately soured. They were definitely not nice before telling this story, but something shifted in the air between them after the story had been told. An air of shame, mixed with spite and whatnot. Srishta had never been a very big people-person, he didn’t really notice it and continued the conversation as if nothing happened.

“So you guys want me help you by making weapons to kill the big bad guy?”

“HIS NAME IS BRAN TREN,” the princess screamed.

Srishta didn’t really understand why she was suddenly so pissed and why she suddenly started screaming. She ruffled some feathers, literally by riding the boroki and figuratively by screaming at Srishta.

“Hey, if we’re partners in this I’d rather you not scream at me,” he said with a firm tone.

She never responded back.

They eventually came to the encampment, it wasn’t much of an encampment. The brothers took Srishta and showed him around their campground, it wasn’t much. It was in barren lands with a little body of water close to it, the water was mostly brown. Besides that there was a cave or a big rock with a hole in it, it was kind of the same. They slept in the cave, the brothers almost convinced him that it was quite comfortable. They had laid the floor with feathers of boroki to sleep on. They also had the usual stuff you see around every home, even if it is in a cave. They had a clothesline right at the entrance of the cave where they put the clothes that they cleaned. There was also a firepit and a self-made stall where they could leave their boroki while they slept.

“Wait, where is your father?” Srishta asked while walking around the encampment.

“He left,” Chairo responded very short.

Srishta wasn’t a very people-person but even he realized this might be a topic that is a bit sensitive for them at the moment and again. The air changed, the whole mood of the siblings was sour. This time, he did notice.

“So, let’s begin at weapon manufacturing,” Srishta said joyfully, trying to change the mood. He always liked making anything even if it was weapons, the real issue was the use of the weapon. He thought about it deeply on their short trip through the dry steppe. It seemed fit for him to create weapons in this very specific scenario and it would be a good test run for him to use the technology of this world.

“First I need some information,” Srishta said. “I really would like to know more about this place.”

“You know, I still haven’t forgotten how you always try to change the subject every time this comes up but where are you actually from?”

Srishta thought about it deeply and responded: “If I do not tell you, will that hinder our deal?”

“Not really,” this was the last time Chairo would ever ask that question.

“So as I said, I need more information. First and foremost, what was that flying rock?”

He said this with so much confusion and at the same time curiosity in his voice, it was similar to an older child.

“It’s a parapaara,” she said this in a tone, as if it is the most normal thing in the world. A flying rock in the middle of barren lands, being the most normal thing in the world.

“Elaborate,” he responded.

“What do you mean by elaborate? You asked what it was and I answered.”

“So it is a parapaara aaaaaaand… What else? How does it float?” he was starting to get frustrated, in the meantime the brothers went out to hunt or find anything that they could eat.

“How am I supposed to know?” she answered, also getting frustrated.

“Because you live here, you’re supposed to know these things. Why would you not know why a flying rock is flying?”

“Do you know why the sky is this color?” She asked, feeling like she just made a point.

“Yes, I do.” he answered back, also feeling like he just made a point.

“Whatever, I want to get on with it and make some weapons.”