A new day, A new problem

The following morning, I woke up to find my belongings had been returned to me. My coat jacket was now hanging on the wall beside the door, and my boots were propped up on the ground underneath. From the looks of it, they were both washed clean, with the jacket in particular stitched up where the monster’s teeth had done some damage. I was going to find whoever had done this for me and thank them.

I got dressed, then opened the door. I peered into the hallway of the temple and found it empty. I could hear the bustling of people outside, as well as the laughter of children. That suddenly made me remember the little girl.

Like my room, the hallway was also illuminated by fire lamps lined up on the wall. There were four other doors, two on my left, and two on my right. Including mine, that made a total of five rooms.

This was going to be a problem, I thought. I didn’t know which of the doors led into the room I was looking for. I recalled Lumia, the very pretty healer lady from last night, saying something about how the little girl’s room was right next to mine. But since there were multiple doors on either side, I was at a complete loss as to which of them it was.

I fully stepped into the hallway, closing the door behind me. I needed to find the little girl. I was going to try every room by knocking on the door first. If a staff member replied, I was simply going to apologize, then ask them to point me in the right direction.

I started with the immediate door to my right. I knocked on it, and the voice that came from inside suddenly froze my legs to the spot.

“Come in,” the voice said, and I instantly recognized who it belonged to.

It was Lumia.

An image of her face from last night suddenly popped into my head—her snowy white skin, her blood-red hair. She was beautiful. I was so caught up in my daydreaming I didn’t notice the moment her door slowly creaked open and she peered out.

“Oh, you’re up,” she said, smiling. “I was just about to finish up and come get you down for breakfast. How did you sleep?”

She stood gazing at me while she waited for me to reply.

“Snap out of it, dummy,” Rachel said in my head, causing me to regain my focus. I faked clearing my throat, then quickly issued a reply to Lumia, who was still patiently standing there, waiting for me to get my bearings.

“It was good,” I replied. “How about you? I—I mean, yours?”

“Smooth,” Rachel taunted. “Real smooth.”

“Shut up,” I whispered out of the corner of my mouth.

Lumia burst into sudden laughter, holding the edge of her door for support. She must have thought I was talking to myself instead of the snarky AI companion in my head.

“Great, you broke her,” Rachel said.

After she calmed herself down, she apologized for losing her composure, then told me to give her a moment while she finished getting ready. As soon as she was done, she stepped out of her room clad in her crimson ball-like gown from the previous night. She moved in beside me, and we made our way downstairs for breakfast. The girl wasn't in her room when Lumia had checked, so maybe she was already down in the dining area.

When we arrived, the little girl still wasn't there. Lumia suggested I put something in my belly while she went to find out the whereabouts of the child. The entire time, the other temple maids were staring at me like I was some kind of alien. It made eating awkward and uncomfortable, but I was able to ignore it for the most part.

The food was almost like the ones from Earth, but with slight variations that still tasted familiar, probably because I had already been eating them in the training facility back on the island. I guess our stomachs were also slowly being groomed to be able to consume the local cuisine of this world, in preparation for our eventual arrival.

When we were done with breakfast, we stepped outside.

The world was so much brighter.

There were people everywhere—merchants selling goods, blacksmiths clanking away at their iron. A few kids ran past me, almost bumping into me in the process, but I suddenly remembered why I had woken up so early.

Lumia had asked one of the other junior girls in the temple, and they told her the little girl had finished her food early and had gone out to play.

I was busy searching around for her in the nearby crowd when Lumia placed a hand on my shoulder and pointed in a direction opposite the temple gates.

A group of children were gathered around another smaller kid, who was busy showing them something she was holding in her hands. This particular child had cropped black hair and held up a shiny, bluish-looking water lizard resting in her palms.

She was also wearing a new dress, still white like her old one, but this one possessed pink flower embroideries. I guessed the temple must have gifted her a pair of new clothes and shoes from what I could see. She had been wearing a pair of torn leather boots when I first saw her.

I was about to call out to her when I suddenly realized I still didn’t know her name. I remembered asking her about it when she showed up at the cabin, but I quickly understood the only sound she was able to utter was the letter “E.”

I didn’t know if it was because she simply couldn’t talk yet, or perhaps it was some kind of developmental disability or vocal trauma brought on by injury when she was a baby. Since I couldn’t get her attention from that distance, I began strolling toward her with Lumia coming up behind me.

“Hey, Sunfruit, what are you showing everyone?”

Seeing me approaching, the children made way, giving the little girl an unobstructed view. The moment she saw me, her eyes grew wide, and she immediately rushed toward me for a hug. I had to drop down to my knees so she could actually wrap her tiny arms around my neck. I was taken aback by her gesture, since we didn't really know each other to warrant such a familial affection. But I understood. She was worried for my safety.

“I missed you too, Sunfruit,” I said, patting her on the head. She released me from the hug and then immediately turned her attention to the ground as if looking for something. Then a tiny invisible critter leapt onto the side of her white dress and rushed up her shoulder.

“You too, Slick,” I said, as the water lizard slowly made himself visible again while sitting on her arm. “Good to see you’re still hanging around.”

***

I allowed the little girl to rejoin her friends while Lumia took me on a small tour of the town. She showed me the other temples, the markets, the various spots for tourists, and the restaurants. Some of the people we passed by fixed me with curious gazes, as if they knew right away that I was an outsider.

“It’s because of your height,” Lumia said, smiling. “Not many folks around town have seen someone as tall as you before.”

“Yeah, that’s one thing,” Rachel replied from inside my head. “But also, nobody here is wearing clothes made in the style of the material you’re wearing right now.”

As she spoke, Rachel began making rectangular outlines appear around every person within my field of vision, highlighting the kind of attire they were wearing in a brief description window by the side of each box.

_____

Tunic

Leather

Cloaks

Lace

Cotton

Silk

_____

Huh, I thought, looking at the results. I guess my fashion sense, jeans, boots, and a coat jacket, wasn't really helping with the matter of blending in.

We eventually made our way to a garden where we sat side by side on a bench crafted from stone. Kids were playing around and running all over the place. I spotted the little girl among them, in the midst of her friends from earlier. Slick was peeking out of her dress pocket, just chilling and going along for the ride.

“So, I guess they haven’t found her family yet,” I said, watching the little girl as she played with the other kids. Lumia followed my gaze and understood what I was talking about.

“Not quite,” she replied. “We did ask around, but nobody could recognize her. We paid a visit to the orphanage, but even they didn’t seem to know who she was. You said you found her in the forest? What was she doing there?”

“I don’t know,” I responded. “But she seemed lost, and a little hungry, so I decided to help her get home.”

I was quiet for a while, just listening to the children play. I didn’t think my childhood was anything like this, filled with laughter and joy. I couldn’t remember my parents, or who they might have been. I'm not even sure Hunter was my real name, or just a designation I was given.

Like the little girl, it seemed I was all alone before the mysterious woman from my memories found me and brought me to the island to begin my training. That could explain why I said yes to becoming a bioengineered super soldier, and jumped on the first opportunity of being transported to another world to become a hero.

I was probably trying to escape my old life for a new one, one where I felt needed, where I was strong, where I mattered. Granted, all of these were just speculations at the moment, as I still couldn’t fully remember my past. But speculations were all I had for now.

After a moment had passed, with neither Lumia nor I saying anything, I suddenly became conscious of how close we were sitting on the bench. Her snowy white skin was even brighter under the morning sun, and her luscious blood-red hair looked incredible.

Sitting beside me out in the open, her five-foot-four frame only emphasized the seven-foot size of mine. The difference was almost ridiculous, and it only left me feeling more out of place.

I guess, at the end of the day, I really was just an outsider. An alien. A stranger with a mission, something I was still trying to figure out.

From a distance, I watched as one of the junior girls from the temple came running toward us with a panicked expression on her face. Lumia was on her feet even before the girl arrived, and I joined her, standing up.

“Emilia, what is it? What happened? Why are you running?” Lumia asked the clearly frightened girl as she finally caught up to us and began panting.

“It’s the farmers,” the girl said, still trying to catch her breath. “They’re under attack.”

“From what?” Lumia demanded. “What is attacking them?”

“Sigumanju!” the girl cried out, her voice shaking with terror. “There are Sigumanju in the fields, and they’re attacking the farmers!”

A chill suddenly ran down my spine as I realized what she was talking about. Widow Makers, the massive, six-legged arachnid-like creatures that could easily rip apart an entire village in a single afternoon, were now killing farmers out in the fields. From my experience fighting just one of the creatures, I instantly knew none of the farmers would be able to defend themselves, especially if they were caught unaware. It was going to be a slaughter. Unless… unless I could do something about it.

“Go. Get the children inside,” Lumia said to the frightened girl, then turned in my direction. However, before she could say anything to stop me, I was already on the move.

“What’s the fastest route to the farmers?” I asked Rachel as I walked away from the garden, toward where I last saw a bunch of horses lined up in a stable. These people had helped carry my unconscious body to the temple for treatment; there was no way I was going to let them suffer or get hurt.

Before I could even reach my destination, I stumbled into another horse standing in the streets, then apologized to the startled owner, letting him know it was an emergency. Understanding the situation, the man promptly handed over the reins.

I climbed onto the saddle and prepared to leave. While I was distracted, reading the map that had appeared in a corner of my vision, I felt a hand touch my knee. Looking down, I saw Lumia staring up at me from the side of the horse with a determined look on her face.

“I’m coming with.”