8 - The Highlands!

“Wow…”

It only took a little more walking for us to emerge from the forest into a vast, open meadow. There was a lake nearby, and another so far into the horizon it looked like a puddle.

“There’s so few trees around, and it’s really windy too.”

With only a handful of sparse trees here and there, I could feel the highland breeze against my skin in full. Even with my high tolerance to cold, I felt a little tingle.

The vast expanse ahead sloped gently upwards, but the distance was so great I couldn’t see beyond the horizon.

“Can I even make the journey uphill in a day?”

I took a few steps forward, then ran a distance ahead. Forget meadow, this was a great plain out of the machinations of an artist. The cliffs in the distance beyond the hill were warped, jagged whilst sloping upwards in varying levels, as if a great cataclysm from beneath the earth resulted in massive land spikes reaching for the heavens.

Eager to take in more of the sights, I looked to my right and saw-

“A fence?!”

I ran up to the first man-made object I’d seen since I awoke in this world, observing the handiwork.

“Wow, this is… actual craftsmanship! It’s not just pieces of wood nailed together- There aren’t even any nails here! It’s all carefully smoothed wood, all held together by rope- no, is this twine? One hundred percent all natural… material…”

I found myself at a loss for words as I stared into the distance from the fence.

It was another world down there.

A long, zig-zagging river flowed for what looked like hundreds of kilometers, the land teeming with wildlife untouched by human hands. With the sun illuminating all to see, the great land spikes in the distance really put into perspective the massive scale of this place I found myself in.

“Woolie, Woolie come look! The view is amazing from up here!”

“Behh!”

“What’s wrong, Woolie?”

I turned behind me to see Woolie prancing about in a small patch of flowers, along with another Woolie.

“Wait-”

Another Woolie?

“Meh!”

“Muu…”

“There’s two Woolies- no three, four, five-!”

There’s a bunch of Woolies! Where’d they all come from?!

I watched as they frolicked about merrily, all with varying shades of white wool, but all sharing the same lazy expression on their faces, looking as if they were about to fall asleep at any second.

“Woolie, are they your friends?”

“Muuuu!”

Woolie rubbed his head against mine in affection while the others gathered around.

“Oh… oooh…! I’m covered in fluffy wool! And it’s so warm too- hot! TOO WARM!”

While it was an amazing experience, all this woolly material was rapidly turning the air around me into an oven, forcing me to push my way out of the pack. One Woolie was just right, five was overkill.

“That was almost the end of me! I don’t do too well with heat…”

I guess that’s why I live all the way up here in the highlands. Maybe when winter comes around, I’ll be able to tolerate all that fluffiness.

“Meh?”

“Muumuu.”

“What’re you guys talking about?” I peeked over at the chattering Woolie and his friends.

If I’d known the only form of companionship I’d have here were with animals, I’d have wished for the ability to talk to them instead.

“Muu…”

One of Woolie’s friends came up to me, his dreamy gaze making him look like the biggest airhead I’d ever seen.

And then he began to vibrate.

“Um, Woolie? Is your friend okay? He seems to be in a bit of a- he’s vibrating even harder now.”

I cautiously took a few steps back with everyone, watching as the mass of vibrating white fluff increased in ferocity until-

Pop.

His wool puffed up and popped out from his body, falling to the ground and exposing his bare skin.

“Huh?!”

The now naked-looking creature before me looked up, his face an expression of complete nonchalance at the absurdity I just witnessed.

“I have so many questions.”

“Beh.”

Woolie poked at my side with his head, gesturing with his stubby legs at the pile of wool on the ground.

“You want me to take that? Oh! Is this a present for me?”

Woolie nodded as I gathered up the fluffy lump of comfort.

“It’s so soft… I can use it as bedding. Thank you, Woolie’s friend!”

“Beh?”

He stared at me for a second, then turned around and walked away, the rest following behind him.

“You don’t want to join your friends, Woolie?”

“Muu.”

Woolie’s affectionate nudging moved me, and I couldn’t help but smile as I petted his head.

“Did you say goodbye to your friends?”

“Meh, meh!”

“Alright then, let’s see what’s in store for us up there-”

As I pointed to the top of the hill, I caught sight of something. I was so taken aback by the grandeur of everything around me that I failed to spot the most interesting thing by far.

On the other side of the forest edge across the fence, against the rocky cliff stood a quaint little building made of wood, along with another smaller shed a little distance away. From afar it look like a little abandoned shack sitting in the middle of nowhere, but as I walked up to it I realized most of it was intact.

“This is… a house?”

I turned to the shed nestled in the corner. It had a half-fence for a door, revealing the inside to be full of firewood. No doubt, whoever lived here had been busy preparing for the winter.

I went over to the entrance of the house. It was worn out, suggesting frequent usage over a period of years.

“The walls aren’t even dusty… and the door-”

A light push was all it took for it to creak open, revealing a small interior filled with various objects scattered about. It looked adequately lived in, with simple necessities and furniture that looked like luxuries compared to what I had to work with the past few days.

Squeezed into more than half the space was a well-built kitchen, complete with wooden and metal utensils alike still hanging off hooks on the wall, as if someone had been living here not too long ago. There was no living room; instead a single bed took up most of the remaining space, with a curious little contraption made of finely carved wood at the end, its most notable feature a wheel consisting half the design.

“Someone was living here.”

All of a sudden, my felt an ache in my chest. The more I looked around, the more it ached. When I moved around, my body seemed to be familiar with where everything was, despite not knowing where anything is.

The parchment stuck to the wall featured a very crudely drawn image of what appeared to be a little girl with her mother along with several white balls, as if made by a toddler handling their first set of crayons.

I pushed in one of two wooden chairs into the table in the middle of the kitchen, the low creaking sound of wood against wooden floorboards vaguely familiar to my twitching ears.

“This…”

I was sure of it. I don’t know why or how I know, but I was certain.

“This… I live here.”