16 - Brand New World!

“How’re you doing, Woolie?”

“Muu!”

“We can have breakfast in a bit after the sun rises, alright?”

It was dawn, the horizon still blue with a slight orange rising from below the hill, giving me plenty of wriggle room to take my time on this hike.

I finally decided to see for myself what lay beyond the highlands.

Could it simply be more forests and hills? Yet another valley, perhaps? One thing’s for sure; the hilltop wasn’t nearly as far out of reach as I once thought it to be.

Now that I’ve lived here for some time traveling between lakes and the Tranquil Forest, I was confident we’d arrive by afternoon.

Just in case, I prepared enough materials for a campfire in the event we had to spend the night out.

We took it easy, walking at a slow pace. The cold winds picked up as we traveled, the elevation slowly but gradually increased. I tugged on my shawl, squeezing my arms close to my chest in an effort to keep warm; it’d gotten cold enough even I needed some protection from the icy breeze.

“Let’s take a break, Woolie. The road ahead’s only gonna get tougher.”

Woolie didn’t seem to mind our meal of baked berries, happily munching on his portion with a side of petals. I was worried he’d developed a liking for scarce meat, but it appeared Woolie was fine eating pretty much anything edible.

Lost in my thoughts, I allowed my hands to move on autopilot, daydreaming about what I might discover. I simply had to know if civilization existed out there, and the very tip of the world as I knew it was the best chance I had.

“Alright, let’s head off.”

“Meh?”

Woolie had barely finished his food before I picked up my backpack, stretching as the first rays of sunshine lit the horizon, saturating the plains with a fleeting, warm glow.

I didn’t talk much during the journey; after all, I can’t hold a proper conversation with an animal no matter how well-acquainted we were.

Except Hooty.

I visited my mind palace during the night of the goblin incident, just to inform Hooty of all that transpired. Unsurprisingly, Hooty had seen it all in my mind, and was already in the process of coming up with countermeasures when I arrived.

The plan was to allocate all my energy up till winter gathering supplies, and devote my time during the frost season honing my skills.

With that being said, nothing beats real world training; I’ll have to put all that I learn into practice when spring arrives.

“You think Mister B’s willing to be my sparring partner if I cooked him meals in return?”

“Beh?”

The puzzled Woolie tilted his head as he munched on the last of his yellow flowers, blissfully content.

“You know, I like how you’re so easy to please, Woolie.”

“Muu!”

“Haha, a full belly makes for a happy Woolie, huh? I’m glad, I’ve never been able to please anyone way back before I arrived here. Especially not my m-”

…

“Muu?”

“It’s nothing, Woolie.”

Old memories came rushing back to me. I’d been so busy preparing for winter, I’d forgotten my past life.

What’s there to recall anyway? All I remember are the white walls and the laptop my grandmother gave me.

“… I wonder how Grangran’s doing?”

“Muumuu!”

“Hmm? Sorry Woolie! It’s nothing interesting, really. You’re not missing out on much. Now, what you really don’t want to miss out on is the view from up here!”

I turned back to see how far we’d traveled, raising my hand palm up towards the sky, squinting with one eye closed.

“Look! Our home’s so small now it can fit in the palm of my hand.”

“Meh!”

“I’d say we’re about… a third the way there? I think we’ll be able to reach by noon.”

With reinvigorated spirit, Woolie and I hastened our pace, determined to see our day trip through.

*

“Hah… hah… cough- geez-!”

Panting heavily, I willed my exhausted legs to climb the nightmarish slope.

“What the heck cough- is this… a thirty degree incline…?!”

“Muumehh… muumehh…”

“Come on you fluffball…! Just… a little more…! There!”

We collapsed upon stepping on level ground again, catching our breath.

I didn’t consider the difficulty of going uphill taking longer than expected; it’s already late afternoon by now, and though the journey back would be much easier going downhill, I doubt we’ll return home before sundown.

“Guess we’ll be staying the night.”

“Mehh…”

I let Woolie rest for a while longer, picking myself up; my consistent training allowed me to recover enough to already be up and about.

“Woolie… Woolie look, there’s a big tree over there!” I pointed to a short distance away.

It was a rather large tree, with a trunk several times thicker than the ones I was used to seeing. It was quite reminiscent of an oak tree, with a full head of autumn colors that will soon be shaven when winter arrives.

“How about we set up camp under that tonight?”

“Mehh…”

“Still out, huh? Rest here a while. I’ll go ahead and take a look.”

“Muumuu!”

As I took a step forward into the unknown world beyond, Woolie called out to me, getting to his feet despite his exhaustion.

“You wanna go together?”

“Muu.”

“Alright, come on then! Fight-o!”

I cheered Woolie on as he stumbled to my side, and we finally took our first steps beyond the highlands.

*

“You see that, Woolie?”

“Muu.”

I was so high up in the world I could see far beyond the valleys and forests, and managed to glimpse a fraction of what appeared to be the ocean far, far away. Towering mountains taller than where I stood reached for the heavens, the highest of tips poking through the layer of clouds covered in permafrost.

“You see that tiny stream over there? I wonder how wide it actually is, if we can see it from all the way over here.”

“Muu! Muu!”

“It’s all so… orange! It really is about to be winter soon, huh? Would be sad to see it all gone, but it’ll all turn green once spring comes around. Oh, that’s right! I’ll be able to see real snow for the first time!”

“Meh- muuuuuu-!”

“Hey! Careful, Woolie! If you slip and fall here you’ll tumble all the way down! Can you imagine the hellish climb up here again?”

“Behh!”

“Alright, alright, I get it. You can stop shaking your head like that.”

I spent a few moments taking in the sights.

“Look, over there in the distance beyond that forest.”

“Muu?”

“Look closely. See those tall, gray things? Look a lot like walls, don’t they? Quite difficult to make out from here, but if you look long and hard you’ll make out the shape of the castle, that cylindrical tower, that really tall stone structure-”

I raised my hand palm up towards the sky, squinting with one eye closed.

“Look, Woolie. It’s so far away it can fit in the palm of my hand, like back home. Except it’s much, much farther away. How many times bigger is a city than a cabin? How many times the distance?”

I gazed at the first sight of civilization I’ve seen. It was so far away, I’d have to go on an adventure to make it there. As someone who knew next to nothing about this world, that’d be a tall feat.

“No way I can make that journey right now. It’s way too scary.”

Despite it being out of reach, so unattainable, I was glad. Glad and relieved I wasn’t the only person in this world.

There are others out there, I’m sure of it. I just have to live long enough, learn to survive, and eventually I’ll journey down the highlands and see a whole new world, explore places, and meet new people.

“Alright. Had enough yet, Woolie? Let’s go back, I’ll prepare dinner for us.”

“Muu!”

*

“N-no way…!”

I stared at the large tree, the glistening blue fruits hanging onto the firm branches by their thin stems.

“Are those apples? Apples don’t grow on oak trees, do they? Then again, this isn’t Earth, and… actually, those aren’t really apples, are they? They’re blue.”

“Muu!”

“Oh? You’re confident, eh Woolie?”

“Muuuuu!”

Without hesitation, Woolie rammed into the tree-

And harmlessly bounced off its trunk.

“Ah… you alright, Woolie?”

“M-muu…” Woolie’s face was fully retracted into his wool like a raincoat, leaking two river streams of tears.

“There, there. I’ll do the honors this time.”

Despite being much wider than the trees I was used to, I managed to climb it with ease. The branches held strong from my light frame as I crawled to the edges, plucking the fruits and tossing them towards Woolie, catching them with his soft back.

“Ready Woolie? Here’s the last one!” I yelled and jumped off the branch.

Woolie ran about below, catching me like he always did.

Whomp-

“That’s a ten outta ten!” I bounced off the fluffy cloud and landed on the ground safe and sound. “Now, let’s see what we got here… Have you ever had these, Woolie?”

“Muumuu.”

“Hmm… think they’re safe to eat?”

I stared at the fruit in my hand, its skin ever so slightly slippery. It really did look like a blue apple, or rather teal, but on closer inspection it had a slight, green gradient near the top, quite reminiscent of the medicinal herbs I frequently picked. The shape was also a little strange, almost resembling a heart-shape.

“Well, here goes.”

I took a bite, the skin resisting little before I sank my teeth into the flesh beneath, sending sweet juices flooding onto my tongue.

“It’s… good!”

Sweet, but not overpowering. The flesh itself wasn’t as firm as an apple, but had a slightly chewy texture. Whenever I broke through the threshold, the fruit juice would pop and explode in my mouth.

“This is fun, isn’t it Woolie?”

“Muuhuu-”

Woolie was already done with one by the time I took my second bite, spitting out the seeds.

“Beh! Beh!”

“Wait, Woolie! We can collect the seeds and try planting them at home.”

“Muu!”

I don’t know how long it’ll take for it to grow, likely several years before it’ll bear fruit. But this isn’t Earth, and without any prior knowledge, everything was a fun experiment.

We gobbled down the rest and kept the seeds, some hope for a new food source for the days to come.

“What should we call this thing? I’m not very good with names… I think people used to name things they discover after themselves? In that case it’d be, uh… riko fruit? No… how about highland fruit?”

“Muu?”

“Mmm… too simple? Let me think… how about… highlander-? Highlander’s apple! You know what, let’s not get fancy and just call it a blue apple.”

“Meh?”

“Hmmhmm! That’s a face that has ‘what’s an apple?’ written all over it. Well, that’s for me to know and you to never find out, Woolie.”

“Muumuu!”

“Alright, alright! Here, I’ll go get more of them, what do you say?”

We picked more blue apples off the tree, still plentiful despite the coming change of season.

“We’ll keep these for tomorrow. Actually we should get a bunch of them, they should store easily in the winter. Now then, how about… round two?” I grinned, pan in hand.

“Muuhuu!”

A hearty campfire dinner of boar meat and blue apples, what’s not to like?

After our meal, I lay against Woolie whilst staring at the starlit sky. It was the same every night, but I never bore of the magnificent splendor.

“I wonder if the people in this world know what the moons are? Do they know the countless stars in the sky are in space, so far away we’ll never be able to reach them?”

A small sense of excitement and longing filled my heart as I closed my eyes, ready to dream of adventures awaiting me in this new world.