Too Many Questions. No Answers

Maya, Casper and I made our way back from the waterfall and followed the river downstream. The forest became less dense the more we followed the river. After about 15 minutes, we exited Emmerberk Woods and a wall of maybe 5-6 meters tall came into view.
Maya and I were holding one fish each, while Casper was proudly parading the fish he caught himself on the stick he caught it with.

‘We’re here. This is Emmerberk.’ Maya held her hand in front of her in a presenting way to accentuate what she said.

So this is it then. Emmerberk. My first time entering a village in this other world. A completely new place I know nothing about.

I don’t think many people from my world can say they’ve entered a medieval-esque village before. Let alone that they’ve been transported to a different world entirely.
And to think I didn’t even realize I wasn’t on earth until it presented itself right in front of me.

---

*One hour ago*

‘Are you alright Micheal? It’s like you’ve never seen a Bestiana before!’ Maya asked me half jokingly, noticing that I was surprised by her cat ears.
‘Nah, i-it’s nothing.’ I lied.
‘Sure doesn’t look like nothing. You look kinda pale.’ Maya said somewhat worried.
‘Maybe I have a little heatstroke, but it’s not anything big!’ I lied again, with the best excuse I could think of.
‘That doesn’t sound like it’s nothing big!’ Maya replied. ‘Here, I’ll lend you my hat and you go sit in the shade for now, okay!’

Maya put her hat on my head and walked with me towards the trees.

‘Sit down here for now! I’ll be with Casper to help him with catching more fish. Otherwise it’ll probably take a lot longer.’ Maya said to me while smiling sweetly at me.
‘Yeah, alright! Thank you!’ I replied, thankful to her for taking care of me.

She ran off back to the lake and all I could do was watch both Maya and Casper trying to catch more fish.
As i was sitting under the shade, I took a long breath, looked ahead at the lake and took in the sounds of everything around me.

I’m in another world. I’m. In. Another. World. All of this is real. How is this possible?
This is so hard to believe. I’ve seen stories about this particulair “thing” before in anime like “Shield Art Reincarnation”, but to think this would actually happen to ME is insane. How so many of those main characters are inmediately okay with suddenly being transported to another world, I do NOT understand. You’d have to have some insane confidence in yourself if you can react so positively, or nonchalantly to a massive change like that.
Although I could absolutely do with some of those protagonist’s confidence right about now, or at any point in my life really. Because then I might at least come to terms faster with everything that’s going on right now.
But I don’t want to stay here like in most of those stories. I just want to go back home.

Thinking back to those stories, there was always something that transported those characters. Whether that’d be an isekai-and-run truckdriver, some grand hero summoning, or something else entirely.
Think back. What were the last things that happened before I ended up here? Could there be something, anything, that could act as some kind of lead?
I remember making my way back home from the old lady’s house. Since I was feeling lightheaded, I stopped by the side of the road. Then there was this strong light and the next thing I knew, I was in Emmerberk Woods.
I don’t remember which one, but either Maya or Casper also mentioned a bright light. I’m not completely sure, but that light could be one and the same. The light that suddenly grew stronger from that mirr-.

THAT’S IT. THE MIRROR. That must be how I ended up here. I thought it was strange back then, but the trees and waterfall I saw in the mirror weren’t a hallucination. These trees ARE those trees. This waterfall IS that waterfall. I saw THIS world back then, within the mirror’s reflection.
But why would any old mirror suddenly transport m-.

‘I did it! I did it!’ Casper shouted.

I was yanked out of my thoughts by shouts of excitement. It looks like Casper was finally able to catch one, jumping up and down out of pure joy. Maya seems really happy for him. I could see them hugging each other as form of congratulating. They were quite a ways away from me, but I could still clearly see Maya’s cat ears moving along with every movement she’d make.

I’ve only seen beast people, or “Bestiana” as she called herself, in the anime I sometimes watch, but never in my life would I have expected to see one in person.
This world seems to be more fantastical in nature than the one I’m from, yet I haven’t seen them use any form of magic whatsoever. Does that mean that magic doesn’t exist in this world? Or maybe it does exist and they haven’t shown me, or are just not able to do so.

At least the plantlife and the fish look mostly similair, but that doesn’t mean that all of them will. Apart from the cat ears, Maya looks basically human and Casper looks entirely human. Could there also be completely other races out there besides the Bestiana? What other things are there in this world, that aren’t in mine?
So many questions, but no answers at the moment.

Maya and Casper are both walking towards me, with a total of three fish in hand. One of which, was the fish that Maya had already caught.
I should tell them what my situation is. Actually, no I shouldn’t. At least, not yet. Suddenly telling them that I’m from another world will no doubt go badly. I can so easily imagine that conversation in my head too:

‘Oh yeah Maya, Casper! By the way, I’m from another world!’
‘Sis, I think Micheal is insane!’
‘Let’s leave him and run back home!’

And then I’d be left alone without any lead on how to get back to my own world. Probably starving, or eaten alive. I’ll tell them eventually, but not today. It’s better if I get to know them first and they get to know me, before I drop that bombshell on them.

‘Hey Micheal, we’re back! Are you feeling any better?’ Maya asked me worriedly, with her cat ears drooping.
‘I guess so. How about the two of you? Did you catch enough?’ I said to Maya. 
‘We did.’ Maya responded, her cat ears almost inmediately perking back up again. ‘By the way, since it’s getting dark and we don’t want to risk running into a senus, the two of us are planning to head back home. What about you?’

I hadn’t even thought about that. I don’t even have a place to stay for the night. Could I ask them, if I can stay with-? NO, of course I can’t. I can’t ask them for a favor that big.

‘I- I’d love to go home, but I-I don’t know how.’ Not fully knowing what I could’ve said there, I said the first thing that came to mind, but couldn’t bring myself to look at her while doing so. Casting my head downward.
‘Then why don’t you stay with us until then.’ Maya said, making me turn my head upward to look at her again.
‘I’ll need to convince my parents obviously.’ Maya continued. ‘But I don’t think it’ll be a problem. As long as you’ll help us out here and there.’

Is she being serious right now? Would she actually help a complete stranger? Why would she?

‘Wh-Why would you help me?’ I questioned.
‘You seem genuine about not knowing how you got here and you need a safe place to stay right?’ Maya explained with a confident grin. If it wasn’t for the sun shining on her, I would have believed that she was the one radiating that light.

‘If it’s truly alright, then I guess I’ll be in your care then.’ I softly smiled at them. Thankful that they are willing to help me.
I’ll make to sure to be ready to repay them with whatever I can do to help them.

‘Let’s get going then.’ Maya extended her hand to help me stand up. And she did so, with a smile on her face.

---

*Back to the present*

As we made our way to the gates, we were greeted by two guards.

‘Hey Maya, did the hunt go well?’ A mustachioed guard waved at us from afar and asked us, with a warm smile on his face. His moustache is dark blonde and he is wielding a spear. He wears light body armour that only covers his upper body and, while it is hard to see, I noticed that he was wearing regular clothes underneath.

‘You can say that again Marcus. Look!’ Maya proudly showed them the fish both her and Casper caught.
‘I even caught one.’ Casper said, swinging the stick with the fish on it in excitement.

‘Impressive kid. The two of you really take after your parents.’ The other guard said, while patting Casper’s head. It looks like Casper enjoys it, since he is grinning from the praise.
‘I seriously doubt it Rock.’ Maya said quite bluntly.

Rock is completely bald and is carrying a sword on his back. Just like Marcus, he is wearing regular clothes underneath his armour, but he also has some protective gear for his legs.

‘Trust me, you are more similair than you might imagine.’ Rock said. ‘By the way, who is this guy?’ Rock nudged at me.
‘Oh uhm…’ Maya got ready to introduce me.
‘H-Hi I am Micheal.’ I interrupted her. ‘Pleased to meet you.’ I extended my hand to them and they did the same. I shook hands with the both of them.

They shared a look and soon after, a smug smile appeared on both of their faces.
‘You shouldn’t hunt for other people you know. You might be at that age, but this isn’t how you should go about doing it.’ Both of them said in unison in a sarcastic way to tease Maya.
‘I know that of course!’ Maya blushes from embarassment.

I felt a little awkward being the topic in that teasing, but felt more so bad for Maya for being subjected to that teasing.
Marcus and Rock are laughing from Maya’s embarassment, yet Maya looks like she is somewhat used to this. They are probably quite close for them to mess around with each other like this.

‘Anyway.’ Maya said still slightly blushing. ‘We found Micheal in Emmerberk Woods. He doesn’t know how he got there and needs a place to stay for the night.’
‘Ever the caring person, huh.’ Marcus said. ‘Well alright then. I trust you are doing the right thing. We’ll let you through. Just be aware that not everyone is too keen on strangers.’
‘I- I’ll keep it in mind.’ I said to them.

We said our goodbyes to Marcus and Rock and entered through the gates. The walls mostly blocked the view of the mountainrange, but now I can see the full scope of it all, including their peculair lay out. Calling them mountains wouldn’t even be completely accurate. They are more like cliffs. It’s like the peaks of one side are magnetically attracted to the peaks of the other side. While they don’t bridge one side to the other, it isn’t hard to believe that that may have been in the past. But now eroded by the passage of time.

I walked besides Maya and noticed the murmuring of the people around us. It was still light out, so there were still quite a few people going about their day. I can hear that some of them were talking about me in particulair behind my back.

‘Did you see that guy? The one that Richard’s kids brought with them?’
‘I did. He looks quite strange doesn’t he?’
‘You can say that again. His hair colour especially.’
‘Do you think he is from the other side of the mountains?’
‘How could that be possible!? He would have to live among the senus if that were the case.’

I tried my best to ignore them, but still couldn’t help but look back at them. They must have noticed I was staring at them, since they quickly stopped talking and averted their gazes.
But they said something interesting there. “Senus” was it? I think Maya said that before we left as well. It’s probably an animal species, unique to this world. But the way they said it, in a mix of shock and fear, makes it seem like it might me more than just some wild animal and something even more dangerous. Maya did say she didn’t want to run into one.
Well, no use thinking about it now, since I don’t even know what they look like in the first place.

The three of us kept walking and stopped in front of a stone house with a small farm in the back.

‘This is our home. Come on in. I’ll introduce you to our parents.’ Maya said.

Maya opened the frontdoor, inviting me in.
However her parents decide to judge me, I’ll try my best to leave a good impression.