Life

Haruki woke up. A soft breeze caressed his face and the smell of grass flooded his senses. He sat up and looked around him.

“Wh…where am I?”

All around him stretched a massive grassy field, as far as his eyes could see. He sat atop a small hill, under the cool shade of a lone oak tree. It was the type of idyllic natural scenery he was used to seeing in video games or anime, but never in real life.

“The last thing I remember…” he said, holding his hand to the side of his stomach. He realized that the immense pain he was experiencing just a moment before was no longer there.

Haruki looked down at himself and saw that he was wearing an outfit he had never seen before. He first noticed his leather boots and a worn out pair of baggy trousers. On his upper body he was wearing a simple white shirt with a small vest, devoid of any logos or designs like the cheap polyester t-shirts he was used to. His clothes felt soft to the touch, as if they were made out of some kind of natural material like wool or linen.

He laid back down and stared at the branches above him, trying to sort out all the questions racing through his head. After a few minutes he pushed all of the questions to the back of his mind and sat back up, figuring that he wouldn’t find any answers just sitting there.

He stood up and walked down the gentle incline, heading off with no real direction in mind, hoping to just find any landmark that could help him figure out where he is. The thin soles of his leather boots made it feel like he was walking through the tall grass barefoot, a sensation he vaguely remembered from childhood.

In the distance Haruki finally spotted something, a little creek weaving through the grassy hills. He suddenly realized how thirsty he was, and before he knew it his body was moving on its own, quickly closing the distance to the creek.

He plopped down to his knees beside the stream, cupping up the water with his hands and gulping it down. He repeated this several times until he finally had his fill. The water was slightly dirty, but in his profound thirstiness it tasted better than any drink he’d had before.

He looked at his reflection in the water. His face looked largely the same, but as if he were a few years younger, like he was back in his early 20s again.

He figured it’d be best to follow the creek until he could figure out where he is, as he knew that civilization tends to be downstream of water. He eventually reached a forest. The change of scenery was preferable to the endless grassy plains, but it didn’t give him any hope that he was closer to finding other humans.

Haruki walked for several more hours through the forest, when suddenly he thought he heard something off in the distance. A few hundred meters further down the creek, he spotted a large animal drinking from the water.

His body instantly froze, he didn’t know what to make of the creature before him. It was some sort of giant cat, easily as big as a tiger, but with the mane of a lion and dark spots reminiscent of a cheetah. It had two large teeth protruding from its mouth, just like the ancient saber-toothed tiger. Strangest of all, it had many large, blade-like spines covering its back. It was truly not an animal belonging to this world.

The creature raised its head up from the water and stared back at him, its instincts clearly alerting it to the fact it was being watched.

A surge of adrenaline flooded through his body. His heart began pounding and his muscles all simultaneously tensed, his whole body was telling him to run.

He jolted into the forest, running as far away from the creek as he could. His feet soared like they were lighter than air; he jumped over logs and ran up and down ridges hardly even realizing they were there.

He ran for nearly an hour before he felt it was safe to stop fleeing, or rather when he nearly collapsed from exhaustion. He was surprised he could run that long, but figured even a mediocre body can do amazing things when scared for its life.

As soon as Haruki was able to stand, he began walking again, paranoid that the beast could still be following him. As fortune would have it, he soon stumbled upon a narrow dirt road that led him out of the forest. Soon, he saw wheat fields and some small houses off in the distance.

The houses didn’t look like anything you’d expect to find in Japan, yet he’d never felt a greater sense of joy and relief at the sight. He ran up to the nearest home.

“Hello! Is anybody there?! Please, is there anybody here?!” Haruki yelled out, desperate to finally meet other people who could help him.

“Bugger off, you!” A stout lady holding a farmer’s hoe menacingly above her head appeared. “I don’t know who ya’ are, ya’ aren’t welcome here!”

Not wanting to incur the wrath of the metal blade above the woman’s head, Haruki obliged and retreated off her property.

He tried the next home a little ways down the road, this time deciding to approach in a less loud manner, to avoid triggering a similar response.

Haruki knocked on the door of the home. After nobody answered, he began looking around the farmhouse for any signs of life. He noticed several types of livestock by a barn, but none of them looked quite like any livestock he had ever seen before, as if they were all amalgamations of several different species of animals.

At least these ones seem friendly, he thought to himself.

Off in the distance he spotted a hat poking up from the wheat field adjacent to the house. Haruki calmly made his way over to the figure, careful not to blindside or startle him. He noticed it was an old man, probably in his 70s.

“H-hello, excuse me sir.”

“Huh? Who’re you?” the old man replied. He reached with one hand down to his waist, where Haruki spotted a little knife holster.

“I’m very sorry for intruding on your property, sir. I don’t mean you any harm, I was just wondering if you could perhaps hear me out?”

The old man relaxed his hand at his waist.

“Ya’ ain’t from ‘round here, aren’t-cha?” The old man’s face still communicated suspicion, but it seems he’d at least gotten past the point of a violent reaction.

“No, sir. I’ve found myself lost, I don’t know where I am or how I got here. If you could be so kind, I was wondering if you could tell me where I am, and maybe spare me some water or food.”

“Hmph,” the old man grunted. “An’ why would I do that?”

Because it’s the basic humane thing to do when someone’s in trouble, Haruki wanted to say, but he opted to negotiate instead.

“How about this: I’d hate to see an older man like yourself out here doing hard labor, I could help you out with whatever you need doing, and in return you could help me out. Does that sound fair?”

The old man eyed Haruki down for a moment, feeling for the sincerity behind his words.

“Fine, fine. Ya’ help me finish the rest of today’s chores an’ I’ll help ya’ out.”

The old man worked Haruki for the next few hours until sundown, having him move various tools and lumber back and forth across the farm, feed the strange farm beasts their supper, and carry hay bales up into the loft of the barn — all sorts of stuff. Despite the old man’s age, Haruki could barely keep up with him. He’d clearly been doing this sort of thing every day for much longer than Haruki had been alive.

Finally, their work for the day finished and the old man went inside the farmhouse to prepare dinner for them both. He brought out a bowl of soup and a chunk of bread. It wasn’t much, but somehow the meager meal satisfied Haruki.

The old man let Haruki sleep in the barn for the night if he agreed to leave in the morning, but before going to bed the old man decided to answer a few of Haruki’s questions.

“This here village is named Mosswood, it ain’t but a few dozen families. ‘Bout 20 kilometers south is the nearest town, Thistleholm,” the old man told him. “If ya’ head out tomorrow morn’ ya’ should get there ‘round noon.”

Haruki thanked the man for letting him stay the night. That evening Haruki slept atop a couple bales of hay up in the barn’s loft, easily drifting off to sleep despite the sounds of the odd animals in the stables below.

He was no closer to finding answers to any of his questions. His future in this strange country remained uncertain, yet despite all the worries clouding his mind he slept deeply, exhausted from all that he’d done that day.