Chapter 6 - Road

The energies carrying the body faded away, they did not leave, they just split into four as they assimilated into a special place within the body, unnoticeable. The body landed quietly on its feet and fell backward ever so calmly.

Yet, as it was in the midst of falling, time seemed to stop as a fissure in space appeared. It looked like a black hole, except it was transparent and nothing seemed to be drawn to it in the small time it was there. Only one thing happened with it: it spewed out a white ball of light right at the newly created body and disappeared soon after.

Time went on, and the body subtly fell on the ground.

…

It was naturally very dark in the valley, even more so now that the dull light coming from the moon was the only light source. Inside the valley, a man stood with blank eyes. His face showed no emotions, and he just stood there.

Almost as if he observed the valley, he started taking small baby steps while looking around. His mind was groggy, and he had a feeling that what stopped him from contemplating was the fact that he did not even try to think. He just started walking around but was suddenly surprised when he made a noise in his mind.

Bewilderment painted his facial expression, and he started experimenting inside his head. Over a small amount of time, he found himself able to remember a language and started using it to converse with himself.

He explored the valley while noting everything down in his mind, asking himself questions. Sometimes his questions would be answered, his fragile mind was already full of information. ‘What is this thing? - Oh, it’s water!’ it was in such a way that he spent his whole day.

Many of his memories had returned, he even knew his own name now. Mark is his first name, while Collin is his family name. But why had he come here? He had no recollection of why he would be in a valley. As his memories submerged him, he regained some sense. The sun soon started to rise, and he chose to depart from the valley.

Clueless that this was not the earth, or what he remembered, he was enthralled by the sight of huge city walls, with awe-inspiring pagodas as tall as some of the biggest buildings he had ever seen, or at least ever remembered having seen. Only after several minutes did he recover and, with wallop steps, hurried towards the entrance. Many people walked on the road leading to the entrance, and when he noticed these people, Mark stopped in his tracks and instantly blushed.

Looking at himself, he discovered his clothes, which were non-existent. He wore nothing, if he were to enter like this he would be kicked out immediately, if not placed in a prison or a psych ward. Looking around there were small huts neatly placed outside the city. When looking at the wooden huts, Mark had a feeling this was an ancient country, like Hong Kong or China.

He did not give much thought to his nakedness, as she shied from going onto the road, and instead chose to traverse it and enter the forest. He chose to survey the huts and check if no one was home, stealing clothes was bad morale, but he had no other choice.

If he knocked on the door naked, the person living in the hut would definitely scream, or even attack him. Luckily after a quick survey of the forest near the hut, it seemed that no one was around. If he was unable to obtain clothing, then he could only be ashamed and live forever in the forest.

With a detested look on his face, he sighed, of course this is not what he wants. He should focus on the mission at hand, obtaining clothing. Sneakily nearing the hut, he looks in through the windows. No one seems to be home. No sound left the house, so he chose to be a bit precarious with his plans.

He first knocked on the window and ran behind a tree, observing what would happen. After a few breaths of time, when he noticed that nothing had happened, Mark nodded in relief. With newfound energy, he rushed to the door, and turned the handle.

“Eh!” a sound left his mound, completely baffled by the fact that the door actually opened. At first he thought that he would need to barge in or find another way in, since doors are almost always locked. But this one opened, without the use of a key.

But then again, with another look at the door, there wasn’t even a keyhole. When he entered, he could not help but notice it was basically one big room. The sleeping area was simply a bed, and underneath the bed, there seemed to be some storage space. There was a small kitchen and a seating area. But this was basically all there was to it, other than some additional furniture.

Hurrying to a closet, he found that there were actually clothing, although the clothing was a bit weird. It seemed this place was mainly chinese inspired, and he quickly put on a green robe, embroidered with leaves. Unexpectedly, it fit him perfectly. He hurriedly left and closed the door, but before he was far from the hut, he turned around and dashed inside again.

The reason for this was, unexpectedly, him stepping on a stick. The pain was endurable, but he forgot a major thing. At the bottom of the closet, were actually something like slippers, matching the robes. He put on the green shoes and then, once again, hurriedly left the place in fear that the owner would come barging in at the wrong moment.

His long black hair flowed around him as he exited the forest and began pathing along the road. He followed the flow of people entering the city, and soon neared the gate. Above the gate hung the words “Huang Shu City”, magnificence radiating just from that sign alone.

With light steps, the crowding seemed to get more intense, and the pace slowed down alot. Mark had listened to a few discussions and some gossip. The main reason that everyone was inspected upon arrival, was due to some major occurrence. Apparently, this had been going on for a few months.

A few hours brushed by quickly, not many left the city, mostly merchants. Despite this, many actually entered. Mark suspected there were other exits, specially created for travelling, else there were simply too many entering and too few leaving.

What surprised him was, when he saw people commuting, it was mostly by horse or a horse wagon. This brought memories back to him about transportation, trains, cars and bicycles. He found it really weird, that there was such a huge and majestic city, in such a rural place.

When he got closer to the entrance, he saw how the inspection was carried out. Many had some identity of sorts, and were able to pass by quickly. If the guards had some suspicions, they would tell their colleagues to take them away for further investigation. Like this, it was efficiently taken care of, and the line continued to flow.

“Next!” a guard with a direct but serene voice called out, and Mark hurriedly walked forwards. However, he was not sure how he would do this. He had no identity, and not even any recollection of where he was.

Something had actually bothered him for quite a while, it seemed like these guys all spoke english. “Do you have an identity token?” the guard asked while Mark was contemplating. His face straightened as he removed his perplexed emotions from his appearance and answered calmly.

“Sir, I do not have an identity token.” He bowed, most people who had come here bowed to the guards when they came into contact with them. He did not really know what this signified, but since bowing was not that hard a thing to do, he would just comply and do it.

The guard raised an eyebrow at him, the green robes he wore seemed familiar to the guard at some point. But despite this, he still felt that something was wrong with the man in front of him. The feminine look he had, probably made him the most handsome man he had ever laid eyes on.

Before the guard could ask of his origins, Mark took the initiative to speak first.

“I am sorry sir. I was robbed and attacked, I suffer from a slight amnesia and have nowhere else to go.” Mark chose to bow again, clearly people bowed out of respect or appreciation, it was only natural that it would accompany his cry for help.

Due to the young age of the man in front of him, he could only sigh to himself as he took on a stern expression and waved his hand, signalling for him to stop bowing. “General Huang, this one is in a problematic dilemma, and has no token of identity. Bring him with you for the next batch.” the guard waved his hand at a colleague and gave Mark a slight push in that direction as he calmly called the next one in the line.

Mark felt a bit sad inside, now he would have to go through the extra investigation, it would definitely be more in-depth. He forgot most of his thoughts as he followed a bulky man into a small camp running along the walls near the entrance.