As they slowly closed in on the gate, John was feeling a strange reluctance to part with his short-term companion. It was a feeling he hadn’t experienced in a long time, and he chided himself for letting a person who was practically a stranger into his heart so quickly. ‘Not like I can do anything about that, though.’

He shook his head, clearing it of unnecessary thoughts and stared at the heavily decorated set of doors in front of him. Contrary to his expectations, they didn’t seem to be made of gold. The material seemed to be some sort of wood, but the colourful carvings seemed to cover most details about it up.

Not that the carvings themselves weren’t interesting enough. All sorts of mythical beasts like European dragons and Hydras were being depicted around two humans, one male and one female, in golden armour, seemingly attacking them at the same time. The man was stationed at the right side, the woman at the left and both of them were radiating a bright aura of the same colour as their armour that enveloped their surroundings.

The couple had a solemn look on their somewhat indistinct faces, the two of them seeming to gaze at the observer with a strange intensity that should have been impossible to emit by wooden carvings.

George nudged John’s head with his elbow before he could sink into the picture any further. “I know that the door is awesome, but don’t lose yourself in it. We’ve got some serious business coming right up,” he said whilst steeling his gaze at the two armoured guards watching over the entrance.

Heavy golden plate armour covered them from head to toe, letting nothing but their eyes under the thin visors be seen. It was made intricately, enough so that even an amateur like John could see that they would be able to nimbly move around in that armour if they had the necessary strength to do so.

It was built to impede their movements only minimally, the thick plates neatly intersecting with each other in a manner that allowed the wearers to perform almost all movement a person without armour could.

The one to John’s left had somehow stabbed the scabbard of its sword deep into the ground, placing both hands on it like a statue would. The other guard, which looked completely identical if not for its scabbard being considerably wider, was occasionally turning its head around to inspect its surroundings.

The constant onslaught of gold was slowly annoying John. Just who would be stupid enough to actually use golden armour? The only thing it would do, even if the gold was just painted on it, was to turn you into a shining target.

They stopped a metre away from the golden guards. “Good day, sirs. I have come here to deliver this child-“ George ruffled John’s hair. “Into your care. He’s quite the strange one, but I’m sure he’ll be of great use.”

George’s choice of words made John quirk his eyebrow in confusion. Of great use? Was he going to become a child labourer? Considering that his surroundings seemed to be medieval, that possibility was quite likely.

The left guard moved its hands away from its sword, slowly walking towards John. George let go of him and stepped back. It seemed like he would let the guard do whatever it wanted.

The armoured figure stopped a few inches in front of John, whose eyelevel barely reached the waist portion of the armour. “Is he a warrior?” a completely gender-neutral voice asked. It was somewhat blurred even though its owner stood right in front of John, confusing the hell out of him. He couldn’t really make heads or tails out of it since they shouldn’t have the technology necessary to produce voice-altering devices.

“I don’t know. I just found him on the streets and figured that it was probably better if he was in your care. There’s only so much you can find out about someone if you know him for a short time, you know?”

The soft leather surface of a glove settled on his head, ruffling through his oily hair. “Then let’s find out right now.”

The hand retracted from John’s head and he saw it take a tablet out of thin air. “Sit down boy.”

“Right here?”

“Right here.”

John shrugged, figuring that it was useless to ask it why he should do so. He sat down on the ground and crossed his legs, careful not to expose his private parts for the whole world to see.

“Okay, now close your eyes.”

He did as he was told.

It was only then that he noticed how horribly loud the surroundings were. Carriages constantly rattled their way through the broad streets. Countless people were chattering whilst walking around and some vendors were loudly advertising their wares, creating a cacophony of noise that almost threatened to overwhelm him now that he focused on it.

Before that could happen, though, he heard the guard’s voice again, “Tell me if you can detect something in your vicinity. And no, I don’t want a description of some random chat that some people nearby have had. Don’t worry, you’ll either feel it or you won’t.”

He didn’t really know how to feel about those less than understandable words, but he nonetheless resumed trying to feel his surroundings out.

The thin layer of linen protecting him from the warm and dirty ground didn’t do too much to make the feeling of pebbles digging into his buttocks more comfortable. He didn’t even dare to shift his weight in fear of worsening the situation. The only plus point to it was that the thin oversized shirt didn’t cling to his skin, even though he was quite sweaty from walking around so much.

A few strands of heavy, oily hair were clinging to his forehead, and an unpleasant smell that had appeared after walking around in the heat for too long surrounded him. There was a faint itch all over his body, being especially concentrated at the upper portion of his back and the parts of his forehead where the hairs touched bare skin.

He was suppressing the urge to scratch it when he finally felt it. It wasn’t something that he could have explained with words alone, but if he had to use the limited vocabulary of the Intergalactic Language, it would be a lukewarm gaseous substance in the all-encompassing heat surrounding him that he could feel from even a few metres away.

Feeling the presence of something that was located a few metres away confused him quite a bit at first, but he soon guessed that it should be the thing that the guard had mentioned.

As he slowly got used to the new sensation, the strange gas seemed to slowly crawl towards him whilst spreading into its surroundings. He reckoned that there wouldn’t be much left of it if it by the time it reached him.

“I can feel it. It’s…a somewhat lukewarm substance, right? It’s coming from my left and slowly spreads towards its surroundings. Kinda like warm water that’s poured into a cold bathtub, only that the tub I’m speaking of is the air around us,” John said whilst scratching his head.

Although he appeared calm on the outside, the sound of his rapidly beating heart was overshadowing everything else in John’s mind at that moment. The sensation that substance gave off was strangely close to the one that those strange beings of light.

He knew that this was a clue. A tremendously important one that could solve the reason for his sudden reincarnation, but he didn’t know what to do with it. He filed the newfound information away for later use and focused on slowly calming his breathing down.

After accomplishing that feat, he realized that the adults around him had probably been silent for quite some time. Then, the guard instructing him began to laugh heartily whilst clapping loudly, shrill sounds to reverberate through the air. John noted that its manner of laughing seemed remarkably masculine, but since he was in an unknown place it could just as well be feminine for all he knew.

When it had finally calmed down, the guard said, “This one is interesting, that’s for sure.” It turned to face George whilst pointing at John. “Anyway, do you happen to know why a dirty street urchin looking like a toddler knows what a bathtub is? Or why he speaks like a fucking adult, for that matter. The difference between his words and appearance is pretty creepy.”

George helplessly shrugged. “Not really. He was like that from the moment I picked him up. Maybe he’s just really intelligent?”

A pair of shining eyes locked onto John as the other guard moved to stand behind him. He swallowed the spit that had gathered in his mouth as he contemplated for a way to escape. Unfortunately, he quickly realized that his chances of succeeding were slim at best.

“Greg, stop. Can’t you see that you’re frightening the kid?” the guard in front of him said. “Look at him, it’s obvious that he’s searching for escape routes.”

“I don’t think that will be a problem, right?”, a voice that sounded identical to the one of the guard in front of him stated as a pair of armoured hands gripped his shoulders, slamming his buttocks into the pebbles beneath them.

John drew a sharp breath, but stayed silent. He was trapped. ‘Whelp, there go my escape plans.’ “No, of course not sir. I wouldn’t even dare to think about it.”

“That’s good to hear. We wouldn’t want another runaway child, right?”

John could literally feel the malicious grin behind him, but he chose to ignore it. “So, I guess that I qualify, right?”

The grip on his shoulders tightened. “Yes, you do. Now be a good kid and obediently come with us.” John felt himself being pulled up until his feet were dangling a few centimetres above ground level.

“Thank you for bringing this child to us. You can come and visit him anytime, so don’t worry. We won’t mistreat him…too much.” The guard in front of him informed George and proceeded to push the massive doors open without problems.

‘Hey, what the fuck do you mean?!’, John shouted inside his head. He suddenly realized that coming here with George could have been a tremendous mistake. In fact, this whole scenario seemed suspiciously much like an abduction in broad daylight.

The other guard, having shifted his hands to lift John from under his armpits, slowly walked through the doorframe without missing a beat.

George didn’t really seem fazed by the whole procedure, only winking at John as he saw him being carried into a vast courtyard. “I’ll visit you when I have time you creepy rascal!” he shouted just as his figure disappeared behind the automatically closing doors.

By now John didn’t even want to bother with the reason for them closing without any further input anymore. He simply assumed that this was normal. Or magic.

They swiftly passed beautifully trimmed bushes and vibrant grass, treading on a golden path that led him through the surreally perfect garden. A row of old and gnarly trees formed a canopy that arched far above their heads, protecting them from the hot afternoon sun.

‘To think that I’d actually see so much greenery again…how nostalgic.’ He reached out to touch them in passing, only to realize that they didn’t feel that different from artificial plants. Technology had just advanced too far. Things like real nature… had become something far removed from the common folk. Sure, he had seen some similar scenes in the latter period of his life, but that didn’t change the fact that nature had almost vanished from the daily lives of most humans.

Now, seeing this beautiful garden and his medieval environment, he started to see why no one complained about that aside from the few environmentalists that remained. Nature may be beautiful, but he would gladly trade all of that in for running water and access to the Interweb any time.

“So, what are we going to do now?” John asked after calming down. They had already been on their way for quite some time and he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do now. Being carried around like the small child he had apparently turned into was slowly becoming awkward. “I mean, what’s the plan? What will I be doing in that orphanage of yours?”

The guard, probably annoyed with having to carry him around in that taxing position, slung him over his hard but remarkably warm metallic shoulder plate. “Well, first of all you’ll be registered and then get checked for all kinds of diseases you might be carrying. Then, you’ll be sent to the bath because you smell like you haven’t washed yourself in half an eternity.”

After a period of silence passed, John realized that the guard wasn’t intending to tell him more. “Are you male or female?” he inquired. Both guard’s armour hid their bodies from his sight, and it was slowly getting awkward for him to think of them as gender-neutral beings when they were obviously made out of flesh and blood.

He was painfully slapped on his buttocks. “I’m male. Can’t you see that, brat? Seriously, kids these days don’t seem to use their eyes anymore.”

“Uhh how am I supposed to do that if your armour blocks my sight?”

“Boy, are you serious?”

“If I weren’t, would I be asking a fully armoured stranger carrying me on his shoulder?”

The guard sighed, the sound being somewhat muffled by his helmet. “You know; the breastplates of women tend to be bigger than that of men. And the waist portion smaller, but that’s not always the case I guess. Well, the easiest way to discern that would be asking them for their weight and age, though.”

‘I guess some things never change, huh?’ John mused as he stared at the worn tiles beneath him. He faintly recalled that gold was a horrible material for building streets due to its relative softness.

By then, John could already faintly hear the sounds of children shouting something. When he paid more attention to it, though, he realized that it didn’t sound like laughter. More like screams.

The bushes at his sides had still not cleared up, their dense growth effectively blocking all his attempts at seeing through them. John briefly wondered when the bushes had become thick enough to not let him see above through them anymore, but he dismissed it quite quickly. It was probably just one of those unexplainable medieval trends.

“Judging by the look on your face you must have heard the trainees, huh? Don’t worry, you’ll become like them in no time! We, the Golden Gate, are renowned for producing some of the greatest warriors Frumentum has ever seen,” he claimed.

“Errr, what? What do you mean?”

“Well, we’ll be training you, of course!”

Before John could clarify the situation, he realized that they had arrived at an inconspicuous wooden door. The only things that stood out were a set cow heads with a ring attached to their noses, one for each otherwise unadorned dark brown door. They were nested in a black doorframe that stood in stark contrast to the white walls around it.

From the corner of his vision, John saw that there some drawings at many different places on the wall that seemed to stretch on for quite a distance. After focusing on them, he was barely able to discern a few scribbles underneath those drawings. Before he could further examine them, however, the doors magically opened as soon as they drew close.

They were greeted by the sight of a bald grizzled man with a long, black beard behind an ancient wooden reception desk with a few orderly stacks of paper were scattered on top of it. A soft green carped covered the ground, and a few pictures of all sizes and forms covered most of the walls that were painted in a pleasant amber. On the ceiling hung a small glass chandelier, illuminating the room with the flickering lights of a few brightly shining stones, which John didn’t even waste a glance on.

Upon their entrance, the receptionist lifted his head. What greeted them was the visage of a tired middle aged man with countless dark circles under his eyes. He wore a long grey robe that covered his whole body. His icy eyes quietly sized them up. He sighed, hanging his head low.

“Ahh, there goes my newfound calm,” he grumbled and pointed a finger at a shield with some strange symbols on it. “The medical examinations are over there. Take care to not disturb me too much, will you? I haven’t slept in weeks and there’s still quite a lot of stuff to do.” After saying that, he immediately resumed quietly writing on a parchment with a feather.

‘Great. Just great. I can already feel that I’ll fit in in no time at all.’