I slowly opened my hazy eyes only to be blinded by the brightness of the sun. My touch fluffed by a soft, yet hard feeling as my fingers ruffled through the small moist blades of grass. I could not help but wonder where I was as I slowly looked around, only to see the debris of destroyed ships scattered around the area. It looked as if I was currently in a forest with trees that towered over me as high as my eyes could see. My body ached with pain, I was hardly able to even move.

The mana within my body didn’t seem to respond either, so trying to heighten my senses to scan my surroundings was impossible.

“Okin, I.. Can’t use my mana what is going on?”

“….”

A few minutes went by without any response from Okin. Whatever has happened with my body has shut out not only my mana but, also the connection between me and Okin. Managing to slowly wobble to my feet, I aimlessly started to walk south of the site not sure how deep in I was, or when ill stumble across any form of civilization. Fumbling around in the woods for a few minutes, I hear a large growling coming from a short distance in front of me within some bushes. Not being in a fit enough position to fight whatever is over there, I hide behind an old tree that had fallen over at some point in time in an attempt to avoid battle.

“Raawr! Raaaaaaaawrrrrrrr!”

The ear piercing howl of the beast cried out once again, but this time it was closer than before. Moments following the roar, I spot a panther slowly coming out from the bushes. Scanning in front of its area the panther progressed towards my location, closer, and closer. As the panther was losing interest in the area, he decided to wander away from my location. Right as it was about to leave my sight disappearing into the tree’s a squirrel jumped down from the trees crunching twigs as he crossed sides to climb up onto another tree. At that moment the interest of the panther was re-triggered turning him around to face directly at my location, managing to see my head peeking over the fallen tree.

“Raaaawr!”

After spotting me, the panther sprinted at me full charge leaving little to no room to react. With my crippled body, I attempt to run as fast as I can before diving in front of a tree just barely missing the paw of the panther as it leaped directly where I was previously standing. Landing on the ground I turn around facing the panther who has already begun changing directions, leaping directly onto me while I don’t have enough time to move out of the way.

“BANG! BANG!”

Gunshots pierce through the sky quieting the world as the panther goes limp in mid-air. The mana from the panther was not absorbed this time, unlike normal my body rejected the intake of any more mana. Instead, it caused my body to feel even weaker as well as causing me to vomit then shortly after, I passed out. Once again waking up, I scan my surroundings, this time I seem to have been brought to someone’s home to rest and recover. I could smell something sweet coming from outside the room, collecting myself, I slowly sat up walking towards the exit of the room. Just before leaving the room I could hear faint voices on the other side, when I open the room I see two women, one around my age while the other looks to be in her mid-thirties, she is probably the younger girls mother.

“Ahhh so he is awake!”

“Kya!”

“Oh, my!”

Once the two heard me enter they turned towards me as they greeted me. The younger girl let out a small shocked cry, while the mother covered her mouth with flushed cheeks. Noticing their stares I looked down towards my own body, I did not notice that I was naked.

“Mmm… let me get you some clothes, the ones you were wearing are all tattered and destroyed.”

“…”

I was not sure why my current appearance warranted a shocked reaction but it seems the cause was because I Was not wearing clothes, I did not bother rejecting her offer, I figured it would be easier to cooperate for now since it seems as though these people have helped me.

“Go back into the room, and I’ll be right back with some clothes for you to change into.”

The women left the room, for several minutes before reappearing with a handful of different pieces of clothing spread across her arm.

“Here sweetheart try these on.”

She pushes the clothes into my arms before backing out of the room. Changing my clothes I notice they have a different feel from my previous outfit given to me on the ship. These clothes had a bit of a lower quality but were still decently good. Finishing up changing into the new clothes I once again exit the room.

“Ah! How handsome!”

Clapping her hands together the women commented on my appearance in the clothes.

“It’s a good thing that our neighbor still had clothes from when their son was your age. So, why don’t you come sit down now that we have that all situated and let’s enjoy our breakfast shall we? Afterward, I’ll take you to speak with the chief of the village to talk about your situation. Oh, by the way, My name is Erica, and this is my daughter Hannah.”

“Hello!”

“…”

I quietly nod in their direction then point to myself stating my name.

“Niko.”

“Ah, so you do talk!”

The younger girl who has more or less been quiet up until now ended up blurting out after hearing me talk.

“Oops! My apologies, I was just surprised to hear you talk this whole time you just calmly looked around nodding your head or tilting it to the side in acknowledgment to our words. I was not sure if you could speak or not.

I couldn’t help but be confused by the outgoing and easily excitable personality of this mother-daughter duo, being pretty new to people there is a lot to learn, and among the few, I have had contact with none of them were like this…strange.

Following the little episode, I quietly sat eating the food the mother served as mother and daughter spoke about the village telling me about the people, and the simple jobs they do around the village. Finishing our breakfast the three of us walked to the chief’s dwelling located at the north side of the village. Reaching the outside, Erica knocked stating it was her, a few seconds passed by before the door flew open as a man guided us inside.

Entering the village chiefs home we were greeted by a room filled with men and women seated at a table who were having a heated discussion.

“We can’t allow him in the village, not only do we not know where he came from, we don’t need an extra mouth to feed!”

Immediately after, everyone heard our group enter the room and turned their heads staring back at us.