Chapter 3

Tyriel was enjoying his walk, the richness of the cool crisp mountain air was suffused with the tantalizing smells that originated from the trees and loam producing a very earthy scent. He walked with his bow notched, making it quicker to draw and fire if trouble or game made an appearance. He would glance up every now and then to make sure that he kept the sun at a certain angle from his side so he knew he was still going in the right direction.He had figured out while watching the sun hardly moving after hours of walking, that this world's day cycle was longer than Earth's was. He made a mental note to figure out the hours to a day ratio starting tomorrow morning when the sun rose, just one of many things he would need to adapt to. He found that this new body didn’t tire as easily as his old one did, plus he could feel the strength in his arms and legs when he needed to hop over or move something.

With how slow the sun was moving along with how fast he was traveling, he estimated he might actually reach the river by dark. Which brought its own load of hassles, trying to make a camp that would provide protection since he was by himself. He considered it lucky he hadn’t run into anything yet, hoping it would stay that way till he felt more comfortable with his skills before running into something dangerous. On the other side, it wasn’t very lucky in not spotting any game to shoot or seeing any edible plants, meaning he was going to have to stretch his rations further till he could find a food source. When the sun finally reached what could be called late afternoon, Tyriel could finally hear the sounds of running water in the distance. By the noise, it was a fairly fast-flowing river, which was confirmed after another half hour of traveling. He found himself on a ridge-line looking down at a rocky shore bordering a rushing river roughly 30 yards across.

It took him a little time to find a route to the river, he ended up having to use a channel that had been eroded away by runoff which he carefully climbed down. He would have to be careful down here as he would only have two directions to run, there was no way to scale back up quickly. After a little scouting, he happened across an area against the cliff where a past flood washed a small cave area out behind a large boulder. Keeping his bow ready he searched the hole making sure nothing lived there, finding it empty, his closer inspection showed it would be very defendable in the narrow opening while the boulder would hide a tiny fire if he wished to have one. Scrounging up sticks and bushy limbs, he made a fire pit, then using the bush limbs he made a pile and covered it with one of the blankets to make a primitive bed.

After filling his canteen, he grabbed a few more large limbs, which he placed over the opening as he backed into the recess. Settling down on the blanket, he pulled out the flint laying it beside the pit while he created shaving using the small hatchet. Pretty soon he had a small flame which he coaxed into a merry little fire to keep him warm, then unwrapping another ration pack he leaned back against the wall staring at the flames while he ate. {Survival Level 1, Hiking Level 1, Climbing Level 1} Good night to you too he mumbled as he dismissed the prompts, keeping one of his swords in his grasp he settled in for some much-needed rest.

He woke up relieved that nothing had tried to get him, then he noticed it was still dark outside, which made sense once he thought about it the nights would be longer than the normal time that his sleep cycle was used to. Since his fire had already gone out there wasn’t much for him to do except stow his blankets, use the bathroom then head downriver. Stepping out of the washout he found it was dimly lit out, glancing up he found two moons in the sky reflecting light back down. The first one was in the center of the sky, it appeared to be larger than his old moon, it was sickly mustard though it was still pockmarked with craters. The other moon was much smaller just coming over the horizon, with its color being a mixture of blue and red patches and its surface all smooth no craters could be seen.

He started his journey carefully walking down the rocky shore avoiding spraining his ankle that would make this a more tedious task. His wound didn’t hurt all that much this morning finding the gash had sealed up though was tender to the touch, he would look at cleaning it after the sun came up to make sure it wasn’t endangered of getting infected. As he went he heard lots of wildlife noises permeating the night, some he recognized like the howling of wolves, others he couldn’t identify at all. At one point there was a loud roar that blast out of the night causing everything to go quiet, when it wasn’t repeated the sounds slowly started back up again. Whatever had made that roar must have been incredible in size, making everything in the area fear to catch its attention including him. After the sun came up he took a break to check his wound in the light, he found it didn’t hurt plus when he removed the bandage it was gone save for a thin white line.

So superficial wounds would heal quickly, was that the world or his race’s doing. The next three days his luck managed to hold out, he learned how to fish, shot a deer, plus learned to track. It seemed not much came down into this shallow river gorge, the only reason he got the deer was that he shot it while it was at the top of the ridge-line causing it to fall off dyeing on impact giving him a nice 120 exp award. What did come down here was large, based on the tracks he found, he never saw what made them. It jumped down from the ridge, which was about a 40-yard drop, went to the river for a drink then went back and jumped back up.

Over the course of the last few days, he managed to roughly figure out that this planet had a 38-hour rotation from noon to noon giving 19 hours of daylight. About a 7 hour difference from his old world, not to much to adjust to, just means more traveling time. There was also a total of 5 moons of various sizes and colors that orbited the planet, everything he knew about space told him this planet was impossible to exist, you throw in magic, and everything you know about physics changes. When he starts thinking there’s no difference between here and earth it throws something at him like the brightly plumaged four-winged bird with a frog's tongue that shot out to capture another smaller bird to eat. This biome was fascinating he couldn’t wait to find people to see how they were. Shortly after noon on his fifth day, he came across broken wooden planks, some with scorch marks scattered along both sides of the river. Further along, he came across a skeleton crumbled among the rocks not much left of any clothing, from the broken and shattered appearance it fell from a good distance. Searching the area around it he found 5 more of the diamond-shaped coins, everything else was trash.

Following the trail of debris, he finally came upon what looked like a shipwreck, there was enough of the hull left to give him this impression. Roughly guessing the size the ship would have been, he knew there was no way it could have sailed this river, so how did it get here. As he made his way to the hull he spotted more skeletons laying around, from their appearance and getting a better angle view of the hull he deduced this whole thing fell from the sky. He walked around the hull until he found a hole he could crawl through to gain entrance, drawing one of his swords he pushed aside a plank and eased into the structure.

From observation, he figured this was only the back third of the ship the rest must have washed further down the river. The inside was dimly lit from various cracks that he could make out a large bulge of broken wood and other debris in the middle probably caused by crashing down on one of the large boulders that were scattered around on the river shore. It looked like there used to be a room back here but the crash destroyed the wall mixing its contents with the main hold creating a rotten moldy pile of brick-a-brack. Carefully moving through the mess, pushing and lifting aside obstacles he searched to see if anything might be salvageable. Several hours later he managed to scavenge up 4 crates and a long leather tube, there was more but he would need help digging more out. As for the crates he decided to leave them closed since when he touched them they resonated with his core, giving him the belief they were magically protected. Not knowing if it was a trap or just weatherproofing he would leave them alone just in case, the first could kill him and the latter would cause whatever he couldn’t carry to ruin.

The leather tubing was the size of a poster tube from his old world, it had leather straps that kept the lid tied to the main body. Untying them he popped the lid revealing a roll of thick papers, turning it upright to shake them out caused a velvet pouch to fall out into his hand while the papers stayed stuck inside. Groping the pouch he could feel that it contained two objects, one flat and round the other long and tapered. Setting down the tube so he could open the pouch, inside he found a glass monocle and a wooden old-style ink pen. The monocle was rimmed with gold with a length of royal blue braided string attached to it, he found it to be magical too. The pen was also magically made of white wood with a silver writing tip, it’s length was roughly 7 to eight inches. He put them back in the pouch not wanting to mess with them since he had no idea what they did, instead he worked on coaxing the roll of papers out of the case. Finally managing to get them out he unrolled them across one of the crates, there were 4 in all of varying sizes, unrolling revealed them to be maps of exquisite detailing.

The largest was labeled The Valsargi Territory featuring a vast swath of land showing a great mountain chain along with a forest nestled between them and the ocean. The scale showed to be in leagues, if he was to suppose it was the same measurement as Earth's league then this area was the size of North and South America and it only depicted a section of the continent. Two of the smaller maps were of more detailed parts of the bigger map, while the last map was a hand-sketched map that after he studied it and the main map he could get an idea of the area it was referencing. It wasn’t a complete map in that it was drawings of smaller areas you would need to find on a real map, which would help you find and triangulate where to find an ancient city lost during the cataclysm. He rolled the three back up and studied the main map trying to see if he could find roughly where he was at, with no references though it was a lost cause. He did notice 5 large cities were noted on the map, though it had no names written down just numbers and letters, giving him the idea there was a ledger table that should go with this telling you their meanings.

Packing them all back into the tube he closed it up and secured it to his pack, he would remember his route back to here, and when he knew how to read the map he would mark the location down so he could bring stuff back to salvage this area better. Between this wreck and the possible directions to the lost city, he had two viable future investments to help get him going in this world. He went over the wreck outside really well collecting more valuables from the skeletons, all totaled he found 20 of the thicker round coins, 58 of the diamond-shaped coins, 150 of the copper rod coins, 5 rings, a jeweled pendant, and a silver pocket watch. He was pretty excited when he found the watch, partly because they exist, though more than it was magical and still working. When he opened it he saw it had a clear crystal facing protecting the inside workings, the outer edge lined by equally spaced numbers from 1 to 6 also made of crystal with the number 3 being lit up. In the middle was a diorama showing the sun crossing the sky, comparing it to where the actual sun was it matched up which is how he knew it was working. So now he had a way to keep time once he knew how the numbers worked, something else to put on his to-do list.

He packed up everything he was taking then took a break to eat, then decided to go ahead and do his cultivation exercises since this was a bit more protected than what he has had on the trail. Usually, he does it right before calling it a night as it helps him unwind calming his mind for sleep, so far he hasn’t seen any results. The skill says it could take awhile the important part was to make sure to do it every day for an hour while observing how the mana reacts with the body. After an hour he gets back on the trail down the river, reminding himself to stop early today to fish for dinner tonight. Towards the end of the day, the river became wider around 50 yards, causing it to flow slower, this prompted him to start looking for a spot to camp and fish. After eating he pulled out his swords and practiced forms for an hour since he already did his mana exercises, followed by bow practice then called it quits while acknowledging just how good of a day it had been.

After another two days of travel, civilization finally made an appearance in the form of a stone arch bridge crossing over the river, on the other side from him he could see smoke curling up over the tops of the trees. He started to hurry forward, then slowed back down when he realized he hadn’t worked on his back story that he was told to make. Sorting through many different ideas he settled on one by the time he climbed the bank to the bridge, taking a deep breath he stepped out onto the road then strolled across with an arrow notched in his bow just in case. On the other side, he made out a turn-off from the road that wandered down to a clearing for a campground, at the start of the turn off he spotted a large man in armor leaning against a tree. They noticed each other about the same time with the man standing up straighter while grabbing hold of his staff with a sword blade on the end of it. He didn’t point it at Tyriel but it was plain from his stance that he was going to consider Tyriel hostile till something showed he wasn’t.

“Well met youngster! How goes your travels?” the man addressed him with a polite tone, he was wearing a chain-mail shirt that draped to his knees with chain-mail gloves on his hands. His face was half-hidden by a thick black beard on a shaved head, his piercing blue eyes were boring into Tyriels as he waited for a reply. Putting on a cordial face, “Well met to you sir. I’m sorry to say my travels have not been good. Could you tell me how far a town or city would be down this road?” stopping just out of what Tyriel thought would be charging range for this guy, he relaxed his stance a little so he didn’t appear aggressive. The man cocked an eyebrow at him when he answered, then relaxed a little after he came to a decision. “Another two days down the road is the village of Welby then Telenburg is another 4 past it. You traveling alone son, where are your people?” He was scanning around the road seeing if someone was hiding somewhere. “We were ambushed by bandits coming out of the mountains about two weeks back, I’m the only one to make it?” the man whistled “You don’t say! Your lucky to be alive boy this here road is known for its beasties. Where did you say you're coming from?” This last question the man tried to make it appear casual. “I didn’t sir. But it's no secret we were on our way from Sardenburg so I could prepare to go through my Coming of Age there. My parents thought I could train and get some good skills before I awakened.”

With this answer the man relaxed more finally believing what Tyriel was telling him, “Damn kid sorry to hear about your trouble. We have a caravan down here going to Telenburg, you could ask the master if you can travel with us by either paying or working if you have no funds.” the man propped his staff over his shoulder “Come on and I’ll introduce you to him. My name's Brighton.” Tyriel considered it for a minute, then Brighton waved encouragement, so he put away his arrow and put the bow back over his shoulder, following Brighton down the turn off to the camp. “Thanks. I’m Tyriel and if nothing else it would be nice to be around people again if only for a short spell.”

While Tyriel followed him he never really let his guard down, he kept his eyes moving and his weight on the balls of his feet so he could move quickly if he needed to. As they came into the camp area he saw 6 wagons arrayed in a circle with about 15 people moving around them apparently still in the midst of setting up for the night. When Tyriel realized this he stumbled, catching himself quickly he started rapidly thinking, if they were just getting here they would have passed him earlier in the day since they were all traveling on the same road and he was walking. He forcefully calmed himself, he would just have to think of something if they asked otherwise he was worrying for nothing.

Brighton led him into the ring of wagons making for a tall older man who was waving around a riding crop yelling orders at people. He had gray hair pulled back into a ponytail held by a silver band, with the sides of his head shaved. He was wearing a leather outfit with an unbuttoned blue shirt under the jacket, and shiny cavalry boots, it was leather armor just flashy clothing to show his wealth. While Brighton walked up to the man Tyriel took a minute to take in the others, they were a mixture of human and other races. He spotted a dwarf, 3 elves, 4 canine-looking individuals, a tiger person, and 4 other humans. The humans were armored and armed like Brighton watching over everyone, the rest of the group were wearing just rough pants and shirts while they moved equipment around. Tyriel cataloged everyone as caravan guards and laborers, he startled when he realized Brighton was calling his name. “Sorry be right there.”

“Tyriel this is Master Kraim, he’s the caravan master. I have already explained your problem.” Tyriel looked over at Kraim “Good to meet you, sir! I hope business has been good?” Tyriel briefly mused on how he knew the proper way to start conversations with people. “They have been well. I’m willing to take you to Telenburg for 1 Laurel and another if you need food. If you don’t have funds I’ll let you sign a contract to give me 1 month of labor to pay for the trip. Is either of these except-able to you?” Before Tyriel could answer Kraim whirled to the side and snapped his crop across the face of one of the elves, “Get back to work! We are not your entertainment, can you learn your place or do we give you more training!” Following the loud slap was a high-pitched shriek from what Tyriel saw was a female elf who quickly ran off holding her cheek. Tyriels jaw dropped when he realized that she was apologizing in English as she hurried away, he now knew for sure there was at least one more person from Earth here.

Kraim turned back to him “Ignore them, their no threat just foreigners who can’t pay their debt. So what would you like to do?” Tyriel shook off his surprise focusing back on Kraim “Uh no. I have the money, I’ll just pay you the two Laurels you said?” Reaching for his pocket Tyriel pulled out the pouch, sticking two fingers in to fish out two of the diamond coins or as he now knew Laurels. He handed them over to Kraim noticing how both he and Brighton were looking at his pouch, and not liking what he was seeing. Seeing him noticing Kraim straightened up and put on a wide smile that didn’t reach his eyes “Excellent! Welcome aboard! Dinner will be ready in about half a Mark, until then find yourself a clear patch to put your sleep roll down.” with that he told Brighton to go back on watch while he walked over to one of the other guards.

Tyriel walked over to one of the wagons it was similar to an old-west covered wagon but a lot bigger, about twice the size. Dropping his pack and bow by one of the wheels he sat down leaning his back against it to watch the camp get finished setting up, everyone seemed to know what they were doing except for the three elves, 1 male gray elf, a male light elf, and the female light elf. He knew all three were from Earth as he heard them complaining in English to each other while answering in common to the other workers, he was careful to make sure no one knew he could understand them since the way they were treated made him recall the warning he was given back in the cave. He was thinking it might not have been a good idea to stay here, as he kept watch and waited for food only time would tell.