Land: The Chronicles

Chapter 4: The Ego

I opened my eyes, the first sight I saw was a cloudless blue sky, very different from the color of the sky I last saw. My back felt a little wet, from the texture, I was like lying on top of a grass.

It still feels real to me. The sky that seemed to be sucked, the ground that shook, the people vanished into dust, Viona who whispered her last words.

I should be dead by now, is this the realm where people wait for his soul to be summoned? All around me was a vast meadow and a cloudless blue sky.

Is the God going to come out of the door that suddenly appeared in the middle of the meadow? Then he'll offer me to live once more.

It seems impossible.

By the way, even though I remember the whole incident when the disaster happened, but I don't feel sad or anything at all. Is it because I'm dead?

I tried to get up and check the situation around me better. It turned out that I was not in an empty meadow, there was a forest and rocks of rock that extended.

I didn't see because my position was behind him. It turned out that the realm of death was not as good as I thought.

The birds were still seen flying in the clear sky, I also saw some deer and other animals running around in this vast meadow.

After being noticed again, the deer surround a lake that is quite wide. I stood up and walked closer to the lake not so far away.

I stared at the reflection of my face on the surface of the lake, this is still the face I know. The face of an Arion Druceus, I may soon vanish and become one with nothingness. Or if lucky, I might get a chance to live again.

The water of this lake felt so soothing when I put my feet in it, I took a dip in the water and drank it to quench my thirst.

Thirstily? Aren't I dead? Are the dead still able to feel the things that are commonly felt by the living?

I looked around again. The originally clear sky was now beginning to be decorated with clouds, the animals began to return into the forest. I don't know why I feel like this is the same world as my old world.

Looks like this place isn't the realm of death as I thought.

And if that's true, how am I still alive? I'm pretty sure not a single person can survive after falling from such a height.

Moreover, because at that time I could not see anything, so it was likely that my head had been crushed by the violent impact, not ruling out the possibility that my other limbs were also destroyed.

Did someone save me? True too, on second thought, just before I lost consciousness, I had a chance to hear someone's voice. Even though I don't understand what he's saying.

Was that the man who saved me? But how can it be? It should be that the damage I received was no longer curable by any means, even using the High Healing Magic of the Grandis race or the technology of the Human race.

Then what exactly happened?

As I was deep in thought, I suddenly heard the sound of footsteps, I immediately turned around and put on a ready to fight position.

“Woah ... Relax, I'm not a bad guy. At least at this time.” The man stopped his steps and raised both hands.

Is he a race of humans? His hair and eyes were black, his posture was high, and he wore a robe that the Army used to wear. Behind the robe, I could see a Scimitar hanging from his belt.

Not a bad person at least for now? I don't know what he's saying, but I can't relax my guard.

We looked at each other for a while, then he took a step forward and raised his two hands higher.

“Didn't we talk to each other first to get rid of suspicion?” The expression and intonation is too relaxed, people like this are sometimes even more suspicious and potentially cause problems for the protagonist in the Storybook Drawing.

“Who are you?” I stepped out of the lake and put up a ready-to-fight position, this fellow is very relaxed, if only he had the intention to attack me, it meant that he was a truly confident person who could defeat me easily.

“I Ego.”

We were silent for a while, his face was sweating. Wait, is that all?

“What do you want?”

“Ah, I just want to check your condition. Know it? It's been ten days since you were unconscious.”

Ten days? If he uses a matter of days, does that mean I'm not dead?

“I should be dead by now, how am I still alive, and do you have anything to do with that?”

The person seemed to be pretending to think for a moment with a strange expression. “That's right, you might be dead if it wasn't for me.” He said that with ease.

“That means, are you the one who showed up after that disaster?” the man looked a little surprised, but then he chuckled.

“Ah, so you still had time to wake up even after your body was destroyed like that?” as expected, my body was already destroyed.

“Then, were you the one who healed me?”

He nodded “That's right.”

“How can it?”

“Because it's me.” Answer's relaxed.

“Then what exactly is your destination?”

“There is no special purpose anyway, at that time I was just a fad.” He hehe and scratched his head.

I began to lower my guard, he did look dangerous, but he had no intention of harming me. At least for now.

“Last question, do you have any food?”

°°°°°°

We walked into the forest, he said he deliberately put my body in the middle of the meadow because it looked cool.

....

Putting that silly aside, I felt so unfamiliar with the vegetation in this forest, I used to play around in the forest along with Viona and her father, but this forest was really unfamiliar to me.

Some plants I've never seen before other than in books seem to thrive. In contrast, plants that should be common in the forest are not visible at all.

Moreover, there were marshes in this forest, it should be the continent where the Arakaza Kingdom stood instead of a place where swamps could exist and forests could be as great as this.

“By the way, for the size of the person who does not know the situation he is facing right now, your reaction is quite calm huh?” The ego says without looking back.

“I don't understand either".

“Is it because of damage to your head? Or because of mental trauma?” Ego turned around and observed my face.

“What do you mean?” I don't really understand what he says.

“That means something in your head was broken because of that disaster, but the damage was not physical. It's a little hard to explain, but usually people like that can't feel emotions".

Can't feel emotions? Then the reason why I don't feel sad even though I clearly remember the incident back then is because of this huh?

"Then how can you heal my body in just ten days". Who knows if he lied about those ten days, I might actually have been unconscious longer.

Ego looked back and looked at me with a grim face.

“I didn't cure you in ten days. I healed you right then and there and waited for you to wake up for ten days.” He answered lightly.

“You ... What race are you from? You look like a human, but you don't actually?” I asked and stared at his back.

He stopped walking, then remained silent for a moment. I shuddered in horror as he glanced at me with his black eyes. I'm not that strong, but I'm scared just because of her gaze?

“As per my name, I am Ego. Embodiment of selfishness.” He snapped his finger while saying that.

Again he said nonsense that I do not understand, I do not know who he really is. Maybe I shouldn't have found out about it too much.

The look in his eyes seemed to give me a warning not to ask about him over the limit.

All right, I'm concluding that he's a very dangerous man. How dangerous? I don't know, we'll only find out as time goes on.

Most importantly he didn't mean to be mean to me at least for now.

We finally reached a deep part of the forest. This man, he left me in the middle of a meadow that was completely far from where he lived, as if he wanted to make me into Monster food.

He then entered into a large chunk of rock in which there was a cavity the size of two adults, I went inside. This place turned out to be more comfortable than it seemed, he even made a furnace inside this place.

On top of the furnace was a flat stone slab that was covered using some sort of turtle shell, I could faintly smell the aroma of cooked meat.

The man then opened the shell, the smell of roasted meat filled this stone cavity. He took a leaf that was wide enough, then fell on it with the meat on the stone plate.

“This is better, right? You better fill your stomach first before asking a lot of questions”. He handed the roast to me.

“That too if I am still alive after eating this meat.” I tore off the roast and immediately stuffed it into my mouth.

He watched me as I ate, it made me feel very uncomfortable.

“How did you get to the city once the disaster was over?”

“Kan told you to eat first".

I crammed the piece of meat back into my mouth, keeping an eye on the movements of the person in front of me. He casually leaned back and watched me who was eating.

We watched each other as I finished my meal, I stuffed the last piece of meat into my mouth and squeezed the leaf sheet used as a plate, then threw it out.

“You know that I have many questions right?” I said after cleaning my hands.

“What do you want to ask?” the man did not change his sitting position at all, he leaned back while slipping his legs.

“Jawab my question earlier, how can you appear once the disaster is over?”

“At that time I happened to pass by, and ... Well, I found you while checking for damage.”

“How big was the impact of the disaster?”

“None of the buildings are still standing, chances are that the city will be abandoned for a while. Who knows?"

“How about the other residents?”

He shook his head at my question “ I feel no signs of life at all other than you, the inhabitants of that city disappeared entirely.”

I let out a breath. Then what am I supposed to do now? Do I have to go to the Kingdom of Man? Likely, news of the destruction of the city of Iria had also reached my grandfather's ears.

Or I just need to move to the next town, find a decent job, and live a normal life like everyone else. I no longer care about the ideals of being an Army.

There are so many things I need to think about right now.

“When you brought me, was there any sign of rescue teams or something like that heading to the disaster site?” ask again.

“I had the chance to feel a horde of people heading to that city, they arrived just as I moved you.” The answer.

“Then where am I now?”

“Kingdom Orthras.”

....

“Sorry?”

“Kingdom Orthras.”

....

“Ya?”

“Kingdom Orthras.”

“Excuse me, it looks like you didn't heal my hearing properly, I'm having a slight hearing loss right now.” It's a mess, where might I be in the Kingdom of Orthras. My ears are really troubled.

The man took a twig, then scratched the ground to form an arrangement of letters. ‘Ke-ra-ja-an Orth-ras’

“I must have gone mad.”

“No, you are still sane and your hearing is still good. In reality, we are now in the Kingdom of Orthras.”

“I don't know where you're from. But do you know the distance between Arakaza and Orthras? Two months of travel by land transport and fifteen days using the fastest Dragon. The Kingdom of Orthras was the most distant Kingdom from the Kingdom of Arakaza". This guy's bullshit is really bad, I really can't linger with him or I'm going crazy.

“Nothing is impossible if it's me, even recovering you who are dying I can, can't I?” he shrugged his shoulders and put on an arrogant expression.

“Then tell me, how can you do it?”

“I moved. Simple right?”

“You mean teleportation? Nonsense, you mostly read Fiction Books".

“In fact I can tuh.” He shrugged both his shoulders.

“OK, let's say you can really teleport. Then what is the evidence that we are really in the Kingdom of Orthras?” this guy's running over, I have to stop all this shit.

I don't know how many times I've said the phrase ‘nonsense’ in this one chapter. I'm sorry, but even this guy's whereabouts are bullshit.

“Didn't the leaf you used to eat earlier was the leaf of the tree that grew in the Orthras Works?”

I stared at the leaves I had thrown away. He was right, that leaf was the leaf I had seen in the book, a fruit that only grew in the Orthras region because of its favorable climate.

That reminds me of the forest outside, meaning the reason why I saw plants that were not supposed to grow in Arakaza was because I wasn't in Arakaza?

This fellow. He did not say nonsense this time, or maybe from the beginning he did not say nonsense at all, and instead I thought all his words were nonsense.

Damn, this is making me tired.

“Alright, whatever you. But can I sleep here? My head feels like it will be destroyed again after hearing all your talk.”

“Of course, rest in peace. Anyway, I'm not resting.”

“Why? Did I make you sleep well? Then I'll sleep outside.”

He laughed at my words “It's not like that, I really have no intention to sleep in this place. After all who sleeps when the sun is as bright as today, only the unemployed and homeless without families do so ... Oops.” The man closed his mouth.

“That's why you take a break, I have business to do right now. So, please rest in peace.”

The man came out of the stone cavity and disappeared just like that. So teleportation isn't bullshit either. I think I need to rest to rearrange my head.