Chapter 19: Money Is Waiting For Me!
For the first time in this life– or at least as long as I remembered —I laid my eyes on a place that wasn't jungly.
The place I could see through the opening of the mountain chamber was bright, green, lively and stretched out like it had no end. Grass rolled over the land, clean and smooth. Trees stood here and there, spaced wide apart. No clutter. No thorns. No rot. Just open ground and clear air. The land curved gently downward before rising again, mountains stood in the distance, quiet against the horizon. It was the kind of view people imagine when someone says "medieval fantasy".
It made no sense considering that we are supposed to be under a mountain near the barbarian village. It seemed to be some sort of spatial magic, but I could care less about how I got there. I somehow got there, and that's all I care about.
The view blessed my eyes. I wished I could cry at that moment, it would have been so poetic. But tears would come. Instead, a grin appeared on my face.
Oh no. My bad habit is showing up again.
"The outside looks the same as it did 4 years ago…" Ghaf trailed off.
Contrary to what he said, he looked visibly fascinated by the scenery in front of him.
"Ghaf," I called him. He turned around and faced me.
"The time has come for you to leave… isn't it?" He said, not looking very happy.
I didn't prepare for this part, I firmly believed that I would escape this place one day or another, but never thought about the details. But here we are– how awkward.
"That's right." I said, as if it is no big deal.
"Hah… none of this feels real. We will miss you, chosen one. Sister Pak and I will be waiting for your return, no matter how long it takes."
"Yo, Ghaf, I'm like a little brother to you aren't I?"
"Huh?" The question caught him off-guard. "Yes, Chosen One! You are like a sibling to me!" He replied, followed by the confusion of 'why are you bringing that up now?'.
"Since we won't be meeting anytime soon, why don't you address me as 'brother' instead of 'Chosen One'?"
"I am sorry, Chosen One…" He looked down, ashamed of not being able to fulfil my 'orders'. "How can I ever associate someone as lowly as myself with you?"
His reply didn't make me mad, rather, it made me sad, sad to know that the person I see as my elder brother was in such a brain-washed state.
"I see…" I said, walking out of the stone chamber and out into the open world.
What a shame.
I was expressionless at that moment, overwhelmingly disappointed but not knowing who or what to be mad at. I glanced back at him, our eyes met. I gave him a slight nod and so did he before closing off the stone chamber. Despite the strong bond we shared, neither of us said a word, not even a 'good bye' or a 'farewell'. It's not that we didn't want to talk to each other, it's just that we couldn't.
Was it guilt? Was it anger?
–I don't know.
I, Ghaf and sister Pak, we shared a strong bond, a bond that was as thick as blood. It was difficult to digest the fact that my parting with both of them was rather tasteless. It bugged me, the feeling of unease tore me from the inside, but I was undeniably happy about not having to see them ever again– unless I decided to conquer the kingdom of Centore for whatever reason.
Bye bye, silly barbarians. I hope I don't ever see you and your stupid tattooed torso ever again.
I walked forward a few more steps. The feeling of walking on the outside grass felt different, it felt as if the grass embraced my foot with warmth, unlike the grass from the jungle that was sometimes rough enough to cut one's skin. I stopped for a second to take a breath, and etched the scenery onto the back of my brain. The earth, the heaven and everything in between, the view bless my eyes. I thanked god and walked forward with a newly found positivity, and grinned from ear to ear– some bad habits were simply too difficult to get rid off.
There were no human settlements, I was clearly in the middle of nowhere. No map. No direction. It would be a pain in the neck if I walked a long way just to find out that my journey brought me to the ocean, but I couldn't even whine about it because I had no clue even about which direction I was currently facing. So I decided to walk in the same direction in which I left the cave. It could really lead me to the ocean, but it was better than wasting my time by racking my brain over how screwed my situation is.
I understood that I had a long journey ahead of me to attain all the things that I desired. Was I anxious and confused? No. I was thrilled. Journey comes before destination, I'll just have to enjoy the process, and this process is going to be interesting to say the least. There's going to be countless things to discover, places that I have never seen, people that I haven't met, creatures that I have never encountered– I hope they taste good– and arts that I haven't mastered.
I continued to march forward. Money is waiting for me!
*****
I walked for a whole day, too excited to even sleep, so I skipped sleeping– I walked for one whole day and night. Thankfully there were no predators, for now. I couldn't see that many living things so far, so finding human settlements was a far cry from where I stood.
On my second day, I started coming across beautiful, natural structures, fruits, animals and vegetation. A lot of animals looked just like the animals back on earth, and then there were animals that I had never seen before, they were amazing– I'm talking about how they taste. Their meat was the real deal, the ones back in my world didn't taste bad but these animals obviously tasted so much better than those animals that grew in a closed space eating nothing but soy beans and corn. Some of the animals here I've already seen, some looked weird, some looked cute and some made me run for my life– I swear I did nothing bad to that wild horse that looks like it consumes creatine for breakfast, It started chasing me after I looked at it and said: "Oppa Gangnam style". I swear, I only said it because it sounded funny. But that meaty horse chased me till my legs gave out. I eventually shook it off after climbing a tall tree, even then, that bastard camped me like a 'counter strike' player– I never said anything offensive, so why?
I couldn't shake the feeling that something was following me the whole time. However, there was barely any place to hide, yet I couldn't spot a thing, so I continued marching forward, still weary of whatever was following me.
For the next three days, all I did was travel, take rest, rinse and repeat. Surprisingly, it didn't feel boring, but instead, I felt fulfilled. Most of my basic human needs were being fulfilled, the only thing that was missing was human interaction and etcetera. Maybe I didn't really need to live in a kingdom, maybe money isn't exactly what I'm after, but just a means to achieve other things that I want. But that does not mean I had any ideas about setting things down just yet, not while there is a whole new world in front of me with countless adventures to experience.
Whatever was following me was still stubbornly following me, it hasn't done anything to me since the day I left the jungle, and for that reason, I'm pretty sure that it's not hostile. I also came to the conclusion that whatever was following me was as small as a cat or even a rat, judging by how it stayed hidden even in places where there was barely any place to hide, then it must be as short– or shorter– than the grass in this area.
The next day, I found a cobblestone road that was veiled by all the grass that grew from gaps between the stones. It was barely visible, I wouldn't have known about it if it weren't for me walking over it barefoot. Why walk barefoot? Because why not?
I couldn't tell how far the road went since it was covered by grass, and judging by how I couldn't see any man-made structure as far as my eye could reach, this road could be one hell of a long road. At last, I found something that could lead me to civilization, it didn't have to be a human, that would only make things more interesting. In fact, I was thrilled by the idea of finding a settlement of a race that wasn't human.