Sajid woke up in an unfamiliar hut. The hut looked poorly made and furnished, as only necessities were there, like a bed, a table, a mirror, some kitchen equipment and pots, some jugs of water, and some hunting equipment. The hut was made entirely out of wood. Sajid tried to remember how he ended up here, but the searing pain in his head flared up again.
Just then, the bowman whom Sajid met during the crocodile attack entered the hut, and he was speaking to him. Sajid could not understand a thing. The bowman, seeing his confusion and understanding that he could not speak their language, used hand signs to communicate with him. It took a while for Sajid to understand what the man was indicating, but finally he got it.
The man was asking him if he was okay now and if he needed some water. To which Sajid replied that he is okay now and he would indeed like some water. The man then left the hut, and shortly after, a woman entered the hut with an animal hide covering his skin as a dress.
The woman looked tan and looked like she worked in fields for long hours. The woman wore a necklace which looked like it was made from bones of some wild animal, and the earpices and and rings on her fingers also looked like it was made from bones. The woman then said something which echoed inside the hut, and it looked like the woman was using magic.
Then the woman looked at Sajid and asked him if he was okay now. Astonishingly, this time he could clearly understand what the woman was saying, and his hearing seemed to have been better than before. Sajid was astonished at how this was possible and wanted to ask some questions, but kept his composure and kept the questions in his mind for the future.
Sajid nodded with his head to indicate that he was okay. The woman smiled at him to put him at ease and brought him water. Sajid's body reacted with him taking the glass of water from that drinking it instantly. Then the woman introduced herself as Ananya.
She told him that she was the village chief and a priestess. She performs rituals on behalf of the village people. The archer who brought him here was named Rajesh. He is a hunter, and he hunts animals to make a living and bring sacrifices to her to perform a ritual. She then proceeded to tell him about the village name, which is Fatehpur, which is located in the far east of the capital, near the "forest of the unknown".
She then looked at Sajid meaningfully to tell her about himself and how he ended up in the forest of the unknown. Sajid proceeded to tell her about his name and birthplace, but stopped abruptly. He remembered that his district was cursed and he might be dead and had been living in a timelopp. Telling her about his birthplace name could cause some unknown consequences.
So Sajid decided to lie about it, and he crafted a story mentally about where he is from and how he had ended up there. Sajid told Ananya that his name was Sajid and that he could not remember how he ended up there. He told her that he was an orphan in the capital and he had been living in the streets of the capital as long as he could remember.
Then one day, he got kidnapped, and he was taken somewhere else. But along the way, a fight broke out between the kidnappers, and he risked his life to get out of that prison and ran for his life. That's all he could remember, and when the sun was up, he found himself in that forest.
Ananya looked at him deeply. Sajid was panicking deeply inside his mind and debating whether his lies were believable enough, and if she had bought it. Then Ananya smiled, stood up, came closer to him, and gave him a big hug. Relief and confusion washed over Sajid as he thought she believed his story, and confusion over why the hug. Then she told him not to worry about anything else in the meantime and focus on recovering. She also told him that she felt sorry for how he lived his life till today and told him to treat this hut as his own until he recovers.
Saying that, she left the hut, and Rajesh entered the hut with food. The food contained some bread, vegetables, and fruit. Rajesh just put the food beside his bed and nodded at him, and then left. Sajid couldn't even properly say thank you at that time, as Rajesh did his work at a very fast pace.
Sajid realised that Rajesh was not a very talkative type. This left him again alone in this hut, and for the first time since leaving that cursed place, he truly felt relaxed. This also gave him some time to think about his future and what he wanted to do and how to achieve that.
First of all, Sajid came to learn that the forest was called the forest of the unknown, and according to his memory, there was no forest near his district. Though the district was protected by the barrier, Monks and sufis used to venture outside for their work, and there was even seemed to be a village nearby within his district. As he recalled, the village also had a dome barrier protecting it, and the people from his district maintained constant communication with them.
But now it is gone, and in place of it, there is some dangerous forest with unknown animals and monsters, and a village with people using an unknown language and wearing strange dresses and using some kind of spells.
Secondly, he did not know how much time had passed while he was in the loop. He didn't know what year or day it was. He also did not know which sultan is currently ruling or whether there is any sultan at all.
Thirdly, he barely had any knowledge about the outside world since news used to reach pretty late in his hometown, and he barely had any need to visit the broader world and see how everything looked and worked.
Fourthly, he does not have any idea where to find the mastermind of that curse, and if he is even alive, and even if he does find him, how to seek answers from him and kill him.