A man in his forties advanced, looking towards Helmo with eyes sharp as a blade.
Helmo retreated two steps back in fear when he noticed the robe this person was wearing, he felt his heart beating violently, as if the whole forest was watching him.
That person was wearing a white robe striped with black covering his body, with gray trousers and black shoes.
Yousafer looked at the scared Helmo, clasped his hands towards his chest while staring at the man coming towards them.
The man stood smiling when he placed his right hand on his relatively short sword by his right side, and his eyes wandered between Yousafer and Yuray.
Then he said sarcastically:
"What do we have here? Two boys alone in this forest? What brought you here? Did you not hear that there are bandits and rebels in this forest?"
Yousafer smiled mockingly:
"Actually, we heard that there are bandits and rebels, but we did not hear that there is a zebra in this forest."
His words were like a stone falling into a calm well, and with the man glimpsing Yousafer's looks towards his robe, the man's nerves were shaken immediately, so he pressed on his sword handle and snarled angrily:
"It seems you seek your death, boy!"
Yuray took a step forward while the sunset rays floated before his closed eyes, then said in a faint voice but Helmo heard it clearly:
"Helmo... is this one of the factory supervisors?"
Helmo was surprised by Yuray's question, and stuttered for a moment in his speech before saying:
"Yes, he is one of them."
The man looked towards Yuray and asked him sarcastically:
"What is wrong with you, blind one? Do you want something?"
Yousafer advanced a step forward and placed his hand on Yuray's shoulder saying with a sly smile:
"Let me deal with him."
The man's anger intensified and he gritted his teeth, then drew his sword saying:
"You will go with me!"
Yousafer's eyebrow raised contemplating the man in a strange way:
"Where will you take us? To work in the factories?"
The man's face returned to sarcasm, he guffawed and pointed with his sword towards Yousafer saying:
"Good that you know what will happen to you!"
Then he waved his sword towards the right arrogantly:
"The way is from here, stand in front of me."
Yousafer turned his face towards Yuray who showed indifferent features.
"Shall we kill him or torture him a little?"
Yuray answered calmly:
"Let's torture him a little and extract some information from him."
Yousafer smiled and said:
"That is what I was thinking about."
Then he pointed with his thumb towards Yuray.
Helmo looked at them shocked:
"What are they doing? And what torture are they talking about? Have they gone mad?"
The man shouted angrily:
"It seems you do not know who you are messing with!"
He advanced forward and waved his sword towards Yousafer.
The man was angry, but what increased his anger was the features of provocation on the boy's face in front of him.
Yousafer bent a little, so the sword passed over his head, and his fist launched into the man's stomach.
"Boom!"
The air shook from the force of the blow, and dry leaves flew around their feet.
The man retreated backward letting out a faint moan, then his anger ignited again.
He gritted his teeth and advanced again forward:
"You..."
Yousafer did not retreat, but a sarcastic smile appeared on his face, and he put his hand in front of him.
The man noticed Yousafer's hand pointing towards him but did not care, and rushed forward quickly, suddenly he felt a strange silence settle in the place, as if the world stopped.
Then a faint metallic sound echoed in his ear:
Clink... Clink!
— A sound dominated the place, as if nothing rises above that sound.
A black chain launched from under Yousafer's right sleeve quickly to encircle the man before he reached him.
He froze in his place, his sword fell from his hand, and he collapsed to the ground twisting like a worm.
The man was astonished and did not know what happened.
What is this?
He felt his whole body bound by something unnatural, even his head he could not turn to see what binds him.
Yousafer stood in front of him with a sarcastic face bearing some wrinkles of mockery.
The man stared with fear at Yousafer, trembling and sweating profusely, he did not realize was it his body that was trembling, or the thing binding him is what pulls his soul slowly, and he muttered in his mind:
«P... Possessed?! What is a Possessed doing in this place? Who are these two people?!» A shiver ran through the man's entire body.
— I am finished...
After that his trembling voice came out addressing Yousafer:
"F... Forgive me young man, I did not.. did not.. did not know that you are a Possessed."
The man's expressions were heartbreaking, fear overcame every other sensation.
Yousafer advanced towards him, and bent down with a sly smile:
"A while ago you were like an arrogant zebra, what is wrong with you now twisting like a worm? If I were not a Possessed, what would you have done? You would have killed me, wouldn't you? Just like you waved your sword towards me."
The man begged:
"Sorry... sorry, I was wrong, I apologize!"
But Yousafer's smile did not bode well for him, he felt that the person in front of him is enjoying it, nothing more.
As for the boy Helmo, his mouth was open from shock.
He lived in the forest for long years, and did not know anything about the outside world.
Seeing this fantasy scene in front of him made him think he was dreaming.
He raised his hand and slapped himself repeatedly: "Pah! Pah!" until his face turned red.
Yuray turned his head towards him astonished:
"What is he doing?"
Helmo clenched his fist strongly and pinched his skin, he let out a faint moan, and then he realized that he is not dreaming.
He looked towards the chain that emits a faint purple aura, and when he scrutinized more, he saw two black eyes on some of its links.
«What is this thing?!» He said trembling while retreating.
Yuray's voice rose in the air:
"Helmo, do not be afraid."
Helmo heard his words, so he turned towards him and said:
"What is that thing?"
Yuray answered him calmly:
"We will tell you later, do not worry."
His words lessened his fear a little.
As for the man, he did not see the two eyes in the chain because his neck was pulled to the sky strongly by it, and his eyes did not leave Yousafer's face, otherwise he would have wet his trousers from the intensity of fear.
Yousafer began staring at the man without saying anything.
The man felt tightness in his breath, and his face paled more.
«Damn... what did I get involved in?! A Possessed in this forest! I never expected this...»
Yousafer narrowed his eyes and said sarcastically:
"It seems you think too much."
Bam! Bam!
His fist descended on the man's head rendering him unconscious.
Yousafer stood up and turned to Yuray saying:
"I feel hungry, let's eat first then ask this bastard."
Yuray smiled:
"Is that why you knocked him out?"
Yousafer released the chain that was wrapping around the man, leaving it twisted on his foot only.
Then he looked at the rabbit Helmo is carrying and smiled lightly:
"It seems this rabbit is delicious. Won't you invite us to your house?"
Helmo fell silent for a moment while staring at the young man in front of him, then spoke:
"Come on, come with me, the house is not far."
Helmo walked forward, and behind him Yousafer and Yuray.
Every now and then he turned his head staring at the chain dragging the man by his foot.
After several turns they reached the house.
It resembled the other houses, in the shape of a mushroom with a dark red color, its windows narrow and rectangular, and it has a chimney twisted to the back.
In front of the house a small garden, and a lemon tree full of yellow fruits beside the door.
Helmo opened the red door and entered, and Yousafer and Yuray followed him after they tied the unconscious man around the lemon tree.
Yousafer's gaze wandered inside the house, he saw some chairs beside a square wooden table, so he chose one and sat on it, and so did Yuray.
Helmo said:
"Wait a little, I will cook this rabbit and come to you. Rest for some time."
The two young men nodded their heads.
Helmo took off his leather shoes and went towards the kitchen on their right.
The house contained two floors; the first floor with three rooms and a staircase near the entrance door leading to the second floor.
It was tidy despite the simplicity of the furniture.
Yousafer and Yuray sat around the square table, and Yousafer leaned his back to the chair contemplating the ceiling then closed his eyes a little.
"Clatter.. Clatter.. Tap.. Tap"
"Sizzzzzzzzz"
Silence prevailed in the place, and nothing was heard except Helmo's voice using the kitchen utensils.
Yuray said:
"I wonder, who is this person standing behind these factories?"
Yousafer opened his eyes and put his hand behind his head:
"He must be an extraordinary person, having wide influence to affect the newspapers and media. Also since the army members do not come to this forest, he must have a hand with them... he must be a very influential person."
Yuray smiled:
"And this is only our first day since our exit to this world."
Yousafer laughed lightly:
"Did you expect something else from this world?"
Yuray asked:
"And when will we move?"
Because he knows that the person beside him will not be patient for long before rushing towards the factories.
Yousafer answered:
"Let's eat first, and after that we wait. They must send someone to check on their colleague's disappearance."
After a few minutes, Helmo left the rabbit cooking then came and sat with them, and stared at Yousafer with curiosity.
Yousafer narrowed his eyes and said:
"What is wrong with you staring at me like this?"
Helmo uttered with fear one word:
"The chain..."
Yousafer smiled:
"Have you not seen a Possessed before?"
"Possessed?" Helmo repeated the word astonished, "What is the Possessed?"
Yousafer looked towards Yuray with a frustrated face:
"You explain to him, I have no energy for explaining. I will save my energy for food."
Yuray placed one leg over the other, and clasped his fingers over his knee then said:
"Since you do not know about this world, I will tell you.
Although I will explain to you only the outer shell, this will clarify some matters for you. For I also do not know much."
Helmo listened with all his senses, for this is the first time he hears something about the outside world, after he knew only a little of what his father told him.
Yuray continued:
"This world is wider than you imagine.
Let's start first with the army. You must have heard about them.
The army is affiliated with a global organization called the United Nations Church. They call themselves the protectors of this world.
They are stationed all over the world, and raise their own flag.
Anyone who does not put up their flag is called a rebel.
And mentioning the rebels, there is another category spread in this world, and they are the revolutionaries.
The revolutionaries are people who rejected the injustice and corruption of the army, and chose their own path raising their own flag.
But some of them exploited this name and went out to the world not for the sake of revolution, but for the sake of tyranny and imposing control by force.
There are many categories of revolutionaries, even we do not know much about them.
As for the Possessed, they are users of the Germ ability, which is a microscopic organism the person is vaccinated with, and as soon as it enters the human body he becomes a Possessed and possesses an unnatural ability.
As for the chain you saw earlier coming out of Yousafer's hand, it is his Germ's ability."
—
At that moment, and deep in the forest, one of the people carried a strange device in his hand identical to a sunflower flower and spoke saying:
"I searched for him for a long time, but I did not find a trace of him."
A voice came to him from the device:
"Search more, and inform me if something happens."
The man replied:
"Alright, wait for my call."
End of the Chapter