Chapter 2: Encounter.
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Pov Narrator.
—It's cold!
He quickly pulled his hand out from where he had slid it: the stagnant water of a fountain that, despite its ancient appearance, worked perfectly.
Kaiser stood up again, still feeling his body tremble from the intense experience he had just lived through. The icy contact with the water helped anchor him a little to reality... or at least to whatever that new reality was.
—I think the best word to describe what happened is... brutal. —He sighed and exhaled several times, trying to regulate his breathing. Little by little, his body began to relax—. Wow, I haven't felt that much adrenaline since the time I tried to kill a cockroach with my bare hand.
He blinked a couple of times, waiting for the scene to change, for everything to disappear like a side effect of the shock.
But no.
The people with clothing typical of a medieval era were still there. Also those with animal ears and tails. The panorama was varied, strange... although the only ones he truly recognized were those that had dog and cat traits.
—What the hell did I get myself into...?
He ran his hands over his face, making his voice come out somewhat muffled. And then, something clicked in his mind. He pulled his hands away abruptly. Medieval clothes. People with animal ears. Carriages moving along cobblestone streets. Ancient structures, but elegant.
—(No... no). —A smile threatened to form on his face, but he struggled to contain it. —(No! Isekai?).
It was the only explanation his brain accepted. Almost getting run over. Appearing in an unknown place. People from other races.
Everything screamed the same thing: A damn magical medieval isekai.
—(Calm down, Kaiser. Maybe it's just an illusion. Maybe I lost consciousness and now I'm fantasizing about something I've only seen in animes, read in novels, or even written in my own stories). —He flatly refused to accept it. His mind desperately searched for a logical explanation, something coherent to cling to.
—Hey, move, kid!
A man around forty years old shouted roughly while he and his carriage, pulled at great speed by something similar to a giant lizard, barely swerved to avoid running him over.
—Watch where you stand!
—Huh?! You watch it, bastard, you're the one driving! —Kaiser responded instantly, offended by the outburst of the stranger.
The carriage continued on its way raising dust in its path. Kaiser frowned and then processed what was truly important.
—...Was that a giant lizard?
He completely forgot the unfriendly exchange he had just had and blinked several times, pointing with his finger at the carriages that came and went along the cobblestone street, all being dragged by one or more of those enormous reptiles.
—Hahahaha... what the hell?
He slowly shook his head as an incredulous smile formed on his face. It was as if reality was hitting him again and again with surprise after surprise, without giving him time to process the previous one.
He decided to pay more attention to his surroundings.
The plaza opened toward what seemed to be a commercial area. There were fruit stalls everywhere, fabrics hanging on display and merchants advertising their products with enthusiasm. The street was full of passersby: humans, people with ears and tails, and even other figures whose anatomy defied his common sense.
The bustle, the carriages, the giant reptiles and the ancient architecture formed a scene too vivid, too consistent... to simply be a dream.
.
.
.
.
Ding dong.
The pigeons took flight at the sudden sound of a bell. The metallic echo spread across the entire plaza, vibrating between the stalls and the ancient façades, while Kaiser continued advancing through the market.
—(I can't read a damn thing... although I do understand what they say). —He thought as he listened to the conversations around him.
They spoke his same language; that was undeniable. The voices, the tones and even the expressions were perfectly understandable. But the writing... that was another story.
He stopped in front of a wooden sign and leaned slightly forward to observe it better. The numbers he managed to recognize... barely. By the shape, he would say they marked a 150.
But the letters were completely foreign.
—(I don't speak Nintendo). —He frowned when he saw the symbols engraved directly onto the board. —(This writing looks like the enchantments from the Minecraft enchantment table).
He sighed and straightened up again, stepping away from the shop when several people approached to buy. He seriously doubted the bills he carried in his pocket were worth anything in that place.
—(I'm 99.99% sure they use copper, silver and gold coins here. And if not, I'll change my name to so-and-so). —He laughed to himself while resuming his walk.
Surprisingly, he was taking quite well the fact that he had been ripped from his world and thrown into a completely different one. Advantages of having dreamed about something like this more than once.
—How did I get here? I really don't have a logical explanation. There was no heavenly summoning glow, and I wasn't received by men in robes asking for my help to save the world. —As he walked, Kaiser spoke to himself without caring if the people passing nearby heard his rambling.
He wasn't worried about being seen as a schizophrenic for walking around talking alone. Although, in a magical medieval era, he doubted they even knew what schizophrenia was. It was more likely they would think he was conversing with an invisible spirit.
Although, who knows. Kaiser had always been bad in history class. In any case, he doubted that would be of any use to him. It wasn't like magical medieval fantasy was the same as the Middle Ages of the real world. And if it were...
—(I'd be in serious trouble if I do something strange in the eyes of these people. They'll think I'm a warlock and throw me into the bonfire). —He stopped for a moment and looked again at the "furries", as he had mentally baptized them. —(Ha! Forget it. This place is already strange by itself. One more drop of weirdness in a sea of weirdos won't make a difference).
He didn't look back. His feet kept moving almost by inertia. He didn't know exactly where he was heading, but he was sure that, eventually, he would arrive somewhere.
And if not... Well, there was always the option of sleeping under a bridge.
—I think I still have my phone.
When he reached almost the end of the market, Kaiser turned toward what seemed to be an alley. The entrance was illuminated, so he could notice that at the back there was a curve; it probably led to another exit. He decided to take that route to avoid indiscreet looks when he took out his mobile.
Some empty boxes rested against the walls, stained despite their yellowish-white tone, as if the passage of time and dirt had claimed the place.
—Who uses white for walls? It's the dirtiest color that exists. —he murmured while taking out his phone and observing his wallpaper.
—(Long live Christ the King). —he thought automatically, before looking at the battery level: 89%—. (Damn... I feel like a Nokia would come in handy right now. Those bricks have batteries that last up to fifteen years).
He suddenly raised his gaze when his ears caught a shout that could only come from a very specific type of person who was a possible fan of the generic Isekai genre:
—"Wasn't I supposed to be teleported to a parallel world?! Where's my protagonist role?! My starting gear is trash!"
Kaiser blinked slowly.
—(Sounds like an RPG fan with a serious protagonist complex). —He advanced cautiously, guiding himself by the voice... and by the unmistakable sound of a plastic bag being shaken dramatically.
He barely peeked around the corner of the alley. And then he saw him.
A teenager with short black hair slicked back and brown eyes was there, as surprised as he was. Both of them stared at each other in silence, motionless, as if they had just discovered something that didn't fit into the logic of the world.
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End of the chapter