Surprise. Confusion. Fright. Despair. Vexation. Irritation.
These are the best word that can be used to describe the poor young man's condition. Before, he was on his bed, waiting that exhaustion would put him in a very deserved rest after a tiring day of work and study. Now, he was in the middle of what seemed to be a busy stone street in an unfamiliar place, in a sunny day.
Amidst his anguish, he tried to calm himself, to no avail, and analyze the situation. First, how did he get there? He remembered eventually closing his eyes and sleeping, but had no idea of how he got there. Second, where was he? This was at the moment unanswerable. Looking around, he only got even more surprised. He was in a late medieval-looking town or city.
The scenery was nothing like any location that he had been before. To his left, houses with two or more stories could be seen. There was no spacing between them. He immediately associated these with the medieval French or German houses that were shown in his history books. To his right were another sidewalk and a large river that separated the street he was and another. Its water was predominantly limpid, with only some signs of filth making their unwelcomed appearance, but such limpid waters made up for this fact. A large number of ornamented boats, each with its fair share of passengers, followed the river. Varying in size, these wooden ships were painted in vibrant colors, and were decorated in many different ways, some exposed leaves that highlighted nature's beauty, others exposed shapes that, although not very efficient in a pure technical view, demonstrated skill and graciousness while still being useful as transporting vessel. For an instant this sight soothed the young man's anguish. Never did his brown, perceptive eyes gaze at such beautiful sight. The anachronistic city, the crystalline river and the lovely vessels charmed him in a way that made him forget about his situation.
But it was not the right time to be wondered, for he was in the middle of a busy street, and the associated dangers of being there soon would be shown.
It didn't take long to a carriage, pulled by a fantastical reptilian animal, worth of being in those childish fairy tale books, charge at his direction. The driver, realizing the standing man down the road, tried his best to stop de animal. While he didn't manage to do that, he sufficiently deaccelerated so that the young man could return to his senses. With momentary speed provided to him by adrenaline, he jumped directing to the sidewalk to his right, by the large river.
He managed to avoid impact.
Safe now, he could process what just happened. Understanding that he evaded death, anxiety took over his heart. He stood up, and tried to avoid the gaze of the passers-by, embarrassed. While they were mostly relieved that a person didn't die in front of them, the young man misunderstood their sentiments.
"My god, I almost died there!", he said. It was a habit to quietly talk to himself when under stressful conditions. "What the hell was I doing!? Looking around, as if I was a tourist in a famous touristic attraction, when my life was obviously at risk!? Now everyone is looking at me with their judging eyes, as if I was a suicidal, a fool! Why, Kurtis Hansen, must you be like this!?"
Amidst his self-questioning, the driver, with his carriage finally parked, ran at the person who could have been a victim of traffic accident, and angrily shouted at his direction:
-You idiot! Does your head not work!? Any sane person wouldn't just stand still in the middle of the road! Don't you realize that you would give lots of trouble if you died? The people at the Guild would scold me, for sure, and my job would be done for! – said the angry man. The driver gave the appearance of a man in his fifties, with his greyish hair starting to turn white. He had a tall and fit body and some scars could be seen on his hands. His voice, while angry, exposed tiredness, and it was clear that dealing with a dead man would not soothe his fatigue.
-I am sorry, sir – quietly replied Kurtis Hansen, embarrassed, averting the lecturer's eyes. He didn't want to be there for any more minute. He wanted to run and never again be seen by those who were witness of what was happening to him: being lectured by a complete stranger.
The man's speech continued for about five minutes, and consisted of constantly criticize Hansen's actions and reminding him of how arrogant he was for not thinking about others. The speech ended with him pointing out that he was late for a meeting with other merchants, and rushing back to his carriage, leaving soon after.
Finally done there, Kurtis Hansen wandered around. Now he took care to avoid the stone streets and only walk at the sidewalks. His objective was finding information about where he was. He couldn't just ask to any person in the streets, he was too shy for that, and their looks were intimidating.
About such people, Hansen was unsure if he could call them humans. All had humanoid shape, but had a diversity of hair colors. Green, red, blue, any unthinkable natural hair color was present in the streets. At first he thought that they were all dyed, but seeing that a group of women that he passed by had purple hair, a color which dye, in the medieval context of that place, is hard to get and worth a lot, just couldn't just be used in a trivial matter such as hair dying. Here, various hair colors were natural and common. For a person with a "normal" brown hair, he felt out of place.
Another fact about the inhabitants of that city is that some had inhuman body parts: Dog tails, cat ears, claws, fangs. Soon Hansen would discover that those with said quirks are called "demi-humans", so he was somewhat right about not thinking them as normal humans.
The inhabitants dressed in various different colors. The men wore woolen and fur tunics and trousers, and some were cloaked. The women displayed dresses made with the same material of the male clothing. Some individuals wore silk clothing, but these, inferred the wanderer, belong to the rich strata of the society.
While he wandered around, his strange vestment didn't go unnoticed. His white shirt which he used in his job and didn't care to take off, the black pants he wore and the fact that he was barefoot drew the attention of many, giving him curious looks.
Unsurprisingly, the city had an active security body. Men equipped with chainmail armor and a light helmet, bearing pikes and halberdiers, took the role of law enforcers. The guards patrolled the streets in groups of five, and apparently one of them had a higher patent than the rest, issuing orders to them.
After some minutes of aimless walk, he finally decided to ask some of these guard group where he was. Yet, his answer just raised more questions.
Apparently he was in the city of Priestella, capital of one of the five regional capitals of the Kingdom of Lugnica. Hansen never heard of both of these names.
Both "Priestella" and "Kingdom of Lugnica" were unknown names… no, they were inexistent names. Initially he considered having that he returned in time, that his sleep somehow prompted him to go back centuries to the late middle ages. But these names, alongside with the unnatural biology of the inhabitants of that place made him discard his theory. Therefore, only one possibility was viable: he was in another world.
Knowing his location helped little. He still was lost, without money and notion of what to do. Having this in mid, Hansen couldn't help but sigh and have a despaired look in his face. If before he had hope that he could get back to home, now he was certain that return was impossible.
He thought of stories such as Alice in Wonderland. The situation of the protagonist Alice and his were similar, both having a otherworldly experience, although Alice's world being way more incomprehensible.
"So this is how you felt, Alice…", he muttered to himself.
Tired, he decided to rest in an alley he found after much walking. Just sitting for a time there would make him recover some energy, he thought, and the active guards would intimidate any potential criminal that could disturb him.
The only thing that concerned him at the moment was how to get back to home, to his world. That was not a place where he wanted to live. Rather, it wasn't a place he was able to live. Ignorant to every aspect of that location, survival would be difficult. The only element that he shared with the people there was the language.
Interestingly, he could carry normal conversation with anyone, without any hindrance. Both sides could perfectly understand each other, aside for some idioms and interjections. But the used script was alien, unintelligible. Judging by the little he was able grasp, there was a number of symbols, which made Hansen believe that there was a syllabary rather than an alphabet.
Eventually, he concluded that as sleep got him there, sleep was the way out. While he had no real basis to back his hypothesis, that was the desperate solution that one would create to get out of that desperate situation.
It took a long to fall asleep. After all, the sun was far from setting, and an agglomeration of negative feelings overwhelmed his head, making him uneasy and his task absurdly difficult. But, as the only possible way out, sleeping was a must.
An odd phenomenon occurred in his sleep, something like a lucid dream. He was in an endless void, with total control over his thoughts. He only was able to identify his body, the single piece of matter in the vastness of the nothingness. It was frightening to him. The expectation to see something led him to disappointment. The ambience was ominous. The same way nothing could be seen, nothing could be heard, and nothing but a horrible scent, unlike any he had smelled before, could be perceived.
The silence was broken by an unknown female voice. The voice had no perceptible origin, seemingly coming from his head.
-You have to help him… – Said the speaker. The voice sounded calm and gentle. But these traits did not hide the uncanny feel emanated from hearing a voice in such state of affairs.
– You must help my beloved. This is a task only you can accomplish. Only you will be able to understand his feelings. Only you will be able to share his burdens. For this I allow you to use the Authority of Melancholy. You must help my beloved.
Kurtis Hansen tried to reply, to no avail. He wasn't able to say anything. His words were silent, as if a supernatural force muffled them. No matter how much he shouted, no one could hear him.
As soon as the woman finished saying those cryptic words, the world around him disappeared, and he was awake once more. To his disappointment, he wasn't back to his bed. He was still at that same alley. Some hours passed, and already was night.
Once again, he started to wander around. But not with the purpose of gathering information; he wandered to think. Another of Hansen's quirks, his brain worked better when he wasn't standing still.
He pondered about his "dream", about who he was supposed to assist, and about the Authority of Melancholy, a mysterious gift from the entity, given to him in order to complete his assigned task. But there were no reasonable answers to his doubts, regardless of how hard he reflected.
After some time roaming, a group of guards stopped him, making him return from his deep thoughts to reality. The group commander approached with his halberdier in the right hand, took a good look at Hansen, and started to talk.
-Sir, what's your name?
-Uh? Oh, sorry, I was thinking about… something. My name is Kurtis Hansen.
-Kurtis Hansen? Now that's an odd name, as odd as what you're wearing. – He giggled – Mr. Hansen, please come with us to the barracks.
-Wait, What? Why?
-You're suspected of loitering. Please do not resist. It would make our lives easier.
-Loitering?! That's Preposterous! Never did I disturb anyone since I unwillingly came here! – Upon hearing the cause of the approach, the mostly meek man now was enraged. For the first time in that place he raised his voice to someone. To be accused of loitering, of being a criminal, when he was in fact the victim, dragged to this unknown world without his permission, was completely absurd in his eyes.
-We had several complaints about a short brown-haired man wearing strange clothes wandering around, aimless like a drunk, and sleeping at an alley. Some even said that you were almost ran over by a dragon carriage. And now I encounter you, in the middle of the night, wandering yet again.
-Well that's… - Hansen was having trouble formulating words. Indeed, his actions were suspicious. –While that's true, I only slept in that dirty alley because I had no roof to sleep under! And I roamed because I have no goddamn idea where I am supposed to go!
-Rest assured, I will tell you where you are supposed to go. You are supposed to go to the barracks, with us. – Said the commander in a sarcastic tone.
The other guards approached to assist their commander in the arrest. Hansen was enraged and despaired with what he considered an arbitrary arrest. He knew that he wouldn't let them get him.
But, alas, he couldn't do anything. Fighting would mean suicide. Running was impossible; they already cornered him.
Yet, when his mind gave up, his heart didn't. Deep within Hansen, a mysterious defense mechanism was about to activate. He did not know what that was, but he knew what he had to do. He had to look at a specific target.
A new power just activated.
Upon looking at the commander, the guard dropped his weapon and fell to his knees. He wiped out any expression that had in his face. His eyes were now blank, empty. After facing Hansen's eye, he knelt and ceased to do any other movement.
A terrible scent emanated from Kurtis's body. It was the same smell that was present while the female entity talked to him. He was sure of that. His nose already memorized the unique scent.
The commander's underlings, seeing their superior's state, shifted for an instant their attention to the kneeling man. And this instant of inattention was all that Hansen needed. He immediately started to run at the opposite direction, as fast as he could.
The scape was a success. Their heavy armor couldn't keep with his pace. Now at a secure distance, he rested, and congratulated himself for his performance and resilience.
He didn't have the time to celebrate. An unbearable headache suddenly took over him. With immense pain coming from his head, he couldn't resist. He passed out on the sidewalk, by some houses.
And so was his first day at that new world.