FIRST STEPS OF ADAPTATION

Mercedes walked out of the house, sauntering through all the leaves that dewed at dawn. It was barely sunrise, and the only the chirping of crickets and the flow of river water can be heard in such a tranquil forest. It was chilly, but in a rather pleasant way. She had never felt this fresh ever since having needed to settle with a lot of commotions happening back in the Maple World. Perhaps this set back could calm her down a little.

Besides that, sunrise and sunset do not occur in the Maple World, only places where the sun shone, never moving out of its place, and places where the veil of darkness was permanently drawn, with the moon smiling up upon. It made Mercedes marvel upon the sun setting and drawing the veil over the forest with the moon's grace watching over them the day before. Now the sky was getting noticeably brighter. The sun will rise and bring its radiance to the forest. To her, this natural phenomenon added much livelihood to the calm forest.

Mercedes felt like she could permanently live in this beautiful world. But her people needed her. She deserved not such emancipation and had to return. For the time being, she decided to take in whatever was around her.

As the sky became even brighter and the rays of sunlight became more significant, Mercedes decided to head back. She walked back to see the old man, Soro's father, carrying an axe. He was headed to the area where many logs, wooden blocks and stumps were. As he saw Mercedes, he waved and called out to her in a language she couldn't understand. "Good morning," Mercedes smiled and greeted back.

She stood a while to watch the old man. He was wearing plain shirt, shorts, and a pair of sandals, with a farmer hat on the top of his head. A facial towel hung down from around his neck. Mercedes continued to admire as the old man put down his axe and placed a block of thick stem on a wooden stump. He then picked up his axe, raised it high, and swung his axe down swiftly, chopping the block down into half. Then he put down his axe, placed another block of wood on the stump and repeated the same process. It was apparent that the old man had done this a lot of times, yet his strength seemed to defy his old age.

Mercedes left him to cut the firewood and walked into the house. The smell of food hung in the air, and the sizzling of food could be heard. Her mouth watered. Her footsteps quickened to find the source of the smell. She stumbled upon Cygnus who trotted down the stairs.

"Morning," Cygnus said in a dreamy voice as she saw Mercedes, to which she returned the greeting. They walked to the back of the house together, beckoned by the delicious smell reeking out of there which had made them unbelievably hungry. They sat themselves on the dining table which had been prepared.

"Ah, morning ladies," Soro came in carrying two plates of dishes they had never seen before. "I assume you would be hungry for the morning so I prepared breakfast," he said before leaving the dining room again. Shortly after, Aran, Aranelle and Kyrin arrived.

"It smells so good! Why did you not wake us up for breakfast, Cygnus?!" asked Aranelle, pouting.

"But you guys look so peaceful in your sleep that I don't wanna wake you up!" Cygnus said with a smiley face.

Aranelle, stumbled upon the answer given, clenched her fists, shut her eyes tightly, trembled a little and burst out, "Fine! Nobody likes me anyway!"

Aran knocked on her head with his fist. Aranelle yelped and caressed her head with his hands. "Aranelle, could you behave yourself? We're in someone else's house and you're still showing this kind of attitude!" he said while the others laughed at them.

"Urgh, fine," said Aranelle, settling down at the table while the others joined in. Soro came in with a few more dishes and sat himself at the table just as breakfast was ready. His father went past the dining table just then, carrying a few buckets.

Soro stood and called out to his father. They both talked for a moment. A few minutes later Soro joined his guests at the table while his father left.

"My father said he wants to carry some water from the river back here before joining us for breakfast," said Soro, "So, yeah, enjoy your meal!"

As soon as Soro finished his words, Aranelle grabbed her fork and took one large piece of roasted chicken, stuffing it into her mouth. The others watched in awe.

"Wow, this is goo…Oh ow ah ah ah hot hot hot!" Aranelle burst out, literally throwing down her fork. She grabbed the pitcher and without hesitating, sloshed the water into her mug and gulped it all in.

"How do you like this Sambal Chicken?" asked Soro while trying to hold back a giggle.

"It's not going away!" Aranelle complained. She had already drank several cups of water, but the tongue burn did not subside.

The others started eating, leaving Aranelle to deal with her issues. Breakfast was rather exotic and enjoyable. They had never had breakfast so scrumptious before. Everyone except Soro could not stand the Sambal Chicken, though.

"Jeez, how do you even eat this stuff without getting burned on the tongue?" asked Kyrin who, too, drank a glass of water just after eating the chicken.

"Oh, we have already long adapted to spicy foods. We simply love them," said Soro.

"That's insane!" exclaimed Aranelle.

"So, what are your plans for the next few days?" asked Soro.

"No idea. We're still working on that," replied Mercedes.

"Alright then, if you guys need anything I'll always be here to help."

"Actually, we don't even know how to start. And it would take us some time to adapt to this place," Cygnus said with concern.

"Not too much a problem. I can always cope with you guys."

"I think for one I'll grow to love the food here," said Aran.

"I would if they are not spicy!" said Aranelle, and everyone laughed again.

They continued chatting while having their breakfast. For Soro, having unexpected guests in this secluded area made it more lively here. He still liked the peace and serenity, but it could get lonely being alone with his father.

Suddenly, a scream of an old man broke the silence. It was as if he shrieked in agony and pain, with a hint of despair in it. Instantly, they recognised the voice and knew something was up to no good.

"Father!" Soro gasped. Without further ado, he arose and rushed towards the entrance of the house and out. The others followed.

They followed Soro as he sprinted further and further away from the house, heading towards the river. Moments later, they found him halfway through. The old man was sitting on the ground, holding one of his knees in both hands. It bled rather profusely. There were buckets nearby, and water seemed to have spilled from it.

Soro spoke to the old man in a rather anxious tone. The old man only nodded, occasionally replying to his son. A few minutes later, Soro turned towards the others and said, "It's all right, father fell and hurt his knee. I thought there were more serious issues."

Soro proceeded to drape his father's arm over his shoulders and carried him in a support-carry position. They slowly headed back afterwards, while the others escorted them.

For some reason, Aran couldn't shake the feeling that there was something amiss in the whole of this.

I have stepped foot on this world.

For all the centuries serving my master, I knew nothing of this world.

I am walking among lesser beings that know of magic not. It is our duty to comply with the Dark Lord's command. They have to be destroyed. In addition, the Dark Lord plans to take over this world as well.

They are no different from these lowly beings. Their powers, unlike ours, are hindered in this world. This first subject, easily put to control under my paralysing spell, shall be my guise to accomplish this mission. By taking his form, I learn of everything of him.

Taking them down would be easy. Head on, however, is not a viable option.