Quantum Rip: Welcome to Ethos

After (Part 3 - The Others)

Gasping for air, Edvard struggled to get up. Much like Ven, he ate a few mouthfuls of dirt before managing to turn around. Also like Ven, he was in a forest and fatigued to the bone. This forest was less dense, with sparse undergrowth and no vines. Making visibility far clearer.

His first actions and thoughts were similar to Ven's, only his desire to go back was far stronger. He knew the first thing he needed was a source of water, yet he could not keep his thoughts focused on that.

Unlike Ven, his search was interrupted much sooner too. He saw a monster, an orc, come through the treelines in a panicked sprint. Edvard froze upon seeing the fantasy-like creature.

The orc looked exactly like the fantasy representation of orcs. Large bulging muscles, tusk-like teeth, and dark green mud-colored skin. It looked vicious and like it could kill him with ease.

Edvard did not freeze for long, realizing that the orc was running towards him, he looked for a place to hide. Hoping the orc had not spotted him yet. Diving into the nearest patch of vegetation Edvard carefully lifted his head to glance at the orc. Hoping it would ignore his existence.

As he glanced Edvard saw a massive feline creature dark as night coming after the orc. Quickly killing it in a swift strike followed by ripping its neck open.

Seeing this Edvard fell back into the plants and tried not to breathe. Hoping that the even more terrifying monster would not come for him. He listened uncomfortably to the crunch of bones as the beast enjoyed its feast.

He could not help but swallow in fear as he felt his chest constricting.

Not moving for a long time; the metallic smell of blood long since spread to him. No noise for over ten minutes, Edvard finally dared move.

Shocked by the mess he looked at the blood scattered where the beast had feasted. A-meter-wide circle of blood with parts of flesh and some bones scattered even further.

Seeing the sight Edvard could not keep himself steady, falling to his knees he vomited as he thought back to the stories he used to read as a kid.

Unlike those stories, he was not the hero. Not the destined one. He was one of those destined to die. No weapons, no gear, no knowledge, and inside a monster-infested forest.

After emptying his stomach, he started laughing softly…

Madly.

…

Yawen, like the other two, struggled to lift herself from the ground. As she struggled, she felt four small supporting hands helping her up.

Gasping for breath she thanks the kids who had helped her. But this only caused them to look at her strangely.

"Where are you from, lady?" The kid asked in a language Yawen had never heard before.

'Shit, they don't speak a language I know. This isn't English, Chinese, Japanese, German, nor French.'  Yawen thought, trying to compare the language to those she knew. In tone and sounds it was similar to Norsk, but not that language either.

'Sign language then.' She decided, pointing to herself and saying, "Yawen." Then at the boy and trying to indicate that she was asking. It took a few tries, but finally the boy said something she believed was a name.

"Xavier?" Yawen asked, pointing to the boy and trying to make her tone sound questioning. The boy nodded energetically when she said this, pointing to his friend.

"This is Gala." He said in the language Yawen did not understand.

"Gala." Yawen echoed, then she pointed to herself again saying her own name again. "Yawen. I am Yawen, nice to meet you two." Keeping her tone as friendly as she could, as if she were talking to a baby.

While they did not understand her words, they felt from her tone that she was happy. Or at least that she was kind. Excited, the girl came forward and offered Yawen a strange fruit.

Taking it, Yawen pointed to the fruit, then said, "Gala?"

This caused the two to laugh as they misunderstood her way of asking. But it came to the same result as they fixed her mistake by telling her the name of the fruit.

"Palikato. It'sss delicious. We often gather it to sell when the merchants come." Xavier said after a fit of laughing.

Yawen missed most of what the boy said, but she caught the name. "Palikato."

'I wonder how it tastes.' Not delaying, she bit into it, finding it to be sweet. Much like an apple, only its skin was much lighter and added a sweetness which she could taste by simply licking the fruit.

"Thank you," Yawen said after enjoying her first bite. She continued to eat the Palikato as the two led her around the field she had woken in.

Unlike Edvard and Ven, she was in a much better starting situation.

…

After a great deal of struggling, Maxwell finally managed to flip himself over. His lacking an arm having made this far more difficult. Luckily the quick bandaging which Edvard had done seemed to hold and he was not bleeding out on the spot.

In fact, even his burns had mostly disappeared, and the arm didn't hurt. 'Small miracles…' Maxwell laughed as he thought of this, wondering if they were really miracles or ways to prolong his suffering.

Looking around he could not help but swear. Struggling to stand up on the sandy dunes he was glad the sun was low, however, he was unsure if it was rising or setting.

He hoped it was becoming day since if it was becoming night then his first day here was going to be really bad.

"So that is A direction." He thought, looking at the sunrise or sunset. He did not know which yet, but it was a fixed direction he could follow. And he did.

Knowing that standing still in the desert would only cause him to die. He needed to find a water source asap, civilization too.

He knew how unkind a desert was to those traveling unprepared. His mind was in such a mess from his past experiences it took him a few hours to realize that the sun was not Sol.

…

"What do we have here?" A mage in dark purple robes asked as he found the source of the dimensional disturbance. The answer to his question was a man of dark skin who was currently struggling to stand up, his skin bleeding and cracking as he did.

"You seem interesting. I have never seen a human without white skin. Are you from a different continent?" The wizard asked as he picked Ghakarhi up via a wind spell. Taking him to his lab to experiment.

"Do be cooperative will you, I'll make sure to treat your wounds." The mage said, laughing as he felt the confusion from the man he had just picked up.

'What vitality, I wonder what his secrets are.' The mage mumbled as he felt that this man was far stronger than even he himself knew.

…

"What. Where am I? Can anyone hear me!" Shouting Aneko pushed her hands out to the front, unable to see anything in the pitch darkness. A cold rough surface greeting her after a few steps.

"Is this a cave?" Aneko wondered as she kept her one hand on the wall and started walking in a direction. She knew staying still would do her no good, she had to find a light source or a draft of wind.

She also had to find water as soon as she could, so she kept her ears open to any sounds other than the shuffling of her feet. Hoping to hear a drip of water.