Chapter 47: Reconnaissance - Ⅰ

Astrid Aalto:

My guts seemed to flip out and a sickening, sour-bitter taste crept upwards, pressing against the back of my throat.

It felt like a block of lead had been placed on my body as I felt my entire body slump.

The bitterness of the bile rising up only intensified and the realm of dark emptiness –– that I had entered after ripping the seal open only for a little while so I could go through it –– receded, like a blanket being forcefully snatched away after a restless night's sleep.

I fell on my knees, the leggings doing little to cushion my fall as it gave away as well and my hands automatically moved to support my body from falling face first.

The small stones dug into my palms. The sharp yelp that was about to leave my lips was submersed by a raucous, gagging voice which surprised even me.

My body convulsed before doubling over.

Placing a trembling hand over my mouth, I dragged my body that felt like a lifeless sack to the edge of the place where I had landed and my stomach heaved uncontrollably.

The thick and acrid stench that rose from it didn't help as I—submitting myself to this fate—retched forcefully again, unable to contain the roiling nausea within me.

The world around me spun for a few fleeting seconds in an abhorrent blur, blowing away the dull ache in my palm.

A few laboured breaths escaped me and I felt my chest heave up and down uncontrollably. My tongue felt heavy and I didn't dare to move it as well.

Like a blind person searching for his cane, my hands flailed on the gravely surface of the ground beneath me, searching for the only thing I had managed to bring with myself. A bottle of water.

The crunch of the bottle's plastic as the wind moved it against the rough, jagged surface was awfully loud due to the silence that plagued the air and like a moth to a flame, I crawled over to it.

Overjoyed, I picked it up and opened it. Drinking it all in one go, I let out a deep breath.

Only after a few minutes of silence, rest and drowning the haunting panic from my mind, was when I realised that I had been teleported.

To a world, even until now, I had considered it was nothing more than mere fantasy. A mere figment of a talented author's imagination. But it was real. All of it.

And Eden of all places. A liturgical place mentioned only in some damned religions or folklores.

A biblical place. It is more impactful if you consider it from the point of view of someone who has been atheist until a year or so ago.

"My whole life has been a lie!" I tried to humour myself, my trembling voice my sole companion.

Aside from – of course – the eerie whispers of the wind which made me get more conscious of my surroundings.

I crawled back without standing up. I did so until my back painfully hit the jagged surface of a mountain's surface.

I suddenly miss wearing heavy clothes. Since it wasn't exactly too hot in Seoul, I had to improvise. Not like I took the advantage of the malls being abandoned.

…Nay! Not at all!

Letting my head rest against it, I breathed in and then from the corner of his raised platform atop some mountain type structure, I looked down.

Scratch 'mountain type' structure, it is definitely a mountain.

Like a firefly, something was burning in a far distance and smoke was rising upwards, forming a dense swirl of smoke and a parrot-green aura hung like a half-manifested aurora all over the place that was located amidst a giant crater of sorts.

For some reason this kind of fantasy world almost had a subtle grandeur that seemed almost tangible, yet grounded in a semblance of reality. And while it would be an utter lie to say that I was not expecting castles made of gold and myself to arrive in front of an adventurer's guild, I was certainly not expecting to land in the middle of… ruins?

I guess ruins would be the perfect way to describe this place.

I pushed my head back and then willed my strength into my entire body.

The process of—for the lack of better words—teleportation had surely left an undeniable mark on me.

Well mark is an exaggeration in all senses of the world; however, it rendered me so weak that I was unable to walk.

Geez. Like what in the name of everything unholy was that?

When I opened the small tear in the Frontier's entrance, I was pulled in like a vacuum sucking in the dirt.

My body felt like it was being stretched and twisted, kinda like when you spin around too fast. The disorienting, dizzying sensation of my entire being feeling like a rubber across dimensions was most likely what made me feel a tad queasy.

The place I was in before I was spat out like a chewing gum was really dark. Like super dark. And funky. All that existed in that place was me and my bungee gum-like existence.

A giggle escaped my lips at my own thoughts. I was proud of that reference.

Mentally patting myself at the effort, I gave myself a few moments of respite before finally realising the grave situation I was in.

I was basically isekai'd here and now I was stranded. Arthur was gone for three days. So, it's safe to assume he's three days away.

…

A moment of silence washed like a hundred years over me, followed by a realisation.

ARGH!

Why didn't I think of it beforehand? Of course he'd be three days away from here. Given the fact he's much faster than me as well. He'd be so far away I'd be captured by someone before I even see him.

I actually want to cry now.

Stupid Astrid!

As if it was going to make me feel a little less dumb, I punched my own head.

Uuu… what am I supposed to do now?

Something crackled and the black swirl in the sky suddenly dissipated as a streak of white-blue arched through the sky.

I wasn't a religious person, but given the current situations and having the reality of them being real slapped into my face, I clasped my hands together—although begrudgingly—and closed my eyes and prayed to whatever deity might be up there.

"I wish I could meet Arthur already!"

Much to my own surprise, my voice came out so loud it jolted me awake from my "prayer" stance.

As the streak of blue in the sky, a shooting star presumably, vanished, silence descended. And in that silence, a wave of embarrassment washed over me.

What am I even doing? Praying to a shooting star!?

Arthur would definitely make fun of me if he saw me like thi—

My thoughts were halted midway as the "shooting star" that had faded away into the night sky arched backwards.

Bruh.

Goosebumps rose over the entirety of my body and my hair stood on edge. My feet flailed and I tried to stand up and jump away from the incoming meteorite. However, my body felt oddly heavy. It wasn't a lack of strength or the fact that I had hurled my guts out.

No, it was something much more tangible.

I felt my eyes brighten up – not due to happiness but due to the sparkle of the incoming meteor-like projectile – as the meteor got so close to me that my entire life flashed in front of my eyes.

The little happy moments with my parents that I had decided to keep with me and then the next sequence of memories went by in a static blur which then continued from the time I met Arthur.

Ever since I had met him, my life has been nothing but joy with an odd pinch of mysteriousness.

It was nice staying alive.

As I closed my eyes and surrendered myself to the incoming object, my mind wandered to something. Perhaps dinosaurs felt the same as me.

Hopeless.

It was sad. Not because I was going to flipping die to a meteor but because I have been useless all this time. In the end I was of no use to Arthur. Other than maybe picking up his clothes and cleaning after him since he doesn't have any manners.

Geez.

A dry laugh escaped my lips.

I should think more about myself.

As the meteor inched closer, it suddenly curved and the blue tail behind it vanished instantly. As if suspended in time, it stayed airborne for a while before completely losing all momentum and falling off into the wide cliff beneath the platform that I was sitting on.

With a blank mind that was unable to discern whether to be happy or even more baffled than I already was, I stood up gingerly and slowly walked over to the edge.

Arcanum had already coated my hands, head and chest.

"Fuuu." I let out a muffled breath, trying not to make a single sound.

And then something lunged forward.

What seemed like a fluffy ball of white fluttered and the next thing I knew was a pair of golden eyes staring right into my own.

I didn't have the time to even let out a voice of surprise as a hand pressed against my face and then I was falling down. The grip tightened, however, the brittle touch suddenly vanished before a small gust of Arcanum supported my body from behind, breaking my fall.

The light from my own Arcanum protecting my body illuminated my attacker's face.

Messy, crimson stained white hair stuck to the mud-caked face of a boy whose face was almost as sharp as Arthur's. The constant smirk on his face was replaced by a worried frown and his eyes immediately stopped glowing.