Chapter 5: Shridevi

After inquiring with Vanda, Havel learned that they were planning to head off to Helge Desert as soon as the sun began setting. While in the desert, they would travel at night and rest during the day. Until then, Havel decided to cool off. His emotions were still bubbling and broiling inside of him from all that had happened the past day.

First, he was having fun at his senior prom when he learned about his girlfriend having cheated on him at some point. That was enough to put him into a rage of the ages, but it did not end there. Before Havel could even get the slightest modicum of revenge, a mysterious entity saw fit to transport him to a different world! Yes, the world he was transported to seemed to have a magic system of sorts, but Havel wasn't given any assistance regarding the magic system by the mysterious entity! What was the deal?! The mysterious entity even had the gall to force a contract onto him! Havel had to protect some stupid brats that managed to annoy him the moment they first spoke to him, or die!

The whole situation was incredibly emotionally taxing! Wrath from his girlfriend's infidelity, rage from not getting revenge, indignation from being forced into a contract, exhilaration from the possibility of gaining superpowers, vexation from being talked down to by some stupid kids, and irritation from not being able to take out all his pent-up anger!

Havel was of half a mind to start punching a tree until it snapped in half, but was aware that if he tried to, he'd break his fists.

Suddenly, Havel heard a cute yawn from above his position at the base of the tree the kids dug a cave into. He lazily cocked his head back to look up, when he caught sight of something else to add to his list of complaints.

"Ooooh no…"

Havel allowed gravity to take control of his body as he fell on his side. Lying on the ground, he released a defeated whimper.

*Please tell me that it isn't so…*

"Shridevi is awake and the sun is near setting! It's time!"

Havel heard Alojzia's voice echo out from inside the tree-cave, followed by a collision near him that was likely a set of feet hitting the dirt.

"C'mon, Mr. Havel. Grab your stuff! We're moving!"

Alojzia's impatient voice didn't help Havel's mood as he slowly turned his head to glare at her from on the ground.

"What? Do you have something to say? Get up!"

Havel had a lot of things to say, but none of them would help his situation. Instead, he asked a question.

"That little girl…please tell me that she cultivates as well?"

When Havel looked up moments before, a face looked back at him. From what he could tell, the girl that the face belonged to was even younger than the two kids he already met! With how their goal was to cross a life-threateningly dangerous desert, it was one thing if the kids were super-human, but another thing entirely if they were just normal kids!

"No, Shridevi is too young to cultivate."

There it was… Havel's head dropped to the floor as his entire body relaxed. He lost hope.

*These three are being pursued by supposedly powerful people. Their only guardian is me. We have to cross a deadly desert to escape pursuit. I will die if I don't protect them. I will die if the pursuers catch up. Sure, two of the three kids are super-human, but ONE OF THEM LOOKS SIX YEARS OLD!*

Havel had the urge to melt and become nothingness.

"Are you worried that she'll slow us down, Mr. Havel?"

Still standing next to his despondent body, Alojzia manage to remove one of Havel's complaints from his list.

"I'm going to carry her. It won't be a problem."

A bit of energy returned to Havel as he gradually pushed himself up and off the ground into a sitting position.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot to ask. What are you going to do abou-"

Suddenly, Havel's eyes widened, his mouth gaped, and his skin crawled. A storm seemed to upturn his mind as he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Could he be…hallucinating?

While he and Alojzia were talking, Vanda had put Shridevi in his arms to carry her the five meters to the ground. When he landed next to Alojzia was the first time Havel got a good look at the little girl that yawned earlier.

She had short, sapphire-blue hair, green eyes, and wore similar robes to those of Alojzia and Vanda. However, those features only barely registered in Havel's mind, because…SHE HAD NO LEGS!

To be more specific, where her legs should be was a single, long…tail? Her bottom half looked like the body of a snake!

As Havel's mind reeled, his heart began beating too quickly for comfort. He felt…fear. It was strange, but the sight of the little girl with the bottom half of a snake made something click inside of him. Almost like…everything until now was realistic, but not real. He experienced teleportation, falling unconscious to a mental attack by some formation thingy, and even saw kids exhibit super-human feats of strength! Hell, one of the kids had pointy ears and the sky was green!

But, not once did he stop to consider that, maybe, not everyone in this new world…is human?

Havel's reaction to seeing Shridevi was plainly obvious to Alojzia and Vanda, who had seen similar reactions in the past from people who never had the chance to see different races in their lives.

"I forgot to mention that Shridevi is a lamia."

Although she tried to hide it, a tiny smirk could be seen trying to form on Alojzia's face.

Unfortunately for Havel, he saw that smirk. Within him, the fear slowly subsided to be replaced by the urge to strangle Alojzia!

Managing to get to his feet, he balled his fists and took a menacing step forward.

His unconscious action was something that occurred many times in the past when fools made the decision to humiliate the ill-tempered man. Every situation like that ended with someone sobbing and begging at Havel's feet.

Except…Havel's face changed from one seething with hatred to a more…meek expression. That's because, despite seeing Havel so angrily move towards her, Alojzia simply smiled and gave a cold snort.

Whoooooosh!

It was as if a glacial wind passed through Havel's body, completing snuffing out any fire that burned within. A short and soft gasp escaped his mouth as he then unconsciously took a step backwards!

All the ill will inside of Havel was so easily cowed by a single glance from Alojzia!

"W-what was that? What did you just do?!"

Although none of the previous animosity remained while a tiny bit of fear was implanted, Havel was still capable of forming new resentment. He felt threatened by what Alojzia just did and feared that she cast a spell on him.

"I just gave you a taste of what cultivators are capable of. It's called killing intent."

This time, there was no effort put into hiding her smirk as she gave a condescending reply.

Havel was about to burst out with new displeasure, but managed to hold himself back. The sensation from Alojzia's killing intent actually helped clear his mind and allowed him to think rationally.

Havel turned and walked toward where he left the pitcher of soda and compass. His voice shook as he managed to say the words, "I'm sorry. I h-have anger issues."

The shame from saying such a humiliating thing turned his face bright red, but his back faced the kids, saving him from some embarrassment.

"No problem. I can help cure you if you wish."

This time, Alojzia's words prompted no violent reaction from Havel…only violent thoughts.

...

"I expected more…sand."

After following the compass, Havel, Alojzia, Vanda, and Shridevi arrived at the border of the forest they were previously inside of. In front of them was a vast landscape of rolling hills made up of dirt, sand, and rocks, dimly lit by starlight. Vegetation was also present. Bushes, cacti, tall grasses, and even flowers.

When Vanda spoke of Helge Desert, the image of a desolate wasteland made from only sand appeared in Havel's mind. In reality, Helge Desert had a flourishing ecosystem! Not even a war between powerful cultivators could forever prevent Mother Nature from resettling.

"Looks like Arizona."

"What's 'Arizona'?"

Havel remembered that he was on a different planet entirely as he looked at Vanda's curious expression. He had no idea how to explain.

"Uhh, were you told where I came from?"—Havel paused before looking up at the sky—"Can I tell them where I came from?"

Alojzia, who was carrying Shridevi in her arms to the side scoffed, "The Heavens said you were brought from far away, but not from where exactly. If you're trying to talk to the Heavens, it's futile. You think they would answer you?"

[They don't know, but it's fine to explain.]

"Looks like they would."

Havel chuckled before turning to Vanda.

"Try not to be too amazed, but I'm not from your world of Parthenia. These "Heavens" of yours brought me here from my home-planet of Earth. A completely different world altogether."

Havel had to scroll through the library of messages in his head to remember what the "Heavens" called that world.

"Impossible!"

Again, Alojzia arrogantly responded in Vanda's place, prompting a similarly arrogant reply.

"I wasn't speaking to you, Alojzia."

Havel was delighted at the sight of the arrogant red-headed brat looking so shocked and angry at his words. When he surprised the kids before with his lack of knowledge regarding cultivation, he had yet to form impressions of them and didn't care if they responded as such. However, now that he had a belly full of discontent towards Alojzia, seeing her act like that made him fill with pride.

"There's no way that the Heavens brought you from another world to be our guardian! You're just a clueless mortal with no value! And, what's a planet?!"

Havel was thinking about how to reply before he realized that, maybe he could further anger her by ignoring her?

"Like I was saying, Vanda, I'm from planet Earth. On it, the most powerful country in the world is the United States of America. That's where I'm from! That country is split into fifty states, and one of them is mostly desert that looks like this."—Havel waved his arm outwards, referring to Helge Desert—"That's Arizona…I think. I've never been there; only seen images."

Despite the uncertainty in Havel's voice towards the end of his explanation, Vanda was awe-struck by the image he mentally painted.

"You lived in the most powerful country of an entire world?! What was the military strength like?!"

For some reason, that was what he focused on.

"Well, yeah. But, why-"

Then, Havel realized where he messed up.

"Vanda, did you forget? I've told you before that where I'm from, Earth, lacks any knowledge of cultivation. The entire population is made up of mortals and no one has ever discovered anything like spiritual energy."

Previously shaking in excitement, Vanda transformed to look like a deflated balloon.

"Oh…"

Seeing the energy drain from the kid, Havel realized that he felt a bit bad for the little guy. Havel must have taken more of a liking to Vanda after comparing him to the hateful red-head Alojzia.

"Anyway, let's move!"

The four of them were still among the trees and hadn't actually stepped into Helge Desert. A few meters in front of them was where the verdant grass and fertile soil shifted to browner shrubbery and sandy dirt.

*From here on is Helge Desert. Will I survive? Hopefully. Catherine still hasn't gotten what she deserves!*

After Havel's foot crossed the vague border between forest and desert, something frightening happened.

"Aggghhh!"

A mighty pressure bore down on him, buckling his legs and putting him on the ground. His entire body felt as though it were being boiled! Yet, no damage was actually being done.

"Ahhh!"

A high-pitched scream rang out from Alojzia's arms at the same time. Shridevi, who Havel had never heard speak, released a similar cry.

"Mmmmggh."

Alojzia and Vanda, however, only released annoyed grunts. It seemed that their cultivation bases allowed them to more easily withstand the mysterious pressure.

"So, the stories were true." Alojzia whispered under her breath.

"Why didn't you say anything about this?!"

Havel's words came out sounding like a fearsome growl as he forcibly resisted whatever was keeping him down. Beads of sweat formed on his body as he painfully rose to his feet again.

"Sorry, Mr. Havel. We weren't sure if this would happen and didn't want to needlessly scare you. Though, we do know that it won't kill you. We wouldn't have risked Shridevi if that weren't the case."

Vanda's words, despite being honestly apologetic, were of no help to Havel while he struggled in the dirt.

The little lamia girl in Alojzia's arms fared a lot better than Havel, partly because she was being carried, but mostly because she was born and raised on Parthenia while Havel was not. Parthenia's stronger gravity and the constant contact with the energies of Heaven made it so organisms on Parthenia were stronger than those from Earth.

"I…I won't be able…to cross this…desert."

Fists balled and teeth clenched, Havel could only admit that the extreme pressure he was being subjected to…was a bit much. Havel's entire body trembled, his veins bulged, and his skin was turning rosy. He knew he could take a few steps with no problem, but anymore than that and he might collapse again.

"Well, your only choice is to sit down and get used to it. That is, unless you want Vanda to carry you."

Alojzia took the opportunity to condescendingly mock Havel again, much to his anger. There he was, struggling to stand, while that little brat chose to make fun of him!

But alas, it really was his only choice. No matter what, being carried by Vanda was not an option. Being carried by what looked to be a ten-year-old across a desert was too much humiliation.

Steaming, both emotionally and in temperature, Havel painfully dropped to the ground, where he lied on his back. He ignored the possibility of bugs crawling on him and attempted to empty his mind. His goal was simply to withstand the pressure as much as possible.

So, there he lied for half an hour. Doing nothing but breathing, growing accustomed to the strange pressure little by little, and watching the green sky grow dark.

Alojzia, Vanda, and Shridevi were nearby, doing the same thing. Alojzia and Vanda could resist the pressure by circulating their internal energy, but that would do no good for them if they were to run out. Plus, it was probably the unique pressure found only in Helge Desert combined with the abnormally difficult-to-absorb spiritual energy that lead to cultivating within the desert to be more advantageous than outside of it.

Suddenly and without warning, Alojzia and Vanda shot to their feet from their positions on the ground and rotated their cultivation bases at full power, making them emanate a strange aura that freaked Havel out.

After pulling out a wooden disk from her robes, identical to the one Vanda showed Havel, Alojzia said, "Something's getting closer."

Vanda repeated her actions and silently nodded, confirming her observation.

Resisting the pressure exerted by Helge Desert, Havel scrambled to sit up and look around.

"Where is it?"

Nothing could be seen in any direction, including from the forest. Havel turned to look upwards, but wouldn't be able to see anything even if there was something. It was nighttime, after all. There might have been enough starlight to make out his immediate surroundings, but not to locate something in the sky.

Neither Alojzia nor Vanda responded to his question. They focused their attention in a particular direction and assumed what Havel thought to be battle stances.

The eerie silence and lack of motion from the two kids aroused a fear within Havel, similar to when he first saw Shridevi's snake tail. Except, this time, it was a fear of the unknown.