章 10: Alone With His Thoughts

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It was approximately 10 a.m. in the morning, down in heart of Hunter's Heaven forest. With the same old singing winds and temperate climate, it would make any corporate drone cry if they were able to drink their morning coffee looking at the vistas.

Enclosed by a few dozen kilometers of thick vegetation, clear watered streams running through brown rock, and the dens of a rich variety of herbivore wildlife; a small cottage could be found.

If one didn't know any better, one might as well consider it from abandoned months ago... But, despite the absence of noise or signs of activity, it wasn't deserted in the slightest...

Here, a good-looking blond man was meditating in a lotus position -eyes closed and all- right there in the grass, a few steps from the shack's entrance.

Alexander found himself alone in someone else's 'home', 2.5 days worth of travel away from a certain pair of individuals, who were trying to get around a cart with pottery being pulled by an overweight ox.

He certainly loved meditating near the green. He always had a thing for being surrounded by nature. It produced him calm mindedness.

He was also right next to the 'stables' where Horseshoe and Rain were kept. The smell of horses easily bringing back fond memories of his time as Alexander of Macedon... Right before it all started...

Back when he was... just a child... pretending to be an aristocrat...

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-(Flashback to XX years ago)-

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"Alex...! Are you here...? I know he's here somewhere... Or not...??"

A blonde boy looking about 9 years old with curly medium length hair was playing the ancient version of hide-and-seek... Which was pretty much the same as today...

"Oh, I told you, Ptolemy! He's not here! You're so bad at this, I don't even know why Alex invites you to play! HAHAHAHA!

Anyway, let's go to the kitchens, you -know- Alex can't resist having fresh-made bread. We'll probably find him there hiding with Ms. Damalis..."

This time, a short length auburn-haired boy, that had an exceptionally charming face and a somewhat delicate body, was making fun of the bigger kid named Ptolemy.

'Hehe, I guess I have -you- to thank for winning this round, Hephaestion...! Still as full of yourself as ever...'

A wry smile painted on the face of a blond young boy that would be in the middle of the body type scale if compared to the other two. Although it paled in comparison to that of the auburn-haired kid, his face would still be considered fair.

He swiftly and discreetly came out of his hiding place behind some carefully arranged crates. He jumped over a half-wall and then sped through the hall, going the other way than the other two kids...

...

-(Flashback End)-

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Alexander's face darkened for a moment... All alone with his thoughts...

Even if he didn't intend it to be so, his mind would drift off to find good memories, and as he tried to come back... Some other vision of the times when none of the perplexities of dealing with rebellions, assassination conspiracies and plans to conquer the world, mattered...

Most people around him were afraid of his megalomaniac self on his later days... Those who once drank from the same cup, were then bitter enemies... Many a time, even Alexander's...

Being alone, here, in this splendid forest... allowed not only for the good things to flow through his psyche... but also the bad, sad and tragic... Reminiscing about his dead friend... -No... his brother...

But if he dwelled on the past, he knew the only thing he would get, is certain death.

Alexander was now in an unknown world, with unknown variables.

Not to mention, there were still a lot more incognitas, like that strange dream, the existence of magic... and the list could go on...

Be that as it may, taking a moment to meditate had a significant purpose... Alexander needed to center his mind, put himself in balance... and not in an artificial or faked balance, but a real one. One that gave him enough reasoning to get an accurate grasp of his options in this situation... To not make any wrong moves, and to be as prompt as possible with leaving this place.

'Being stuck in the middle of nowhere, at the mercy of some strangers? No thanks...' -He thought.

As if forcefully pulling the plug from an outlet, he returned to reality, Alexander with his motivation renewed, got himself up from the ground and headed directly towards the inside of the hovel.

He left his sandals at the door and walked towards the 3-level bookcase that stood out the most from the rest of the furniture.

It was certainly unusual for an aloof and murderous old man, living alienated from any kind of civilization, to know how to read and possibly write... Even though having so many books so that the shelves are at risk of collapsing...

Its only natural for Alexander to be even more skeptical of these people...

So much reflection about his circumstances had actually brought to his attention a couple of very important points, that he had neglected thus far...

First being that his injuries were inconsistent with his 'amnesia'. No head injury? That would most definitely put some suspicion on him... This meant that Alexander had to cut ties with Jennie and Lou as fast as possible, before any of them, -especially Lou- decides that Alexander is no longer a friendly... And most probably, Alexander wouldn't have to wait long for that to occur...

The Second point, was one that almost took all of his breath away for an instant...

Something that could be considered very apparent, but that if you weren't paying attention to, it could sneak out of your radar... Just as Alexander's case...

It was the fact that he could... speak, read and write in a language completely unfamiliar from what he had come into contact with in his previous life...

What was this?! How could he understand it perfectly, as if it was his mother language?!

At first, he didn't put any thought into it, but once he started to think about the past... It finally hit him...

This mystery would absolutely have to be connected to the whole 'life after death' thing... So many questions were sprawling, that he barely had the composure to not break down right then and there...

It was one of the disadvantages of being a philosopher... Sometimes you couldn't help yourself to want to find ALL the answers...

But to do that, he would first need to know what he was dealing with here...

All of that thinking only granted Alexander more and more drive to do what had to be done...

And much to his good fortune, he had found a book titled 'Comprehensive Binnacle of the Ivrune Continent. Volume 4: Labal'.

Dusty beyond excuse, once cleaned up as much as Alexander could manage with a used up rag, its true glory was revealed to him. The book cover had some golden fancywork along the four edges, and the calligraphy on every page was exquisite...

Judging by a quick glance-over of this 400-page encyclopedia, evidently written by a group of pompous scribes (not that Alexander would complain anyway), reading it would be a good first step in the right direction.

Any other books that caught his interest, would come later. After all, he had less than 3 days, to get a hold of where he was, plan his next course of action, and then... Well, execute it...

Other intel contained in the bibliography, like economics, politics, and society, would take a secondary, if not tertiary priority.

Seeing as most of the books inside the hovel looked to be -very- old, even if they touched the subjects, any information provided by them would most likely be useless to Alexander right now...

Truth be told, he was very excited to learn what kind of world he was in...

Being as much of a scholar as he was a warrior, and facing so much new knowledge got the better of him... He would undoubtedly forego any desire for sleep during the next couple of days...

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It was then, after rolling up his metaphorical sleeves, that Alexander began with his academic plunge into the pile of knowledge in front of his eyes.

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