From The Black Abyss: A New Frontier

Chapter 4: Meeting Others

A dream.

I was back home watching anime with my sister.

She kept asking me cute questions about the characters.

"Who is stronger, brother?"

The boy with the orange hair of course.

It was my own bias towards the show that concluded my answers, but I also knew how it all ends since I had seen the series before she was even born.

Her little body pressed herself on me on the couch as she tried to cuddle with her older brother.

It was a calming and nostalgic experience.

I patted her hair and reached for popcorn with my other hand.

I choked a bit on the popcorn and began coughing.

I coughed and coughed until tears began to flood my eyes.

I closed my eyes stop myself from crying, but when I opened them I only saw dirt in front of me.

The tears continued as my cheeks felt hot. I lifted my self slightly with my right arm and began to drown myself in tears. It didn't last long since my eyes dried up by themselves.

I began to cough. My tongue tasted bitter.

My lips were chapped and my throat was dry.

But I was alive.

I no longer felt cold. A warm sensation flowed through my body.

It was difficult to prop myself up and so instead I rolled over.

The sun wasn't bright as it shined through the canopy of tall trees. As I looked up I could only see a few clouds.

I lifted my left hand.

Two fingers were completely black dripping with puss.

Half of the pinky was gone as it seemed eaten away.

The ring finger was completely black and the nail was missing.

I couldn't move either of them.

Gangrene?

No.

There was no infection. Both of the fingers were pitch black up to the knuckle.

It was necrosis.

I dropped my hand back down and sighed.

I felt my forehead with my right hand.

The temperature was fine.

I sat up slowly and looked at my bandage.

It had a putrid smell.

I peeked underneath the bandage only to see a colony of larvae.

I was about to try and remove them, but I may have avoided further spread of the infection thanks to these guys.

Larvae were used for many years as a wound closing remedy. The lack of pain in my abdomen proved that this is exactly what happened.

I decided to let them continue cleaning my wound and the dead tissue.

I looked to where my left hand-laid and saw small pits of larvae and other insects. They must have been feeding on my fingers.

I got up only to immediately feel light-headed.

My stomach growled in hunger.

"I know buddy, but you're going to have to wait."

The human body is an amazing thing. To have gone through all this and I already feel just a bit better than I remember.

My stomach pains again, but this time for a different matter.

I have been emptying bodily fluids normally when my body yearns for release. This is the first time I would have my bowel movement since waking up in the forest a few days ago.

I used to be extremely picky about where I used the restroom and often avoided public restrooms.

However, months in space quickly made me lose any discomfort I had when needing to go.

Luckily the stream was still nearby.

I was too lazy to dig a proper hole so I simply did my business where I could.

I used some wide leaves and the stream to clean myself as best as I could.

"I miss toilet paper already."

I didn't mind saying what I thought out loud.

As I pulled my pants up I felt something in my back pocket.

I laughed frantically as I thought life played one more cruel joke on me.

Somewhere along the line I had placed the battery in my back pocket and forget I left it there.

I laughed and laughed until the hilarity of the situation turned into more frustration.

I gritted my teeth as I held my tears in.

I took a few deep breaths and began to prepare another pit to light a fire.

I repeated the same steps as before except this time it was quicker to find dry materials.

I set the fire and began boiling the water.

In the meantime, I looked for a large thin flat rock to use as a plate.

Eating fly larvae raw was a horrible idea.

Flies tend to eat decaying things along with feces so they carried tons of bad bacteria.

When they laid eggs that bacteria would be spreading around the children. The bacteria had a large probability of being consumed by the larvae.

And I'm done with infections.

After the water cooled I drank some of it as I watched the larvae that used to be populating the wound under my bandage being cooked over the thin rock.

The bandage was simply thrown away.

I hate littering, but I wish to be forgiven this one time.

The scar was a large deep pink hole where the wound used to be. It was a bit itchy but no bruising or swelling.

I guess the debris is a part of me now.

I inspected my body trying to guess how long I was asleep, but I didn't possess enough knowledge to make a guess.

Instead, I was shocked at how skinny I got in comparison.

I felt a lot weaker as well. I knew my own perspective towards myself was distorted so I probably looked much worse than I thought.

I found crickets and other bugs to add to my insect salad.

I was extremely hungry and no longer disgusted.

It was food. And I was extremely grateful for the bounty.

I also found yellow dandelions here and there.

There are many types of dandelions and most are completely safe to eat. Despite this, some species have toxins in their roots that are best to be consumed after boiling.

The most common invasive species are the yellow one you see everywhere.

They're completely fine. And as such, I stocked up on them when I saw them.

Since they're sweet it is possible to make syrup from them.

How? That I don't actually know.

For the first time, I felt satisfied. I finished the entire canister and boiled another.

I laid in the grass staring into the sky a bit content with myself.

I put away the container after I was done. I put out the fire and zipped up the jumpsuit as today began to feel a bit chilly.

I found a comfortable tree and slept sitting with my back to the tree.

The dream was filled with unsubstantial shapes and figures.

A nice warm dream with vibrant colors.

It was a nice morning.

I felt groggy and a bit light-headed. But I was especially itchy from various bites around my body.

I wanted meat today.

I was going to do everything I could to catch something to eat that had a bit more calories than bugs.

Crickets larvae and grub actually contained a lot of nutrients that I needed at a lower calorie ratio than meat or most vegetables.

But I wasn't on a diet, instead, I needed to regain or at least maintain the fat I have been losing.

And so I plan to hunt.

With rocks.

I don't have any experience or the tools to make a weapon other than a wooden tip spear.

But I don't want to spend time and energy I do t have cutting away at a branch.

Since the stream is too shallow to hold fish the next best thing would be small mammals or lizards.

I've seen a rabbit but I would only be able to catch them myself with a trap.

Looking around I noticed a ton of squirrels embracing the branches and trunks high in the trees.

It was easy to find plenty of rocks, but finding a squirrel that was low enough was a bit more difficult.

I didn't want to move around much until I regained my strength so I sat and waited for a while.

Bored I visualized drama between the wildlife around me. I gave them names and strange settings and spoke my delusions out loud.

"Oh Catherina, how dare you, Sir Hans!"

Eventually, I saw many squirrels come down and I tried my best to chuck rocks at them.

As expected, none hit.

I did see a gradual increase in my aim. Regardless I decided to gather more bugs after the hunger became unbearable.

After boiling more water and a bit more bugs the sun was still high. Because of this, I decided to move on.

I was chewing on a dandelion stem as I continued down the stream.

"!טיפש ארור"

I felt extremely excited at the sound of those words.

I almost wanted to run straight to the direction of the voice, but I was still weak and was already breathing heavily from the hike to get here.

".גרם לי לעבור כל כך הרבה צרות"

".שמח שהרגת אותו. הוא הכה אותי די טוב" Another voice responded to the first one.

I couldn't understand their dialect. So I must have fallen in a foreign country.

At least I felt relieved. Stumbling through the trees my energy was giving out as I was getting excited.

Behind the foliage, I saw them. And I immediately froze.

I wasn't trying to be sneaky so they quickly turned to face me.

Two men who looked older than they seemed. Wrinkles and place skin. Tired expressions emphasized by obvious malnutrition. One had an unkempt beard and the other seemed to have shaved with a dull knife. Both had short brown hair that looked like they tried to cut themselves.

Each wore dull-colored ragged clothing that dropped around them past their knees as if they were simply blankets with holes. Underneath the shirt were equally baggy tattered brown pants. Everything was held together by old leather belts tied around their waste. Their brown leather shoes were just as horribly worn and torn as their clothing.

They looked like bums.

One stood over the other holding a sword that was single-sided dripping in blood. It had a cheap wooden fixture for the handguard and handle. He was holding a dirty blood-stained shirt in his other hand.

The other man had a long pole by his side as he kneeled over a corpse. He was in the middle of removing the boots that were barely any better than the shoes he wore.

The corpse still had his pants but was naked other than that. His chest had a huge wound that was still gushing out blood. His head was hanging back as someone had removed the flesh of the front of his throat. For a corpse, his skin was brighter and his body was healthier than that of the two men who were looting him.

The scene brought a chill to my spine.

My eyes looked around. To the leather bags by a tree a few feet away from them. To a bloodied knife that was on the floor between the corpse and me.

I tried to analyze what happened and my eyes fell on an empty leather knife holster that the one standing was wearing.

My eyes slowly moved up looking at the left arm that was decorated by an ever-growing stain of blood.

He was hurt.

"?מה עושים איתו"

The tall one spoke as our eyes made contact.

I chuckled and gave an awkward smile.

My knees gave out and I fell to the floor. I had no more energy left.

".תפוס אותו. בואו נמכור אותו"

The other continued his business and stopped looking my way as he spoke.

Should I run away? Should I fight back?

I was extremely desperate since I was so exhausted. Adrenaline started pouring through my blood, but I didn't know what to do with it.

"Wait!" I shouted. The one with the sword stopped walking towards me and had a confused expression. I also grabbed the attention of the one who was kneeling.

"You Anglo?" The tall one asked.

His accent was thick, but it seems he understood. A bit of hope shined in my eye as I thought I could talk my way out of this.

"Yes, yes. I am lost can you help me!?" I responded out of pure instinct. I didn't know what he meant but I was excited about having a response.

Not what I was expecting.

His eyes turned from curiosity into hatred.

I said something wrong. Was it the Anglo thing?

He dropped the shirt on the floor and waved the sword with his left hand.

I was afraid, but I wasn't dumb. I immediately jumped back as the sword missed me and stuck itself in the tree that was next to me.

"Move your ass kid."

A large leg stepped over me. As if seizing the opportunity, a large man swung an axe directed at the other guy's face.

The man who attacked me was in the middle of pulling out the sword from the tree and as he looked up an axe was already beginning to enter his face.

The large man had let go of his axe as it made contact and he began sprinting towards the looter kneeling over the corpse.

The looter was barely able to pick up the pole beside him before he was already tackled unto the ground.

I watched in shock and awe as the large man began beating the looter's face with his fists clothed in iron gloves.

The grit of the skull collapsing by his large fist was loud. Louder than the looter's attempts to scream which were turned to gargles as he choked with his own blood.

The man who attacked me before was hunched over face down without making a sound. The axe was stuck a third inside his face.

I was confused more than anything.

I sat silently watching, biting my died lips barely blinking. This was the first time I witnessed a murder. I didn't know what to make of it.

If I was in better health would I have tried to fight?

It was drilled to me in the military that I must kill the enemy before they kill me.

No.

That I must disable them. After they have been deemed to no longer be a threat - do to the Geneva Convention - a surrendered or wounded enemy is protected under international law. I won't even get started under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

But I'm no longer a soldier and these were petty thieves.

The man in front of me continued beating into the skull of the looter. The corpse's eye bulged out of its bony socket as blood continued to splatter. The cheekbone had already collapsed within and the metal gauntlet no longer produced a crunch on impact.

Will I have to report this to the police? This could still be considered manslaughter.

No.

If I was the one killing them, I wouldn't want to be put in prison for getting rid of scourge.

My throat was already swelling up from the scene. My hands were trembling uncontrollably, but my mind was calm. I wanted to get rid of these feelings for no other reason than I simply never want to feel weak in the future. Once I return home everything will go back to normal and as the past twenty-three years of my life will continue uneventfully. But I still wanted these feelings gone.

I gently stood up and walked over to the thief with the axe in his head.

I put my thumb over his forehead and pulled the axe out with my other hand.

I had worked as a paramedic over some summers as internships for my pre-medical degree. I felt extremely shitty, and guilt would overflow when I saw people in near-death states.

But not this time.

This was a person who was about to kill me. I felt no guilt or sympathy. But I was still shaking. I felt cold.

It was a difficult feeling closer to that of disgust. It resembled the discomfort when you put a sharp object close to your eye or when you put a fingernail clipper over your teeth.

I wanted to vomit. Tears fell from my red eyes as I held back a jolt in the back of my throat. I pushed through the discomfort and dislodged the axe from his head.

I was still wearing my gloves so I didn't worry about the blood splatter when I jacked the axe.

The large man looked stopped and looked at me with curiosity.

I held out the axe and said, "Thank you for saving me, here is your axe back."

"Haha, thank you, kid." His laugh felt weird over the current atmosphere. He seemed too relaxed despite what just happened.

He came over to take back the axe and walked to the baggage on the ground.

He threw it over me and said, "Check if they had food and eat. You look like you're about to collapse at any moment."

I said thanks and began to rummage the leather backpacks.

I took a moment to glance over the man.

A burly jolly man. His cheeks were full as his stomach. Muscles defined the exposed parts of his arms and hands. A huge broad chest covered by a tattered brown shirt. Brown hair showing his age with the occasional white. White that extended down to his mildly tamed beard and mustache. Decorated with a large red button nose.

He had grey pants similar to slacks held on by a black belt. Worn dirty boots covered his large feet.

He had metal elbow and arm guards that stained black from age covering both arms. The metal extended to his medieval-style gauntlets which only covered over the back of his hands. This gave freedom of movements to the fingers covered by the gauntlets leather.

"I'm called Mauldred, but my friends call me Mally."

He noticed me staring and gave a hearty laugh after his statement.

I chuckled a little at his name, but he didn't seem offended.

It calmed my nerves a bit.

He was putting the bloodied shirt dropped by the guy with the sword back on the corpse.

"Do you know him?" I asked.

"Yeh, he was my mate and the last of our crew after we took an escort contract. We were ambushed by Canaanite Soldiers. They slaughtered many of us. Me and Elnie here were the last two survivors. We were returning back to town to report on our failure. On our way back Elnie went to piss and these poor lads saw him as an opportunity for some quick money. And that's that."

His eyes turned red as he explained, but his voice never changed tone.

I'm glad he is so easy to talk to, but now I felt bad for him. He seemed used to death all around, but hold on.

"Canaanites?" I asked him.

"Huh, you're on the Canaan border. The soldiers are heavily stationed, but I didn't think they would have attacked a merchant escort."

He replied confused but that didn't set my mind at ease.

Canaan was a biblical name. It was the name of a country somewhere around the Mediterranean. Am I in the Middle East? I looked through both bags in front of me and dumped all the contents out.

There were only a few things I recognized. They were all made out of wood, textiles, and metal. My mind was going through different thoughts. Mostly on the possibility that somewhere along the line I broke my mind.

"Could I borrow your phone?"

"My what?"

"Phone."

"I'm sorry kid, I don't know what that is?"

"How far is the nearest town?"

"Could I ask something first?"

Not knowing what a cellphone is made me wonder more things than before. I was thinking furiously trying to understand my situation so I wanted to know what he was going to ask.

"Sure."

"I'm curious to where come from. You told the Canaatie thief you were Anglo, which was completely stupid. You speak anglaise, but your accent is as weird as the clothes on yah. I'd tell you the nearest town, but if they'd kill you on-site if you were Anglo. I doubt you knew, but the Angles Isles are at war with Canaan."

What the fuck are these places? Sure I wasn't the best in any of my geography classes, but all this confirms it. I'm either crazy or in a different place than the Earth I remembered.

Wait a minute. I looked back at the large blue sky. Past the cloud formations, a giant pale object competed in glory against the sun.

It had a large ring surrounding the planet.

Three other orbs of various sizes decorated the sky. They were significantly smaller

Why the hell didn't I notice this before? I'm not even on Earth. What the hell happened to me?

Wait, Mars was supposed to be the beginning of human colonization, so where is this?

I pointed into the sky. "What is that?"

Waiting for me to answer him, Mauldred was a bit disappointed when he heard my question.

"The god Saturnus? Or the other gods. The small circles in the sky come and go. They're gods that come in to check on us as they please. Sometimes you can see more than 20 of them in the sky thought it has only happened once in legend hundreds of years ago. Saturnus is the big one who never moves. He watches over as this world is his."

I listened attentively and nodded my head in affirmation as he continued.

"It is said that if you walk far enough west he will begin to set in the east, and if you walk far enough east he will set west until you are out of his sight. He watches dead center over the holy nation of Gregoria and never moves neither day or night from that very spot."

"And this planet. I mean, this world what is it named?" I asked.

"It is called Titan."

He looked at me as If I was an uneducated country bumpkin while he answered.

I don't know if everything he said was the truth or not, but I will accept it for now.

In this new world, my priority was at first survival, but it has now become more complicated. I had to gather knowledge.

I can't commit the same mistake that almost got me killed earlier. So I decided to think carefully about my words before answering Mauldred's earlier question.

I was deep in thought while Mauldred looked at my face intensely. I decided to exaggerate my facial expression to express what I truly was confused.

"I'm sorry Mauldred, but I honestly don't know where I'm from or that I was at the Canaan border. I seem to have been lost in this forest for a long time. So long that I think I may have become insane."

"I see." Mauldred's eyes became soft. He really was kind. "Well hurry up and eat, we can rest here for now. I don't recommend you to go to any of the towns or villages nearby. You can easily pass for an Anglo so if you want I can take you with me to Alistae."

"Please do," I responded humbly. I gave him my name and we talked a bit more about the surrounding area. I was careful to avoid mentioning anything from my past.

It seems we were going to stick traveling through the forests to avoid various gregorian villages and farms on the way. It was going to take roughly three weeks of travel going in such an indirect way.

I was in such horrible condition so Mauldred wanted to take it slow for my sake.

Inside the bags was a large flintstone. I assumed it was a fire started the thieves used by striking it with the dagger.

A bag filled with a few coins Mauldred told me to hold on to.

From his explanation of currency, the bag contained a single shilling and ten pence. Depending on town and territory a shilling could be worth between eight to fifteen pence.

All countries used the same basis, but the coins had the insignia of the royalty of each kingdom. A Gregorian pence was the same as an Anglo pence and so forth simply because they were made of the same material and were roughly the same size. So, in the end, most large trades were done by weighing coins instead of counting them.

The other items were rags of cloth and two pouches containing mint and salt.

Apart from that, there were some hard pieces of bread, one which was giving a rancid smell. Some raisins and a salted smoked rabbit leg.

As I ate I had removed my boots and let my socks to air out.

I massaged the soles of my feet thoroughly. I was afraid of developing anything more than blisters since I didn't want what happened to my hand to occur to my precious feet. I wish I had extra socks since mine had become crusty.

I thought about the thieves, but looking at their shoes I could only imagine the stench inside of them.

In the meantime, Mauldred went to bury his friend.

He had given me the sword and dagger carried by the looter that attacked me. He warned me to clean the blood of both as soon as possible since they would rust stain and pit the blades. He used the black stains that were already in the weapons of examples to what happened when they're not properly maintained.

Apparently, the sword was called a falchion and was taken from Elnie after they murdered him. Since Elnies demise, Mauldred wanted me to keep Elnies stuff since he would no longer need it.

Mauldred later returned with the equipment he and Elnie had been carrying and threw me Elnie's bag.

It was in better shape than the looters.

Mauldred kept most of Elnies items I packaged what I organized earlier along with what I had before.

The bag was a large cloth bag with straps that allowed me to wear it as a backpack.

I was afraid of losing it again so I put a belt I took from the looters over my black jumpsuit

I used the second looters' belt and looped it between the belt on my waste and one of the straps of the cloth bag.

This way I can remove the bag and it will always stay connected to me unless I unbuckled the belt that acted as a latch.

Mauldred questioned me when he noticed did and I explained to him half the truth of what happened to me. That I lost my previous items while I was being chased by animals.

He thought it was a great idea and copied me using his friends' belt.

As night was drawing near, Mauldred had set up a fire using his own flint. He had begun to cook squirrels he caught the day before.

The whole time he kept telling me to lay down and recuperate my energy. He even gave me Elnie's old waterskin.

I did what he told me and relaxed. We conversed a lot since he was a lively fellow. He even asked about my missing fingers and so I talked to him about my wounds.

I was also pleased that the wound in my stomach was no longer acting up and only a scar remained of that horrible experience.

I was happy to have met him and it seems he was happy having me as a companion as well.

Night came before long and I finally had a decent sleep since coming here. I was truly relieved.