DAS UNBEKANNTE(未知)
The summer salty breeze of the ocean woke Raul, who for some reason has been washed ashore on the sandy beach. As he tried to stand up he felt a rush on his head which made him slightly lightheaded and somewhat dizzy, to top it all, the salty flavor of the ocean left his mouth craving ironically for some water. But despite the craving, everywhere he looked there was nothing but the salty sea.
The boy’s name is Raul Panaginip he had black short hair of average build. His camomil eyes were squinting as he removed the sands that had stuck as he woke from the beach. Many would have found it weird as to why he is currently lying on the sandy beach, However, there is a reason for it. As of the moment though, he had deliberately dismissed that very reason, instead pushed to investigate his current location and the situation which he is about to tackle first hand.
“Where is this? Is this …Arcadius?” searching for his immediate surroundings once more, looking for clues that might help him recognizes the place. The beach he has washed ashore is a white sandy beach which remind him of his visit to the Boracay Islands. Then again, this was no time to be reminiscing… no wait for Raul, it might be the needed motivation to move forward.
He thought of the place, when he went their with his remaining family, but the place was different, for one there were no people aside from him. For a beach known as the Resort Capital of the Philippines, nobody seems to be visiting.
Another conclusive evidence that he was not in Boracay, was the trees that surround it. While it did have the coconot and pamera trees that were common in beaches in that island. There were for some reason, that did not match the flora. “I guess…”
As he was about to conclude, a voice alerted him to stop continuing his investigation any further.
“Who are you and what are you doing here?” the voice came just ahead of him near a coconut tree. It was quite an odd sight for Raul, no for anyone who would look at it. Although it was correct to be wary of the sudden visit from a strangers, she – the girl who had given the question to Raul was hiding in a way children would hide when afraid and this was despite her size and visual age.
To try and meditate the situation, Raul showed both his hands and let his rather scared observer notice that he was unarmed and therefore does not necessarily pose any threat.
It took a few seconds for the young lady to ponder whether the boy in front of her was threat or not. But, upon seeing that he was indeed unarmed, the girl then emerged from the coconut trees, she was taller than Raul and her beauty was quite exquisite. She wore her caramel hair neatly let down at her back. She had ample bosoms to match her body proportions and height and yet maintained that childish demeanor floating around her.
Although she had stopped hiding, she was still bent on getting an answer to the question she asked earlier: “Who are you and what are you doing here?”
Of course, the Raul had every intention of telling her the true reason for his visit. Of course he did intend to keep some facts that he thought are unnecessary and chose to not disclose it.
“My name is Raul Panaginip,” Raul said and gave a magalang bow (respectable bow) and offered his name, hew then continued to give a vague reason as to his presence at the beach. ”I wanted to go to a certain place, but seemed to have ended washed ashore here.”
Raul saw the girl nodding as a sign that she has to a certain degree understood his predicament.
Judging that the girl was not about to tell her name for some reason, I then posed the query. “Would it be ok if you could tell me your name?” Raul gave his query in the friendliest manner he could do while smiling naturally.
“I was always told never to talk to strangers… but… hmmm… right a name should be good… I am Cynthia… Cynthia Tumulak.” The girl introduced herself to Raul strangely. She was honest with her introduction and yet somehow somewhat reserved, well he was keeping some things from her, so they were on the same page at least. The lady - Cynthia introduced herself as an inhabitant of this isolated paradise.
Although Cynthia was first hesitant in inviting the Raul inside the island, and it was understandable, a boy of unknown origin and held some secrets was infront of a defenseless girl living in the island. However, Cynthia had after some self-deliberation finally gave her consent and allowed the Raul entrance to the island.
“It will take some time for the ‘welcome banquet’ to be prepared.” Cynthia invided Raul then earnestly asked a favor. “You may wander in the island, but take care not to destroy this paradise.”
“Thank you for having me, and I will be sure to heed your words.” Raul affirmed the request.
As his hostes left to take care of his ‘welcome banquet’, as Cynthia called it, Raul took a closer look around the island. After some hours, finally satisfied and as he had earlier surmised, he was not in Arcadius.. Raul was quite familiar with places in the world known as Arcadius and he was easily convinced that this world is not the world that he wanted to reach… no, he might not even be in any world close to 11 Gates.
His clues were definite:
For one, there were no life bars above the characters which indicated the game-like structure in the game world of 11 Gates. Even Cynthia did not have that very life bar which is akin to all modern-day online games;
Secondly, although he has yet to venture and fully mapped any of the 10 worlds in 11 Gates, he has not heard of a place in 11 Gates in any known information site about an island with children as its LOCALS.
Therefore he had deemed the beings in front of him serving food as INHABITANTs as oppose to beings called NPCs aptly coined as LOCALs in the game, the game known as 11 Gates.
INHABITANTs was a terminology which used to defined the people living inside the dream world, they have personalities that the dreamer has come to associate them with. They possess the faces of the people that the dreamer has meet, and is acquainted with. Since they are inside the dream, their personalities are inacted to how the dreamer perceives them. ‘Majou’, a certain person who Raul had become acquainted and considered his teacher some time ago educated him as such.
“Cynthia, would it be alright if I explore the island a little bit more?” the boy who wanted to go somewhere gave another smile towards my otherwise shy hostess.
“Sure… I…. I think so, yeah you may.” Cynthia gave off another weird approval.
With Cynthia’s permission, Raul decided to explore the island in its entirety and continued searching for clues to continue his venture towards my ultimate goal.
After he had roughly circumnavigated the island which according to how he had charted, was in a shape of a big irregular circle. The island had four mountains enclosing a seemingly dormant volcano. Its Surrounding is a mishmash of tropical and temperate forests, where trees you might see on those TV documentaries, only they are varied in seasons and biome. Lastly, just at the foot of the dormant volcano is a little village of the ‘children’.
Raul was in big trouble he could not continue his journey if he can’t find a way to get off the island.
“Did you like the island?” Cynthia cheerfully queried Raul who had hidden his despair from the girl.
“A… umm… it is a very beautiful island.” He could only give a vague response, but even with that response she still was ecstatic. “However, I don’t think I can leave immediately.”
“Hmm… do you want us to build you a rowboat?”
“A rowboat…?” At first, Raul could not help but think that Cynthia was somehow mocking his predicament. But for some reason, Cynthia’s eyes showed no sign of that malice. “…Sure that might be a start, it would be nice if you could build me a bigger vessel though.”
“What’s a vessel?”
“…Eh…?”
Somehow the clues were starting to dawn on Raul as to Cynthia’s real identity.
“A vessel is something you ride on…” he says.
“Ah… you mean like a boat… so a bigger vessel is… ok, we will make you a bigger boat.” She then goes on with her gleeful demeanor while she instructs the children to create the bigger vessel. As she oversees the construction she starts to hum… a very familiar tune, a tune Raul himself was quite familiar with since my childhood.
“Row… row… row… your boat, gently down the steam….” Raul sings along with Cynthia’s hum.
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Since the night was almost nigh, the construction was put to a halt and a feast to celebrate the day’s long hard work begins. The food and drink were served while the children start to entertain Cynthia.
They were cute children INHABITANTs, and seem to be quite fond of Cynthia, who is deemed as their leader… some of them even revere her as their ‘Queen’.
The ‘welcoming banquet’ continues to welcome their rather rare guest who has come to visit the island of children however there was one who melancholic -the guest himself.
The reason for his melancholy stems from the fact that even after searching and ending up almost dying looking for the world of 11 Gates, it would seem that he was still very far from the place. He was in someone else’s dream.
