Stranded - Chapter 2

The choking sensation and the pain around my neck dulled my senses. Under the haze of pain, I could see that I was lifted off the ground by the collar of my shirt by a tall man. The man has blue eyes, white hair and a magnificent beard. He looks like he is in his 50s, and he is… white?

“Huh… what do we have here, a thievin’ little rat?”

And he speaks… English?

“Ye know English, lil’ rat? Well, ye dun’t know it of course, reckon ye are from Mongolia and in the year of 800 or-”

“Y-yes, I-I know English.”

I managed to squeeze out what little strength I have left in English. Having heard what I said, the man dropped me down with a loud laughter. As I plopped down from the drop, I could see the caretaker lady standing behind the large man.

“Hahaha, was just fuckin’ with ye, little Sasha here filled me up on the details. And yer gears were burnt a few days ago, so I already knew ye might be someone from modern age.”

The man held out his hand. His hand is as large as my face.

“The name’s Billy, I hail from Wales. This here is Sasha-”

Billy pointed at the caretaker lady. She flinched a bit and nodded her head.

“The person who has been takin’ care of ye, of course, and a local here.”

I took Billy’s hand, and got pulled back up.

“What’s yer name, lil’ rat?”

“The name is Satoh, Satoh Tanaka. I’m 23, working as a tour guide.”

“A tour guide, huh? Man it has been forever since I last had a vacation… Follow me, kid. Sasha tasked me with takin’ ye around today.”

Billy turned and went out of the entrance, Sasha stepped aside and stood by, as if beckoning for me to go first. As I stepped after Billy, I got to see Sasha closer. She is breath-takingly beautiful, resembling a Yamato Nadeshiko.

Besides the door outside, there is a corpse of something resembling a boar, but with six legs and two sets of tusks. A spear can be seen sunk deep into the creature. I looked at Billy. With the natural sunshine on him, I could see there is some stains resembling blood on his shirt and pants.

“Oh, that? That was one of the trophies for the big game huntin’ last night. And c’mere kid, witness the beauty of Shangri-la for yerself!”

Billy grabbed my shoulder, and shoved me forward. Sasha calmly stood next to me. Before me, a vast blue sky, a waterfall, a village, and a gigantic white tree, spiralling up onto the sky.