9 A new world (1)

Klyran told Aldryn about how he saw the Waterfall of Light appearing out of nowhere. About how he felt a pull toward it. How, despite the fact that he wished to run far away from it, his legs did not obey and his body walked toward the light. The young man was blinded by it for a few minutes, but he did not fell any pain. When Klyran opened up his eyes again, he was in this world. The thought that he was no longer home did not even cross his mind. He was in awe of everything that he saw. He told Aldryn how he knelt down and felt the grass for the first time. How he picked a few leaves and sniffed them and wished to taste them, but was unsure if they could be eaten. Klyran spoke about looking up and seeing the blue sky for the very first time, how beautiful he thought it was, so very different from the one that he grew up with. He was curious about the clouds, that lacked in his own world. He wished to know what made the sky blue, saying that in his own world, it was of a dark red colour.

After speaking about the difference between their skies, Klyran also mentioned how the colours in this world were more vibrant, which made his eyes hurt for a few minutes. About how he walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down and saw the wonders of this world.

He saw a forest for the first time, and various animals running around in it. He saw a human village not very far from where the waterfall of light appeared. It was easy for Klyran to understand that those creatures were intelligent, unlike the animals in the forest.

He explained to Aldryn about how he had no doubts about humans, mostly due to the homes that he saw in the village. A construction far too complicated for a mindless creature to create. Not to mention that he has seen how humans had other animals as pets. He saw horses being petted by men and some young boys standing in the field watching over sheep. Of course, at the time, he did not know the names of all those animals.

It was all so amazing and overwhelming for Klyran that he was stunned. Then, when the amazement wore off a bit, he told Aldryn about how he turned around, with the intention to go back to his own world and drag the others to this one, only for the waterfall of light to disappear.

He then looked at his hand and raised it to look at the human skin that now covered it. Klyran confessed of never having done such a thing, that he didn't even know how he was able to change his appearance to match the humans.

Then, in the next instant, Klyran's eyes could see the world differently. When he looked at his hands, for some strange reason, he felt a pull to observe. And when he silently thought of the word, a nearly transparent window appeared before his eyes showing his "status".

'What is that?' he wondered and jumped when the window suddenly appeared.

'Is this... One of those curses that that guy was talking about?' he then grew fearful, remembering his cousin's words about curses and what they can do.

This caused Aldryn to become more interested, he questioned about it, never having heard of such a skill before. It confirmed Klyran's long theory that humans didn't have such a skill. After a brief explanation, the blonde could not help but be amazed, but he also quickly warned Klyran to never reveal this ability to others, since it was special. It was stupefying to the young Ryan, never before has someone, except for his brother, worried about him. While Aldryn confirmed that there was a certain skill rather common in this world, it never showed as much information as Klyran was able to see, nor did it extended to other people.

'Well... I guess I am unique in this world as well' the Ryan wondered then if he should be amused or not.

Leaving that matter aside for now, the story then continued with Klyran going down and toward the forest. He did not say another word about his own home, but Aldryn could see the sadness and even hints of desperation in his eyes. His friend wanted to go back home, but did not know how to. In that moment, Aldryn truly wished to somehow help Klyran, but he did not know how. A strong determination then took over him, he decided that no matter what, he would find a way to reopen the waterfall of light.

When Klyran finally reached the forest, he confessed about meeting his first victims. The humans were talking in a language that he couldn't understand and when he approached them and greeted them, they fell dead. It both surprised and scared the young man, he didn't understood what happened.

'I felt like a monster then... One of those terrible things that people would tell horror stories about' he then felt dejected.

He said about how he heard other humans coming his way and simply sprinted. His next few attempts to talk to humans all ended up the same way. All the humans fell to the ground and the smell of blood would appear in the air. After that, his only victims were humans that startled him, made him should in surprise. It caused Klyran to become much more aware of his surroundings. Then suddenly, he mentioned his world again.

"My kin does not need much food. We can live without eating anything for months", he said.

Klyran then mentioned that after some time, he did grew hungry. He was unsure how much time has passed. He told Aldryn about his attempts to hunt animals, only for them all to fail.

"I never hunted in my life you see", he told the blonde, "My brother never let me. It was too dangerous, he would go and leave me home. He was the one who always brought me food. As a matter of fact, I was off to try to hunt myself, just to prove him wrong, when the waterfall of light appeared not far from where I stood."

Those words gave Aldryn another insight about his friend's life in his own world. It also made him understand Klyran's brother a bit more. If what he said about the Harths were true, then it did made sense. Without wishing to admit it, Klyran's brother saw him as a defenceless child, whom he wished to protect and shelter from the world.

"So apparently hunting is complicated, even when the prey cannot hurt me" Klyran then suddenly laughed.

He then told Aldryn about how he tried to hunt some deer and rabbit, only for his attempts to fail. While he was hungry, he did not try to eat any plants, not knowing which ones could be poisonous. It drove the young man to approach humans again. Only this time, he had a strong resolution to not say a single word.

He planned on going into a human village and see what type of plants they ate, to find them after that in the forest. That was when he saw an elder woman, filling buckets with water at a river.

She smelled of illness, but Klyran said that the smell did not seem like her own. The buckets seemed rather heavy for her, so he decided to help. He carefully approached the woman, not wishing to scare her, and made sure that she was aware of his arrival, by stepping on branches and kicking stones long before she could see him. Then, when they finally met, Klyran looked again at the two buckets filled with water and approached her. He waved his hand and she smiled at him. He then grabbed the two buckets and tiled his head, hoping to indicate for her to lead the way.

It appeared that he has done the right thing, for the woman only smiled and said something, something that he now knew was thank you. She then gently interlocked their elbows and led him to the village, talking all the while. Klyran truly wished in that moment that he was able to understand her words, but even so, he thought to himself, it was a nice and calming voice the elder woman had.

She led him to a hut where he recognized the smell, the sickness that lingered on her. He quickly realized that the woman was taking care of someone. The two of them entered and he saw a man laying in a bed of hay, his face was red and he was sweating. The old woman then went to a bag and took out some herbs, she crushed them in a bowl and then took one of the buckets and put the water to boil. The second bucket was laid near the man, a cloth was soaked in the cold water and the was used to wipe his face to cool it down.

Not knowing what to do, Klyran sat down in a corner and watched everything that was happening. After some time passed, the woman approached Klyran again and set the two empty buckets near his feet. She clasped her hand and spoke gently to him, her eyes being apologetic.

He quickly understood what she wanted from him, so he rose to his feet and grabbed the two buckets and quickly headed out. His ears caught the woman shouting behind him the same words that she first said when he offered to help. He now could guess their meaning.

Throughout the day Klyran made the same trip a few more times. During his second run after the water, another woman came into the hut. She was young and her smell was similar to the one laying underneath that of sickness on the man. The two of them live together, he quickly decided. When she saw him, she smiled and bowed her heard after a brief conversation with the old woman that was working with different herbs. She told him the same words that he has been hearing all day, which he could only guess were meant to express gratitude. While he said nothing, Klyran smiled at her and nodded, which seemed to satisfy the woman who quickly went to one of the cupboards.

He quickly ran out of the house. Meanwhile, the young woman took out a few items and set another pot at the fire. She then ran out from the hut and returned with a basked filled with vegetables. When he came back, Klyran noticed her actions after handing the water to the elderly woman, noticing that the plants were much more different than those that he has seen before. They had different shapes as well. One was round and yellow, another long and orange. There were some more and the young man was truly curious about their nature.

Without paying him any mind, the woman quickly washed them, then chopped them and threw them into the boiling water. It did not take long for an amazing smell to fill the small building. It made Klyran remember about his hunger.

He went to the small basked that still had some of those strange plants and grabbed one. He carefully looked at it and even sniffed it. Klyran has decided that he would memorise the smell and then later on, when those creatures no longer needed his help, he would go back into the forest and find such plants.