I Want To Be A Knight - Chapter 2 Strange Trees
Sited under the cover of the stones, he thought about his parents they surely are worried not knowing where their son is.
He certainly brought a bitter taste to the newlywed couple honeymoon; laughing at his own misfortune, he pulled back the ruby and the shell from his pocket.
Did he really transmigrate to a new world, just like in these Chinese and Japanese novels? Were the two objects in his hands the cause of it?
If that was the case, where was he? Why was he brought here?
Anyway, those questions might never have any answers; what is important now is to survive.
There are many things he doesn’t know that might kill him like those beasts he saw before; he started to plan for the next day when it suddenly dawned on him that he doesn’t know how long the night will last.
Afraid that he might stay in the dark for a long period of time, he closes his fist and thought that if he did not die from the fall he should do his best to stay alive.
Gathering his courage, he decided to go in the forest when a sudden roar was heard coming from it; he cowered back into a corner and decided to stay where he was until daylight comes back.
He started thinking back to those questions he had before, he knows that it surely a pressure wave that knocked him back in the sea; what cauused it? Anyway while swimming counter current he might have lost consciousness so one of the objects on his person might have save him from drowning.
Which one was it? He does not know. Many thoughts and ideas went through his head until he finally slept.
When he woke up, it was the next day, the sun was at his zenith and the light reflected from the lake hit his eyes; he appreciated the surroundings admitting to himself that the scenery is beautiful even if he didn’t want to be here.
He felt better than the day before, he did not feel any pain except maybe the one coming from his stomach.
He was hungry and looking for food might be a great idea while the sun is out; he first went to the lake to freshen up when he was shocked to see his reflection on the water.
He was at least 5 years younger, did he go to the past, what is happening? A good 5 minutes went by before a growl came from his stomach, he decided to fill his belly before anything else.
His appearance may have changed but it was still his own; he was still Marvin BOURBON. He smelled the water, no strange smell was coming from it; cupping some of it, he tasted it. It was normal so he drank the water with great joy as he knew that he at least got water to appease his thirst.
Next stop was finding something to eat; heading towards the forest he picked a piece up of wood in the form of a staff in case of anything startling him.
The forest was dense, it appeared to be very old, there were dead plants decomposing on the soil with strange insects crawling on the ground.
Walking while minding his steps, he observed his surroundings looking for anything that might be edible; a tree 20 meters away from him had red looking round things that might be fruits hanging from its branches.
Approaching the tree, he notices that it is not the only tree with the red fruits; he looks around for any animal that may be nearby as food always entices those who eat it.
Seeing that he is alone, he climbs the tree and approaches the branch from which some fruits were hanging; he tries to pull one of them but it was as if the fruit was stuck.
He positions himself just above the fruit and this time, pulled with all his strength; the fruit started detaching itself from the branch and a few seconds later was fully in his hands.
Examining the fruit in his hands, it looked like a dragon fruit in the shape of a watermelon but did not have a smell; placing it aside the trunk, he tries to pulled another one but no matter what he did, he could not succeed even while choosing other fruits on different branches.
Deciding that this tree was strange, he picked his fruit and climbed down and went for another tree in hope of getting another fruit but even after climbing 5 trees he could not get another fruit.
Seeing that there was no hope to get more fruits, he climbed down the last tree he went on and started to pick some dried weeds and pieces of wood on the ground to make a campfire at his shelter by the beach when he heard a noise coming from the direction of the strange trees, hiding himself behind some bushes, he did not have to wait for long when he saw a squirrel looking animal but bigger in size and with two tails jumping from tree from tree.
It seemed undecided while near the trees, its snout was moving, it appeared that it might have smelled Marvin’s odour on the trees.
It went around sniffing near the other trees, hesitating for a few minutes it jumped towards the tree Marvin took his fruit from and easily pulled a fruit before leaving.
The whole event was seen by Marvin and seem incomprehensible for him, first the animal was strangely careful before approaching the tree and when it noticed that someone might have been there before it , it took even more precaution and secondly, it managed to pulled a fruit as easily as it was for Marvin to pick a piece of wood on the ground while he had to struggle for a good 2 minutes; this alone told him that this strange animal was stronger than him.
He didn’t have time to calm down when a screech coming from the sky was heard, a daunting looking like green bird with a hooked beak and beautiful white and blue feathers flew down and perched itself on a branch of the same tree from which Marvin obtain his fruit.
Unlike the squirrel looking like animal it did not care about sensing its surroundings and just pulled a fruit hanging from a branch before flying to somewhere else.
Marvin was marvelled by all the strange things he saw while walking back to his refuge; he spent approximatively 3 hours sitted and observed the happenings near the trees.
More than 10 animals, all different from each other took exactly 1 fruit from the same tree as him before leaving with their prize and when there remained 5 fruits on the tree each animal who came later returned empty handed not even approaching any of the other trees.
Deducing from everything he saw, he concluded that no one could get more than one fruit and no one could get a fruit if 5 five fruits remain on a single tree; he was not certain of each inferement.
But, he could think that maybe each fruit was nutritious enough that a single one was enough to satiate one’s hunger; so more than that was unnecessary but as for why no animal went to get any of the remaining 5 fruits was incomprehensible to him, he could only think that the remaining ones were spoiled.
Sitting down in his shelter, he laughed at his strange experience; he was so immersed in the events that he even forgot to eat.
Bringing the fruit in front of him he did not know how to eat it at least he knew that it was edible since all those animals brought them away.
He decided to peel it open so he looked for a small stone that could be sharpened easily and start doing it.
Having sharpened his stone against the ones that made his shelter he washed the fruit at the lake and placed it on a flat piece of wood he found in the forest.
He placed the stone knife vertically following the width of the fruit but no matter how much force he applied he could not pierce a single centimetre inside only a screech was heard coming from the stone knife skidding against the fruit skin.
A strange fruit coming from a strange tree, Marvin was exasperated; he tried to smash the fruit with his stick, shake it, burn it but nothing worked and he was getting hungrier.
Flipping it in his hands, Marvin decides just to cut around the peduncle to see if it could work; unexpectedly it worked and he makes a circular cut into the fruit.
Pulling the peduncle away, an incredible scent was coming from inside the fruit; looking inside the fruit he could see a red nectar.
It was as if he was compelled by something but he started to drink the juice like a man dying from thirst. A filling sensation was coming from the deepest place of his body as he regained all the energy he has lost.
Strangely his body started to turn green and he was emitting black plumes of gases from the top of his head.
Marvin was in a sort of ethereal state where he started remembering all the events that happened in his life, from his birth till now.
A few moments later, Marvin woke up from his reverie, he noticed that he was covered in a strange black goo from head to toe.
He ran to the lake to clean himself but his speed was so fast that he stumbled into the lake; shocked at the pace at which he ran, Marvin calmed down, he would clean himself first before anything else; he does not know if there are carnivorous creatures living in the lake.
While in the water he sees his reflection and is astonished to see that his skin looked whiter than before, his auburn hair had a brighter tone and his eyes were shining like real emerald stones.
Having cleaned himself, He started appreciating the changes his body experienced; he could see further than before and hear better, his muscles were toned, they were more defined; he was no longer beefy but had a more slender look.
What shocked him most, was his memory, it seemed to have become eidetic. Were all the improvements due to the nectar he drank? Certainly they were.
He was experiencing a great joy because he might not die after all. If the nectar of the fruit could make him experience these changes, it may give him something more, like super powers; his excitement was so great that he started grinning like an idiot.
Regaining his composure back, he went to his shelter and picked up the fruit that was now empty.
He picked up his stone knife and tries to cut it apart from the inside this time; he succeeded and had 4 symmetrical pieces which showed that the inside of the fruit was similar to coconut but the pulp was red coloured.
Cutting a piece from it, he brought to his mouth and ate it, it tasted sweet like raspberry but had the texture of a flan cake; such a strange combination flabbergasted him. Nature, in this new world was really strange.
Just this small discovery ignited his adventurous spirit to learn and experience everything this world has to offer.