How long had it already been?
My eyes slowly opened up, the nightly darkness engulfed me, as suddenly the burning light of a torch was held only a few inches away from my face, illuminating what remained of my body between open wounds and scars left from previous fights.
„This one is still alive, boss!"
A grumpy, not very old manly voice spoke as he slowly moved the torch away from my face.
I tried to glimpse at the figure slowly approaching me but before I could finally get a look, I felt myself fainting, only hearing a few short grumbles of the so called boss.
„Take him to the others, this battle has cost us enough manpower."
As I slowly regained some strength of my body, it had already been more than a few hours even maybe days as I could see the sun rising through the open window again.
I had survived. That was the only important thing.
The first battle as a new member of the Black Ox Gang , a local group of hooligans that held control over this and the part of a few other districts, led by a mysterious martial artist.
Martial arts were techniques deprived of the abilities of ancient beasts and spirits, or so told. When mastered, one could reach power of being undefeated even when surrounded by hundreds if not thousands of enemies.
But these were martial artists, away from the reach of normal mortal beings. The only martial artists that could be seen in many places were those that had achieved less than minor success in their cultivation. Nonetheless, even they were by far stronger than others could imagine, easily defeating a dozen, if not more hooligans by themselves.
Many, if not all, yearned for such magical power. Because why wouldn't they?
Even I have had this wish for a long time, which was also one of the reasons for joining the Black Ox Gang.
It didn't happen often, but the mysterious leader had led others on the path of Martial arts before, so if one showed enough courage, why wouldn't he do that again?
Of course, that wasn't the only reason why I wanted to get under the tutelage of this martial artist.
I wasn't from here. With here I didn't mean this district, city or even country. No. I wasn't from this world. I used to be a college student from the United States, till suddenly while rummaging through things left behind by my deceased parents, I triggered a weird looking antic amulet, resulting in me appearing in the middle of nowhere, while holding the now broken pieces of the amulet, which was also now missing the inner jewel.
I didn't know how or when but when I closed my eyes I could feel this jewel in my body, as if it had always belonged there. No pain, no discomfort, nothing.
This wasn't all though. I could perceive an even so slightly something slowly approaching me from the environment. I couldn't put a name or label on it, but it felt good, as if I had drank a refreshing cold beverage, or eaten my favorite dish.
Although it wasn't exactly clear what was happening there, I had to first take care of an even more serious and strange issue.
HOW THE HELL DID I GET BROUGHT TO THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE?!
I could literally hear my inner voice screaming.
Wasn't magic a scientifically debunked theory? Weren't all so called magicians artists that did their tricks and then counted the money afterwards, with every trick just being a hidden gesture, hidden room or mirror?
But then how did I get randomly teleported to this for far empty plain of wildgrowing grass.
Fuck.
And so my first few minutes passed, although I didn't really know how long as there was no way for me to see the time passing, without building a sun clock, that I had never understood how it worked, so these minutes could also have been an hour or more.
Well anyways, after a while I decided it was better to move on, maybe find a path, a street and with a lot of luck a town, than to sit here and finally rot under the scorning sun.
So it went. I walked, walked and walked. My feet were hurting, my whole body was sweating and I was yearning for just a few drops of water.
The sun dropped sharply, slowly disappearing behind the horizon, as the night sky began to become active. Stars were brimming with light, but planes or the usual star constellations remained unseen.
Wait! The usual star constellations weren't there? Didn't that mean I wasn't on earth?
I WASNT ON EARTH?!
My mind seemed to blow up. I had left my planet? And even more so, I had been brought to a different planet, which also possessed an atmosphere, that made it possible for me to breath and survive in?
That was too much. Too much for a normal human like me to take in in such a short period of time.
But even more before I could even slowly accept my new situation, I was shocked by something. I could hear voices.
Yes, voices.
I stealthily and carefully hid myself behind a darkish green bush and stalks of tall grass. As a carriage, pulled by two strong mascular horses, approached my position and drove past me.
Other humans and horses. On a different planet. Those two aspects added together shook me even more.
This is my final chance. If I don't take it now, I don't know when the next opportunity will present itself.
So I gathered my energy, calmed myself down and hastily sprung up before they could ride farther away.
„WAIT! WAIT! IM FRIENDLY!"