"Gaston von Rainerhorn! We are finally here, aboard the Ancient Ship, sailing across the Blood Sea and into the unknown!"
The voice sounded familiar to him, but he didn't even try to connect the voice to a person he knew, as he was too absorbed in what he had just heard.
'So it really is true. For the second time, I had abandoned everything in search of something that may not even exist.
'Well, that does sound like me. But, Gaston von Rainerhorn? Did I give myself that name after entering this world?'
…
Gaston's thoughts were interrupted once again, as the memory abruptly ended and he found himself back in the real world.
He finally got some answers to a few of his questions, but he also had a lot more questions now as well.
Where were the other 15 people he had aboard that ship with him? Where was the ship, for that matter?
Well, since he was alive, at least he knew that the voyage ended up being a success, as he doubted that he was capable of not stubbornly searching for whatever he was looking for, even if it meant his death.
This also meant however, that he was on new land.
Well, he was on new land anyway, but now even if he did recover his memories over time, they wouldn't be able to tell him much about where he was.
'God damn it!'
The torturous pain suddenly returned all at once, reminding Gaston of where he was and what he was doing.
As he began walking through the forest to distract himself from the pain once again, his mind was on constant alert as he passed by every tree.
He pulled his little knife out and held it with his left hand.
It might not be of much help, but it was the only weapon he had.
Right now he was still feeling okay, aside from the constant pain and not being able to use one of his arms, he was otherwise okay.
With a little more clarity about his current situation, Gaston was even more determined on surviving and reaching that damned smoke.
Who knew, maybe the people that were with him on the ship were the ones that were responsible for that smoke.
Maybe they were even trying to reach out to him, and that was the only way they could think of to do so.
These things weren't very likely to be true, but at least now, there were more possibilities around the smoke.
As he walked past tree after tree, he made sure his grip on the knife wasn't too tight.
After all, he was going to need to conserve as much energy as possible in order to be able to travel without taking long breaks in between.
While Gaston was moving and scanning his surroundings, he spotted some small harmless animals from time to time.
One of them that he had even recognized from Earth, a squirrel, came close to him and appeared to be observing him, based on the curiosity he thought he saw in its eyes.
Unbeknownst to the little squirrel however, Gaston was also observing it. Or rather, he was weighing whether or not he wanted to eat squirrel meat for dinner.
Ultimately however, while the squirrel was close to him, he didn't think he could catch it with one arm.
After abandoning the idea of turning it into food, the squirrel seemed a lot less pleasing to the eye.
Gaston wasn't in the mood to interact with this strangely intelligent animal anymore, so he chased it away as soon as he made his decision.
The thought of killing and eating it did arise numerous times even after he made the decision, but it was squashed again and again thereafter.
Not to mention that he wasn't hungry right now, now was not the time to eat anyway.
Aside from not being confident in catching it, Gaston also didn't want to risk the blood of the squirrel attracting a predator.
A small meal wasn't worth such a risk. Even if eventually he would have to take this risk, now wasn't the time.
More time passed, with the sun having nearly set now.
During his travels, he didn't run into anything dangerous, which wasn't too surprising.
After all, he was moving as quietly as he could.
Occasionally he would see traces of larger creatures, but Gaston did his best to avoid them as he wasn't in any shape for combat.
The little knife in his hand would serve no purpose anyway if he ran into a bear for example. It was more for comfort than anything else.
Before night fell however, he heard a pained howl come from his right, causing Gaston to come to a complete stop.
The sound didn't seem to come from too far away, which was a very big problem.
Animals had a ridiculous sense of smell even back on Earth, and if their sense of smell on this planet was anything similar, then he was in danger.
The injury to his right arm would serve as a beacon for whatever predator wanted to come after him, that's why he did his best during the day to go away from the tracks of larger creatures.
If he stayed here, or tried to get away from this place without doing anything, then there was a very big chance that whatever caused that creature to howl like that, would come after him next.
Unless he wanted to take his chances with that, he really didn't have much of a choice.
Not exactly someone willing to submit to the fate bestowed upon him by some higher power that may or may not exist, Gaston, like always, took matters into his own hands.
He took the initiative to silently approach the location of the sound and see what was going on, while paying close attention to the ground and the placement of his feet in order to not make any noise that may alert the creature to his presence.