I woke up feeling heat seeping into my lungs with every intake of oxygen. It was hot to say the least. In fact, it was so hot that I felt myself getting sweaty just by laying on the ground. So I decided to get up. Who knows perhaps moving will somehow mitigate the heat.
As I stood up, I quickly realized something. I was in a cave. Everything smelled of earth and the only reason I could see anything was because of the lit torches that adorned the rocky walls. Somewhere I had read that a lit torch in such an environment could easily lead to there being a lot of smoke. But here there was none.
It was weird; however, it was still nothing compared to the biggest oddity that I was now experiencing. As in, how the hell did I end up in this cave in the first place? I certainly didn't recognize it. And there were no such caves around my local town. Was I dreaming? After pinching myself, I concluded that I, in fact, wasn't dreaming.
I then started to look around myself, trying to find some possible clues and saw a pretty big one behind me. A statue stood against one of the rocky walls. It was dark green, but other than that it didn't seem recognizable. The status face shattered as if someone had punched it.
However, one detail did garner my attention. In front of the statue there was an altar on which I apparently had been lying. A single thought crossed my mind at the moment. And it was so silly that I couldn't stop myself from blurting it out loud.
"Have I been isekaid?"
The idea seemed even more stupid now that I had said it out loud. Especially because I would've remembered if I was suddenly hit by a truck or if a magic sigil had reappeared under my feet.
Now that I racked my brain about it, I couldn't exactly remember what I did yesterday or the day before that. However, it didn't feel like I had amnesia because when I tried to recall details about my life, I remembered everything perfectly.
My name was Killian McArthur. I was fourteen years old. My parents' names were Edgar and Sophie. My dad was a businessman, while my mother was a doctor. She spent a lot of time homeschooling me because my grades were terrible.
I had ginger hair and freckles and blue eyes that sometimes made me think that whoever designed my character didn't care much about aesthetics because I would've looked better with green eyes.
My hobbies were playing video games, watching anime and drawing, though I also liked to listen to music, even though I haven't revealed that to anyone. My dream was to one day move to Japan and become a manga author.
Everything that I had just confessed conveyed that I knew who I was. And yet the memories felt stale. As in the fact that I couldn't remember my most recent one made me doubt the legitimacy of my older ones.
"I've been summoned to another world but have short-term amnesia. Put that as my anime title. And make sure that the main heroine is cute as well," I blurted out like a complete idiot, which was most likely how I was trying to combat panic.
Deciding to follow up on this idea, I inspected what I had on me. My starting equipment was the following:
1. One orange hoodie.
2. One blue shirt with yellow trim, which I liked because it reminded me of Digimon.
3. A pair of jeans.
4. A pair of sneakers.
That was it. No phone. No wallet. No mystical artifact that will grant me superhuman abilities. It seems that I was starting my playthrough on hard difficulty.
Feeling as if panic was taking over my mind, I decided that a change of scenery would be perfect. Fortunately I did see a tunnel that led somewhere that I hoped wasn't deeper in the caves or a giant monster. Both of these options were simultaneously plausible now that I thought about it.
Fortunately I didn't have to become someone's meal so after a couple of minutes of walking up a slope, I saw light coming from somewhere and knew that I was reaching the outside. Unfortunately, what greeted me wasn't reassuring.
Large, rocky cliffs were everywhere. The ground consisted of sand and some vegetation that I couldn't discern if it was still alive or dried up. The sun felt like a death ray on my skin and if I thought that it was hot in the caves, then it was nothing compared to this.
In the caves I was able to sweat. Here it seemed to be so hot that any amount of water that my body could produce was immediately evaporated by the harsh climate.
Then I came across some sort of insect emerging from between the rocks. It resembled a sort of praying mantis, only it had more legs and was the size of a small dog. It stopped to look at me, probably deciding if I was food or not before scampering away, most likely presuming that I wasn't worth the effort.
I definitely wasn't in Kansas anymore, which made the Isekai theory seem more plausible by the second. I wanted to have a nervous breakdown but a voice in my head that sounded a lot like my mom told me that I didn't have the time for it because I was in a hostile environment and if I didn't find any water, then I would be dead in around two days.
First thing, I put my hood over my head to mitigate the chances of me getting a heatstroke and I kept my hoody on despite the feeling that I was boiling in it just so there wouldn't be a lot of my skin that could be exposed to this sunlight. I doubt that I would appreciate getting a sunburn. After this preparation I headed out.
I needed to find water. At least that's what the mom-sounding voice in my head instructed me. For a second I considered following the weird bug thing because it most definitely had to drink and unlike me, it probably knew where to find liquid, but I quickly scrapped that idea once I entertained the thought that it might as well lead me to a full hive of them just in time for dinner.
So I hoped that I'd find some water on my own and that my main character status would save me. I believed whatever summoned me here most likely had greater plans for me than watching me dehydrate and then die.
So I walked. And walked. And walked. Until it felt like forever. On the bright side I didn't encounter anything that could've eaten me. On the not-so-bright side, I didn't find any water either.
At one point I did encounter some weird plants that resembled cactuses with red flowers blooming on them. And I also considered drinking their juice so I don't dehydrate. But I very quickly wrote off that idea as being bad for a number of reasons.
First of all, the bark on those things looks pretty hard and I didn't have anything to cut it open. Second, they were cacti, which meant that without gloves, which is something I didn't have, I would get hundreds of needles in my skin if I tried to harass them. It was a bad enough possibility without considering that the needles might as well also be poisonous.
The third reason was also related to the second one, as in even if I somehow managed to get to the juice part of these plants, there's no telling what reaction they might have on my body.
Of course, as I was reminded by a rather traitorous part of my brain, whatever water I find could also have a negative effect on me, because I most definitely don't have the immunity to the bacteria that exists here, but I pushed that thought away.
The most important conclusion that I needed at the moment was suspicious cacti-like plants. Bad. Any other source of water. Good. Until proven otherwise.
My trek through this scorched hell continued for some time without anything eventful happening of the good or bad variety. The only noticeable conclusion that I figured out was that I was inside some kind of valley. Though I knew that whatever mental gymnastics I was occupying myself with was just a way for me to distract myself from the hard truth that my mouth was drier than this damned world and I hadn't encountered anything related to water.
Then finally, I found something. At first I didn't believe my eyes, but I couldn't ignore the evidence after seeing it. There was a dirt road on the ground.
It stood horizontally and stretched from one end of the valley to the other. A part of my brain that I didn't respect much was trying to convince me that I was seeing things because I was thirsty and desperate, but I didn't listen to that part, because it had never done anything good for me. I'm pretty sure that this part of my brain is also to blame for why my math scores are so bad.
Nevertheless, I did consider what type of creatures would live in this world, intelligent or otherwise. The mantis lookalike appeared in my head, which led to further unpleasant thoughts, but I surprised them and focused on trying to stay optimistic.
Perhaps as a way of rewarding my unyielding spirit in the face of seemingly bad odds, a dust cloud appeared in the distance of the road, which I quickly realized was due to something making its way in my direction. I then realized that it was really fast and quickly jumped out of the way before I could end my life as roadkill. After all, I doubt that I would get double-isekaid in that way.
I fell on my stomach at the side of the road as dust settled, indicating that whatever I had just encountered stopped, meaning that it noticed me. Slowly, very slowly, I raised my head and met with whatever could be my possible doom. Instead I saw two creatures that looked like a weird mix between a reptile and a horse.
They had four limbs. All of which made contact with the ground. A large tail that swung behind them and skin that reminded me of an iguana's. Their faces were terrifying with large exposed fangs sticking out of their mouths and yet their eyes were surprisingly mammal-like and were brown. They even had little ears at the sides of their heads that were constantly moving.
These things hadn't stopped to eat me even though they were eyeing me curiously. And they were also mounted by two people. One of these riders jumped off and I was met by a sight that I never believed that I would have the pleasure of witnessing.
An actual bunny girl stood in front of me. She had rich brown skin that fell in contrast with her yellow fur and ears. She was dressed in some kind of female battle armor that covered her chest, hips, forearms, and legs but left everything else under no imagination. A white cloak with a red sun on it was draped over her shoulder, while what seemed like a bow and quiver was attached to her back. There also seemed to be a couple of knives strapped to her hips.
As I stared at this alien newcomer, I could only think one thing. Isekai Gods. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Everything that I had to endure in this desert. Everything that I've ever had to endure in my life was worth it because of this moment. In fact, I could even feel a tear going down my face.
Then the bunny chick shouted something in my direction. Something that I didn't understand because I didn't know the language. And so my hatred for whoever had transferred me here returned.
Really, you couldn't give me an auto translation when you sent me here!? I was shocked. Appalled. This was one chance in life to get a bunny girl girlfriend and I couldn't even do it because of a damn language barrier!
Unfortunately my silence didn't please her so she gestured in my direction while speaking loudly and seemed quite pissed. Understanding it as the universal sign that I will get my teeth kicked in if I don't do something, I slowly stood up while raising my hands at my sides to show that I am not armed.
"It's okay. I don't want any problems," I said in hopes that she'll realize that the differences in our languages mean that I unfortunately cannot understand her.
The bunny girl indeed looked confused after hearing me speak, which made her pull off my head, revealing my looks. After which she looked even more puzzled. I wondered if perhaps my good looks managed to capture her heart, but she didn't look like someone who had just met their love at first sight. Instead, she gave the impression of seeing something that she didn't have a clue how it works.
The bunny girl then did the following. She suddenly grabbed my face. I yelped, manly of course, just in case you were wondering. She then started to pull on my ear and open my lips apart to check my teeth, which made me conclude that there might be no humans in this world or at least none that looked like me.
I only hoped that it was a good thing. After all, standing out means that you were special and special people can get away with more things. Like getting a hot bunny girl girlfriend for example.
After she was done inspecting me, which I kind of felt sad for because her skin was pleasantly cool and she smelled nice, she shouted something back towards the other rider, and they also got off their horse/lizard and walked towards me. A part of me hoped to see another bunny girl, but to my endless disappointment it was a dude.
He was taller than both of us and his skin was as black as coal, which stood in contrast with his yellow cat eyes and just like her, he was dressed in armor that exposed his stomach or in this bastard's case, the chiseled six-pack that I in no way was envious of.
Unlike her, he had pants, though he had massive cuts in them that exposed his thighs and all of his clothes were black. I wondered if it was some sort of camouflage thing.
Everything else, however, was pretty much the same as it was for her. Same gauntlets. Same lack of shoes. He, however, didn't have a cloak and instead of a bow, there was a pair of swords that was strapped to his back.
But the thing that stood out most for me was the pair of cat ears atop his head and the general feline features that he possessed. The first cat person that I meet is a dude. My disappointment was immense and my day was ruined.
Once the cat boy saw me, and if that wasn't a sentence that made me want to vomit in my mouth, he also looked puzzled and tilted his head.
He then began speaking to the bunny girl, who was no longer shouting and they seemed to be discussing something between each other. She looked dead serious, while he had a faint smile on his lips, though he just might be one of those people who always seemed to smile. Personally I had issues with such people. They reminded me too much of dad.
Finally some agreement was made between the two because the bunny girl suddenly grabbed me by the shoulder and held me in place while the cat douche walked back to his mount.
I had no idea what they were planning, but by her grip strength I figured that it was something that I was not supposed to get away from. Finally the cat bastard returned holding something that was most definitely rope.
Before I knew it, they bound my arms and legs, and I was placed stomach down on the back of that guy's mount like a sack of potatoes. Meanwhile, I could think of only one thing. Is this a kidnapping? Am I being human trafficked? Then, without receiving answers to any of these questions, we set out.