Suddenly, he woke up. His back was soaked with sweat, his legs aching painfully, and a deep weakness spread through his body. Slowly, he opened his eyes, trying to piece together what had happened. His eyes fell on the ceiling, which was made of wood, and he rotated his head to check around the room. He saw three wooden beds with straw mattresses on them, making him more confused. Where am I? He felt that his body felt a little weird, and the moment his glance landed on it, he almost fainted again. It was the body of a child, no more than 12 years old. What the hell is going on? Where am I? Am I dreaming? Confusion hit him hard, but at the same time, memories started to flood in. He remembered that he was going down the elevator with Fatso, and then a sudden boom. After that, he remembered his body stretching for miles and miles, and then there was nothing. Wait a minute? Did they end up making a black hole? Is the earth destroyed? Wait, where is Fatso?
He suddenly tried to get up to look for his sister, but the moment he got up to go outside, he again fell to the bed as weakness hit him hard. He laid on the bed with tears in his eyes, thinking that if he was fine, then it's most probably that she is also fine somewhere.
Suddenly he hears footsteps approaching. Footsteps speed milliseconds slower than an adult and slower than a child—probably an elderly person. He quickly closed his eyes and pretended to sleep. Someone entered the room, checked his pulse, and said, "Neska, how are you feeling?" He didn't reply, just made a faint noise pretending he was deep asleep. Then a bitter liquid was poured into his mouth, which caught him by surprise, but he kept his eyes closed. The person close to him got up and opened the door to leave. He quickly opened his eyes and peeked. He saw an old man with a wooden box with a big strap hanging on the right shoulder of the old man. Oh, it's the town doctor. The taste seemed oddly familiar, like some herbal extract—maybe even an aphrodisiac. Then he realized the doctor had called him Neska. That must be his new name.
He couldn't remember much, his mind blurry. "Did this body die before I came into it, damaging the brain?" Why can't I remember anything about where I am or other things about this world? he wondered. I need to know. He mustered all of the strength and slowly, slowly, he got off the bed. He then started walking towards the door and opened it. Outside, the first thing he saw was the land. He saw the land, it was a little reddish in color, and he saw a lot of doors, probably rooms like this in an arch. In the center, he saw a large tree with strangely shaped leaves—circular and triangular, yellow and green—in a courtyard surrounded by rows of rooms. "What is this place?" he wondered. "Did I travel back in time? Or did I just transmigrate to another universe?" But the weakness overcame him, and he returned to his bed, thinking of what he saw. Before he could think much, he fell asleep.
He was abruptly woken by voices. Three other boys were in the room, talking to each other, one of them pointing out some food placed under his bed. He remembered it was their room leader, Heygaan, who had made sure he had something to eat—how nice of him.
Neska wanted to ask something, but Heygaan said, "First, eat. It'll be dark soon, and then we will need to sleep."
The food wasn't great, but Neska forced himself to eat, knowing he needed the energy. As he ate, he asked Heygaan what had happened to him. Heygaan had a perplexed expression and asked, "Don't you remember anything? Are you okay? Did they hit you in the head or something?"
"Hit me in the head? What does he mean? Did someone beat me?" He quickly smiled and said, "It's just I can't remember much of those events," trying to portray that he knows, just not clearly.
Heygaan looked at him and nodded. "Two days ago, you had fallen ill and told Shika's men that you were feeling sick. Instead of giving you permission to rest, they didn't believe you and beat you. After that, you became unconscious. Me and these boys brought you here." More memories flooded back: the beating, the fever, vomiting blood. It was brutal and senseless. Before they could talk more, a gong sounded outside, signaling it was time to sleep. Heygaan told everyone to sleep so they could work in the morning. Before they could fall asleep, Neska thanked Heygaan for bringing him food.
The next morning, Neska was jerked awake by the sound of a gong and a harsh shout from outside. "Wake up, you filthy Feers! Time to work!" The door flew open, and a bald man with a mustache stormed in, glaring at everyone. Sunlight streamed in behind him. He scanned the room and then fixed an angry gaze on Neska. He was confused at first, then became angry. "This is your last day of rest," the man growled. "Tomorrow, if you don't work, I'll throw you into the river." With that, he stormed out.
Heygaan and the other two boys quickly got up, and Heygaan told Neska to rest for the day.
Neska thought to himself, why did that man give me that weird look? He can escape from others, but not with my observation abilities. A little later, Heygaan brought him breakfast and urged him to eat so he'd feel better by tomorrow. Neska felt a knot of worry—he realized he'd have to work soon or face worse consequences. He was feeling much better today, but not enough that he could work tomorrow.
After he finished eating, he saw the doctor return with that familiar wooden box strapped over his shoulder, walking towards the door. "Oh shit, not again. I need to get better by tomorrow or I will be dead, and with this old man's medicine, I can only hope to die with a big erection. I mean, it's an honorable death, but I need to stay alive as this new world must have many mysteries."
With his thinking abilities, he quickly made a plan. He pretended to be asleep. The doctor, as usual, checked his pulse and called his name. "Neska, Neska, are you okay?" Neska opened his eyes with an impulse to say, "Not thanks to your aphrodisiac," but restrained himself and said, "Yes, I feel better."
The old man got excited and his eyes sparkled. "That's great! It means the medicine worked. Let me give you better medicine today," making Neska even more anxious about the next dose.
As the doctor opened a small glass bottle and brought it close to Neska's mouth, he instantly recognized the scent. It was the smell of a hair growth tonic for bald people, something he knew well. Startled, Neska grabbed the old man's hand and then sat up in the bed, looking at the ceiling, then at the old man with fixed eyes like he was in a trance. In a trance-like state, he praised the doctor, saying, "You are a good man… your heart is like a mirror, you help people, you will be rewarded."
The old man got scared, thinking Neska had lost his mind. Neska fell back to his pillow, making weird sounds, and then opened his eyes, looking at the old man, who was startled and confused, standing a little away from him.
"I saw a woman just now. A woman with white hair and blue eyes, her skin was like pure milk. She was wearing a green dress. She smiled at me and showed me a herb and asked me to take this herb to get rid of my illness. Old man, do you know who she is?"
The old man got surprised and told him, "Maybe it was the goddess of health."
"Haha, it worked, typical human representation of a goddess and green color for healing. It should be easy now to get his box."
"Can I have your medical box? So I can find this magic herb and be healed quickly?"
Confused but trusting, the old man handed Neska the medicine box. Neska opened it, and at first look, he almost fainted. "Fuck, these herbs I have never seen before," but in the next second, he remembered, "Wait, but I can use them by their smell and taste," so he starts tasting and smelling. After some time, he handed the old man a herb and a glass bottle. "Can you please boil this herb, then mix the extract in this bottle and give it to me?"
The old man didn't say much, took the herbs and bottle from his hands, and left the room. As he left, Neska again started to go through the old man's medicine box. There is nothing of use in this box, most of these are useless herbs as they do not have enough concentration to extract unless you use 2-3 kg of them.
After some time, the old man returned with a glass bottle and gave it to Neska. He smelled it. "This thing is not good, but it will get me on my feet tomorrow." He drank half of it and kept the rest for later, explaining that it needed to be taken for 2 days, as the fairy had told him. The doctor, puzzled, left him to rest.
"Okay, now that the problem of being thrown in the river is solved, let's try to walk a little outside," as he was preparing himself, he felt an extreme urge to use the bathroom. "This fucking old man. I wonder what he fed me when I was unconscious," and then quickly starts walking to the bathroom.