"Hm?"
Slowly, Ren's eyes open. Dazed, he sits up and quickly realizes that he is lying on a kind of mattress made from tied-together straw. He's covered by an old, filthy rag that wouldn't keep him warm even on a cold summer night.
His torn and bloodied school shirt and pants—the ones he'd worn all this time—are gone. He's completely naked under the rag.
Right next to him is a small stack of folded clothes: an old brown pair of pants that looks like a potato sack, and an old white fabric shirt with a stretched-out collar. Only his shoes and socks are still his old ones and lie beside the clothing.
The boy's gaze wanders, and he notices four small walls made of old wooden planks. Quickly, he realizes that he's inside a small wooden hut—just barely enough space for a second person to fit inside.
But more importantly, a fire in front of the opening, which seems to serve as a door, provides a little light inside the hut.
Slowly, he stands, grabs the clothes, and dresses. Then Ren heads toward the fire and steps out of the small hut.
"Where… where am I?"
Nothing but trees. No matter where he looks, he's in a dense, dark forest. It's nighttime, so he can barely see, making his current situation even more difficult.
Slowly, he takes one step after another, trying to make sense of his situation.
"I was just in the desert, right? Wait… where is Oxaril? Didn't he catch me?"
"Oh, you're awake?"
A gentle male voice comes from the dark forest behind him. Ren quickly spins around and jumps back.
He sees a dark silhouette moving out of the thick bushes. Ren assumes a fighting stance—or at least something he considers a fighting stance.
"What's this supposed to be when it's finished?" the voice grows louder, sounding confused.
"Are you trying to challenge me to dance or something?"
Ren doesn't respond. He stands rooted to the spot, sweat already forming on his forehead.
Finally, the man emerges from the shadows that the forest and bushes provide. He has dark, almost black hair, pushed up by a white headband. On the band is a single dark blue stripe running from top to bottom.
He wears only old, slightly darker clothes. Only now does Ren notice the belt around his waist. In it is a small holder for a strange sword with a white hilt, poking out of a black sheath.
"Now calm down and tell me who you are," the man says calmly, looking at Ren with gentle eyes. Beneath them are deep eye bags, hinting at several sleepless nights.
Ren loosens his odd body posture and exhales once.
"Who are you? What did you do to me? Where are my clothes?"
"Hey, take it slow, okay? I just asked you something first. That's rude, you know. Besides, you probably weren't planning on wearing those burnt fabric scraps anymore, right? You should be thanking me that I gave you something proper. Anyway, I'm Klay. Nice to meet you."
With a tired smile, Klay steps closer and extends his hand in greeting.
Ren hesitates. It's the first time in what feels like forever that he's seen another living being besides Oxaril.
"I won't hurt you," Klay says.
Slowly, Ren finally takes a cautious step forward and reaches for his hand.
"Hey, slow down," Klay exclaims, startled by the strength with which Ren grabs, and pulls his hand back.
"You don't even look that strong. Not bad."
"Strong?" Ren thinks to himself, looking down at his hand.
"Where's Oxaril? Have you seen him?" His eyes are still tense as he stares deeply at Klay.
"Oxaril?"
"Yes! That ugly giant guy. Looks like a monster with a plate for a forehead."
The older man doesn't understand.
"I don't know who or what you're trying to describe, but I've never seen this Oxaril. Is he a friend of yours? Did you lose each other?"
"Friend?"
At that word, images of torture and pain he inflicted flash through Ren's mind.
"More like an old acquaintance, I'd say."
Ren studies the man more closely and only now notices a strange animal hanging from his left hand over his shoulder, down his back. He's never seen anything like it before. So big… and what are those weird horns on its snout, he wonders.
Klay notices his gaze.
"Hey, are you hungry? Come on, I'll share with you."
Smiling, he walks toward the hut and sits down by the fire.
Ren stumbles after him, curious, and carefully sits next to him.
"You can eat that thing?"
"That thing?" Klay asks, confused.
"You've never seen a wild boar before?" he asks sarcastically.
"A wild boar?"
"That's a joke, right?"
Klay grabs the knife next to the small campfire on a wooden plank. It looks like a knife, but it's really just a sharpened stone temporarily fixed into a piece of wood.
As if it's part of his daily routine, he drives the knife under the skin of the wild boar and peels off the hide. Then he sticks a stick through the dead animal…
"What are you doing?!" Ren shouts, stepping back in alarm.
"You can't just shove it in its ass!"
He watches Klay, who doesn't respond, push the stick completely through the body until it comes out the other side of the head.
"Freak," Ren mutters quietly, looking at the man in disgust.
Klay ignores him and places the stick with the animal on the holder above the fire.
"And now we wait," he explains.
The two sit in the dark, watching as the once-pink meat slowly turns browner and juicier.
After a while, Klay grabs one of the legs and slices it with his knife.
"Here, try it."
Proudly, he holds the leg up to Ren's face.
"You want me to eat that? Not only did you butcher the animal after it died, but it looks like it's from another world."
"Now eat!"
Squinting his eyes, Klay presses the leg even closer, right under Ren's nose. The boy quickly opens his eyes wide as he smells the delicious aroma of roasted meat.
Carefully, he takes the piece in his own hands and finally bites off a small portion. Slowly and cautiously, he chews the crispy meat before swallowing.
Klay watches him expectantly, staring for a response.
The moment Ren swallows, his eyes widen. Without wasting a second, he bites off piece after piece, finishing the meat before Klay even has time to cut himself a portion.
"Wow! Why am I only getting this delicacy now?! I've never eaten anything this delicious!"
For the first time since waking, Ren finally relaxes a bit, the constant tension eases. He happily waits for Klay to give him the next piece.
"And you're seriously telling me this is your first piece of wild boar meat?"
"Meat? I thought it's called wild boar?"
Klay blinks in disbelief, staring at Ren's joyful eyes, quickly realizing he really means it.
The piece of meat in his hands, the one he just devoured, is probably the first he's ever held.
"Tell me, boy. Where do you come from?"
Ren looks at him curiously, wiping the fat from his lips, and scoots closer to the older man.
"Can I ask you something else, Klay?"
"Sure?" he replies, puzzled.
"Where am I? And what is all this?"
They talk for what feels like ages, finishing the entire wild boar—though Ren definitely ate almost twice as much as Klay.
While eating, Ren tells Klay about his recent experiences: the massive city built underground, how Oxaril looks, and everything he did to him. He even demonstrates his power.
Without hesitation, he grabs Klay's knife and cuts off his own right middle finger, without flinching once. Less than a minute later, the finger has fully regrown.
Klay watches in astonishment, though after hearing Ren's story, he's slightly less confused.
Ren also recounts the last events: how he fell from the floating structure and was almost beaten to death by Oxaril in the desert.
"And then I woke up here in your hut," Ren explains, hoping Klay might answer how he got here.
"Hm, I understand," Klay replies to the boy's new information. "Come with me."
He picks up a piece of wood, wrapping some green material that looks like bushes around its end, lights it in the fire, and heads deeper into the forest. The stick serves as a torch, illuminating everything around him.
Ren quickly jumps up and follows him.
"Where are we going?"
"I can't tell you how you got here," Klay hesitates. "But I can show you where I found you."
It doesn't take long before Klay stops a little deeper in the forest. Ren cautiously steps out from behind him to stand beside him.
But what he sees in front of him… he can't believe it.