Entiam

Chapter Three:
Set Adrift… Again

Hard. Cold. Stiff.

Yuuri cracked open crusty eyes and gazed senselessly at an iron grey sky, shivering as a chill wind swept over him. 'I don't know where I am. I should feel fear,' he thought around the dull buzz of his hazy mind. 'I'm not though. Funny. I don't care where I am. I just want to sleep. Forever.' Heavy lids drooped closed over glassy eyes. A faint sight. Yuuri slept.

-*-

Subtle whispers. Golden warmth. Comfort.

Slowly, Yuuri worked his way out of the heavy lethargy that weighed him down and stared with sleepy eyes into the golden glow of a low fire banked for the night. Gradually his muddled mind became to clear enough to notice that he was wrapped in a warm blanket and resting on a pile of soft bows and sweet grasses.

Eyes dazzled by the fire’s glow, Yuuri struggled against his sleep fogged mind and the confines of his barrowed blanket until he felt a firm hand press him back. Tensing, he struggled to make out the shadowed figure above him.

“Rest youngling,” the voice was as cool and soft as the fingers that brushed the hair from his eyes. “Sleep now, you’re safe. Your questions can wait for the morning.”

‘Questions?’ Suddenly Yuuri’s mind was flooded with a thousand disjointed questions. ‘Where? How? Conrad? Yozak?... Wolfram?!’ and just as suddenly they slid back into the swirling fog of a drowsy mind as cool fingers brushed across his heated forehead.

“Sleep,” the shadow whispered.

He slept.

*-*

Chill. Smoke. Hunger.

Yuuri woke the second time to bright early morning sunshine and crisp mountain air tinged with the last whispers of a long winter. Rubbing sleep stained eyes he glanced around and was startled to find a large man crouching by a sluggish fire quietly cursing and cajoling the fitful embers. Alarmed Yuuri struggled to free himself from the confines of sleep twisted blankets, succeeded only sending himself tumbling in a blind panic from his makeshift pallet, rolling strait for the fire pit.

“Hold on now, before you do 'yer self a bit ‘o harm.” Yuuri was plucked easily from the ground and shaken free of his bedding confines and set easily on his feet as if he weighed no more than a small child. “There now, best stay on ‘yer own two feet than roll’en ‘round near the fire,” the large man said with a gruff kindness, pausing a moment to give Yuuri a thorough looking over. “Ye best move about a bit or ye’ll stiffen up in th’ cold. Here, hand me them grasses from yer bed and we’ll see if’en we can get this blasted fire te do more ‘an spit sparks and smoke in me eyes.”

Dazed, Yuuri turned with ought thought and, with cold numbed hands, gathered the scattered remains of last night’s comfort and carried them warily towards the hulking giant of a man that crouched over the finicky fire.

“Tha’s right. Just set ‘em down there and we’ll see what we can do. Ye’ see we’re far up on the north side ‘o the range close to them ice field an’ the trees round ‘o bout don’t grow no high’r than a man’s chest an’ are as wet as marsh weed. Take’s a bit ‘o coax’n t' git it t' take a spark. Now you jus’ feed one or two ‘o those bits ‘o grass in near th’ glow nice an’ slow like an’ we’ll see what we can do.”

Yuuri, mind blank with shock and bemusement, bent to his task grateful for the momentary distraction of the many thoughts and questions whirling around his muddled mind.

“Tha’s it boy! Now we’re make’n some progress. Nice and slow like. Make tha’ fire work for every bit you feed ‘er. See th’ steam be’n forced out ‘o the wood? What’s left will burn bright an’ hot. Lots ‘o sap in them tough ‘ol trees.”

Slowly Yuuri felt the growing glow from their small fire seep into his cold hand and set them tingling with pins and needles. Shaking off the feeling Yuuri took a good look at his companion with a cleared eye. Upright the man must have stood well over six feet tall with broad shoulders, muscular arms large strong hands that looked better suited to vigorous labor than gently tending a finicky fire. The man’s face was broad with a square jaw, short dark blond hair, and a nose that looked to have been broken and set more than once. Thin white scares laced one side of his face coming dangerously close to his left eye spoke of past hard ships. His strong forearms and hand likewise bore scares of past conflicts. ‘A warrior of some sort,’ thought Yuuri as he returned his attention to feeding the growing blaze.

“Tha’s enough now. We’ll save the rest ‘o that for t’night. We’ll need it if we don’ make it off ‘o this blasted mountain by night fall.” Turning, the man scrutinized Yuuri more thoroughly before holding out his massive had. “Th’ name’s Jim an’ I’m betti’n you have a ton ‘o questions just wait’n to be asked.”

Cautiously Yuuri extended his hand to be engulfed in the calloused warmth of his companion. “I’m Yuuri Shibuia and I would really like to know what I’m doing here.”

“Wouldn’t we all young man, wouldn’t we all.”

“What does that mean?”

“It’s best if we wait fer’ the others t’ return before answer’n questions. Sides, we got breakfast t’ make.”

Others? Yuuri took his first good look around the small camp and noticed for the first time the packs and bead roles lined up neatly against a fallen loge across from him; ten in all. “Where are the others?”

“They took th’ beasties down t’ th’ river on t’ other side ‘o the ravine t’ water them and fill th’ water skins,” answered Jim as he set a large pan by the fire and began cutting bits of dried meat and potatoes into it before adding water and herbs and setting it in the coals. Next to it was a tin of water in which he emptied a packet of what looked like coffee grounds, covering it with a lid when it starting to steam.

“Wouldn’t it have been easier to camp near the river that to hike there in the morning?” Yuuri asked, remember all the nights he’d slept out with Conrad and Yozak,…and Wolfram. ‘Not now! Find out where you are first! Think about them later. Heh. They’re better handling things like this on their own any way. You’d just cause more problems for them.’

“We’ll it would be more convenient,” Jim’s voice brought Yuuri back from his musings. “aside from th’ rock slides an’ creatures that come t’ drink at night, o’ course. It’s best we keep t’ high ground and a’way from them night critters. Here, set this b’tween those two rocks there.”

“Creatures?” Yuuri looked up in alarm as he took the heavy cloth bag and set it between the hot rocks.

“There are some nasties out there but we keep out ‘o their way an’ they leave us alone, fer’ the most part that is. Not t’ worry though. Noth'n we can’t handle up here. It’s down in th'o fens and swamps that the real nasties lurk. Ugly slimy things that ‘ll pull a man under and let him rot ‘afore feed’n on him.”

Yuuri shuddered and thanked his stars for the first time since waking in this strange place that he didn’t land in water like he usually did. Opening his mouth to ask Jim another question he was cut off by sound of people climbing the rocky escarpment that lead up to the camp.

“There now, their back,” said Jim as he turned away from the fire and hollering at the approaching figures. “ ‘bout time you lollygaggers got back! Half th’ days waste'n a’way an ye’ haven’t even had yer’ breakfast yet. Serves you right if’n the lot ‘o ye’ get burnt biscuits an’ cold drink.” Jim turned slightly towards Yuuri and winked to show he wasn’t really put out.

Yuuri stared openly at the motley assortment of characters that came trudging up the hill face leading a collection of horses. Ten in all he counted including his fire side companion, all dressed in an assortment of well worn pieces of light armor and chain mail. ‘Bandits!’ Yuuri’s alarmed mind supplied as he watched them move to tether their mounts and gather around the cook fire. ‘I wonder if they’re after a ransom or if they’ve been hired to capture me?’ For the first time since waking true fear gripped at Yuuri’s chest as he took rapid step back. ‘But wait! If they’re after me than Jim would have know my name and I would have been restrained instead of tucked in.’ The distant impression of cool fingers and a soft voice tickled the back of his mind as he observed the others moving about the camp. They would toss curious glances his way every few moments but Yuuri could detect no hostility behind them. ‘I wonder if they’re human or daemon tribe. Not that it would matter much if they were out for my blood. I’m not very popular with factions of both sides.’ he mused. A heavy had settling on his should brought Yuuri out of his introspection with a gasping start.

“Listen ‘er you lot! This here is Yuuri an’ I’m expect’n all ‘o you t’ help ‘im as he learns o’bout our little slice ‘o paradise.” The last being said with with the air of derisive sarcasm. “We all know what it’s like wake’n up out ‘o yer beds so lend a hand an’ go easy.”

Yuuri stared blankly at the group gathered before as he took in their gloomy nods of assent and tried to process what he was hearing.

“Now then, how’s a’bout introductions. We’ll start with the babies of the group.” This was met with growls of indignation from what was obviously the two youngest members of the assembled individuals. Yuuri judged that if they were human, which they appeared to be, than they’d be around his age, possibly younger. “None ‘o that now!” Jim chided. “These two, as I suspect you can tell ‘r twins and th’r names ‘r Raiden, on the left, an’ Romie, on th’ right. B’hind ‘em is Vanden an’ Mia, an’ on her left is Denzel.”

“But you can call me Dez.” The man was large with skin a deep rich brown and hair and eyes to match. He was nearly as tall as Jim with arms that looked like they could bend steel and a smile that was a bright friendly white.

“Call me Mi as well. Every one else does.” She had mousy brown hair pulled back into a high tail, the shorter hair near her face secured with a brow band. Her eyes were a gentle lavender and Yuuri couldn’t help but wonder at the contrast between her gentle countenance and rough militant garb. “And call this one Van. He doesn’t mind!” She elbowed the man standing on her right and winked in good humor. He sighed with long suffering. The man called Van had close cropped red hair and blue eyes that were sharp and intelligent and surveyed him with tolerance.

“Moving on,” said Jim with that air of a man interrupted in the midst of a duty he took very seriously. “Starting from the left, this fine young woman ‘er is Toni, next is Chang and Kaid.” That name was said with a mild sense of distaste. “Last but not least, the lass we ‘ll take’s our orders from, Miss Ai.”

“Good grief Jim! Drop the miss already. Kid just call my Kaia, or Ai seeing as this group has a thing for slaughtering a person’s name.”

“At least we haven’t gone so far as to give you a number designation,” said the Latin looking woman named Toni. “Toni’s short for Antonia. Chang is just Chang and, well, there’s not much you can do with a name like Kaid.” This woman looked to be in her mid twenties or a well aged thirty with medium length curly dark hair with eyes to match. Her skin tone was a deeply tanned olive that camouflaged a few freckles sprinkled over her cheeks. The man Chang was clearly of Asian descent with golden skin tones and slanted black eyes that missed nothing. His hair was long but pulled back in a punishing tail the mirrored the precision and neatness of his clothes. If he were the model soldier than the person to his left was the privet on perpetual kitchen duty. A lax stance and care free air, this person was, at first glance a slacker write-off but something made Yuuri pause on the one in his inspection. Messy auburn hair spilled over his forehead and across his eyes but as Kaid brushed the unruly mass aside Yuuri caught a glimpse of shrewd intelligence and a quick mind. This one was not to be underestimated.

“Alright, food’s getting cold. Wouldn’t want Jim to think we didn’t appreciate his efforts now do we?” directed Ai and the others fell-too with the eagerness of people who know what it’s like to break camp with ought breaking their fast. “Yuuri, why don’t you sit with me. I’m sure you’re sill very confused and would like some answers.”

“Um, yes, thank you.” As he waited for his borrowed plait to be filled Yuuri surreptitiously spied on the one Jim had called their leader. She was young, that was immediately apparent and he couldn’t help but think there was something odd about her. Oh, she looked normal enough, but there was something about those strange silver eyes that weren’t quite human, he thought to himself. Tall for a woman, Ai stood nearly to his height with a slim build and pail translucent skin that contrasted with her black hair and clothes.

“Here, sit and we’ll talk as we eat.” Ai motioned to a pair of rocks that had served as a convenient windbreak the night before. I’m sure yarn impatient to find out just where exactly you are. Perhaps. First you world tell we where you are from?”

“That’s kind of complicated,” replied Yuuri. “You see I’m originally form Japan but for the last few years l’ve been spending most of my time in Shin Makoku.”

“Japan. That’s a country on earth, correct?”

“Yes.”

“How, if you don’t mind my asking, did yew end up on in the Great Demon Kingdom?”


“Literally? I got flushed down down the toilet in the men’s room.”

“And you can move between worlds at will?”

“Me? No, but I seem to be at the mercy of someone who can, though usually I end up in water. I'm assuming that this is neither Earth on Shin Makoku.”

“Unfortunately not. In all actuality no one really knows what a where this place is. It seems this world, dimension, is a is a sort of crossroads. People and species from different worlds appear here with no apparent rhyme or reason, sat here by wherever forces.”

“But why?” Yuuri looked at his companion with confusion.

“No one brows but everyone speculates. Some say this planet’s a living organism that feeds off those who live here, others say we are brought here to learn an important lesson.”

“What do you believe?”

“I think we come here, at least some of us, to change.”

“What do you mean by that? How are we changed?”

“I think for everyone there is a different reason and circumstance that lead to their arrival here, whether they were sent here as a life lesson from a higher being or an enemy trying to dispatch them in the most convenient way. All I know is that I was not borne here and neither were most of the people I have come in contact with, those who were are the offspring of others who found themselves stranded here and started a new life.”

“You mean I’m stuck here?” Yuuri felt panic rising.

“They say that when your time comes you’ll find your way home but that it’s futile to try and leave before hand. Even so there are those who spend their lives chasing tails and legends, trying to find their way home. Others, though spend their time going on with life and sometime’s they disappear, never to be seen again. Some say that they learned the lesson they were meant to and have been returned home.”

“But-”

“Enough for now. The day’s well up and we have much ground to cover before night falls again. You are welcome to come with us as far as the nearest sanctuary we come across.”

“Sanctuary?” asked Yuuri as he looked down and noticed for the first time that his plate was empty. He couldn’t remember eating.

“The sanctuaries are places of safety for those new to this world or in need. They are cared for and run by people who have taken it upon themselves to aid and help all who come to their door. You can stay there and help run the place or move on as you learn more of this world. For now let’s be on our way.” Ai grabbed a handful of sand from beneath her feet and scoured her plate before getting up and handing it to Jim to be stored away. Awkwardly, Yuuri copied her actions and handed his own plate back to the camp’s cook.

“Don’t worry too much lad. Things ‘ll work out, ye’ll see.” The large man smiled confidently at Yuuri as he took his plat and stacked it with the rest. “Ye’ll have t’ ride b’hind one ‘o t’ others since we have no spare mounts but tis no problem. Them beasts could carry three grown men, if’en you can fit them all one one saddle.”

Yuuri turned and looked carefully at the line of horses on the short picket line behind him. They were large muscular beasts with thick furry coats, leftovers from winter, but they didn’t seam any different from the horses from earth or Shin Makoku from behind. Carefully he circled the animals that had their noses buried in grain bags hanging from their halters as their riders started tacking up and took a closer look. He know that regular horses could only carry double for short periods of time not to mention triple and these looked normal enough from their mains to their big…feet…

“HOLY COW! WHAT THE HELL ARE THESE THINGS!” Yuuri stared in horrified wonder at the large talloned feet where hooves should have be.

Someone laughed and a large dark hand landed on Yuuri’s shoulder. “Creepy, anti it?” said Dez. “Nearly fainted dead away the first time I saw one of these things close up. They look like your garden variety equine from a distance but up close you see the feet and the fangs.”

“Fangs?!” Yuuri watched as Dez removed the empty grain bag from a large grey mare in fascination to reveal a double set of fangs.

“They’re like your eye teeth just much larger and used to tear meat right off the bone.” Yuuri looked like he was about to faint. “No worries though. They’re trained not to bite their handlers when they caught and you don’t have to worry about the wolves getting them in the night. They’re much more adaptable than regular horses. You see most of the terrain around these parts is rouged enough that hoofed creatures would find it impassable, unless it was a mountain goat of course. Those feet can grab on and climb nearly anything and the legs are stronger and more flexible. All together they’re pretty mild mannered once they’re broke.”

“And the ones that aren’t?”

“Lest just say they don’t fear the food chain. They’re omnivorous so they eat just about anything but its best to keep them on a vegetarian diet so they don’t go after live stock when they’re turned out to pasture.”

“Understandable,” replied Yuuri as he watched in fascination as Dez expertly tacked up his tall mount.

“I heard you talking to Ai early, that you originally come form Japan. I’m from San Francisco, US of A. I was a police officer with the San Francisco PD for nine years before my little detour here.”

“How long have you been here?”

“Close as I can tell? Seven years.”

Seven years. Yuuri felt as if the ground beneath him was falling away. “Seven years… he’s been here for that long. If he’s been here for that long how am I supposed to find my way home?”

“Don’t lose hope just yet, you just got here and everyone’s different. I’m not really looking for a way to go back you see. My life wasn’t to good back there, what with no family left except an ex-wife and a stray cat. Here I live a life I never dreamed was even possible. Sure it’s a hard life but it can be exciting and rewarding.” Dez synched down the girth strap with a quick heave and set the latch. “Well it’s time to get moving. Let’s find you someone to ride with.”

Yuuri looked around and noticed that everyone else was just finishing up with their own mounts, securing bed roles and packs with tough leather thongs and thick cords. A shout caught his attention.

“Hey! He can ride with one of us!” It was one of the twins.

“That’s fine, just stick close to me just in case though.” Dez motioned for Yuuri to follow him to where the two boy’s sat mounted on their beasts, he couldn’t bring himself to think of them as horses. Before he could grasp the nearest saddle Yuuri found himself propelled up behind the young man. “Now you just sit tight and hold on. Don’t wont you getting dumped on your head your first day here now do we!” Dez laughed as he moved back to his own mount.

“Um, thanks for the ride er…” Yuuri suddenly realized he didn’t know which twin he was sitting behind and flushed.

“Romie. Raiden has a scar on his right cheek. That’s how you can tell us apart.”

“That and he’s the ugly one,” goaded Raiden and ducked as his brother flicked his long reins at his head.

“Hah! If I’m ugly then you need to look in a mirror! Don’t pay any attention to him Yuuri, he’s the dumb one,” said Romie with a disdainful sniff.

“Nock it off you two! Yuuri they may act like they’re at each others throats but in reality they’re best friends. They just get a kick out of messing with people so you can’t cut them any slack.”

“Hey! No fair Toni!” bemoaned Raiden. “You’re always shooting down our fun. You’ve got to watch out for her Yuuri. She’s the original kill joy.”

Yuuri was pretty sure by the gleam he saw in the woman’s eye that she had her own streak of humor and just enjoyed making the twins squawk.

“Can you two,” ordered Dez. “Time to move out.”

Yuuri looked out with interest, still somewhat dazed as to the resent events, and caught his first real glimpse of the surrounding country as they moved to the edge of the plateau on which the camp was situated. Jagged mountains rose in all directions plunging down in the deep valleys. Snow field and rock slides gave way to roaring rivers, dense forests and open meadows far bellow. At once he was struck with awe at the wildness and beauty of the land.

Even in the most remote areas of Shin Makoku that he’d visited on his many journeys he had seen the imprint of man, but here the land refused to be tamed and required that those who came changed instead in order to survive. Yuuri’s heart sank as he realized for the first time the scope of his situation, realized that no one here was going to conveniently send him home. If he was to get back to Shin Makoku then it would be by his own two hands, but how? The task seemed daunting.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”

Yuuri tore his eyes away from the vista of grandeur to look at Ai.

“Yes, but it’s so big.”

“Of course it’s big. It’s a whole world! Welcome to Entiam, Yuuri.”

“Entiam…”

NA: Alright every one, this is the part were you click that little button that tells me someone actually reads this thing. C C is good, encouragement is better. I post what I write because I like to know that there are others out there that enjoys what I right so give me a nudge to keep going.

On another note I’m going to be introducing the prerequisite villain in a few more chapters and I thought it might be fun to let you, the readers, have a hand in constructing the dastardly swain. Let me know it this is something you all think is interesting.
See ya!

SK