Bungad
- front; threshold
An expanse of viridescent prairie stretches endlessly throughout the area below his bare feet. The feeling of the grass beneath his feet is ticklish, and the soft gust of wind results in a calming rustling of the leaves. The smell of the grass, the birds chirping their mellifluous songs as they fly above the azure sky, and the gentle and tranquil flow of the river on the ground—such peaceful scenery is a rare sight for him to see within the overpopulated and polluted city he lived from before. But this place is not familiar to him. He has not seen this place from anywhere.
…what? Wait, where is he?
Then in a blink, the scenery fades away and changes into endless woods, the air reeking of desolation. Numerous petals of colors black, gray, and red fall and scatter onto the strangely bright white ground. Yet the place is devoid of wind, stifling him.
It’s a morbid mixture of colors. Something Remi is sure he will not get used to for it's a grotesque sight to see. The sky was a sheet of deep black canvas that stretches until nowhere. No stars can be seen. The blankness of the dark canvas is not a sight he welcomes despite him being used to such darkness since the urban city he lives in is full of artificial lights that cover even the blinking of the stars, yet it engulfs him.
The circular moon up above is stranger. Instead of the usual bright white hue, it is painted in dark blue. Many will think that such color will bring tranquility, but what Remi feels as he observes the deep blue sphere is simply coldness, wherein he feels like he is stuck in an endless abyss, slowly devouring his existence.
Amidst this unfamiliar setting, he finds himself feeling off-centered. There is a feeling of stifling pain in his heart, yet it palpitates bizarrely like he was anticipating something. But of what…? He has never felt anything similar before, and it terrifies him.
He breathes unevenly, suddenly rushing forward—stumbling due to his haste, but he quickly regains his balance—to find something, anything, as a distraction from all these unfamiliarities he is currently experiencing. He tightly closes his eyes and presses his lips, running forward blindly. A soft whimper unknowingly escapes his dry lips, followed by a stifled sob.
Numerous unknown places and faceless figures emerge inside his mind, yet all of them quickly vanish making everything a presentation of more endless unknowns.
What are these places?
Who are these people?
Suddenly, he halts. He then finds himself opening his eyes as a different sensation crawls up his spine. He shudders.
His eyes dilate as they open wide in astonishment after seeing an endless view of powder-blue flowers. Such beautiful flowers obviously aren't terrifying at all, but the eerie silence and the penetrating chill that climbs up to his heart numbs him.
Everything is silent. No wind, no people, no nothing.
It is only him and the flowers.
Subconsciously, he reaches out, his disordered mind creating an illusion of a blurry figure. His hand is almost near to grasp the other's, but it quickly slaps his away, resulting in an ear-splitting sound.
"[][][][][][] [][]!!!"
Remi jolts awake, gasping as he attempts to compose himself, but the penetrating ringing inside his ears renders him to sway and feel nauseous. Fortunately, he somehow successfully supports himself, avoiding his head from having another painful encounter with the ground. He shakes his head and attempts to stand up, but he has underestimated his vertigo, and his knees buckle after he puts weight on them.
A soft groan of pain escapes his lips as he falls down another time.
He lies back down and takes a moment to pull himself together, making an effort to detect whether there's something wrong with his body. Luckily, except for this raging headache and sore body, nothing seems terribly wrong with him. A relieved sigh leaves his mouth and takes another moment to recover himself.
As his mind gradually clears and the ringing in his ears disappear, the weakness he feels follows. Also, the headache and soreness of his body become bearable, thankfully resulting in him standing up less of a difficult task to do.
This place he wakes up in is his… house, he realizes in astonishment after checking his surroundings. After that otherworldly experience before, he thought he would be transported to some kind of fantastical world just like those novels he had an opportunity to read from his classmates' recommendations. And for him to be someone having the opportunity to receive such privilege, everything seems so possible right now.
But why is he in his house? Not that he's complaining or whatsoever, but why ain't he in some majestic castle or whatnot?! If not for that painful agony that came from him being the focal point of those seemed like magical arrays that sent him here, he would be screaming in glee and excitement. For such a magical thing to happen for him, would anyone desiring for such an experience react otherwise?
Well, sure, they may be overwhelmed and shocked at first, but after the fact that they are now inside a magical world sinks in, won't they be jumping in excitement and want to explore?!
This is what all otakus desire to experience after reading so many web novels! Fortunately for him, no vehicles were sent to him for him to transport him into other worlds, but the aftermath was different from what he generally knows. Won't heroes be sent to another world and wake up in front of a huge-breasted woman telling them that they are here to save the world?
Why did it not happen to him?!
And yes, he's an otaku.
Well, that unimportant fact aside, as he continues checking the interior of this place, a sinking feeling wells in his stomach.
Even though the interior has an uncanny resemblance to his home, this place isn't his. And besides, from that peculiar and painful experience he had before, it will be impossible for him to be sent back home.
The desolateness is evident, however, there are still tons of things that are too familiar to him. Like those wooden swords put inside a barrel-like container in the living room. If he and his father spontaneously decided to practice or spar on the lawn, they could easily do so without walking so much distance from the dojo just to get them. And the scratches on the walls to check his height, everything is so familiar that it’s a bit too painful for him to bear.
Unfortunately, his skills in sword-fighting are almost non-existent for the sole reason his body just can’t seem to function well handling the weapon.
But that fact didn’t deter him whatsoever and compensated in his martial arts. He cannot dare say he’s good, but Remi is confident that he can protect himself and be able to run away if his opponent is too powerful for him to defeat.
And speaking of the dojo, the resemblance is too queer.
There are just so many similarities that it scares Remi. But when he arrives in his room, he finds something out of place—fortunately, all the things he accumulated aren't out of place, but there was a huge bag above his bed. And when he traipses toward the bag to see its contents, he notices a folded paper beside it. He shakily reaches for it and anxiously reveals what is written.
The contents are:
You weren't able to come back home in time, so this is the only thing we can do for you.
All the things Faye and I can think of as necessary are inside this bag.
I know you are confused and bewildered at this sudden turn of events, and we did our best to prepare you for that, but now that the final piece has returned, everything will return to its rightful course.
We did our best to put everything back to its rightful place, but it’s not enough. We will never be enough, and it’s your turn to put the missing and new pieces together. We know that you can make everything better this time, as you’ve always had. We were the ones who failed you.
It’s unfortunate that we aren’t able to say our farewells, but please live your life to the fullest in this world. For your sake, and us.
P.S. The house is a replica of our home so that you can live there. We will let you design the interior this time. Don’t leave the house cold and empty of memories, son.
- Edward
Remi snorts bitterly at the postscript. How will this house be warm without you guys here? He says in his mind.
After a long pause, he lets out a dejected sigh. No answers were given, and more questions assaulted his mind. He eyes the paper and rereads the note too many times as his face morphs into a thoughtful expression. His dad’s words are too vague. The only thing Remi understands from Edward is that something happened before (but he doesn’t know whether it was good or bad, and to what extent. But from these words, it seemed like it was something disastrous).
Apart from that dreadful note, his Dad and Mom are too prepared for this to be a mere accident. And from the letter, his arrival in this world is not something of a coincidence. But now that the final piece has returned, everything will return to its rightful course. Remi utters in his mind as he rereads the note for the nth time. He sits onto the corner of his bed while he mulls over this phrase.
Is that implying he is the piece or something? Now that the thought passes his mind, it seems more plausible. He’s the remaining missing piece that put something in motion. But what can he do? He’s only an otaku who has read too many web novels to the extent that instead of going insane in this new world he arrived at, he’s excited to roam around and discover new things.
With no answers coming inside his head for there are too few clues to dwell upon, he re-folds the note and puts it back where he got it from, deciding to think about it later after he learns a bit more about this world. Besides, basing his ideas on mere conjectures won't result in definite conclusions at all.
It’s useless to linger over things he’s clueless about. What will come will come. And adding to the fact he’s clueless to what his dad’s saying in the note, he’ll just slowly uncover those secrets and decide what to do by then.
Another sigh escapes his lips and inspects the bag’s contents. The crossbody sling bag is pretty small and easy to carry, but for its small capacity, it is pretty heavy. It has a woven-like design and looks a little bit outdated. However, instead of feeling averse to having this kind of bag, he feels like keeping it as there is a sense of familiarity emanating from it. He zips it open and is surprised to see nothing but a black space inside.
“Huh, pretty cool,” he comments as his eyes glisten in fascination. He unhesitatingly dips his hand and tries to pull something out. But when he touches something smooth and cold, he retracts his hand quickly in fright. “Woah!”
Laughing nervously, he dips his hands once more, a bit cautious. As his hand touches the cold item before, he feels around the object and slowly digs it out from the bag.
A jar comes out, and Remi examines it. He turns its cap off and looks at the content, which is some kind of substance he doesn’t know. “What the hell is this?” He asks himself as he sniffs, only to shrink down and wince. He lets out a loud cough as a pungent smell invades his nostrils. “Ack! I kinda expected that,” he wheezes.
His excavation didn’t take long, but surprisingly there were a lot of things inside. There are jars of that same substance, containers filled with one dangkal[1] elongated slabs of rock, and some kind of thin pieces of wood covered with something like a rope. Aside from those, there is also a small pouch that has coins in it and a huge box the size of his abdomen covered with seals. The rectangular papers pasted on the box look like some kind of seal he saw from the animes he watched before, but the symbols aren't the same. They are noodle-like and bizarre. He attempts to open the box, but it remains unopened.
Since he doesn't know what use those things are for, he puts them away in the meantime. Well, his dad deemed them necessary, so those things must have some kind of significance. There is also a pair of fingerless gloves (there are also extras, maybe in case they got destroyed, he guesses) with some kind of scribbles on the dorsal part of it.
After pulling out some kind of book (it’s so battered and looks like even opening it will pull the pages out from its spine), he can’t seem to feel any more items, so his digging is finally put to a close.
There are not many things he needs, for the time being, so he decides to set those things aside.
A content sigh escapes the youth’s lips as he finishes and wipes his sweat flowing down from his forehead with the sleeve of his uniform. Now talking about his uniform, Remi fidgets uncomfortably and thinks deeply. He has plans to walk around later after this to try and look for information, and there is a possibility that he may look strange in his clothes. And besides, his uniform feels uncomfortable due to the running he did from earlier. So, yes, changing seems like a good idea right now.
As he opens his wardrobes, he is surprised to find numerous Camisa de chino and trousers in various colors inside the cabinet. Good decision to think of clothes, then. Remi muses and reaches for a navy blue Camisa de chino and beige trousers.
“Hmm, for now…” He trails off as he finishes changing clothes and wears his bag.
“Food.”
[1] Dangkal - length from the tips of your pinky and thumb. So, yes, this type of measurement varies. But typically, it’s about 20 centimeters.
