He stepped trough the big portal.
The wind blew against his face and he could hear some kind of bird singing.
It was a relaxing feeling.
Much better than the completely still and soundless Void.
"What is this, Auuurgh!".
Before he'd had a chance to think he had smacked the grass-clad ground with the force of a herd of raging buffaloes.
Gravity was not his friend it dragged him down so hard he couldn't stand up.
It got dark before his eyes...
——————————————————
"Hello..."
"Hello? Are you okay?..."
"WAKE UP!!!"
The boy jumped. He looked around bewildered. "what's going on" he flinched surprised too hear his own voice for the first time, at least what he could remember.
His vision was blurry and it was hard to see "oww, my head hurts" he thought.
As his vision cleared he could see from who the voice was coming from.
It was a man that sat on his knees next too him.
" So you're not dead then " the man sighed in relief.
He looked about fifty with a big chest and strong arms. He was a tad bit longer than the boy and much more brawny. Over his left shoulder he had some kind of weapon, it looked like one of those rifles they had in the 19th century.
"Hello do you talk, are you deaf?"
the man asked.
Petrified the boy replied "ye,e, yes" he stumbled on the words.
The man laughed
"haha, no need too be frightened, I won't hurt ya". He smiled and looked like a good guy so the boy got a little calmer.
"What's your name, boy. Mine is Stefáan". the man said with a smile.
The boy didn't know what too say.
He didn't want too seem weird or anything and he didn't know if he could trust this "Stefáan" guy.
So he tried coming up with a name.
"My name is Val"
" Val.. That's quite a unique name around here you know, Val" Stefáan said wondering.
He didn't know where the name "Val" came from but it sounded familiar in his head, so he had picked it.
"So Val, what happened to your clothes or do you just not wear any?" Stefáan grinned.
"Oo, shit." the boy thought. He hadn't realised he was completely naked. He had forgotten that it was normal to wear clothes.
In the Void he hadn't thought about it, but now it was a real problem.
He didn't care to be seen naked, but he really didn't want to look out of place.
Because he didn't know where he was or anything. He was completely vulnerable.
That he for some reason didn't have clothes on didn't help with the "not being weird" part either.
He didn't know how too respond to Stefáan. "Uhm, uuh, umm" was all he could get out of his mouth.
Stefáan laughed again "haha, don't worry about it"
The boy couldn't help but worry about it.
How embarrassing.
"Listen Val, I don't know why you are here or what you where doing knocked out cold, and butt naked haha. HM hmm. But if you want I can take you with me home and give you some spare clothes?"
The boy didn't know how to answer.
He thought the man seemed friendly but he couldn't be completely sure.
And now this guy wanted him to come with him to his home? "This could go really badly", but he reasoned that he didn't have any better options so he said.
"Are you sure? That would be very polite of you".
Stefáan shrugged "you look like you are in need of some help, so of course".
The boy tried standing up.
It did not go well. His feet caved in under him.
He realised what was going on, he wasn't used too gravity" all the time in the Void had made his body forget the feeling of being pulled towards the ground. It felt weird, uncomfortable.
"And of course you can't walk either" Stefáan rolled his eyes and giggled a little.
The boy got a little bit irritated about his sarcastic comments.
Stefáan took the boys left arm and put it around his right shoulder, and pulled him up.
"Thanks" the boy said.
With the support from Stefáan he got some balance. "It's like learning to walk all over again" he thought. Not that he remembered doing it for a first time, but he didn't think anyone else did either.
they began to walk. He looked over his shoulder to where the crack he came out of had been located. But it was nowhere to be seen.
"Weird, where did it go" he mumbled, but he couldn't think over it to much.
The task at hand had to be given his all, walking with gravity was harder than he ever could've imagined.
They walked slowly trough the lush forest. Some kind of rodent with a green tail and red fur ran in front of them, it was so fast you could just catch a glimpse of it.
The forest was even more beautiful up close.
The trees were massive and looked almost metal like, the grass was also unnaturally stiff.
But the weirdest part of it all was the sky. It was a light shade of purple without a single cloud in sight.
There didn't seem to be any sun or anything that could be called one either.
The boy didn't understand how there could be light without a source, but before he could ask Stefáan about that, Stefáan suddenly stopped. He put his I index finger over his mouth, a sign for the boy too be quiet.
Then he saw it.
Infront of them in a small grove there stood some kind of creature, the boy recognised it. It looked about the same as the one he saw trough the crack earlier.
The creature had four legs and it's fur was white. It looked similar too a deer on earth but this one had four horns sprouting from its head instead of two.
"BAAANG!!"
The boy jumped high into the air.
He had been so focused on the beautiful creature he hadn't realised Stefáan had taken the rifle of his back and pointed it at the animal.
Smoke came out of the pipe.
Stefáan blew it away.
The boy looked over to where the animal had been standing just a second ago.
It was laying in a awkward angle, its head bent over backwards.
There came a steady blood stream from right over it's stomach.
The boy threw up.
"Have you never seen a animal die before?" Stefáan asked, a brow raised.
"No" the boy answered,
brushing the puke away from his mouth.
He was embarrassed.
"Guess sometime got too be the first one" Stefáan said. He walked over to the body of the animal, grabbed it underneath one of his arms, and walked back to the boy.
"He's stronger than he looks" the boy thought.
"Are you a hunter " he asked.
"No i just hunt animals for myself" Stefáan replied.
"Isn't that what a hunter is?" the boy asked.
"No you see around here Val, a Hunter is someone much much more dangerous than that.