"What is going on?"
I looked around to see where I was. There were many trees. So many that sunlight could barely pass through the thick leaves. But what truly confused me were those red fruits; they were pulsing like a beating heart.
"Am I dreaming?"
The last thing I remembered was my mother's crying face as she pulled my legs... then that strange thing with the sky. What was that sound?
A small frog with horns on its head stood in front of me. It was eating and looking at me.
My chest felt tight, and cold sweat ran down my back.
"Damn it, why does this feel so real?"
The frog jumped and ran into a yellow pond. It looked like it was escaping from something.
I looked behind me and saw a distant shadow of a tall creature.
The creature moved carefully, touching the trees. Suddenly, it turned its head toward me.
I took a step back before slipping on the wet ground and falling.
The creature screamed and started running toward me on two legs.
I panicked. I pushed the ground with my hands to move away from that scary thing.
I could hear its fast footsteps getting closer and closer until its breathing was louder than its steps.
"Mom!"
I hoped I would wake up the moment it caught me.
Suddenly, a cold feeling wrapped around my neck and gripped it hard.
"Ack!"
It lifted me off the ground by my neck.
The forest became silent again. I could only hear my broken breathing and the sound of someone licking their lips behind me.
It whispered something I didn't understand, but I could smell its breath. It was disgusting.
"Where do you think you're running?"
It turned me around slowly.
I saw it clearly this time... too clearly.
It had the face of a lizard, but more monstrous with sharp fangs and one yellow eye.
Facing such a monster, I did what any man would do.
"AAAAA!"
"Grahhh!!"
The quiet forest filled with a wild scream along with my crying. I could barely make a sound with its hand on my neck.
The excited look on the lizard's face quickly changed to annoyance.
With a fast move, it slapped me. My nose started bleeding, and my head felt dizzy.
The taste of blood filled my mouth.
It put me on the ground and tied my hands with a rough rope. It pulled it so hard that my wrists started bleeding.
Dirt entered my eyes and mouth. This monster was putting its heavy weight on me.
"You are obedient now."
I clenched my fists. I felt my heart beating in my throat. I felt completely helpless.
"Did you find it already? Damn, you're lucky. Looks like the reward is yours again," a voice came from behind the monster, but I couldn't see.
The place filled with different voices. The common thing was that I understood nothing.
The creature pulled me by my hair to make me stand. I looked ahead with painful, dusty eyes.
There were other lizards like the first one, but with different colors: blue, green, black, and gray. They were like humans because they stood on two legs and wore clothes, but they were much larger and had long tails.
"Here, catch!"
"Waaaah!"
Before I realized it, I was flying through the air. I landed on another monster with blue skin—or blue scales?
"Imagine how much money the noble families will pay for this creature! This will make us rich, haha!"
The monsters looked happy, laughing and hitting each other playfully.
They started walking, making me walk barefoot. I tried to talk to them, but it was useless. They didn't understand a word. Finally, I gave up and kept walking.
After a few minutes, I saw light breaking through the forest. We headed straight toward it.
Finally, we left the forest.
The daylight hurt my eyes because they were used to the darkness. I closed my eyes to avoid the pain. When I opened them, I saw the view.
A wide area covered in red grass with no trees as far as the eye could see. Even though it was morning, the sky was full of bright stars. The beauty and horror of the view took my breath away.
Nearby, there was a group of tents and a campfire. There were more lizards, but some had breasts. Were these their women?
Some were cooking, others were cleaning clothes. They were all doing daily chores.
Suddenly, a group of smaller lizards ran toward us. These were... their children?
"Daddy! Daddy! Wah!" The fastest child jumped toward the one-eyed lizard, who picked him up.
"How are you, you little brat? Did you miss your father already?"
"Daddy! Daddy! What is this?" The child asked, pointing at me.
"Oh, this? This is our bright future, hahaha!"
Suddenly, everyone was looking at me. Some children tried to touch me, poke me with sticks, or throw stones at me.
"Hey! Stay away from the goods!" Luckily, the blue lizard pushed them away.
The one-eyed lizard went to talk to a white lizard. She seemed to be his wife.
"Did your father return before us?" the one-eyed lizard asked her.
"Yes. He wasn't lucky. He already heard that you found the Freak. He told me to tell you to go to him," the wife said, avoiding eye contact. She looked very nervous.
"Fine, I will go to him. Hold the child." He passed his son to his wife and turned to me.
"Eh? Where are you taking him?" the blue lizard asked worriedly.
"The Village Chief wants me. I must go to him."
"But why take the treasure with you? Are you going to give it to him? We are the ones who found it! The Chief steals from us every—" The blue lizard stopped when he saw everyone looking at him.
"Don't worry, he won't take anything this time. He promised me that if I found it, it would be mine."
"Gulan," the blue lizard said, grabbing his friend's hand.
"You know we all support you. Everyone trusts that you are the right leader for the village. That old man is only good at stealing. If he tries to take this thing from you..."
"I told you, don't worry," Gulan said angrily before leaving with me to the Village Chief's tent.
I was dragged by the one-eyed lizard. I could see the rest of the village. It was full of lizards. For the first time, I saw creatures other than lizards.
Specifically two: one looked like a mix between a pig and a sheep. They were kept behind a fence. The second was an animal that looked like a bear and a rhino, with a saddle on its back. I assumed it was their mount.
I was definitely in another world.
Finally, we reached a tent that was larger than the others.
The lizard stood at the entrance before speaking. After a moment, he got a reply from inside and entered.
Inside was a white lizard wearing clean, expensive clothes, unlike the rest of the village.
"Greetings, Village Chief," Gulan said, kneeling.
The Chief approached and placed his hand on Gulan's head, accepting the greeting.
Suddenly...
"Waaaaah!"
I looked behind me. A lizard was standing at the entrance, holding books and looking at me in shock.
"T-This? A Freak! I can't believe the message in the corpse was real! There really was one!"
I didn't understand anything, but he dropped his book and started examining my body quickly.
"So, is it really a Freak?" the Chief asked.
"Yes! Yes! I guarantee it! It matches the descriptions in the books."
"What descriptions? It looks normal to me," the Chief doubted the excited researcher. He saw nothing special in me.
"No, no. It's not about the looks. Try to sense its energy."
The Chief did what the researcher said. Gulan also tried to sense it.
"This..." Confusion filled Gulan's eyes.
"Why is its energy gathered in one single point?"
"Haha! Didn't I tell you? It is what we were looking for!" the researcher said proudly.
"Enough," the Chief said in a rebuking tone.
The place became silent. The tension was heavy until the Chief spoke.
"Gulan, you did well catching this Freak. I will find a buyer for you. You can leave it here. I will take care of it from now on."
"Excuse me, Chief, but I will handle it myself," Gulan said fiercely. This old man was trying to steal from him again.
"Oh? Are you sure?" the old man said, looking at the researcher.
Gulan felt something was wrong. He looked at the researcher, who was afraid of the fight.
"Thi—This... Ahem. The Freak cannot live long. Usually, it dies three days after arriving in this world."
Gulan was shaken, but he didn't show it. He listened carefully.
"But we can fix this," the Chief said, taking out a bottle filled with blue liquid.
"This medicine will keep the creature alive for three more days. Long enough to sell it before it dies."
Gulan stood silent. He had been tricked. Only the Chief knew the buyers, and only he had the medicine.
He clenched his fists and looked at the Chief. The Chief smiled and said:
"Hey, don't look at me like I tricked you. If you are ignorant, it's not my fault. You just didn't ask."
"So? What do you want?" Gulan asked, losing his patience.
"What are you talking about, my relative? I don't want anything. Just leave the creature here. I will handle the sale and send you the money."
Gulan stood silent...
Then he turned and left without a word. But before he did, he looked at Rain with anger.
Rain didn't know what was happening, but something had made this creature angry.
"Damn it," Rain muttered, trying to loosen his ropes.
"You."
Huh? Did this lizard call me?
"Do you understand what I am saying?" the researcher asked with difficulty.
"Yes," Rain said, his face full of shock.
The researcher smiled and said to the Chief:
"Sir, may I take him with me? I need him for my research."
"Do as you wish."
Suddenly, I was led out of the tent. we passed the villagers. They were surrounding the one-eyed lizard and looking at me sharply.
Whatever the conversation was between the one-eyed and the white lizard, it didn't seem to go well.
We finally reached our destination.
"Are you hungry?" the lizard asked.
"No."
"You seem very confused."
"Well, strange trees, a sky with stars in the middle of the day, and what else? Oh, crazy lizards hitting people, kidnapping them, and tying them up. And then what? Are you going to eat me? I don't think I'm just confused; what's happening is confusion itself."
"Oh! Interesting! It seems stars in the day are not common in your world. And the trees too... hmmm." The lizard started taking notes.
"Tell me, why did you think we might eat you? Does this happen in your world?"
"W-What? Are you crazy? Of course not! Our meat tastes bad and is very poisonous!"
"Hmm. Your clothes look expensive. Were you someone important in your world?"
"Y-Yes. Actually, I am the son of the King of that world. He will come looking for me and kill anyone who treats me badly. But if you let me go, I will tell my father and make sure you get a good reward."
"Hmm, interesting."
Damn, I'm so nervous... did he believe it?
"I am sorry, young man, but you cannot leave this world."
The tent became silent. The only sound was from outside, from the villagers busy with their work.
"Wait, I can't go back? Are you telling me I'm stuck here for the rest of my life?"
Rain stood up from his seat. His hands were shaking. Was it over? Would he never see his mother, father, and sister again? No, he couldn't accept that.
"Yes, you are stuck."
The lizard's words cut through Rain's thoughts.
"Damn it," he muttered, feeling sick to his stomach.
The place fell silent.
"Haha, you are really interesting," the lizard laughed.
I was not in the mood to play along. I already hated everyone here.
"I will tell you everything. Just sit down."
The lizard sat and pointed for me to sit.
"Before I tell you, what is your name, young man?"
"Rain."
"A beautiful name. Nice to meet you. My name is Baal."
The place became silent again.
He sighed before pouring himself a cup of green liquid.
"What is the name of your world, young man?"
"Huh? Maybe... Earth?"
Baal raised his head and looked into Rain's eyes.
"Did you say Earth?"
"Yes."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I think so."
Baal stood up from his chair. Tension was clear in his eyes.
"How many continents are in your world? And what are their names?"
"Seven. Africa, Australia, North and South America, Europe, Asia... what was the seventh?"
"Antarctica."
Baal finished Rain's sentence. His face was sweating as he looked at Rain.
His hands trembled as he muttered:
"This is impossible..."