The sky had just painted its colors blue. Most of the land on the Iron Mountain was barren, people lived in famine. Yellow dim lights reflected from blue grayish clouds in the sky dancing with each other. It made people who were exposed to dance thirsty.
The young man, who had just turned nineteen with black hair, a thin and long build, and a face with brown shining eyes, was carving the branch he was holding with his knife in his hand. Later, he added a new one to his crowd.
"I'd better finish chipping the sticks before noon and change the traps I set."
The forest where the young man was found was desolate. Despite the suffocating humidity of the barren air and being overwhelmed, he did not reflect much to the outside. He encountered living species that he was not used to, observed them from afar as much as he could, and took care not to take risks. An ecosystem he was not familiar with was a major threat to him. That's why he was setting traps and trying to explore his surroundings.
Three days had passed since the young man had opened his eyes here. He had thought that he would die completely in the suffocating forest. In the evening of the third day, he looked at the hunter with a good physique, long hair and green eyes, who was crossing the path where the young man was. After carefully examining the hunter with a composite bow and quiver on his back, the young man could not stand it any longer and tried to contact him. After all, he was alone in the desolate forest for three days. The first person he saw was using a handmade composite bow and quiver from the Middle Ages.
He approached the hunter with his hands in the air, clasping his hands behind his head to prove that he was not a threat. Like someone who surrenders. The hunter approached him, said something in a language he did not understand, and then pulled his bow even more nervously. The young man was aware that he would die in the wrong move. The young man lay face down on the ground so as not to disturb the hunter even more. His body lay on the ground like an arrow waiting to come out of a bow, with his hands clasped behind his back. The hunter carefully searched the young man. After making sure that the young man had no tools on him that could harm him, he tied his hands tightly behind his back with a rope. He was in a situation that would be misunderstood with the first person he contacted. How much worse could it go...
The young man silently follows the Hunter along the path. He paid attention to the old patched linen clothes on the hunter. He was surprised and frightened by the antique from the past of the modern age from which the young man came. The young man and the hunter had walked eight kilometers through the forest, following the signs engraved in the trees. It really made the young man very thirsty. With some effort, the young man tried to communicate with his body language. The young man pointed to his tongue and throat to signal to the hunter that he was thirsty, he pretended to drink water. The hunter handed the young man the vessel carved from the plant, strangely resembling a pumpkin but blacker and thicker, hanging on his belt. He had stared at the water on his head without thinking. After following the hunter for another three kilometers, he encountered the village from the Middle Ages, which made the young man very nervous. Seeing an unfamiliar ecosystem and species for three days convinced him that he was not in his own world, but after seeing the village in front of his eyes, realizing that he was not even in his own age anymore... This made the young man feel terrified and hopeless.
Then the hunter called a red-haired brown-eyed young girl to him and talked to her. The young man, who did not understand a single word of this speech, was surprised that the language had a completely different structure and shape, and that it did not seem unfamiliar. If a highly successful linguist examined the forms of expression, phrases and sentence structure, the conclusion he would reach would be that this language is not from the world they live in. After Hunter finished his conversation with the red-haired brown-colored young girl, he quickly entered a building with small steps. The young man roared with his inner voice. "Where am I?" A few minutes later, an old man came out from inside. The hunchback was obvious, very frail, the emaciated old man was attracted by the Iron Daisy symbol hanging on his chest. The old man opened his mouth and said a few sentences. The hunter turned his head to the young man. The young man tried to read their body language, carefully studied their facial expressions, since he did not understand anything. The result was again nothing.
Unable to make sense of what had happened, the young man was quickly dragged back to the forest from which they came by the Hunter and abandoned there. The young man, who could not make sense of this situation, cursed the situation he was in with his hands tied. Then he tried to untie the ropes in his hand by rubbing them against the sharp rock, but suddenly a strange entrance opened in the rock. Gravity reversed, and the dent in the rock engulfed the young man. The young man could not control his whole body with his hands, his body floated in the air for a long time beyond his control. He wanted to understand where he was, it was dark and damp. He was going to try to hold on to the ledge right next to him... He heard a hoarse and gloomy but magnificent voice...
"Oh! The ancient one, you stood for thousands of years, finally you fell apart, you searched desperately. A hope, a howl, maybe a response to your call. We waited in our homes in the fog-covered lands, we lost time, and extinction swallowed us too. We are lost in nothingness. Your legends are forgotten."
The young man was stunned, he couldn't believe his eyes. An extremely strange incident was taking place. He could translate and understand words from a language he did not understand at all in his mind. This was a ridiculous situation, almost impossible.
"Damn what's going on here, why is this thing stuck to me."
On his wrist was a thin but wide bracelet mixed with black and golden colors. Seeing the bracelet, the young man panicked. He started running to the place where the light was reflected. He was breathing heavily, as if his lungs in his ribcage were going to let him down. He ran and kept running. He was looking for the exit, running to the light, but he could not approach the light in any way. The majestic voice behind him continued to speak.
"So our promise will almost be completed. O Ancient One, your heritage will not be lost. A war, a war waged by those abandoned by the Ancient, from which no lord can escape. Oh arise now ye the blackened one! Ye dead, who yet live. Heed the call of the long-waiting, the Ancient. Cross the unrecognizable, fog and reach the land. To confront the Ancient once again!" the glorious voice finally came out of its gloomy mood and was replaced by a voice full of hope.
The golden yellow and black colors on the young man's wrist began to dance with each other in an eye-catching way. The colors that parted from his wrist resembled liquid metal: golden yellow and black. The colors rose to chest level. The young man's heart was beating fast enough to come out of his chest. Black colors swallowed gold. When he least expected it, he entered his ribcage like a sharp dagger. It stabbed into his heart. In an instant, an indescribable pain spread throughout his body. This pain was so great that the young man shattered his molars. He lay on the ground and closed, his pupils turned upside down. He even started biting his tongue in pain. He pulled his hair with his hands and drew his face with his nails. He struggled desperately, and that's how he died.
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In the intensive care unit of the hospital, a tall, black-haired, slim young man was putting the documents he was holding in his hand on the list on the computer. The table was messy, coffee cups, documents scattered left and right, a few plastic wrappers. The bags under the young man's eyes were evident. Clear skin, hard facial features, a slide-like nose structure and slanted eyes that catch a beautiful shade of brown. He looked a little younger than his peers, and not only that, he also had a handsomeness above the standards. The young man turned to the curly-haired woman who was standing at the table next to him.
"I can leave when I finish these papers, right, Naz?"
The curly-haired woman was not aware that she was being called. Shee was so influenced by the loud music playing through the headphones. She had closed herself off from the outside world.
The young man did a few stretches in the chair he was sitting on. The intern, who was barely above his chest, straightened his name badge and stood up. He was even starting to get a little grumpy because he was awake for long hours. He reached for his black jacket on the hanger in the closet, was about to put it on, when a hand touched his shoulder.
"You little asshole. Did you plan to go without me?"
The young man swallowed, and even his ears reddened a little. The distinct contours of the young woman four years his senior made him uncomfortable.
"Hey, you realize there'll be trouble if we both leave early, right? I have an anatomy exam tomorrow morning. As if that weren't enough, you've also saddled me with a bunch of lunatics."
The curly-haired woman patted the young man on the back and said, "Come on, don't whine so much. What's better than camping with the team?" she was flirting with the young man with a sweet look on her face.
The young man looked at the woman with a sigh. "Ahh... You are not the person who has an anatomy exam tomorrow. Shall we talk about my forced inclusion sometime?"
The woman chuckled, responding with a beautiful smile. "Okay, I guess you're right. I promise to take you to the bar and the accounts are on me." She had a devilish smile on her lips.
The young man knew that if he continued to talk any longer, he would waste a lot of time. Without saying a word, he put on his black jacket. He came out of the unit with quick steps. The curly-haired woman called out because she didn't say goodbye to her.
"Han, you really don't have any respect, you know that, right?"
Han didn't care, he came out with quick steps, walked towards the locker room. After changing, he put his bag on his back and left the hospital. Han turned on his music on his headphones and walked to the subway station. Along the way, he traveled with the heart-filling rhythm of music. Han soon arrived at the subway station. He started to complain about the crowd of the station, but the subway finally arrived. Han tried to get on the subway quickly, standing out from the crowd. It was disturbing that people were hurriedly squeezed into this iron box. Everyone was pushing each other to get on. Although it was a cramped and uncomfortable journey. Han finally arrived at his home. His house was not very big. The studio apartment was small but enough for him, although he wanted to live in a larger apartment, he did not have the money to afford it. The room was tidy with armchairs, beds, carpets on the floor and desk in the corner. It was small but more than enough for one person. Han had no intention of making a second person a partner in the studio apartment anyway. Despite the tiredness that descended on him, Han turned on his computer, which was on his desk. After looking at the emails he needed to handle and the time he needed to spend on tomorrow's anatomy exam. "The Lands Between 2 is finally out, should I play it?" Although this idea was appealing, Han realized that he had no energy left to spend on it. His eyelids were getting heavier. Han rubbed his eyes with his hands and reached for the cigarette pack on his desk. Han got up from the table and walked towards the balcony. Han lit his cigarette with the lighter in his hand and inhaled a deep cloud of smoke. Han fell into thought.
Han has always been restless since he moved to a different city for education from his family. His brother was going to start university this year. His parents' financial situation was not very good. Both of them were already unwell. While the woman spent twenty-five years raising her two children, she suffered from her kneecaps, and the man underwent surgery due to a heart condition that emerged at the end of twenty-five years and then could not work for two years. As he looked at the past, he remembered the field work he went to with his mother and the construction work he went to. Those were difficult days, both education, work and social relations with his peers overwhelmed him. And as if this was not enough, a large-scale virus called Covid-19 emerged in the first year he was going to university, aggravating economic and health conditions in most of the world, and as if that was not enough, the treatment of the epidemic started to be applied collectively only two years later, and in this process, the family of four, who was already in a difficult economic situation, worked together and left with their heads held high due to very heavy financial difficulties.
"Oh, so our period of comfort begins... At the end of the investment I will receive in two months, I will be able to cover the education expenses of my brother and me with the money I have saved with the bonus and my premiums." Saying that this is enough for this day, Han went to bed softly, and although Han was still worried about the future before falling asleep, most of the conditions were at a wonderful level compared to three years ago. There were already camp preparations that needed to be taken care of, those preparations could wait for tomorrow. It was time to sleep.
The young man who had no disturbance in his sleep... That's how Han died.