The Wanderer's Rebirth: Other Paths

Reldan just about shat himself when he heard a voice off to his right speaking to him. He swung his torch towards the voice, and was just able to make out a young human with, of all things, a door held in one hand… arm. Whatever. He was also lazily waving at him.

Reldan wasn’t at all sure about the guy, especially given his weird clothing.

He’d been tracking a few goblins through the woods when he’d come across this weird… building. He hadn’t seen anything like it before, with its odd exterior and huge, perfect, windows. The glass was clearer, and just plain perfect, than anything he’d ever seen before. The glass back home was bubbly and somewhat cloudy. Well, the stuff used in peoples’ homes anyway. Potion bottles tended to be much nicer, but still not as clear or smooth as the stuff in this place.

But the tracks had led him to a broken door, so he’d- cautiously!- followed them in. He’d expected a fight, so he’d gone in with both sword and torch at the ready. Given how small the building was, he’d expected a fight right away, but only silence had greeted him. That, and the sound of crunching glass under his boots.

After a few minutes of silence, he’d concluded that the goblins weren’t about, so he’d sheathed his sword and started looking at the oddities around him.

He’d never before come across a place like this, filled with oddities he’d never seen before. The large black table was very smooth. He suspected that a varnish of some sort had turned the wood that color given that he didn’t know of any trees that produced a wood that dark.

The wall on the left was painted a pumpkin orange, much to his surprise given that the rest of the place’s walls were white. He shrugged, as that was the least of the oddities surrounding him. On the table were strange objects that he’d never seen before, with various glowing lights. There was this rectangular-ish thing, an off white that was a bit grey, a bit cream, that had a small green light glowing on the far side.

He wasn’t sure what it was, but it seemed to have some sort of opening that held what looked like very expensive parchment, possibly even paper, in it. Just as he was about to take a closer look, that voice had nearly caused him to crap himself.

Now, he was looking at the rather large young human who stood a hand taller than him, trying to figure out if the guy would try to bash in his head with that very sturdy looking door. Sure, he had a pleasant-looking expression on his face and all that, but. He’d met more than a few people who hid their intentions behind a smile, so he chose to not let his guard down.

The other issue was that Reldan had absolutely no idea what language the guy was speaking.

“Uh, hi?” Reldan replied, not at all confident that the fellow would know what he was saying.

And just as he suspected, the guy lifted an eyebrow, obviously confused. A moment later, he raised a hand, palm facing Reldan, then slowly leaned the door he was carrying against the wall in the hallway that he stood in. Given the practically universal gesture, he hadn’t bothered drawing his sword, but he’d still been ready to, just in case.

The young human, as he looked about the same age as Reldan, though he was no expert in determining the age of humans, then pointed at the chairs tucked up against the table. Reldan thought he understood, so he used his free hand to quickly pull out the two black chairs, sliding one several feet over for the guy to sit in.

The guy seemed to be happy with that as he placed a hand on the back of the chair and pulled it just a bit closer to him before sitting in it. Taking that as a non-hostile gesture, Reldan slowly sat in his chair, taking care to not let his backpack catch, nor to stub his tail. It was nice that the backs of the chairs were laddered, giving plenty of room for a tail. Though, he was pretty sure that the guy in front of him didn’t have a tail. Maybe it was just a design that he liked?

He had so many questions he wanted to ask. But given the language barrier, he had no idea how he was going to get the guy to answer them. And, given how the guy looked, he supposed that he’d come to the same conclusion. Though, after a minute or so of very awkward silence, the guy looked like he had an idea.

He got up slowly, obviously trying hard to avoid spooking Reldan, then made his way over to what appeared to be some sort of kitchen. Well, he said “made his way over”, but really, he just stepped over a few feet behind where he’d been sitting. The guy then opened a very expensive-looking cupboard and began retrieving a few, clinking, things. A moment later, Reldan was presented with dinnerware.

The guy laid them all out on the table, each sitting beside the other, before pointing at one and saying something Reldan didn’t understand. But he caught on when the guy pointed at the next item, a small bowl, and said something else.

Nodding, Reldan played along.

“Plate,” he said, pointing at the ridiculously smooth and expensive-looking white plate. Not just “white”, but snow-white.

The guy then tried to repeat the word, making it sound rather odd in the process. So, to throw the guy a bone, he repeated the word again, taking his time enunciated the word as best he could. The guy then tried again and surprised Reldan with just how well he’d copied him. A few seconds later, the guy sounded perfectly normal.

The guy then pointed at the bowl, and the process continued until all of the dinnerware was identified, his words sounding normal.

Now, as entertaining as all this was, Reldan was actually there to do a job. Roving goblins were a hazard for his village, and given that he was a [Scout] it was his job to either find dangers to the village and eliminate them, or to bring back information on said dangers so that someone else could deal with them.

So, he held up his free hand to stop the guy from heading back to the kitchen with the dinnerware and spoke.

“I,” he said, pointing at himself, “need – to – look – for – goblins,” he said, trying to pantomime his intent as he spoke.

The guy just stared at him blankly for a moment before seeming to think of something else. He reached over and retrieved a few pieces of that expensive-looking paper that was cut to very exact measurements, then grabbed a weird-looking hexagonal… crystal… stick? The thing was about as long as Reldan’s hand and crystal-clear. It had some sort of black core to hit, with a black cap on one end and a black tip on the other.

Reldan’s eyes widened when it turned out to be some sort of weird writing instrument. The guy started drawing, astonishing Reldan in the process. Not just because of how well he was doing, but at what the pictures depicted.

It was also fascinating! He’d never before seen such a way to tell a story! It was so effective, that the guy didn’t need to use words, or writing he supposed, to get across the story. From what he saw, the goblins had kicked in his door/window and entered. A short fight had ensued, leaving the guy victorious and the goblins dead. The last picture showed the guy cleaning up, then getting the door to fix the broken front door when Reldan had entered.

“Huh,” he said, then shook his head, taking another look at the young man.

Again, he was a good hand taller than Reldan himself, but also much broader in the shoulders than he was, making him think that the guy must be at least five-stone heavier than him. That he’d taken out three goblins with a small skinning knife was more than impressive, even with healing potions.

He was about to say something when his stomach interrupted him, causing him to blush in embarrassment. He hadn’t eaten since suppertime, and it was now well past midnight. Given his trek through the forest, it was no wonder that he was hungry again. Though, everyone did say that young men his age were constantly eating. Which, to be fair, he’d found to be quite true.

The guy looked at him, then nodded in understanding before getting up and retrieving a pot from under the big, dark grey metal-looking thing. A moment later, he was retrieving water from what looked like a miniature… well pump? Reldan had no idea how that worked, given that the guy just moved the lever-thingy once and water started pouring out of the small tap.

A moment later found the pot full of water and sitting on the grey/black… oven? What really interested Reldan was that, after turning a knob, the top of the… device, turned red. Well, the spot under the pot did, anyway. It didn’t take long for the water to start boiling before the guy retrieved two small, blue and yellow… boxes? Anyways, the tore the tops off the boxes, pulled out two white packets of something, then dumped the rest of the contents into the boiling water.

He then opened a drawer, retrieved a wooden spoon, then began to stir with one hand while the other turned the knob again, then started touching the back part of the stove(?), making it make weird chirping noises.

Reldan had no idea what was going on. Well, more how he was cooking. For the guy was obviously cooking something. But, how?! What was this magic that he’d never seen before? How useful would it be to have that weird, magical, stove for the village? How fast would it be to cook things? Well, he assumed it would be fast if magic were involved. But that also raised another question.

How much magic would it take to cook like that? Would a [Mage] need to attend the device to keep it going? Did it have its own magical reserve? His mind whirled with questions until he heard another weird chirping sound that broke him out of his thoughts.

The guy took his stirring spoon, retrieved one of the small… things, and popped it into his mouth before quickly chewing it, then nodding. He grabbed the pot, a metal and glass lid- where had he gotten all of that perfect glass from?!- and then drained the hot water into the sink, making him wonder where the water would go.

Then he went over to the huge, white, free-standing cabinet-thingy and opened the large door. Given that his torch was starting to burn low at that point, Reldan’s eyes were shocked when bright white light poured out of the white cabinet-thing. It wasn’t so bright that he was blinded, especially because the door blocked most of the escaping light, but it still astonished him.

Before he knew it, the guy had mixed a few things into the pot from that white thing, then closed it again. He then went to a small cupboard, retrieved a few small containers of some sort, then proceeded to sprinkle a few things into the pot from there. Herbs?

After another good stir where Reldan finally noticed that the white packets of something had been opened at some point and were laying empty on the countertop, and the guy had poured some of the yellowish-orange stuff into two bowls, adding two metal- metal!- spoons to the bowls.

He then came back to where they were sitting and placed the bowl on the table beside him before doing the same for his, beside where he was sitting that is. He then looked at Reldan’s torch, frowned, then shook his head before reaching over to a weird… thing on the table and touched its base. A soft light sprang into being, nearly causing Reldan to jump in surprise.

What sort of magical place did this guy come from?! He asked himself, still shocked at the casual display of magical wealth. He could count on one hand the number of people in his village that owned a magic item. And they were nothing like what this guy had!

He came out of his thoughts when he noticed the guy waving a hand in front of his face, then blushed again. How shameful was it that he’d lost focus again while out on a scouting mission. The guys back home wouldn’t let him hear the end of it if they found out.

Anyways, the guy was pointing at his torch, and making some sort of motion, the pointing at the sink. Then he got it.

Reldan shook his head, then spoke. “[Snuff],” using the Skill to put out small fires, most commonly used to extinguish torches or small campfires quickly, and safely. No need to risk a forest fire after all.

The guy looked incredibly interested in how he’d extinguished the torch, but the smell from the bowl distracted Reldan from the guy’s inquisitive stare. The smell also reminded his stomach that it had been ignored for far too long.

The presence of small… disks? Small pieces of what appeared to be incredibly fine sausage caught his attention. When had the guy added those? Then he remembered how distracted he’d been by the magical devices and nearly blushed again.

Hearing a clink, Reldan turned to see that the guy had retrieved his own bowl and had picked up his spoon, fully laden with the orangish stuff and meat. The guy looked amused that Reldan hadn’t started yet, then opened his mouth and inserted the spoon, and food, into it.

He looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding to himself and taking another bite. Reldan’s stomach chose that moment to loudly remind him that he hadn’t as yet taken responsibility for ignoring it. So, he reached over and picked up the bowl, feeling how warm it still was. The smell, a bit familiar, a bit foreign, still managed to get his stomach to growl again and his mouth to water.

Reldan took a small portion onto his spoon before bringing it up to his face to sniff again, but found that it still smelled oddly good. With a mental shrug, he popped the spoon into his mouth.

After a moment of chewing the food, he decided that it was the most amazing thing that he’d ever eaten!

Moments later, the bowl was empty, his hungry gaze was fixed on the pot sitting on the counter.

His… host, he supposed the guy should be called, looked amused, but got up and retrieved the pot containing the Most Amazing Food and served him the rest of it. Reldan then felt guilty about that, his manners finally kicking in, but the guy just waved it off before sitting down again, resuming eating.

This time, Reldan savoured the ambrosia, the Most Amazing Food. He thought he detected a cheesy flavour, but also detected a… nutty flavour as well. Then there were the herbs his host had added that reminded him of dill and something else, an interesting addition. But the meat, so flavourful and tender, was what really got him. Combined, they made for the most amazing thing he’d ever eaten before. But the small, tubular, things were also good. Amazing even. So… new. He’d never had anything like it before. Deliciousness on a level he’d never dreamed of.

His host seemed to think it was pretty good too, as he also made sure to eat everything in his bowl. He then noticed Reldan, specifically his mouth, and nodded.

What?

His host got up, went to the white thing again, then retrieved two green metal cylinders and came back. He then used a finger to lift some sort of metal tab on the top of the thing, causing it to crack-hiss, making him jump a bit in his chair. His host smiled again, then offered him the first one.

Reldan took it, immediately noticing how cold the metal was, then realized that the white thing much be an ice-box of some sort. Obviously a magical version of one. Another crack-hiss brought his attention back to his host, who had lifted his metal canister up in an odd gesture.

His host then encouraged him to do the same, then he tapped his metal cylinder to his before taking a drink and sighing in apparent pleasure.

Reldan sniffed at his, then sneezed. He gave his amused host another look before bracing himself and taking a small sip. His mouth exploded.

Not literally, but… literally. The liquid was bubbly like ale, but… sharper. It was also incredibly sweet! But it also burned like the hard spirits the adults would drink at the tavern. At the same time, its burning was different than strong spirits. And as he sat there, contemplating how weird it was, he noticed that his mouth seemed to somehow also fill with air.

Not wanting to swallow that much air, he opened his mouth slightly in an attempt to let it out, causing a dribble of the stuff to leak out. Embarrassed, the quickly closed his mouth again and quickly swallowed. The burning occurred again, this time on the way down. It also… tingled.

He held the cough back long enough to not spray his host, but then continued coughing for a few seconds. He sat up again, realizing that he’d been leaning over, and looked at his very amused host. Who was nodding at him encouragingly before taking another drink out of his own canister-thingy.

Not wanting to be rude, especially after not only intruding his host’s home, but also having been provided with that ambrosia, Reldan took another drink. He was prepared this time for what it felt like, so he didn’t react how he had the first time.

He quickly swallowed, fighting back the tears that came with it, but oddly found that both the taste and the sensation of drinking the stuff was growing on him.

When he saw the expectant look on his host’s face, he realized that he was waiting for feedback.

“It’s good,” he wheezed like a kid after taking his first shot of hard spirits.