In a tiny jungle Namur, a small world, a hole appeared from the sky and a little boy of around fourteen fell out. He landed on the ground with an almighty crash.
Groaning and retching, Gerald lifted his head up to look around.
Such beautiful and lush vegetation, I must have been sent by the talisman over here.
Thinking of the talisman, Gerald remembered Thomas, surrounded by pursuers in a castle. His eyes started to tear up. He would never see Thomas again. Thomas had sacrificed himself for him. He began wailing and sniffing, tears and snot pouring down his face.
Gerald was only a fourteen-year-old boy after all, and these memories had a traumatic impact on him.
After crying his heart out for a very long time, Gerald's expression firmed.
Crying and whining will not bring Thomas back, he thought to himself. My goal is to punish those people who were after Thomas and me. They deserve death. However, if I want to seek revenge, I will need to have the strength necessary for it. Strength is everything. Thomas and I did not have the strength, so we were pursued. Things would have turned out differently if we had the strength. Now, the first thing to do is to find a human settlement or somewhere with people. Hopefully this isn't an uninhabited planet. What a pity I landed in a jungle, though it might actually be a good thing as there was no way I could have explained it if people saw me falling out of a hole in the sky. I guess I am also lucky I did not fall inside the ocean, or I would have drowned.
Gerald was only a fourteen-year-old boy, but his experiences had caused him to become more mature and to look at things from a wider perspective.
Suddenly, Gerald remembered the book Thomas had given him. He reached inside his bag, and took it out. The title of the book read "The Kalkarani Tomes" . He flipped through the pages, but they were blank.
"Why is it empty?" He murmured to himself. "I had expected it to contain some magical arts or life-changing powers. Never mind, since Thomas gave it to me it must be important. I'll figure it out what it does later. The important thing now is to find food and water. I should keep a low profile, though, dangerous animals might be around.
He started to explore the jungle.
"These trees are known as Rimbab trees," he muttered. "Thomas told me about them. Their wood essence is very useful for cultivating the wood element to became a wood elemental specialist. What a pity their branches are too thick and I do not have the strength to cut them down. I'm sure they would fetch quite the sum."
Suddenly, a harsh cry rang out. Gerald turned around to see a massive bird the size of a grown adult with yellow eyes flying towards him, beak opened wide. He hurriedly turned and ran as quickly as possible for his life.
Despite his best efforts, the bird was quickly closing in on him. Gerald began to panic. He started gasping for breath.
No, he thought to himself. I cannot die here. I still haven't gotten revenge for Thomas.
He looked around, trying to find something that would help him get out of his predicament. A river appeared to front of him. A flash of inspiration struck his mind.
I can only hope that the bird is not the fishing type, he thought.
Using all of his power, he leaped towards the river, diving in with an almighty splash.
The bird angrily shrieked at the sight of its dinner disappearing from its sight. It started circling the water but seemed unwilling to let its prey get away like that.
Gerald tried to hold his breath and not surface for fear he would become the bird's dinner. Seconds passed like years to him. Luckily for him, the bird soon spotted a rodent nibbling some grass on the ground not far from the river and decided to have that for dinner. It flew away.
Gerald immediately resurfaced, panting madly.
Good thing for me the bird left. If it had stayed any longer I would have had to surface for air, he thought. It's time to scavenge for food. Hopefully I can find some edible berries or mushrooms.
He left the river and started searching for food. After a while, he spotted a huge bunch of berries lying on the ground. As he was simply too hungry to pay attention to the surroundings, he rushed towards the food.
Suddenly, a hole opened in the ground. Gerald fell into it, landing onto the bottom with an almighty crash for the second time that day!