Alfred's heart sank deep into oblivion upon seeing his two unmatched feet.
Below his right knee was a stump of what remained of his foot; covering it was a bunch of herbs tied around using a silk of some sort. The rest was gone.
"Ahh… Ahh… AHHH!" Alfred's voice trembled and grew to a shout, and he reverted to speaking English. "WHERE IS MY RIGHT FOOT!"
His body shook while trying to reach the missing part of his body. However, due to his forceful movement, his wound reopened and bled once again.
"Young Alfred, you must calm yourself," Chief Viren advised. "Your wound is not fully healed yet. If you keep moving around, all the effort of fixing it will go to waste."
"Stupid brat, what do you think you are doing?" Shaman Catori almost stood up upon seeing Alfred. "Do you have any idea how hard I worked to salvage your life?"
Nevertheless, those words did not reach Alfred's ears, as he was too fixated on his loss.
'This can't be real! This is a dream… This has to be a dream! Nothing makes sense. Why would I become a cripple? How will I live my life as a cripple? No, this can't be!'
Amidst the chaos, two massive hands grabbed Alfred's shoulders and forced him back to the bed.
"Do not move," Elder Ahote groaned, holding Alfred down. "Stop moving, young man!"
Alfred ignored the strong hands around his shoulders and did his best to escape.
But then, a resounding sound halted everything.
CLAP!
Elder Ahote slapped Alfred across the face, snapping him out of his panic.
The sting from the slap froze Alfred in place, and for the first time since realizing his foot was missing, he was still. His wide, tear-filled eyes locked onto Elder Ahote, who was now standing over him, his expression stern but not unkind.
"Listen to me, boy," Ahote said in a low, commanding voice. "You are alive. You lost your foot, but you are still breathing. If you keep thrashing about, you will die from blood loss. Is that what you want?"
Alfred's chest heaved, but he couldn't speak. The weight of the slap and the elder's words began to sink in.
"I… I don't want to die," Alfred finally whispered, his voice barely audible. His mind raced, and his breath was still shaky, but the wildness in his eyes had dimmed. He was starting to accept the grim reality.
"Then listen to us," Chief Viren said calmly, taking over the conversation. "We saved your life. Your injury was severe, but our shaman did everything in her power to heal you."
Shaman Catori scoffed but did not interrupt.
"You have been through something terrible, that much is clear," Chief Viren continued, "but panicking won't bring your foot back, nor will it help you move forward."
Alfred's shoulders slumped, the strength draining from his body as he sank deeper into the bed. His right leg throbbed with pain, and the sensation of missing a part of himself gnawed at his mind. It was overwhelming.
"How… how did this happen?" Alfred asked, his voice fragile. "Why am I like this?"
"There was a yellow-eyed rat," Viren explained, his tone more grave now. "Our hunters found you just in time, before the monster could end your life. We do not know what happened before, but when we found you, your leg had already been torn beyond repair. There was nothing else we could do but amputate."
"I am sorry for your loss," Elder Ahote said, his grip loosening as Alfred's struggle subsided.
Shaman Catori fixed her sitting position, her expression still one of annoyance. "You are lucky to be alive, lad. Many would not have survived that kind of injury, especially not with the state you were in."
Alfred lay there, trying to absorb their words. It all felt too much—the memory loss, the language, and now, the devastating injury. Everything had been stripped away from him in an instant, and he didn't even understand why.
Tears pricked at the edges of his eyes. "What… what am I supposed to do now? I don't know where I am. I don't know what to do."
Chief Viren's gaze softened. "We will help you, young Alfred. We are not heartless, and we do not abandon those in need. But in return, we need you to help us too."
Alfred blinked, confused. "Help you?"
Viren nodded. "You carry something with you, something important. There is a book, one with strange symbols that even our shaman cannot decipher. We believe it holds the key to something vital for our tribe's survival."
"The book…" Alfred's eyes narrowed, trying to recall it. It sounded vaguely familiar, but in the haze of his memory, he couldn't piece it together. "I don't remember a book."
"It may be that your memory will return in time," Shaman Catori interjected. "But you have it. We found it with you."
Alfred's mind raced. He couldn't even remember how he had gotten to the forest, let alone any kind of book. Yet, there was a flicker of something deep within—a faint recognition. Maybe the book was his, but how could he help them when he couldn't even help himself?
"What if… what if I can't read it either?" Alfred asked, his voice trembling.
"Then we will still keep you safe," Chief Viren assured him. "We will give you a home until you are ready to stand on your own again, but we believe that with time, you may hold the answers we seek."
Alfred closed his eyes, feeling the weight of their expectations resting heavily on his broken shoulders. His future, once unknown and terrifying, now held a new layer of uncertainty. Yet despite his fear, one thing became clear: for now, his survival depended on these people, and they were willing to protect him—for a price.
"I… I'll try," Alfred whispered, his voice cracking. It was all he could promise.
Chief Viren nodded in satisfaction and took something inside the small pouch hanging on his waist, which was the ancient book.
"Here," Viren said as he passed the book to Alfred.
Seeing the worn-out book did not give Alfred any recollection, but he could feel his heartbeat quickening upon laying his eyes on the brown cover of the book.
With the title in his sight, he uttered it without much thought. "Rune Formation."
When he removed his gaze from the book and looked at the Elders, he noticed their faces froze, their eyes widened, and their mouths slightly opened.
"W-What's wrong?" he hesitantly asked. "Did I say something bad?"
Shaman Catori crawled towards Alfred, shoving Elder Ahote out of the way.
"You… You can read it?" She exclaimed, her face close to Alfred's. "You can read these ancient symbols! Now that I think about it, you spoke a different language earlier."
Alfred frowned and tilted his head.
'Why are they calling English an ancient language? Are these people so out of touch that they don't know English? That doesn't seem right.'
"What do you mean? Of course I can read it—it's English."
"Hohoo, you even know the name of the language!" Shaman Catori's face bloomed with a smile. "This language has been lost for hundreds of years! I am very curious to find your tribe. No one has succeeded in deciphering these symbols for so many years, and yet here you are, a young lad with the ability to do so!"
"Ahem, shaman Catori, please control yourself in front of our guest." Chief Viren coughed. "He will have difficulty answering your question if you are pressuring him like that."
"Fine." Shaman Catori went back to the circular chair, but her eyes still sparkled with anticipation.
Seeing that everything was finally at peace, Elder Ahote did the same; he, too, was curious about Alfred's capability.
Alfred, on the other hand, was deep in thought as he learned another shocking piece of information.
'What does she mean by lost language? Something has been bothering me since the very beginning. First, I have awakened in an unfamiliar place without my knowledge of how I got there. Second, I encountered a creature that should not exist. Third, my own body doesn't seem to belong to me. Finally, a mysterious language that I could understand and speak.
'I had read a similar story in a novel once before, but that was just absurd; after all, this is reality. However, how can I explain all the weird things I have experienced?'
"Young lad, hurry up and speak to us; I'm too old to keep my excitement," Shaman Catori encouraged.
Her words woke Alfred up from his contemplation. Perhaps this was his chance to confirm his assumption.
With difficulty, Alfred pushed himself up, wanting to converse with the Elders eye to eye.
Upon sitting, he did not waste a single second and immediately questioned.
"This might be a weird thing to ask, but I just want to verify something." Alfred stared at the three Elders with shaking eyes. "Do you know the name of the world we are currently living in?"
The Elders glanced at each other, seeming to doubt what they heard. Soon, Elder Ahote and Chief Viren nodded at Shaman Catori.
"I do not know why you want to ask something simple." Shaman Catori looked at Alfred upon receiving the signals of the two Elders. "But after I answer this, I must have my explanation about the ancient language… The world we live in is called Aarde."