Irium 102 June

I see a dusty brick ceiling as soon as I open my eyes. I say brick ceiling specifically because the bricks are visible. There is no plaster or paint over them.

"So you are awake?" A voice comes from my right, making me turn to that direction. My ears aren't clear enough for me to figure out the characteristics of the speaker from just their voice. But, even when I look at them, I can't really figure out much.

About 5'3 tall, back curved like that of a monkey, and their naked body being completely blue, along with a head like that of an ant but the mouth like that of an animated character – this person … the best way to describe them would be … alien? And well, I remember suddenly that I am on Frost, so this person really is an alien.

"I'll call the doctor. You just stay here and rest. Don't try to move." They tell me and leave through what I supposed is the entrance to the room I'm in. Typically, it would have a gate there but there is nothing more than a curtain hanging from this rectangular place here.

Despite the advice given to me, I try to move myself. But, unfortunately, I can't. Feeling slowly but steadily keeps coming back to me so I know by now that my limbs are still intact. But, I can't move them, not at all. Every time I try to move them, I feel like I am trying to push a 100kg iron object with just my pinky finger. In other words, my limbs don't even budge at all.

The last thing I remember is running in the snow. Now, maybe I was walking. Wait! I think I saw a few houses and try to hurry and reach them … but I fell and couldn't reach them. So, is this place one of those houses? I guess I have good luck then that someone from those houses found me.

Still, I can't relax. As soon as someone comes in this room to check up on me, I'll ask them all about where I am and then ask about Telmakim, the place Dues gave me the mission to reach. She said it's half the world across. So, uh … nope, can't say how far that would be. Who knows how big this planet is? I can just hope it's not so big that reaching Telmakim would take me too much time.

"Well, h.e.l.lo there, young lad." A person with a similar appearance as the one I saw earlier enters. I say similar and not same because there is a difference – this one looks a bit wrinkled. He is probably older.

Something I noticed just now is that I am able to understand what they are saying. It's as if they speak the same language as me. But, would things really be that convenient?

"I get that you might be confused about a lot of things right now. But, you can just rest and leave all the worrying for later." The wrinkled stranger says. "By the way, I'm June, the local doctor of this village."

Village? This is a village? I mean, all I saw were a triplet of houses. But, they were kinda big. So, maybe they were hiding some other houses.

"What's wrong, lad? Are you having trouble with speaking?" June looks at me with concerned expression as he asks that. He is probably asking that because I haven't spoken anything till now. But, that has been because I don't feel safe conversing with these people. The thought that had crossed my mind earlier about their race possibly being a natural predator of humans still lingers in my mind. I mean, I know I said I'd ask them everything but now that someone is actually in front of me, I am feeling rather anxious about conversing.

"Well, it would get better soon. So, you don't need to worry." From that, I guess June thought that his guess was right and continued by himself. But, I can't bring myself to trust him completely. After all, at this point, he is nothing more than a stranger to me.

"June, Dao is coughing up blood again!" The voice of the person I saw earlier comes and then they come in the room too, looking horrified and worried.

"Alright, give him the meds in the yellow bottle. It'd be named-"

"There is only one yellow bottle so I don't need to know." Hurriedly, that person runs out of the room, probably to do as June instructed. When they had left, June turns to me and says,

"That was Filo, a resident of this village. His brother, Dao, is in bed with a sever disease so he spends most of his time here at my clinic looking after Dao. I had told him earlier to keep an eye on you as well because I had to go somewhere. That is why he was the first person you say when you woke up."

Thanks for the explanation. It's believable, June, I'll give you that. Maybe it's true. But, I can't be convinced just yet.

"Hmm …" June looks at me curiously. "Since I haven't seen much of your race, I am having trouble understanding your expressions. It'll be really relieving if you could speak so you could vocalize things."

Yeah, I too am having trouble the changes in your expressions. I can guess them from your words though. I guess might as well do him a favor and give him what he wants. I myself would want to test my speakers.

"aai-I" That's a rough start. But, let's continue, "W-w-wh-wher-where m aai? (Where am I?)"

June seems to have understood my words despite them not coming out very clear, so he answers, "You are in a village called Zera. The province you are in is the Eastern. And the nation you are in is Kidar."

Would one generally go in that much detail when answering that question?

"You are about half the planet away from Telmakim, where you want to go."

What!? How would he know that?

"Lady Dues, oh, I'm sorry, the G.o.ddess contacted us and told us all about you. She is also the one who told us where you were so we could come and save you."

…

"You look suspicious."

"Aaai … e-em. (I am.)"

"That's fair. But, for now, you should rest. We can deal with your suspicions later." June says and gets up. "I have other patients to take care off. Let me take care of them first so I have enough time to remove your suspicions."

*****