Finding my Parents in Another World

A distant roar shook him awake. Raorka awoke with a jolt, finding himself on the ground, surrounded by trees.

Where the hell am I?

Memories came back to him in bits and pieces. He was going to Mulberry with his mother and father. They were on a mountainous road. Then suddenly everything went dark. And then...

Was that a dream?

Or is this?

Raorka didn't put much stock in gods or religions, he was atheist through and through. But now he found himself unable to explain exactly what had happened after everything went dark.

There was some....being? The being had requested him to save them. Save them from what?

In fact the being had also suggested that he would not be able to accomplish the same alone. Speaking of that.....

Raorka looked around himself, finally taking stock of his surroundings. He seemed to be in some kind of forest. The trees around him were huge, stretching so far into the sky that he couldn't make out the top clearly. There didn't seem to be any living creature around him, but he had heard a roar, which meant there was certain to be one close by.

And maybe one which wouldn't be friendly. Raorka knew of few animals who roared and were friendly.

If the being was to be believed then his mother and father were also in this world, whatever world that might be. And his first priority in that case should be reuniting with them.

But how?

Raorka was a well built 18 year old. His black hair was nearly combed back and his eyes were of the same black as his hair. He was dressed in a casual t shirt and cargo pants, certainly no weapon or anything like that in hand. He rummaged about his pockets for anything useful.

A watch, some coins, and...

And a picture. It was a smiling picture of his parents along with him, taken last year during his 17th birthday. He smiled at the picture, remembering better times.

Yes this picture was helpful. Whatever world they were in right now, Raorka was sure it wasn't Earth at the least. And he was also sure that the world would have some beings capable of communication. And a picture of his mom and dad were the easiest way he could find them by asking the residents whether they had seen them.

I just hope the residents are human.

Just then another roar pierced the sky, causing Raorka to immediately flinch and crouch. He realised that he was on quite an open piece of ground, regardless of the huge trees surrounding him. If a tiger or lion or whatever it was that was making that roar happened to catch him, he would be dead meat.

Certainly doesn't sound like a tiger or lion though.

Raorka gulped and made his way forward. In any case he needed to find a settlement first. A jungle was one of the worst places to wake up in, simply because you could get lost so easily. Even for Raorka, who had been a member of the Wilderness Survival club at school, finding your way through an unfamiliar jungle was almost impossible.

A source of water is what I need.

Of course one of the most important requirements for survival was water. But more than that, rivers were one of the best places to spot residents of the world, since surely there would be huts far away from any settlement that required water.

For humans.

Raorka immediately realised the error of his assumption. Water is something humans required. But what if the residents of this world were not human? Maybe they would not require water at all. None of the assumptions made hold true at all.

Raorka shook his head. Going around in circles would not help. He needed to find a water source anyway, and if the being who put him there did it to save their world, then of course they would not want him to die immediately after spawning would they?

Would they?

.XX.

After about an hour of carefully navigating the jungle through bushes, Raorka finally found a small lake. He had heard the beast (whatever it was) roar two more times, but each one was of a lower intensity so he was confident that he was moving away from danger.

On seeing the lake however, Raorka felt overjoyed. His throat was parched and he finally saw something familiar. He rushed to the water bank and put his head into the cool water, savoring the feel and the taste.

Once he had drunk his fill and also washed his face, he sat down on the shore and began to think about what to do next.

He was now out of the truly dense part of the jungle. The trees around him were much more normal in height, although he could still see the towering trees from where he had woken up in the distance. Thus he surmised that going in the general direction he was going should soon hopefully bring him into contact with civilization.

Wish I had a bottle or container to store this water.

He thought ruefully as he got up and dusted his clothes. Just as he was about to set off though, he stopped short in his tracks in shock.

There was a girl standing about fifty meters in front of him, with a pitcher in hand and her mouth open in shock. She was wearing a green rustic tunic and didn't seem to be much older than 16 or 17. She seemed to be as surprised to see him as he was to see her. Raorka feared that she would run away in fear at his presence, but the girl was made of sterner stuff.

"Who are you?" She asked boldly.

Initially Raorka was too surprised to talk, considering that not only had he found another human being but also they were speaking a tongue he could understand.

"I..I am a traveller from a distant land." He finally stumbled out as he saw the girl growing more and more suspicious over his silence.

"What is your name?"

"Raorka."

"Raorka? That doesn't sound like any name I have ever heard." The girl said.

"Ah I am from a truly far land. I got lost in the jungle."

"Are you an enemy of the Crown?" The girl asked, seemingly growing more and more suspicious of Raorka.

"No, no I swear I am just a lost traveller." Raorka said folding his hands in a placative gesture.

This seemed to alievate the suspicions of the girl somewhat as she shrugged and came to the lake to fill her pitcher.

Raorka carefully approached, cautious to make no move that could be discerned as threatening and sat down a little away from the girl filling the pitcher.

"And what is your name?"

"I am Lucerne." The girl said proudly.

"Well Lucerne can you tell me where I am? I got separated from my companions in the jungle there and would like to meet up with them as soon as possible."

Lucerne looked at him again with shock.

"You mean you don't even know where you are? The Forest of Old Gotuj?"

Seeing Raorka shake his head, Lucerne sat down with a sigh. It seemed that she was sympathising with his plight a bit now.

"You are in the Kingdom of Anusuril, the last Great Kingdom of our world. Well you are on the outskirts of the kingdom, but still you are in it."

All of these words seemed like gibberish to Raorka, but he did seem to understand that he was in some sort of country ruled by a monarch. But he had no idea what a Great Kingdom was or how big this kingdom actually was.

I need to study about this place from a more official source.

"And where do you live? In the capital city?"

At this Lucerne laughed out loud. Her laugh was clear, and for the first time Raorka noticed that the girl called Lucerne was actually quite beautiful. She had hardened calluses and prominent muscles in her arm, but her face was delicate and her features were sharply defined on her fair skin. And her laughter was contagious, Raorka found himself smiling even though he didn't understand why she was laughing in the first place.

"Why do you laugh?"

Lucerne looked at him amidst fits of laughter, and Raorka noticed her eyes were mild green, matching the tunic she was wearing.

"You must truly be an outsider if you think I am from the capital. No we live in a small town nearby."

A town! That was exactly what Raorka needed. A place to rest, rejuvinate and then start the search for his parents.

"Can you please take me there? I am exhausted and would love a place to rest before I search for my companions."

Lucerne again looked at him with a little suspicion, but it seemed his previous error had softened her a lot towards the notion that he was not an enemy after all.

"Very well. Anywhere would be better than the Forest of Old Gotuj I guess. But if your companions are in that forest..." Here she indicated the trees stretching to the sky, "...then they probably have already been killed by Gotuj."

"You mentioned Gotuj before. What animal is he? A tiger?"

Lucerne looked at him strangely.

"Well...I guess maybe you call him a tiger in your language.

Out here we only know of him as a Dragon."