Chapter 3: Arc 1: Chapter 2

“Are you alright?” the voice of Old Man Song forced her out of her shock, “Is something the matter? If you can’t walk yet, then-”

“No, no, that’s… that’s not it. Just, um…” Bianca hurriedly interrupted him, then paused to find the right words, “I just… hadn’t remembered that such places exist in the world. Perhaps I’ve lost even more of my memory than I initially feared…”

He gave an understanding nod, seeming to accept the explanation, “That is such a tragedy. The Dragons’ Fangs are a common sight for travellers in the region, so for you to have forgotten it… truly a tragedy. However, you shouldn’t worry. I am sure that our Xi Village will help you in whatever way we can, to settle in and recover your memory as soon as possible!”

“Thanks…” she was starting to feel bad about lying to him, but quickly supressed that feeling, ‘It’s not a lie that hurts anyone, so… its fine. It doesn’t matter if I’m from here or not, after all.’

She didn’t know the area either way, and if the memories she claimed to have lost never returned, then it was just an unfortunate case that nobody could suspect, unless this place – whether it was some other world or not – had very different ideas about memory loss than Orbis.

“Do you mind if I just take in the scenery first? I’ll be ready once…”

Although she didn’t finish the sentence, Old Man Song accepted, “Take your time. I can’t imagine that suddenly finding yourself in a place that seems entirely unfamiliar could be easy.”

Bianca offered no reply and instead took in the sights around her, first returning to the village she had woken up in. It was rather ordinary in comparison to the magical structures in the distance, with mostly single-floor buildings scattered across an uneven terrain that reached up to the edge of a cliff, past which she saw all the mountains that had impressed her.

These structures were clearly old, with moss and foliage growing up their walls, but they were otherwise kept structurally sound, and kept standing by the people living within. In fact, the foliage gave the village a more colourful look, mixing with the dull brown shade of the wood and the vaguely yellow shade of the thatch above all of the structures. Amidst them, paths outlined by stone created seemingly random roads between the residences, though Bianca was sure that there were reasons she couldn’t quite comprehend.

Aside from the dirt of the paths, the terrain was mainly covered in wild grass, green and short, roughly up to her ankles. There were some bushes and other foliage, but being a city-dwelling girl, she knew little about such things, so her attention quickly moved over to the distant structures.

They were really, really far away, and yet they looked bigger than the tallest thing she had ever seen on Orbis, within her homeland of Antania – the Lonesome Shard, the tallest structure in the world.

It was a monument – a miracle, even – of architecture, standing out by Antania’s coast, and it held so many people that it could house the populations of some smaller countries within it with a decent amount of space for everyone. Of course, it wasn’t quite that simple in practise, nor was the theory ever tested, but it was the greatest thing she had ever witnessed, and these wondrous buildings on the distant mountains did not pale before the Lonesome Shard.

The three structures – sets of them, really – were simultaneously similar and dissimilar to one another, with certain design concepts being shared while others were distinctly different. For instance, their purpose and general shape seemed similar enough, but other things were not.

To the north, the closer of the two structures had hints of blue, every building in the mass shaped like they were flowing. She’d attempt to list more details, but her eyesight was nowhere near good enough for that. The closest of the three sets of buildings were kilometres away, and although she could figure out some of the largest details, the rest escaped her.

Still, Bianca was able to see hints of a flame-like shade replacing the blue further away. Perhaps their shape also differed, but it was hard to tell.

The western structure was nearer, so she was able to see it in greater detail. Every building in that direction, standing on the edge of its own enormous mountain, though the way it looked to her seemed as if the structures were floating on clouds, in part thanks to large clumps of mist obscuring the foundations of these structures.

‘I have no clue what these are, but… the old man might know,’ she turned to Old Man Song, and after a contemplative pause, asked, “What are those huge buildings in the mountains? They seem quite… big.”

It was an understatement, but he provided her with a quick reply.

“Those are the sects I had mentioned. There are three nearby, though there are four in the Dragon’s Fangs.”

‘So, the cults have massive superstructures that rival the Lonesome Shard? What… what the fuck? Do people here have advanced technology I haven’t seen yet?’ it was the only reasonable answer, yet she was beginning to fear that this was not the case, “R-Right… So, they protect the area? I heard something about that earlier.”

“Yes, they keep the area safe enough. Lin Shuming’s main foes are boars, rabbits, and, on occasion, some mountain wolves.”

‘Are mountain wolves a thing? Well, if this is another world, then maybe they are… and maybe those buildings can be created without advanced technology… No, I refuse to believe that! I’m just in some region that doesn’t get much attention from the news and what not, so the moment I get out, I’ll be able to get back home!’ Bianca supressed her fears and calmed her racing heart, deciding that it was best to not make outrageous assumptions.

Once she had a few moments to breathe and relax, she brought her attention back to the village she was in and to the tour she had been offered. Given that she was high up in the mountains, getting down would be tricky, so it was best to get an understanding of the area first.

Local culture, wildlife, traditions and rules, as well as any advice that the locals could offer: knowing any of these could help her immensely, so it was best not to rush ahead. After all, Bianca had never climbed up or down a mountain – a small hill and a very straight road up a mountain, travelled when she was twelve, was the full extent of her experience.

“Okay, I’d be happy to have a look around now.”

“Have you remembered anything?”

“No, unfortunately… However, I’ve adjusted to the view around here, so I should be able to handle the rest of the journey.”

The old man nodded, “That’s good. A rural, insignificant area like this… well, I shouldn’t talk about this place in such a manner. I recall hearing that the entire mountain range was created by the battle between a dragon and a powerful man hundreds of thousands of years ago, so to call it insignificant is…”

‘I guess their mythology goes back a little further than Antanian myths…’ Bianca’s eyes widened.

“It does sound amazing, doesn’t it?” Old Man Song interpreted her expression in his own way and continued, “Let me bring you to our home and let you greet my daughter. She should be relieved to see you alive and well.”

“Alright, let’s go meet her. I should thank her as well.”

Old Man Song brought her into the village, along a road leading in a vaguely straight line through a bunch of structures, down a slope from the shack Bianca had woken up in. There weren’t many people up and about at the moment, so it seemed like the village wasn’t especially busy in the mornings, keeping her from interacting with any of the other villagers prior to arriving at the old man’s home.

It was located opposite the central clump of residences, not far from the middle either, and it was among the larger residences that she had seen from her initial observation of the area.

The elderly man knocked on the doorframe, presumably to alert his daughter, then pushed the door in, as there was no lock nor even a proper door handle for a person to grip. Given that the region was warm enough, and that this did seem like a rural place, it wasn’t unexpected, but it was still shocking to see after living a life in a place where such a thing would be unsellable on the property market – if her parents were to be believed, of course.

Within, things were quite a bit nicer than the small shack she had woken up in. There was a carpet in the room she was presented with, two doors on the far end, an opening in the wall covered with some type of paper that made all of the light coming in through it softer, and some decent looking furniture.

A table occupied the middle, two chairs on either side, a wardrobe in one corner and a small side table on the other.

“This is our home. Let me call out-”

He was cut off when one of the doors was pushed open and a figure of a similar height to Bianca emerged, speaking in a concerned tone, “Dad, how is she? Is- Ah, y-you’re up!”

‘Wow, she is… wow. I wasn’t expecting this,’ Bianca was hardly any less stunned, because the woman she saw looked completely phenomenal, ‘She looks like a model… like a gorgeous one, at that… I may want to stare a bit less, but…’

She didn’t pay much attention to men’s appearances, but Old Man Song looked like he would have been an ordinary looking fellow back in his prime, but his daughter, Song Ming, was easily an eight out of ten, even without makeup or ideally fitted clothing. Had she been given the opportunity to visit any random store in Antania, she could have enhanced her appearance to a nine or ten – though Bianca would be reluctant to give the full ten just out of principle.

This woman looked to be eighteen, or a year or two older at most, at the peak of youthful beauty. Her skin was almost spotless, light but with a faint natural tan clearly produced from spending a long time outside. She had blonde hair that ended half-way down her back, the strands that would have covered her back braided and tied together at the back of her head.

It framed her gorgeous green eyes and soft pink lips, and from what Bianca could see beneath the neck, she wasn’t bad either. Her loose dress, beautiful in its own right, hinted at a decently sized chest, wide hips and a full ass to keep her figure even. In general, the young lady was thin, the exposed parts of her body suggesting an above average level of fitness, though she wasn’t exceptionally muscular nor overly thin, which was always a good thing in her eyes. She understood the appeal of muscular amazons, but she preferred a skinnier look… even if she had dreamed of a strong woman pinning her down and making her-

“Are you alright? I was… really concerned that you’d gotten injured before I found you amidst the bushes,” Song Ming’s voice distracted Bianca, and forced her to remove her gaze from her chest, “You… you might have been robbed, since I found you… well…”

‘Cute… I mean, what? Right, naked and in the middle of nowhere,’ she had to distract herself from staring at her face as well, and finally managed to produce a sensible response, “Ah, well, that might be a possibility. Unfortunately, I have lost my memories, so I don’t recall what happened. I hope I wasn’t in an embarrassing position when you found me.”

Song Ming’s cheeks went red, “N-No, not at all! I… You… you were… um…”

“She’s not used to coming across people out in the wilds, ha,” the old man chuckled, but Bianca suspected that his daughter wasn’t shocked by just that.

She was frequently glancing in her direction yet immediately looked away when they made eye contact for the briefest of moments. Her cheeks were still flushed, and although Bianca might have been mistaken, Song Ming’s attention also seemed to gravitate to her chest and hips quite often.

As sweet as it would be to catch the attention of the first attractive woman she met – literally, even if she was unconscious at the time – it was more likely that the village offered few opportunities to meet outsiders and those that Song Ming wouldn’t have known from a young age. Hence, the young woman likely got quite a shock from seeing Bianca’s naked body out in the woods, and hadn’t yet gotten over her surprise. In time, she’d likely adjust to it and be as calm and friendly with Bianca as she would be with anyone from the village.

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‘However, if I get stuck here for a long time, I would be very happy to get closer to her… Sorry, Lia, but she is much cuter than you,’ Bianca recalled the appearance of her former girlfriend at her best, and found that she struggled to compete with Song Ming at an average level, “It’s alright. You hardly had a choice in the matter… Was there anything around me? Anything to hint at what might have happened?”

Luckily, that didn’t make the beautiful woman think back to Bianca’s naked body, as her blush faded a little and she went deep into thought for a while.

“I hadn’t seen anything, unfortunately. No weapons, no armour, no… no clothing… No marks of battle,” she said, fidgeting with her hands, “It’s like you just laid down in the grass, albeit without touching any of the surrounding foliage…”

‘That suggests the other world theory, since it would make little sense for someone to kidnap me, then kindly place me down in the woods of some other country without making a single mark, nor alerting the people of this rural village… But that wouldn’t make any sense! How can I just end up in some other world? Surely not, right?’ Bianca frowned, still subconsciously rejecting that which had previously been found only in fantasy.

Although she wasn’t especially fond of fantasy herself, she had heard of it plenty of times. Mostly from Roz. In fact, nearly exclusively from Roz.

‘On one hand, I would have felt bad if I somehow pulled her over with me, but on the other, she would be the most knowledgeable person… presumably. This might also be the past, or some world she knows nothing about… if it is another world… Fuck, I hate this!’ she screamed internally, but calmed her outward expression as well as she could and said, “That’s a shame. If you go out there again, could you take another look around? Maybe there’s something that could help me identify myself, or where I came from, or what I’m doing here, or… something.”

“I will do my best!” Song Ming replied with clear enthusiasm, which she also added to the glance at Bianca’s boobs.

As flattering as the attention was, it was a little awkward given the clothing she wore, and the manner in which her nipples could be seen through the small bumps they made in her clothing. However, she had been staring as much, if not more, so perhaps it was only fair.

Old Man Song had been standing by the side as they talked, and when their conversation halted, he finally stepped in, literally.

“Don’t worry about it, Ah Ming. Even if you can’t find anything, you’ll make sure she is safe here, won’t you?” his words intensified Song Ming’s waning blush, but he switched his attention to Bianca, “And I hope you can settle in our Xi Village while you’re recovering. Oh, and while I hope you recall your name soon, if you don’t, you ought to come up with another name to use. Xi Wu Lin’s texts could give you some inspiration.”

‘And that’s how I can find an equivalent to my name! Thanks, Old Man Song!’ she had to hide her enthusiasm and nod, “I will take a look. In fact, maybe seeing some names and stories could help me remember who I was. After all, I might have forgotten a lot and just not realise it yet…”

“That would be awful!” Song Ming exclaimed, “I swear to the heavens, if I can help you with your memories, I will do so without hesitation!”

Bianca couldn’t hide her surprise this time, but Old Man Song spoke first, “Song Ming, you should not make such promises, even in a situation like this. Fortunately, the heavens are lenient in our promises, but in the future, you ought to make less binding promises. State that you will try your best to give assistance when possible, perhaps… I know that you meant well, though. Good girl.”

“Dad, don’t…” the young lady muttered, blushing for a very different reason for once.

“Um, Old Man Song, should we get going and see the rest of the village? I wouldn’t want to bother Song Ming too much.”

“True, we should get you acquainted with the area. Once we are done, you should speak more with my daughter and get acquainted with her. There aren’t many women in the village that are of your age, so it might be challenging for you to make other friends.”

“Alright, I’ll… take note,” Bianca found her thoughts wandering again, ‘I just realised that there is quite the age disparity here, and… not many women my age? That’s odd, whether they think I’m eighteen or thirty. Then again, I know very little about the situation in this village, and whether there have been any famines, wars, or even bandit raids… if those happen in real life, or fantasy, or whatever this is… Goodness, I don’t think I’ve ever hated uncertainty more than now.’

She didn’t have the greatest knowledge of geography, but it was good enough that she believed she would be able to identify the vague shapes of Orbis’ three continents. So, if she could acquire a map with a coastline on it, then it would likely be enough to prove whether she is in an unfamiliar part of Orbis, in the past, or in some other world entirely.

At least, that was the idea. In practise, inaccurate cartography could make that impossible.

If there were extreme differences from any coastlines she knew of, then she could reasonably conclude… something. In fact, it meant very little no matter what she saw, even if she found a map.

‘Damn, I… I hope I can figure this out… somehow… I miss my place already,’ Bianca sighed, noticing that Old Man Song had already begun walking outside of the residence, prompting her to quickly glance at Song Ming, “See you later, and thanks.”

“Y-You’re welcome…”

She took one final moment to delight in the young woman’s cute face – the blushing really enhanced her beauty and appeal, especially thanks to how vivid it was – and then departed, doing her best to shut the door behind herself. There was a place to grip onto the door without risking trapping them between the door and frame, but it wasn’t ideal, nor anywhere as convenient as a regular door handle.

Even with the delay, she caught up to the old man in moments and followed him down the street, which ended with another, wider street that led to the left and right.

There weren’t many homes visible to the right, but there were was quite a bit to the left. Most important among all of them was a home with a large opening at the front, from which large clouds of smoke or steam emerged.

“We can go to Min Yu and greet her, then to Lin Shuming, who you had met earlier. Xi Wu Lin is on the right, but if we go there, you might not emerge until the next morning, heh,” Old Man Song chuckled, “His collection of books, various historical documents and so on, is large enough to fill his large residence to the brim. If you give him the chance, he’ll keep talking about them, on and on, until you fall asleep again.”

“In that case… Actually, could we head over to the edge of the village, first? I’m curious about… that.”

She pointed towards the cliff that seemed to put an abrupt end to the village, at least to the north – assuming that she wasn’t mistaken about it, or that the world had some difference in the way that the sun orbited the world – and the many mountains that were beyond it.

“Are you still curious about the land around us?”

“Something like that. It could rouse my memory, but it could also help me get a better idea of the area for the future. Perhaps I will remember a particular spot one day, and if I get a better look now, I would have a better chance of recognising it and travelling to it,” Bianca explained, ‘And I will have a chance of considering how I would leave the village if I chose to do so.’

“Ah, I had forgotten. Certainly, let me bring you there,” Old Man Song agreed right away and led her forth.

He led her to the right, past a few homes and into an open region, before letting her travel to the north on her own. It wasn’t far, and since the wind was slowly intensifying, it was probably best for a feeble man to be as far away from the edge as possible.

Bianca herself wasn’t especially strong, but at least she was young, healthy and, thanks to the warm stew from before, full of energy. She wouldn’t be blown away by the wind unless it grew to unnatural speeds, and if she happened to slip or encounter loose ground, she would be able to grab onto something and get help from Old Man Song or another one of the villagers. If necessary, she could do a pull-up or two, so she should be able to hold on for long enough to obtain the aforementioned help.

She walked towards the edge slowly, and gasped when she had the first glimpse of the beyond. It had been obvious that she was high up from merely seeing the other mountains, but now she was able to tell just how excessive that height was.

Below, there was a seemingly endless abyss, clouds and fog obscuring much of her vision, yet allowing her to see a shining stream of clear blue far below. There were numerous layers to the mountain she was on, and those before her, but the overall structure was mainly vertical, with each layer surrounded by steep edges and walls. It was some kind of terraced mountain, if her geographical knowledge served her well, but there was no way that such a thing existed on Orbis, unless it had experienced two utterly apocalyptic events before the time of humanity – one to form these mountains, and another to ruin them.

If that wasn’t enough to suggest that she was in some other world, the foliage she saw was.

Trees, grass and bushes of all types populates the terraced segments of the mountains, and some grew on the steep cliffs, but most of it was also excessive, to say the least. The mountain opposite her, for example, had to be at least a kilometre away, if not far more, but some trees looked as if they should have been right next to her from their size.

Some plants had strange shades and colours, and some seemed to be outright glowing, though that was almost certainly a trick of the light. Even then, it was utterly fascinating.

‘Yeah, this… This can’t be Orbis, can it?’

In the distance, there seemed to be two beasts fighting one another. Both were small dots to her, but their movements were blatantly too fast to be normal, and the faint echoes of their roars that tickled her ears were also nothing like what she had seen from various documentaries or films.

It was amazing to behold, yet it scared her. It scared her so much, and she could hardly put the strange type of existential terror she experienced into words – not that she would have to, of course.

Nobody here knew nor understood her predicament, or certainly showed no signs of it. They were probably just ordinary people in whatever world this was, and why would they ever suspect that a woman could drop in from another world? It was a silly notion back on Orbis, where fantastical concepts were all over the place thanks to numerous films, novels and games that were being made seemingly every three seconds, but in this place, a similar industry was unlikely to exist.

Hence, most people would not be as familiar with random fiction and fantasy, and they would spend less time trying to imagine even more insane things than they already knew.

‘Well… okay. I… I guess this…’ Bianca sighed, rubbing her forehead as she felt a headache coming on, ‘Now, I don’t even know what- Why am I acting as if anything is different? It’s not like I could build a time machine if this place was Thima.’

Her headache wouldn’t go away with just that, but she felt confident enough to turn around and meet Old Man Song’s gaze.

“Unfortunately, I haven’t remembered anything. Let’s go and meet… to be honest, I want to remember my name as soon as possible, so perhaps heading over to Xi Wu Lin’s place next would be best. Even if I can’t remember anything, at least I’ll have idea of what I could call myself in the meantime.”

“Fair enough, but I shouldn’t spend too long within there. Too dusty…”

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