Jack wasn't sure exactly when he'd fallen asleep. But when he woke up, it was with a start. He started panicking as soon as the cold touched his skin and he realised he didn't recognise where he was. It was still in the ice and rock hut, although now it was completely dark, except for the orb in the middle.
What? What the fuck??
Shit.. no, yeah, he- he died and-
Fuck, this wasn't a dream, this was real, this was real!!!
He died, he really did die, and he actually got reincarnated, for real, and everything was real, this wasn't some elaborate prank or a very long nightmare!!! It was real!!!
His breathing quickened as he sat up in the bed and wrapped himself around with the blanket, whimpering softly to himself.
He could never go back home. He was stuck here. In this gross body, in this scary place. No more hot baths, no more phones, no more wifi, no more anime, no more Maku-Maku!!!
He tried breathing in to calm himself down but it didn't work and he started coughing.
What was happening?? His heart couldn't stop beating!! His chest ached!! He felt nauseous! Was he having a heart attack??
A voice near him made him jump and he yelped in fear as he moved back.
Oh, fuck, that yeti lady-
She grabbed his shoulders and looked at him, bringing the glowing blue orb close to his face to look at him. She placed a hand on his forehead and stared at him, asking some questions, although he couldn't understand anything at all.
"G-get away from me!!! Don't touch me!!" Jack squealed in fear, and pushed her off to escape, sliding off her grasp and stumbling out of the hut.
As he did, he realized he was in a small village, full of similar huts, and a big fire pit in the middle. Some mumbles and murmurs were heard around him, many other yeti-like people, just as big as the lady, getting closer to him, some with spears and torches. He screamed in terror as one of them touched his shoulder, and ran off, hearing his name be called by the lady, but he didn't listen and just kept running, not sure where he was going, but hopefully to find a better place. A safer place, a place more like home where he could just go back to his old life.
Just not here. Not here with those creatures.
But the more he ran, the more he realised just how much nothingness there was. Just endless snow, as far as the eyes could see.
He knelt down and started sobbing.
Was this some kind of punishment?
He didn't know what he did wrong. But being reincarnated into a horrible world such as this one must be some kind of revenge on the Gods' side.
As he was trying his best to calm down, he heard a whooshing sound behind him, and turned around, thinking it was a yeti. But when he saw nothing but strange, dark footprints, he started getting a bit scared.
Another sound, some sort of gurgling growl, was heard behind him, and Jack turned around once more, coming face to face with what only could've been described as a dark, terrifying, cryptid-looking monster, standing about three meters taller than him and opening its disgusting red glowing mouth as it screeched and ran towards him. Jack yelped and got up, trying to run away, but the creature was much much faster than him, and it tackled him to the ground, Jack rolling in the snow and ice painfully, even getting some in his nose and mouth as he tried to slid away from the creature's grasp, that only pinned him down and almost crushed him with its strength.
Jack started crying again, now regretting having left the village, as it was probably safer there, maybe, and he screamed for help, even though he knew nobody spoke his language, nobody could hear him through the wind and from all this distance.
So he was just going to die again? Such a waste of a reincarnation. What even was the goal, if he would just perish again???
But as he was giving up on struggling, he heard fast footsteps in the snow behind him, and a large form tackled the monster, before grabbing him and running away. As Jack wiped his eyes and mouth, blinking to get rid of all the tears and snow, he looked, and saw and felt white fur. Ah, a yeti huh. One of them must have followed him when he left.
He held onto the form, currently the warmest thing in this world, hoping that meant he'd be okay.
He was put down on the ground, and he realised it was once again the same hut he was in before. He saw the yeti lady hurry and bury the glowing orb, before she launched herself on Jack and wrapped him in her arms, and shoved her hand on his mouth, shushing him. Everything was dark. He couldn't even see the light from the fire outside through the tiny cracks of the bricks anymore. Not even hear the other yetis talk. All there was was the wind.
Kyory's breathing was quick and nervous. She sounded scared.
And he quickly realized why, when he heard the growls of the monster from nearby, as it walked right next to the hut, scratching at the walls and growling.
Jack shot a look at Kyory, and she looked back, eyes wide open in terror.
"Please, for the love of God, don't move and shut the fuck up" was written all over her face.
The hut door banged for a few seconds, and Jack jumped in fear, and immediately felt Kyory hold him tighter as she tensed up, both of them staring at the heavy rock that served as a door, hoping it wouldn't fall as the monster kept growling and fiddling with it.
But eventually, they heard the footsteps of it walking away. They stayed silent until it was completely calm outside, and waited even longer than that, just to be sure.
And eventually, another yeti's voice was heard from outside, followed by a rhythmic knock, and Kyory released her grasp on Jack and sighed in relief, before going to open the door, letting in a giant yeti man.
He thought she was tall already but holy shit he was enormous.
The yeti looked at Jack, and cocked his head as he scratched his beard.
Kyory told the man something, but all he could understand was "Jackull", which he assumed meant she was explaining who he was, and he nodded, before asking Jack something he couldn't understand.
"I-I don't know what you're saying, I'm sorry…" Jack mumbled, still under the shock of what had just happened, now even more scared because this guy was staring at him and he didn't know what it meant.
The two yetis then started talking together, and so Jack had some time to think.
What were those monsters he just encountered? If even those scary-looking yetis were scared of them, that must mean they were really dangerous…
A shiver went through his spine as he thought of that.
Shit… that lady did save him, though. Maybe she wasn't as mean as he thought?
He looked up at the two.
They seemed to be having a normal conversation, even if he couldn't understand. Their mannerisms were very human-like, heads and hands moving to add emphasis to sentences and facial expressions looking always like ones humans would make, and the language sounded very complex, like a real, modern language, not some simplistic caveman speak.
The two then turned to Jack, and he squealed, a bit scared again now. He saw Kyory say something, before she left.
The yeti man made a gesture for Jack to stand up, and he did so, legs shaking a bit. Yeah, oh boy, he was really stressed.
The man offered his arm for Jack to lean on, and Jack accepted that offer reluctantly. This was a bit embarrassing, but he didn't really know if he could even walk on his own with how light-headed he was feeling.
The two left the hut, and went to the fire pit, which was once again lit. There were a few others gathered around, looking curiously at Jack as he passed them. He was led to where Kyory was sitting and sat beside her, then gave him a blanket, which Jack wrapped himself around with, and walked off. Kyory gave him a piece of meat, still warm and fuming. He felt himself salivate with the sight, and started eating it, which made her giggle. Well, if he could call it a giggle, that is. It was hard to tell other than with her smile, it sounded very low and guttural.
The big yeti man made signs for the rest to gather near him, and he started talking to them in a loud and stern voice.
Oh, he was probably the leader or something. Made sense, he looked very tall and intimidating.
As he was talking, some yetis looked at Jack, and he lowered his gaze, feeling a bit weird. He definitely was out of place here.
After the leader was done talking, a frail-looking yeti lady, who looked very wrinkly and old, even who was losing some fur in places and was wearing a large blanket on her back, walked up to Jack, and gave him a small cup of hot water with some sort of tiny glowing rock at the bottom. She looked at him and said something, which Jack did not understand at all. She then made a move of her cupped hands to her own mouth, showing he had to drink it.
"Even the rock?" He asked as he pointed to it, and the old yeti lady nodded.
Kyory pat Jack's back to encourage him, and Jack sighed, before closing his eyes and downing the whole drink.
Immediately, he felt something strange in his mind, and his vision got blurry, as if the sun was shining brightly directly in his eyes and he was blinded by it.
And then he passed out.
~~~~~~
Once he opened his eyes again, he could see his old life in front of him. It was quite boring to look at, to be honest. Just him, silently sitting at his computer all day, - unless he went to work at his part-time job - either arguing on the internet, watching anime or jacking off to hentai. That, or arguing with his roommate whenever he'd ask him to clean his room or to go get groceries.
Ah… he was quite pathetic, wasn't he…
Maybe that's why he died and was reincarnated…
Although… that was a bit cruel of them. It showed they didn't care about him, huh. If they really cared… wouldn't they have sent him someplace nice?
It's not like he was acting useless on purpose, anyways…
Right?
Oh, and here was what happened yesterday… or… whatever it was…
Well, he was entitled to this figurine. He was the greatest fan. He was the best in the area… he had worked so hard…
Ah.
And here was the robber…
And now he was dead…
And…
It took a while before he even was noticed.
Before someone actually realized his body was lying on the streets there.
Before someone actually called the hospital.
Too late.
As Jack looked at all this, he thought.
He simply lived a life of… nothingness…
Of hoping something would change. Of hoping he would actually get recognition, that he would get strong, rich and popular.
But he… never did anything to accomplish it…
That's what he could only see as he looked at himself.
He did nothing.
He just sat there and hoped something would happen.
He didn't try to change himself.
He got angry when people online called him immature.
He yelled at his roommate when he was just trying to help him.
He got mad at the store clerk who was simply doing his job.
He really was getting punished by the gods…
~~~~~~~
Jack breathed in sharply as he sat up, gasping for fresh air as he looked around, disoriented.
Man, how many times was he going to wake up like that…
He was in a small hut, not like Kyory's, way more messy, filled with boxes and clay pots, even some plants laying around, and a small fire lit up in the middle, with above it a cauldron. Around him were Kyory, the old lady and the leader yeti.
They were all staring at him in shock and whispering to one another worryingly.
What happened?
Was he not supposed to faint, was that it?
As the leader and the old lady both talked to each other, Kyory leaned over closer to Jack and cocked her head. "Jackull…" she mumbled, and touched his cheek, confusion in her eyes, as she looked at him as if she couldn't recognize him anymore.
Ah, he really was confused too. He had no idea what was happening. It was mostly that damn language barrier. If only he had some paper and crayons to write or draw with, maybe it would help.
He stood up a bit and looked around on the ground, trying to find a spot of dirt or maybe some type of flat surface to write on. He grabbed a coal from the fire near them, and then took Kyory's palm, which was gigantic, and drew on it as much as he could, only trying to ask if he could have something bigger to write on.
After staring at the doodle for a few seconds, face scrunched up in confusion, she looked up at Jack, and he mimicked the action of drawing. She tilted her head, and asked the others something, which they responded to by nodding, before she grabbed Jack's hand and led him outside.
After a bit of walking, they reached nearby mountains, and went into a large cave, which was lit up by natural formations of glowing rocks, similar to the orb in Kyory's room.
She guided him to a place in the wall that was flat and clean, and placed his hand on it, and said something.
And, well Jack was not a very good artist, but nonetheless, he tried his best to ask as many questions as he could.
"What happened to him?" "Who were they?" "What were those creatures?"
The first question was an easy one. With Kyory explaining in drawings as well, he could understand that he had appeared out of nowhere while she was hunting, and they thought that God had done it.
Which, well… it was true, actually.
They were some type of sedentary tribe of creatures, not yetis, it seemed maybe more humanoid than he had assumed. Yes, he indeed lived in a vast fantasy world. But where he had ended up right now was probably the equivalent to Earth's North Pole. There was nothing except mostly snow and animals, and this tribe, the only people who had lived there for centuries. Sometimes, yes, humans and other creatures would come, but only to get ressources. They never interacted with them.
Apparently, the Puk-lak - that was the name of the tribe - also had no idea what those monsters were. But they were very scared of them. What had happened earlier during the night was a common occurrence for them.
"So… why not just… move?" Jack mumbled, and, in the crudely, primitively-made map of the world Kyory had drawn, he drew the little huts, and then an arrow to another place on the map.
She replied with skulls, and a firm shake of her head.
Ah. So it was too dangerous to move?
Well then.
So… what was he supposed to do now?
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