Otherworld Adventure

Departure

Early the next morning, Cecil woke up very early in the morning and did half of his routine.

After the routine, he takes a quick shower and finishes eating the meal that Lucia's mom made.

After breakfast, Cecil quickly took a quick check on all his belongings. He then equipped the armor and weapons he received from Argon and Felice.

He then packs up everything else he wanted to bring into his bag and head downstairs with Silver.

Arriving at the door, they see that Lucia's parents were already waiting for them. Cecil smiles and greets the two.

"Morning."

"Ah, yes. Good Morning."

"Morning, Cel sweety~"

"Well, it's about time I go."

"Yes."

Cecil looks around and to his disappointment, Lucia wasn't around. Seeing the disappointment in his face, Anna quickly explains.

"Lucia went out ahead already, so she's probably at the village gate waiting for us."

Cecil brightens up and smiles.

"Okay, it'd be sad if she didn't come and see me off."

"... I wonder about that."

"Huh? What's that Mrs. Anna?"

"It's nothing~"

Cecil couldn't quite catch a part of what Mrs. Anna just said. But, since she said it's nothing  Cecil decided not to pursue it.

'It's almost time for me to go.'

Cecil felt kind of excited and scared, but mostly excited. He was really anticipating this journey.

'It's not something I would even consider doing when I was back on Earth. I mean, what journey? You could just take a plane or some mode of transport and travel around the world.'

Not this, this was a journey, an adventure. It wasn't some trip or tour. But, a journey to find his family.

Although the motive behind it is just simple, finding his family, but the nuance of the journey itself was filling him with excitement.

'There was a whole new world out there ready for me to explore.'

While thinking such, Cecil walked forward and opened the door. It was still dark outside since he woke up very early. He planned on leaving before any of the villagers woke up. He smiled brightly and took a step out the door.

Silver follows and walks alongside him. Lucia's parents follow right behind.

They make their way to the village gate. On the way there, even when it was still this early in the morning, they still met some villagers who were already up and about.

They send him off with their blessings and smiles. Some of the parents even wake up their children. Waking up and seeing their 'big bro' leaving the village, they immediately tear up.

They finally reach the gate, just as the sun was about to rise over the horizon. Cecil looks around the gate, but to his dismay, Lucia wasn't there at all.

Seeing her not there, Cecil turns around and looks at Mr. Zaki and Mrs. Anna who followed him all the way here. A bit disappointed, he finally opened his mouth.

"Well, I guess, Lucia's avoiding me or something..."

"She's just like that, don't worry, you'll see her soon."

It was a weird response. What did Mr. Zaki mean by 'you'll see her soon'? He could no longer wait. The sun was already making its way up the sky. Cecil thought that if he sees the rest of the villagers, it might make him want to stay longer in the village.

"Okay... anyway, I should go now. Thanks for your hospitality Mr. Zaki, Mrs. Anna. I'm very thankful to you for taking care of me and Silver until now."

"It's nothing, it felt like I had a son. So it was very much enjoyable."

"Just think of us as your second parents here on Alternia~"

"..."

Hearing what the couple said, Cecil smiles brightly and bows real low.

"Thank you so much... Mom. Dad."

Mr. Zaki and Mrs. Anna were immediately surprised and brightly said.

"Have a safe trip, son."

"Have a safe trip, sweety~"

Cecil looks up at them one more time and then he turns around and starts walking off.

"Goodbye! Take care!"

Cecil waves back at the two while walking forward. He walks farther and farther while waving until he could no longer see them.

Cecil reminisces at the time he spent here at Fauxe Village. It was really nice even if it was only for a month or so. He thinks back to Lucia who he hasn't seen yet. It made him somewhat despondent.

'My first friend after coming to this world didn't see me off. I couldn't even see her for one last time.'

Cecil continued forward while sulking a bit.

'I mean the least she could do was see me off you know.'

Back on Earth, Cecil didn't have many, actually, he didn't have any friends at all. He was too busy training and never got close to anyone, including the other trainees who were at his father's dojo.

While walking, Silver started barking at him.

"Rawr!"

"What is it, Silv?"

"Rah, rah!"

"Huh?"

After barking Silver looks ahead and starts running forward.

"Hey, wait up!"

Cecil chases after him and not long after, he sees Silver stopping by the entrance to the forest where the small path continued towards the larger main road that would lead north towards Forest Hill Town.

Silver turns back and barks at Cecil. He hurries over and stands beside him.

Cecil looks up at Silver and thinks,

'All the training and eating that Silv's been doing sure has made him big.'

Silver now towers over Cecil at over 3 meters in height with a length of 5 meters from his head to his tail, his tail taking up about 1 meter of his overall length.

You could practically mount him just like a horse. Actually, he's practically horse-size now. All Cecil needed was a saddle and he'd be able to ride on him.

While thinking that, Cecil heard a high pitched yell growing closer and closer to him from behind.

"STTTTUUUUPPPPPIIIIIIIIIDDDDDDD!!!"

"Wha- bughhhhh"

Just as he was about to turn around, a huge impact hit him right on his spine. Cecil was swept off his feet from the abrupt impact and flew forwards a meter or two and fell face-first into the ground.

"Hey, stupid. You didn't think you could get rid of me that easily huh?"

'Gaah, I'm dying, I'm dying dammit... my spine...'

"Ow, ow... wha?"

Cecil struggles to turn himself around and look up at the perpetrator who knocked the wind out of him and sent him flying.

"Lulu?"

"i***t Cel."

'Okay, what? Did she just send me flying with a flying kick to my back?'

"What the heck was that for?!"

"Hahaha~!"

Her only response was to laugh at him like he was some stupid moron. Cecil gets up and glares at her.

Feeling the glare, Lucia's only response was to tease back at Cecil.

"Ohoho, scary~"

"That hurt you know."

"So?"

'What's with this girl? You're supposed to send me off with a smile, not send me flying with a kick!'

Cecil took a closer look at her and noticed that she was wearing a cloak almost like his with a bag strapped to her back.

"Hey, you couldn't possibly–"

"I'm coming with you!"

'I knew it.'

"Hey, you can't just say that you know. Did you already ask your parent's about this?"

"Yup, and they've already agreed. I was bound to go to the Mage Academy in Anglaria's Capital City in a year. So, why not just go on a journey with you instead?"

"What?"

Thinking back to earlier, Cecil suddenly remembered their talk from yesterday evening.

'Ah, so that's what Lucia's parents meant when they told us to take care of 'ourselves' and they'd be leaving the 'rest' to me.'

"You could have at least told me about it yesterday during the evening! I was pretty bummed about you not showing up, alright!"

"Well, you didn't say anything about leaving the village at all to me either, so that makes us even-steven."

"Ugh..."

Cecil couldn't retort to what Lucia just said. On the bright side, it was much better to go on a journey with a friend instead of going around by himself.

He would, of course, welcome the company. Silver barks up at the two and lowers his body down on the ground.

Cecil quickly jumps up on him and turns toward Lucia and stretches out his hand to her.

"Well, come on then Lulu."

"...hehe"

She giggles and smiles at him. Taking his hand she was pulled up and was sat in front of him.

"Alright. Now that we're set. Let's go!"

"Let's go!"

"Rawr!"

Cecil points forward and tries to psyche everyone up.

'This is going to be a first for me and Silver, Lucia too even. To go on a journey towards the unknown, it's really making me all hyped up.'

With the excitement, there's also a little bit of fear. Cecil just turned 14 and the thought of traveling to an unknown world would make him feel a bit insecure, but this journey was bound to happen sooner or later.

So why not make it sooner he thought.

In a world this dangerous, it'd be better to go on this journey sooner so he could quickly adapt and learn more about the world.  The faster he could adapt to the world, the faster he could go on a search for his family.

He would rather journey now than to find out later that because he waited and took a long time, his family wasn't even teleported here with him. Or even worse, find them dead because of how dangerous the creatures of this world are.

Not to mention that society and everything are completely different than to what it was previously back on Earth.

'I just hope that my family can quickly adapt to the changes and environment as I have.'

"Hah, who am I kidding. There's no way my family members are weaklings. If anything, they'd probably thrive in this chaotic world."

Cecil mumbles to himself.

"What's that Cel?"

"Haha, it's nothing. I look forward to this."

"Haha, me too,"

Silver was already moving forward swiftly. Not long after, they reach the main road.

"Okay, first stop. Forest Hill Town!"