Quantum Leap - Vol. 1 The Leap That Starts It All

C013 Yoda Master

Daybreak came and the rooster perched itself on a post and crowed with its majestic voice... "c**k-a doodle-dooooo! .....Cock-a doodle-dooooo!! ..... Errkk!!"

I guessed the rooster had choked on its own saliva or maybe a grain had finally found its way inside the throat and stopped the incessant and useless crowing right before dawn.

Who needs a natural alarm clock where your biological clock would automatically wake you up way before the rooster cries, am I right?

I stirred myself up and found that something heavy was on my chest as some time during the night, Ani had shifted her position and now she was sleeping with her face buried on my chest.

She was comfortably sleeping there while both her arms were on my shoulders as my arms were on hers as well.

I slowly removed my arms and found that it had gotten stiff for not moving for a few hours. Her wraparound 'sarong' was also hitched up and exposed her thigh that was sprawled across mine.

I slowly moved her thighs out of the way in order not to make too much sudden movement that might have woken her up. The feeling of baby smooth skin on her thighs made my loins become a bit uncomfortable in the morning.

I know it's natural but doing it with a sister, wouldn't that be considered as incest?

I find it all queer and right now I am in a rather difficult position. She was my 'sister' after all, Bo's sister in fact. When I sat up I started to discover from the first day that this place had not been influenced by any religion or faith.

The acceptance of the settlers here was like the nomad type of living, where cousins can marry their own cousins and sisters can marry their own brothers as well.

Does this mean that this part of civilization encourages incest? While some would be waiting and reading on to read some juicy and wet insights, I doubt you would find any over here, at this moment.

I shook my head to rid off the wildest imagination and rubbed my eyes. Ani stirred and sat up as she adjusted her sarong that was hitched up and exposed her thighs earlier during sleep.

"Abang, good morning to you. Would you want some coffee and bread before you head to meet the Master today?" she asked in the most melodious way that one wished to be greeted as such right in the morning.

"Sure, of course, Ani, if it's not too much trouble for you," I replied as I adjusted my sarong to cover the crotch area as it was rudely awakened by the sight and touch of a female body part earlier.

After a while, we both stood up and I went ahead for my morning affairs. The rain last night had left massive puddles and the children were awaken by their parents to proceed for the washing up, household by household.

The children, upon seeing the puddles of water after the last night's downpour, some of them ran and laughed gleefully and splashed around with their feet first.

They were behaving in such a careless manner that the mothers simply shouted at them and told them to shower afterwards.

These children were making lots of splashes around them while laughing and running about from one puddle to another.

I looked at the simple joys in life.

If the children were from my time, I am sure their mothers would have screamed their heads off at the sight of their children dirtying themselves with the puddles of water.

God knows what kind of contaminants those puddles held.

In a few moments after a quick wash-up, I was back at the house enjoying a cup of black coffee and a freshly toasted bread wrapped in a banana leaf.

Ani was quite efficient to whip up the bread and coffee even though when I was gone for about less than 20 minutes.

Its as if her 'dirty kitchen' was equipped with a gas stove and not one that needs to be fired and stoked up with coconut husk and tinder.

From a distance, I saw the three brothers approaching and was walking about to avoid the puddles of water.

All three of them were wearing their 'sarongs' that they had folded in half and tied them at their waist till the height was above their knees instead of slinging it diagonally from their shoulders.

I blew on my coffee and chugged it down while noisily slurping on it and chomped on the bread down hurriedly, took the keris and slipped it at the small of my back while calling out to Ani that I was leaving.

"Alright Abang, take care alright. I would not prepare lunch but dinner instead and if you are not home by dinner time, I would keep it aside for your breakfast tomorrow, alright?"

Ani motioned it to me as she sent me off from the front of the house at the top of the stairs. Soon, the four of us bade our farewells to Ani and were walking out of the settlement towards the path that led towards the small trail.

=*=

Roughly walking about close to two hours, we reached a clearing of another settlement. This time, it had circular houses made from brick stones and clay with a thatched roof made from the long grass that grew in abundance around the village.

Upon reaching the centre courtyard, I could see the similar long sticks and mortar that was used to pound the grains to remove the husks.

A few ladies were wearing the sarong like a wraparound and were pounding the grains of rice inside the mortar with their long wooden sticks.

A small open furnace was in the middle of three mortars; presumably to make baked bread for the masses once the grains had been properly milled.

There was a fireplace as well and several pots and cauldrons could be seen nearby. Later I learnt that the womenfolk here prepares meals for the whole community. This would save a lot of time in distributing the food to each individual household.

Close by, I could see a small shelter where a few men were sitting on a log and was tinkering with spears and other hunting tools.

A granary and a small shed for sheltered animals was also nearby. I counted and discovered that there were about 12 circular rock and clay houses which were big enough to fit 4 adults.

It seems that this settlement had the same number of settlers as ours. I wondered why there is a need to separate three two settlements and later I found out that our settlement had the benefits of both sea and land harvests.

We waved and nodded to the residents that were up and about performing their usual daily affairs before we reached the end of the clearing before we met with another path.

I saw some children emerging from the outskirts of the town and were carrying pieces of firewood in their arms, while some were ferrying stones and pieces of meat, presumably from accompanying the hunters.

A child was holding up a dead white rabbit in triumphant and was smiling gleefully as we walked towards them.  I felt as though I had stepped into another dimension altogether.

"What is this settlement called again?" I asked and uses the term 'again' under the pretence that I had forgotten its name before. "Oh....this is called Stone Village" replied Cheng as we walked on the path heading towards our destined settlement.

"What's their main trade?" I asked curiously since the settlement was a tad too far away from the beach and was surely not the same trade as the brothers.

"Pelts, meat and tanned leather," replied Dong nonchalantly. "These pelts mainly come from rabbits and an occasionally ram or sheep although rams are more common than sheep."

"Whereas leather may come from mountain bison or other animals such as the wildebeest. These animals are ferocious and only their true warriors are suited to hunt them down."

"It would take about 2 to 5 days to hunt and kill one and normally 2 children would accompany the hunters in carrying their daily necessities."

Eun began to narrate to me to his best of knowledge. It seems that meat is abundant here in this village and am sure it would be a good deal to trade meat with the green mussels.

After some minutes, the brothers had decided to take a break after the long exhaustive walk.

One of the brothers went into the coconut plantation and soon came back with a cluster of yellow coconuts.

We quickly rehydrate by drinking 2 coconuts each and after we had rested a bit while the 3 brothers smoked their rolled tobacco, we finally stood up on our weary legs and continued our journey.

Slightly over another 2 hours later, we had reached yet another clearing and a new settlement soon emerged.

"Welcome to New Hope Village."

From afar this settlement looked more lively than the other one back then. There was an archway built at the path with bamboo fences around the perimeter.

The houses were built from brick stones and plastered with clay and it looked to be somewhat a mini bungalow type of design.

It had a large archway for a door, and there were a lot of open-frame windows as well.

A light coloured curtain adorned the insides of the house as well as to keep it more private and away from prying eyes.

Near the gate, there was a small makeshift stall where residents could display their homemade wares for exchange of food or other staples.

Besides the small stall, there were workshops such as a tailor, a weaver, blacksmith, wood yard to provide firewood, a wood mill to grind grains — the whole works.

It's like a different era with tech that was sophisticated and resourceful during that time.

I wished I was transmigrated here instead of 2 settlements back then, but I am sure there would not be another Ani as my sister around here. Plus there must be a reason why I took over Bo's body and not anyone else's.

Heading towards a brick house with a small gazebo beside it, I assumed that it should be the Master's house as there wasn't any gazebo of that magnitude around.

The octagonal sized gazebo was as large as three-quarters of a basketball court.

Cheng instructed me and the rest of the brothers to wait at the gazebo while he went to the Master's house to request for our attendance with him.

A few moments later, a frail-looking man about 5 feet tall was walking with a stoop and holding on to a walking stick. He was bald and had long white moustache and beard and had appeared near the archway of the house.

Cheng went down on one knee and touched the old man's feet and pointed towards us who were fanning ourselves with the sarong. He was talking animatedly with the Master that we could not make out what they both were saying.

The frail old man walked along with Cheng and as soon as he arrived, the rest of the brothers stood up and knelt on one knee and touched the old man's feet.

I copied their actions as to not to be caught unawares.

"This is the man I was mentioning about, Master," Cheng informed the old frail man as he pointed to me. The old man gestured all of us to the gazebo and sat down at the edge while we all sat cross-legged in the middle facing him.

The old man sized me up for some time before he spoke in a hoarse voice." From here you do not come. Suffer once in your life, and answers you do seek..."

The way he talks to me and the first sentence he had opened up to me really gave me the SHOCK of my life especially after I comprehend what he was trying to say.

Not only was the old man was pretty old, but the way he speaks to me sounded like Yoda especially the way he held on to his walking stick and hobbled around...!

The 3 brothers looked at me in bewilderment and wondered what the old man was sputtering nonsense at this time especially the part where "From here you do not come."

Of course, we came from 2 settlements away and our settlement was so poor that we do not even have a handcart...!

"I... I... Mm... Master... I...Eeerrr..." I stammered just like how a town's i***t would do as I tried to form comprehensive words but then...

=*=

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