*COUGH* *COUGH* *COUGH*

I went inside to see how that guy was doing. He looked pale and… scared? I don’t know why someone would be scared of their Savior. He started to scream in some weird language. It didn’t sound like any Asian language… It was close to a Swedish accent. I showed him my empty hands.

[ Eric ]

“Calm down, calm down… Do you speak English?”

Guy froze in place. He didn’t look scared now but he definitely was confused. I slowly took off my helmet and asked

[ Eric ]

“Do you understand me?”

[ Guy ]

“You’re from the earth!” He immediately replied.

[ Eric ]

“From where else could I be? From mars?”

[ Guy ]

“No… I mean like another world.”

[ Eric ]

“You hit your head or something in that storm?”

[ Guy ]

“I didn’t…”

[ Eric ]

“So what do you mean by another world…”

I couldn’t believe this guy telling me that I’m from another world… but something was off about this place like this shipwreck and Viking’s skeleton so I heard him out.

[ Eric ]

“My name is Eric, I’m from England.” I introduced myself before we started talking about “this world”.

[ Tae ]

“Po Tae, from Korea. I’m also from earth… What's so funny?” Asked Tae as he saw my face.

[ Eric ]

I couldn’t resist laughing so I said “Po! They named you after a panda?!” and laughed.

[ Tae ]

“That is my surname…”

[ Eric ]

“Ok… ok… Huh… So Tae, what do you mean that I’m in another world?”

[ Tae ]

“... Like I said. You’re not on earth, you’re in Midgard, one of the nine realms of Norse. This world is ruled by gods that we only know from mythology on earth. Like Odin or Thor. Were you in a situation close to death?”

[ Eric ]

“Yeah, I was falling from a bridge…” I was explaining what happened to me and ate my berries while explaining but Tae was shocked once again so I replied “What?”

[ Tae ]

“You know that… those are poisonous?”

[ Eric ]

“They are? Huh… Well, I ate them for three days.”

[ Tae ]

“Yeah… about this world… when you die there is a chance that god will drag you here and there is also a chance that he will give you a blessing… like a buff in video games.”

[ Eric ]

“So I was blessed? With poison resistance? ...I was going to complain about useless ability but if not for it I wouldn’t be alive...”

[ Tae ]

“Have you looked at your forearm yet?”

[ Eric ]

“Yeah… I think?”

I pulled up my sleeve and saw a green tattoo on my left forearm. I touched it, I scratched it and it was real. I had a real tattoo on my arm. When did that happen? My mom would kill me if she saw it.

[ Tae ]

“That is a proof of blessing… So how did you die? Just fell?”

[ Eric ]

“...Well… I fell… because I was… Drunk…”

[ Tae ]

“Uha… Now I get why Loki blessed you…”

[ Eric ]

“Like Lokie from the movies?”

[ Tae ]

“No… he is completely... different. Or maybe just a little bit similar.”

[ Eric ]

“Oh… Wait! If you’re from earth too… Then were you also blessed by the god?”

[ Tae ]

“Yeah, I was.” Tae showed his tattoo. It was also green but lighter and his lines were smoother while mine were sharp and looked like it was a little torn. “I was blessed by Frejr. My blessing lets me grow plants faster.” Said Tae as he touched the ground and the grass grew a few millimeters up.

[ Eric ]

“Now I understand what you mean by a new world… So how did you die that you were blessed by Frejr?”

[ Tae ]

“Well… I was helping a kitten at the crossroad but someone drove into me.”

[ Eric ]

“Ok… You’re not lying, right? Are you a prisoner or something?” I pointed to his chains as I said that.

[ Tae ]

“I’m… a slave… They will be looking for me…”

[ Eric ]

“Who?”

[ Tae ]

“Hakarl Clan! They pray for a Widar! God of revenge! So they will always look for their lost slaves!”

[ Eric ]

“Well… a few ships were passing by…”

[ Tae ]

“Don’t tell me you give them some sort of sign that you’re here!”

[ Eric ]

“I used my phone’s flashlight…”

[ Tae ]

“... Well… I’m not sure how they would react to that… They may think that was a warning from a god… By the way, do you have any clothes? Wearing this would be suspicious…”

[ Eric ]

“I might have some…”

[ Tae ]

“What do you mean by might?”

I just left him without another word. I don’t know how he would feel wearing dead people's clothes. Since he died by helping a kitten he might be… softie… I gave the clothes and armor to Tae but he had something in mind because he didn’t put them on. Then he asked me if I could give him a flat rock. So I gave him one and he started rubbing it with a rock…

[ Eric ]

“What are you doing?! It looked so good! And! And! Expensive!” I shouted at Tae.

[ Tae ]

“And too risky to wear it like that. Some people might be scared, some suspicious, and some even aggressive toward us… I don’t want to risk anything. Wearing armor with a mark of the clan is not good.”

[ Eric ]

“Ohh… Is that so? Still… What a waste. But there is no one on this island anyway…”

[ Tae ]

“And again you don’t know anything. There is a small village on the other side. I didn’t see any clan banners before I escaped so this is a clanless village.”

[ Eric ]

“Really! If I knew I would have gone there immediately, then try to survive here alone…”

[ Tae ]

“Nah… They wouldn’t help you. You are a stranger and you don’t speak their language. This world has its own language. Similar to Danish.”

[ Eric ]

“Like the one when you screamed something seeing my armor?”

[ Tae ]

Tae with his head down said, “...yes.”

I’m twenty years old and yet in this world, I’m like a kid that doesn’t know anything… The only thing I want now is to somehow settle in this world. I feel like I can have a better life here if I’ll make the right choices.

[ Eric ]

“Wait… you want to go to this village?”

[ Tae ]

“Yeah. We could sell the parts of armor or something and find some job.”

[ Eric ]

“Someone told you already that you’re pretty smart?”

We were preparing for the journey. Basically, I told Tae to check all the traps and I gave him a sword for protection. He hesitated to go alone for a moment when I told him about wolves. Meanwhile, I was checking the ship again. I was looking for a bag or backpack but there was nothing like that. The only thing left was to use clothes like bags… I also took a belt with a few knives stuck in it. I was really looking forward to the journey but while I was walking through the forest I felt the pain from the wound that the wolf left. Now I’m not sure about it.