Journey to the Death Academy
On the way to our destination I was parsing through my body's memories and found out my body's name is Jordan. Jordan was the eldest of 4 and his family struggled to keep a farm productive with grain and potatoes being their products. Jordan purposely ate less to give his siblings more. When famine hit the farm he volunteered to be sold for labor so that the family may survive.
Jordan was only 15 years old today and was born in Eventide on the 15th which equates to June 15th by Earth standards. The calendar months are named differently in this world. But follow the same daily pattern per month as Earth. The name of the world I woke up in is Atatosk. The region I am in is called Atazar and it is governed by a Republic of City states. The people in the region are literate and have mastered the basics of arithmetic.
They still use an abacus for calculating though. "I never seen one till yesterday let alone knew what it was!? I mentally commented to myself." It dawned on me that this is a more primitive time and I probably will have no conveniences let alone toilet paper or other things for hygiene and looking at myself and smelling myself I am in dire need of personal TLC!!
My body's previous circumstances ended up odd because he became ill on the way to the town of Marux (the place he was held in captivity) from the village of Sour (the village Jordan was raised). He became ill due to the cold drafty travel cart the slave trader used to transport Jordan in.
The weather this time of year is desert like to which days are hot and nights extremely cold. The village of Sour lies 4 days ride south of the town of Marux. It is a fairly protected village situated in a valley surrounded by mountain ridges and a stream running past the entrance of the village. The stream mysteriously started to turn milky one day and the crops started to yield less. Mind you this area has a lot of trees and plants growing but just the wheat grains started to yield less. Outside the valley is pretty barren and full of savanna. I don't know why but my body's mind is tearing as my mind is predominately calm.
I realize as my eyes observe the day as it progresses that there are 2 suns that is slowly going overhead. It is to the point that there are no shadows made by the carriage and an hour later the shadow appears on the right side of our carriage. This makes me guess we are heading north as I do not recognize the terrain. Jordan's memory of being taught while little is that the suns are named Aster for the little one and Rix for the large one. The suns also rise in the East and set in the West as it does on Earth. So I realize navigating on this world is easier than I thought and I just need a map of the area to know where I am. Plus I am also on another planet given that there is a rotation.
It currently has been 3 hours of riding on this bumpy dirt road full of pebbles and stones. The scenery of savanna and creeping desert to my west and east is monotonous.
As lay person in my previous life I would usually be eating out of a gut truck on the side of the road of my job site at this time. And the thought of dying as I arrive to work was not what I expected. I thought a man was to be judged by god or be sent hell for sins committed or go to heaven. But not to wake up to this?
As I am coming to terms of my circumstances the carriage halted. The forward inertia of the sudden stop jolted me to the side as banged into the guardsmen on my right. The guardsmen glared at me then shoved me out of the carriage on to the rocky ground while holding the chain which was wrapped around my neck choking me. The Merchant look at the guard and ordered him to pick me up and threatened that if he killed me he will end up in the stocks for horny Orcs to pay back the money he lost. The guard made a frightened look and quickly dusted me off and picked me up and ordered me to move and follow the Merchant.
As I followed the Merchant I glanced at my surroundings and find that there is nothing but rocky crags and savanna around. We are headed to a large rocky crag with a hole large enough for a person to go through. It has barely enough for 2 people to pass by each other unless they were good friends. The smell of rotten eggs are in the air as walk through this dimly lit tunnel above us the flames are held in wok like braziers with blue flames illuminating the tunnel. The ceiling of the tunnel is unusually high and the walkway is slowly descending.
I assume that they burning sulfur stones because of the blue flame and egg smell. As I realize this we come upon a double door made of bronze. The Merchant knocks on the door in a peculiar pattern that has a different tone per place he knocks. The doors open and a man 6 foot tall with a muscular build smiles at the Merchant and gives him a hug while laughing. The Merchant and the burly man exchange pleasantries and then eyes me. The burly walks up to me as if sizing me up.
(I am going to be your trainer young man. My name is Hassar. I will be training you to be skilled in the arts of murder, and execution. Your body will honed to be silent, swift, and deadly. You will learn to not fail and never give away your masters. Pain is your bed fellow and will give you strength to go beyond your limits. If you fail to survive the training, death will be your comfort. Do you understand!?)
I nod in compliance.
(Good, welcome to the Academy of Death).