10 1.06.1 A bad liar.

In this world, some things would happen, that people are helpless against.

Like the eruption of a volcano, earthquakes, tsunamis, and even tornados.

All of these natural disasters are something a human can never face on his own nor stop them.

They are like divine judgment, which humanity is helpless against.

And this is how I felt at the moment. Completely helpless about what to do after I took a whole night to learn what my other self had planned.

"Should I let it happen? The only ticket into that world is if I don't stop whatever is going to happen now."

I know even thinking about it is bad. But there was nothing left for me in this world, going to the other side is the only possible way for me to find a reason to live.

To find more ways to entertain me.

"But, what about Meena and others?" The things my other self has planned for the village.

Should I let it happen?"

Of course not.

"The world is also bigger than just my hometown, so what if it's the mundane world. I could find new ways to get entertained later on. But first I have to stop this." I found it bizarre how few words in a book made me sway my mind.

The world on those pages might seem interesting and appealing. But there was still a high chance that the world mentioned in those notes might just be fiction of a crazy other me.

So I got up and picked up a closed lantern that was on the side and removed its glass top, before pouring all the animal lard all over the runes on the floor and then the large totem.

I know, that burning it here with me might just result in my death from suffocation if I can't run away on time.

But this was the only method that I can think of at the moment.

And who knows, after this things can get normal. I would leave this village and after everyone has forgotten about it, I would come back in a year or two to meet them again.

So lighting a book with my lit lantern, I threw the book to the totem, before hurrying toward the hiding hole from whence I came from.

But knowing that it was already morning and people might have noticed something wrong with my home. I stopped, before looking around the room that was catching fire at a startling pace.

"The wind," I recalled the sensation from before trying to find an entrance in a hurry.

But Grifter was one step ahead of me as it pointed me in the right direction and I found that a particular wall was not actually a wall, but it was instead a boulder covering the entrance.

So picking Grifter, I pushed the boulder aside and jumped out in the open.

And through it, I escaped with the books that I wasn't able to read and all of the Knowledge books.

"No!"I cried while rolling on the ground first and it didn't work. I got up and then jumped into the lake that was next to me.

While little Grifter jumped off my burning body.

And yes, you thought it correct, by accident, some of the animal fat flew down my arms and then my body. Which resulted in the scene you all are seeing now.

I was burned, I was burned very badly.

The pain unlike any I have experienced before singed my left hand some one-fourth of my torso.

Though the cold water did help. But my mind was already numb to pain at that point.

"Fool." I crawled out of the water and cursed myself.

I should have looked for a new exit before starting the flames. A small mistake like that might have been the end of me.

But at the end of the day, I still succeeded. I destroyed the totem that might have been my ticket to the other world and burned myself as well, but at least it will keep her safe.

When I eventually walked out of the lake that was the gate to the other world. I came across those books once again.

The ones I haven't read.

"Need to find a place to hide," I said after closing the burning room with a boulder again, making it look almost conspicuous.

I was also cold and my body was shaking under the pain and wet clothes.

But this was the least I could do for her.

So picking up the books with my only working hand and Grifter who let me hold him without any struggle.

I Limped away from the scene.

Praying that I found another method to that wondrous world and praying that nothing bad befalls the only girl that actually cared for me.

*****

It's been a week since I disappeared from the world. Finding a hiding place was taught at the start. But in this hilly place, I eventually found a place that was perfect for me to hide away from the beast and humans that roamed this place.

The first few days in the jungle were hard. My burned skin was infected and I caught a cold. If not for Grifter finding me some herbs that were a perfect replacement for antibiotics. I might already be dead.

Though, when I felt the fever dropping down, I became aware of another problem. I hadn't eaten anything in days and I was weak due to this.

And in this case, little Grifter won't be able to help me.

So, at night. I started to walk back to the village. Hiding from the guards that were on active patrol in fear of the demon and their patterns simple as before. Even a child adept in hiding and seeking would walk past them with ease.

For a man like me, it was even easier.

And so, rummaging the houses, I always found something to eat.

I planned to live this way until the merchants came to the village again, before leaving this place with them.

Not to mention, this new experience of living like criminal hiding away from prying eyes was entertaining in a different way.

I started to understand why thieves did what they did.

The power one feels while taking the cover of night as leverage is astounding.

This way, even a rat might kill a human. And I was the owner of a rat that had actually killed a human.

And I was right, it's been so long and none of the cattle died again. Which meant that by destroying the totem, I have saved this village from a fate worse than death.

Though if there was something I regretted it was Meena.

I left her world before I had the time to confess my feelings to her.

Just one time, I wished to tell her how I felt, even if I was not deserving of all the things I have done. It was something that was not even entertaining, instead of confessing your true feelings to someone might be the most horrific experience for an individual.

But I still wanted to do it, in case I succeed.

Though with the current state of my body, I looked at her from afar.

I saw the village reverting to calm and the energy getting back to the villagers.

This also meant that with me gone and the attack of the so-called demon ending. These villagers were sure that I was the perpetrator of all of this. And they were right, the villain was a certain aspect of me.

Though, this life of isolation didn't stay this way for long. One day, while bathing early in the morning before the villagers woke up. A certain someone stumbled upon me.

"You didn't leave?" She asked, her voice a bit weaker than before.

And I who was startled by her presence was also left speechless.

"I was waiting for the merchants," I answered after some thought.

"Then why not wait at your own home?" At this point, even she knows the question she asked was a bit stupid. Maybe that's why she changed her question in an instant. "Did you do it?"

I wondered if I should tell her the truth.

Tell her that it was the other me who probably did it. The other me who was killing all those cows and the other me who came from a different world.

But I also understood that no one in their sane mind would believe this.

"No, I didn't."

There was no need to give out a reason. No need to explain things to her.

She will live her life as a villager in this place and I would mine after leaving this place.

"Don't lie." She said, Maybe, my voice was not as confident as I thought it would be.

I lifted my hands from the water and said.

"I truly didn't."

But the moment I did that was the moment I hid my hand back into the water.

"What was that? What were those marks on your hand?"

I understood that this was something hard to hide considering that I was barely wearing anything.

So I said to her, "I got burned while leaving your village with the lantern, nothing serious." There truly was nothing serious about it. The actual dangerous moment has existed in the past only.

Now, most of my injuries have started to heal. It won't be long before I revert back to my normal self, albeit with a big scar.

Though in the business I planned to run, a scar like this was not a liability, but an asset.

"You know, I always considered you a bad liar. And I was right." She said before hunching over to my eye level.

"Do you want to eat something good?"