Chapter 5: A Change In Mentality

" Halt, show your badge," said the average-looking guard.

After waking up from his daze, Amos saw that he had reached the entrance of the city.

" I don't have one," Amos said worriedly.

" If you don't have a form of identification then you can either register at the welcome center, or you can leave and never come back."

" Never?"

" Yes, never," said the guard in an affirmative tone.

Amos pondered over it thoughtfully.

I don't have a place to live.

I don't think any of my friends and family came over with me.

I don't have a phone.

I'm all alone and don't know where to go.

Amos looked up and asked " Is there a nearby town/city/village?"

The guard shook his head and said "the nearest city is 700 miles away and there is a village 75 miles south from the village"

Amos pondered for a while and decided to play it safe and travel to the village.

When the guard saw his expression he said " There is a forest south of the city with many vicious beasts."

Before Amos could say anything the guard continued to say

" You're fairly skinny, so you probably don't have enough strength to fight over a single beast. Maybe you could wait outside till tomorrow morning for a caravan leaving the city to head to South city. When they pass by the village you can get off and offer something in exchange for their help. Some copper coins will do."

" ummmm. I don't have any copper coins or money on me."

The guard had a sneer on his face and started to yell

" GET OUT YOU STUPID BUMKIN!"

For the first time, Amos felt deeply offended, etching this moment into his heart he decided to enter the forest on his own.

Although Amos grew up in the city on Earth, he still had good survival skills, and living on his own taught him how to make a meal out of anything, and top of the line reasoning skills.

Without looking back, he walked away.

" Stupid bumkin, wasting my precious time, I don't get paid to help lost village boys. Hmph! I'm a proud guard of the servants quarters at the Houston Academy!"

Once Amos reaches the edge of the forest, he decides to find a cave or a place with a lot of cover.

After searching for an hour I finally found an empty cave.

Looking for rocks to seal the cave, he spends another two hours finding enough rocks to cover the cave's entrance.

I'm glad that I planned ahead of time and gathered many leaves to make a bed.

Also, I found that there are no animals near the edge of the forest, it seems like today is my lucky day.

{ Obviously due to Amos' high reasoning skills he was able to deduce the real reason that there were no beasts near the edge of the forest.}

Since it's so dark I might as well fall asleep.

Walking deep into the cave Amos started frowning

" This cave is deeper than when I first checked it out."

Due to the fear of the unknown, Amos decided not to go any deeper and to sleep near the entrance of the cave.

As he turned to walk towards the entrance, he found that he was walking deeper and deeper into the cave. Fear creeping in, Amos yelled

" Who's there?!"

Receiving no response, Amos sat down on the floor preparing to sleep there on the spot and hope everything turns out okay.

After sitting down and trying to leave for the past 3 hours, he gradually made his way down the cave unintentionally.

After feeling an attractive force that was attempting to pull him towards the depths of the cave, Amos tried to resist very heavily.

" What do you want?!, screamed Amos.

Upon receiving no answer Amos started to sweat

" I just arrived in this world and someone is already trying to kill me."

Weeping on the inside, Amos steeled his nerves and gritted his teeth.

" Hmph, let's see who will give up first! You or me?" said Amos while on the verge of a mental breakdown.

The battle went on for hours, the night passed and the sun rose.

Then evening came, 18 hours of fighting against the suction force Amos eyes were completely bloodshot. Asides from almost dying and crossing over, this was the most dangerous situation since he came to this world.

Evening passed and the moon rose, a whole 24 hours have passed and Amos's ears, eyes, nose, and mouth are all bleeding.

Amos decided to go for broke and started to use his breathing technique.

Having forgotten about the miraculous breathing technique, All-Encompassing breath, he found out that he was slowly recovering, but very, very slowly. The battle continued.

Two days, three days, four days. Noon of the fifth day the pressure started to lighten, and soon he felt that it disappeared.

" Come here" said a voice that seemed to have originated from time immemorial.

After growing through the whole ordeal, Amos was shocked that it ended just like that.

But when he heard that auspicious voice he didn't hesitate and resolutely decided to walk towards the center of the cave.