The alarm blared for only two seconds before Andy silenced it with a flick of her wrist.
—¡Power restored!
A different kind of wake-up, with energy coursing through every fiber of her body like a kid in their favorite toy store. She'd never tire of this glorious feeling. Just a day ago, not worrying about her eyelids feeling as heavy as stones was an impossible dream. Fortunately, that had changed so abruptly it still felt surreal.
¡But it was a more than welcome change!
She opened the windows and breathed in the icy breeze of the nighttime streets. Guards, people, and those who couldn't stand sunlight hurried to their daily tasks, some with noticeable fatigue in their steps, others basking in the moonlight. Andy let the wind tousle her hair before heading back inside to the kitchen.
No longer needing to worry about a sugar crash or falling asleep on public transport, it was the perfect time to settle the matter of her payment. From what Ripley had explained on the drive back, since she'd suffered an "accident" during work hours, nothing would be deducted from what was stipulated in her contract. In fact, she'd receive compensation for supposed emotional distress!
The mischievous, childlike grin on her face was massive. With this, she wouldn't have to worry about finding a job for a few months and could focus entirely on her hobbies.
On her way, she noticed a change. Her bookshelf was organized, her romantic novels from 1 to 20 (which had taken a good chunk of her salaries to collect over the years) in perfect order, alongside the few cookbooks she'd won in a raffle.
¿When had she organized them? Aside from occasionally dusting, she'd never cared much about keeping each volume in its proper place. The only empty spot on the shelf was where she kept the encyclopedias her brother gave her, which were now on the dining table.
She stared at them for a few seconds.
She loved exploring, but she never ventured beyond the walls and safe zones without a large group provided by work agencies. Until now, the farthest she'd traveled outside them was to the mountains for the cleanup job. After all, she had no plans to visit places where dangerous creatures ruled the wild zones, so learning about migration cycles, diets, and the amount of toxic saliva some animals produced while snoring had always been unnecessary for her. She probably moved them and forgot to put them back.
The stories and random facts Ripley told her were more than enough information.
—Meh.
She stopped caring pretty quickly.
She served herself the last of her favorite cereal and sat down to eat after pushing the massive encyclopedias aside. The grains, though they'd lost some texture and flavor from improper storage, were still tasty enough to bring a smile with every bite.
She casually glanced at the corner. The computer she was going to sell was still there, as always. The broken keyboard was covered with glass shards from the equally shattered monitor, the computer itself cleanly sliced in half by what must have been an absurdly sharp and unnecessarily large blade.
Yep, everything normal.
She took another bite, and a few more. She stared at the machine's remains in complete silence before choking on her spoon and bits of cereal she hadn't managed to swallow properly. Rage surged within her with every step toward the pile of wrecked circuits.
¿Was one of the side effects of her superpowers turning into an aggressive sleepwalker? !No way!
It couldn't be possible. If it was, she wouldn't focus on destroying just one thing and ignore the rest. Someone else had to be responsible, and that bastard's "face" was already in her mind.
With her forehead, so red it could evaporate rain on contact, she leaned out the window and shouted.
—¡Ludo!
Passersby jumped at the beastly roar echoing in their eardrums. Neighbors in the building across the street slammed their windows shut, accustomed to the snowball effect that would follow in the few seconds it took them to take cover in their homes.
—¡¿What?! — Ludo responded from the floor below, stretching his elongated, stick-like body while his gelatinous appendages clung to the window frame.
—¡You slimy piece of shit, you destroyed my computer!
Ludo's body quivered, each turbulent ripple splattering slime everywhere.
—¡¿Me?! — His body inflated as he sucked in all the air he could, preparing a titanic scream. — I'd never set foot in that pigsty… ¡Again! You were making a racket a few hours ago, got drunk, and destroyed it yourself
— ¡I haven't had a beer in years, and you know it!
The window above opened, and an old woman, who seemed incapable of raising her voice above two decibels, let out a scream that shook the windows of surrounding buildings. Every second, a new neighbor joined the fray, turning the place into a coliseum of insults as eggs were hurled at flowerpots and windows alike.
Andy slammed her window shut, forcing herself to take deep breaths.
— Calm down, babe — she repeated to herself. — In the end, the junkman were going to eat it that.… It won't make any difference if it's already broken, ¿right?
After a few breathing exercises, the anger faded. Upon reflection, it wasn't worth ruining the rest of the night over a small inconvenience like this. She'd surely be in a better mood once she picked up her money.
¡Yes, that's it!
Sweet, delicious cash never failed.
The amount was far more than she'd have gotten for the computer. She felt foolish for getting mad and throwing accusations without proof that Ludo was actually the culprit.
—¡Sorry, Ludo! — she shouted, embarrassed.
—Screw you — he replied, flinging a chunk of his slimy body at her window.
…...................
Jarek sank into his thoughts as he was dragged through the streets.
Andy nimbly dodged the walkers of wildly varied shapes and sizes, heading toward the company in charge of collecting remains from the remote abandoned village.
Jarek was confident that his knowledge of folklore, legends, and cultures from various countries in his old world surpassed that of the average person. Above all, he prided himself on his expertise in cryptids, mythical beings, and their counterparts across the globe.
From the Sidhe, of the golden and crystal fairy palace in western Ireland, to the lobizones of South America. His love for the mystical and unknown was the second reason he'd chosen to pursue wildlife photography, dreaming that, one day, he'd come face-to-face with the Mothman.
Identifying any fantastic creature with just two words was easy for him. However, a quick glance at the passersby shattered his confidence… and much of his ego.
Many displayed familiar traits. Horns, tails, golden scales, and multiple eyes with reptilian pupils.
But it was the same case as the "Druz'ya."
They were just that. Something resembling what Jarek knew, but ultimately something completely different.
The Bukit Timah Monkey Man would be considered a mere civilian around here. The precious content of the encyclopedias was vast. Too vast. Hours and hours of reading raised the danger level of this world to a whole new rank.
His symbiotic abilities no longer seemed so powerful compared to what he'd learned. A massive wave of insecurity flooded him, and it didn't matter that he was now in a relatively safe zone.
No place was completely safe from the dangers of nature.
He didn't even need to leave the massive fortified walls and checkpoints for his life to be engulfed in a threat far beyond him. ¡The most harmless of Andy's neighbors could seriously injure him if he let his guard down!
¡If only he'd been sent to the world of Animal Crossing!
Andy felt a shiver, tinged with a faint thrill she couldn't identify, ripple through her body. — So cold… — She quickened her pace.
…...................
The waiting room was packed.
Endless lines stretched down the hallway. The air conditioning shielded them from the outside temperature, something Andy appreciated the moment she walked in.
¿Could she still get sick? She decided not to risk it and basked in the warmth.
She picked up her queue number and settled in to wait. The good news was that, since she wasn't there to pick up documents or handle important paperwork, she wouldn't have to wait all night like the rest of the poor souls.
The bad news was she'd still be waiting for a considerable amount of time, and worst of all, she'd forgotten to bring one of her books to pass the time.
She blew a strand of hair out of her face, bored as a rock in the middle of a desert.
Meanwhile, Jarek was observing another memory. A classroom full of children and a weary old man was the main scene he chose to visit this time.
Basic geography class, first year of elementary school.
The teacher explained the basics, pointing to parts of the state on a colorful map on the wall.
"I knew it… I wasn't crazy!"
On his first night inside the meteorite, he noticed something was off.
The night was too long.
At first, he thought it was a matter of perception. Being thrown into the middle of nowhere without internet, a Switch, or any form of entertainment made time feel eternal.
But since he was somewhat mentally indisposed at the time, he didn't pay it much attention.
But now…
He fast-forwarded a few years in the memory. Now it was the penultimate year of primary school, in a much more detailed geography class.
Mountain ranges that seemed endless, seas stretching beyond what Jarek remembered from his world. The teacher, with a raspy voice and a wooden pointer, began tracing circles on the plastic globe spinning in a corner of the classroom.
The room erupted in yawns and indifferent murmurs. But Jarek froze.
—…¿What? — he muttered, staring again at the globe, which looked more like a colossal wrecking ball than a habitable planet.
A total surface area of 15.3 billion km² for the planet…
Days lasting 40 hours instead of the usual 24…
Meaning traveling from one end of a state in Förskott (the country they were in) to the other would be like crossing all of Canada or Brazil. The state Andy lived in was roughly half the size of Russia…
And only 20% of this celestial giant had been fully explored.
¡In all the centuries of human evolution!
Thousands of questions burned in Jarek's heart. So many doubts, With no time or resources to answer even one of them. That was the real reason the days felt like an eternity.
It wasn't that his perception of time was distorted, but that the hours stretched out to the point of being unbearable due to the size of the planet and its rotational cycles.
It was a true miracle he hadn't lost his mind… ¿Or has he already lost it?
Jarek was so absorbed in his investigation that he didn't notice when Andy left for home, brimming with good vibes and a smile so intoxicating it seemed to light up the way.
—Ugh… so cold. — She quickened her pace again.