" It's almost the 10th hour. If the day started at 6, then it's been about 11 hours since morning," Zilon muttered, resting his head on his right palm.
Zilon looked ahead and for some reason he could feel the temperature starting to raise slightly.
' Hmm could it be..... ' Zilon thought as he looked back at the smaller water clock and saw that it's down to it's last drop.
Looking at the bigger jar it still had water, but the water wasn't really much.
" If I had to make a guess then the bigger jar seems to work with 12 hours " Zilon did the math in his head. It made sense.
" Well...." He then stood up and walked to the stick and noticed how the time is currently points at 5.
" This further confirms my thoughts" Zilon nods his head.
" So hot..."
Zilon looked to the sky.
" So you finally show yourself " Zilon said as he noticed an orange ball smaller than the first, about the size of a football peak slowly from the horizon.
" It came out at the 11th hour, but then I wonder how it's orbit is and how many hours does it take to set " Zilon stared at the grass below him.
" In any case I guess it should be considered afternoon right now, I have been sitting down here for 11 hours straight when I have a challenge I need to face " Zilon said shaking his head.
" I really don't have it easy..."
*KRUUUUU*
" I knew it you couldn't hold on " Zilon said as he grunts in pain from the hunger that suddenly assaulted him.
" I am not sure I can hold on much longer I have to go and find something to eat....." Zilon said.
He went back to the tree and flipped the water clock.
" The hunger has taken a lot out of me " Zilon said when he felt his legs shaking with each step.
He felt his body getting weaker and he felt a pang on his chest as he quickly opened his status window to confirm his worst fears...
[Status....]
- **Name:Zilon
- ** Level : 1
- **Race: ???
- **Age: 15
- **STR: 7
- **AGI: 8
- **ACU: 17
- **STA: 12 /14
- **MAG: 52
- **MAN: 62
- **SLP(Soul power): N/A
-- **Exp(experience points) ; 10/100
-- ** Order : None
-- ** Class : N/A
...
]
"So hunger drains stamina..... Naturally" Zilon sighed at the obvious.
He'd been so caught up in the fantasy, he forgot how real—and perhaps even harsher—this world could be.
He walked back to the house removed his shoes and kept it aside the he walked up straight to the second room.
Zilon was about to knock but something in him felt like he couldn't.
"...."
Zilon tried again to knock but he stopped when his hands was inches away from knocking.
" I should check if there is really nothing first before I do that " Zilon muttered as he shook his head.
It will be quite shameless of him to go and ask for food after his out burst yesterday.
" I mean even it's something I can use to cook it will work "
Zilon went to peak inside his room and saw that nothing was there.
He opened the door and looked around.
He shook his head with a sigh as he went out to head to the room that can be considered the guest room.
This room is the first you come across when you enter through the house.
"Now that I think about it, I didn't really note this down when I first came out the day before, and I wasn't observant the next morning. The night was too dark for me to notice much of anything." Zilon's eyes traced the guest room's practical elegance.
Two long oak benches, their backs carved with interlocking vines, sat in an L-shape against the walls - each wide enough to seat two travelers side by side. Between them stood four sturdy single chairs with woven rush seats, their legs stacked neatly where the benches' arms didn't quite meet. At the center sat a circular table of aged cherrywood, its surface bearing the ghostly rings of countless tankards and the knife-scars of hurried meals. A single beeswax candle in an iron holder provided dim light, its smoke staining the exposed beams above. The air smelled of dried lavender tucked between the floorboards and the faint metallic tang of the iron door hinges.
" I can't believe I missed so much detail on this the other day " Zilon slammed his forehead but the growls of his stomach did not allow him to appreciate it for long.
Zilon then looked to his left, he saw the door to the room that could be considered the kitchen.
" Earlier when I came to find those jars I was also quite in a hurry so I did not get the chance to look at my surroundings,it's strange how I even know this a kitchen " Zilon said he walked towards the door.
Opening the door, he entered the kitchen and closed the door behind him.
A whiff of honey and crushed berries lingered beneath the charcoal scent—recent, but with no visible source.
' Hmm...'
"Wow...not gonna lie this looks awesome" Zilon said as he noting down the contents of the kitchen.
The kitchen crouched in its corner like a seasoned cook over a stewpot. A massive hearth dominated one wall, its soot-blackened mantel holding an assortment of blackened kettles and a cast-iron rotisserie crank. Nearby sat a heavy dough through carved from a single tree trunk, its surface worn smooth by generations of kneading.
Shelves of rough-hewn planks held, stuffs like Earthenware jars labeled in chalk
,A mortar and pestle stained purple from last season's elderberries, A wrought-iron rack dangling bunches of dried herbs and what looks like onions.
The centerpiece was a broad chopping block, its surface crosshatched with decades of knife marks, flanked by a tin-lined copper wash basin
,hand-cranked grinding mill bolted to the counter's edge and rows of well-scrubbed wooden trenchers for serving.
" This looks more like a breadboard....."
At the room's heart stood a waist-high brick oven, its arched mouth dark with accumulated charcoal dust, with a stack of split oak logs waiting beneath a leather apron hung on a peg.
At right corner also stood a small cup board that had other things like jars, and wooden bowls.
*KRUUUUUUU*
His stomach clenched like a fist around a dagger. Spots danced in his vision—not from mana, but from the hollow ache gnawing at his ribs. Even his bones felt lighter, as if hunger were erasing him piece by piece.
" I know , I KNOW!!...."
Without wasting more time he searched around the room .
Opening the cupboard, searching the oven, ramaging through anything he could across but he could not find anything.
Zilon's head buzzed from the intense hunger he felt and he had to sit at a corner as he glanced at his Stamina points with bitter expression.
" I am down too my last 6 points" Zilon said as he sighed.
' so maybe this is how I finally die.....'
Zilon smiled bitterly and closed his eyes as he tried to endure the pain he was receiving from his head.
The problem was that his body was really weak, if he could he would have gone and knock on Lyla's door for help but, there is an actual deference between you being tired and exhausted and you being drained because you have no energy whatsoever.
He bent down and crawled on the ground as he tried to navigate back to the door when suddenly he noticed something at the corner of his eyes.
"What...how did I not see that"
Maybe it was because of the hunger but at that corner, precisely to his left he saw two bowls covered by something that looks like a wooden small lid.
The cupboard he noticed had a space below it, on which there were two bowls in it.
Zilon crawled towards the cupboard and barely made it with his stomach growling more and more.
He sat down and stretched with both his hands, he was about to grab it when he noticed something.
' My hands.....there shaking? ' Zilon with a slightly open mouth thought as he stared at his hands in shock .
He knew that he was hungry, so hungry that he knew that he might pass out ,but he wasn't expecting his body to be badly affected by it.
Zilon quickly took the bowl and brought to his lap, the first contact it made with fingers gave him the signal that there was something inside that bowl.
" It's warm.....oh please let it be food inside" Zilon said as he slowly removed the wooden lid.
When Zilon saw what was inside the bowl he was met genuine surprise.
"Is this pudding....." Zilon said with a surprised expression on his face.
A creamy white substance that had some blue dots on it was visible , the cream made looks like a cake that seems to shimmer the more Zilon looked at it.
"Maybe I'm just hungry..." Zilon placed the bowl next to him and picked up the second bowl to inspect it's content.
" Wait so they also have bread in this world! " Zilon exclaimed with a shocked expression as he stared at the 3 baps of bread sitting inside the bowl.
Looking at the bread there was not much difference with usual bread he eats on earth, the only difference that was noticable was the grains that were hooked at the upper side of the bread.
Zilon tried to pull it out but it won't budge and he just left it the way it was.
" Okay then hopefully this tastes good " Zilon stood up, surprised at how quickly the hunger has left, and if weren't for the pain in his head he would have think that he wasn't hungry anymore.
He looked around and found a bigger bowl and a jar filled with water next to it.
He went closer, pouring the water inside the jar and Zilon did the first thing that came to his mind.
Zilon placed his hands inside the bowl and washed his hands.
Then he found a smaller round bowl and poured the water inside the jar again.
Then he sat on the ground and arranged them them in front of him.
Clasping his hands together, he closed his eyes and prayers to his food, something that he came to learn through her....
He then opened his eyes and took a chunk with his hand, because it was quite thick the pudding was held and Zilon took to his mouth.
The moment it entered his mouth he froze in place.
It took a few moments
" This is..... AMAZING!!" Zilon yelled with his eyes bulging in surprise.
' I have never tasted anything this good ' Zilon said with his wide in shock.
' This is definitely Lyla's cooking... ' Zilon thought as he noticed how the food was made.
He found the taste of the ingredients familiar one of them he had tasted it here, and the other was something he took regularly on earth.
"Still, I can't believe she's this good ..." Zilon continued eating,even spliting the bread and eating it with the pudding.
The pudding's sweetness still danced on his tongue with each spoon he takes making him to spend extra times to savor the taste.
His muscles twitched—not with fatigue, but with restored power. His status flickered...
....]
STA 14/14
.
.
.
.
....]
Yet beneath the numbers, something else pulsed and Zilon saw it.
" Interesting..."
-------------
Zilon came out of the house after eating, he rensed the plates and the area he accidentally spilled some of the pudding.
" I have to thank her after this...." Zilon said as he walked towards the stick.
" I think this was called a sundial back then, so I should give it thesame name or maybe the 'Sun cloak'?" Zilon arrived close to the stick and noticed that it was currently pointing towards the number 6.
Looking at the six he noticed that the second sun was finally up thesame height with the first sun.
" It took 12 hours for the second sun to show up which means, it is officially afternoon and...." Zilon said as he stared at the issue he was most afraid of.
The stick's shadow had split —one dark slash pointed at 6, while a fainter, jagged silhouette lurked at 4, as if the second sun's light couldn't decide between stretching or shrinking time itself
"Two shadows. Two suns. And me, stuck between them like a bug in an hourglass."Zilon sighed.
Two suns , two shadows but which of them says the truth.
---------------