After his mangled hand had finished regenerating, he felt completely drained of energy and very hungry. He drank water from his small water container.
Thankfully, he had left all his stuff before going on a hunt. So all his valuables - or what he thought was valuable - was safe.
Under the bright sky, the sun and the gods hand were a strange sight to see. He sighed and scouted the land for any suitable place he could rest before thinking of his move.
As he looked around, he saw a natural rock depression not too far away. When he got closer and warily checked the surroundings, was be sure that no creatures were around did he then venture deeper.
The natural depression was actually an underground cave. Or so it looked like. Since he did not want to light up the cave to alert whatever was living inside, he had to scan his surroundings with his eyes.
However, his vision looked to have improved and he could make out some shapes in the pitch black cave. Although that didn't mean he could see in the dark, he was not as blind as an ordinary human was.
So when he senses picked up the shape of a large figure, he shuddered and hid by the side of the wall. His chest rising and falling heavily.
But when nothing happened, he took a look again and saw the cause of his fear.
It was the skeleton of a large snake. It would have been at least three and a half meters long snake for sure.
And with the sheer size, it could have eaten Grey whole and still have some space left in his mouth. He was that skinny after all.
Thankfully, the large creature was dead and it looked like it had died a long time ago so there was no chance of him meeting it's killer.
After confirming it was really safe to come out, he examined the bones of the dead creatureand came to the conclusion that it had died a natural death.
There were no signs of anything that could have hinted at what could have killed it. And the position of the bones told him that it truly had died a normal death.
But that was also the confusing part. Such creatures didn't just die suddenly. A Mutated creature could live for a much longer time that any normal creature could.
And he guessed that the large snake would have been at least in the foundation building realm. Which was the basic requirement to be able to survive in the corroded zone.
He decided to examine the bones one more time before coming to that conclusion and he noticed something.
There was a small slot in the skull of the giant creature. The slot was not big and neither were there any signs that could have lead him to believe that the slot was the cause of the creatures death.
But that slot was about the perfect size for any sword.
He checked it out and it indeed was a sword slot. But who could have been so powerful to have slain a creature of this size and magnitude with just one strike?
Question... these are not questions that he needed to be concentrating on right now.
Right he was making himself comfortable. The place looked unkempt and dirty. A sign that no other creatures had managed to find the cave... not yet for now.
After resting his head against the rucksack, he did something that he never thought he would do in the corroded zone.
He slept off... and he had a dream.
***
Grey suddenly felt very sleepy and before he knew it his consciousness slipped into deep darkness.
When he opened his eyes, he saw himself in a place he had thought he had forgotten. He was back in his home.
Grey saw the interior of his home, not the rotten and fallen apart one that the villagers seized to compensate the Royal constable. But his real home, the one before his family was separated.
Grey saw himself standing in the kitchen watching his mother and younger sister cook dinner.
Or rather it was better to say that he was in his younger self's body. It felt awfully weird but familiar.
His mother was smiling while she taught his younger sister how to cook. He just standing by the side of the kitchen watching them in silence.
He was always the quiet one and his family ad gotten to it. His grey eyes watching them with no trace of emotion.
"Am home..."
"What's that Grey?" His mother asked with a small smile on his face. His sister was also looking at him with an inquisitive expression on her face.
"Nothing..." He said with his face turning red.
"Well, if there's anything that you want to say just go on and say it." She said as she continued with the cooking.
Right as he was about to say something again, he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder.
Due to being alone and surrounded by danger in the corroded zone. He had developed an instinct that kicked in when his brain was still having trouble keeping up.
He deflected the palm before striking with and equal force to the chest of his unknown...
"What's that Grey, where did you learn that new move. You've got to teach me sometime." His brother, an older version of Grey said while clutching his stomach and reeling backwards.
He also had short grey hair and grey eyes. And his skin was a little pale, kinda like Grey. But instead of the usual coldness and detached expression that was normally on Grey's face, his brother's was soft and warm.
Which made him look dashing and like a young noble prince. As he reeled backwards, he was also laughing in pain.
He stopped laughing though, when Grey was still silent with him frozen.
"Brother..."
His brother looked at him with a strange expression on his face. He then scratched his head.
"Are you alright?" He was starting to get confused by Grey's out of place behavior.
"Yeah, yeah... am alright." For some reason though, he couldn't remember his brother's name. It felt like a cloud of fog was obstructing him from remembering it.
His sister and mother were also looking at him question.
Grey's younger sister, probably around four or something. She also had a pair of grey eyes, but her hair was black. Her face closely resembled that of his mother, who also had a long grey hair and rather bright grey eyes.
He could see where his entire family got those eyes now. And seeing her again, even though in his dream reminded him of how beautiful she really was.
Her face plus her grey eyes made her look like she was a charming princess in the bright light of the sun.
He also could not remember their names, like it had been erased from existence. His sister went and held his hand. "Brother Grey, are you alright? Cause it looks like you've seen a ghost."
Her expression made her very cute but he felt all of this wrong. Why couldn't he remember their faces before? Why couldn't he remember their names? Why was he dreaming about this?
"I-i don't know." His voice was calm but his emotions were in turmoil. All that remained now was for him to see...
Everyone heard the sound of the door being opened and closed briefly. A gust of wind blew into the living room and made everyone face the person that just came in.
"Well then, everyone's gathered in the kitchen."
...his father.