Juan Ramon Sereno: The Wise Slave

Chapter 8: Joseph

I don’t know how long I lost consciousness. The last thing I remember is that Toby’s elbow hit my stomach and that was the reason I lost consciousness in the first place. But this doesn’t explain the feeling like I was being beaten by large waves before I was out. I also don’t know why I feel like I’m being baked under the hot sun. And this goes without saying that I also feel like I’m lying on sand.

I tried to sit up. I was able to do it without any difficulty. I also couldn’t feel anything painful in my abdomen. Nice. I groped on my front and massaged it. There wasn’t really anything painful. But I was confused because I also couldn’t feel my clothes. I tried to open my eyes, but before I can see my body, what I saw were several blades pointing at my neck. The people wielding them surrounding me had their faces hidden.

“W-what’s happening here!?” I cried loudly. “Why –”

But I wasn’t able to continue speaking when I saw where we are. We were in the middle of a desert and I have no idea how I ended up here. I only saw where I was, the people surrounding me, and how I look like just now. The people surrounding me looked like they’re Arab men, well that’s what I think, anyway because that’s what their clothes looked like. Many of them were riding camels. Those camels were also carrying baskets. Behind the camels, there were a few people with their hands tied in a single line.

I got really scared when I had a good look at myself. I was shocked when I realized that I’m not wearing my judo uniform anymore. I was wearing nothing but a brown tunic and I don’t know where it came from. The only thing I’m wearing that I recognize is the pendant Granddad gave me. I looked in front of me and saw someone come down his camel and towards me.

I couldn’t understand what he was saying. He laughed loudly then took my necklace.

“Hey wait, don’t take that! What –”

One of them placed his blade right on my windpipe so I immediately stopped talking. That man said something to his companions and they proceeded to tie me with the others behind the camels. Another one of them approached me and gave me what looked like water. Again, I couldn’t understand what he was saying while he laughed at me again. Because of this, I just sort of stared at him because I didn’t know what to do. He then bellowed at me and I quite understood his sign for me to drink from it. I just did as I was told, if that was what he was saying. As soon as I was done drinking, the words I’m hearing suddenly changed.

“… need to shout at you so you can understand what I’m saying. Fine then, gimme that. It’s still a long way before we’ll arrive in Egypt.”

Egypt? Egypt?

I became really confused when everything everyone around me said, I suddenly understood. We then started moving after the Arabs that caught me went back to their camels. No one spoke to me afterwards so I took the chance to arrange my thoughts.

The first thing I did is to remember the last thing that happened to me. The last thing that I remember before waking up to this place was the sensation of being beaten by giant waves and I was then tossed in sand. I looked everywhere and there was no body of water that can be seen.

Even before that, we were performing in front of our judo trainer, but Toby’s foot had a problem causing him to fall over with me falling on top of him and his elbow hitting my stomach. Other than that, I don’t know anything out of the ordinary that happened.

There’s only one reason for me why I suddenly find myself in a place like this: Granddad’s pendant. But it seemed impossible this time because I wasn’t able to read any stories or even watch any movie while losing consciousness. My memory of Toby and me performing in front of our coach with all the judo techniques we know was very clear, so it’s definitely impossible that that would happen.