Journey to the Past

Identical

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"Befriend your shadow and life will be easier." – Robert Jabe

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Recap

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I then smelt rainwater. I was confused, it hadn't rained in quite a while. "That's odd..." I muttered, looking at the ground and seeing puddles. As I continued walking, the puddles got larger and at one point, I fell in. It was almost as deep as a pond. I swam to the top and then was flung out of the water, landing on my back, and knocking the wind out of me.

I groaned in pain and sat up, looking around. To my right, I saw a fawn. It wasn't too far away but it left me confused. There weren't any fawns, let alone dear where I lived. Where the Hel am I?

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Present

It came close to me and sniffed around me. I then turned my head to face the pond, hearing bubbles come to the surface quickly. Then something big shot out of the water hitting me and the fawn. I let out a pained groan and looked at my left side. 

There was a large gash along the top of my hip going to my mid-thigh. I tried to scoot back as much as I physically could, which wasn't very far. I looked at the water and my eyes widened. It was a creature that I'd only read about in history books. 

"A Kikimora... It can't be..." I muttered, staring at the creature in disbelief.

As I was looking at it, my eye caught the sight of someone on its claw. Without hesitation, I went into my bag, grabbed a dagger, took it out of the sheath, and threw the dagger into the creature's eye, effectively killing it. 

The Kikimora slowly fell into the murky water, bubbles rising as it sank. I started to scoot back toward a tree, trying to get upright, only to fall on my ass again with a frustrated grunt. There was no point in trying to stand though, my leg was too bad to stand on anyway.

I looked up when I heard the sound of wet footsteps that would otherwise have been inaudible if it weren't for the water. Walking up from the water was a man with white hair that was now dirty from the murky swamp water. 

His eyes were black as night and there were black veins that were peeking from under his pale skin around his eyes. He almost looked like a demon from a movie or a TV show.

The man was looking at the fawn that was now lying on the slightly muddy ground, panting. "Today's not your day is it?" He asked, his voice gruff and gravely, his accent like mine. 

The man walked over to the fawn and I turned my head away, hearing the man put the fawn out of its misery. I looked back at the man but his eyes were not black anymore. They were as golden as the sun. 

"Don't tell me that I'm going to meet the same fate as that fawn..." I said under my breath, not sure if the man heard me. 

But I was proven wrong.

 The man walked over and crouched to my level. "I'm not going to kill you..." He said, handing me the dagger that I threw. 

"Thank you." I said, putting the dagger back in my bag.

As I was putting my dagger away, I hissed in pain when I felt the man touch my wound. I looked at him with pain in my eyes. "I'll help you fix this, but for a price." He said, pulling his hand away and resting his forearms on his knees. 

My face paled. "I don't have any money..." I said trailing off. 

"Not money... Answers." He said, standing up and walking over to a chestnut horse that I didn't realize was there till now. 

"Deal... But where are we, exactly?" I asked, slightly glancing around. 

"A swamp on the outskirts of Blaviken." He said, grabbing things from the saddle bag on his horse. I let out a shaky breath. That's a long way from home... The man walked back and knelt back to my level. He grabbed a dagger and cut some more of my pant leg out of the way.

I rolled my eyes and pulled up my shirt so it wouldn't be in the way. "It's just a flesh wound." He said, looking at it closer. 

"Doesn't mean it doesn't hurt like a bitch though..." I muttered under my breath. 

He looked at me, giving me a scolding look. I huffed a laugh and then grimaced. He handed me a leather belt and I put it in my mouth, biting down on it. 

I looked away and then felt hot metal. I groaned in pain, biting harder onto the belt. I've always had a high pain tolerance but this was bad... The metal moved away from my wound and I looked at the man, who was already starting to bandage my wound. I took the belt out of my mouth and let out a breath.

After he bandaged it, he handed me a bottle with a green liquid. I eyed it and looked at the man. "It'll help." He said simply. I let out a breath. 

There always can be a chance that he's not gonna hurt me... 

I took the cork out of the bottle and downed the liquid, grimacing at the taste. "That was disgusting," I said under my breath, handing him the bottle. 

"It wasn't supposed to taste good." He said, going back to his saddle bag. 

I looked at him, surprised. "You heard that?" I asked. 

He nodded. "Now, my payment. How old are you?" He asked. 

"17." I said, looking at the man.

"Name?"

"Navina Toft."

"Where did you come from?"

"I don't know..."

The man looked confused. "You don't know... Where were you born?" He asked. 

"I don't know. I'm not even sure who my parents are." I said, huffing a humorless laugh. The man grunted. 

"While we're asking questions, what's your name?" I asked. 

"Geralt of Rivia." He said simply. I nodded. Rivia... Why does that sound familiar? 

"What are you?" Geralt asked, squinting at me. 

"What?" I asked, a bit confused. What does he mean, what am I? 

"Your hair is white and your eyes are golden. So I'll ask again. What are you?" He said more sternly. 

I squinted at him in confusion then took my long, kinky hair out of the ponytail that it was in, letting it fall around my face. My eyes widened at the sight of it. It was indeed white.

"Holy shit..." I muttered under my breath. 

"Watch it." Geralt scolded. 

I rolled my eyes at his comment and looked up at him, but something caught my eye. I touched my medallion, looking at the chain around his neck. 

"Where did you get that?" He asked, looking at my medallion.

It was identical to his.

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Sorry that I haven't posted in so long, I'm still currently in school and had to do testing (I hate standardized testing!! 😫😫)

Anyway, I hope you still enjoyed this part! I will try posting more consistently because summer is coming up, but we'll see. 

Till next time!