5 This is not what I expected

The seven walked through the forest led by Leo who was starting to have a headache listening to an excited Erina's non-stop bickering. Erina tried to touch everything and anything that grabbed her attention in the forest.

The forest was filled with plants never seen on earth and unlike earth plants, that were mostly green in colour, here, many plants were in different colours which only made Leo cautious of everything around him. The group also saw similar mushrooms to the onesErina had plucked earlier and had been the monster plant's bait.

"Leo, I think I see a river." remarked Clint, who was almost 6 feet in height which made him able to see far.

"Lead the way, Clint." Leo let out a sigh of relief on hearing the word 'River'. The group was pretty thirsty from their journey as they had been walking for 2 hours.

"Hmm, I am pretty sure this is water and clean water at that. Don't drink too much or it might hinder you from walking too long. " Leo glanced at the thirsty group as he said those words while drinking some water himself.

"Let's follow the river. All great civilizations are always built around water bodies." Leo's words were filled with hope as his eyes followed the river's path.

"Let's go, we don't know what the day of this planet is like. We don't even know if we can live through the day." The group set out as soon as they drank enough water. Akio and Reeva dragged Erina out of the water who was playing in the water like a small child.

"Are you sure that this world has a Sun? w What if it has two suns as well?" Sai looked at Leo with a doubtful face as Leo gazed at the sky which seemed to be slowly filling with something bright.

"I don't think it's going to be much different Sai. The plants and trees here seem to have chlorophyll and also seem to have the same sensitivity to heat. I am guessing it won't be much different." Leo wasn't that worried about the sun and the heat but was afraid of what kind of creatures would roam around the forests during the day.

It wasn't long before the group found a dirt road with tracks of what resembled the prints of human shoes. The group followed the tracks as the light of a just risen sun fell on the teens.

"Smoke! It might be a fire, there's probably someone in there!" Ian yelled out loud as he spotted smoke in the same direction they were walking in.

"Leo, can you hear that?" The sound Aiko heard was similar to that of a cart being pulled by something.

"Clint, be on guard!" Leo called out to Clint who rushed to the group's rear from where the sound was approaching. It wasn't long after which the group saw a horse pulled open cart driven by a man who seemed to be in his 30's, approaching their way from the back.

Leo walked to the back of the group as the group sighed in relief at the sight of a human finally. Leo waved his hand at the man on the cart, who had a similar body to that of Clint.

"Heya Kiddos, where are you headed at?!" The man had a wheat straw in his mouth, with a wide smile and a happy- go- lucky, cheerful nature. He wasn't expecting a group of teens to be wandering in the middle of nowhere. It was quite a surprise for him but it was surely nothing compared to the mixed emotions and doubts the group of seven in front of him were feeling.

The group of seven were stunned so much that no words left their mouth excluding Erina who cheerfully hopped towards the man and sweetly asked, "Can you give us a lift, please?! We have been walking down the road for a while now."

"How can I say no to such a pretty little lady?! I am Matthew, hop on lads. Where do you want me to drop you off?" The man pointed his thumb with a closed fist towards the back of the cart.

"Yay!" Erina hopped on the open cart happily and sat down near Matthew. The rest of the group snapped out of their shocked state and rushed to get on the cart as if they were getting a ride to a paradise.

"Please drop us in the nearest city.", Leo said in a respectful manner as he got on the cart at last. Leo's head was producing more than a theory per minute why the man was speaking in English and why everything was so similar to earth, including the accent.

"What do you mean in the nearest city, do you have no destination specifically on mind?" Matthew munched on the straw as he looked at the group from the corner of his eye.

'What are we supposed to say, that we came from another world and got lost?!' Leo was contemplating what to do before he finally said, "We are actually travellers and were travelling from one city to another but suddenly some monster plant attacked us out of nowhere and we kind of lost our ride and all our stuff."

"Ah! It must be the Ravager. You must have cut off its mushroom by mistake but Ravagers don't normally grow on the road that's pretty strange, hiya!" Matthew never heard of Ravagers growing on the road. Hearing the description of the plant, the group was sure that the monster plant that swallowed Erina was a Ravager.

"We need to know more about this world. A person cannot get transported light years away from a place just like that. There might be a way for us to go back but we have to investigate more." Leo mumbled slowly to the group as he gazed at the rising sun.

"Mr.Matthew, do you think you can help us find some work? We are technically broke after we lost all our stuff." Leo asked with hints of hope to settle down somewhere for the time being.

"No need for any formalities, just call me Matt. And yeah! Actually, my Motel needs help. I will pay you all according to the quality of your work. I will also give you a place to sleep and food to eat. Would you lads be interested in helping out?" Matt flashed a smile asking if the group was interested.