Protector of Verron

Chapter 9: Time is a Beast

I woke up to some old man poking me with a cane. The old man shouted, "Get up you fool. Get up. That's my spot. Up! Up!"

I don't know where I was but I was laying somewhere awkwardly. He poked me again and it startled me. I jumped up and hit my head on something. I looked around to see that I was laying on a bench and I had hit my head on a table.

The old man started at it again. Poking me with the cane and shouting, "Up!"

"Alright, alright. Damn! Give me a second", I told the old man still groggy from trying to wake up and hitting my head.

I sat up and tried to stand but I fell back down. The old man didn't care. He poked at me as I fell back down. Again the old man told me, "Up!"

I looked at him. He was short at frail. He looked human with brown skin. His hair was thin, long and grey. His face was wrinkled up like a prune. There was no facial hair on the man. He was wearing a two-tone beat up robe. On the left side, it was purple and on the right side, it was white or maybe brown or yellow. I think it was white but it was so dirty it looked different.

I took a deep breath and tried to stand again. I was able to this time. I stood over the old man. He must have been four or four and half feet tall. I wasn't moving fast enough as he hit me in my shins with his cane. I wanted to break that cane. "What is it with you and that damn cane old man".

The old man didn't like that. He hit me with the cane again and told me, "Move out of the way you little punk".

I side stepped out of his way. I noticed that other people were looking at us. When they noticed me looking at them, they looked away. I was definitely in a restaurant but I didn't know where I was. I started to walk and realized my pants had fallen down to my ankles. I was wearing the same clothes that I had on when I first left Earth. I was skinny. When I say I was skinny I mean I was nothing but skin and bones. There was no muscle and no fat on my bones. I bent over and grabbed my pants. I heard some kids at one of the tables laughing at me.

With my hands holding my pants up I walked over to the front of the place to the empty bar stools at the counter. I sat down at one of the stools and rubbed my head a little. My hair was long. I grabbed some hair and moved it to the front of me to look at it. It reached all the way down to the counter. It was grey hair. I tried to get as much hair in front of me and it was all grey. I looked for a mirror or a reflecting surface. I grabbed a spoon and looked at my face. I had a beard too. I looked like an old man just the same as the man hitting me with his cane.

I looked over to the old man. The waiter was getting his order. I realized that I had no shields up. I barley had the energy to do anything let alone put a shield up right now. I looked back over to the counter and saw a man coming up to me. He was human with white skin. In fact everyone and everything in this place looked like I was back on Earth. Different colored people from brown, black, white, and even a couple of faces that looked like they got too much sun.

"Was I back on Earth", I thought.

I was hoping for a response from Jennifer but I got nothing.

The man came up to me and asked me, "What will you have oldtimer?"

I looked at him and thought, "Oldtimer?"

I knew I looked old but I really wasn't. I told the man, "What's the biggest meal you got?"

"We have the universal supreme breakfast. It comes with a large pancake, four eggs, four sausages and four cheese sticks", the man told me as my mouth watered.

I was hungry. I could eat anything right now. I told the man, "I'll take that and a large coffee and a large orange juice".

The man walked away from me. As he did the man told me, "Coming right up".