“Is that all you’ve been destined for, Harpe?” A deep feminine voice asked as a shadow darkened my view.

  Her voice wasn’t accusatory, merely asking if this was all I was worth.

  Opening my eyes I saw the offered furry almost paw-like hand, it was orange on the outside and had a black palm.

  Taking it I was hefted onto my feet with little effort on the part of the shadows owner as I looked up, the woman the arm was attached to had a vaguely feminine tiger head and a fairly well toned woman's body covered mostly in fur. She wore a short cobalt blue and pastel yellow accented poncho around her shoulders as a shirt that left her midriff bare and a matching knee length skirt around her waist with a pair of slits down the thighs.

  “Thanks” I said, rubbing my face as a sigh escaped me.

  “What did they take?” The Nemean woman asked.

  “Everything that wouldn’t get me arrested for being in public.” Letting another sombre breath flee my lips as I looked down at myself.

  “What were they after?” Her question hung in the air of the street for a moment while I thought about whether or not it was worth provoking someone again.

  …

  “I’m looking for the Garden of Sinners, they asked what I was doing with all my stuff and when I told them they laughed and knocked me out after taking everything.” There was a curious gleam in the eye of the tiger woman.

  “And what do you plan to do once you get there?” She failed to hide her interest this time as she leaned forward to hear my answer.

  “Apparently they’re connected to other worlds and you can leave this one.” I couldn’t exactly tell her it was because I woke up here in this body one day and I finally found a way that might take me home, so I settled for the mystery of finding a new world.

  “Certainly an interesting journey ahead of you.” The tiger said with a gentle nod of her head.

  A silence settled between us and I blinked a few times, not really sure what to do at this point- this woman had kind of forced her way into my life and excavated my reasons to do what with? I don’t know.

  “Hey, if you’re going to rob me when we’re done talking could you at least help me buy new stuff to make it worth your time?” I half joked.

  I was feeling pretty empty at this point with how my plans had fallen apart so easily.

  “Pft! haHa-” She laughed, bright mirth across her face as she slapped my shoulder with her large paw-hand.

  The action resounded through my bones making me wince.

  “Sounds preferable to making off with the clothes of a disillusioned Harpe!” She said after her laugh died down.

  Her blue eyes flickered from me to the path behind her and before I knew it I’d accidentally made a friend as we headed to find a general store.

  I realised after we’d been walking for a while I never introduced myself.

  “Oh I’m Wilgrim by the way, we kinda skipped over that part of meeting.” I looked up at the taller woman as she hummed.

  Well I mean she actually made a purring noise that seemed vaguely like a hum.

  “Brunhild Karuna, you’re free to call me Hild.” The Nemean offered hers back as we continued down the street of the small town.

  It was the next morning now, after spending the day reacquiring what had been stolen from me on Hild’s dime we stayed in the house of a friend she had in town for the night.

  It was better than what I’d been doing until now which was use using the cloak Gareth gave me to sleep in doorways or by braziers around Merem, there wasn’t really much reason not to considering I didn’t have any friends and no one wanted to put up with a Harpe- also until last night a I hadn’t been robbed so far so there wasn’t any sort of mark against it.

  Far as I knew people back in the day did the same thing.

  Anyhow, not bothering to get anything to eat before we set out, we left the town of Merem in the rearview as the dawn light consumed the town in a radiant golden sheen.

  Since no one really knew where the Sinner’s Rose bloomed I had already gathered some rumors about it prior to being robbed so we headed Southwest hoping to encounter more stories about them as we went. It had kind of been a miracle that I’d heard about them in the first place anyway, I’d been trying to figure out what to make of my new surroundings when some old fortune teller lady was doing readings on the side of the street so I flicked her a coin and she started asking whether I’d heard about it before.

  Strange enough, but it was one of those things where you just sort of went with it because there wasn’t really a reason not to.

  “How long were you in Merem?” The Nemean woman asked while chewing on some kind of jerky as we walked at a rather genial pace down the worn road that passed over the plains outside the town.

  Long off in the distance ahead of us was a mountain range, with a forest along our left for quite a while with those plains surrounded by stone pile walls with fields of budding wheat or barely- I wasn’t really sure of the difference in their appearance.

  “About two weeks? I arrived with a caravan that was delivering some kind of stone shipment- I think Gareth said it was called… Churt?” The man leading the caravan had been overly enthusiastic about telling me about his stones when I asked.

  “And before that?” She looked down at me offering another piece of the salted meat which I accepted graciously.

  “Further north, I was lost for quite a while before Gareth’s people found me.” I replied while gnawing on the meat, it was easily twice as rich in flavour as anything I could remember ever having before. “How about you then? What were you doing before setting up this heist?”

  There was a long pause as she seemed to mull over her answer as she interlocked her fingers and raised her arms stretching, a sound somewhere between a satisfied groan and a pur coming out of her as the poncho failed to keep her chest covered while she stretched.

  It made me frown but I kept the prudish niggling to myself that wanted to say she should cover herself properly, it wasn’t like there was thousands of years of history where people barely covered most of their bits and pieces back home.

  Anyway she found her answer a moment later.

  “I got turned around somewhere and just sort of ended up settling in Merem until I had a reason to leave.” She offered a shrug with nothing else to add.

  “A vagabond then?” I asked with a smirk pulling at the corners of my mouth.

  “I prefer Vagrant-” She corrected with a grin.

  There was another lull between us for a while, only the gentle breeze and the rustle of swaying leaves above us in the overhanging oaks as we looked out on the rolling fields of farmland being toiled by the hulking Bull-headed male Asterion as well as some Stout bulky Krijn.

  The latter of the two was at least human adjacent.

  The Asterion were, their men at least Minotaurs, and some kind of Goat hybrid for their women- their men standing over eight feet and women half a foot shorter. They were both terrifying to stand by, the presence they had was more than intimidating, thankfully the Krijn weren’t anything like that. Krijn were like short bodybuilders, strong natural builds with thick meaty limbs and a slouch to their posture. But they were very jovial and the kind of people that embodied the word Goodfellow.

  I’d gotten mostly used to the sight of this worlds people so far, although it had been a shock at first of course- well not as much as the hole in my chest which was a feature of a particular people in this world who mostly resembled humans- well if they averaged what my height back home was, had sturdier bodies built for more brutal conditions and supported a lot of natural muscle that might have slowed someone back home down but didn’t seem to matter much here.

  Going from being the tallest person in most every room to the average was a strange feeling for sure though, I was just a smidge over six foot four back home but like I said that was the average for Harpe the people I was now one of.

  They were a people I was unsure about, pretty much all the other peoples here hated them- it had been most of the reason why I was robbed and not as much because of the Sinner’s Rose thing.

  Anyway back to that defining trait of theirs- they’re born with a claw shaped scar over their heart on their chest because they don’t have hearts.

  Yes, that’s right.

  Harpe don’t have hearts, I tried to feel my pulse after waking up here and couldn’t feel a single beat.

  The beautiful scenery Hild and I walked through wasn’t enough to quell the swelling trepidation in me about the idea. Hell I couldn’t even say it was in my chest because I don’t know how that’s supposed to work without a heart to beat faster for the fear.

  I didn’t understand how things worked and I don’t think I did want to know.

  Anyway…

  “Aside from being a Vagrant what do you do for money? You weren’t exactly frugal about buying supplies let alone agreeing to come with me so easily?” I questioned the Tiger woman and she patted her hip in response as her tail swished suggestively behind her.

  “Sell my ass-” She paused before continuing with a wry feline kind of grin on her face. “-ets, I know how to fight and my people are known for their Honour so we get sought out to guard stuff often.”

  Hild undid the small rope loop on the scabbard of her weapon that rested on her left hip drawing the greyish-black metal sword into the sky.

  “Lotta folks just want someone they can trust, and rumors go a long way- as you know.” She looked at me out of the corner of her eye before running her thumb along the flat of the Dao-like curved sword.

  “So your ass is pretty good for loose change?” I asked back and she chuckled with a nod before sheathing the sword.

  “It’s good for other things as well, but I’ve not used it for much in a while.” Hild shifted the pack she was wearing off her shoulders and dug into it for something, pulling out another hunk of jerky the size of my fist and pulling off some to eat.

  “Wan’om?” She asked with her mouth full, I shook my head and she put it back in the leaf wrap keeping it from becoming part of the pack.

  We continued walking for some time, if I had to guess about two and a half to three hours before stopping by a river that the road crossed on a stone brick bridge. While we were there we got something to drink and refilled the wooden canteens we were carrying around before corking them back up.

  I dunked my head in the water for a bit as the temperature was rising already.

  I got the feeling summer was going to be hell here with how hot it already was Mid-Spring if what the Caravan guys I’d talked with had to say was true.

  While I was cooling my head off the Tigress with no regard for decency dumped her things on the bank of the fairly wide river and jumped into it, floating around for a while she seemed to have a blast so I focused on using a small book I’d picked up to find some edible plants to chew on while we walked. I wasn’t exactly familiar with the fauna of this world and they had copies of this guide in the store we went to- also I couldn’t eat salty meat all day I would probably throw up if I had any more if I’m honest.

  The strength of the meats flavour was honestly a bit much and I didn’t want to empty my guts into a ditch out one way or the other again like I had in the first week of being here when my body was having all the strange foods the caravan offered me.

  It was a lot like when you go to a new country whose food you’ve never really tried before and it tastes really good so you have a lot of it, but your body reminds you it has no idea how to process any of it and just dumps everything at every opportunity it gets.

  I ate what amounted to my lunch while I watched the Tiger woman swim along the three or so metre deep water of the river, she was a pretty good swimmer from what I could tell, but then again I remembered Tigers back home being pretty good at it to so I wasn’t sure what part of it was natural and what was learned.

  Was it fair to compare a Nemean to an actual animal? Probably a bit racist or something but it wasn’t I really cared right now and I doubt she would have either if I explained it. Brunhild seemed like a fairly relaxed and uncaring person who was content to just live if her being a Vagrant wasn’t enough proof, let alone the willingness to pay for and tag along with my journey.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  ‘I wish I had sunglasses right now…’ I thought with a sigh as I continued to chew on some Sunflower adjacent seed.

  The sun was bright, far brighter than even just a month ago and it was barely midday.

  Closing my eyes I rested my head on my elbow against my knee and thought back on my past month and a half here in this new world.

  A lot of the first few weeks coalesced into nothingness. I barely remembered what happened in them until I talked to that lady who pointed me in the direction of the Garden, from there I’d just been wandering around aimlessly until I got picked up by Gareth’s group.

  I think the worst part of all this was that I couldn’t even get annoyed about it, I couldn’t wish myself back to being in my own body back doing whatever on Earth because it wouldn’t change anything- I’d still be some literally heartless imitation of a human in another world with minotaur, anthro tiger and half snake people.

  My only hope of returning was the Garden of Sinners, I just hoped it was real.

  ‘I have to believe it’s real, that old Krijn lady asked if I’d ever seen it before asking if I’d heard of it…’ She was strange, but everything that wasn’t the scenery so far was strange so it wasn’t exactly saying much.

  I was expecting the scenery to suddenly take a kick up to eleven the further I travelled at some point because while so it had been like a more exaggerated version of what I was used to seeing at least in pictures and whatnot- I didn’t get out much aside from work- it felt relatively normal aside from the roaming cattle or Aurochs or whatever they were called that were grazing in the plains ahead of the bridge before we took our break.

  Honestly I supposed this whole thing has been like a vacation, but I’d heard a lot of things about the less travelled parts of the country so I was a little worried about what we might face and I wasn’t sure the eating knife and the dagger my new friend had paid for would be worth much if we had to fight something or worst case someone.

  Letting a sigh fall out of my mouth I opened my eyes again and…

  Well I had been about to wonder whether we’d be hunting between reaching destinations, but instead my eyes met the Tigress with a lack of decency as she walked out of the water onto the hot stones of the shore. She offered a mischievous smile, the kind I was honestly scared to see and I was proven right when she started stretching and wringing the water out of her fur.

  ‘I’ve known her for a day and feel like I’ve seen more than I ever wanted to know about Nemean anatomy.’ I groused mentally as I outwardly groaned, rubbing my temples.

  Was what she did errotic?

  Yes kind of.

  But it was more put on for show than any other reason as far as I could tell- but I’m sure I would learn over however long it takes us to find the Garden whether she just liked to show off or was just a horny woman.

  Did that suggest women weren’t normally? Because they definitely were, especially if my friend’s reading taste were called into question, or my mother for that matter.

  Who could have possibly seen that coming? Humans are horny because they’re animals? Not ever in three hundred thousand years- not even a single idol of Venus could testify to seeing this cuming.

  Anyway when Brunhild was done she dressed herself and we ate some of the Jerky before heading out again.

  [1]

  It was sunset when we finally came to a stop and made camp partially into the forest we’d been travelling alongside the whole way, part of it was for cover because grey clouds had rolled in as the afternoon came about but also because apparently the animals tasted better in the woods.

  “They have to run more, makes the meat taste good..” The Nemean woman said barely able to wipe the drool from the corner of her mouth in time as she bullshit a reason for our place of accommodation.

  “You’ll be hunting it then?” I questioned and she pumped a fist over her breast with a wide grin.

  “Absolutely! Good food only comes when you get it yourself- the jerky is just to sate the day- but a fresh kill? That’s what I live to taste every night!”

  “I don’t mind cooking it then, that pan I got should sear whatever you find nice and the stuff I picked earlier should season it relatively well.” Putting a hand to my chin I looked around the darkening forest floor figuring out where to put the fire.

  Some small time camping with my Dad back in the day would go a long way here, even if I was a bit out on lighters or body spray to flame thrower start things. There was however a small flint and steel thing we’d procured to make life easier, although I remember seeing people struggle with those so I wouldn’t count my chickens yet.

  “Cook?” My ginger and white haired companion questioned in a tone that made it sound like she hadn’t considered making sure the meat was actually edible.

  “Uh.. yeah.. I guess it doesn’t matter to you, but I don’t want to catch whatever the animal you kill has if it does have something.” I explained and she gave me one of those head tilts cats sometimes did when they looked at you.

  Sighing I shook my head kneeling down in the spot that looked best. “Just don’t get yourself killed, you won’t be able to rob me later if you do.”

  “I’ll be back before you know it Wilgrim.” Stalking off deeper into the forest I lost all trace of the over two metre tall woman after even a handful of seconds like she’d just disappeared into the aether.

  Deciding to just take it for what it was I went to pulling the “Tent” out of the pack I’d been carrying, mine had all the supplies for actually putting ourselves up wherever that might be while Hild had been carrying the pack with all the preserved foodstuff for just keeping us going through the days. Why I had let the woman who seemed to exist to eat hold onto the food I couldn’t tell you- or well actually I could, she hadn’t revealed that fact until earlier today.

  Anyway the tent was just a burlap tarp that was about eight-ish feet long and ten feet wide, after unfolding it I stretched it out and placed some stones I found on its corners to flatten it out while I looked for some logs to prop it up. Thankfully we’d acquired a hatchet while picking out tools and whatnot, although something about hearing the toolsmith say Hatchet made me shiver and simultaneously feel old when we were buying it.

  It didn’t really take long to find a few smaller trees with trunks about the thickness of my arms that I could turn into posts even with my limited skills and just the idea.

  Honestly it was kind of amazing the muscle memory the body I’d inherited seemed to have, I didn’t really understand anything about it considering I had literally just woken up in it after going to sleep one night and been here ever since. I never met any god, I never heard from no angel-

  Hell I didn’t even get to hear the certified Bible classic: Be Not Afraid.

  It was disappointing to a degree, but it wasn’t like meeting some greater power would really change much about the fact that I was now here and I might have a way back to whatever reason or lack thereof that brought me here would probably not matter soon enough.

  I’m not really sure how I would feel about having that question answered anyway, I was fairly of the mind there were deities but anyway but none of the Omniscient-Omnipotent ones that seemed to be all the rage especially when they were never like that back in the day.

  Oh well.

  Anyway it took me about an hour to put the camp up and another half an hour to get the fire going by which point it was getting dark enough that it warranted having the fire besides its intended use when Brunhild found her way back.

  It was about an hour after I’d gotten the fire going and been idly poking it when the Nemean woman poked her head through the darkness and brush showing off a collection of four rabbits and what I assumed was a fawn being dragged behind her.

  There was that same expectant look on her face mixed with a grin that a cat might have when bringing you a mouse or a bird that made me burst into laughter-

  She laughed too, but I don’t think she knew why I was doubled over so hard.

  It took a few minutes for me to recover from the image of her I’d thought of, a small tiger staring up at me with an expectant look waiting for praise at its most recent catch.

  “So what have you got?” I asked and she handed over the rabbits which I set aside to gut.

  “Those for you and this for me.” Confirming my suspicion she lifted her left arm up revealing the fawn she had in her hand.

  “You want me to skin it or is that the best part for you?” I joked but it suddenly became less and more funny when she put a free bloody hand to her chin and thought about it.

  “I’ll do it, you can still cook some.” She offered before taking her prize to the opposite side of the fire and sitting on a deadfall I’d turned into seats but splitting it up.

  It had taken a while but being a Harpe wasn’t all bad when it took half the time it might have taken for a human to do the same sort of physical labour.

  Once again I thanked this body for it’s inherint talents as I worked the Hares, I’d only skinned one thing and it was when I was a kid- at the time I’d been so disturbed by it that I threw up on my Dad.

  He wasn’t very impressed, but he was at least understanding and didn’t make me do it again.

  Whether it was a new body or it was that I’d seen enough crazy shit that something like this felt a little more mundane comparatively I wasn’t sure, but it was easier for me- although my stomach did lurch a little when I was pulling out its intestines and I heard the Tigress smack her lips in anticipation.

  Not before long we were ready to cook and I dropped the haunches and back legs into the pan I’d had simmering on the embers at the edge of the fire I’d segregated just for them, using some of the fat off the Fawn I was able to marinate the haunches into something stomach growl inducing. While they cooked I put the ribs on sticks to grill over the fire trying to ignore the gore fest going on across from me-

  “Thas’smellsreallygood!” Hild managed to say through the bloody mess she’d created.

  Huffing I shook my head with a grin pulling at my lips as I covered my mouth rubbing under my nose.

  “You’d think it was still alive the way it’s running down your face.” I said after a moment, unable to contain the absolute sight she’d become in such a short time.

  How she managed to laugh while chewing without choking would go on to be a mystery to me.

  “Pfftt!” Her cackling filled the night air for a bit before she went back to mauling the Fawn.

  When she was about halfway through it she offered me its hind legs while I was eating- clearly with little interest in waiting and I had to quickly set them up to grill over the stones around the fire pit.

  “For someone who got lost and robbed so easily you’re pretty handy, Harpe.” She added with a little snark, but it didn’t seem malicious, just a jab between friends.

  “For a Nemean you make a pretty good horny vagrant.” I offered back between bites, trying to savour the flavour.

  “It’s a gift.” She said with a sage nod.

  Things petered out after dinner and we decided on a watch with her taking the first so I could take the morning when it was easier to see without night vision she apparently had, having not mentioned it until right before suggesting she be first watch.

  I expected her to sleep first being a cat and all, but that might have just been the presumptive nature I was going to have to overcome, not that she made it easy with all the things that were so cat coded it was hard to not laugh at.

  At least when I fell asleep on our first day of actually travelling together I could say things were going well, I’d found a friend and someone I felt fairly comfortable in trusting even with how little time we’d spent together.

  Although I realised as I slipped off to the land of nod I’d forgotten to ask her about why she’d even offered me a hand in the street in the first place.

  [?]

  They say when a Sinners Rose buds they’re never alone, that they always come in a Garden.

  They say when the Garden of Sinners appears a tragedy is near.

  They say when the Sinners Rose sprouts it's the guilt of the deceased there can be no doubt.

  They say a Rose taken from the Garden can only survive in the arms of a Sinner.

  Many Gardens have risen, many Roses bloomed, not one has survived amongst all this world's gloom.

  They say Worlds clash in shadows cast by withered petals bloom, such that it might entice fools too.