The journey begins

When you wake up, you immediately know, what to do.
It's time to go to the city!

You get the backpack with all your stuff and go down.
It only contains one set of replacement clothes and an additional set of replacement underwear.
And also food for one day and some durable snacks.
You won't need anything when you reach the city anyway.

You go downstairs where Mom is already waiting to say goodbye.

I guess it's time for you to go.
I'm sure you'll learn a lot and have a good time there.
But I'd also like to hear from you once in a while.

She almost has to cry.

Oh, I'll be worried all the time.

You give her a big hug.

Don't worry. I'm old enough to get along by myself by now.
And besides that, I have some friends joining me on the journey.

You're so happy that Sonya decided to accompany you to the city, too.
And of course Bibo joined as well because of that.

Sorry, for getting so emotional.
I knew you would go, but I didn't expect you to leave so fast.

You hear someone knock on the door, so you turn away from mom.

I think, they're already here.
I don't want to let them wait.
I'll find a way to let you know when we reached the city.
So... goodbye mom!

Thanks! Have a good time!
Goodbye!

You go to the door.

But are you sure, you want to go out like this?

What's wrong?

You look down at yourself.
You're still wearing pajamas.

Oh, I...
I'll be right back!

You run back up to your room, change clothes and go back down to open the door.

Both Bibo and Sonya are standing at the door.

You wave at your mom one last time while you leave the house.

Bye!

Then you close the door and all of you go a few steps away from the house.

Hey, sorry to let you wait.

No problem. I just came. Bibo was a bit early.

And being early still was worth it!

So did you get enough stuff?

You look at their backpacks.
Sonya has a rather small one and Bibo has one which seems hard to carry for him.

I think I got a bit too much. I got enough clothes for about a week without cleaning them.

What!?!
I only took the most important stuff with me!

You know, we can also buy something on the way, Bibo.
You don't need grapes for multiple days.
Besides that, they will probably rot after one or two days.

You're wrong! It's not just grapes!

I only wanted to help you.
But if you think you got everything...

You look at each other for some seconds.

Let's go now!
I'd like to reach the first village before it gets dark.

You and Bibo agree and you start walking.

You follow some path and soon you leave the settlement.
It's just a single narrow path on a huge hilly meadow.

Bibo tries to stay close to Sonya.
His heavy backpack sometimes makes him stagger and bump into Sonya.

After a while we take a break because Bibo wants to hide behind a bush.
You and Sonya just keep standing on the path.
He takes pretty long.

Looks like this is going to be something bigger.
Maybe someone should check if he got a paper with him?

He's fine.

If Sonya knew, what he's doing now, she would probably be mad at him. So you don't tell her what you think.

When he comes back, he's chewing something.
And he seems a bit exhausted.

You keep walking and after a few hours in total you finally see the coast.

There's a huge wooden tower at the coast.
This must be the transition across the ocean.
It connects paradise island with the mainland.

When you reach the tower, you can already see the mainland.
And you see another tower on the other side of the ocean.
It probably is hundreds of meters away.

All of you go up the stairs to reach the top of the tower.
On the top, there are a few zip lines, which sholud lead to the other side.
But you never used them.

Uhm... does anyone know how to get over there?

Just take on these belts. Then connect the snap hook to the cable.

She hands some belts over to you.
Bibo already takes one.

Where did you get them from?
And why do you know all this?

I've been to the mainland with my dad already.
There are a bunch of these belts waiting in some box.

And is this really safe?

Yeah, I've done it a few times.
As long as you tighten the belt properly, it should be totally...

Sonya watches at Bibo in disbelief.
He already put on his belt and is already sliding down the line.

Woohoo!

And soon he is out of sight.
At least he's still moving along the line.
You're sure, he will be fine. He probably knows, what he's doing...

So do you need any help?

I'll just do what you do.

Sonya puts on her belt, and you try to put it on the same way.
Sometimes she tells you when you do something wrong.
And soon you're ready to go.

Then you notice a backpack standing around.
Bibo forgot his backpack.
You lift it, but it's too much for carrying on a zip line alongside your own.

Maybe you should at least take one set of clothes with you.
So you open his backpack and look for clothes.
But as expected, most of it is grapes and some other food.
But when searching deeper, you find at least one pair of undies. You keep searching for a while, but that must have been all his replacement clothes.

You put it into your backpack and get ready for the slide.
You connect the hook to the cable and you're ready to go.

Yeah, it looks safe. Now just pull in your legs and you'll start sliding.

You're kind of scared, but you do as she said and you start to slide away.
You immediately try to put them back on the ground, but you already left the tower and it's getting faster and faster.

You start to panic, but after a while, it starts to feel nice.
You really start to enjoy the speed.
And when you're really having fun, you see you'll reach the land.

You're still very fast. You get scared what will happen at the end.
But soon it slows down and you slowly stop.
Now you're hanging above ground.

Bibo is already waiting and helps you getting down.

Thanks. You know you forgot your backpack?

Where is it!?! Did you take it with you?

No, sorry. But at least I took your clothes with me.

Clothes?

A single pair of undies.

Bibo seems mentally absent.

It must be a used one I forgot to put out...

Suddenly he jumps up from his trance.

Don't listen to what I'm saying!
So... you just left the backpack there?

Yeah, sorry. It was too heavy.

At another cable, you notice Sonya.
She already stopped and is removing her hook.

Here, for you!

She hands a backpack to Bibo.

Mine isn't that heavy, so...

Bibo hugs Sonya.

Oh, thank you! I'm so sorry, you had to carry it. I totally forgot it there.

It's fine. That's not necessary.

She gently pushes him away.

Let's just keep going. Maybe we can still spend some time in the village.

We continue walking.

The landscape here is much more interesting.
Forests, fields, rivers and brooks, bridges.
And you see a few small settlements and single houses.
The paths feel much smaller here. Every few hundred meters, the environment and the paths totally change.

All these new impressions totally let you forget time.
And before you notice, you already reach the village.
You're surprised about the amount of buidings.
And the streets.

Oh, that looks like our goal. I see a village!

Yeah, we're here. That's the first real village.

I've heard it's one of the largest villages.

At least the largest village in the west.

It's really interesting how the village in structured.
Many of the houses are built directly next to each other.
They also have small gardens.
And most of the streets are made of stones.

Soon you reach some village square.
An ornated fountain is standing in the middle.
You sit down at the fountain with your friends.

Are you fine with separating for a while?
I'd like to visit someone I know.

No, I have no idea what to do when alone!

I'm sure you'll know what to do.

So you want to leave me, too?!?

I might want to explore this place for a while.
But if you want to, you can also join.

So I guess it's fine if I leave you both alone?

Yeah. But don't we need a sleeping place first?

Let me take care of that. I know a good inn. Don't worry about that!

Thanks. So when will we meet again?

Let's meet here at sunset.

Sounds nice.

Sonya leaves and you're alone with Bibo now.

You look at Bibo, who seems a bit absent.

So, are you ready to go?

Yeah, not really. I'd like to put-

Yeah, let's go! Time to explore the village!

You walk away and Bibo follows you reluctantly.