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Life was good for Gruffudd ap Cadwallon. He’d been camping in the Bannau Brycheiniog for a week. They had pitched at the bottom of Picws Du for the night, near a lake that, for whatever reason, had been unmarked on the muggle map they had been using to navigate. Gruffudd didn’t really mind this abnormality, he doubted many of the muggles dared to venture in this far to the region, they had been made well aware of the dangers that venturing into this vastly magical area could bring to themselves. It was these tales of dangers that had brought Gruffudd and his family to the region. It had been said that Caledfwlch, a legendary sword that would alight in flame when held by a worthy wielder had wound up somewhere around this region, and his family truly believed that he would be worthy of carrying it himself. Gruffudd wasn’t so sure.
He had been sent down to said lake to fetch water. Whilst he had insisted to his parents that he was completely capable of conjuring drinkable water himself (a skill taught to him by the great Helga Hufflepuff herself), they had labeled all the magic that he’d learnt at “that warty pig place” as modern rubbish, and insisted that he could do everything the way the family had been doing for generations. As much as he wanted to prove himself to his parents, this was simply not the time for him to do it, and as such he was following his parents orders and venturing to the lake to collect water the old fashioned way.
What Gruffudd had not been expecting whilst going to the lake was to see what he could only describe as some of the most beautiful women he had ever seen, dancing around on the surface of the lake in a rhythm that mesmerised Gruffudd. Whilst he knew something was off (given that they were floating on top of a lake, and had a definite shade of blue to them), something inside Gruffudd only compelled him to walk further forwards the women, if only to find answers to the mysteries they presented.
Upon getting closer, it was clear that they were chanting something that Gruffudd could make no sense of. Each individual word had a clear and definite meaning, yet when placed in order together, much like a sesquipedalian science book, seemed to make each other meaningless. It was no help that these things had seemingly never practiced such a dance in their lives, and as such instead of singing in unison, each one was slightly off time from another creating a near inaudible wall of sound.
Gruffudd’s determination, curiosity, and maybe a slight bit of teenage hormones, meant that he wasn’t going to simply forget the task at hand and leave.
Moving even closer to the women allowed Gruffudd, with his admittedly rather poor eyesight given common sight correcting spectacles were still some 300 years away, to actually take in the true mystery of what was at hand. The women wore blue dresses that seemingly somehow both clung tight to the body yet seemed to be a projection from the water itself, it not being clear where the water started and where the dress began. In addition, they had long, partially braided golden hair that reached, again, back down to the water and seemingly deeper. Everything about these women’s appearances seemed to suggest them being a part of the water. Perhaps they were a mirage representing his thirst. He doubted it, given that despite his parents refusing to drink his “modern rubbish” water, he had no such qualms and had kept himself adequately hydrated the entire day.
In all his pondering, and a slight bit of staring, Gruffudd had been unable to notice that the women were actively moving towards him now that he had made his way into the water. What he had noticed was the change in the singing. No longer was it undecipherable text, but now a single “Tyr nes” repeated over and over and over again.
By the time the women's movements had been realised by Gruffudd it was too late. The chant changed to “ymddiheurwn” as he felt his ankles be pulled by something wet and slimy towards the bottom of the lake. The last thing he saw was the laughing smiles of the women before his head completely submerged and it all went black.
Gruffudd woke up feelingly remarkably dry and comfortable for someone who was supposedly on the bottom of a rocky lake floor. Opening his eyes revealed him to be in some kind of small room, separated into 2 seating areas, himself in the rear area. Directly in front of him was a man shouting in a tongue he did not recognise. To Gruffudd’s right was one of the women who had been on the lake, sitting elegantly and watching his every movement. Gruffudd took another look round. From what he could tell this room was moving, given by the changing landscape out of the windows all around the room, and the occasional feeling of everything moving side to side.
Gripping onto a handle on his left side had somehow made the glass of the window disappear. Somehow, none of the other occupants of the room seemed to mind, the women even seeming to relax slightly in the resulting wind. Gruffudd felt the need to investigate more. Sticking his head out of the not-a-window-window revealed the room to be quite small, and definitely moving. On top of the room he could make out another structure, although its purpose he was unsure of. It had 3 legs, each secured to the top of the room, and coming together to hold up a long rod with a dome on the top, printed with the text “GOOGLE” whatever that meant. Perhaps it was the name of the moving room.
Eventually, the GOOGLE came to a stop and the man in front of him got out and entered a normal building that most likely had no such powers of moving. Gruffudd felt he should probably follow the man, given his other choice was staying with a woman who had tried to drown him. The only issue he faced was in making the wall open. Instead, he began to climb out of the not-a-window-window, before the woman grasped his arm. “Gruffudd ap Cadwallon. You are in another country, roughly 1000 solar cycles from where you come from. Your aim is to find out the name of the country you are in, doing so will allow you to go back to Cymru and your family. Failure to do so could result in you permanently living here. I wish you luck Gruffudd ap Cadwallon.”
With that, the woman disappeared, leaving Gruffudd alone in the GOOGLE. This time, he tried to open the wall on the side the woman had been on, and after accidentally pulling a shiny rectangle had allowed himself exit. Outside the GOOGLE, the first thing he felt might provide a clue was the thing that said GOOGLE itself. From what he could tell, the 3 legs had actually been attached to some bars that ran across the roof of the GOOGLE. The front right bar had clearly suffered some issue, as it had been covered in a black material to try and fix what was clearly a crack. That didn’t fill him with confidence that the GOOGLE was particularly safe.
There wasn’t much else of note on the GOOGLE, with Gruffudd electing to follow where the man in front of him had gone. However, after only one turning he realised this place had much more buildings than anywhere he had been before, and there was absolutely no way he’d ever find the man in this place. Gruffudd knew searching for the man would only make things more complicated, so instead he sat himself down at the first turn he had made. Logic followed that the first turning in would surely be the last turning back out.
With nothing to do but wait, doubts began to kick in. Unless they were in Scotland or England, Gruffudd knew no other countries. And 1000 years in the future made his chances of finding someone he knew near impossible. Its not like he could just go to Hogwarts, as that surely no longer existed. There was also certainly none of his direct family left either, given he was an only child. It all just became a bit too much for Gruffudd, who resigned himself to a life of waiting on the path side, in the hope that some mysterious otherworldly entity would come and give him the answer.
Where is he?