Contents
Chapter 1: The Witch, The Girl, and the Due Date
Chapter 2: Naming the Unknown
Chapter 3: The Girl who Role-played
Chapter 4: The Power to Imagine
Chapter 5: An Orphan’s Quest
Chapter 6: Kimi the Blade
Chapter 7: To Contract, or Not To Contract
Chapter 8: The Grand Quest Begins
Chapter 9: A New World
Chapter 10: Rewriting History
Chapter 11: A Once and Future King
Chapter 12: Queen for a Day
Chapter 13: Kimberly’s Fears
Chapter 14: The Ides of Caesar
Chapter 15: Campfire Stories
Chapter 16: Truth, Lies, and Everything Between
Chapter 17: The Paradox Echo
Chapter 18: Battling Death
Chapter 19: A Raptor’s Outlook
Chapter 20: A Troll’s Heart
Chapter 21: Mending What’s Broken
Chapter 22: Wind Speaker
Chapter 23: Isabelle
Chapter 24: Thorns of the Amaryllis
Chapter 25: The Failure Wizard
Chapter 26: Animal Instinct
Chapter 27: The Girl Who Lost Herself
Chapter 28: Fight or Flight
Chapter 29: A Berserker’s True Face
Chapter 30: Dystopian Utopia
Chapter 31: The Seer of Manipulation
Chapter 32: The Weight of a Sage
Chapter 33: A Phaser in Atlantis
Chapter 34: Ice Prince
Chapter 35: The Best Laid Plans&
Chapter 36: Action and Consequence
Chapter 37: Resolution and Resolve
Chapter 38: Final Hours
Chapter 39: The Boy Who Believed
Chapter 40: The Calm Before the Storm
Chapter 41: Multiple Personality Disorder
Chapter 42: Kimi Ascended
Chapter 43: Millenia
Chapter 44: Epilogue
Prompt: Woman is accosted by a witch and taken back in time / typical nerdish bookworm who spends most of her time in the library and enjoys role playing / Genre: fantasy.
Chapter 1: The Witch, The Girl, and the Due Date
“Take that! And that you knave!”
Kimberly Changa thrust the sword towards her opponents heart. The elusive phantom thief pirouetted to the side, her sword clanging against Kimberly’s as the thief shoved the weapon away. As her far hand came around, Kimberly noticed the knife sweeping towards her head. Kimberly ducked, her cape fluttering in the sudden breeze. The knife passed overhead, she struck the thief in the side with an open palm while the woman was still open. The thief stumbled from the blow and Kimberly lunged forward yet again, prepared to administer the fatal blow.
“Kimi! I’m home!”
Stifling her gasp of surprise, Kimi dropped the ruler in her right hand just as it struck the shadow on the wall. Quickly she tore the bedcover off from around her neck and threw it haphazardly back on the bed. Picking up the ruler she raced for the desk, sliding into the seat and opening her textbook seconds before the door creaked open to reveal her mother. Kimi smelled the faint perfume her mother always wore, one that reminded her of strawberries and cream.
“You know Kimi, you should get out more. Its all well and good to study, but you should be a regular girl too. Go hang out with your friends or something.”
“You want me out of the house so you can have one of your guy friends over.”
“No, that’s not it at all.”
“Come on mom, the only time you point out that I should get out is exactly for that reason. I’m sixteen, you think I don’t know what you’re doing? You think I don’t know what goes on at that strip club you work at?”
“It’s a gentleman’s club Kimi, not a strip club, there’s a difference.”
“Whatever. Doesn’t change the fact you are going to have a guy come over and have sex with him for money and you don’t want me around.”
Kimi’s mom blushed and looked away while Kimi hid her smile. Her mom had never been one for direct confrontations like this, and was uncomfortable anytime Kimi talked about sex. But she wasn’t a little girl anymore, she had read all the books about it and studied the anatomy in the medical journals. Even if she had never actually had it herself, she knew all there was to know about it. She was a firm believer that anything known could not scare you. And since no one had wanted to talk to her about sex, it had scared her. Prompting the quest for knowledge she had undertaken to find out why no one wanted to speak about it.
“Not that I care. That’s what pays the bills, right? So when do I need to be gone by?”
“Within an hour if possible. And it will only be for two hours at most, honest.”
Her mom still wouldn’t look her in the eyes as she said that. So she was either lying, or still ashamed to be talking about this with her own daughter.
“That’s fine, the library is open until eight tonight. I’ll just hang around there until it closes. That will give you four hours alone with whoever is coming. I need to take these books back anyways.”
“Thanks, Hun.”
Her mom quickly closed the door, her footsteps fading down the hall as she nearly ran away. Kimi let out a small sigh of relief, glad her mother hadn’t noticed her textbook was upside down. She would need to get changed out of her school clothes though, it was against school rules to wear St. Girivin Academy clothes outside of school grounds. They said it was to prevent the students from getting accosted and potentially kidnapped, but Kimi thought it was stupid. Most kids in the area went to the same school, so even without the identifying uniform, most people could easily guess what school a child went to.
Opening her closet she pulled out some street wear, letting her fingers linger on the vampire cape in the corner. She wished she was brave enough to wear the costumes she made all the time instead of just on Halloween. But she was too old for dress-up. That’s what she understood from listening to the girls talking at school. And the boys seemed to think the same way. They made fun of the drama club all the time and snickered at anything girly. Kimi didn’t want to try dressing up like her mother did to impress anybody. Other girls did, and the boys ogled them, but Kimi thought it looked tacky. Like they were trying to be someone they weren’t.
She didn’t have much for boys to ogle anyway. Plain black hair braided in a single tail, cheap brown framed glasses that made her eyes look twice as large, and a chest that only barely bubbled her shirts. Her clothes were plain and cheap, just like her. Her mom didn’t make enough money to afford all the expensive things, and what fancy things her mother bought was all to impress the men at her workplace so she got bigger tips. The only time Kimi got anything extraordinary, flashy, or otherwise expensive, was on Christmas. Even then it was only one or two gifts at the most.
Not that she really cared. Books weren’t expensive. And she was able to buy enough of those at the second hand store on her meager allowance. The worlds she was able to imagine while reading made up for her mundane life and mundane looks. Even the really badly written ones could spark her imagination of a hot romance with a millionaire or leading the charge as a female knight.
Once changed into a simple grey shirt and blue jeans, Kimberly picked up the pile of six books she had borrowed three days ago and headed for the door. Giving her mother a quick farewell, Kimberly left the house entirely and turned right. A bird whistled a merry tune in the trees overhead. Though Kimi couldn’t see it, she imagined it was warning her of danger as the roads turned into dirt and cars turned into horse pulled carts.
Bandits. She was Kimberly the animal speaker. Assigned th
e important task of transporting the top secret documents to the palace. Her convoy had been attacked, and she had barely escaped the evil wizards clutches. Now she was traveling alone and on foot disguised as a common peasant. The bird was telling her about the group of bandits hiding in the woods ahead. Holding the papers closer to her body, she cast one of the few small spells she knew to hide them from sight as she walked.
A carriage turned off onto another path in front of her, forcing her to wait before crossing the lane. She saw the eyes of the bandits in the shrubbery as she passed. Watching her, assessing if it was worth attacking or not. They failed to see the documents, as they had no mage with them to break her spell. In the end they let her go unhindered, never showing themselves. Cresting the hill she saw the palace down below, heading towards it at a fast walk.
“Watch where you’re going you stupid kid!”
The blaring horn brought her back to reality. Ahead, she saw a boy running across the street against the light, and the blue sedan who’s driver was shaking his fist began speeding off again. The boy didn’t seem to care that he had almost been run over, laughing at the narrow escape. Shaking her head at the stupidity of boys, she waited for the signal to turn before crossing herself. How was she supposed to fall in love with a boy when they all acted like that anyways? She would much rather meet one of the guys in the stories she read. He didn’t need to be some billionaire, but charming and dashing at the least. She wouldn’t mind if he was handsome either. Compared to men from stories, real life boys were just immature and not worth a second look.
“Back already? I thought for sure it would take you at least a week to finish these ones off!”
“That’s just because you’re a slow reader.”
“I think it’s more like you are some freak of nature. I bet you don’t even open the books up, just lay your hand on the cover and absorb the knowledge within.”
“Who told you my secret?”
“A little birdie told me.”
“It wasn’t the same one that warned me of bandits was it?”
“What?”
“Nothing, nothing. I loved the book you recommended by the way, “To Catch a Cat Burglar“. I had never heard of that author until then. Are there any other books by her you’d recommend?”
“Hmm. You should check out “Due Date“. It’s a little more mature but I think you’ll enjoy it.”
“It’s not going to be as dull as “A Piece of Pi” is it?”
“No, no, I promise. Its about a girl who loves books, so I think it is right up your alley.”
“I’ll take a look then.”
Jeremy gave her a smile as he pushed his glasses back up his nose. Her heart skipped a beat when he winked at her before turning back to his work of checking in books. He was more like the men of her stories. A college student working part time while studying to be an English teacher. He was easy to talk to and liked the same kind of things she did. Even openly admitting he was in a drama club. He might not be as muscular as the men she read about, but he certainly wasn’t fat.
Using the computers, she quickly found the title Jeremy had recommended, heading off down the aisles to retrieve it. The cover showed a girl with long black hair braided in a ponytail running towards a library in the distance. A band of Orcs were chasing behind her with clubs raised and knights galloping out of the library on armor encased horses. Over the building was a clock who’s hands were both on the eight.
Kimberly knew it was physically impossible for both hands to be on eight. The clock was just a representation of a “magical moment” similar to the witching hour. A possibility being turned into reality as time loses meaning. She doubted many people would even get the reference, or know how impossible the clock actually was. It was little touches like this that drew her to books, where the only limiting factor was your imagination. Reality just couldn’t compete.
Taking the book to her favorite bean bag chair in the back, she settled herself in for an adventure. As she did before opening any book, she read the small summery on the back. Those words sometimes helping her get into the right mindset to become the hero.
Kimberly was your average bookworm until one day a witch summoned her to save the world. And it all started with the opening of a single book. Now, can she put the world in order before the Due Date?
Kimberly felt a tingle run down her spine. This was the first time a heroine had her own name. Not that her name was uncommon or anything, it just felt more real, more personal all of a sudden. Taking a deep breath, she turned the book over and cracked the cover.
The first page held the picture of a swirling vortex. She felt strange looking at it, a bit of vertigo making the world tilt slightly. Closing her eyes to make it go away, she turned the page blindly. It was a nice trick to make the reader feel like they were getting sucked into the book. She had never seen anything like that before.
Opening her eyes, she found the pages were blank. Flipping rapidly through she saw all the pages were the same featureless white. It was then she felt the cool wind on her face. Startled, Kimi looked up, there shouldn’t be any open windows.
Kimberly found herself on a large platform in the middle of nowhere. Under her feet was a strange design etched in red, blue, green, and yellow. She didn’t recognize the pattern, nor the symbols she took to be words. In front of her stood a woman with large blue eyes under blond hair that nearly touched the ground. There was something otherworldly about her. Something Kimi couldn’t quite put her finger on. The woman wore a tight fitting gown that showed off her ample figure, giving the illusion that she was gliding since Kimi couldn’t see her feet. The woman held the same look of surprise she expected was on her own face at the moment.
“Well I’ll be jiggered! The spell actually worked! Ha! Let those naysayer’s call me a simple hedge witch now!”
Kimberly backed away as the woman clapped her hands in glee. Noticing the way Kimberly was trying to escape, the woman glided forward quickly grabbing her hands firmly.
”No, no, no! Don’t go! You just got here! We’ve got a lot of work to do! You’re my partner now, and I can’t save the world without a partner. It’s just not done. No, not done properly at all. Why imagine the talk that would go about if I tried to go on this quest by myself, a witch without a mediator indeed! So tell me, what kind of things can you do? Can you transform into animals like Elsie’s mediator? Or can you lift cows one handed like Edina’s? You’re not a guy, so that’s a disappointment, but I guess I didn’t specify gender now did I?”
“Uh, what?”
“Your powers! I’m asking about your powers! Are you daft in the head? Oh that would be just my luck wouldn’t it? A laughingstock witch getting a mediator without any brains. Please say you at least have some kind of power. I couldn’t bear to have a mediator with no power! I’d be laughed to death!”
“I-I don’t know what your talking about.”
“You’re from Atlantis aren’t you? You came to my call, right?”
“Uh, I’m from Virginia, and Atlantis is a myth.”
“Virginia? Is that some new country? I’ve never heard of it. And a myth? Try pulling my other one why don’t you. If it is such a myth then where do all the mediators come from?”
Kimberly was totally lost and not a little frightened. This wasn’t one of her daydreams, if it were she would have woken up by now. Not to mention she would never have dreamt up a scenario like this. Nor had she ever read anything along these lines. She felt her heart drumming against her ribcage with every beat it took. She felt dizzy, and nauseous , her knees giving out without warning and the contents of her stomach getting expelled onto the ground. Kimberly could hear the woman making unhelpful comments over her head, acting as if there was nothing abnormal about this at all.
“Grandpa said this happens sometimes. The translocation magic does funny things with your stomach. Don’t worry, it doesn’t last long. I am kind of disappointed you aren’t a guy though. Grandpa met grandma thr
ough the summoning and I kind of hoped I would meet and marry my mediator too.”
Wiping her mouth and trying to get the taste of vomit out of it, Kimberly stood up once more. The woman handed her the book she had tossed to the side, only now Kimi noted the cover was pure white.
“Here’s your grimore. I bet its spelled so only you can see the contents isn’t it? That’s why it looks empty to me. Is that your power? Are you a magician of some sort too?”
Kimberly felt a headache coming on and rubbed her temples. She wanted to just run away and not look back, but she felt that wouldn’t help much. If this was all real, she would get lost in a matter of seconds. If this was some strange fantasy she was having, the action would just end up following her anyways. She needed information. The more information you had, the less you had to fear the unknown. But this woman’s constant chatter wasn’t helping, it only made things worse.
“Shut up already and let me think!”
Instantly the woman froze like a deer in headlights, shrinking back into herself at Kimberly’s sudden outburst.
“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you angry. Please don’t go away! I just wanted to make a good impression as your partner. Please make a pact with me. I’ll do anything to show you I’m worthy.”
“Just-- just hold on okay? I have no idea what’s going on or understand a word you are saying. Just who are you anyway?”
“I’m Maria. Maria Santalada. Fourth generation witch at your service. If you want, I can take you to grandma and grandpa, maybe they can explain things better than I can. I always did have trouble making myself understood.”
“I think that would be best for right now.”
Kimberly’s stomach chose that moment to grumble, Maria heard it too, looking back over her shoulder with another smile as she glided away.
“We can get you something to eat as well. It seems you are like all the other mediators at least, always hungry.”
Kimberly didn’t answer, she simply followed after the woman, wondering what she was getting herself into.
Chapter 2: Naming the Unknown
“Grandma! Grandpa! I’m home!”
Out of Time the Grand Quest Page 1