by Jeff Sabean
The cleanup team had arrived on site shortly after, spreading information about the falling “orcs” being part of a horrible publicity stunt gone wrong and handing out free passes for life to the tourists who had been unfortunate enough to witness the grisly demise of those “poor character actors whose parachutes hadn’t opened.”
Ronin team continued to tell their story to the psychologists, who could find no differences between their individual stories. At first the explanation was that it was some type of PTSD due to the electrical storm that popped up during the jump, which had been verified by the flight crew who had dropped them off. The problem with that explanation was that no one could explain where Captain Aldith and Chief Warrant Officer Zatus had disappeared to or where those green-skinned globs of goo on the pavement had come from.
After days of questions and repeating their stories, the only logical explanation was that the story was true, regardless of how outrageous it sounded. The new items carried by the team reinforced their story, and the group scientists were baffled by the bags of holding and were actively trying to replicate the technology, which would revolutionize the shipping industry.
Finally reunited, the three remaining members of Ronin team sat on couches in their team room, each unsure of what to say to the others.
“Well, it would seem like I am mortal again,” began Heishi, drawing curious looks from the other two. “I tried to show the shrink how I was able to speed up my movements by focusing on the air molecules around me and sliding between them with less friction, but I can’t do it anymore. How about you guys?”
“Yeah, the whole using the energy around you to heal you thing that Di’eslo was teaching me doesn’t appear to work on earth, either,” chuckled Aki. “The shrink had a field day with that one when I tried to show it to him.”
“I don’t know what’s wrong with you old guys, but I can still see in the dark,” laughed Tiane. When the other two stopped and stared at him, he gave them a wink and simply said, “Gotcha.”
“What’s next, Top? They gonna put us back in the field?” asked Aki as he walked to the refrigerator to retrieve a beer for each of them.
“We get some well-earned leave time while they decide if we are crazy or not,” Heishi explained. “I’m thinking Tahiti is nice this time of the year.”
“As long as there is no desert and no pyramids, I’m game. Although the beach doesn’t sound too fun right now either, I’ve seen enough sand for a while.”
“I talked to the shrink, and I’m going to take a med board and retire early,” Tiane stated quietly, causing the others to stare at the young Staff Sergeant. “I don’t like the thought that I disappeared from our world and no one would have really cared because ya’ll were with me. I’m gonna find a wife, have some kids, and maybe just run a rifle range, teach some civilians how to shoot or something. But I can’t live like this anymore.”
“That’s understandable,” Heishi said after a few moments of silence. “The old guy and I will miss you, but I get it, you can’t do this forever...”
◆◆◆
Capital of Rattanda, Kartos
Zatus watched as his friends, his second family, disappeared through the portal. Both hands were on the orb, and he could see that they had returned to earth at the exact time they had disappeared. Shaking his head and deciding it wasn’t worth attempting to figure out, he took his hands off the orb and let the device power itself down.
A loud cracking noise echoed through the chamber, and the whole pyramid began to shake as the portal disappeared and the device became inert. Fion’s orb lifted itself from the cradle Zatus had built for it as the red swirling clouds seeped out of the orb through a crack that had appeared in the center of the solid casing. It turned a solid black again as the red mist dissipated, and when it was gone the orb settled back into its cradle and the structure ceased to shake.
The gnome looked down at the inert orb, a horrified expression on his face.
“What was that?” Fion demanded, stalking over and picking up his orb.
Nothing happened. There was no red smoke swirling around him, there were no red lights inside the black orb: there was nothing at all but the crack in its surface.
“I do not know, Master Fion. All I did was remove my hands from the orb to allow the device to power down,” the gnome replied, his eyes glued to the inactive portal device.
“It would appear that the strain of looking to other planes of existence was more than the orb could handle,” interjected Di’eslo before his volatile brother could say anything else. “No one could have foreseen that happening, and before you open your mouth, brother, understand that Master Zatus is now trapped here away from both sets of his family.”
Sullenly, Fion, clamped his mouth shut and stomped to the corner of the chamber to sulk in private at the loss of his orb.
“What will you do now, my friend?” Di’eslo asked as Zatus continued to stare at the portal device. “Will you resume experiments with it to find the proper combination for your home?”
“No, that is too dangerous. I suppose this is my new home,” came the half-hearted reply as the gnome continued to stare blankly at the device.
“You are welcome to travel with my brother and me for as long as you like. In our line of work, an illusionist of your talent would most definitely come in handy,” Hankish stated. “I don’t suppose you know how to play poker, do you?” he asked, a mischievous glint in his eye.
Thank you for sticking with me through the whole Shifting Planes Series! I can’t even begin to describe how much I have enjoyed writing this series, and although I have something else planned next, I have already started doodling some thoughts for some new books set in the world of Kartos…
If you would like to keep updated on upcoming releases, please follow me on Facebook and/or join my Official Mailing List. Facebook is great, but sometimes you may miss a post because of the algorithms used. Sign up for my newsletter to never miss an update, and to receive a link for a FREE short story set as an introduction to the Shifting Planes series, titled “Hunting Orcs!”
Official Website
Facebook Page
Official Mailing List
Shifting Planes Series:
Heishi
Aki
Fion
Di’eslo
Other Books by Jeff Sabean:
After the Eye
About the Author
Jeff Sabean is married to the love of his life and is the proud father of five wonderful children in Southwest Florida. He is a Veteran of the US Army, having served multiple combat deployments in both Iraq and Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne Division, US Army Special Operations Command, and the 25th Infantry Division (Light) between 2004 and 2010. He is also a Second-Degree Black Belt (Nidan) in Shito-Ryu Karate, with a First-Degree Black Belt in Tonfa in Okinawan Kobudo, and has always loved learning Iaido, the art of drawing Japanese swords.
In his free time, Jeff spends most of his time fishing, reading, playing video games, and trying to convince his kids that D&D is cool so they should play with him. He is an avid reader of Epic Fantasy, Sci Fi, and LitRPG/Gamelit books.
Copyright 2020 by Jeffrey Sabean
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, places, and events portrayed in these stories are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
u for reading books on Archive.