A large mass of fire formed between his hands. I could feel the heat from it and something told me that this was real. My jaw dropped and I took a step back. To my surprise, I fell off a ledge about three or four feet and landed on my back.
My back started to hurt but luckily I didn’t bump my head. I laid there staring back at an even larger fireball. This… is real?! What the heck?! I raised my hand towards the armored skeleton as it held the large fireball with one hand. It stared at me and was fully prepared to toss it right at me. Not good!
From the corner of my eye I saw an object fly past me toward him. It hit the right side of his armored chest and penetrated like the armor was nothing. The skeleton screamed with its strange voice and leaned back from the pain. A large axe stuck deeply into it. I turned to see the source of it and saw a short man with a long beard, breathing heavily.
The man grunted, “Take that, Xum’gol!”
The armored skeleton grasped the handle of the axe and tried to pull it out. A strange purple liquid spewed out of his wound then evaporated quickly. “I… am not defeated! I will… return!” the armored skeleton stuttered as he reached for a yellow gem from his belt. The gem exploded in a blinding light. I couldn’t see for a few seconds but as soon as my vision came back, he was gone. All that was left was the axe lying on the ground where he stood.
My mouth was agape. I wasn’t sure if I should be freaking out or impressed. Maybe this was some elaborate show that I somehow had been a part of. I blinked a few times. “Okay… what the heck happened?” There was no answer. I took a deep breath and laid back down, waiting for someone to come out to tell me I was part of some prank show.
“Curses! He vanished!” the short man shouted in an angry tone.
I lifted my head and saw him walking over towards the platform where I was. The man was in fine silver chain mail and appeared almost as wide as he was tall. He picked up his axe and spit on the ground.
The stout man walked over and helped the other man up. The injured man wore mostly all white armor with a strange shield that almost looked like it was glowing. “Get up Clagmir, you aren’t dead yet!” the stout man said.
The man in white armor coughed a bit but finally got himself to stand, “Thank you Wotmire… did he get away?”
The stout man nodded, “Yes, but we at least left him a nasty wound!”
Clagmir smiled, “At least we stopped him for now.” He wiped some blood from his face and looked at me, “What the…”
I helped myself up and looked back at two sets of eyes. They both stared at me as if I didn’t belong… I fully agreed.
“What are you doing here?” Clagmir asked.
Wotmire shook his head, “I am not sure, but he came out of nowhere in front of Xum’gol.”
Clagmir leaned down and picked up a sword, “That means…” he turned and pointed it right at me, “he summoned a demon!”
Clagmir took a few steps while keeping the sword straight at me. To my surprise the blade burst into flames.
I lifted my hands up, “Whoa! Um… I mean no harm!” That blade looked real and I knew that flame was real.
“Clagmir!” a voice shouted from behind me. My eyes were too fixated on the fiery sword to see who it was.
“He can’t be a demon, you should know that!” the voice called out. Clagmir lowered his sword and looked toward the source.
“How can we be so sure Falstrid?” I turned and saw an old man with a red robe.
The man appeared to be around seventy years old with almost pure white facial hair and broken glasses. He leaned heavily on his staff to pull himself back up. His face was dirty with blood and ash. “Xum’gol appeared too upset for his agenda to succeed. This does not look like a demon,” the old man lectured.
Clagmir stared back at me and pointed his sword back at me, “How can we be sure?”
This guy didn’t seem happy that I was there. Sweat ran down the side of my face, “Hey! Um… I am not a demon…”
Clagmir just stared at me and his sword started to burst into flames again. I jumped back in case the flames were to shoot right at me.
Wotmire walked over towards Clagmir, “Easy there Clagmir! You are scaring the boy!”
Clagmir sighed and lowered his weapon. Wotmire took a step and pointed a blade at me, “What should we do now, Falstrid?”
This guy calmed the other guy down but he pointed a blade at me anyway. Wait… was that his hand? The stout man’s hand looked like it was replaced by some short sword. He didn’t appear to be so much keeping it at me but more pointing at me.
The old man slowly walked over, “Let me have a closer look at him.”
The old man had large bushy eyebrows but his beard was well trimmed. He took off his glasses to wipe them on his red robe then put them back on. One of the lenses was completely broken. I just stood there and stared at him as he slowly inspected me. He rubbed his chin and tapped me on the head with his staff. I flinched and rubbed my head.
“Hey…”
The old man said, “There is something very strange about you but you don’t seem to be evil.”
Falstrid smiled and extended his hand, “I am Falstrid!” He pointed to the other two, “That’s Clagmir, and that is Wotmire.”
Clagmir just raised a brow and gave me a cold look. Wotmire gave a friendly nod.
There was an awkward silence until I got the hint, “Oh! Um… my name is Blake!”
Wotmire chuckled, “Blake? Strange name, never heard of it.”
Falstrid rubbed his chin, “Not a name I am familiar with… where are you from?”
I scratched the back of my head, “Uh… Oregon…”
The three of them looked at each other. “Oregon? Is that by Lyonus Empire?”
Wotmire grunted while looking at his two friends for an answer.
Falstrid scratched his head, “I don’t have the foggiest where that is… we should head back to our mounts.”
I followed them outside the strange room and down a flight of stairs. A smell took my attention. There was a faint smell of something rotting followed by a strong smell of dust which made the air very stuffy. Each step on the old rug created another cloud of dust. The three of them walked in front of me, but they occasionally turned their heads to make sure I followed them. They didn’t act like they expected me to follow them, but really where else would I go? The place might have been really nice except for the mass amounts of cobwebs and the smell. That was my thought until we went outside.
My mouth opened and moved as if I shouted out words but couldn’t think what to say. The smell of rot became almost overwhelming. All over the place were scattered corpses! Some were just bone and some were a bit more fleshy and ripe. The stench nearly caused me to throw up right on the spot. I gagged a bit and even spit a little.
“Try not to breath in too much” Wotmire said with a serious expression.
I pulled my shirt over my nose but it didn’t really help at all.
I followed them through the piles of corpses. It felt like I was walking through a mine field. Looking down made my stomach turn but stepping on something that felt like mushy flesh was even worse. There is no way this was fake! I had smelled some awful things including dead things but… this couldn’t be healthy! I was really curious about why we were walking over a large number of rotting bodies, but I feared opening my mouth would welcome harmful gasses. I held my breath and followed as quickly as I could.
My effort halted as soon as I found something even freakier.
“What the heck is that!?” I cried out.
Down below me laid a strange creature. It appeared like some sort of ape with the ears and mouth of a wolf. It was obviously dead but just seeing it staring back at me with lifeless eyes and sharp teeth made me glad I had already gone potty.
“What? Oh choguls…” Wotmire mentioned.
Chills ran through me, “Choguls? What are they?”
The three looked at each other and looked at me. Falstrid raised a
brow, “You don’t know what a chogul is?”
“They are filthy beasts that infest the entire place (land)!” Clagmir explained.
Wotmire took over, “Dumb and weak, but they always come in numbers, nasty things.”
My mouth was agape and I just nodded. I couldn’t even produce a coherent thought at the moment. This doesn’t make any sense…
I followed them out of the pile of death and up a rugged dirt road. The air was somewhat more breathable but still the smell haunted me. We reached three horses and a small covered wagon. Two of the horses were covered in some form of barding while the other stood right next to the wagon.
Wotmire leaned back and took a few deep breaths, “We may not have destroyed the wretch, but at least we stopped him.”
Clagmir grunted, “It’s a disgrace that I couldn’t stop him myself.”
Falstrid shook his head, “Don’t be so hard on yourself. At least we bought time to find out more about his evil scheme and to gather a larger force.”
Wotmire walked over to his horse which was a breed I had never seen. It was a sturdier build of horse but shorter, just like Wotmire. “I hate to depart, but my people need me. Farewell friends!” Wotmire said as he climbed on. He detached his prosthetic blade hand and put on one that looked like some iron gauntlet which I thought was really cool. He waved his fake hand, “Farewell to you too, Blake! Hope you get home to your town of Oregon!” He then rode off.
Town of Oregon?
“I don’t know where your home is but there isn’t anything west of here other than mountains” Clagmir told me.
I looked over toward the west and back at every direction and shrugged, “I really have no clue where I am.”
Falstrid rubbed his chin, “Well, Halatross is east of here. Does that help?”
I shook my head, “I have never heard of it.”
Clagmir chuckled a little, “Maybe he is from way out in the Lyonus Empire.” He climbed up on his horse which had white barding that matched his armor. There was some strange icon on it that resembled a fiery fist. Falstrid sighed, “I am afraid you will have a very long journey before you get home.”
Clagmir waved at the both of us and rode off without any farewell.
Falstrid wiped his glasses and smiled at me, “It would be cruel not to give you a lift to Halatross. You might figure out where you are from there.” I just smiled and nodded. Everything seemed weird to the point where my brain felt like it had crashed. Falstrid slowly climbed to the front of his wagon and I started to climb onto the back. I looked up and something took me by surprise.
“Hmm? What is it?” Falstrid asked casually.
My jaw dropped and my eyes just focused on the two orbs in the sky. “Two… moons?!” I cried out. At that very moment I knew for sure that I was not on Earth. There was a tiny moon that was barely behind the larger moon. The larger moon didn’t even have the same “man in the moon” face on it like the one back on Earth. The stars covered the sky, but I didn’t see any constellations that I could even recognize.
Falstrid looked at me and then back up, “What is wrong?”
My whole body quivered and I yelled out again, “This isn’t my world!”
“What did you say?” Falstrid asked in a surprised tone.
I just kept my eyes on the sky, “This isn’t Earth… What is the name of this planet?”
Falstrid sounded even more surprised, “Earth? Planet? This is Talamyr! Wait… you can’t mean…” I slowly lowered my head and stared at him. He stared at me and could see the surprise in my eyes. He shared the same expression. We just stared at each other. Falstrid scratched the back of his head, “Oh my…”
Falstrid sighed and appeared to be in deep thought. He shook his head several times and took several deep sighs. “We have a ways to Halatross, We can talk while we move.”
I just nodded and climbed into the back of the wagon. Inside there was all sorts of clutter. Crates filled with scrolls and blankets, stacks of books, a few staves leaning in the corner and other random items. I had only enough room to sit. The wagon started to move. I feared all the clutter would fall down on me.
The smell of rotting death became a distant memory as we kept moving on the lumpy road. My head started to clear up a bit but still felt paralyzed from the whole situation.
“Are you alright?” Falstrid asked while keeping his eyes on the road.
Goosebumps still covered me and I just felt speechless. I closed my eyes and tried to take deep breaths.
Falstrid sighed, “I know this must be quite a bit for you to absorb right now… I can’t fully understand what you must be going through.”
I closed my eyes and lowered my head, “Thank you.”
It felt so weird to see the night sky. Back at home it was around three o’clock and now it looked like it was midnight.
Falstrid tried to ease up the situation with some small talk, “So Blake… You seem like a bright boy. How many years of education do you have?”
I shrugged, “At least twelve years… unless you count preschool and kindergarten.”
Falstrid sounded a bit surprised, “That is quite a long education! So are you a scholar or perhaps talented in magic?”
I stared blankly at him, “Um… there is no magic in my world.”
“What? How can that be?” Falstrid exclaimed.
I was slightly surprised by his mention of magic, but from the strange things I saw earlier, magic is about the only real explanation that I could think of.
“I just find it strange that you came from a world without magic… I wonder…” Falstrid mumbled a bit loudly.
I held my breath and then exhaled loudly, “I can’t believe I somehow ended up in a magical world.”
Falstrid laughed, “You must be about as curious as I am about your world… oh this looks like a good spot.”
He turned the wagon away from the crude dirt road and he rode off into a grove. He stopped the wagon at a decent size clearing.
“There are some extra blankets in the box to your left. Can you please take those out for me?” Falstrid instructed.
I nodded, started to climb out of the wagon and pulled out a wad of blankets.
Falstrid detached his horse from the front and slowly walked it to a lone tree. He looked at me and pointed a short distance away. “Just set them over there for me.”
I gave a quick nod and jogged to where he was pointing.
The trees had a very light colored bark and many tiny leaves. The grass was pretty tall-almost reaching my knees at some areas. The light from the two moons kept it fairly visible. Falstrid finally walked over. He looked really tired, as if he would just fall asleep at any moment.
I quickly rolled out the blankets. He smiled and slowly sat down on his blankets. I laid out mine a few feet from him and started to lie down as well.
The air was pretty warm and the ground was softer than I expected. I stared up into the sky wondering if any of the stars up there was the sun from home. A heavy feeling came into my heart, I might not be able to go back home. I slowly closed my eyes and turned my head. No sense in dwelling on that. There wasn’t anything I could do about it. No sense in creating more stress and sorrow. Falstrid was already sound asleep. He must have been through a lot that day.
As much as I tried, I still couldn’t help feeling sorry for myself. What if I couldn’t go back home? Would I be stuck here forever? I was struggling to not get too overtaken by worry. I reached into my pockets and could feel my wallet. There was also a cheap pen in there. I wished that I had carried a pocket knife with me but didn’t think I needed one to fill out a job application. I’m not even going to consider items I should have brought with me since no one could have predicted that I would have been transported into a magical world. My mind was all over the place but I finally got myself to sleep. It didn’t seem long before I heard a noise.
Eyes wide open, I quickly turned my head and saw Falstrid sound asleep. I lifted my head up and saw the horse n
ot too far away. Sound filled the air again. It came from the wagon. My pulse quickened as I stood up quietly. Fear and curiosity were competing to decide my next move. Curiosity won. I looked down-Falstrid was still sleeping. It was very tempting to wake him, but it could just be something minor and I was not sure. Maybe I’ll just sneak a little closer and then come back if I need to wake him.
I got halfway between Falstrid and the wagon and already felt like an idiot. I could hear the sound of metal and wood banging. Something was rustling inside the wagon. I held my breath and was having second thoughts. Something shot out of the wagon which nearly made me jump. It was a small iron pan. Okay, I thought, I am just going to walk back and wake Falstrid up. Just then, something else came out of the wagon. I saw two beady eyes staring back at me.
A huge chill went down my spine. I instantly recognized what it was. I stuttered, “Ch–ch-chogul!” Another chogul came out from the other side of the wagon, and then another. They stood maybe four feet tall but they had very sharp teeth and claws. The three of them stood there staring at me. Their hairy bodies had bits of metal crudely tied to them like some makeshift armor. Two carried simple clubs and one carried a sharp pointed piece of metal. They snarled at me. They didn’t look like they wanted to be my friends.
I looked down and saw a rock. I quickly grabbed it and threw it at them. I missed. They just seemed more motivated to come after me. As soon as the three of them charged, I turned and ran as fast as I could.
“Crap!” I blurted out as I ran and ran and ran. I could hear them gaining on me. Crap! I should have run towards Falstrid! I ended up moving west from the wagon.
The only hope I could think of was getting behind some trees. The closer I got to them the dumber that plan appeared to be. I jumped up and tried to climb up one of the trees. By the time I got half my body up over a branch, I could feel their hands grabbing at my legs. I held on to a branch but the three of them were strong enough to cause me to fall back onto the ground. One was already on top of me-the one with the sharp pointed piece of metal.
I reached out and grabbed the metal before it was used to impale me. I was surprised I had the strength to actually overcome it. Then again, I was fighting for dear life. I turned my elbow and clipped it on the side of the creature’s face. The impact of my elbow hurt it enough to cause it to drop the crude weapon. I turned the chogul’s pointy weapon back on it and felt a bit of hope… until one of them bit my arm.
Dragon Hero Page 2