by Logan Jacobs
questions I didn't want to answer.
From what I could tell, these portals were a secret of sorts, and I
planned to keep them that way.
Blar and I walked around for a good few minutes, but I hadn’t seen
anything yet. So, I decided to walk closer to the tree line, but Blar tried to
pull me in the opposite direction.
“Blar,” I chastised. “Come on, we need to find the portal.”
I tried to tug lightly on the leash, but the little dragon just sat down and
stared at me. He was a stubborn little thing, and at first I thought he wanted to
sniff something on the ground, but then something told me I should follow
him.
“Alright,” I said. “Lead the way.”
Blar gave me an indignant look, as if he were irritated I’d dared to
question him in the first place, but then he turned around and started to walk
toward the empty grassland that was the countryside.
I let him lead the way, and he sniffed the ground as he walked. After a
few minutes, I was sure he’d led me on a wild goose chase, but just when I
was about to drag him back in the other direction, I saw the portal.
It was about ten meters to my left, but when I turned my head in that
direction, I could clearly see it. It looked the same as it had the day before,
just a swirl of visible wind that opened to an unknown destination.
“Kas!” I yelled out.
The sorcerer was halfway across the field headed toward the villages at
that point, but when she heard me call her name, she whipped her head around and ran toward me when I gestured for her to come see.
“Good job, Blar,” I said with a smile, and I reached down to stroke
under the smug little dragon’s chin.
I was curious as to how he’d found it, though. Had he known where it
was the whole time? Was he linked to these portals somehow? Or maybe he
could sense them when they were nearby. I wasn’t sure, but I made a mental
note to keep an eye on him when it came to the portals and see if I could
figure it out. Or to see if I could figure out the right question to ask where he
would be able to answer in yes or no form.
“Did you find it?” Kas breathed as she jogged over to us.
“Blar did,” I said with a smile.
“He did?” she asked, and her violet eyes were wide with curiosity.
“I’m not sure how,” I told her. “But he led me right over to it.”
“Interesting,” she mumbled as she stared down at the little dragon, who
was currently scratching behind his ear with his back foot.
“I thought so, too,” I agreed.
“We’ll have to try and figure out if he knows where they are,” she said
as she mirrored my thoughts from earlier. “That would save us a lot of time.”
“Right,” I agreed, and I looked over and smiled at the portal that stood
before us. “Are you ready?”
“Ready,” Kas said, and she reached out and grabbed my hand.
I smiled at my beautiful companion and the little blue lizard that
accompanied me.
Then I walked forward and stepped into the swirling portal, unsure of
where it would take us.
Chapter 9
I opened my eyes on the other side of the portal to see a world that
looked similar to Asgard. There was green grass under my feet, and a blue
sky stretched overhead filled with big, white fluffy clouds. The air smelled
floral, but like flowers I couldn’t place.
Somehow, the world seemed familiar and yet foreign all at once, and I
took a moment to inspect the things around me. I reached down and touched
the grass, and it felt just like the grass in Asgard, and nearby I saw a tree that
bloomed with purple and white flowers, so I figured that’s where the sweet
scent came from.
“It looks like home,” Kas said as she took in the world as well.
Blar pulled me forward until he came across something on the ground
and scooped it up in his mouth.
“Hey!” I shouted. “You can’t just eat things in other worlds. We don’t
know if that’s dangerous or not.”
Kas and I leaned down to inspect what he held in his mouth, but Blar
had already swallowed it. All of the sudden, a small insect of sorts jumped up
from the ground, though, then another, and another.
“Is that what you ate?” I asked the little dragon, and he nodded his blue
head at me.
I reached my hands out and caught one of the creatures, then slowly
opened my palms to inspect it. It was like a large ant, but green and
brownish, and its back legs were clearly made for jumping far into the air. I
could hear a strange sound coming from all around us as well, and when I
leaned down closer, I realized the creature in my hand was contributing to the
sound by rubbing its back legs together somehow.
“How odd,” Kas mused next to me as we both looked at the insect in
my hands.
“Is there any way to tell if he can eat it or not?” I asked.
“I don’t think so,” she said with a shake of her head. “To be safe, we
probably shouldn’t let him, but dragons exist in a lot of worlds, too, so it may
be perfectly safe to just let him eat what he sees fit.”
“He is a smart little guy,” I sighed. I just wanted to protect him, but I
had to trust him to some degree, and I hadn’t seen him try to eat anything
poisonous on Asgard yet, so I thought I’d give him some free reign in the
other worlds as well.
Within reason, of course.
“He led us to the portal today,” the blonde replied with a shrug.
“Alright.” I nodded at Blar. “You can eat what you want, but be
careful, I don’t want you getting sick.”
The little dragon smiled at me before he snatched another insect thing
from the air as it tried to jump by. He gobbled it up quickly, then licked his
lips and went back for another.
“I think he’ll be alright,” Kas chuckled. “There’s nothing I can do to
magically see if he can eat things or not, but if he gets sick, I can probably
heal him.”
“That’s good to know,” I agreed, and I remembered the wounds on my
shoulders and the large bruise on my side from the night before. Then I
realized I hadn’t experienced any pain all day, and I reached up to squeeze
one of my shoulders just to test it out. “I think that salve you put on me
worked. I feel great, no pain at all.”
“I told you it would,” she teased. “That stuff is pretty powerful.”
“Thank you,” I said with a smile, then I looked around again. “Where
are we, anyways?”
“I’m not entirely sure.” The sorceress frowned. “It almost seems like
Asgard.”
“That’s what I thought as well,” I said. “If it weren’t for those little
bugs Blar started eating, I would have thought this could have been home.”
“That reminds me,” Kas said, and she reached into her satchel. “Before
we get too far, let’s mark our path so we can find our way back.”
“Good idea,” I confirmed.
We repeated the same spell as we had the day before, and the little
green trail that followed us was comforting as we ventured through the trees
to see what we could
find.
The world we were in was warm, and it felt like a spring day back
home. We walked along peacefully, even if the sound of the little bugs was
slightly annoying. Blar continued to eat them as we walked, though, so I
figured at least there were less of them around now.
Kas and I were quiet as we walked and inspected our surroundings.
There didn’t seem to be much around, and it was so similar to the woods of
Asgard I wasn’t sure where to begin.
Suddenly, we broke through the tree line and came into a small village
of sorts. There were little huts made from stone and straw, and I spotted a
rudimentary style well to get water. Asgard had long since gotten rid of those
once we’d installed irrigation systems throughout the city, but it was
interesting to see one again. I hadn’t seen one since I was a child, and even
back then the one I recalled was out of commission already.
A male came out of one of the huts, then. He had long brown hair and
a massive beard, and he wore a dark brown tunic that hung to the ground.
Another male came out of another hut a moment later, and another, until there were five or six men staring at Kas and me.
“Hello,” I said with a wave, and the men gasped and leaned back as if
they’d never seen another person before.
“Um, Rath,” Kas whispered nervously next to me.
“What’s wrong with them?” I asked her in a hushed tone, though I kept
my eyes on the men. Some of them took hesitant steps forward, while others
retreated back into their huts.
“I think we’re in Midgard,” Kas hissed.
“Midgard?” I asked, and I tried to recall what Kas had told me the day
before.
“Yes,” she said. “Those are humans.”
“Oh,” I muttered as realization dawned upon me.
These humans, as she’d called them, looked like Aesir, but they were
far from demigods, and from the looks of their village, they were far less
technologically advanced as a society. No wonder they stared at the three of
us as if we each had five heads, because to them we probably did. Our
colorful clothes were enough to stand out, but the fact I had a dog on a leash
was probably astonishing to them.
“We should go,” Kas said as the crowd in the village started to murmur
amongst themselves.
“Right,” I murmured, and I grabbed Kas’ hand and pulled her back into
the woods.
We hastily headed the other direction until I thought we were far
enough away where we could talk once more, then I slowed down and
released Kas’ hand from my own.
“That was strange,” the blonde chuckled.
“I didn’t think about it at first,” I said with a shake of my head. “They
looked just like Aesir, it was only natural to say hello.”
“I don’t blame you at all,” she assured me. “It was creepy how much
they appear like Asgardians.”
“I’m glad I’m not the only one who thought so,” I laughed.
Once I realized they were another species altogether, it was a strange
sensation. One of them could easily pass for an Aesir on first glance, and vice
versa. If either party wanted to infiltrate the other, it would be nearly
impossible to differentiate between imposters and natives, especially here in
Midgard. In Asgard, we could conduct tests that would show strength or
knowledge, but here, their society was still in the early stages, so they’d have
no way of telling if someone wasn’t one of theirs if they wore the proper
clothes to fit in.
“While we’re here, we may as well look around, though,” Kas said.
“Let’s just avoid the villages.”
“Deal,” I agreed. “There’s probably a higher chance of us finding eggs
if we stay in the woods anyways.”
We were surrounded by trees, though we’d gone so far into the forest
the trees were strange to me, and they no longer looked like the ones at home
that were full of different colored leaves and flowers. The trees above us now
had dark green thin spikes on them, and I could see many of them had fallen
to the ground, and some of them were now brown in color. Blar didn’t seem
to mind stepping on them, so I wasn’t worried about it, but the scent they
brought with them was strange. It was woodsy and mirthful, but new to me,
and I couldn’t decide whether I liked it or not.
Kas and I continued through the woods, and we kept an eye out for
signs of dragons or eggs, but after a while, I was slightly disappointed we
hadn’t found anything of value. The most interesting thing we’d seen was a
flock of large black birds that feasted on the carcass of something dead, but
that wasn’t anything you couldn’t find in Asgard.
“I wonder if we need to look somewhere else around here,” Kas mused
after a while.
“I was thinking the same thing,” I said with a nod.
“Wait,” Kas hissed suddenly, and she held up a hand. “Do you hear
that?”
I paused and listened for a moment. At first I didn’t hear anything, but
after a few seconds, I heard a strange snorting sound, almost like a harvest
animal, but not quite.
“Where is that coming from?” I asked, and I reached for my axe.
Whatever it was, we needed to be prepared in case it was dangerous. I wasn’t
taking any chances, especially not after what had happened the day before
with the giant snake woman who’d tried to eat us.
“Over there,” Kas said, and she pointed to my right.
“Blar,” I whispered, “get on Kas’ shoulder.”
I handed Kas the rope that served as his leash, and the little dragon
climbed up the sorceress without hesitation. As much as I preferred to have
him by me, I knew he was safer with Kas since I would be on the front line of
whatever we were up against.
The same snorting sound came through the trees again, and I took a
small step forward with my axe raised, ready to battle if necessary, but what
stepped through the trees was nothing like what I’d expected.
A large brown creature revealed itself to us, and I was taken aback at
how cute it was. It was on all four legs, and much more massive than a dog,
but it was covered in what looked like soft fur with a dog-like muzzle. Its small brown eyes stared at me intensely, and large claws extended from the
end of its feet. The thing was huge, but it looked like a giant puppy of sorts,
and I turned around to smile at Kas.
“It’s kind of cute,” I chuckled.
“What do you think it is?” she asked as she cocked her head. “It’s like
a giant dog.”
“That’s what I thought, too,” I agreed. This world was so similar to
Asgard it was possible we had some of the same creatures, or at least
creatures that were similar to the ones back home.
Suddenly, though, the large brown beast stood up on its hind legs, then,
and I realized it was close to seven feet tall at least. Then it bared its teeth and
let out a loud roar I figured was normally used to intimidate its competition.
The creature in front of me was far from the dragons I’d come looking
for, but I wondered if maybe I could train it as well. There was no logical
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reason as to why Blar listened to me, so maybe other beasts from different
worlds would listen to me, too. If so, then Kas and I would be able to travel
anywhere with confidence. As long as we could find a creature I was
compatible with, then there wouldn’t be a problem.
“I don’t think it likes us,” Kas murmured nervously from behind me.
“I’m going to try something,” I said, and I hooked my axe back onto
my belt, took a few steps toward the beast, pulled out a piece of bread from
my satchel,, and held it out toward the creature. “Come here.”
The monster snorted at me, then, but it lowered itself back onto all
fours, which I thought was a good sign.
“Come here,” I repeated and hoped the thing would follow the
command I’d given it.
The beast took two steps forward, and I thought for a second it was
going to do as I had said, but then it ran full speed toward me, with its
massive body bouncing with every stride.
“Shit,” I breathed and prepared myself to take on the creature. I had
put my axe back on my belt, but I didn’t want to have to kill it if I didn’t have
to. It was so cute, and we’d come into its world and tried to give it
commands, so its anger wasn’t its fault.
The beast rammed into me, but I easily picked it up and swung it
around once before I tossed it into the trees nearby.
“Come on!” Kas gasped, and she ran over and grabbed my hand, then
pulled me through the trees.
We followed the green trail that led back to the portal, and after a few
moments, we slowed our stride, since we were confident we’d escaped the
beast.
“Sorry,” I apologized. “I didn’t really want to harm it.”
“I didn’t want you to, either,” Kas admitted. “That’s why I pulled you
away. I was afraid if it came after you again, you’d have to take it down.”
“It seems I can only train dragons,” I chuckled. “That creature
definitely didn’t want to listen to me.”
“Dragons are more impressive anyway,” Kas said with a smile.
“That’s true,” I agreed. “I was curious to see if I could train other
animals from different worlds, too, though.”
“I think we’ve answered that question,” the sorceress laughed.
“I’d say so,” I snickered.
“Still,” she said. “What you can do with Blar is impressive, and I’m
sure we’ll be able to find some more eggs you can hatch eventually, we just