From Beyond and Back again v2
A much shorter attempt at rewriting From Beyond and Back Again. It didn't go over very well, in my opinion, nor did it get far.
Chapter One: Cizin has a bad day
Mark Cizin, twenty-five, dropped a clenched fist onto his alarm clock. The device remained intact, much to Cizin's displeasure. Goddamnit, already?, he thought, as he slowly wriggled out of bed, fighting his sleepy body as he clawed his way out of bed.
As he rolled out and felt the cold sinking its claws into him, he decided today was going to be special. A chance to break out of his boring, fruitless old routine and go for a boring fruitless new routine! He sighed. Like he could even get some variety in his daily bullshit. Well, it could be worse. He could be really late for wo-
Wait. What did his alarm clock say again? Something fifteen... eight fifteen. Oh.
DAMN IT.
Cizin burst into action and hastily shaved, dressed, ate, and dived into his car. Just as he turned the key, Cizin's mind, propelled by adrenaline out of sleepiness , remembered that he actually should wake up at around this time. Cizin's forehead responded by greeting the steering wheel loudly.
This set a precedent for the rest of Cizin's day. Stuck in traffic. Micromanaged by his boss for this or that. Meetings. Boring meetings. Needless meetings. Annoying emailedcat videos from coworkers. Idiots on his team. Idiots not on his team. Deleting more cat videos. Mindless chatter with random people over nothing. The creeping sense of failure from his emerging deadlines. At the day's end, he felt exhausted despite doing nothing significant.
Nine hours of silent suffering and loud idiots later, Cizin took the bus home, relieved and mentally battered. Well, it could be worse, he thought. I should be grateful for any kind of employment in these times. Quitting was still tempting.
He kicked open his front door. What would it amount to anyways? Another day, another dollar. Followed by an evening of unwinding (wasting time) or finishing some stupid shit from work, then hitting the sack. Something about it felt empty. What the hell did he get done today? Was this really all his life amounted to? Sleep, TV and work? Cizin sighed. Who would remember what he did after he was gone?
Cizin went to bed, but couldn't sleep, his mind pestered by all these thoughts.
Was this really all there was to it? Sure, he could be a nice mindless office drone, get a token promotion or two, start a little family, live and die in the barren rut others dug for him. Why couldn't there be some higher purpose? Where the hell were his choices? Where did all his dreams leave for? At twenty-five, he felt wasted.
Cizin suddenly felt a sudden surge of anger, of ferocity and of longing. He felt the way things were was wrong. He stiffened as he reached into the air with both arms, thinking of tugging the collar of the universe, and mentally shouting at it that this was wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Not the way it should be! At that moment, Cizin wished to be something. Something great. Something that he wanted to be, not that others wanted him to be. Some way out. An escape.
His thoughts were cut off by a loud crash from the front of the house.
Cizin's mind raced, filled with equal parts excitement, doubt and fear.
What? No...would it really- no. No way I got what I wish for...
He leaped out of bed, grabbed his cell phone, prepared 911 on speed dial and opened his bedside drawer to produce and load his trusty handgun. It never hurt to take precautions.
Careful what you wish for, I think it goes, he muttered. He silently crept downstairs, stiff with fear and anticipation. Well, please don't be an armed robber or crazy drug addict or something, please be only a raccoon or zombie apocalypse or something... please....
He slowly approached the source of the noise, cell and gun in hand.
Something turned to face him. In the darkness, he managed to see the largest and ugliest thug he had ever seen. Cizin immediately readied his gun, hoping desperately the burglar didn't have any buddies.
“Don't m-” Before Cizin could speak, the burglar was already in flight towards Cizin. Cizin hesitated to fire, and stepped to the side, so the incoming blow only glanced off his left hip. The force still spun Cizin to the floor. The burglar unhesitatingly held the bat high for a more lethal blow. Cizin aimed high and fired.
A severed head landed in Cizin's lap. Cizin stared dumbly, as the burglar's body struck the cold floor with a wet thud.
Another man beside the body then reached out towards Cizin. Cizin startled and pointed the gun at him.
“Are you hurt?,”, the second man said, unalarmed at the weapon leveled at him. He extended a hand to Cizin, his mouth in a visible frown of concern. Another hand gripped a large knife coated with blood. “Are you all right, sir?”
“Uh... wha- what-... I... I'm fine. What the hell are you doing in my house?”
The man dropped the knife and backed away slightly. “I do not know....My name is Paul Renato. I apologize for trespassing here, but I am terribly lost and-”
“There's a fucking dead body on the ground! You just killed a guy! And you're in my house! And there's a knife oh god it's covered with blood what the fuck?!”
Cizin awkwardly stood up and put some distance between him and the man.
The man held both hands out in an unthreatening gesture, still backing away.
“I am a lost traveler sir. I honestly did not mean to come here, wherever this place is. I know it may be hard to believe but I find myself here entirely by accident!”
Now that he had a better look, actually, Cizin saw the man was most likely harmless. If he wanted to attack, he did have Cizin in a vulnerable position earlier, after all.
Still wary, Cizin kept his gun pointed in the man's general direction.
“Uh...sorry about that.” Cizin took a deep breath. “You saved my life, Mister, uh, Renato and I shouldn't be pointing a gun at you...maybe we can come to an understand on what the fuck happened here?”
“That would be great, sir....so, where am I, may I ask?”
“Cloudy Springs City.”
“I am not familiar with that country...”
“The Unites States of America? In North America?... Earth?!”, Cizin desperately offered.
The worry and puzzlement on the man's face did not make Cizin feel better.
Cizin put his hand on his forehead. He whispered. “I think I just broke reality.” ++++
Chapter Two: People from another dimension
Cizin flipped on the lights.
Paul Renato was dark-skinned, decently-built, short man with a thin beard and graying, scruffy hair. He was clad in something that looked like leather body armor. His face and clothes were dirty, weary and toughened from travel. Probably not from the Renaiisance fair, Cizin thought. Unless it was held in a really tough neighborhood. Where they take peoples' heads off.
“Um...Paul... you're extremely not from around here, are you?”, he asked.
The man flinched in slight surprise at his suddenly-lit and apparently new surroundings.
“I suppose not. I was walking through a woods when I found myself here. Suddenly.”, the man replied, with the sort of the sort of-guilty, worried look that one would use when telling a true but unbelievable story. Cizin's instincts told him this man was quite trustworthy. Not sure how his instincts would know that right away. But Paul looked friendly enough anyways.
“So, where are YOU from?”, Cizin asked.
“Amytlei. I don't suppose you have heard of it?”
“I can't say that I have...”
Paul then turned his gaze towards the dead guy on the floor. “I take it you normally do not find ogres in your house?”
Cizin also looked at the dead body.
It was not human. For one thing, it was nearly 8 feet tall and wore a loincloth. For another, its features seemed carved with a saw, and the bat was a gigantic wooden club almost as wide as Cizin's torso.
“Did...did I just get attacked by a caveman?”, Cizin asked.
“Ogre.”
“What?”
“That is an ogre. You do not have those here, I don't think?”
They both paused.
“No, I... don't think I've ever seen a guy look like that.”
“It must have bypassed the walls of your dwelling, judging from the intact windows and door here. Perhaps... it also spontaneously appeared?”
Cizin roughly shook his head. This was too much.
“I guess it was by magic.”, he half-seriously muttered.
Paul frowned slightly. “Naturally. But who and how? This kind of magic is deeply unusual to say the least.”
“Ooooo....kay?” Cizin's confusion did not lessen.
Thunder roared outside.
“Hm... if both I and the ogre are unexpected guests here, I believe that means we have more immediate concerns. We can catch up later.”
Cizin nodded his agreement, and followed Paul in searching the house for unwanted surprises. Once satisfied that nothing else found its way in, Cizin took a peek outside his front door.
Distant chanting, the crunching of bones, and the clanging of metals filled Cizin's ears. Thunder clapped and lightning flashed despite the absence of clouds, and Cizin smelled fire, despite the lack of apparent smoke or flame. The moon glowed unnaturally brightly, and the air felt charged, but not charged with electricity, but as if spirit and emotion were somehow made tangible.
Cizin had no time to marvel in confusion, as a large mass of steel swiftly slipped into the doorway and brushed him aside. It slammed the door with great force, then wheeled around at the direction in which it came.
Cizin reeled as he regained his balance. He noticed Paul was suddenly next to a woman in steel armor, and both of them dove away from the front dore. Before he had time to follow their lead, his world was turned sideways by a massive force that nearly tore the house from its foundations. Cizin barely regained his balance. His eyes turned outside to try to see the cause of the blow.
A huge orange eye with a long slit pupil filled the window. Something clawed at the roof, to no avail, a horrible, deep shredding noise. There was a brief pause, then the giant eye left as soon as it appeared. Then the only noise was the woman panting and thunder outside.
Cizin froze. “What the HELL was that?”
The woman's hair was a dark red, shoulder-length, her expression tightened with grim resolve, even when relaxed. She had a sword holstered and a small backpack, in contrast to Paul, who Cizin noticed apparently wasn't carrying anything besides his knife. The second newcomer slumped to the ground in exhaustion. She was about Cizin's age, and, as he could see, also “not from around here”.
“Dragon. Big one. Thankfully, there's easier things for it to eat outside.”, she muttered.
“Who are you?”, Cizin asked.
“Leah Perditam. Paladin.”, she added.
“I am Paul Renato.”
“Um, I'm Mark Cizin. Just call me Ciz-”
“Alright, Paul, let's secure this building. Are you a local?”
“No, but he is.”
“Alright, can you tell me what defensive measures you have available, Mister Cizin? There's a hell of a lot of things that want to eat us outside.”
“Um, guns?
“What?”
“Well, I can lock the doors and call the police.”
“Can they deal with a dragon?”
“Uh, no -”
“Alright, might want to let them do what they can on their own then. I'm sure they're quite busy right now.”
“Paul, do you know her?”
“Not at all.”
“Alright, I'll try sealing the doors.” She put her hands on the door, and it glowed brightly.
“What?”
“You know, a basic magical defense.”
“The fu- you know what, do you what you want. I have to sit down and process this shit.” Cizin fell into a chair and put his hands on his forehead.
*****
“Okay. So, so I am not having a complete mental breakdown here....”, Cizin took a deep breath, “Your names are Paul Renato and Leah Perditam? And you are both clearly from other planets or dimensions or whatever. You both know magic or something, but you also have no idea what the hell is going on. You both suddenly showed up here and can't remember what you were doing at the time. There is apparently some kind of war going on outside, and a dead ogre body in my living room, and my house got body slammed by a dragon. Also, I actually might be having a mental breakdown.”
“That sums it up pretty well.”, said Leah.
“Pinch me. Ngh! Okay! I'm good!”, said Cizin. “Okay, for now, I'm going to worry about my safety before an explanation. Not that you know anything, either. Tell me what you know I, I mean we, need to do to survive tonight.... hey, Paul, where did-?”
Paul was examining the door.
“I need a writing implement.”
Cizin tossed Paul a marker. Paul began drawing what appeared to be runes on the door.
“Okay, Paul's going to do some magic thingy. Leah, I suppose you can tell me what to expect.”
Leah shrugged. “The dragon likely won't bother us. There's probably easier food out there than a sealed house”
“Okay then. So what do you recommend we do about the other things?”
“We keep watch, I suppose. If you have any weapons, now would be a good time to break them out.”
Cizin noticed that, unlike Paul and like himself, Leah was barely keeping it together. Her voice slightly trembled with anxiety. Cizin drew his gun and got up from the table.
The three of them kept a quiet vigil throughout the night. Cizin heard steel, screaming and other strange sounds as he looked out the window. None of the noise ever approached too closely to the house, to his relief.
Chapter Three: Abby
Cizin woke up with a start and immediately swept his surroundings. His head was propped on his window in a very uncomfortable way. Leah slumped in a chair with sword in lap, and Paul lay on the table, although Cizin was sure he was awake.
Not sure how to handle the situation, he carefully got up and inspected the inside of the house and took a very careful peek outside. Everything seemed to be in order. He waved his hands in front of Paul's face. Paul grunted. “Morning.”
Cizin hesitate. “Think we should check outdoors?”
Paul opened his eyes slightly. “Already did. There was a woman outside, unconscious. All clear otherwise.”
“Wait, wha?” Cizin's head still reeled. Last night was hardly a dream.
“She was not an immediate concern. I brought her inside but took precautions. We should probably tend to her.” Paul gently leapt out of his chair.
“No, really?” Cizin rubbed his eyes.
Wiping the dried saliva from his face, he followed Paul to his study.
Cizin saw a tall, dark-haired girl propped against his desk. What it was painted with, he wasn't sure he wanted to know.
The girl was pale-skinned, probably in her late teens, very tall for her age, and had thick, black long hair that covered half her face. That was the only thing unusual about her. She wore a black-and-white T-shirt and long khakis. She stirred slightly, as if awake but recovering from a very deep sleep.
“Who do you think she is?”
“Ask her.”, Paul replied.
“Hey, wake up.” Cizin syelled.
The girl started a bit and gave a deep yawn.
“Who are you and what were you doing in front of my house?
“Where am I?”
“Who are you?”
“Who am I?””
“Who''s asking the questions here?”
“Wha?”
Paul grimaced ever so slightly and stepped in.
“Miss, we found you outside this building. Might you know why? There seems to have been some sort of freak accident around here, and we are concerned for your safety.”
“Uhhhh. I can't remember. Where am I?”
“You are on Earth in a land called Cloudy Springs City. Do you have a name?”
Her face scrunched in confusion. “I... uh... a... Abby. I think. Head hurts. Can't remember anything.”
“Do you recall anything that happened to you recently?”
“Uh... I don't know.”
“She's dressed in local attire, Paul. She either is from here or pretending to be.”, Cizin interjected.
“What?”, Abby asked.
“Sorry, give us a moment, Abby.”, Cizin said as he pushed Paul aside.
“I believe she is telling the truth, Mr. Cizin.”
“Yeah, that's not my worry here. Thing is, we have no clue who she is. That's a liability. Is someone or something after her? Is she carrying a disease or curse? Is she the cause of all this?”
They looked at Abby.
She had her arms around her knees, cradling herself very slowly, looking immensely confused and worried.
“Cizin... please. Given the circumstances, she is most likely a fellow victim of this accident. To believe otherwise would be a stretch. And even if we act on our suspicions, I do not believe we can turn her away and reasonably expect her to survive.”
“Goddamnit. Well, I'm lodging you and Leah anyways. Get her up on her feet. I'll let Leah know.”
Cizin got out several cans of food and started heating up and sorting items into bowls. He was much too deep in thought to spend brainpower cooking.
Abby dug into the chili like a shark on chum. She must not have eaten in forever, Cizin thought.
Cizin asked Leah and Paul what they were doing before they found themselves here.
“I was traveling through a forest out of town. Before I realized anything was amiss, I felt I was falling. Then I find myself in a dark corner of this house.”, said Paul.
Cizin hid his immediate suspicion. Too many details left out.
“I was accompanying a squad of other paladins into a suspect cultist hideout yesterday.
***
“Great. Mysterious amnesiac chick. Plops right into our laps. This only means one thing.”
“And what might that be?”, Leah asked.
“She's doubtlessly harboring a dark magical secret that someone powerful wants to get ahold of.”
“What? There isn't any magic on her. She's no more magic than you are.”
“That's disappointing. Well maybe it's what she knows. Or maybe she's of an ancient bloodline with the needed blood for some twisted ritual.”
“Okaaaay...where the hell are you getting this from?”
“Books, movies, games, everything. Since I'm fucked for any clue of what's going here, I might as well go on what I know about magic and stuff.”
“The hell. You could ask me.”
“Okay, enlighten me.”
“Errmm... how do I explain this? Okay, it's a mental manipulation of aether.”
“Huh?”
“Aether... it's fuel for magic. What magic does is, um, turn aether in the environment into other forms of energy.”
“So, why can't I use it if you can use magic here?”
“The aether around here is, shall I say, piss-weak. I have to struggle to conjure flame. I suppose you folks would be justified in not even noticing it.”
“Okay. So what can magic do?”
“That's an awfully big question. Magic can do a lot of things.”
“What are the rules of magic?”
“Lots of rules to go over.”
Cizin sighed. “Okay, what kinds of magic are there, and what are their limitations?”
“Right. I was taught there were three different schools of magic. Living Magic, Elemental Magic and Pure Magic, also known as Raw Magic or Energy Magic. Living magic is split into white and black magic, which help and harm intelligent creatures, respectively. I suppose most magic is limited by the aether in the air and how strong you are. Black magic is also limited by magical feedback-the more powerful and aware your target is of the attack, the more it will rebound towards you. Um... elemental magic- it manipulates solid, non-intelligent matter. Gaseous, mineral, aqueous, floral magic, commonly known as air, earth, water and plant magic. Pure magic is fire, lightning, light, sound and chaos, though no one really can use chaos magic without help.”
“And what do you do?”
“White magic, and Pure Magic in general. Most humans typically learn Living Magic and Pure Magic. Elemental magic for goblins, dwarves, elves and fairies and such.”
Cizin raised an eyebrow. “I don't suppose I can ask about those?”
Leah sighed and put her hand on her forehead.
A lengthy explanation later, Cizin finished writing down what Leah told him.
“Right. So, what were we talking about before that? Right, Abby. Notice anything else weird about her?”
“Well, when I mean she has magic, she has no magic. At all.”
“And that's odd? I thought I had no magic?”
“Well, you have a soul.”
“Wait, she's soulless?”
“The soul is a repository of aether held within the body. Sort of like fat for physical energy. You and probably other people have just a little bit. She doesn't have any.”
“So, what's that mean?”
“I don't know.”
“That might count as a dark secret then. I'll keep that in mind.... By the way YOU wouldn't happen to have any dark magical and/or family secrets, would you?”
“Nothing that matters.”
“Riiiiight.”
“Really. If it's trouble for us, I'm going to be very surprised.”
“Then I will respect your privacy. But if it ever becomes an issue, you are letting everyone know before it gets us killed.”
“Fair enough. I'm going to make a list of what I think may have caused the teleportation then.”
“Alright. I'll go talk to Abby now.”
Chapter Four: Attack
“So, Abby. Can I see the rest of your face?”, Cizin asked.
“Excuse me?”, said Abby.
“Just want to make sure you're not hiding something on your left half. Rituals scars, tattoos, crazy evil eye, other things. Can't be too safe.”
“Uh.... okay.”
Abby parted her bangs to show the rest of her face. There was only an eye and unmarked skin.
“Huh. Well, that's good to know. So, you really know nothing other than that you're from around here , by which I mean Earth, and your name is Abigail.”
“...yeah, I think.”
“Okay.” Cizin scribbled on his notepad. “Talk to you later, Abby.”
“Hey, Leah, let's see that list.”
“Right. So, here we have- magical experiment gone wrong, damage to the space-time continuum, magical experiment gone right, naturally-occurring rip in space-time, or divine punishment.”
“None of those things, then.”
“What?”
“You called it. Unless the universe feels like being particularly ironic, it's going to be a surprise.”
“And how do you know that?
“That's just the way it is.”
Leah sighed again. “Very well. What do you think it is?”
“I don't know. It'll go against all our expectations and will probably be more horrific than we think.”
“What's your problem?”
“My problem?”
“Yeah. You're the one with no clue of what magic is, and you think you know more than me.”
“Pardon my muggle-ness.”
“Muggle-ness?”
“It's a ter-”
A sudden flash of light and an explosion rocked the house.
Leah's head turned towards the source.
“That was magic.”
“Think we should check it out?”
“No shit. Paul, Abby, get over here! We're checking it out.”
Paul stepped out beside Leah. “Already here.”
“You don't think we should maybe keep a safe distance from magicky-kaboom?”, Cizin asked.
“Hey, if you've got an obvious lead, we'll chase that instead. Let's go.”
Abby waited by the door.
They ran out. Leah pointed towards the direction of the explosion's sound.
“That way.”
They didn't have to run far.
Down the road were three people fighting off a large red dragon. It was easily the size of a house. They seemed to be holding their own. The dragon well have been the thing that attacked the house earlier.
Cizin stared. “Whoa. Maybe we shou-”
“CHARGE.”, Leah shouted.
Cizin hesitantly took a few steps forward as Leah and Paul bolted past him towards the fight.
Abby stepped next to them.
“Yeah, good thinking Abby.”
“Er... I can't fight.”
“Great, well, you get to live then.”
The three people were a man with a spear, a lithe woman with a katana and a huge man fighting with his fists. They seemed experienced enough to avoid getting hit, occasionally scoring a good hit now and then. Paul darted towards the dragon and plunged both daggers into its tail. It roared and swiped with its claws as it turned around, knocking Leah to the ground. It forced Paul backwards with a several rapid snaps of its jaws. The spearman took the opening, but the dragon spun around and pinned him to the ground as soon as he got in range.
“Great, now they've pissed it off. I hope it responds to bullets. Abby, stay here.” Cizin took off away from the dragon.
Abby stared in surprise and hesitantly sat down.
Only Paul and the swordswoman remained unharmed. Leah dragged the bloody spearman away, while the huge man took blow after blow without much concern. Still, the dragon was lashing out too hard to be effectively hit, and magic wasn't an option here. Leah's face twisted in deep thought as she thought of how to approach this problem.
There was a loud “crack!” as the dragon's head suddenly sprayed blood everywhere. It fell to the ground with little resistance. A chunk of its skull hit the wall beside Leah.
Cizin lay on the ground fifty meters away with a rifle in the prone position. He fired another shot into the unmoving body with another “crack” and a wet thud.
“Is it dead?” He shouted at Leah.
“What the fuck do you think?”, she shouted back.
Cizin fired yet again.
“For fuck's sake, it's dead!” She held aloft the piece of its skull.
Cizin looked up and shrugged.
Leah looked down at the spearman.
He wasn't hurt too badly. He was a muscular blond man, with a dour, heavily scarred face. He wore fairly light scale armor. He looked up at her.
“Thanks, we owe you one.” he said.
Leah helped him up.
“Gah. It's good to see others from Amytlei. Afraid we'd be lost in this crazy place.”, he said.
“I'm from Ketegem.”
“Ah. Odd. Never heard of there.”
“My friend Paul here is from Amytlei.”
“Hm... well, my name is Artemas. Artemas Fligere.” He pointed to the woman. She was tall, brunette and wearing a white dress.“She's Venus. Just Venus. And the big guy here is Justice. Also just... Justice.” Justice was a huge man in a trenchcoat, who appeared to be wearing a ski mask. Justice nodded without saying a word. Cizin could have sworn Justice's eyes were glowing.
“So, you all okay?”, Artemas asked Paul, Justice and Venus as they were inspecting the dragon's body.
Paul raised his hand in confirmation as he ran his hands over several of the lizard's scales.
“Great.” Artemas' foot lashed out and caught Paul solidly in the back of the head. Paul slumped against the dragon's corpse.
Venus swept out Leah's feet from behind and pinned her by the arm, as Justice landed a solid punch on Cizin's face.
“What the hell?!” Leah yelled.
“Ah, your friend Paul is a wanted man in Amytlei. I'm afraid we'll have to claim the bounty on him.”, Artemas replied.
Justice walked forth, holding Cizin in a tight grip.
“That's no reason to randomly assault him! And we can't even get home yet!”
“Can't take chances, lady. He's a slippery one. Really slippery.”, Artemas draped Paul's unconscious form over his shoulder.
Cizin looked up and noticed Artemas was an elf. Though one of his ears was almost chopped off, the man did have rather pointy ears.
“Hey, it's great that you want to be human, but you forgot the other one.”
Artemas shot Cizin an unpleasant look.
“Well, *sorry* about the confrontation. We'll be happy to leave you guys alone if you'll turn the other way and keep walking.”, Artemas replied, with not a little vitriol.
“You'r an asswipe.”
“Don't provoke m-” Artemas was cut short by a the sound of a large rock bouncing off Justice to no effect.
“Ah, that's Abby.”, Leah mentioned.
Abby looked up at Justice and gave a sheepish grin, cringing slightly in anticipation.
Artemas put his face in his hands. “Try not to hurt her.”
As Justice reached towards Abby, Cizin took the chance to grab his pistol despite his awkward position and fired into Justice's face. Justice lurched slightly, and Cizin burst out of Justice's arms and started firing at Venus.
Artemas dropped Paul not at all lightly onto the asphalt and lunged at Cizin, knocking the gun out of his hands. Cizin backpedaled slightly and raised his arms to block Artemas's punch a second too late. Cizin hit the dirt instantly.
Venus dived out of the path of the bullets, freeing Leah. Leah got up, drew her sword and charged at Venus. Venus easily evaded every blow before Leah even swung, and nonchalantly replied with a high kick to Leah's face. Leah staggered backward and just recovered when she noticed Artemas's spear right next to her neck.
“Stop.”, he said.
Justice, meanwhile grabbed Abby tightly by the wrist. Abby struggled uselessly. Justice showed no indication of being even inconvenienced.
“Well, we'll be going now. Don't follow us.” Artemas said with a stern frown on his face.
Leah felt herself thrown to the ground rather hard. Her vision went blurry and she had trouble getting up. When she managed to get back up, she saw Abby trying to rouse Cizin. The others had left with Paul. There was no trace of them.
Leah braced herself and put her hands on Cizin's head. Cizin startled to his feet.
“Ow.” He cradled his head and its several bruises. His other hand was on his injured hip.
“They took Paul.”, Leah told him.
“Let's go get him, don't you think?”, Cizin replied.
“We have no idea where they are, and they just kicked our asses.”
“Hey, if you've got an obvious lead, we'll chase that instead.”
Leah sighed.
Chapter Five: Rematch
“Okay, the elf guy was bleeding a bit. He patched up his wounds pretty quickly, as the blood drips trail off, but there's just enough of a blood trail to indicate their direction.”, Cizin mused.
“Yeah, I saw them go that way. They seemed to be in a hurry, though.”, Abby said.
“Well, that'll have to do for now. Hurry up.”, Leah said, as the three of them ran.
“They're probably expecting us. What do we do when we catch them?” Cizin asked.
“I dunno. You can shoot them with that thing?”, Leah replied.
Cizin clutched at his rifle. “Yeah, I guess that works.”
“Well, you know this area, Cizin. Where would they hide?”
“There's a derelict building not far from here. It's where I would hide.”
“Right. Lead the way.”
A few minutes later, they arrived at a run-down two-story building. Cizin scanned the area with binoculars. “Hm... the dust and bricks around here have been disturbed.. I'm no expert, but it does look like someone was careless running through here. Probably that huge Justice guy.”
“Can you see anyone inside?”
Cizin looked through the many broken windows. “Can't see anyone.”
“Let's get closer.”
Cizin set down his binoculars. “They'll see us coming.”
“They're expecting us, right? Cover me.”
Leah carefully walked towards the building as Abby and Cizin kept watch. Cizin held his rifle, Abby held the binoculars.
Leah reached the front of the building without incident. She beckoned Cizin and Abby to move in.
Cizin and Abby carefully approached. Abby looked around warily and stuck very close behind Cizin.
As they reached the entrance, Leah very carefully stepped in. The room was drenched in darkness, the orange light of dusk hardly reaching in.
Cizin pulled out a tiny flashlight. “Always prepared.”, he said, tossing it to Leah.
Leah carefully walked through the first room into the second, Cizin and Abby following her.
“Ha, called it!”, a female voice yelled out in the darkness.
Before they could react, the source of the voice slammed into Leah, knocking her aside.
Cizin raised his rifle and put his finger in the trigger. Abby screamed, “Look out!” as a much bigger figure charged at Cizin. Cizin turned and fired, knocking Justice back just in time. Cizin swung the butt of his rifle, only knocking the Justice back further. A pair of eyes glowed in the dark as Justice recovered.
Cizin reversed his rifle and fired again and again in desperation. His opponent dodged to the side with surprising speed, but was driven back by a sudden wall of flame between him and Cizin. Leah yelled for help. Cizin turned at Leah and fired at her opponent.
Justice patiently waited for the fire to die down, and Venus immediately leapt away from Leah. Fighting in the darkness was impossible, Cizin figured, as his clip ran empty without result. He snatched away Leah's flashlight and pointed it at Venus. Venus yelled in pain and shielded her eyes as Cizin pulled his pistol and resumed firing. Leah focused at Justice, trying to keep him at bay with fire magic.
Venus slipped out of Cizin's line of fire and kicked away his pistol.
The room was now alight with Leah's fire magic. Venus backed off and smiled at Cizin, clearly having more fun than he was. Abby hesitantly waited next to the doorway. Leah grabbed a newspaper off the ground and turned it into a torch, trying to force Justice backwards.
“Stupid of you to let me keep my guns.”, Cizin muttered as he pulled out his bowie knife.
“Thanks for the reminder.”, Venus chirped. She was clearly waiting for Cizin to make the first move.
Cizin cautiously advanced. He pretended to prepare to stab at her, then threw the knife. It wasn't even close. Cizin braced for the incoming beatdown but none came. Then he felt a very strong hand grab him by the neck and lift him from his feet.
Justice held both Cizin and Leah very tightly. Cizin couldn't even muster the strength to struggle as he suffocated. Leah was in the same situation.
“Do we really have to get rid of them?”, Venus asked.
Justice nodded.
Venus sighed. “Better grab her then.” Venus said, pointing to Abby as Abby was about to turn and run.
Justice suddenly threw Cizin and Leah against a wall and leapt at Abby.
Abby yelped as Justice grabbed her. She struggled as before, but with far more desperation. Justice shifted his footing as Abby flailed and yelled.
As Cizin got to his feet, sputtering and coughing, he saw Justice skid across the floor beside him.
“Dark secret. Shit, I knew it.”, Cizin whispered.
Venus charged at Abby and slashed away, taking her arm clean off.
Abby looked at it, and looked up at Venus. There was only minimal bleeding. She grabbed Venus's sword and threw it into the ceiling so hard only the hilt showed.
Venus retreated in horror as Abby flashed a cruel smile.
“Well, thanks for waking me up. I think I'll kill all of you little rats now. Starting with biggest to smallest.”
On cue, Justice bodily separated in half.
Cizin's eyes flew open. He grabbed Leah and ran as fast as he could deeper into the building.
Venus dived and flipped out of the way as multiple unseen things zipped past her and slammed into the walls, crushing them.
Abby slowly walked after them, her form contorting into something not exactly human. She was... melting. Cizin didn't have time for a good look, just running as fast as he goddamn could. Abby screamed horribly with multiple shrill voices, making Cizin's ears bleed. He helped Leah up a set of stairs as fast as he could. Venus ran past him. Cizin briefly contemplated tripping her but shook his head.
Something grabbed him by the foot. He screamed and tried to kick it off, to no avail. Leah waved her hands at it and whatever it was released its grip. Cizin ignored the new burns on his leg.
The thing that used to be Abby suddenly sped up and charged at Cizin in a barely-visible blur. Leah opened her hand at it and the creature disappeared in a burst of flame. Its horrid screams still reverbrated, though it was nowhere to be seen. Cizin and Leah wasted no time in climbing up the stairs, only to find the creature was ahead of them. It disappeared and something lashed out at Cizin taking him off his feet. Leah surrounded them with a circle of flame. Cizin hit the ground hard, unable to walk. His back to ground, he looked to find that the creature was above him. He yelled a warning. Leah looked up just as the thing descended on them.
A thunderbolt narrowly missed it. Venus and Artemas leapt to the attack. The thing that was formerly Abby twitched, and both of them retreated with deep gashes on their legs. Artemas collapsed with a grunt, and Venus ran away. The monster turned towards Leah and Cizin. It suddenly twitched as if in pain, those it was not attacked.
Cizin took this opportunity to look for an exit. Without consideration to the burns on his leg and his generally battered body, he dashed towards an empty window and leapt out. Leah followed suit.
Cizin woke up a moment later, pain everywhere on his body. He was in a grove of trees, some distance from the building. Leah tended to his wounds, evidently using magic to seal his wounds. The strain on her face from using magic stood out among her own injuries.
“Is it gone?” he asked.
“Yeah, we should be safe for now. It didn't follow us out.”
“Ugh... we're fucked. I think my leg's broken.”
“Yeah, it kind of is. Hold still.”
Cizin felt a shard of glass run itself up his femur, or so he imagined.
“NGGGGHH.”, he grunted.
Leah wasn't even touching him.
“Does healing magic have to hurt so much?”
“I'm *literally* closing your wounds. It has to. Try and keep quiet. I don't know how well that thing can hear.”
“Jesus Christ. What the fuck is Abby?”
On cue, Abby walked into the grove.
“SHIT.” Leah raised her hands on the attack.
“Gah! Don't hurt me!” Abby cowered, putting her hands above her.
“What the hell? What are you doing? Back!” Leah burned the ground in front of Abby.
Abby put her hands on her head.
Cizin stared in disbelief. “Is this... some kind of werewolf thing? No, it's a trick.”
“It's not a trick.”, Abby cried.
“That... monster. What the hell was it?”, Cizin asked.
Abby was on the brink of tears. “It's a long story. I can explain everything. But be quiet, please.”, she begged.
“I'm not a human being.... but I can't really say what I am. I, or rather what I was, came from another world, very far away. I... I mean, what I used to be, was sent here to gather information on this planet. *She* stayed here for several years, observing humanity. She was attacked by humans recently, I don't know when or why. They locked her up... I don't know what happened, but she, injured, somehow found herself near your home, Cizin. She was weak, injured. She created a separate personality... a creature that thought it was human, that was given no knowledge of anything. A disguise, so that she could recover and hide among humanity. That is me. That was the Abby you saw up until now, and it's me again... I think. What happened- she woke up. I don't know how. But she was filled with rage.” Abby whispered, her voice soft with fear and pain, staring at the ground. She shuddered slightly at the word “rage”. “She wanted to kill you all. I tried to stop her, but I was too weak. So, I ran away. I took a small part of her body with me. I followed you out as she tried to kill me. I think I lost her. But I don't know. I don't even know if you're safe with just me around...” Abby looked up, almost crying. “Maybe I should leave.... I should just leave.”
Abby suddenly got up and started to turn away. Leah grabbed Abby's shoulder. “No, Abby. You. Are. Staying. We're not running away to let that monster hunt us down and butcher us, and we're fucked in just about every way without some idea of what it can do and how to fight it. I think it's safe to say you are our only hope against it.”
Abby turned around slowly, looked Leah dead in the eyes, and fell into her arms, sobbing.
Chapter Six: Disappearances
“She's weak against fire, as you know, but she's hard to hit. She can't be really hurt with normal weapons. Need to use magic. Running or maneuver is impossible against her. I... I don't think it's possible to kill her with what we have. Maybe we should risk running.”, Abby said.
“If it can bleed, it can die.”, Cizin grunted.
“Shut up. We need to be resourceful about this. I'm about to pass out from all that magic. Abby. Is there any way to kill her that does not require burning down the goddamn building?”
“Uh... ”
Cizin lay his head back in frustration. “We're not getting anywhere. Maybe we should rest, so that Leah can get back a little fire. We're all beaten up... hm... can you hurt 'her', Abby?”
Abby shook her head. “I don't think I can do anything against her. I have maybe a twentieth of her body.”
“Really now? She must be huge then.”
Abby nodded. “And you have to damage most of it to kill her. What you see is only a tiny bit of her.”
“Do we have to kill her?” Leah asked. “Surely there's an easy way to contain or disable her.”
Abby shook her head again.
Cizin pounded the ground. “Damn. Maybe if we wait, a solution will drop itself on our heads. Because we're fucked as it is.”
A thunderclap emerged from the direction of the building.
The three of them looked up.
“Well, here's our fucking chance.”, Cizin said.
The battle was moving along the second story of the building.
“The fucking cavalry is here.” Cizin muttered, looking up, as he retrieved his guns from the floor, hoping bullets would serve some use.
“She can see you from here! Get moving!” Abby squealed.
The three of them ran upstairs.
The others were barely holding off the monster, impressive considering they were worse off than Leah, Abby and Cizin. Artemas bled freely on the ground while Venus tried to simultaneously heal him from a distance and evade blows. Paul was using fire to hold off the monster's rapid assault.
“Good to see you”, Artemas grunted, blood all over his face. He rolled a blue glowing flask towards Leah. “It's stored aether. You could probably do better than me with it... sorry... about earlier.” He then passed out.
Leah nodded, and with the flask in hand, charged towards the monster, leaving a trail of flame behind her.
“Abby, stabilize Art here”, Cizin yelled. “I'll pray that there's something flammable around here.” He started overturning desks and chairs.
Leah pushed the creature back with a fierce yell, wrapping herself in an inferno of flame and slinging fire everywhere.
Paul and Venus backed her up with fire and lightning. At least, they did, before the creature laid Paul's arm open and threw Venus cleanly through a wall.
Cizin rushed back into the battlefield. “Who the fuck keeps propane in the closet?!” He tossed the can towards Leah, who caught it and swung it at the creature. The resulting explosion turned the entire area into nothing but fire. There was another horrid monstrous shriek, loud enough to force Cizin to his knees. He reflexively covered his ears.
ACT II
Chapter Seven: Cowardly new world.
The floor gave way under the shockwave. Cizin wasn't sure what happened, but he found himself lying on the floor, in even greater pain than before. He could still move, but he was pretty sure that was just every single endorphin in his body acting at once. He got to his feet, the pain nearly overriding his consciousness.
He vomited blood as he shuffled towards... a tree?
“What... wh- am I... dead? Where-” He placed his hand against the tree and looked over it. It was surrounded by dead leaves and shrubs. Didn't look like any tree he recognized. The leaves were all funny. Cizin instinctively knew he would pass out in at most two minutes. He shook his head. No time for this. Where was Leah? The monster? Everyone else?
He heard a groan of pain and ran towards it. Leah staggered towards him a few meters away. She was covered in fairly severe burns and cuts, but still in better shape than him. Cizin stared in disbelief.
She breathed in extremely deeply and let it out. Before Cizin could react, he was seized with crippling pain. He could not think about it, only pray to God it let up before he did. It was over soon, though, and he felt much better somehow, despite the agony continuing mostly the same as before.
Leah grimaced in pain as she apparently went through the same thing. She recovered after a moment, her wounds suddenly sealed and burns reduced.
“Whew. You okay?” she asked.
“That hurt. So much.”
“Sorry. You were about to fall apart, I swear.”
Abby walked in, dragging Paul along. She was in good shape, but she was very disheveled and looked like she went through hell.
Leah put her hands on Paul. Paul didn't so much as grunt in pain, but he did writhe considerably. He opened his eyes. “Thanks.”
Cizin's wits returned to him. “Wait, where's the monster? Shit. It could be anywh-”
Abby looked around. “I don't see her anywhere.”
“Is she in disguise?” He looked at Abby without suspicion.
Abby looked down in horror. “Oh, God no, am I her?”
She patted herself down and pinched herself, entirely serious.
“Sorry. You're not shrieking horrifically and chopping us up. I think I'll give you a break, Abby.”
“...Thanks?”
“You're welcome. Now...what the fuck happened there?”
“I think it's safe to say we lived.”, said Leah.
Cizin exhaled heavily.
A moment of awkward silence ensued. Paul coughed.
Then, Cizin pondered. “How the FUCK did we survive that and why are we not in an exploded office building right now?”
Paul shrugged . “This is the second time it has happened to me. No clue. No explosion the first time, alas, but no doubt this is a second occurrence of whatever deposited us in your home.”
“Well, it happened twice in two days. It's not an accident then. It's at best a side-effect of something else, and at worst, someone is fucking with us.”
----
“Well, now we know Abby's dark secret. Leah, how the hell did you get off so lightly, after being ground zero of a hugeass propane-and-abomination explosion?”
Leah sighed and rubbed her face. “Well, might as well give mine out. I might be... possibly... conceivably... very slightly...part demon.”
Cizin looked her straight in the eyes with a slightly frustrated look.
“You know, demons. The ones that come from... hell and all. Family ancestry, according to rumor, so I may be descended from something of that sort a long time ago.”
“So... you have extra-special fire powers?”
“Eh, I don't know. I do like fire a lot, and I've practiced with it long enough that it's not easy for me to get burned. Could be related.”
“Right. Well, don't burn down my house. If we even still are on Earth. I don't recognize this freaky-ass tree over here.”
“That's …. well, I have no idea, but I'm pretty sure we're home.”
“Home?”
“My home. Ketegem.”
“What?”
“I can use magic freely again. The aether here is strong. As strong as I remember. It certainly isn't Earth.”
Cizin wrinkled his forehead for a moment before comprehension dawned. “FUCK.”
“When I met a goddamn fiery paladin, ninja sensei, and mysterious amnesiac chick, I expected to eventually save the kingdom from the evil tyrant, save some princess or punch out Elder Gods, not get the CRAP slapped, slashed, punched, crushed, burnt, and strangled out of me by everyone and anyone right away! Would it be too much to ask for a little more 'adventure' and a little less 'maim Cizin', universe? Huh? Would it?!”
“What is a ninja sensei?” Paul asked.
“Guy with knives that flips around and does magic tricks like you.”
“Huh. I shall take that as a compliment, I suppose.”
“What is *your* dark secret, anyways, Paul?”
“Why do you wish to know?”
“Because some random elf dude we met kicked your face in the moment he could, and because the first dark secret we discovered almost got us sashimi'ed several times over. It's probably going to endanger our lives if we don't know.”
“What is your dark secret then?”
“I like ponies. Now, spill, Paul.”
“Alright. I am an outlaw, wanted dead by just about everybody I know. Alas, I suspect I cannot say I do not deserve it. I shall not go into any more detail.”
“Fair enough. If you meet anyone you know, let us know.”
“Very well.”
Mark Cizin, twenty-five, dropped a clenched fist onto his alarm clock. The device remained intact, much to Cizin's displeasure. Goddamnit, already?, he thought, as he slowly wriggled out of bed, fighting his sleepy body as he clawed his way out of bed.
As he rolled out and felt the cold sinking its claws into him, he decided today was going to be special. A chance to break out of his boring, fruitless old routine and go for a boring fruitless new routine! He sighed. Like he could even get some variety in his daily bullshit. Well, it could be worse. He could be really late for wo-
Wait. What did his alarm clock say again? Something fifteen... eight fifteen. Oh.
DAMN IT.
Cizin burst into action and hastily shaved, dressed, ate, and dived into his car. Just as he turned the key, Cizin's mind, propelled by adrenaline out of sleepiness , remembered that he actually should wake up at around this time. Cizin's forehead responded by greeting the steering wheel loudly.
This set a precedent for the rest of Cizin's day. Stuck in traffic. Micromanaged by his boss for this or that. Meetings. Boring meetings. Needless meetings. Annoying emailedcat videos from coworkers. Idiots on his team. Idiots not on his team. Deleting more cat videos. Mindless chatter with random people over nothing. The creeping sense of failure from his emerging deadlines. At the day's end, he felt exhausted despite doing nothing significant.
Nine hours of silent suffering and loud idiots later, Cizin took the bus home, relieved and mentally battered. Well, it could be worse, he thought. I should be grateful for any kind of employment in these times. Quitting was still tempting.
He kicked open his front door. What would it amount to anyways? Another day, another dollar. Followed by an evening of unwinding (wasting time) or finishing some stupid shit from work, then hitting the sack. Something about it felt empty. What the hell did he get done today? Was this really all his life amounted to? Sleep, TV and work? Cizin sighed. Who would remember what he did after he was gone?
Cizin went to bed, but couldn't sleep, his mind pestered by all these thoughts.
Was this really all there was to it? Sure, he could be a nice mindless office drone, get a token promotion or two, start a little family, live and die in the barren rut others dug for him. Why couldn't there be some higher purpose? Where the hell were his choices? Where did all his dreams leave for? At twenty-five, he felt wasted.
Cizin suddenly felt a sudden surge of anger, of ferocity and of longing. He felt the way things were was wrong. He stiffened as he reached into the air with both arms, thinking of tugging the collar of the universe, and mentally shouting at it that this was wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Not the way it should be! At that moment, Cizin wished to be something. Something great. Something that he wanted to be, not that others wanted him to be. Some way out. An escape.
His thoughts were cut off by a loud crash from the front of the house.
Cizin's mind raced, filled with equal parts excitement, doubt and fear.
What? No...would it really- no. No way I got what I wish for...
He leaped out of bed, grabbed his cell phone, prepared 911 on speed dial and opened his bedside drawer to produce and load his trusty handgun. It never hurt to take precautions.
Careful what you wish for, I think it goes, he muttered. He silently crept downstairs, stiff with fear and anticipation. Well, please don't be an armed robber or crazy drug addict or something, please be only a raccoon or zombie apocalypse or something... please....
He slowly approached the source of the noise, cell and gun in hand.
Something turned to face him. In the darkness, he managed to see the largest and ugliest thug he had ever seen. Cizin immediately readied his gun, hoping desperately the burglar didn't have any buddies.
“Don't m-” Before Cizin could speak, the burglar was already in flight towards Cizin. Cizin hesitated to fire, and stepped to the side, so the incoming blow only glanced off his left hip. The force still spun Cizin to the floor. The burglar unhesitatingly held the bat high for a more lethal blow. Cizin aimed high and fired.
A severed head landed in Cizin's lap. Cizin stared dumbly, as the burglar's body struck the cold floor with a wet thud.
Another man beside the body then reached out towards Cizin. Cizin startled and pointed the gun at him.
“Are you hurt?,”, the second man said, unalarmed at the weapon leveled at him. He extended a hand to Cizin, his mouth in a visible frown of concern. Another hand gripped a large knife coated with blood. “Are you all right, sir?”
“Uh... wha- what-... I... I'm fine. What the hell are you doing in my house?”
The man dropped the knife and backed away slightly. “I do not know....My name is Paul Renato. I apologize for trespassing here, but I am terribly lost and-”
“There's a fucking dead body on the ground! You just killed a guy! And you're in my house! And there's a knife oh god it's covered with blood what the fuck?!”
Cizin awkwardly stood up and put some distance between him and the man.
The man held both hands out in an unthreatening gesture, still backing away.
“I am a lost traveler sir. I honestly did not mean to come here, wherever this place is. I know it may be hard to believe but I find myself here entirely by accident!”
Now that he had a better look, actually, Cizin saw the man was most likely harmless. If he wanted to attack, he did have Cizin in a vulnerable position earlier, after all.
Still wary, Cizin kept his gun pointed in the man's general direction.
“Uh...sorry about that.” Cizin took a deep breath. “You saved my life, Mister, uh, Renato and I shouldn't be pointing a gun at you...maybe we can come to an understand on what the fuck happened here?”
“That would be great, sir....so, where am I, may I ask?”
“Cloudy Springs City.”
“I am not familiar with that country...”
“The Unites States of America? In North America?... Earth?!”, Cizin desperately offered.
The worry and puzzlement on the man's face did not make Cizin feel better.
Cizin put his hand on his forehead. He whispered. “I think I just broke reality.” ++++
Chapter Two: People from another dimension
Cizin flipped on the lights.
Paul Renato was dark-skinned, decently-built, short man with a thin beard and graying, scruffy hair. He was clad in something that looked like leather body armor. His face and clothes were dirty, weary and toughened from travel. Probably not from the Renaiisance fair, Cizin thought. Unless it was held in a really tough neighborhood. Where they take peoples' heads off.
“Um...Paul... you're extremely not from around here, are you?”, he asked.
The man flinched in slight surprise at his suddenly-lit and apparently new surroundings.
“I suppose not. I was walking through a woods when I found myself here. Suddenly.”, the man replied, with the sort of the sort of-guilty, worried look that one would use when telling a true but unbelievable story. Cizin's instincts told him this man was quite trustworthy. Not sure how his instincts would know that right away. But Paul looked friendly enough anyways.
“So, where are YOU from?”, Cizin asked.
“Amytlei. I don't suppose you have heard of it?”
“I can't say that I have...”
Paul then turned his gaze towards the dead guy on the floor. “I take it you normally do not find ogres in your house?”
Cizin also looked at the dead body.
It was not human. For one thing, it was nearly 8 feet tall and wore a loincloth. For another, its features seemed carved with a saw, and the bat was a gigantic wooden club almost as wide as Cizin's torso.
“Did...did I just get attacked by a caveman?”, Cizin asked.
“Ogre.”
“What?”
“That is an ogre. You do not have those here, I don't think?”
They both paused.
“No, I... don't think I've ever seen a guy look like that.”
“It must have bypassed the walls of your dwelling, judging from the intact windows and door here. Perhaps... it also spontaneously appeared?”
Cizin roughly shook his head. This was too much.
“I guess it was by magic.”, he half-seriously muttered.
Paul frowned slightly. “Naturally. But who and how? This kind of magic is deeply unusual to say the least.”
“Ooooo....kay?” Cizin's confusion did not lessen.
Thunder roared outside.
“Hm... if both I and the ogre are unexpected guests here, I believe that means we have more immediate concerns. We can catch up later.”
Cizin nodded his agreement, and followed Paul in searching the house for unwanted surprises. Once satisfied that nothing else found its way in, Cizin took a peek outside his front door.
Distant chanting, the crunching of bones, and the clanging of metals filled Cizin's ears. Thunder clapped and lightning flashed despite the absence of clouds, and Cizin smelled fire, despite the lack of apparent smoke or flame. The moon glowed unnaturally brightly, and the air felt charged, but not charged with electricity, but as if spirit and emotion were somehow made tangible.
Cizin had no time to marvel in confusion, as a large mass of steel swiftly slipped into the doorway and brushed him aside. It slammed the door with great force, then wheeled around at the direction in which it came.
Cizin reeled as he regained his balance. He noticed Paul was suddenly next to a woman in steel armor, and both of them dove away from the front dore. Before he had time to follow their lead, his world was turned sideways by a massive force that nearly tore the house from its foundations. Cizin barely regained his balance. His eyes turned outside to try to see the cause of the blow.
A huge orange eye with a long slit pupil filled the window. Something clawed at the roof, to no avail, a horrible, deep shredding noise. There was a brief pause, then the giant eye left as soon as it appeared. Then the only noise was the woman panting and thunder outside.
Cizin froze. “What the HELL was that?”
The woman's hair was a dark red, shoulder-length, her expression tightened with grim resolve, even when relaxed. She had a sword holstered and a small backpack, in contrast to Paul, who Cizin noticed apparently wasn't carrying anything besides his knife. The second newcomer slumped to the ground in exhaustion. She was about Cizin's age, and, as he could see, also “not from around here”.
“Dragon. Big one. Thankfully, there's easier things for it to eat outside.”, she muttered.
“Who are you?”, Cizin asked.
“Leah Perditam. Paladin.”, she added.
“I am Paul Renato.”
“Um, I'm Mark Cizin. Just call me Ciz-”
“Alright, Paul, let's secure this building. Are you a local?”
“No, but he is.”
“Alright, can you tell me what defensive measures you have available, Mister Cizin? There's a hell of a lot of things that want to eat us outside.”
“Um, guns?
“What?”
“Well, I can lock the doors and call the police.”
“Can they deal with a dragon?”
“Uh, no -”
“Alright, might want to let them do what they can on their own then. I'm sure they're quite busy right now.”
“Paul, do you know her?”
“Not at all.”
“Alright, I'll try sealing the doors.” She put her hands on the door, and it glowed brightly.
“What?”
“You know, a basic magical defense.”
“The fu- you know what, do you what you want. I have to sit down and process this shit.” Cizin fell into a chair and put his hands on his forehead.
*****
“Okay. So, so I am not having a complete mental breakdown here....”, Cizin took a deep breath, “Your names are Paul Renato and Leah Perditam? And you are both clearly from other planets or dimensions or whatever. You both know magic or something, but you also have no idea what the hell is going on. You both suddenly showed up here and can't remember what you were doing at the time. There is apparently some kind of war going on outside, and a dead ogre body in my living room, and my house got body slammed by a dragon. Also, I actually might be having a mental breakdown.”
“That sums it up pretty well.”, said Leah.
“Pinch me. Ngh! Okay! I'm good!”, said Cizin. “Okay, for now, I'm going to worry about my safety before an explanation. Not that you know anything, either. Tell me what you know I, I mean we, need to do to survive tonight.... hey, Paul, where did-?”
Paul was examining the door.
“I need a writing implement.”
Cizin tossed Paul a marker. Paul began drawing what appeared to be runes on the door.
“Okay, Paul's going to do some magic thingy. Leah, I suppose you can tell me what to expect.”
Leah shrugged. “The dragon likely won't bother us. There's probably easier food out there than a sealed house”
“Okay then. So what do you recommend we do about the other things?”
“We keep watch, I suppose. If you have any weapons, now would be a good time to break them out.”
Cizin noticed that, unlike Paul and like himself, Leah was barely keeping it together. Her voice slightly trembled with anxiety. Cizin drew his gun and got up from the table.
The three of them kept a quiet vigil throughout the night. Cizin heard steel, screaming and other strange sounds as he looked out the window. None of the noise ever approached too closely to the house, to his relief.
Chapter Three: Abby
Cizin woke up with a start and immediately swept his surroundings. His head was propped on his window in a very uncomfortable way. Leah slumped in a chair with sword in lap, and Paul lay on the table, although Cizin was sure he was awake.
Not sure how to handle the situation, he carefully got up and inspected the inside of the house and took a very careful peek outside. Everything seemed to be in order. He waved his hands in front of Paul's face. Paul grunted. “Morning.”
Cizin hesitate. “Think we should check outdoors?”
Paul opened his eyes slightly. “Already did. There was a woman outside, unconscious. All clear otherwise.”
“Wait, wha?” Cizin's head still reeled. Last night was hardly a dream.
“She was not an immediate concern. I brought her inside but took precautions. We should probably tend to her.” Paul gently leapt out of his chair.
“No, really?” Cizin rubbed his eyes.
Wiping the dried saliva from his face, he followed Paul to his study.
Cizin saw a tall, dark-haired girl propped against his desk. What it was painted with, he wasn't sure he wanted to know.
The girl was pale-skinned, probably in her late teens, very tall for her age, and had thick, black long hair that covered half her face. That was the only thing unusual about her. She wore a black-and-white T-shirt and long khakis. She stirred slightly, as if awake but recovering from a very deep sleep.
“Who do you think she is?”
“Ask her.”, Paul replied.
“Hey, wake up.” Cizin syelled.
The girl started a bit and gave a deep yawn.
“Who are you and what were you doing in front of my house?
“Where am I?”
“Who are you?”
“Who am I?””
“Who''s asking the questions here?”
“Wha?”
Paul grimaced ever so slightly and stepped in.
“Miss, we found you outside this building. Might you know why? There seems to have been some sort of freak accident around here, and we are concerned for your safety.”
“Uhhhh. I can't remember. Where am I?”
“You are on Earth in a land called Cloudy Springs City. Do you have a name?”
Her face scrunched in confusion. “I... uh... a... Abby. I think. Head hurts. Can't remember anything.”
“Do you recall anything that happened to you recently?”
“Uh... I don't know.”
“She's dressed in local attire, Paul. She either is from here or pretending to be.”, Cizin interjected.
“What?”, Abby asked.
“Sorry, give us a moment, Abby.”, Cizin said as he pushed Paul aside.
“I believe she is telling the truth, Mr. Cizin.”
“Yeah, that's not my worry here. Thing is, we have no clue who she is. That's a liability. Is someone or something after her? Is she carrying a disease or curse? Is she the cause of all this?”
They looked at Abby.
She had her arms around her knees, cradling herself very slowly, looking immensely confused and worried.
“Cizin... please. Given the circumstances, she is most likely a fellow victim of this accident. To believe otherwise would be a stretch. And even if we act on our suspicions, I do not believe we can turn her away and reasonably expect her to survive.”
“Goddamnit. Well, I'm lodging you and Leah anyways. Get her up on her feet. I'll let Leah know.”
Cizin got out several cans of food and started heating up and sorting items into bowls. He was much too deep in thought to spend brainpower cooking.
Abby dug into the chili like a shark on chum. She must not have eaten in forever, Cizin thought.
Cizin asked Leah and Paul what they were doing before they found themselves here.
“I was traveling through a forest out of town. Before I realized anything was amiss, I felt I was falling. Then I find myself in a dark corner of this house.”, said Paul.
Cizin hid his immediate suspicion. Too many details left out.
“I was accompanying a squad of other paladins into a suspect cultist hideout yesterday.
***
“Great. Mysterious amnesiac chick. Plops right into our laps. This only means one thing.”
“And what might that be?”, Leah asked.
“She's doubtlessly harboring a dark magical secret that someone powerful wants to get ahold of.”
“What? There isn't any magic on her. She's no more magic than you are.”
“That's disappointing. Well maybe it's what she knows. Or maybe she's of an ancient bloodline with the needed blood for some twisted ritual.”
“Okaaaay...where the hell are you getting this from?”
“Books, movies, games, everything. Since I'm fucked for any clue of what's going here, I might as well go on what I know about magic and stuff.”
“The hell. You could ask me.”
“Okay, enlighten me.”
“Errmm... how do I explain this? Okay, it's a mental manipulation of aether.”
“Huh?”
“Aether... it's fuel for magic. What magic does is, um, turn aether in the environment into other forms of energy.”
“So, why can't I use it if you can use magic here?”
“The aether around here is, shall I say, piss-weak. I have to struggle to conjure flame. I suppose you folks would be justified in not even noticing it.”
“Okay. So what can magic do?”
“That's an awfully big question. Magic can do a lot of things.”
“What are the rules of magic?”
“Lots of rules to go over.”
Cizin sighed. “Okay, what kinds of magic are there, and what are their limitations?”
“Right. I was taught there were three different schools of magic. Living Magic, Elemental Magic and Pure Magic, also known as Raw Magic or Energy Magic. Living magic is split into white and black magic, which help and harm intelligent creatures, respectively. I suppose most magic is limited by the aether in the air and how strong you are. Black magic is also limited by magical feedback-the more powerful and aware your target is of the attack, the more it will rebound towards you. Um... elemental magic- it manipulates solid, non-intelligent matter. Gaseous, mineral, aqueous, floral magic, commonly known as air, earth, water and plant magic. Pure magic is fire, lightning, light, sound and chaos, though no one really can use chaos magic without help.”
“And what do you do?”
“White magic, and Pure Magic in general. Most humans typically learn Living Magic and Pure Magic. Elemental magic for goblins, dwarves, elves and fairies and such.”
Cizin raised an eyebrow. “I don't suppose I can ask about those?”
Leah sighed and put her hand on her forehead.
A lengthy explanation later, Cizin finished writing down what Leah told him.
“Right. So, what were we talking about before that? Right, Abby. Notice anything else weird about her?”
“Well, when I mean she has magic, she has no magic. At all.”
“And that's odd? I thought I had no magic?”
“Well, you have a soul.”
“Wait, she's soulless?”
“The soul is a repository of aether held within the body. Sort of like fat for physical energy. You and probably other people have just a little bit. She doesn't have any.”
“So, what's that mean?”
“I don't know.”
“That might count as a dark secret then. I'll keep that in mind.... By the way YOU wouldn't happen to have any dark magical and/or family secrets, would you?”
“Nothing that matters.”
“Riiiiight.”
“Really. If it's trouble for us, I'm going to be very surprised.”
“Then I will respect your privacy. But if it ever becomes an issue, you are letting everyone know before it gets us killed.”
“Fair enough. I'm going to make a list of what I think may have caused the teleportation then.”
“Alright. I'll go talk to Abby now.”
Chapter Four: Attack
“So, Abby. Can I see the rest of your face?”, Cizin asked.
“Excuse me?”, said Abby.
“Just want to make sure you're not hiding something on your left half. Rituals scars, tattoos, crazy evil eye, other things. Can't be too safe.”
“Uh.... okay.”
Abby parted her bangs to show the rest of her face. There was only an eye and unmarked skin.
“Huh. Well, that's good to know. So, you really know nothing other than that you're from around here , by which I mean Earth, and your name is Abigail.”
“...yeah, I think.”
“Okay.” Cizin scribbled on his notepad. “Talk to you later, Abby.”
“Hey, Leah, let's see that list.”
“Right. So, here we have- magical experiment gone wrong, damage to the space-time continuum, magical experiment gone right, naturally-occurring rip in space-time, or divine punishment.”
“None of those things, then.”
“What?”
“You called it. Unless the universe feels like being particularly ironic, it's going to be a surprise.”
“And how do you know that?
“That's just the way it is.”
Leah sighed again. “Very well. What do you think it is?”
“I don't know. It'll go against all our expectations and will probably be more horrific than we think.”
“What's your problem?”
“My problem?”
“Yeah. You're the one with no clue of what magic is, and you think you know more than me.”
“Pardon my muggle-ness.”
“Muggle-ness?”
“It's a ter-”
A sudden flash of light and an explosion rocked the house.
Leah's head turned towards the source.
“That was magic.”
“Think we should check it out?”
“No shit. Paul, Abby, get over here! We're checking it out.”
Paul stepped out beside Leah. “Already here.”
“You don't think we should maybe keep a safe distance from magicky-kaboom?”, Cizin asked.
“Hey, if you've got an obvious lead, we'll chase that instead. Let's go.”
Abby waited by the door.
They ran out. Leah pointed towards the direction of the explosion's sound.
“That way.”
They didn't have to run far.
Down the road were three people fighting off a large red dragon. It was easily the size of a house. They seemed to be holding their own. The dragon well have been the thing that attacked the house earlier.
Cizin stared. “Whoa. Maybe we shou-”
“CHARGE.”, Leah shouted.
Cizin hesitantly took a few steps forward as Leah and Paul bolted past him towards the fight.
Abby stepped next to them.
“Yeah, good thinking Abby.”
“Er... I can't fight.”
“Great, well, you get to live then.”
The three people were a man with a spear, a lithe woman with a katana and a huge man fighting with his fists. They seemed experienced enough to avoid getting hit, occasionally scoring a good hit now and then. Paul darted towards the dragon and plunged both daggers into its tail. It roared and swiped with its claws as it turned around, knocking Leah to the ground. It forced Paul backwards with a several rapid snaps of its jaws. The spearman took the opening, but the dragon spun around and pinned him to the ground as soon as he got in range.
“Great, now they've pissed it off. I hope it responds to bullets. Abby, stay here.” Cizin took off away from the dragon.
Abby stared in surprise and hesitantly sat down.
Only Paul and the swordswoman remained unharmed. Leah dragged the bloody spearman away, while the huge man took blow after blow without much concern. Still, the dragon was lashing out too hard to be effectively hit, and magic wasn't an option here. Leah's face twisted in deep thought as she thought of how to approach this problem.
There was a loud “crack!” as the dragon's head suddenly sprayed blood everywhere. It fell to the ground with little resistance. A chunk of its skull hit the wall beside Leah.
Cizin lay on the ground fifty meters away with a rifle in the prone position. He fired another shot into the unmoving body with another “crack” and a wet thud.
“Is it dead?” He shouted at Leah.
“What the fuck do you think?”, she shouted back.
Cizin fired yet again.
“For fuck's sake, it's dead!” She held aloft the piece of its skull.
Cizin looked up and shrugged.
Leah looked down at the spearman.
He wasn't hurt too badly. He was a muscular blond man, with a dour, heavily scarred face. He wore fairly light scale armor. He looked up at her.
“Thanks, we owe you one.” he said.
Leah helped him up.
“Gah. It's good to see others from Amytlei. Afraid we'd be lost in this crazy place.”, he said.
“I'm from Ketegem.”
“Ah. Odd. Never heard of there.”
“My friend Paul here is from Amytlei.”
“Hm... well, my name is Artemas. Artemas Fligere.” He pointed to the woman. She was tall, brunette and wearing a white dress.“She's Venus. Just Venus. And the big guy here is Justice. Also just... Justice.” Justice was a huge man in a trenchcoat, who appeared to be wearing a ski mask. Justice nodded without saying a word. Cizin could have sworn Justice's eyes were glowing.
“So, you all okay?”, Artemas asked Paul, Justice and Venus as they were inspecting the dragon's body.
Paul raised his hand in confirmation as he ran his hands over several of the lizard's scales.
“Great.” Artemas' foot lashed out and caught Paul solidly in the back of the head. Paul slumped against the dragon's corpse.
Venus swept out Leah's feet from behind and pinned her by the arm, as Justice landed a solid punch on Cizin's face.
“What the hell?!” Leah yelled.
“Ah, your friend Paul is a wanted man in Amytlei. I'm afraid we'll have to claim the bounty on him.”, Artemas replied.
Justice walked forth, holding Cizin in a tight grip.
“That's no reason to randomly assault him! And we can't even get home yet!”
“Can't take chances, lady. He's a slippery one. Really slippery.”, Artemas draped Paul's unconscious form over his shoulder.
Cizin looked up and noticed Artemas was an elf. Though one of his ears was almost chopped off, the man did have rather pointy ears.
“Hey, it's great that you want to be human, but you forgot the other one.”
Artemas shot Cizin an unpleasant look.
“Well, *sorry* about the confrontation. We'll be happy to leave you guys alone if you'll turn the other way and keep walking.”, Artemas replied, with not a little vitriol.
“You'r an asswipe.”
“Don't provoke m-” Artemas was cut short by a the sound of a large rock bouncing off Justice to no effect.
“Ah, that's Abby.”, Leah mentioned.
Abby looked up at Justice and gave a sheepish grin, cringing slightly in anticipation.
Artemas put his face in his hands. “Try not to hurt her.”
As Justice reached towards Abby, Cizin took the chance to grab his pistol despite his awkward position and fired into Justice's face. Justice lurched slightly, and Cizin burst out of Justice's arms and started firing at Venus.
Artemas dropped Paul not at all lightly onto the asphalt and lunged at Cizin, knocking the gun out of his hands. Cizin backpedaled slightly and raised his arms to block Artemas's punch a second too late. Cizin hit the dirt instantly.
Venus dived out of the path of the bullets, freeing Leah. Leah got up, drew her sword and charged at Venus. Venus easily evaded every blow before Leah even swung, and nonchalantly replied with a high kick to Leah's face. Leah staggered backward and just recovered when she noticed Artemas's spear right next to her neck.
“Stop.”, he said.
Justice, meanwhile grabbed Abby tightly by the wrist. Abby struggled uselessly. Justice showed no indication of being even inconvenienced.
“Well, we'll be going now. Don't follow us.” Artemas said with a stern frown on his face.
Leah felt herself thrown to the ground rather hard. Her vision went blurry and she had trouble getting up. When she managed to get back up, she saw Abby trying to rouse Cizin. The others had left with Paul. There was no trace of them.
Leah braced herself and put her hands on Cizin's head. Cizin startled to his feet.
“Ow.” He cradled his head and its several bruises. His other hand was on his injured hip.
“They took Paul.”, Leah told him.
“Let's go get him, don't you think?”, Cizin replied.
“We have no idea where they are, and they just kicked our asses.”
“Hey, if you've got an obvious lead, we'll chase that instead.”
Leah sighed.
Chapter Five: Rematch
“Okay, the elf guy was bleeding a bit. He patched up his wounds pretty quickly, as the blood drips trail off, but there's just enough of a blood trail to indicate their direction.”, Cizin mused.
“Yeah, I saw them go that way. They seemed to be in a hurry, though.”, Abby said.
“Well, that'll have to do for now. Hurry up.”, Leah said, as the three of them ran.
“They're probably expecting us. What do we do when we catch them?” Cizin asked.
“I dunno. You can shoot them with that thing?”, Leah replied.
Cizin clutched at his rifle. “Yeah, I guess that works.”
“Well, you know this area, Cizin. Where would they hide?”
“There's a derelict building not far from here. It's where I would hide.”
“Right. Lead the way.”
A few minutes later, they arrived at a run-down two-story building. Cizin scanned the area with binoculars. “Hm... the dust and bricks around here have been disturbed.. I'm no expert, but it does look like someone was careless running through here. Probably that huge Justice guy.”
“Can you see anyone inside?”
Cizin looked through the many broken windows. “Can't see anyone.”
“Let's get closer.”
Cizin set down his binoculars. “They'll see us coming.”
“They're expecting us, right? Cover me.”
Leah carefully walked towards the building as Abby and Cizin kept watch. Cizin held his rifle, Abby held the binoculars.
Leah reached the front of the building without incident. She beckoned Cizin and Abby to move in.
Cizin and Abby carefully approached. Abby looked around warily and stuck very close behind Cizin.
As they reached the entrance, Leah very carefully stepped in. The room was drenched in darkness, the orange light of dusk hardly reaching in.
Cizin pulled out a tiny flashlight. “Always prepared.”, he said, tossing it to Leah.
Leah carefully walked through the first room into the second, Cizin and Abby following her.
“Ha, called it!”, a female voice yelled out in the darkness.
Before they could react, the source of the voice slammed into Leah, knocking her aside.
Cizin raised his rifle and put his finger in the trigger. Abby screamed, “Look out!” as a much bigger figure charged at Cizin. Cizin turned and fired, knocking Justice back just in time. Cizin swung the butt of his rifle, only knocking the Justice back further. A pair of eyes glowed in the dark as Justice recovered.
Cizin reversed his rifle and fired again and again in desperation. His opponent dodged to the side with surprising speed, but was driven back by a sudden wall of flame between him and Cizin. Leah yelled for help. Cizin turned at Leah and fired at her opponent.
Justice patiently waited for the fire to die down, and Venus immediately leapt away from Leah. Fighting in the darkness was impossible, Cizin figured, as his clip ran empty without result. He snatched away Leah's flashlight and pointed it at Venus. Venus yelled in pain and shielded her eyes as Cizin pulled his pistol and resumed firing. Leah focused at Justice, trying to keep him at bay with fire magic.
Venus slipped out of Cizin's line of fire and kicked away his pistol.
The room was now alight with Leah's fire magic. Venus backed off and smiled at Cizin, clearly having more fun than he was. Abby hesitantly waited next to the doorway. Leah grabbed a newspaper off the ground and turned it into a torch, trying to force Justice backwards.
“Stupid of you to let me keep my guns.”, Cizin muttered as he pulled out his bowie knife.
“Thanks for the reminder.”, Venus chirped. She was clearly waiting for Cizin to make the first move.
Cizin cautiously advanced. He pretended to prepare to stab at her, then threw the knife. It wasn't even close. Cizin braced for the incoming beatdown but none came. Then he felt a very strong hand grab him by the neck and lift him from his feet.
Justice held both Cizin and Leah very tightly. Cizin couldn't even muster the strength to struggle as he suffocated. Leah was in the same situation.
“Do we really have to get rid of them?”, Venus asked.
Justice nodded.
Venus sighed. “Better grab her then.” Venus said, pointing to Abby as Abby was about to turn and run.
Justice suddenly threw Cizin and Leah against a wall and leapt at Abby.
Abby yelped as Justice grabbed her. She struggled as before, but with far more desperation. Justice shifted his footing as Abby flailed and yelled.
As Cizin got to his feet, sputtering and coughing, he saw Justice skid across the floor beside him.
“Dark secret. Shit, I knew it.”, Cizin whispered.
Venus charged at Abby and slashed away, taking her arm clean off.
Abby looked at it, and looked up at Venus. There was only minimal bleeding. She grabbed Venus's sword and threw it into the ceiling so hard only the hilt showed.
Venus retreated in horror as Abby flashed a cruel smile.
“Well, thanks for waking me up. I think I'll kill all of you little rats now. Starting with biggest to smallest.”
On cue, Justice bodily separated in half.
Cizin's eyes flew open. He grabbed Leah and ran as fast as he could deeper into the building.
Venus dived and flipped out of the way as multiple unseen things zipped past her and slammed into the walls, crushing them.
Abby slowly walked after them, her form contorting into something not exactly human. She was... melting. Cizin didn't have time for a good look, just running as fast as he goddamn could. Abby screamed horribly with multiple shrill voices, making Cizin's ears bleed. He helped Leah up a set of stairs as fast as he could. Venus ran past him. Cizin briefly contemplated tripping her but shook his head.
Something grabbed him by the foot. He screamed and tried to kick it off, to no avail. Leah waved her hands at it and whatever it was released its grip. Cizin ignored the new burns on his leg.
The thing that used to be Abby suddenly sped up and charged at Cizin in a barely-visible blur. Leah opened her hand at it and the creature disappeared in a burst of flame. Its horrid screams still reverbrated, though it was nowhere to be seen. Cizin and Leah wasted no time in climbing up the stairs, only to find the creature was ahead of them. It disappeared and something lashed out at Cizin taking him off his feet. Leah surrounded them with a circle of flame. Cizin hit the ground hard, unable to walk. His back to ground, he looked to find that the creature was above him. He yelled a warning. Leah looked up just as the thing descended on them.
A thunderbolt narrowly missed it. Venus and Artemas leapt to the attack. The thing that was formerly Abby twitched, and both of them retreated with deep gashes on their legs. Artemas collapsed with a grunt, and Venus ran away. The monster turned towards Leah and Cizin. It suddenly twitched as if in pain, those it was not attacked.
Cizin took this opportunity to look for an exit. Without consideration to the burns on his leg and his generally battered body, he dashed towards an empty window and leapt out. Leah followed suit.
Cizin woke up a moment later, pain everywhere on his body. He was in a grove of trees, some distance from the building. Leah tended to his wounds, evidently using magic to seal his wounds. The strain on her face from using magic stood out among her own injuries.
“Is it gone?” he asked.
“Yeah, we should be safe for now. It didn't follow us out.”
“Ugh... we're fucked. I think my leg's broken.”
“Yeah, it kind of is. Hold still.”
Cizin felt a shard of glass run itself up his femur, or so he imagined.
“NGGGGHH.”, he grunted.
Leah wasn't even touching him.
“Does healing magic have to hurt so much?”
“I'm *literally* closing your wounds. It has to. Try and keep quiet. I don't know how well that thing can hear.”
“Jesus Christ. What the fuck is Abby?”
On cue, Abby walked into the grove.
“SHIT.” Leah raised her hands on the attack.
“Gah! Don't hurt me!” Abby cowered, putting her hands above her.
“What the hell? What are you doing? Back!” Leah burned the ground in front of Abby.
Abby put her hands on her head.
Cizin stared in disbelief. “Is this... some kind of werewolf thing? No, it's a trick.”
“It's not a trick.”, Abby cried.
“That... monster. What the hell was it?”, Cizin asked.
Abby was on the brink of tears. “It's a long story. I can explain everything. But be quiet, please.”, she begged.
“I'm not a human being.... but I can't really say what I am. I, or rather what I was, came from another world, very far away. I... I mean, what I used to be, was sent here to gather information on this planet. *She* stayed here for several years, observing humanity. She was attacked by humans recently, I don't know when or why. They locked her up... I don't know what happened, but she, injured, somehow found herself near your home, Cizin. She was weak, injured. She created a separate personality... a creature that thought it was human, that was given no knowledge of anything. A disguise, so that she could recover and hide among humanity. That is me. That was the Abby you saw up until now, and it's me again... I think. What happened- she woke up. I don't know how. But she was filled with rage.” Abby whispered, her voice soft with fear and pain, staring at the ground. She shuddered slightly at the word “rage”. “She wanted to kill you all. I tried to stop her, but I was too weak. So, I ran away. I took a small part of her body with me. I followed you out as she tried to kill me. I think I lost her. But I don't know. I don't even know if you're safe with just me around...” Abby looked up, almost crying. “Maybe I should leave.... I should just leave.”
Abby suddenly got up and started to turn away. Leah grabbed Abby's shoulder. “No, Abby. You. Are. Staying. We're not running away to let that monster hunt us down and butcher us, and we're fucked in just about every way without some idea of what it can do and how to fight it. I think it's safe to say you are our only hope against it.”
Abby turned around slowly, looked Leah dead in the eyes, and fell into her arms, sobbing.
Chapter Six: Disappearances
“She's weak against fire, as you know, but she's hard to hit. She can't be really hurt with normal weapons. Need to use magic. Running or maneuver is impossible against her. I... I don't think it's possible to kill her with what we have. Maybe we should risk running.”, Abby said.
“If it can bleed, it can die.”, Cizin grunted.
“Shut up. We need to be resourceful about this. I'm about to pass out from all that magic. Abby. Is there any way to kill her that does not require burning down the goddamn building?”
“Uh... ”
Cizin lay his head back in frustration. “We're not getting anywhere. Maybe we should rest, so that Leah can get back a little fire. We're all beaten up... hm... can you hurt 'her', Abby?”
Abby shook her head. “I don't think I can do anything against her. I have maybe a twentieth of her body.”
“Really now? She must be huge then.”
Abby nodded. “And you have to damage most of it to kill her. What you see is only a tiny bit of her.”
“Do we have to kill her?” Leah asked. “Surely there's an easy way to contain or disable her.”
Abby shook her head again.
Cizin pounded the ground. “Damn. Maybe if we wait, a solution will drop itself on our heads. Because we're fucked as it is.”
A thunderclap emerged from the direction of the building.
The three of them looked up.
“Well, here's our fucking chance.”, Cizin said.
The battle was moving along the second story of the building.
“The fucking cavalry is here.” Cizin muttered, looking up, as he retrieved his guns from the floor, hoping bullets would serve some use.
“She can see you from here! Get moving!” Abby squealed.
The three of them ran upstairs.
The others were barely holding off the monster, impressive considering they were worse off than Leah, Abby and Cizin. Artemas bled freely on the ground while Venus tried to simultaneously heal him from a distance and evade blows. Paul was using fire to hold off the monster's rapid assault.
“Good to see you”, Artemas grunted, blood all over his face. He rolled a blue glowing flask towards Leah. “It's stored aether. You could probably do better than me with it... sorry... about earlier.” He then passed out.
Leah nodded, and with the flask in hand, charged towards the monster, leaving a trail of flame behind her.
“Abby, stabilize Art here”, Cizin yelled. “I'll pray that there's something flammable around here.” He started overturning desks and chairs.
Leah pushed the creature back with a fierce yell, wrapping herself in an inferno of flame and slinging fire everywhere.
Paul and Venus backed her up with fire and lightning. At least, they did, before the creature laid Paul's arm open and threw Venus cleanly through a wall.
Cizin rushed back into the battlefield. “Who the fuck keeps propane in the closet?!” He tossed the can towards Leah, who caught it and swung it at the creature. The resulting explosion turned the entire area into nothing but fire. There was another horrid monstrous shriek, loud enough to force Cizin to his knees. He reflexively covered his ears.
ACT II
Chapter Seven: Cowardly new world.
The floor gave way under the shockwave. Cizin wasn't sure what happened, but he found himself lying on the floor, in even greater pain than before. He could still move, but he was pretty sure that was just every single endorphin in his body acting at once. He got to his feet, the pain nearly overriding his consciousness.
He vomited blood as he shuffled towards... a tree?
“What... wh- am I... dead? Where-” He placed his hand against the tree and looked over it. It was surrounded by dead leaves and shrubs. Didn't look like any tree he recognized. The leaves were all funny. Cizin instinctively knew he would pass out in at most two minutes. He shook his head. No time for this. Where was Leah? The monster? Everyone else?
He heard a groan of pain and ran towards it. Leah staggered towards him a few meters away. She was covered in fairly severe burns and cuts, but still in better shape than him. Cizin stared in disbelief.
She breathed in extremely deeply and let it out. Before Cizin could react, he was seized with crippling pain. He could not think about it, only pray to God it let up before he did. It was over soon, though, and he felt much better somehow, despite the agony continuing mostly the same as before.
Leah grimaced in pain as she apparently went through the same thing. She recovered after a moment, her wounds suddenly sealed and burns reduced.
“Whew. You okay?” she asked.
“That hurt. So much.”
“Sorry. You were about to fall apart, I swear.”
Abby walked in, dragging Paul along. She was in good shape, but she was very disheveled and looked like she went through hell.
Leah put her hands on Paul. Paul didn't so much as grunt in pain, but he did writhe considerably. He opened his eyes. “Thanks.”
Cizin's wits returned to him. “Wait, where's the monster? Shit. It could be anywh-”
Abby looked around. “I don't see her anywhere.”
“Is she in disguise?” He looked at Abby without suspicion.
Abby looked down in horror. “Oh, God no, am I her?”
She patted herself down and pinched herself, entirely serious.
“Sorry. You're not shrieking horrifically and chopping us up. I think I'll give you a break, Abby.”
“...Thanks?”
“You're welcome. Now...what the fuck happened there?”
“I think it's safe to say we lived.”, said Leah.
Cizin exhaled heavily.
A moment of awkward silence ensued. Paul coughed.
Then, Cizin pondered. “How the FUCK did we survive that and why are we not in an exploded office building right now?”
Paul shrugged . “This is the second time it has happened to me. No clue. No explosion the first time, alas, but no doubt this is a second occurrence of whatever deposited us in your home.”
“Well, it happened twice in two days. It's not an accident then. It's at best a side-effect of something else, and at worst, someone is fucking with us.”
----
“Well, now we know Abby's dark secret. Leah, how the hell did you get off so lightly, after being ground zero of a hugeass propane-and-abomination explosion?”
Leah sighed and rubbed her face. “Well, might as well give mine out. I might be... possibly... conceivably... very slightly...part demon.”
Cizin looked her straight in the eyes with a slightly frustrated look.
“You know, demons. The ones that come from... hell and all. Family ancestry, according to rumor, so I may be descended from something of that sort a long time ago.”
“So... you have extra-special fire powers?”
“Eh, I don't know. I do like fire a lot, and I've practiced with it long enough that it's not easy for me to get burned. Could be related.”
“Right. Well, don't burn down my house. If we even still are on Earth. I don't recognize this freaky-ass tree over here.”
“That's …. well, I have no idea, but I'm pretty sure we're home.”
“Home?”
“My home. Ketegem.”
“What?”
“I can use magic freely again. The aether here is strong. As strong as I remember. It certainly isn't Earth.”
Cizin wrinkled his forehead for a moment before comprehension dawned. “FUCK.”
“When I met a goddamn fiery paladin, ninja sensei, and mysterious amnesiac chick, I expected to eventually save the kingdom from the evil tyrant, save some princess or punch out Elder Gods, not get the CRAP slapped, slashed, punched, crushed, burnt, and strangled out of me by everyone and anyone right away! Would it be too much to ask for a little more 'adventure' and a little less 'maim Cizin', universe? Huh? Would it?!”
“What is a ninja sensei?” Paul asked.
“Guy with knives that flips around and does magic tricks like you.”
“Huh. I shall take that as a compliment, I suppose.”
“What is *your* dark secret, anyways, Paul?”
“Why do you wish to know?”
“Because some random elf dude we met kicked your face in the moment he could, and because the first dark secret we discovered almost got us sashimi'ed several times over. It's probably going to endanger our lives if we don't know.”
“What is your dark secret then?”
“I like ponies. Now, spill, Paul.”
“Alright. I am an outlaw, wanted dead by just about everybody I know. Alas, I suspect I cannot say I do not deserve it. I shall not go into any more detail.”
“Fair enough. If you meet anyone you know, let us know.”
“Very well.”