From Beyond and back again v3
Yes, I took a second shot at rewriting my 2011 nanowrimo project and got even less far than the first rewrite.
Prologue:
The dying man looked up from a bright mat of red grass. He tried to keep himself from coughing blood as he spoke.
“No. Absolutely not.”, he finally said.
The other man stood in front of him, his face obscured by darkness incongruent with the lighting and replied. “Unfortunate. I thought you, of everyone, would understand my situation. After all you've suffered...”
“I suffer for a reason. But, I ask, why would I want to destroy what I love enough to be killed for?”
The faceless man did not reply. The dying man suppressed a gasp and continued speaking.
“In any case, I suppose it is no matter. You will not succeed.”
“Wrong. I will change everything. I will change the world more than you and a million like you ever could.”
The dying man coughed out a few specks of blood. “Not in the way you want.” he said. “To change something for the better, you must love it. You... you will leave nothing but screaming and blood behind, your sole worthy legacy... the one who will strikes you down, protecting the world he loves.”
“Love. Why do you speak of love... How could anyone love a world like this?”
The dying man suddenly smiled. “Do you not know anything? The true measure of love is how much you are willing to withstand the worst.”
“...And the true measure of reason is understanding what is not worth the trouble.”, the faceless man replied.
The dying man's smile widened to a grin. “There is no reasoning with you, is there? Now, I refused your offer, so you have no reason to save me.... kill me already, or let me die peacefully. All I ask.”
The faceless man paused again. “Idiot. Keep your love of the world. You'll be one with this horrid place again.” He abruptly melted away from sight, disappearing like a shadow before the sun.
The dying man's smile pacified into a peaceful, slight smile. He waited. Then inhaled a blood-soaked gasp and thought of quiet and light and nothing.
ACT I: Earth
The alarm clock rang. Mark Cizin's clenched fist landed on it. To his disappointment, the device remained perfectly intact. He slowly wriggled out of bed, fighting himself for ground. He flinched at the claws of the cold sinking into his body. He brushed his teeth and stared blankly into the mirror before spitting and rinsing.
He was a fairly short, fragile-looking young man with short dark hair and a dour, long face. There wasn't much else worthy to say about him, because appearance so often followed self-opinion.
Cizin grinned and pointed at his reflection. “And here's to another lovely eight to five! Another productive and fulfilling day, as a significant and respected member of society!”
He sighed, pointed his backhand towards the mirror, retracted his index finger, holding up instead the one next to it, and frowned as he walked away.
He went through his daily motions, feeling as much an automaton as the alarm clock he had just tried to crush. Put on pants and shirt, tie the tie, comb his hair, dump cereal in a bowl, eat and walk out, all while feeling like a sledgehammer to the forehead. He walked out of the house, got in the car and drove to work on a cloudless day.
After the coldness of purgatory came the fires of hell. Boss who didn't know shit micromanaging him. Colleagues sending him bullshit cat video emails or some shit. Fucking idiot designs he had to modify and return irate notes to. Deadlines to dread, forms to fill out, idiots to avoid at the water cooler. Idle talk of nothing, or business talk of bullshit. He longed for the sweet release of the clock.
And finally, Paradiso. Cizin practically crawled through his front door, throwing himself onto his bed. Normally, he would partake in such completely fulfilling activities such as finishing crap from work, then wasting time on the TV or the net before passing out. Today, though, he sunk his face deep in his bed. There should be some kind of law against feeling spent at 25.
Was this it? Was this all life had to offer? When did he make the choice to chain his soul to a cubicle?
Another day, another dollar. What happened to purpose? What did he get done today? Who would remember him after he was gone? Was this all it amounted to?
This was wrong. He turned around and faced the sky. He reached his hands out. If he could change this all, he would. He felt like grabbing the universe's collar and shouting at it and telling it this was all wrong, so very wrong, and he wanted better. His hands formed into claws as he imagined doing this and imagined the yelling. Then, that burst of anger passed and he felt horribly drained. He just felt like going to sleep early and forgetting today ever happened.
Later, that night, a very loud rattle from the front of the house woke Cizin up. He startled. Someone was in his house.
He opened a dresser and produced a handgun. His other hand went to the cellphone in his pocket. He prepared 911 on speed dial and flipped off the safety as he got off the bed and slowly snuck towards the kitchen. He desperately hoped it was just a raccoon or a zombie apocalypse, not a drug addict or murderer or something bad.
His eyes were already fairly adjusted to the darkness, thankfully, because that way he had just enough time to see the ugliest, biggest man ever lunge at him. Cizin leaped back and a blow glanced off his hip. It still knocked him to the ground and he grunted in pain. The intruder spun around to face him and raised a weapon high in the air to finish him. Cizin panicked and fired wildly at the intruder's head.
It then fell next to him. Cizin boggled as the headless body hit cold tile with a wet thump. Another man, figures obscured by darkness, approached Cizin, and Cizin yelped, pointing his gun towards him. The man backed away and spoke. He tried to hold a bloody knife as unthreateningly as possible, “Sorry if I alarmed you with that. Are you alright?”
“What the- I, uh, I, yeah, I'm alright. T-thanks for the save. But-who the hell are you and why are you in my house?”
“I apologize for trespassing, but I have just been in some sort of accident. Do you know where I am?”
“You're, uh, in my house.”
“Helpful of you. I mean, which country is this?”
“Err.... country?... America, I guess.”
“What?”
“You know... The United States of America? In North America? On Earth, even?!”
The man tried to suppress his panic.
“Not good.”, Cizin muttered. “Um, I think we need to sit down and talk about this. That must have been one hell of an accident.... or....”
Cizin flipped on the lights and lit a cigarette. Best not to think about it.
The other man presented his hand for a handshake. “I suppose I should introduce myself. I am Paul Renato of Kellmar.”
Paul was a dark-skinned man clad in some sort of leather armor, probably in his late forties. His hair was scruffy, fairly short and graying, and he wore a dark, narrow beard. He was dirty all over, but in a rugged kind of way, and Cizin felt he had a trustworthy face at least. The concerning part was that Paul didn't look like anything from after the invention of print.
\“I'm Mark Cizin of... America. Yeah. And, apparently, I got what I wished for. In the most ironic way possible.”
“What? Then are you the cause of all this? That must have been some spectacular magic!”, said Paul.
“Magic.” Cizin tilted his head. “Magic!?”
The man looked taken aback. “... er, perhaps it would be wise to secure our surroundings before we investigate further. The ogre might not be the only thing not supposed to be here.”
“Sure.” Cizin's head was spinning.
He looked back at the corpse. It was clearly not human, as it was far too muscular and looked like its features had been carved with a chisel and sledgehammer. Plus, it being naked except for a loin cloth and carrying a giant wooden club was quite convincing.
He put his hand on his forehead and sighed. “Ogre, indeed.” He also put away the knife he was hiding behind his back.
“Well, it looks like my house is secure.”
“Indeed it is, Mister Cizin.”
“Cizin, just Cizin. What about outside?”
“I do not feel any magical movement outside, although to be sure, we should take a look.”
“Magical movement. What a day.”, Cizin sighed.
Cizin walked up to his front windows and glanced outside.
Outside was distant chanting, the crunching of bones, and the clanging of metal on metal. Thunder clapped and lightning flashed without clouds, and he smelled fire. The moon glowed unnaturally brightly, and the air felt charged, not with electricity, but as if emotion was somehow made tangible.
He shook his head in surprise. Suddenly, the front door opened and a something in armor burst into the house. It turned around and braced against the door. Paul quickly realized something was wrong as he also dashed towards the door alongside the newcomer.
Cizin was about to react when the house was turned sideways by a massive force. He reeled, and had barely regained his balance when a huge black eyeball filled the window behind him, angrily staring inside.
Cizin shrieked a little and the eye immediately left the window.
Paul sighed. Cizin looked at the armored figure. It was a woman clad in plate armor and leather. She was fairly tall with a lithe figure and dark, shoulder-length red hair. On her armor was a sheathed sword. She was fairly attractive, the tiny part of Cizin's mind that was not currently freaking out thought.
“It's gone.”, she muttered.
“What-what was that?”, Cizin yelled.
“Well, it was big and it was scary.”
“Well, you think?!”
“Sorry if I didn't have time to dissect and take notes on the giant beast chasing me.”
“Fine... So, what's your name?”
“Leah Perditam.”
“Mark Cizin. I take it you're from Amytlei, too?”
“Amit wha?”
“Apparently we are in a place called Earth. My name is Paul Renato and I am from a world called Amytlei.”, said Paul.
“Ah, I'm... from Ketegem, I suppose.”, said Leah. “Wait. I'm on another world?”
“Congrats, you're now up to speed and know as much as we do. So, do you any idea what the fuck that was, Paul?”
“No idea.”
“Well, is it coming back?”
“Let's see that it doesn't.”, said Leah. She took what looked like a sparkling metal rod out of a pouch and began drawing on the door with it.
“What's that?”
“Thaumatic freeform focus. Duh.”
“Great, more incomprehensible shit.”, Cizin muttered.
Leah frowned.
“Sorry, I'm under a lot of stress right now.” Cizin took a very deep drag of a cigarette. “Apparently, magic now exists, and it's caused ogres and lightning and giant eyeballs and stuff to show up here. Including you two.”
Leah ignored him and drew a pattern of concentric circles on the door with the rod as if it was chalk. She placed both hands on the pattern of circles she drew and focused. The pattern glowed brightly for a second. Cizin felt warmer.
“Alright, there's barely enough aether here for this to work. I suppose that's why you don't know what magic is.”
“Aether?”
“Uh... it's what's used for magic.” She spoke as if explaining to a small child. “Anyways, I've put a mental ward on the door. It should keep anything else from getting too close, so hopefully bad things will pick another house to attack.”
“Goody.” Cizin inhaled deeply into his cigarette again.
“Okay, so I know I'm not having a complete psychotic breakdown or something... you two are Leah Perditam and Paul Renato. You have no idea or recollection of how you got here. You were both traveling. Leah, you're a paladin, Paul, you're a retired adventurer or some shit. You both have magicky shit going on, outside has magicky shit going on, giant monster slammed into my house, and I'm probably having a mental breakdown. But I still believe you, because there is very undoubtedly a ogre in my house and it hit me with a big-ass wooden club and its body is seriously stinking up the place and this pain says this shit is real as fuck.”
He rubbed his injured hip. Leah and Paul sat across the table.
“I'll take care of it”, said Leah. She stood up and walked towards the body.
“Thank you, Leah. So Paul, you're sure what she did will keep things out?”
“I am fairly sure of it”, Paul said. “An enchantment like that is the least conspicuous way to keep animals out. Anything more forceful will likely attract attention, and I don't think your house is capable of to deterring a serious break-in attempt.”
“Should've sprung for bear traps”, Cizin muttered. “Mind the tripwires, Leah, I put them there for an event like thi- hey, what the f- put that out! You'll set off the fire alarm!
Leah looked up in irritation as she stopped burning the corpse.
“Why the fuck are you burning the body? Take it outside and bury it or something.”, Cizin yelled.
“I'm not going out with that giant thing out there. Besides, what's wrong with burning it? I'm more than capable of keeping the fire contained.”
“The hell you are. Look, you'll set off the a-, you know what, fine! As long as it doesn't get us killed.
“Now that that's over with... we need to make sure nothing gets in. I think it'd be best if we took shifts here during the night. I'm reasonably sure we're all going to be highly dead if we take our beauty sleeps at the same time.”, said Cizin.
“That is such a nice way of saying it.”, said Leah.
“I have a real way with words.”, said Cizin.
“Well, if you know have any materials to barricade the doors and windows, or any weapons we can use, now's the time to break them out. I'll get to work reinforcing the magical ward, Paul can keep watch for now.”, said Leah.
Chapter II
Dawn arrived. Cizin was woken up by a gentle shove on his back. Paul walked past and then collapsed on the sofa which they dragged into the kitchen. Cizin rubbed his eyes and reached down to grab a shotgun. He walked towards the boarded-up window, limping slightly.
Paul spoke with his eyes closed. “Found a girl unconscious in the bushes outside. Put her in the living room. She is dressed like you, so she could be around here. Should take care... of ...it....”
“Okay. Anything else, Pau-” Cizin was cut off by snoring. “Alright then.”
Cizin walked over to the living room.
The girl was propped up next to the fireplace. She had long very dark black hair, which draped around and covered the left side of her face, including her left eye. She had a black-and-white T-shirt and long khakis on. She was pale and very tall, probably in her late teens. Probably not dangerous, but Cizin didn't feel like taking risks. He kept the shotgun ready.
“Hey! Wake up!”
The girl shifted slightly. She opened her visible eye. “Wh-wha?”
“Hey. We found you outside. Who are you?”
“Where am I?”
“I ask the questions here, lady. Who are you?”
The girl stared at him with a dark blue eye. She looked lost. “I... I don't know.”
“You don't know?”
The girl frowned in frustration. “I... I... my name... A-...Ab-... Abigail.”
“Okay, Abigail, do you know what you were doing outside?”
Abigail frowned more. She clutched her head. “No.”
“Alright. Let's say I believe you. Do you have any idea what is happening?”
“My head hurts... I... I can't remember anything.”
“Okay. Stay right there. Don't move much, I'm really damn jumpy today.”
“Ugh...my head.”
“Leah!” Cizin yelled.
Leah groaned from the kitchen. There was the sound of something heavy and metallic falling, and Leah dragged herself into the room.
“Paul says he found her outside. Her name's Abigail, and apparently that's all she remembers.”
“Okay... what do you want me to do?”
“Um... see if she's magical or something. See if there's anything suspicious about her.”
Leah waved her hand at Abby. “Nope.”
“Nope?”
“Just as magical as you.”
“Great.”
Abigail looked even more confused now.
“Sorry, Abby, this might seem all confusing. I'm confused too, I think we all are. Hold on.”, Leah said as Cizin pulled her aside.
“What?”
“Leah, we have no idea who she is. Not that I know you two either. Point is, she's a 100% stranger who doesn't even know who she is. Total liability. Is someone or something after her? Is she carrying a disease or curse? Is she the cause of all this?”
“I thought you wished for something or something?”
“I don't do magic, Leah.”
“Right. Universe fucking with you, as you said. Well, I don't know either. As far as I can see, she's a normal innocent who was probably injured by something or affected by whatever's happening.”
“Or she's dangerous somehow.”
“Doubt it.”
They looked at Abby.
She was curled up, cradling herself very slowly, a worried frown on her face.
“Well, we can't turn her away, she'll probably die outside.”
Cizin put his hand to his face. “Right, right. Well, it'll probably bite me in the ass for turning away what looks like a helpless little girl. But like hell she actually is. She can take the bed, don't let her trip on the tripwires.”
He waved dismissively and walked back to the front of the house.
Cizin pondered the cause of the situation as he watched the outdoors. Why the hell was Middle-Earth coming to his doorstep? What did he do to deserve putting up with this, besides, well, technically wishing for it? He hung his head. It could be worse, it could be dwarves and elves and dra-
On cue, a head with pointy ears popped up in his sight. Two of them, actually. Cizin's hand went to his face again.
He heard a female voice say, “Hey, this one's got a magic ward on it. Looks like a mental thingy. Maybe someone's inside.”
A male voice replied, “Of course. Because enchantments and abandoned houses go together all the time.
Cizin turned around. “HEY, PAUL, LEAH. Wake up. We have guests. And grab Abby, I want her supervised.”
Someone knocked on the door.
Cizin cautiously opened the door, gun at the ready.
“Can I help you, Legolas?”
The male elf was a muscular, scarred and short-haired blond carrying a spear. He had a shirt of scale armor on and looked tired and annoyed. He tried to hide a frown.
“Sorry for the intrusion, we're really lost, and we were looking for others like us stuck in this str-”
“One second.” Cizin glanced back at the others inside.
“Yeah, it's clear. Guy's a ranger of some sort.”, said Leah.
“And rangers are automatically cool.”, said Cizin. “Yeah, come on in. I'm in the business of taking in random strangers, so you might as well waltz in too.”
The elf grimaced as he walked in.
The source of the other voice followed him in. She was a long-haired, smiling brunette elf in sleeveless white dress showing a figure that supermodels would murder, desecrate and sacrifice to dark gods for. Cizin immediately filed her under a category of woman towards whom his preferred response is best not mentioned in public. He tried not to stare. Much.
“So, this is Paul Renato, Leah Perditam and Abigail... something. I'm Mark Cizin, just call me Cizin, and you are?”
“Chac Nimbus Fligere, elven ranger. My acquaintance here is Nemain.”, the male elf replied.
Everyone exchanged greetings.
Cizin tried to edge closer to Nemain.
The dying man looked up from a bright mat of red grass. He tried to keep himself from coughing blood as he spoke.
“No. Absolutely not.”, he finally said.
The other man stood in front of him, his face obscured by darkness incongruent with the lighting and replied. “Unfortunate. I thought you, of everyone, would understand my situation. After all you've suffered...”
“I suffer for a reason. But, I ask, why would I want to destroy what I love enough to be killed for?”
The faceless man did not reply. The dying man suppressed a gasp and continued speaking.
“In any case, I suppose it is no matter. You will not succeed.”
“Wrong. I will change everything. I will change the world more than you and a million like you ever could.”
The dying man coughed out a few specks of blood. “Not in the way you want.” he said. “To change something for the better, you must love it. You... you will leave nothing but screaming and blood behind, your sole worthy legacy... the one who will strikes you down, protecting the world he loves.”
“Love. Why do you speak of love... How could anyone love a world like this?”
The dying man suddenly smiled. “Do you not know anything? The true measure of love is how much you are willing to withstand the worst.”
“...And the true measure of reason is understanding what is not worth the trouble.”, the faceless man replied.
The dying man's smile widened to a grin. “There is no reasoning with you, is there? Now, I refused your offer, so you have no reason to save me.... kill me already, or let me die peacefully. All I ask.”
The faceless man paused again. “Idiot. Keep your love of the world. You'll be one with this horrid place again.” He abruptly melted away from sight, disappearing like a shadow before the sun.
The dying man's smile pacified into a peaceful, slight smile. He waited. Then inhaled a blood-soaked gasp and thought of quiet and light and nothing.
ACT I: Earth
The alarm clock rang. Mark Cizin's clenched fist landed on it. To his disappointment, the device remained perfectly intact. He slowly wriggled out of bed, fighting himself for ground. He flinched at the claws of the cold sinking into his body. He brushed his teeth and stared blankly into the mirror before spitting and rinsing.
He was a fairly short, fragile-looking young man with short dark hair and a dour, long face. There wasn't much else worthy to say about him, because appearance so often followed self-opinion.
Cizin grinned and pointed at his reflection. “And here's to another lovely eight to five! Another productive and fulfilling day, as a significant and respected member of society!”
He sighed, pointed his backhand towards the mirror, retracted his index finger, holding up instead the one next to it, and frowned as he walked away.
He went through his daily motions, feeling as much an automaton as the alarm clock he had just tried to crush. Put on pants and shirt, tie the tie, comb his hair, dump cereal in a bowl, eat and walk out, all while feeling like a sledgehammer to the forehead. He walked out of the house, got in the car and drove to work on a cloudless day.
After the coldness of purgatory came the fires of hell. Boss who didn't know shit micromanaging him. Colleagues sending him bullshit cat video emails or some shit. Fucking idiot designs he had to modify and return irate notes to. Deadlines to dread, forms to fill out, idiots to avoid at the water cooler. Idle talk of nothing, or business talk of bullshit. He longed for the sweet release of the clock.
And finally, Paradiso. Cizin practically crawled through his front door, throwing himself onto his bed. Normally, he would partake in such completely fulfilling activities such as finishing crap from work, then wasting time on the TV or the net before passing out. Today, though, he sunk his face deep in his bed. There should be some kind of law against feeling spent at 25.
Was this it? Was this all life had to offer? When did he make the choice to chain his soul to a cubicle?
Another day, another dollar. What happened to purpose? What did he get done today? Who would remember him after he was gone? Was this all it amounted to?
This was wrong. He turned around and faced the sky. He reached his hands out. If he could change this all, he would. He felt like grabbing the universe's collar and shouting at it and telling it this was all wrong, so very wrong, and he wanted better. His hands formed into claws as he imagined doing this and imagined the yelling. Then, that burst of anger passed and he felt horribly drained. He just felt like going to sleep early and forgetting today ever happened.
Later, that night, a very loud rattle from the front of the house woke Cizin up. He startled. Someone was in his house.
He opened a dresser and produced a handgun. His other hand went to the cellphone in his pocket. He prepared 911 on speed dial and flipped off the safety as he got off the bed and slowly snuck towards the kitchen. He desperately hoped it was just a raccoon or a zombie apocalypse, not a drug addict or murderer or something bad.
His eyes were already fairly adjusted to the darkness, thankfully, because that way he had just enough time to see the ugliest, biggest man ever lunge at him. Cizin leaped back and a blow glanced off his hip. It still knocked him to the ground and he grunted in pain. The intruder spun around to face him and raised a weapon high in the air to finish him. Cizin panicked and fired wildly at the intruder's head.
It then fell next to him. Cizin boggled as the headless body hit cold tile with a wet thump. Another man, figures obscured by darkness, approached Cizin, and Cizin yelped, pointing his gun towards him. The man backed away and spoke. He tried to hold a bloody knife as unthreateningly as possible, “Sorry if I alarmed you with that. Are you alright?”
“What the- I, uh, I, yeah, I'm alright. T-thanks for the save. But-who the hell are you and why are you in my house?”
“I apologize for trespassing, but I have just been in some sort of accident. Do you know where I am?”
“You're, uh, in my house.”
“Helpful of you. I mean, which country is this?”
“Err.... country?... America, I guess.”
“What?”
“You know... The United States of America? In North America? On Earth, even?!”
The man tried to suppress his panic.
“Not good.”, Cizin muttered. “Um, I think we need to sit down and talk about this. That must have been one hell of an accident.... or....”
Cizin flipped on the lights and lit a cigarette. Best not to think about it.
The other man presented his hand for a handshake. “I suppose I should introduce myself. I am Paul Renato of Kellmar.”
Paul was a dark-skinned man clad in some sort of leather armor, probably in his late forties. His hair was scruffy, fairly short and graying, and he wore a dark, narrow beard. He was dirty all over, but in a rugged kind of way, and Cizin felt he had a trustworthy face at least. The concerning part was that Paul didn't look like anything from after the invention of print.
\“I'm Mark Cizin of... America. Yeah. And, apparently, I got what I wished for. In the most ironic way possible.”
“What? Then are you the cause of all this? That must have been some spectacular magic!”, said Paul.
“Magic.” Cizin tilted his head. “Magic!?”
The man looked taken aback. “... er, perhaps it would be wise to secure our surroundings before we investigate further. The ogre might not be the only thing not supposed to be here.”
“Sure.” Cizin's head was spinning.
He looked back at the corpse. It was clearly not human, as it was far too muscular and looked like its features had been carved with a chisel and sledgehammer. Plus, it being naked except for a loin cloth and carrying a giant wooden club was quite convincing.
He put his hand on his forehead and sighed. “Ogre, indeed.” He also put away the knife he was hiding behind his back.
“Well, it looks like my house is secure.”
“Indeed it is, Mister Cizin.”
“Cizin, just Cizin. What about outside?”
“I do not feel any magical movement outside, although to be sure, we should take a look.”
“Magical movement. What a day.”, Cizin sighed.
Cizin walked up to his front windows and glanced outside.
Outside was distant chanting, the crunching of bones, and the clanging of metal on metal. Thunder clapped and lightning flashed without clouds, and he smelled fire. The moon glowed unnaturally brightly, and the air felt charged, not with electricity, but as if emotion was somehow made tangible.
He shook his head in surprise. Suddenly, the front door opened and a something in armor burst into the house. It turned around and braced against the door. Paul quickly realized something was wrong as he also dashed towards the door alongside the newcomer.
Cizin was about to react when the house was turned sideways by a massive force. He reeled, and had barely regained his balance when a huge black eyeball filled the window behind him, angrily staring inside.
Cizin shrieked a little and the eye immediately left the window.
Paul sighed. Cizin looked at the armored figure. It was a woman clad in plate armor and leather. She was fairly tall with a lithe figure and dark, shoulder-length red hair. On her armor was a sheathed sword. She was fairly attractive, the tiny part of Cizin's mind that was not currently freaking out thought.
“It's gone.”, she muttered.
“What-what was that?”, Cizin yelled.
“Well, it was big and it was scary.”
“Well, you think?!”
“Sorry if I didn't have time to dissect and take notes on the giant beast chasing me.”
“Fine... So, what's your name?”
“Leah Perditam.”
“Mark Cizin. I take it you're from Amytlei, too?”
“Amit wha?”
“Apparently we are in a place called Earth. My name is Paul Renato and I am from a world called Amytlei.”, said Paul.
“Ah, I'm... from Ketegem, I suppose.”, said Leah. “Wait. I'm on another world?”
“Congrats, you're now up to speed and know as much as we do. So, do you any idea what the fuck that was, Paul?”
“No idea.”
“Well, is it coming back?”
“Let's see that it doesn't.”, said Leah. She took what looked like a sparkling metal rod out of a pouch and began drawing on the door with it.
“What's that?”
“Thaumatic freeform focus. Duh.”
“Great, more incomprehensible shit.”, Cizin muttered.
Leah frowned.
“Sorry, I'm under a lot of stress right now.” Cizin took a very deep drag of a cigarette. “Apparently, magic now exists, and it's caused ogres and lightning and giant eyeballs and stuff to show up here. Including you two.”
Leah ignored him and drew a pattern of concentric circles on the door with the rod as if it was chalk. She placed both hands on the pattern of circles she drew and focused. The pattern glowed brightly for a second. Cizin felt warmer.
“Alright, there's barely enough aether here for this to work. I suppose that's why you don't know what magic is.”
“Aether?”
“Uh... it's what's used for magic.” She spoke as if explaining to a small child. “Anyways, I've put a mental ward on the door. It should keep anything else from getting too close, so hopefully bad things will pick another house to attack.”
“Goody.” Cizin inhaled deeply into his cigarette again.
“Okay, so I know I'm not having a complete psychotic breakdown or something... you two are Leah Perditam and Paul Renato. You have no idea or recollection of how you got here. You were both traveling. Leah, you're a paladin, Paul, you're a retired adventurer or some shit. You both have magicky shit going on, outside has magicky shit going on, giant monster slammed into my house, and I'm probably having a mental breakdown. But I still believe you, because there is very undoubtedly a ogre in my house and it hit me with a big-ass wooden club and its body is seriously stinking up the place and this pain says this shit is real as fuck.”
He rubbed his injured hip. Leah and Paul sat across the table.
“I'll take care of it”, said Leah. She stood up and walked towards the body.
“Thank you, Leah. So Paul, you're sure what she did will keep things out?”
“I am fairly sure of it”, Paul said. “An enchantment like that is the least conspicuous way to keep animals out. Anything more forceful will likely attract attention, and I don't think your house is capable of to deterring a serious break-in attempt.”
“Should've sprung for bear traps”, Cizin muttered. “Mind the tripwires, Leah, I put them there for an event like thi- hey, what the f- put that out! You'll set off the fire alarm!
Leah looked up in irritation as she stopped burning the corpse.
“Why the fuck are you burning the body? Take it outside and bury it or something.”, Cizin yelled.
“I'm not going out with that giant thing out there. Besides, what's wrong with burning it? I'm more than capable of keeping the fire contained.”
“The hell you are. Look, you'll set off the a-, you know what, fine! As long as it doesn't get us killed.
“Now that that's over with... we need to make sure nothing gets in. I think it'd be best if we took shifts here during the night. I'm reasonably sure we're all going to be highly dead if we take our beauty sleeps at the same time.”, said Cizin.
“That is such a nice way of saying it.”, said Leah.
“I have a real way with words.”, said Cizin.
“Well, if you know have any materials to barricade the doors and windows, or any weapons we can use, now's the time to break them out. I'll get to work reinforcing the magical ward, Paul can keep watch for now.”, said Leah.
Chapter II
Dawn arrived. Cizin was woken up by a gentle shove on his back. Paul walked past and then collapsed on the sofa which they dragged into the kitchen. Cizin rubbed his eyes and reached down to grab a shotgun. He walked towards the boarded-up window, limping slightly.
Paul spoke with his eyes closed. “Found a girl unconscious in the bushes outside. Put her in the living room. She is dressed like you, so she could be around here. Should take care... of ...it....”
“Okay. Anything else, Pau-” Cizin was cut off by snoring. “Alright then.”
Cizin walked over to the living room.
The girl was propped up next to the fireplace. She had long very dark black hair, which draped around and covered the left side of her face, including her left eye. She had a black-and-white T-shirt and long khakis on. She was pale and very tall, probably in her late teens. Probably not dangerous, but Cizin didn't feel like taking risks. He kept the shotgun ready.
“Hey! Wake up!”
The girl shifted slightly. She opened her visible eye. “Wh-wha?”
“Hey. We found you outside. Who are you?”
“Where am I?”
“I ask the questions here, lady. Who are you?”
The girl stared at him with a dark blue eye. She looked lost. “I... I don't know.”
“You don't know?”
The girl frowned in frustration. “I... I... my name... A-...Ab-... Abigail.”
“Okay, Abigail, do you know what you were doing outside?”
Abigail frowned more. She clutched her head. “No.”
“Alright. Let's say I believe you. Do you have any idea what is happening?”
“My head hurts... I... I can't remember anything.”
“Okay. Stay right there. Don't move much, I'm really damn jumpy today.”
“Ugh...my head.”
“Leah!” Cizin yelled.
Leah groaned from the kitchen. There was the sound of something heavy and metallic falling, and Leah dragged herself into the room.
“Paul says he found her outside. Her name's Abigail, and apparently that's all she remembers.”
“Okay... what do you want me to do?”
“Um... see if she's magical or something. See if there's anything suspicious about her.”
Leah waved her hand at Abby. “Nope.”
“Nope?”
“Just as magical as you.”
“Great.”
Abigail looked even more confused now.
“Sorry, Abby, this might seem all confusing. I'm confused too, I think we all are. Hold on.”, Leah said as Cizin pulled her aside.
“What?”
“Leah, we have no idea who she is. Not that I know you two either. Point is, she's a 100% stranger who doesn't even know who she is. Total liability. Is someone or something after her? Is she carrying a disease or curse? Is she the cause of all this?”
“I thought you wished for something or something?”
“I don't do magic, Leah.”
“Right. Universe fucking with you, as you said. Well, I don't know either. As far as I can see, she's a normal innocent who was probably injured by something or affected by whatever's happening.”
“Or she's dangerous somehow.”
“Doubt it.”
They looked at Abby.
She was curled up, cradling herself very slowly, a worried frown on her face.
“Well, we can't turn her away, she'll probably die outside.”
Cizin put his hand to his face. “Right, right. Well, it'll probably bite me in the ass for turning away what looks like a helpless little girl. But like hell she actually is. She can take the bed, don't let her trip on the tripwires.”
He waved dismissively and walked back to the front of the house.
Cizin pondered the cause of the situation as he watched the outdoors. Why the hell was Middle-Earth coming to his doorstep? What did he do to deserve putting up with this, besides, well, technically wishing for it? He hung his head. It could be worse, it could be dwarves and elves and dra-
On cue, a head with pointy ears popped up in his sight. Two of them, actually. Cizin's hand went to his face again.
He heard a female voice say, “Hey, this one's got a magic ward on it. Looks like a mental thingy. Maybe someone's inside.”
A male voice replied, “Of course. Because enchantments and abandoned houses go together all the time.
Cizin turned around. “HEY, PAUL, LEAH. Wake up. We have guests. And grab Abby, I want her supervised.”
Someone knocked on the door.
Cizin cautiously opened the door, gun at the ready.
“Can I help you, Legolas?”
The male elf was a muscular, scarred and short-haired blond carrying a spear. He had a shirt of scale armor on and looked tired and annoyed. He tried to hide a frown.
“Sorry for the intrusion, we're really lost, and we were looking for others like us stuck in this str-”
“One second.” Cizin glanced back at the others inside.
“Yeah, it's clear. Guy's a ranger of some sort.”, said Leah.
“And rangers are automatically cool.”, said Cizin. “Yeah, come on in. I'm in the business of taking in random strangers, so you might as well waltz in too.”
The elf grimaced as he walked in.
The source of the other voice followed him in. She was a long-haired, smiling brunette elf in sleeveless white dress showing a figure that supermodels would murder, desecrate and sacrifice to dark gods for. Cizin immediately filed her under a category of woman towards whom his preferred response is best not mentioned in public. He tried not to stare. Much.
“So, this is Paul Renato, Leah Perditam and Abigail... something. I'm Mark Cizin, just call me Cizin, and you are?”
“Chac Nimbus Fligere, elven ranger. My acquaintance here is Nemain.”, the male elf replied.
Everyone exchanged greetings.
Cizin tried to edge closer to Nemain.