Chapter 1: Chapter 1 – Not all roads lead to Rome

There are things in life that you have to rely on. For example, that other drivers keep to the traffic rules to some extent. Or that the road you’re on will keep going until you reach your destination. None of that worked that day.

I was on my way back to Boston from my parents’ house, on I-71 between Columbus and Cleveland, somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Cruise control set at exactly 2 miles over the speed limit (hey, that much rebellion against the system has to be!), I pushed through the early November darkness in my Ford, which the drizzle didn’t make any better. After 12+ hours in the car, I had listened to the latest episodes of my favorite podcasts and played through the music playlist I had prepared for the drive. I was about to ask Google for the next motel on my route. A cold beer to go with the delicious turkey sandwiches my mom packed me on the way, a good night call to my friend Amy, and a reasonably comfortable bed - my wish list really wasn’t long.

Engrossed in these pleasant thoughts, I wasn’t paying much attention to my surroundings. What’s there to see on the interstate in particular, either? Ever since the introduction of GPS, you didn’t even have to pay much attention to the signs anymore. The GPS told you much more precisely where you were at any time and how far you still had to go. The interstate was empty, there were no other cars in front or behind me. I was probably just passing some exit when I noticed a movement out of the corner of my eye on the right. A silver-colored pickup truck appeared in the acceleration lane, passed me on the right and pulled into the road in front of me, so close that I couldn’t even see its license plate. Reflexively, I slammed on the brakes full force. The tires squealed briefly, then the ABS kicked in. My speed dropped to 30 mph, then I let the car roll on. My heart was racing wildly, I was scared and angry at the same time.

The pickup driver took no notice of me, lurching slightly back and forth between lanes and moving farther and farther away, apparently still accelerating. An abrupt rage gripped me. This guy almost killed me and just keeps driving as if nothing happened. Just you wait! Decisively, I stepped on the gas and chased after the pickup, hell-bent on catching up with him and... That’s as far as I thought at that moment.

Agonizingly slowly, the speedometer needle shifted to the right, 60... 70... 80 mph. The other car was pretty far by now, at least the distance between us now seemed to stay the same and then shorten. I’m going to get you! The speed was already well over 90 mph, but as I got closer to the pickup, my head cooled. I took the pressure off the gas pedal a bit and started thinking about my options. It would be great to force the idiot off onto the side road, force him to stop, drag him out of the car, and smack his face. But that option was probably not really an option, if only because his car was about twice as heavy as my Escort. And to be honest, I was far from being a face smacker myself. Option number two would be... My thoughts were abruptly interrupted.

A few hundred yards ahead of me, a glowing orange gap suddenly opened above the asphalt, taking up the entire highway width and rapidly widening up and down. The light was so bright that I had to close my eyes. Just before I saw the pickup disappear into the glow in front of me, I made my second full stop of the day (and my life!) and slapped my hands in front of my face because the orange was unbearably bright even with my eyes closed.

I heard a rumble, then the vehicle seemed to hover in the air briefly before hitting the ground hard again. My teeth clashed violently, then there was a bang as the airbags deployed and pushed me backwards, after which I lost consciousness.

It must have been some time before I regained consciousness. Dazed, I shook my head. Where am I? What happened? Then it came back to me: the mad driver, the catch-up, the gap... I was sitting in my car, the engine off, the dashboard dark. Although the air from the airbag had escaped by now, the tightened seat belt still kept me printed upright in the seat. I could hardly believe it, the rainy autumn night had given way to a bright summer day. How was that possible?

A few feet ahead of me, I saw the unfortunate pickup truck. It was parked in the middle of a grassy meadow. Through the rear window, you could see that two people were stirring inside. The passenger door swung open, and one leg was stuck out, the driver’s door was also opened. At that moment, something flew over and slammed into the side of the pickup with tremendous force, sending it spinning away and overturning several times. A sharp scream was heard, a lifeless body was launched from the whirling car.

Oh my God! What was that? I looked to my left and froze. Holy Shit! WTF? A huge monster, a monstrous demon, surely over fifteen feet tall, clad in massive black armor, loomed there into the sky. His legs resembled tree trunks, his muscular arms were as thick as my entire torso. In his right hand he held a gigantic mace, with which he seemed to have just smashed into the pickup truck, and in his left a shield as big as a garage door. His skin shone red, and two pointed horns were visible on his head. While I was looking at him with wide eyes, he was yelling angrily, so loud that I wanted to cover my ears. I tried to slide under the steering wheel, to hide, but the stupid seat belt wouldn’t let me. With trembling hands, I fumbled for the buckle, unable to take my eyes off the giant.

At that moment, I noticed a man standing fearlessly in front of the demon. He wore shimmering silver armor and held a sword in his hand. Again, the demon swung his weapon and struck the man with it from above with tremendous force. The chances were certainly better to survive the collision with a moving truck than this blow. But when the monster pulled the mace up again, his opponent was still standing upright, he just seemed to have become a little shorter. Did the blow cause him to sink into the ground? The demon bent over the man. Along with another angry roar, a wave of fire came out of his mouth and completely engulfed the human.

I finally got the belt undone and opened the door. The man was surely finished, dead, burned and the demon would kill me next. I had to escape! But when the fire was gone, I could not believe my eyes. The knight still stood there, he hadn’t even taken a step back. He was now pointing his sword straight at the fiend and shouting something. A bright bolt of lightning released from the tip of the sword and struck the demon’s chest, sending it staggering back. The knight took his chance, ran to his opponent, and struck his leg with the sword. This time, the demon’s roar sounded surprised. He dropped to one knee and let go of his shield. Yes! I realized that I had held my breath and now exhaled in relief. Maybe not all is lost after all?

Unfortunately, the knight could not build upon his success. When he tried to strike again, the demon parried the sword with his huge weapon. At the same time, he closed his left fist around the man’s body and squeezed with all his might, causing the silver armor to crunch. The sword landed on the ground with a clang. Slowly, the demon raised his hand to of his eye level.

“YOU...HAVE...FAILED! THIS WORLD...WILL...BE...OURS!” The demon’s words fell loudly, crashing like falling boulders. His eyes began to glow red.

“Never!” the knight shouted back. A white glow enveloped his body, and the monster’s fist seemed to loosen. The knight squirmed upward out, jumped up and clung to one of the horns with his left hand. Somehow, he had the sword in his right hand again and was now ramming it into the demon’s eye with all his might. Again, the demon let out a roar, but quickly it turned into a rattle. With his backhand, he knocked the man aside and then went down heavily. The knight harshly landed a few feet away and also remained prone.

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