Chapter 2: Chapter 2 – Unexpected encounters

I was still sitting in the car with the door half open, wavering between mortal fear and tentative hope, unable to take my eyes off the battle. When after several seconds of silence, still nothing happened, I quickly got out and hid behind the car. Finally, I had the chance to look around a bit.

My Escort, at the rear of which I was now crouching, was parked on a green grassy area that stretched far in all directions. The tire tracks ended about three feet behind me, the surrounding grass untouched as if the vehicle had fallen from the sky. Fifty feet away on the roof lay the pickup, you didn’t have to be an expert to see it was totaled. The rear window, which had miraculously remained intact, was splattered red from the inside. The driver’s body ejected from the pickup showed no signs of life. Well, bad karma does eventually catch up with you.

The meadow to my left was littered with battle scars. Explosion craters, burn marks, deep gouges and rock spikes protruding from the earth testified to a violent confrontation that I must have missed for the most part and only witnessed its dramatic end.

Still, nothing was stirring. Cautiously, I left cover and crept toward the demon. Several times, I stopped and listened. Far away birdcalls could be heard, otherwise it was silent. Slowly, I approached the monster’s huge, outstretched leg and nudged it with my foot. No response.

“Don’t worry, he’s dead.” The faint voice startled me. I turned in the direction from which it sounded and saw the knight, lying sideways, propped up on one elbow, looking over at me.

“Fortunately, you’re alive!” Relieved, I ran to him. He didn’t look well. The helmet was gone, the once shiny silver armor dented and covered with soot and dirt. His blond hair, where it wasn’t burnt, was caked with sweat, his eyebrows singed, blood oozing from his right ear.

“Apparently not for long,” he gasped, his face contorted in pain. “I ran out of energy for that last spell and had to burn my life for it... well, what was left of it.”

“Hang in there!” I shouted. “I’ll get help!” Quickly, I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket. Damn it, it had no signal!

“Your toys won’t do you any good in this world.” said the knight wearily. “Any help will come too late for me anyway.”

“No, I just need to...” Searchingly, I looked around. Maybe I should climb on top of the car, possibly the cell phone would receive something then. Then I braced myself. “In this world?... Does that mean we’re not on Earth?”

The knight nodded. “This world is called Arthon, and I was sent to save it from an impending demon invasion. Somehow, they learned of this and sent Haldorgh...” he nodded towards the dead demon “...to intercept me. The dimensional rift they created must have touched your world as well.”

I looked at him in shock. Another world, dimensional rifts, demons, spells... A thousand questions circled in my head until I found the most important one. “How do I get back home?”

He closed his eyes for a moment, then looked at me pityingly. “I can’t help you with that. I don’t know your world, and my powers are at their end.” He paused for a moment. “Besides...”

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No, no, no! None of this could be happening, could it? I stared at him. That pause, somehow it didn’t bode well, as if he was about to tell me some news that was far worse than what I’d heard so far. Man, I was stranded in a strange world, what could be worse?

“...You must take over my mission,” the knight finished his sentence.

I stood there, thunderstruck. I must do what? “Excuse me? I’m supposed to fight beasts like that?” Nervously, I pointed at the carcass. My trembling voice had a distinct hysterical undertone. “That one would have squashed me like a fly without even realizing it!”

“That’s right!” said the knight, exhausted. Speaking was increasingly difficult for him. “You are weak. What have you been doing in your world?”

“I’m a student, studying physics at MIT.” I replied with a touch of pride. Although... what does this guy know about MIT?

“A student... well, at least you shouldn’t be completely incompetent. But you need more time...” He made a slight hand gesture.

I jumped to the side, startled. Out of nowhere, a glowing blue something appeared above the prone man, forming into a translucent, vaguely human-like shape.

“Don’t be afraid,” the knight reassured me. His voice grew fainter, almost a whisper. “This is Vaari, my magical Familiar. She will accompany and support you. To help you prepare for the mission, Vaari will go three years back in time with you, so you will have time to learn and become stronger.”

“Wait!” I had the saving thought. “Why doesn’t Vaari go back in time with YOU so YOU can better prepare for battle? Then none of this will happen and I’ll arrive in Boston unscathed!”

“It doesn’t work that way,” the knight dashed my burgeoning hope. “Time travel would leave my body unchanged, and I would die the same way, only in the past. You must leave now, let me have my peace.”

He said something in an unknown language. Vaari answered him in a melodic female voice that somehow sounded sad. What she said I could not understand. Then the Familiar’s figure bent down to the knight and paused over him for a moment. Afterwards, she straightened up and floated toward and past me. “Come along!”

I turned around and saw a classic portal in front of me, like something out of a video game: an oval about seven feet high, glowing green at the edges, as wide as a room door. The surface of the portal was reminiscent of the wall of a soap bubble. Vaari stopped in front of it and waited for me. I looked around indecisively. The knight, whose name I still did not know, was now lying still on his back. His face had turned pale, his chest was rising and falling barely noticeably. The Familiar made an impatient movement with his arm. I pointed helplessly at the dying man. “We can’t just leave him lying there, can we?!” Again, Vaari waved me toward the portal. Well. I shrugged my shoulders and walked through it.

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