“WAKE UP!” a shout rang out into Lucas’s ears. He jumped up groggily, his heart rate speeding up and his breath quickening. His mind was still muddled from sleep, but he could make out Darius’s stern face in front of him.

“Do you know what time it is?” Darius asked with one eyebrow raised.

Lucas glanced out the window to see the sun was just above the horizon.

He turned back to Darius, still groggy.

“Morning?” He asked sleepily.

Darius sighed.

“You need to learn to get up earlier. Call me master from now on.” He said.  “Meet me in the courtyard as soon as you can.”

Darius threw something at him, and walked out of the room, closing the door.

Lucas caught the object and glanced at it. It was a cloth bag, and when Lucas opened it, a pair of pants and a shirt fell out. They were plain, made of a cotton like material, and were brown. With them also came a pair of leather shoes, which were more like boots than shoes.

Lucas quickly wore them and ran down to the courtyard. He didn’t want to make Darius angry. He was still too intimidating for Lucas.

Darius sat waiting in the center of the courtyard. He sat mounted on a large horse, and held the reigns to another.

Lucas approached him.

“I’m sorry for waking up late, master” He said. It felt weird to say master to someone, but Lucas ignored the discomfort.

Darius studied him for a second.

“You feel uncomfortable calling me master, don’t you?” Said Darius.

Lucas nodded reluctantly.

“I don’t know how your life was previously, but this world doesn’t allow those with big egos to live long, boy. You may have some pride, but pride won’t help you in this world.” Said Darius.

Lucas stared at him, not understanding what he meant.

Darius sighed and said, “You’ll understand what I mean when you grow a bit in this world.”

He passed Lucas the reigns to the horse.

“Do you know how to ride a horse, boy?” He asked, a grin appearing on his face.

Lucas looked at the horse.

It stared back at him, and snorted.

“Judging by the look on your face, I’ll say that’s a no.” Darius rubbed his temples.

“We’ve got a long way to go, don’t we?” He said with an air of finality.

“Steady, steady, don’t spook her now. There you go.” Said Darius.

Lucas was now sitting on the mare that Darius brought for him. It was a beautiful, brown mare with a cross pattern on her head. She was the most docile horse that the Knights Revenant owned.

It still took till midday, about 4 horse for Lucas to learn how to get on the horse and the commands to make her move.

The saddle that was used had a very similar design to the ones used on earth. It had stirrups, and was shaped the same way.

He first had to introduce himself to the horse, then let her get accustomed to his presence then learn to get on the horse, and then finally, how to make her move.

The commands were simple. A pat on the side to move forward, pulling the reigns back to stop, and then pulling them to a side to turn.

The ground looked quite high up from horseback, and Lucas had to learn the balance that he needed to stay on.

Suddenly, a loud golden note was rung over the city. It rang for about 12 times, and Darius grumbled to himself.

“Well, I hoped to take you outside the castle to the Knights Revenant’s building, but we spent too much time for that today. Get off. We’ll go through the rest of the schedule today. By the way, that was the midday bell. It rings every hour, and every half an hour. You can tell the difference by the number of times it rings and the note it rings on. The low notes the half an hour bell, and the higher note’s the hour bell.” He said.

Lucas was startled. He hadn’t heard the bell before.

Lucas slowly got off the mare, and patted her head. His backside and thighs hurt and he could feel his legs tensing up as he got off.

Darius smiled and called over a stable hand to take the horses back.

Lucas handed the reigns to the stable hand.

“Come on. We’ll begin teaching you a bit about this world.” Said Darius.

Lucas nodded and followed him as Darius began to walk away.

“I don’t know how your world worked, but in this one, which we call Valeria, there are several different races. And from your fascination with other races, I can probably tell that yours didn’t have giants or elves.” Said Darius as they passed by a servant who had horns on their head. Lucas’s eyes were glued to her as they passed by, astonishment clear on his face.

He hadn’t seen any other races other than humans in his stay here. Everyone he had scene were humans.

Darius pulled him along, continuing to explain. “There are several different races. They are Giants, Elfenheln, Andustrung, Abuanta, Humans, and the Jinn. They are all separate species, who used to live in segregated countries. Some countries used to ban the other 5 species from entering. However, they lifted the ban a long time ago.”

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Lucas stared at Darius, as he was pulled along through the hallways. Questions sprung up from his mind, but he kept his mouth shut and let Darius continue speaking.

“The Giants and the Abuanta are the friendliest with humans. The Elfenheln are very proud creatures, the Andustrung are abominations against mankind, and the Orcs, the demons, the Goblins, fairy’s, and other creatures of magic fall under the category of Jinn.” Said Darius.

“Remember this. What I’m about to say is very important.” Darius stopped walking and faced Lucas.

“The one thing that binds the species together is religion. There are three main religions in this world. The three main gods which are the object of their worship. Elsin, the god of light, Dunsdfal, the god of nature and of the earth, and Deofel, the god of darkness and balance. All three religions, on the other hand, do not have names. They just call themselves the worshipers of one of the gods.” Darius’s face grew stern.

“Without those religions, which united the race and forced them to fight against the monsters, Humanity would have fallen a long time ago. However, over a quarter of the intelligent beings on this world do not worship a god. And they are left alone. Do not under any circumstances get involved with their power struggle in this world. It will get you killed.” He said.

Lucas’s attention was now fully on Darius.

“So the main gods are those three, Elsin, Dunsdfal, and Deofel?” asked Lucas.

Darius nodded. “I know this is a lot to take in, but you have to know this. Let’s move on.” He said.

They began to walk through the halls of the castle until they reached a large library.

Darius closed the door of the library after they entered, and gestured to one of the chairs.

Lucas sat down, staring at the rows and rows of bookshelves and books which sat in the library.

Darius sat across from him, and began to teach Lucas about the world.

They sat there for the rest of the day, skipping lunch and stopping only when the sun set.

Under Lucas’s rumbling stomach, Darius dismissed him.

“Think about what I taught you today. I recommend you write this down. There should be an empty book, a quill, and a bottle of ink when you go back to your room. Your dinner should also be in your room.” Said Darius as Lucas walked out the door.

Lucas walked out of the library confused and his mind filled with information.

“He didn’t even let me ask a question.” Mumbled Lucas as he walked down to the kitchens.

Lucas began to sort out the information that was just crammed into his head. The sun had just set, and the temperature in the castle was beginning to drop.

It was the end of summer in this world, as Lucas just learnt.

There were four main seasons in this world, Earths equivalent of Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring. However, winter in this world was almost like hell. It was far more severe than a normal winter back on Earth. A normal winter in this world was like an Alaskan winter. Everything froze over.

Summer, Fall, and Spring all matched what one would find in any country near the tropic of cancer.

Time worked the same, it was split into hours, seconds, minutes, etc.

As for why, Lucas was given no answer other than, “That’s just how it’s always been.”

In fact, Lucas suspected that there had been people who had been drawn into this world before. Surprising similarities between customs and in names gave him that suspicion.

Lucas walked back to his room.

The room he was given was good. There was a large bed, a desk, bookshelf, and a closet in it. The large glass window had a view into the courtyard, and a small latch allowed it to swing open. It was decently furnished, and the room was kept clean. Far more than necessary for Lucas.

Lucas’s dinner had been set on the desk next to some writing utensils and a book. A small note on the tray read.

Master Grace:

              Once you have finished your dinner, please leave the cutlery and dishes outside your room.

Your humble servants of the castle

Lucas set the note aside, and finished up his dinner of soup and a loaf of bread. Lucas sat down on his desk, and eagerly ripped a piece of bread off the loaf. Just as he was about to put it in his mouth, a deep sense of sadness dropped over him.

Lucas always ate with his family. He sat with his parents and little sister every night and ate dinner. This was the first time in a while he had eaten alone.

Lucas put the bread piece down, and was surprised to find tears coming down his face.

He sniffed.

He wanted to go home. He felt alone. Even with his classmates and his teacher here, he was alone.

Everything was foreign, different, and he felt out of place. And for the first time, he found that he was scared for himself.

He didn’t know what would happen in his future. Before, he assumed he would graduate from school, go to college, get a degree, and then live his life until he died.

He took it for granted.

Lucas quickly finished up his dinner, trying to swallow his sadness down with his food.

The soup was slightly watery, but it was creamy and delicious, but the bread was hard and dry.

Lucas put his dishes outside, and sat back down on his bed.

He wiped his tears, and then calmed himself down.

I just need some time.

Lucas glanced out of the window. The last vestiges of light filtered through the large garden. The colors of plants and flowers painted the garden, and trees looked over the expanse.

It’s amazing. Lucas thought.

I want to walk there. It doesn’t look like anyone is in the garden anyway.

He stood up. The half hour bell, which he simply called the low bell, rang, indicating that it was half past 6. It was already dark.

Lucas made up his mind to go to the garden, and stepped out of his room.

The quill and book caught his eye just as he was about to close the door.

Lucas hesitated.

Should I stay and finish what Darius told me to do first? He thought.

I don’t know if I’ll remember it later.

Lucas wavered on indecision for a moment, then decided to return. He wouldn’t be gone long anyway.

He stepped out into the hall, and began to walk down to the gardens.

The now cool air pressed against his body as he walked.

It took him a few minutes to walk down to the gardens. He nearly got lost in the large castle, with its confusing maze of hallways. He hadn’t explored the place for himself yet. He had the basic gist of it, from Darius, but he didn’t have time to appreciate it fully.

He stepped into the garden, and as he did, the moon had just begun to rise.

The moon is the same color as from earth. But it’s so big! Thought Lucas.

The moon was about twice as big as the one from earth, but it cast a bluish-silvery glow onto the gardens, and made the sky around it seems like a cloak of velvet.

Lucas began to walk through the garden, enjoying the colors and plants which were planted there. There were many different flowers from what was on earth, which was to be expected, considering that flora and fauna in this world should have evolved differently.

But even as Lucas enjoyed the garden, his mind was at unrest. Longing for his home and regret at the small mistakes he made in this life on earth burned a hole into his chest.

While Lucas walked around the garden, something caught his eye. Half of the garden was covered in trees to emulate a forest. It opened out into a real one, as the castle was on the edge of the city and it opened out to the outside of the city. It was still secure, as the Knights Revenant’s building was a league and a half away from the castle garden.

Within the forest of trees, a flash of red caught the cornor of Lucas’s eyes.

Curious, Lucas began to walk toward where he saw it.

Lucas entered the forest, and started to go deeper into it. In under a minute, he found himself lost in the forest. He couldn’t see the garden, and the trees obscured his view of the castle.

Lucas hopelessly walked around for what seemed like several hours, a sense of panic on the verge of taking over.

Suddenly, a small alcove appeared within the sea of trees, and Lucas began to scramble toward it.

He entered it, and found two benches to sit on, and a path which lead into the forest.

Lucas sighed in relief, believing that he had found his way back.

His legs ached from walking around so much, and the benches seemed inviting, so Lucas went to sit down on the bench.

As he sat down, a voice sounded out behind him.

“That’s my seat you know?”