Not dying on the first day sounded fine to me. But I did have some questions. Specifically, “How is your contact going to know to help me? Also, I’m a little leery of the whole forcing a talent thing.”
Ann laughed, “And you should be! While most would consider your talent random, it is based on your mind and nervous system. This means that if you are in a dangerous situation, the chances of a useful combat ability goes up by a lot.
“As for the other thing? Right before you get sent through, I will give you a note card with some magic runes on it. The magic won’t last long, but luckily they kick you guys out of the settlement as soon as possible. Just hold the card above your head and you will get where you need to be.”
I nodded as it would make sense that she had a way to pass messages on. Though that left one last worry of mine. “So, why are you helping me?”
Ann shrugged, “Like I said, I feel a bit bad about”
Yeah, I wasn’t buying that and interrupted, “Yeah right, pull the other leg, it has bells on it. You don’t know me and I don’t know you. What’s the real reason you want to help me?”
With my interruption, Ann clammed up but I kept my eyes on her. She lasted a while, but despite me being the one with a time limit, she caved first. “It is not about you. I am helping you to get at Harold. I have been assigned to watch him for over a decade. The man has a vile mind of just the right type to thrive over there. And while it is a one-way trip, Solomon’s Labyrinth is the perfect place to grow stronger.
“I can’t do much against him so you are my last chance. Give him a couple centuries in the labyrinth and he could cause real problems for the vampires caught over there. Though I wasn’t lying about him coming for you.”
This time I believed her. While I am sure she is better than Harold, it makes a lot more sense for her to be helping her own species. “There we go, that wasn’t too hard! Now, since you want me to pull a miracle out of my hat, how about you go over some of the details of what I can expect in there?”
Suffice it to say, Ann had a lot to tell me. In fact, I’m sure that she could have talked for days if we had the time. Though the lack of time was more of a “me” thing. She had all the time in the world while it took less than a quarter of a day for the portal to be ready.
And they did not dally around. With ten minutes to spare, they had gathered everyone up. At first, I was surprised at how many people were going through. Though with a bit of listening, the reason became clear. It isn’t just convicts and wild cards that enter.
The other side is a miraculous place and even if they can’t come back, there are people willing to go. Whether it is someone at the end of their life hoping to manage one last breakthrough for a new lease on life or the proverbial third son with nothing to his name looking for a better future. The only rules are you have to be over 100 years old and have wrapped up all unveiled connections.
So besides the twenty-ish convicts I’m grouped with there are a stunning number of others here to get in on the gate opening. Ann laughs at my stunned look. “Do not worry, your group gets to go through first. They do not want to chance any of you missing the bus as it were.
“Then, to be polite, age before beauty. Though that has more to do with the fact that if you are looking old, you have one foot in the grave. And that translates to being more than willing to go all out for their place and no one wants to deal with that. Now, since you are about to go through, here is the note card. Remember, hold it up when you get through and things will be taken care of.”
Grabbing the note, the both of us lapse into silence again until in the middle of the open field a tear opens up. Like, just a big rip in the middle of the air as if it was some stage backdrop. At the time, I gave it a six out of ten because while it looked odd, there weren’t really any interesting effects. That was my ignorance showing, by the way. The less odd a portal, the more powerful it is because it takes a lot to stabilize them.
Anyway, with the portal open, no delay was allowed. At least not for the convicts and me. A force grabbed the group as a whole and shoved us through. Not wanting any mistakes at this point I had the note card clenched tightly and held aloft.
I won’t say much about the transition from Earth to the other side. Mostly because I was so focused on the note card. But partly because there just isn’t much to say. That portal was as solid as a rock.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
On the other side, I once again didn’t have much choice in things. The note card worked though as a new force took hold of me and set me amongst a group that screamed vampires. One of them grabbed the card from my hand without a word and after reading it sighed. Then, as my habit had become over the last couple days, I was rendered unconscious.
Bright light? Why, of course one was in my eyes when I woke up. Not the sun, but the closest I was going to see for a good long while. And off to the side I caught a small door slam shut, which got my attention off of the almost sun and onto the giant wall that stretched off to both sides until I couldn’t see any further.
I wasn’t able to tell if the wall was straight or curved, which was a little scary. The scale of the wall, however, did a good job of hammering into my skull what to expect. It also gave a hint to how fast Harold was going to be moving to get to me.
I shook my head to clear it and looked away from the only civilization I knew of in this dimension and stared out at an unflinching wilderness that allowed no other signs of sapient life. While technically the area was likely classified as a plain it might as well have been the thickest forest ever.
There were stalks of grass as thick around as my biceps and tall as trees. A good thing whatever type of grass this was, it grew in bunches instead of a carpet. Otherwise, I doubt I could have moved in the stuff.
I sighed, “Welp, let’s get dangerous.” And so, with a ton of second thoughts that I didn’t let hold me back, I walked into the tall grass.
Not that I was wandering randomly. The grass was cut back far enough from the wall that it let me see tufts of dark green grass rising up in the distance. A stark difference from the rest of the grass, which was more of a golden color with touches of lime green.
Of course, this could have meant nothing. But my thoughts equated dark green with a water source. Something that would be useful in finding danger. Not that I completely trusted Ann but I didn’t have anything else to go on. And honestly? I didn’t want to wait for death. If I was going to die, I was going to die trying.
Then things got really boring. It was like walking through an odd banana plantation before the bananas fruited. And it wasn’t a short walk, either. After walking long enough for the fake sun’s angle to be obviously changed, I climbed up one of the grass stalks. Which, as a side note, felt like metal bars instead of a plant.
Anyway, when I got up far enough, something became clear that I couldn’t see back at the wall. Those dark green stalks of grass are at least a magnitude taller than the other grass. As luck would have it, my choice of direction was the best of a bad lot. The clump I had set as my goal was the closest.
Still meant I ended up walking until twilight. Though the worst part was how for the first half, there was nothing else around. It wasn’t even just a lack of animals, the giant grass were the only living things around. Even when farming other plants will crop up, but there was nothing.
When other plants started showing up, it was a real weight off my mind. There was no way for me to determine if any of it was edible but at least with the new stuff I could try. Grass as tough as metal likely would never be part of my meal except as a plate.
Then, once there was a nice bit of underbrush, various animals became clear. Whether it was the sound of birds chirping or things rustling in the bushes, the forest of grass became truly alive.
Still, there wasn’t anything that threatened me. No wolves jumped out, snakes weren’t hanging off the grass stalks, and there weren’t even larger herbivores. A thorough disappointment when one is out looking for adventure. My only guess was that the settlement kept things culled way back.
I didn’t have long to consider this though as soon the grass around me started to take on a deeper green coloring. Not like the taller grass, but still noticeable. A quick check on my part confirmed an earlier guess. The soil was much damper than when I started out. This discovery raised my hopes of finding open water soon as the massive grass was just ahead of me.
And of course, since I had let my guard down, this was when danger found me. A big praying mantis attacked me. Not giant, mind you, but it was bigger than my hand. Normally, even with its size the bug wouldn’t be much of a threat.
However, with the way its blades glowed silver and cleaved right through the meat below the knee of my right leg said otherwise. I, of course, crumpled like a marionette with its strings cut. Most of the time, such a reaction would be a death sentence. This time, it saved my life.
As I fell, my eyes stayed focused on the mantis, bearing witness to a hunting strategy that was ingrained into the bugs’ very being. One meant specifically for hunting humanoids made of much tougher stuff than me.
It had barely finished cutting my leg when it jumped up, boosted by a flap of its wings. Paralyzed by the sudden pain and fear I watched as the bug reached the exact height my neck was just at and swiped out with both blades. If I had stayed standing, my neck would have been sliced open.
Ignoring the pain I stayed focused on the mantis. This act opened up my way forward. To cut through the kind of enemies found in this world, the mantis had supercharged its blades in hope of a quick finish. Missing the second attack meant the bug was out of power and I saw it.
The blades went dark and the body lost its luster. A one-shot glass cannon, but my window of opportunity was quite short. Even before I finished falling, the mantis had started to recover. Then I hit the ground.