“Why is receiving orbs so strange?” Max asked Ereni as she guided him and the horse and wagon through the village’s cobbled streets. The sun had now disappeared completely and the place was under a blanket of blue shadow, broken here and there by warm, orange lamplight spilling out of crooked windows.

“I really wouldn’t speak of them in public,” Ereni said desperately. “The people of Oakhaven will think you are either a false prophet or a madman. A few people over the years have falsely claimed to have access to… those things, and it hasn’t ended well for them.”

Ereni stopped outside what appeared to be a tavern. The hand-painted, swinging sign above its large, oak door read “The Brass Lantern,” and had a charming illustration of a brass lantern to go with it.

Ereni secured the horse to a hitching post, then pushed open the door, which creaked and revealed a bustling merriment.

As Max followed her in, he couldn’t help but feel like he was stepping into somewhere special; the kind of tavern he had only ever been able to conjure in his imagination when reading fantasy fiction.

Sturdy wooden tables and benches were arranged haphazardly, and villagers were clinking their tankards above them, gathered in merry groups, some a little too merry.

The walls were adorned with a rustic patchwork of aged paintings, unfamiliar antler trophies, and wonky shelves housing a clutter of ornaments, and built into the furthest wall was a massive stone hearth that housed a crackling fire, the flames licking the logs and giving the entire room a flickering ambience.

The bar itself was a long, worn oak counter, sticky and stained, with bar stools lined underneath it, some of which looked like they might fall apart under a heavier patron.

Behind the counter, shelves buckled under the weight of countless jars and bottles housing what Max assumed had to be brews and spirits, and cleaning a tankard with a rag was a burly, brown-bearded man somewhere in his late forties or early fifties who had to be the innkeeper.

“Ah, Ereni! And…”

The hairy man surveyed Max with a mix of curiosity and trepidation.

“Bron, I have to speak with you,” Ereni said to him quickly, skipping any introductions. “He has no knowledge of Eldoria. He has come from another world. And…” Ereni lowered her voice so that it was just barely audible above the ambient chatter and clanking of tin, “he says he has access to orbs.”

The innkeeper locked eyes with Ereni, then shifted them to Max, then back to Ereni again. Ereni nodded. There seemed to be a deeply ingrained mutual trust between them.

Bron then rung a bell, and the chattering died.

“Listen up, folks,” he announced. “Due to unforeseen circumstances, I’m having to close the tavern with immediate effect.”

There was a chorus of boos, and some shouts of, “What circumstances?” But after around fifteen minutes of Bron ushering punters out of the front door and into the street, he slammed the door shut and bolted it.

He turned to Max and Ereni.

“Would you like a drink, lad?” he offered.

“Sure,” Max said.

“I have Goblin’s Gold, Bard’s Ballad, Willowdale Pure…”

“I have no idea what any of those are,” Max said truthfully. “What would you recommend?”

“I’ll give you a tankard of Bronze Brew,” Bron said, pouring a honey-coloured liquid into a large tankard and topping it with a layer of creamy froth. “The house blend.”

Max took the tankard in his left hand, then opened his other hand and imagined a few of his coins appearing in it, which they did. He wondered how much a pint cost in this world.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“Put those away,” Bron instructed. “This one’s on me.”

When Max, Ereni, and Bron were sat at a creaky table close to the crackling fire, Max took a sip of the brew. It was delicious; a hearty pale ale that seemed to match the comforting, old-world vibe of the tavern perfectly.

It was only then that Bron seemed to notice that Ereni looked a bit disheveled.

“Something happened to you,” he said, looking panicked and placing his large hand over hers in concern. “Who was it? What did they do to you?”

“I think they were Kreasel’s men,” Ereni explained. “Though I’ve never seen them before. They were using some kind of enchanted rings to conceal their true identities, posing as travelling merchants. They approached me when I was closing up the clinic for the night, saying they wanted some wounds healed. I told them I was done for the day, and I left, but they snatched me from the shadows of Ernburrow Alley on my way home. The next thing I knew, I was gagged and bound and thrown into the back of their wagon.”

“Kefbeck and Kavos,” Bron uttered, his tone a mix of incredulity and rage. It was said in the same way someone might use religious names as curse words. Max guessed this Kefbeck and Kavos, and the Great Gorrimor Ereni had uttered earlier, had to be this world’s equivalent.

“I’d served those bastards earlier today n’all. I thought they looked a little too rough around the edges to be merchants. I just figured they’d had a hard time getting through the caves, as all of ‘em do. I shoulda served them my own piss.”

“Thankfully, they didn’t manage to take me very far. Max here came along and killed them and set me free.”

Bron placed his beefy hand on Max’s shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze.

“Thank the daylight you were there for her, son,” he said. “You have no idea how important Ereni is to all of us in this village.” He turned his attention back to Ereni. “It begs the question, though - where in Yannister’s name was Garrick and his boys? Was there no-one in the sentry tower?”

“I’ve heard he calls the tower his personal napping spot,” said Ereni.

“Who’s Garrick?” Max asked.

Bron scoffed.

“The self-appointed leader of the Oakwatch,” he grumbled. “This village’s piss-poor excuse for protection against thieves and beast attacks. Things have just been getting worse lately in both regards, and if those thugs had managed to steal Ereni away from us, I daresay Oakhaven would have been done for. There ain’t a better healer this side of Willowdale than our Ereni right here.”

“Now,” he said, then glanced behind him, seemingly checking there was no one eavesdropping at the windows, “tell me what you’re seeing.”

“Notifications,” Max said. “Whenever I defeat a beast, or brew a potion, or discover someplace I’ve never been before.”

“Of course. We all get notifications,” said Bron. “How else would Eldoria communicate with us? But you say… you’re gaining… orbs? You do realise mentioning that word in these parts can get you into a lot of trouble, don’t you? Folk don’t appreciate false hope. They’re tired of it.”

“I have no reason to lie to you,” Max said truthfully. “I’m from a world where we don’t run on this kind of system, but somehow I’ve woken up here, and I swear to you your system is rewarding me with orbs for many different things.”

Bron was silent for a while, staring deep into Max’s eyes, seemingly trying to find any ounce of insincerity that could write him off as a madman.

A slow nod let Max know that Bron had made his decision to trust he was telling the truth.

“This is remarkable,” he said. “You’ve come from another world, and you have access to orbs…”

Max looked back and forth from Bron to Ereni.

“Can someone please tell me why these orbs are so important, and why I have access to them?”

“Of course, lad. There’s a lot to explain. You can leave this to me, Ereni. You need rest.”

Ereni nodded gratefully and got up to leave.

“No, you stay here tonight,” said Bron, also getting up. “There’s no way I’m letting you go back home after what happened. There’s no telling if more of Kreasel’s goons will be coming after you.”

“You’re too kind, Bron,” Ereni said, and Max could see the relief of her face to be able to stay somewhere she felt safe.

As Bron disappeared into the back of the tavern, looking for something, Max also got out of his seat and took his now empty tankard to the bar.

Before Ereni headed up the stairs, she approached Max.

“I’ll never forget that you saved me from those pigs,” she said. “I don’t know what kind of life I would have had in their captivity, and Garrick would never have come to save me, that’s for sure. I owe you everything, and I want to repay you. You have a lifetime of my healing services at my clinic free-of-charge, though even that seems like not enough.”

“It’s okay,” Max said. “You don’t need to repay me any more than that. If I’m sticking around in this world, a lifetime supply of free healing sounds like it’ll come in very handy.”

Ereni smiled, and her cheeks blushed a little.

“I’ll find a way to repay you properly one day,” she said, then stood on her tiptoes and gave him a kiss on the cheek. She shyly looked away then hurried up the stairs.

Max watched her as she went. How had he gone from being the guy in the office who never got a single glance from women to being the guy a beautiful young woman was now blushing at and kissing on the cheek? He didn’t know, but it was a welcome change.

He turned back to Bron, who had returned from the back-of-house with a rustic-looking scroll in hand.

“You want to know why having access to orbs is so important?” he said. He placed the scroll down on a table and peeled it open.

“The reason… is this.”