Lot and a couple of the girls helped us to our feet. We were surprisingly uninjured - just cuts and bruises, which would heal quickly enough. I guessed we weren’t actually going that fast, only that it felt that way when you were on the worm-drake. Which, by the way, lay dead just behind us, it’s blood pooling below it.
“I can’t believe it,” Lot said. “Though I had suspected something had happened. I felt something-“ But before he could say anything else, Cadoc drew his sword.
“We have been misled!” Cadoc yelled. “This is indeed a Kalamuzi, and he has kidnapped these three women. Come, friends! Let our final deed in this accursed dungeon be to free these women and slay this monster!”
Lot put up his hands to show that he was unarmed, meant no harm, but Cadoc stepped forward.
“Wait!” I yelled, stepping between the two of them, facing Cadoc. “We haven’t been misled at all. This is my friend, Lot.”
“You are friends with a Kalamuzi?” Cadoc said, eyebrows lowered, stealing glances at Lot as he spoke as if he expected a sudden attack.
“Ah,” Lot said. “Is this what awaits me above? I ought to have suspected. Oh, cruel fate.”
“He’s only a quarter Kalamuzi,” I said. “And he helped me save Amaia and Naomi. He is my friend, Cadoc. I mean that.”
Cadoc stood there for awhile, sword in hand, eyes flicking back and forth between me and Lot. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, another quake shook the earth below us, nearly knocking us all over again. After that, Cadoc sighed, and sheathed his sword.
“Fine,” he said. “But we will speak on this later, Miles. For now, I will trust you.”
“Thank you, Cadoc,” I said. “You’ve got nothing to worry about.”
“I, on the other hand,” Lot interjected. “Will have to sleep with one eye open, I suppose.” Cadoc didn’t respond.
“Come on,” I said. “We’re nearly at the surface, and this dungeon isn’t going to wait to collapse until after we have introductions. Someone pick up Naomi, and let’s get out of here.”
Lot volunteered, but Cadoc refused to let him near Naomi. Amaia ended up carrying her, and the eight of us made our way towards that dazzling light.
I had to blink away tears as we reached the mouth of the tunnel. It had been too long since I had seen the sun. My eyes were temporarily blinded - the second time in the same day, in fact - and I had to shield them as they adjusted.
Finally, when vision returned, I took the final step out into the world.
It was beautiful. Exiting from what proved to be the mouth of a cave set in the side of a mountain, I looked out over a high desert landscape that reminded me of the one I’d first traveled through, when arriving in that planet - though there were no mountains there that I could remember. But this time, I found it absolutely breath-taking, rather than hideous and alien. Strange birds and insects flew overhead, alighting occasionally on strange desert trees and bushes.
“We did it,” I whispered. Then I said it again, louder. “We did it!”
Cadoc let out a cheer and clasped me on the shoulder - it was still strange to have him around again, but I was happy he had put his feelings about Lot aside, for a moment - even if it was so sudden that it made him seem unstable. He kind of was.
Amaia just stood there and smiled. Lot, at first, suffered the worst from the brightness, and it was quite awhile before he could see at all, darting his vision in every direction with squinted eyes like a scared animal, unable to focus on one thing for long, and muttering under his breath something which I couldn’t hear. But until his sight came to him, he dropped to the ground and felt at the patch of grass which grew in the shadow on the mountain. “Amazing,” he said. “Absolutely amazing.”
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At least two of the three prisoners started crying - the third tried to hide it, but I’m fairly sure she was crying, too. I couldn’t at all blame them.
Naomi grumbled, still half-asleep. “Now if only we could get something to eat,” she said.
Almost everyone chuckled at this - not the former-prisoners, but I think everyone else. My stomach growled as if in agreement.
I was about to say that that was a wonderful idea, that we should see what we could scrounge up, see if any food remained at all in anyone’s pack, and then, after feasting and drinking with whatever we could find, celebrating as well as we could, we’d sit down, introduce everyone, and plan out our next moves - whatever those may be. In the first place, I had no idea where we were.
I did not, however, have the chance to say any of that. I opened my mouth, only for it to hang open dumbly as I stared straight ahead.
It was right in front of me, some twenty yards off. I had only missed it because I was so overwhelmed by the sight of the surface. A large white boar-looking creature, with tusks like spears.
I had a sudden sense of deja vu. I couldn’t help myself. I laughed heartily.
The boar, hearing me, turned. It stamped at the ground, clearly preparing to charge at me.
I continued laughing, and held out my hand in the shape of a gun, my index finger pointed at the boar’s head. I was eager to try out my new magic.
Probably thinking I was only pointing to the animal, everyone followed the direction of my finger. Cadoc drew his sword immediately, like his hand had already been on it.
“How about bacon?” I said, and smiled again.
Last time I’d been in this position, I fretted over what Tom would do. But something had changed since then. I could feel it now, more than ever.
What would Tom do? Would he run to a better tactical position? Would he grab the staff? Tell the women to flee while he fought? Perhaps he’d use some strategy I couldn’t even think of.
I had no idea what Tom would do in that position.
It didn’t matter.
-
Epilogue
-
Dear Miles,
Where do I even start? First of all, I hope you made it over here, because otherwise, you’re going to think I lost my mind, man. There’s magic, monsters, fucking medieval civilizations and everything. It’s seriously like I’m in a video game. It’s sick, dude. Better than I could have imagined. If you’re not here, you’re missing out. Big time.
I’m going to assume you are here, though, because I don’t know why you wouldn’t be. Either you lost contact with Dimen-X, same as me, or your trip went through successfully, and, well, actually, now that I think about it, that probably means you’re doing even better than I am. I bet they even send you ammo for your gun, am I right? If it wasn’t for the whole magic thing, I’d be jealous. My gun was pretty useful for all of about 30 seconds. Then I ran out of ammo. Now it’s just a relic I show off to the locals when I want a free drink.
Anyway, I assume you’re still in contact with Dimen-X. RENA treating you alright? Tell her that her Dad says to behave herself. I don’t want her getting shut down like last time.
I’m also assuming that this is a planet roughly the same size as Earth, and so I pretty quickly gave up trying to find you. I’m sure you thought of this yourself, but trying to find someone here without directions would be downright stupid. That’s like if I woke up back on Earth one morning, and decided I was going to locate some dude in Uzbekistan. Except, maybe he’s actually in Malaysia. Or Brazil. Or fucking Greenland.
So, my plan is to stick around here, try to make some cash. Maybe make some friends who can help me, too. I figure that if I’m rich or important enough, it’ll be easier for you guys to find me, right? Made sense to me, anyway.
Speaking of getting rich, you’ve gotta be fucking loaded by now, huh? I mean, we came over thinking that we were going to find precious metals, exotic animals, that kind of thing. And, we thought it was going to take a super long time, too. Panning for gold and all of that. But man, were we wrong! I bet Dimen-X wasn’t even a little bit prepared for all of this. I mean, they’ve got fucking health potions here! Like, actual video-game health potions that heal wounds basically by magic. Can you imagine how much money that’s worth? Sell that to some pharmaceutical company, you’re set for life. Not to mention the enchanted items, the craziest food I’ve ever eaten, and if we can bring magic back with us… well, anyway, you’re actually able to send stuff back, so I don’t know why I’m telling you about it. I guess I’m just excited. Save some money for me, would you?
Man, just thinking about everything that’s happened already gets me so stoked. Fuck Armstrong, dude. We were the first men to walk on another planet.
I’m sure Dimen-X will send some more people over eventually, and maybe by then, you’ll have established yourself enough to come looking for me. Or maybe I’ll just hear about you. Wouldn’t that be crazy? Either way, I’ll try to give you the most identifiable information I can.
I’m in a place called Asnea. That’s the name of the country, and I think it might also be the name of the region. I’m not entirely sure. I haven’t been able to get a good map from anybody yet. When I’m rich, I’ll probably have to hire somebody.
Asnea is ruled by a king, and he’s a pretty cool dude. Older guy, his daughter is our age. Long story short, I may or may not have done some wild heroics and saved her life. So I’m sitting pretty over here, my man. The king loves me, obviously, treats me like I’m his own son, and I think Imeyna likes me. That’s the princess, to be clear. I’m not joking when I say there may be some very big things in my future, Miles. Of course, Asnea is a pretty small country, from what I understand. You probably own half of the globe by now. Just don’t conquer my little place here when you make it to this side of the planet. It’s nice here. You’d like it.
What else to tell? Basically, if you can find the country of Asnea, you can find me. I hope that’s as easy as it sounds. It probably isn’t. We’ll figure it out.
I’ll also have to figure out how to actually get this letter to you. I have some ideas. Magic is a wonderful thing, Miles, as you well know. I tried to send you some messages before, but I don’t think you got them. Writing this all down like this should make it easier. Maybe. There’s a lot of experimentation going on here.
I’ll have to be careful what else I write, because I think the natives might sneak a peak at this. Listen to me. “The natives.” Like we’re fucking conquistadors.
What do you think of the natives, by the way? It’s weird, right? It’s like they’re not real, almost, because none of it feels real. But they’re also great people, at least over here. Almost too real, y’know? I don’t know if that makes any sense. Tell me what you think.
Other than that, well, on a serious note, I wish we hadn’t been split up. I’ve had a lot of time to think here, and I realized you’re probably the only person who would miss me if I died.
Wow. That sounds pretty melodramatic, doesn’t it? I’m not trying to get emotional here, but I realized you’re like a brother to me, Miles, and I wanted to thank you for that. You’ve always been there, even when I couldn’t even rely on my own family. It means a lot. When we meet up again, I owe you a beer, or something. I don’t know. I hope you’re doing alright out there.
See you soon,
Tom
--===END OF BOOK 1===--