Walking up to the city gates of Ravenshire, Stephen was flanked by his entourage which included Rurth, Blargh, Shomos, and Gorg. Men in black armor, like they'd seen in the Riowiver village and Avin's fortress, patrolled the gates along with the city watch.

When the group got to the gate, one of the men in black armor greeted them. "Hail, Stephen Crawford, dimensional traveler. Lord Avin has left us instructions to transport you to his seat of power should you present yourself in Ravenshire. An airship awaits us." Ravenshire city guards, mixed in with them, looked distrustfully at the men in black armor.

"Lead on," said Stephen, after considering the captain who had addressed him.

***

Flying in the airship, the Mecond ground flew past below them. The captain had reluctantly introduced himself as Krell and was refusing to answer further questions about Avin's conquest of Mecond, the airship, their forces, or himself. Food and drink had been put out for them, of which none of the group partook.

"They seemed to be keeping an eye out for you," Blargh observed. Stephen nodded. "I would have liked to have gotten a lay of the land beforehand. I suppose we should have thought about going in disguise."

"Live and learn," Rurth said. Shomos rolled her eyes at them, while Gorg hung over the railing, watching the ground fly by in wonder.

***

Krell marched them forward to Avin's throne. Stephen and the group had been put into iron restraints.

"I'm surprised you haven't fled, like the coward you are," Avin said, looking down at them haughtily from his throne. "You really don't have any dignity as a dimensional traveler. I don't think any of the other travelers I've ever dealt with were this pitiful."

"We just keep going back and forth," Stephen said. "I do something you don't like, you do something I don't like. I try to end things, and you make outrageous demands. You've run roughshod over my home dimension and Mecond. They aren't mine, but I was the first traveler to arrive there, and I don't like that you're pillaging them."

"Perhaps if you'd allowed me to take recompense from your dimensions, this could be at an end, but forcing me out of Earth just ensures that I'm going to lean harder on Mecond," Avin said, ranting from his throne. “I've gotten tons of new cards and a stronger deck. Duel me twenty times and I'll consider a truce."

"If you let me make a deck of cards I don't care about losing, I'll duel you twenty times," said Stephen. "You mentioned getting pushed out of Earth…"

"Yes," said Avin, eyes narrowing. "Your little gizmo was quite the trick. But no, I want the cards in your optimized deck. And I want you to throw in your little posse here as a sweetener." Leering at Shomos, he said, "I've been looking forward to getting the druidess back. I assume you found out about your mother and siblings and that's why you've come to grovel?"

Stephen stared at the other dimensional traveler carefully.

"I'm actually impressed by your self-control," Avin continued. "Most dimensional travelers don't handle the loss of their previous life so well. I've had other opponents who came at me swinging in a rage after I'd… disposed of… their past for them."

"Disposed?" Stephen asked carefully. "Easy, lad," Blargh said next to him.

"They didn't suffer that much," Avin said. "I'm not a monster."

"Fine," said Stephen tightly. "I'll give you the champions I have here, and we'll duel twenty times, then this thing between us will be over?"

"No," said Avin. "Then I'll consider a truce. It'll last until you annoy me again."

"Fine," said Stephen. "But don't think our duels will be as easy as our first one." Stephen held out his manacled arms." With a sneer, Avin gestured to Krell who walked over and roughly pulled Stephen forward to the throne. Once the physicist was next to Avin, the two dimensional travelers locked arms and found themselves in a trading pocket dimension.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

***

"So, offer me a trade with your champions," Avin demanded, looking across at Stephen in their shared trading dimension. It was decorated on each side, representative of each traveler. Stephen's side had artifacts and symbols that were meaningful to him from his time on Earth and Mecond, while Avin's had trophies from past victories. The room was a vast chamber, with brick walls, stretching up fifteen feet to wooden beams holding up a medieval style roof.

"Sure," Stephen said carefully. "But don't you want to take a look at my other cards? Find out if there's anything else you want more? Maybe I can offer you a better trade."

Avin grunted. "I'm going to take them all during our duels, but I'll take a look. AFTER you've traded your champions to me."

"You're so afraid of me," said Stephen, forcing a chuckle. "I guess not many dimensional travelers have forced you out of a dimension before. I bet you're terrified I'm going to do the same thing here."

"You annoy me," Avin said, glaring at the former graduate student. "I’ve never felt intimidated by you since we met. I'm sick of your disrespect, and I'm going to strip you to the bone before I'm done with you."

"It doesn't seem smart to be threatening how you'll hurt me in the future when you're trying to extort payment out of me for a truce now," said Stephen. "Shouldn't you wait until you've gotten what you can from me, before you start threatening me again?"

"Thanks for your advice," Avin said sarcastically. "For someone who's in front of me in chains, it's pretty bold of you to share your insights with me. My advice for you is to shut up.” Avin strode over to Stephen's cards and started flipping through them.

***

Moments earlier, as the two dimensional travelers locked arms in Avin's throne room, each of them became senseless to the world around them. Blargh and Shomos made eye contact and gave a small nod.

Shomos lifted her manacled arms into the air and a thick fog rushed to fill the room from every crack in the floor, walls, and ceiling. Moments later, vision was obscured for Avin's men, who had drawn their swords and began moving through the thick mist, looking for the prisoners.

***

"Trash, trash, more trash," said Avin. "I really need to find worthier opponents who have something worth taking."

"Bullies like you, aren't interested in fair fights," said Stephen. "You'd run away from anyone you thought could give you a run for your money."

***

In the throne room and able to see clearly through the summoned fog, Shomos and the others moved carefully away from any guards that accidentally approached them. Blargh drew a Glock semi-automatic pistol that Stephen had unleashed for him after they'd been searched. Moving through the fog, he went to Avin's other side, away from Krell. Krell had drawn his sword and was swinging it experimentally in front of himself.

Holding the pistol awkwardly, because of his manacles, Blargh walked up to Avin and held it inches away from the dimensional traveler's head. Pulling the trigger repeatedly, Blargh emptied the pistol's magazine into Avin's head. Bullets exploded through the traveler’s head, and some bullets hit Krell, penetrating his black armor. The guard went down with a yell.

***

In the trading session, the former graduate student noticed a red light weeping down the walls on Avin's end.

"Did you really kill my family?" Stephen asked.

"Oh yes," Avin said, smirking. "Didn't you know?"

"I haven't been to Earth in quite a while," Stephen said. The red light was halfway down the walls on Avin's end. The other dimensional traveler hadn’t noticed yet.

Avin paused, and looked carefully at Stephen. "Except for the little pet you sent to drive me away?"

"Actually," Stephen said. "I have no idea what you're talking about. I didn't put anything on Earth to drive you away. I'm quite curious about what it might have been."

Avin's eyes narrowed as he studied Stephen, glancing around the room, he gave a yelp as he saw the red color that had coated the walls at his end. The trading session ended abruptly.

As Stephen came back to awareness in the throne room, he looked through the fog. Watching as bullets repeatedly blasted through Avin’s head, blood splattered with each shot. The dimensional traveler's head and body slumped forward, while Blargh tracked the motion and continued firing.

Gorg had ripped off his own manacles then broken Rurth's, and the journeyman wizard walked up to join them. Rurth began casting 'magic missile' against Avin. Shomos raised her arms again, and a bolt of lightening crashed through the room and struck Avin's body.

As Blargh reached the end of his magazine and had nothing left to fire, Gorg swung the iron chains at Avin, bringing the heavy manacle down on the remains of the dark lord's head, which was now a deformed, bloody pulp.

"I think he's dead," Rurth said. Stephen unleashed his dimensional travel card and the group found themselves back in the pocket dimension.