“Your talents are wasted in this life. I will fix that.”
Jacob’s ears were still ringing, eyes still blind, from the proclamation that would forever entwine the fate of two worlds. He had no clue where he was; a few minutes ago he had just been sitting at his desk punching away at the timetable on his computer finishing up the day’s spreadsheets. He had already planned his route home, which involved a stop by the Hot-n-Ready food section of the grocery store a few blocks from his tiny apartment. He had also planned out which episodes of what TV shows to stream on his computer while eating dinner alone. And what web novels he would be reading on his bed as he got ready for bed.
But Jacob’s plans had changed, evidently. He had someone or something to thank for that.
Which brought him back to his current situation. The voice had come out of nowhere, and in an instant he was transported from his office to…not a place, not a time, but a feeling. A feeling of light and purity, where he couldn’t even make out his hands in front of him even though he waved them in front of himself.
“Who are you? What are you?” Jacob asked.
“Your questions will be answered eventually, but all in good time, my son. You have other matters to attend to on Earth Prismata.”
“What the hell is Earth Prismata?” Jacob scratched his head (metaphorically, because as far as he could tell he was currently just a disembodied spirit right now).
“It will be both familiar and unfamiliar to you. But you will thrive there. You will save many lives. And you will guide the populace with a steady hand. This much has been foretold, but much remains unknown even to me.”
This was crazy! There were still so many questions he wanted to ask, such as why him? Why now? And what did he mean he would save many lives? As if his mind were being read, Jacob heard the voice again right before he blacked out.
“All in good time, my son.”
And that was the last time Jacob would hear that voice for a very, very long time.
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He awoke to the roar of a loud train roaring and echoing between towering apartment complexes. The number 32 train, of course. Yawning, he rubbed his eyes and woke up his computer. In his own bed. In his apartment. Jacob froze in his tracks.
Was that all just a bad dream? Did I hallucinate that? Maybe it’s time for my yearly doctor checkup. He triple checked his room to make sure it was actually… his room. The bed was where he had left it, the computer was there, and everything else seemed to check out.
And that’s when he heard it again. The train roar. But 1) the 32 train only came once in the morning, and 2) trains didn’t sound like that. Not that loud, and not that deep. He slowly and carefully walked up to his window, afraid of what he’d see outside. As he pulled back the curtains, his eyes widened in amazement.
Instead of the old New Francisco he was so used to seeing every day, he saw a DRAGON flying off into the distance. TWO of them in fact. Dragons, as in those creatures that existed only in fantasy books and never actually existed. But here they were, flying in front of his very eyes!
Jacob sat down. Hard. Where am I? Is this Earth Prismata? He couldn’t make heads or tails of this strange situation he found himself in. He worked up the courage to check the window again.
Yup. The dragons were still in the distance, flying out of the city.
As he looked down toward the streets, he noticed something off too. Instead of only cars crowding the streets of New Francisco, there were also horses and other animals that he could spy walking the paved roads. And was that a unicorn he saw?
And as he was surveying this city that was now at once so familiar and yet so foreign, he spied something on his wrist. He rolled up his long-sleeved button-down shirt to reveal a tattoo of a majestic sword and a wizened staff. He had never gotten a tattoo before in his life, but he did know that those two weapons were only used for one thing… war. His years spent playing role-playing games and reading fantasy novels at least gave him a frame of reference for what was going on, but that was all medieval stuff. Or it was supposed to be. But now it was here in New Francisco, or some weird alternate version of it.
Come to think of it, Jacob felt a little different than he used to, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on exactly what was different. Almost like he felt an aura of energy pulsing around him…
A knocking at his door followed by muffled whispers broke his concentration as he was mulling it all over his head. He could barely make out two voices on the other side, both with a hint of an English accent.
“So he’s supposed to have arrived today?”
“Yeah, between 5 am and 8 am was the estimated time.”
“What if he’s not here? Should we just break in and wait for him to appear or something?”
“Eh. Sure.”
Jacob leapt to his feet.
“WAIT!” he shouted. He went to the door and unlocked the bolt. “Who are you people and what do you want?”
They could hear stifled laughter. “We aren’t exactly people…”
He swung the door open to see two elves, pointy ears and all, dressed in police uniforms standing there to greet him. Yup, right out of one of the fantasy RPGs that Jacob loved to play in his free time, which after the dragons did not faze him all that much surprisingly. They had that worn look on their faces. The look that they weren’t getting paid enough to deal with what they had to put up with every day.
The first elf twirled his baton while the second stuck out his hand and greeted Jacob.
“You can call me Kinden. My partner over there is Swooze. We’re here to bring you in for orientation.”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Orientation for what? Who are you and what do you want with me? Is this Earth Prismata?” Jacob inquired.
Swooze chuckled but didn’t say anything.
“We’re part of the High Lord Search Task Force. Our job is to find the next High Lord of New Francisco because the old one, well let’s just say he’s not with us anymore and we need a leader,” Kinden said. “Now we’re going to have to ask you to come with us. We’ll fill you in on our drive there, but we need to leave now.”
Something about this didn’t seem right to Jacob. Plus, his energy aura felt like it was vibrating, which freaked him out. “What do I have to do with the High Lord? I just got here apparently, and now you’re asking me to… to… leave my apartment to go somewhere I’ve never been?”
Swooze let out a groan. “Let’s just taze him and bring him with us.”
Jacob could feel the anger and annoyance bubbling up. His energy aura was responding as well. “Try it. I dare you.”
Kinden stepped in. “Now now, let’s just all calm down here okay? Look, you’re on Earth Prismata. The only home I’ve ever known. We have elves, we have orcs, we have dragons (as you’ve probably heard this morning), we have all kinds of creatures living in harmony. And yes, we even have humans like yourself! We’ve been suffering casualties from attacks from the Order of Black led by Count Vesper, who commands an army of undesirables like ghouls, vampires… things you don’t want to see in the night alone. We’re looking for a leader that can win the war for us and keep our city safe. So we’ve got orders from higher up to find all of the new arrivals, bring em in for testing if they’d be suitable.”
“How did you know when and where I was supposed to arrive?”
“Kid, we have the best sorcerers this side of the Mississippi. It ain’t rocket science. Now… we done here? Can we get moving?”
Jacob felt slightly more relieved, though there was still a nagging doubt in his mind. If the High Lord is dead, then who are these higher ups giving the orders? He’d have to think about that later. “Fine. Let’s go.”
Taking one last look at the place he called home, or used to call home, he grabbed his jacket and headed out with the two elves.
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Jacob sat in the back of the cop car (yes, a regular old cop car) still a bit in disbelief as to how he ended up here. So many questions remained unanswered, but he knew he’d just have to be patient.
Swooze and Kinden sat in the front. Just another day on the job for them.
“So… you guys are elves. Is what they say about elves true? That you guys are all rich and have magic powers?” Jacob inquired.
They both laughed.
“Where’d you hear that from? A comic book? That’s all fiction. Real life ain’t like that. Sure, some elves are rich and can cast spells, but then you got guys like us who just want to bring in a paycheck and go home to their families,” Kinden said.
Jacob spied the outside of his window: they just passed by a giant boar hauling a cart full of caged imps and firebirds that didn’t look too happy being cooped up. Right alongside a shiny new Rolls Royce that was stuck behind it, honking its horn.
Kinden continued. “Once you get settled in and get to know the lay of the land, I’m sure you’ll fit right in. Life in New Francisco can be hectic sometimes but you’ll get the hang of it. Hey, watch it you punks!”
Jacob lurched forward as Swooze slammed on the brake pedal. A whole crowd of dwarves holding up picketing signs flooded across the street, shouting. Their signs read: “THE DWARVEN GENOCIDE WILL NOT BE SILENCED”.
“I heard about this from somewhere. The dwarves were trapped in a cave by dragons, they requested for aid but no one came, which led to the death of most of the dwarves,” Jacob said.
Kinden rolled his eyes. “These yuppies don’t have anything better to do with their lives than block traffic and cause accidents. Just wait for them to pass.”
The dwarf crowd eventually moved on and they continued on their journey. Never in a million years would Jacob have guessed that he would end up in a place where his knowledge of all things sword and sorcery would actually prove useful.
Suddenly, Swooze’s phone started ringing. He picked it up, but instead of English, he spoke another language. He spoke with a slight lisp to his voice, and it felt almost dainty but had a hidden undercurrent of defiance.
“Le suilon… Boe?...”
Jacob at first couldn’t make heads or tails of what Swooze was saying, but the more he heard the language the more it seemed familiar. And the more familiar it sounded, the more he could understand.
“Yes, we have the mark. We will bring him to you, my lord. He does not suspect a thing. His death will be swift. I will update you soon, bye.”
The last sentences chilled Jacob to the bone. His aura started vibrating and tingling a distracting amount.
“Sorry about that, Jacob. That was my mom calling,” Swooze said.
“His mom calls him all the time, you know how moms are like,” Kinden chimed in.
Jacob could stand this façade no more. He was trembling with anger, confusion, and most of all a deep sense of betrayal. These weren’t cops at all. Or if they were, they were as crooked as his elbows. And they were trying to bring him to their master, whoever that was. Well, Jacob wouldn’t have any of this.
He felt a massive surge of adrenaline coursing through his veins. He spied the air around his hands, turning… purple? The aura had finally coalesced and become so empowered by Jacob’s emotions that they attained physical form.
“You… you LIED TO ME!!!!” Jacob screamed.
Both Swooze and Kinden turned in shock to see Jacob enveloped in a shrouded armor of purple.
“What are you talking about? We’re taking you to the station!” Kinden yelled.
“I HEARD WHAT YOU SAID! You thought you could just trick me like that, bringing me in without a fight? I may not be from around here, but I’m not some helpless fool. Maybe that worked on the others, but it won’t work on ME!” Jacob was fuming mad, his body swirling with explosive purple energy.
A bolt flew out of this energy storm and cut a hole through the roof of the car.
Swooze turned to Kinden. “I thought he only spoke English?! How did he understand?”
“Shut up and shoot him!” Kinden yelled.
But it was too late. Jacob’s final form had been achieved. He was covered head to toe in smooth, shining energy armor. A huge burst of light erupted from his right hand and formed a physical manifestation of a MASSIVE longsword, cackling with power. On his left hand, a sleek curved wooden staff expanded with a crown jewel embedded at the crest. Jacob didn’t know where they came from, but he would figure that out later. All things would be explained in time, right?
Swooze took aim and shot at Jacob with his pistol, but the bullet seemed to just be disintegrated by the energy armor. It disappeared, and Swooze was left in awe.
“Impossible… he really is the Highborn! I thought it was a myth!” Swooze whispered to himself.
Jacob could barely hear the screams of agony coming from Swooze’s mouth as he sliced off his arm with a single slash of his energy sword. It cut through him and the entire cop car like butter, which now was split in two. Jacob pried the top off of the car like a can and stood up, pointing at Kinden with the tip of his sword, who was trembling in fear. Swooze had passed out from the loss of blood.
Every single creature on the street, from dwarves to imps to dryads, stopped and stared in amazement. Who was this energy wielder with such a powerful aura that even they could feel it?
“And what should I do with you, Kinden? Should I let you go? Do you deserve that? How many people have you killed?” Jacob asked with a frown.
“No no, please, I didn’t do anything! I was just following orders!” he pleaded.
Jacob thought for a split second. He held up the staff in his left hand, the crystal gleaming in the sunlight. With a single incantation escaping Jacob’s lips, the crystal gleamed brightly with an orange light.
And then it stopped.
“You talk too much, Kinden. Your tongue has tricked too many people in the past. But no more. I have removed your voice from you. This enchantment will last for five years. Think about what you’re doing with your life in that time.”
Kinden looked horrified as he tried to move his mouth to make any sort of noise. But nothing came out.
Jacob looked around him at all the staring faces focusing on his energy aura that he even barely understood. In a foreign world, seeing things he’d never seen before, Jacob had just assaulted two officers of the law. No matter how crooked they were, no matter how justified he was, and no matter how much power he wielded, he was now a fugitive with a laundry list of questions he needed to find answers to.
It was time to run. So he did.