Carl woke up and began to smile. It was the first day of summer! No school for three glorious months and then his first year of high school would start. Carl checked his phone and was unsurprised when he found no new texts or messages. Carl played video games and found that he enjoyed solitude, so he didn’t have many friends.
He sat up and looked around his small room, every section of wall was covered in video game, sci fi or fantasy posters. Every piece of furniture that had a flat surface had some kind of cool action figure or model on it, Sure most had a fine layer of dust on them but they were still loved. He threw off his buster sword comforter and rolled out of his memory foam bed.
Carl walked over to the mirror. A stocky boy of fourteen (soon to be fifteen) wearing boxers with rocket ships and an oversized, and faded the last Starfighter shirt looked back at him. His eyes were green and his hair was dark brown. He was also short, about five feet one inch tall and about one hundred pounds. He really hoped he would get a growth spurt this year, as most of his classmates had theirs last year and being the short kid sucked.
Carl heard his mother’s angry voice rising from downstairs,
“Carl what are you doing? You know your father and I have a plane to catch!” He jumped and threw his door open and ran out into the hall, He was greeted by the cold and sterile modern style and modern “art” that plagued the house. He was
not fond of the modern style, he preferred the warmth of wood and earth colors. Carl slipped into the bathroom and hopped into the shower and hurriedly scrubbed up. As he jumped out of the shower and grabbed his towel, Carl heard his mother’s voice shrieking that they were going to be late. He threw on a pair of cargo shorts and a Mario T-shirt. He then threw his favorite book “Monster hunters International” in his neon blue suitcase and ran downstairs lugging said suitcase with him.
Carl stepped down from the stairs and landed in a living room that held a miasma of grumpiness. His father was standing by the cold gray front door staring at his watch while his left eye lid twitched with irritation, his mother was making small circuits around her husband while waving their tickets and passports erratically.
When his mother noticed him standing at the foot of the stairs she let out a
“finally!” and barged out the front door. His father looked up from his watch and rushed over to give Carl an angry look and to yank the suitcase from carl’s limp fingers. He then zoomed out the front door without so much as a look back at his only child.
Carl’s parents had never really cared about Carl, sure they kept him clean, healthy and fed but to them having a child was a status thing just like the new gray bmw SUV Carl was climbing into, however; Carl was being driven to the people whom loved him.
The house was fairly large and had far more wacky decorations then his parents would allow at their house (none). There were the usual lawn gnomes however these lawn gnomes held firearms keeping the plastic pink flamingos at bay. In the flag holder by the front door sat a festive summer flag, Mario in his famous cap and a swimsuit sitting on a beach.
The house, belonged to his amazing grandparents who were more parents to him then his status driven parents. Carl’s father stopped the suv and dropped Carl’s luggage on the lawn and was already back in the car by the time Carl had emerged into the summer heat. He had just enough time to close the door before his father drove off.
For the first time in weeks Carl felt a weight lifted from his shoulders, no more parent’s who cared nothing for him, just amazing grandparents that loved him.
Carl walked up the brick path, past the gnome/flamingo battle and to the red door. He then pressed the doorbell with a smile of knowing what would come next. The doorbell chime was actually a voice it could be heard singing “ding dong, the witch is dead!”
The door opened and a little old man scowled at him from the doorway only to cannonballed into by an equally small old lady. The old lady had a huge smile on her face but then the old man bounced back and yelled,
“get back witch!”
To which the old lady replied,
“I’m not a witch I’m your wife!”
The old man and old lady then began laughing while Carl beamed at his awesome grandparents. He was smooshed in a hug by both of them, after they stepped back he announced with a smile,
“I’m guessing The princess bride is tonight’s movie?”
“As you wish my boy and your darn tootin’ right it is!” his grandfather replied.
Grandpa Jack stepped back and let Carl step through the doorway only to stop a foot inside the house with a big grin said,
“Well, that’s new!” He was referring to the life-sized master chief statue staring down at him from his lofty just over seven-foot height.
“Do you like it? I adore him, he’s much more handsome and tall then grandpa Jack.” His grandma Deb snickered.
“I heard that old lady! I traded you in for a younger model a while ago!”
Carl knew Grandpa Jack was talking about his larger than life model of Cortana.
Carl interrupted their playful banter with a loud throat clearing and announced
“If you kids are done arguing I’d love to put my luggage in my room.”
Carl’s parents had left him at his grandparents’ house while they travelled over summer vacation. Carl really didn’t mind, in fact he was excited to spend a couple weeks with his grandparents. You see Carl’s grandparents were avid gamers and had a vast video game and system collection. From Ataris to the new virtual reality systems, his grandparents had them all. As Carl went to open the front door he heard his grandma playing Overwatch, “Die you freaking noobz! Oh you got pwned son!”
Carl smiled to himself, “yep this summer is going to be awesome.”
The game box had fallen out of a box of dusty video games his grandparents had purchased at a garage sale. They belonged to a teenage girl who disappeared months ago. The mother of the girl couldn’t stand the constant reminder of her missing daughter and had sold the box of games. Call of Hearth was the title on the game box. Carl had never heard of the game before but he was excited about playing a rare game!
What if I told you there existed a place where people could control the elements? Wind, fire, earth, water and spirit, this place exists people. Now what if I did one better and told you, that you may have what it takes to learn this skill? There is a school in this land that will teach you how to use this magic. You may even be one of the extremely rare few that can control more than one element. The land of Hearth has fallen under attack by a dark power and Hearth calls for a hero to save it. Do you accept the challenge? Well that’s what was written on the box anyway.
Carl took the game out of its dusty case and plugged in into the Playstation 2. The Playstation whined a bit as it fired up but it became a steady hum as the old machine awakened from its long slumber. The title screen opened up to beautiful music and letters looking like elements spelling out Call of Hearth. The background was of a forest and far past the trees a large white building stood upon a hill and still farther back in the distance darkness spread across the lands.
For some reason Carl felt trepidation as he hit the start button. Suddenly his hands felt like they were burning, the heat spread up his arms and his entire body felt like it was in an oven! Then a light engulfed him and Carl felt nothing more.
With a start Carl bolted upright, “oh my aching head, what happened?” For a couple seconds Carl noticed the world was a dark shade of green. As he looked around, the words “what the heck” tumbled from his mouth. Carl found himself sitting on a dirt path deep in an ancient forest. Birds chirped and bugs buzzed around and Carl sat bewildered, “Shnikees! How did I get here?”
Carl got to his feet and dusted himself off. He then looked around trying to figure out where the heck he was?!
“Ok I was playing a game and now I’m in a forest.”
“That’s not how this works. That’s not how any of this works! You don’t start a video game and wake up in the forest! Wait, what was that glow and heat that engulfed me? This is all weird, I should try to figure out where I am before it gets dark.”
Seeing no other real option, Carl decided to follow the path he had woke up on. As Carl started walking he noticed that all of the trees along the path were huge and old. The sunlight filtering through the canopy painted the world a soft green.
Putting one foot in front of another, Carl soon found himself standing next to a gentle burbling creek. Being an out of shape gamer, and having walked miles for the first time in, well, ever, he was quite tired and thirsty. Seeing the cool, clear creek Carl rushed to it and quickly gulped the sweet water down.
As Carl drank his fill he felt a creeping feeling crawling up between his shoulder blades. Carl looked up from his drinking and about fifty feet up the creek a pair of golden, glowing eyes watched him from the shadows of the forest. Knowing it had been seen the creature with the golden eyes stepped silently out of the deep shadow. The creature was a black wolf, the biggest freaking wolf Carl had ever seen!
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
The wolf took a step forward and barked at its prey. Carl took an involuntary step back. Seeing the prey show fear, the wolf snarled. Carl said, “Oh fucklesticks” and ran. If Carl had stood his ground the wolf would have backed down, but once Carl started running, the wolf’s prey instinct kicked in and it gave chase. Crashing through the forest, Carl ran, he could feel how out of shape he was as his fat jiggled with each frantic step.
Carl tripped; his out of shape body had betrayed him. With wind milling arms Carl smashed into a large oak tree. Carl turned to see the wolf leap at him, with a move born of fear and desperation and wishing with all his heart to repel the giant wolf, he threw out his hands in front of him. With the sound of a thunderclap an invisible force grabbed the wolf and hurled it into a tree. The wolf hit the tree and fell still. The giant wolf lay still under the mighty oak tree. Carl fell over and landed on his butt stunned at the outcome of the wolf attack.
Carl looked franticly around searching for the person that must have shot the wolf and saved him. No gun-wielding savior appeared, Carl was still alone in this strange place.
Having no idea if the wolf was alive or dead, Carl climbed to his feet and crept quietly towards the large creature. Carl picked up a large rock and prepared to make sure the wolf never attacked him again. As he got closer Carl could see the wolf was a beautiful creature. It’s jet black fur was smooth and glossy. No mange existed on this majestic creature. As Carl stepped up right next to the wolf he could see the wolf was alive, the massive chest slowly rose and fell with each breath.
Carl’s hand seemingly on its own accord stretched out and touched the wolf. As his hand touched the dark fur a warm red light spread between Carl and the wolf. Carl felt nothing but kindness towards the wolf, the rock fell from his hand that wasn’t touching the wolf. Carl pulled his hand from the wolf and smiled to himself, Carl felt peace at leaving the wolf alive, even if it might come back and bite him in the butt….literally.
Carl turned a quietly started back down the path.
He had been walking for about an hour when he felt the prickly feeling between his shoulder blades again. Carl turned and found the wolf staring at him and only about twenty feet separated them this time. The wolf didn’t snarl or bark this time it just watched him; curiosity gleamed in those intelligent eyes. Carl stared at the wolf and the wolf stared right back. Carl took a step towards the wolf and the wolf just watched. Standing and staring at each other for what to Carl felt like forever the wolf finally seemed to make up its mind.
With a large huff that shook its body the wolf slowly walked towards Carl and stopped right in front of him and lowered its massive head. Feeling brave and stupid Carl slowly reached with a closed fist. He stopped his fist a few inches from the wolf’s nose. The wolf gently snuffled Carl’s fist and then slid his head under and lifted Carl’s hand. Carl, in the most inopportune time ever sneezed and the wolf jumped backwards, the wolf watched Carl warily.
Once again Carl found himself in a staring match with the dark wolf. This time was different though. Carl felt no hostility from the wolf only peace. Taking a educated guess, Carl walked bravely towards the wolf, then extended his hand palm up. The wolf calmly placed its chin in his hand and Carl gently scratched it.
The wolf’s head was at Carl’s chest level, standing 5 foot 9 inches Carl knew the wolf was a BIG animal. The wolf came up and nuzzled Carl’s chest, “it seems I’ve made a new friend.”
The wolf was jet black except a bit of white on its toes. The fur was soft and dense, “Well, I think I’ll call you Jet. That makes sense, right?”
Jet whacked Carl with a plate sized paw and huffed. Carl smiled down at Jet, “From enemies to friends, okay Jet lets get moving.” Carl started walking towards the quickly falling sun peaking through the trees.
He had made it about one hundred feet when he realized that Jet was still standing in the same spot. Carl looked at giant underbred dog and walked back to Jet. “ Hey, why you standing there boy? The sun is getting low and we need to get out of these woods.” The wolf looked at Carl and started walking off the path towards the thicket. Jet would take a few steps and stop and look back at Carl, finally he stopped right at the end of the wide path and sat and stared at Carl.
“Ok message received pup, you want me to follow you. I’ll follow you, just don’t lead me into a trap and eat me okay?” Jet’s tongue lolled out in what Carl interpreted as a smile and slowly made his way into the thick stuff. Carl almost needed a machete to carve a path. Jet may be a large animal but he moved through the thicket like smoke through fingers.
Every time Carl would lose sight of Jet, the wolf would stop and wait patiently for the clumsy chubby human to catch up. On about the fourth time this happened Jet walked towards a giant pine tree whose branches touched the ground and slipped inside. Filled with curiosity Carl cautiously followed Jet.
Carl swept a large pine bough out of the way and laughed in delight at what he found. Inside the sheltering arms of the tree was a small opening. “It’s a natural tent!” exclaimed Carl. Carl could have sworn he saw Jet roll his eyes like “ duh, puny human.” The area was large enough for both Jet and Carl to lie out or sit up in. Inside were dead pine needles, which Carl quickly added more pine needles to in order to make a nice bed for him and Jet. After the long walk and the terror of meeting Jet for the first time, Carl was asleep in seconds flat.
During the night Carl awoke and found Jet had left him. Groggy from sleep he figured the wolf must have repaid him for his mercy and left. Carl rolled over and went back to sleep.
When Carl woke, he wondered why his bed was so lumpy and what his grandma was making for breakfast and why his blanket smelled. With a start he realized that he was not in his bed but lying in a pine tree and his stinky blanket was actually Jet pressed up against his back. With his movement Jet jumped up and started to walk out of the tree tent, “Aww are you embarrassed I caught you snuggling like a big puppy?” Jet gave him a grumpy look, snorted with disgust and walked out of the tree-tent.
After Jet had walked out, Carl found that Jet had brought him a present. A large rabbit laid by the door of the tree-tent, “Oh boy! Thank you jet! I guess breakfast is roast rabbit!” After prepping the rabbit for cooking, Carl started gathering kindling and wood to make a fire. After that task was completed, Carl looked around and realized that starting a fire in the thicket might not be the brightest of ideas and moved his project to a small clearing near the tree.
With the rabbit ready to cook Carl made a fire pit and a passable cooking spit. Thankfully Carl was a large survivorman fan and always had a leatherman and a fire starter on his person. After a few false starts he had a fire going, the warmth and light filled his heart with joy. The thing that made him smile though was when he heard the soft footsteps of Jet approaching. With a loud grunt Jet laid himself up against Carl.
Carl sat watching the rabbit roast, he had one hand on Jet’s back and was slowly admiring the beauty of the clearing. Carl looked up in the sky and noticed something strange. There were no contrails from jets. No matter where he had been, whether the middle of the ocean or in the middle of the Wyoming wilderness he had always seen contrails from passenger jets traveling overhead. There were no contrails and the air was so clean! Carl looked at Jet and said, “I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore Toto.”
Carl didn’t think he was on Earth anymore, “getting sucked into a video game has that effect I guess.” He ran his hand through the Jet’s thick black hair, “well, if I have to be stuck on a different planet or whatever this is, at least I have a dog.” Jet growled at him obviously offended at being called a dog, “Sorry buddy.”
The rabbit finally finished cooking, Carl tried not to drool as his mouth filled with saliva. The smell was amazing, Carl pulled the rabbit from the spit and immediately tried to tear off a piece and just as quickly spit it out because it was way hot! “Ahh the flesh it burns!” The wolf huffed twice and Carl realized that Jet was laughing at him, “You jerk, just how intelligent are you?” Jet just laughed again and snatched up the piece of rabbit Carl had spit out, “butthead.”
Carl leaned back against a tree and burped contently, the rabbit had been delicious, then again hunger is the best seasoning. Jet crunched happily on the bones, Carl smiled at the giant wolf, “enjoy your treat buddy, you earned it.” Carl noticed that the sun was climbing pretty high in the sky and that it was time for action! “Well, I guess we should get back on the road eh?”
Jet hopped to his feet and started following Carl as he walked towards the path winding through the woods.
Once again the dirt path crunched under Carl’s feet as he walked along. Jet padded along silently next to him, eyes constantly surveying everything around them. Once while walking down the path Jet’s ears perked up and he turned towards the thicket beside the path and let out a terrifying growl, his teeth showed and Carl looked wearily at what the wolf was focused on. A pair of red eyes glared balefully at Carl and Jet, then they slowly melted into the bushes.
Carl patted Jet on the back, he was grateful for the wolf’s protection and keen senses.
Carl and Jet had been walking for hours when Jet’s ears perked up. He then turned and looked back the way they had come. Jet bit Carl’s shirt and started to pull Carl off the trail. Carl looked quizzically at Jet, and then he heard thunder rolling towards him.
The thunder was the running of horses. A large horse-drawn carriage and twenty mounted guards came flying around a corner and into view. Jet flew off the path and into the underbrush, Carl stood dumbfounded as he stared at the carriage and riders swiftly approaching him. All he could think was “where the fook am I?”
The guards on the horses were in medieval armor. All the knights wore swords some also carried lances, while a few had bows and arrows. The knights were amazing but the thing that made Carl’s chin drop was the carriage.
Pulled by six white horses, the carriage was white with soft pink accents around the roof and door. A large crest of a golden crown was emblazoned on the door. The knights and the carriage came to a stop in front of Carl who suddenly found himself surrounded by the knights and a plethora of swords and lances pointed at his throat like some messed up necklace.
An angry voice flew out of the carriage, “Driver, why have we stopped! I demand you get us to Ludum. My test to enter Magicae is today!” A head followed the voice out of the window and what a head! Beautiful golden hair cascaded down around a face men would kill for. Pale blue eyes shot to the poor driver and then drifted down to Carl. “You, peasant, were dropped on your head as a baby? Move out of the way!” The beautiful woman glared at him and then stuck her head back into the carriage. Some of the knights nudged Carl out of the way with their horses and with a crack of the whip, the carriage trundled on down the road with knights once again providing escort.
“Do you need a ride kid?” Carl jumped and turned to find a man on a horse chuckling to himself. The man was sitting on a black horse wearing black leather armor. He had a large bow on his back, a short sword on his hip and a smile on his lips. “I did not mean to frighten you son, but I have to ask, what are you doing unarmed and alone in the Nigh forest?” Carl looked up at the friendly but well armed man, “well sir, I woke up in the forest, I have no clue how I got here or where here, even is.”
The man looked on Carl with pity and held out his hand. “Climb up son and I’ll give you ride into town.” as Carl reached for the man’s hand, he heard a growl from behind him. The man’s eyes widened, he slowly reached for his sword and he whispered, “don’t move son, there is a giant wolf behind you.” Carl jumped and hollered “wait, he’s my friend!” Carl ran back and put his hand on Jet’s back.
The man looked down from his horse at the strange pair. The boy and the wolf looked equally willing to defend each other. The man snorted and with a smile said “well, if he’s your friend, I will not harm the hairball.” Carl patted Jet on the back and said to the wolf “don’t worry Jet this man -?” The man smiled again and said “Zeke.” “This man Zeke will not harm us okay?” Carl said to the giant wolf.
Zeke chuckled and once again held his hand out to the boy “you coming son? Actually first, what is your name? I can’t keep calling you Son or Boy.” Carl smiled and took Zeke’s hand, “my name is Carl.