Chapter 4 Meetings

The other world……

Topher was ticked off, irritated, pissed. He had lost one more time and it was not sitting well. He as not a man who handled defeat well, he hadn’t known it often and didn’t plan to in the future. But here he was, defeated.

The knife had been thrown into the tree so hard he couldn’t ‘mumble the peg’, no chance.

His feeble throw had been yanked out by Aladons fearsome fangs in a moment, and even Minerva’s smaller teeth had pulled his best attempt. He was done at this game. “So done,” he muttered. He would be picking bark out of his teeth for hours.

“All right lads, look alive”, he barked, noticing the duke was on his way over. The three of them policed up their knives and kit, tightened armour, readjusted swords. Helmet's on just in time as the large man on a larger dmount bounded over and skidded to a stop,

“Captain, sergeant, private, are you ready to make history today?”, Duke Engle asked.

An imposing figure of a man. Well over 6 feet, wearing heavy full plate armour , two hand battle axe strapped on his back. A fearsome weapon, double bladed with a hammer head and pommel, he didn’t seem to notice the weight though.

Answering with a salute, Aladon growled “Aye your grace, the little ones and I are at your service.”. Topher snorted “Little ones…maybe Minerva, but not all of us are outsized louts sergeant. But yes, we are ready sir.”.

“Private Minerva.”, said the duke, addressing the smallest member of his squad, “prepare the portal.”. The tiny being, most doglike in looks, also said “Aye aye,”, and started pulling equipment out of her many pockets. Foremost was a rune inscribed wand, about 18 inches in length and encrusted with gems that started glowing as she ran her tiny hands over it.

“Two minutes your grace, we can pass through then,” she squeaked.

Armour was checked, weapons and harness shook into place, long robes donned to cover and helmets on. They were ready.

“10 seconds your grace, 9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,…open for travel now,”. shouted Minerva. They were not taking mounts through, so with a very practiced motion, through they went.

There was no sensation passing through the ring, no searing cold, molten heat…nothing. In one moment they were in a small courtyard, facing a line of armed soldiers. In a blaze of motion they had tossed off their caftans and readied weapons and shields. Aladon was in guard between the duke and the foreign troops, bulwark and guard up and ready for a burst of protection if needed. Topher and Minerva were on guard position, he was ready to go in a millisecond, fast activated and waiting. Minerva had retreated behind a shield of pure force , her various drones up and targeting while she waited on Tophers commands.

The Albion soldiers reacted as expected to the four fighters, at a complete loss, no commands given…in fact they reacted as if four wasps had burst into their kitchen. Several ran off at the sight of Aladon, most raised their weapons to firing positions. Upon seeing this Topher assumed the battle was on…

With pinpoint accuracy Minerva’s drones began targeting and firing, so far only the soldiers rifles had been destroyed, but the threat was there. Topher had fired off across what was quickly becoming a battlefield, blurring toward who was in command. His unmatched speed left several soldiers struggling to even see what had sliced their weapons in half. As he approached the enemy command he activated boost and felt the tingle of all his skills and abilities being boosted to their max.

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The dust trail he had kicked up bloomed around him as he arrived at his destination, a very decorated soldier, two science types, an older male and …she could only be his potential queen. The soldier was on his back with a long sword at his throat, the older man beside him, with the two academics unconscious at his feet. “Don’t move, tell your troops to stand down, now” Topher grated out. The older man shouted “Stand down…for the kings sake, stand down.”. His orders were followed, weapons lowered, threat diminishing.

The king was not moving, his eyes on the glittering blade an inch away from his throat.

A tremendous shout rang across the court yard, “Squad at defence!”, bellowed the duke. Topher lowered his weapon, Minerva’s drone ceased firing, but still menaced the enemy, Aladon had dropped his skills and waited.

Only now did Topher pay more attention to the young girl next to him, he realized she had drawn a blade, god knows from where, and was crouching near the older man. Good reflexes he thought.

This world…

Evangeline couldn’t believe what just happened. A ring had appeared, four people came through and then all hell broke loose. Even after seeing what happened it was hard to accept what these people could do. Was it magic, or more of their very advanced technology.

The large one defended the other large being, the small one had summoned things, and the other…. He had sped across the court yard in a blur of motion, and ended here in complete control. Even now that he wasn’t actively attacking she could feel the menace.

The duke stepped forward and removed his helmet, revealing a very open face, bright red hair and a huge curled moustache . “Is this how you greet all guests?”, he asked “we came in good faith and this is how you react.”, he shook his head sadly.

Evangeline stepped forward, “Please, this was a mistake, the soldiers over reacted, they weren’t ready for the ring to just appear. Allow the King to stand, allow him his dignity.”. Duke Engle nodded, “My apologies, my squad are a bit overzealous, but very effective wouldn’t you say?”.

The king struggled to his feet, having the wind knocked out of was not a normal Wednesday event “Very effective indeed.”. He snapped his fingers and an aide left his spot on the line and fetched him a chair. Duke Engle seemed to stroke one of his many rings and produced a chair from nowhere, more of a throne actually.

Topher sensed the conflict was over, and from the demeanour of the two seated men, the talking would start.

He saluted “Sir, Minerva and I will check portal stability.”. The Duke nodded and kept on talking with the king. Minerva had stowed her drones in her storage and walked to the ring with him, “She seems nice, brave too, trying to poke you with that little knife.”.

“Yes, I like that, I hope she works out.”, he replied. Reaching the portal Minerva again pulled her wand out, three crystal assemblies as well. They positioned them around the ring and she activated them with an elegant swoosh. The crystals, glowing purple and humming, flew around the ring in a triangle formation. Minerva’s eyes also glowed purple as information was relayed back to her. “We are stable for at least another hour sir.”, she reported.

Thanking her, Topher reported their findings to the Duke who asked him to join them.

“Now as I was saying, our world is an old one and has seen much conflict. We reached the precipice hundreds of years ago and realized one thing…we love war. The three factions of our world each had the ability to wipe out the others in a matter of minutes. Realizing this we came to an agreement.”, again he reached into mid air and a foaming tankard of ale appeared in his hand. “Your majesty?”, he pointed to his drink…”Would you partake?”.

The kings eyebrows had nearly hit his hairline at the sight but he quickly nodded his assent and was handed an equally frosty tankard. A sip turned into a deep drink. “Amazing, but I have many questions. From where did you get it, and what is it called.”.

The Duke laughed, “It’s an ale from my farm district, and I took it from my void ring.”. He indicated an ornate ring, he had several. “In fact, we need a …”. A table, several books, a writing set appeared between the two. “Our technology enables us to store anything in a pocket dimension and take it out when needed.”.

“Back to business at hand.”. He indicated the books on the table. “I brought these for you, to peruse later. A history of our worlds. As I said, we realized we could destroy our enemies in minutes so we developed the Accords.”. At that word each of his squad touched lips and forehead.

He continued “We agreed to stylize our combat, to an earlier age. As you saw two of our warriors took control of this area in seconds. This was done by the use of abilities . Granted by the system to those that work and train hard, and were lucky enough to be able to connect..”. The king asked “Connect to what and abilities…there is so much you are telling me that makes no sense.”.

At this point the two doctors regained their senses, if clutching heads and sitting miserably was sensible. “Aladon”., the Duke pointed at the two. The large being left his post at the dukes back and knelt beside the two men. Placing a hand on their should he growled “Be well.”.

The change was instant, it was as if a electric shock passed through them. Eyes cleared, minor scratches were gone, even their hair was tidied.

The king stared at the doctors…”Amazing, we have much to learn from you.”.

The Duke leaned forward “That may be, but first…may we meet the young queen in waiting.”.