Samuel was panicking.

It was just a simple spar mind you, but his opponent was tenacious. And terrible. It was a poor combination in his mind. He had accepted this spar to give the boy some pointers. Since Samuel was a Squire, there was no way the newest Page of the order should have honestly expected to win….

It started out innocently enough, he circled the boy and gave him some sharp smacks to correct his form. Feet and legs were out of alignment, back and shoulders needed to be squared. They were just using wooden swords and shields, but if you swing a simple stick hard or fast enough it hurts plenty.

He thought the boy would appreciate the pointers. As he continued the lesson though, the boy’s face just seemed to express more and more anger. He thought the boy was angry at his own lack of progress. That’s what he would have felt at least if he had his flaws pointed out in his forms. He thought that… until the boy screamed and seemed to berserk on him. The Page went all out and swung his sword non-stop, not applying any form or technique. He even lashed out with his shield haphazardly as if he expected it to connect and deal a fatal blow. The boy’s strength and speed were no match for Samuel. He dodged every blow gracefully and parried some away to try and diffuse some of the boy’s stamina so he could end this, talk to the boy, and still get a meal.

Nothing seemed to be working however. The boy never slowed. He was just re-appraising the boy when a possibility occurred to him. He focused his mana and there it was, plain to see. The boy had hazy ripples just so faintly emanating from him, one effect of using mana to enhance physical prowess. A common enough occurrence, but rare for one who had just become a Page and has most likely not even had any training on proper mana circulation and usage. He was shocked, what did this fool think he was doing?

“Page, stop it right this instant!” He yelled to deaf ears. “Enough I said! You need to stop now! Your mana capacity is probably exhausted by now and you’ll start burning your life!”.

The boy did not quit. Feeling a headache coming on, Samuel decided he needed to stop the boy one way or the other. He quickly stepped behind him and delivered a thwack to his lower head, hoping for a knockout to end the craziness.

And so now, Samuel was panicking.

While the boy did go down, he may have used a bit too much force. The Page began spasming as he was down on the ground. Was the boy so underdeveloped he couldn’t take a hit that hard? He quickly grabbed a gambeson from a training rack and threw it over the boy to weigh him down and limit his flailing. He stared at him for a moment longer and while the convulsions lessened they were still going on.

Samuel rushed out of the training courtyard to grab an Abbott. He could only hope that he did not permanently damage the frail Page. While none would fault him, especially if they listened to his explanation of the situation, the accident would mar his record. He could not stand to see it tarnished so, especially as it would reflect on his Knight. The shame he would feel would be nothing compared to any potential advancement opportunities he would miss out on.

Samuel hurried on his way to the Healing quarters, and he nearly ran into Priest Cristoff. As much as it should be beneath the Priest, Samuel was honorbound to at least make the inquiry.

Stepping back and bowing hastily he spoke. “Pardon me, honored Priest. Could this Squire spare but a minute of your time?”

—----

Oh. Oh god. I’m dying. My head is literally killing me. Worst hangover ever. I know I was drinking way too much last night, but it's never been this bad of a hangover before. Hopefully this was worth it. I’m just praying the girl enjoyed her time enough and I got the digits. God I better not have been too drunk to get the number. Although…. Knowing my luck… yeah… I didn’t get it. That’ll be the perfect way to top off this killer hangover.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“God I can be dumb sometimes.” I say while groaning.

Suddenly I hear voices. Now I know I’ve done messed up. I live alone, and never has it been bad enough that my old friends from college have needed to either take me home or back to their place.

“Guys, how bad did I mess up last night? Tell me the truth.” I query.

“Page? Page are you alright? Are you able to understand us?” someone says.

“What? This hangover is super bad. I can't even understand you.” As I finish, I try to hold my head only to feel the heaviest blanket in the world on me. After finally shrugging it off and getting both arms out I begin holding my head and massaging it. I’ve kept my eyes firmly shut till now because there is no way I’ll be able to handle the extra input. I can already tell it's too bright even with my eyes closed.

“Hmmm? Perhaps just a little more? This has taken a surprising amount of mana. And his words are certainly odd. I can’t place the dialect. Do you know where he’s from?” someone says.

I’m slightly panicking now as the voices continue. I not only can’t recognize what they’re saying, I don’t know the voices either! Oh I really messed up. Is this the hospital? Did I drink so much they took me to the hospital? Is this full blown alcohol poisoning? I should probably never drink again. They’ll never let me live this down.

“No, Sir Priest. I did not know him before this spar. I was honestly just trying to help out a new Order member by providing pointers. I know his name is William, and I too can also not place the dialect, although there was no trouble earlier. Please forgive my ignorance” someone else continued.

“No no, it's quite alright. You should be lauded for that attitude, but again, the amount of mana is troubling. Here we go, this should be enough. I focused the rest on his head since he’s clearly still in pain there.” the first voice finished.

“Hey, can you guys understand me? I’m truly sorry but my head is pounding and….. Oh” I began asking but had to gasp. All of a sudden my headache was completely gone. Like from 100-0. What was that? Whatever drug they gave me must have finally kicked in and it was amazing. I haven’t felt this good since the first year of college. “Oh my god, thank you for the meds. They finally kicked…..in?” I began, but had to stop. I had just opened my eyes. This was not a hospital. When I first opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was the sky. I could clearly see the top of a bell tower. Also, it wasn’t like anything modern but more of one of those old timey ones. Like, not even proper bricks and more of whatever large stones they could find. Now… that I’m paying attention I can clearly feel grass on my neck. Just what did I get myself into?

I pushed myself up to a sitting position and looked around. Yep. I’m in an old timey church thing. Giant courtyard, maybe a football field in length but in a weird shape. Definitely not a rectangle…. Ahh 5 sides, so a pentagon? There were a bunch of honest to goodness weapon racks with actual things propped up in them! And pallets of medieval armor laying around? What was going on? Where did I end up? Finally I was actually able to focus on two people staring at me, and honest to goodness, it was a friggin 'knight and like a bishop or something. They stared at me. I stared at them. Good times.

“Uhm…. hello there? Sorry to bother you, and I know this might sound crazy, but could you tell me where I am? And maybe where my phone is?” I fired off a few questions as I began patting myself down checking for my phone. This led me to another important discovery. I was not in normal clothes. I look down and reach a conclusion. Yep, I got drunk and found a renaissance fair. No other explanation.

“Hey guys, again I don’t know what I agreed to or did last night, but I just need to get home at this point. Would I have turned my clothes in somewhere? Can you point me to the front office or clerk or whomever I got these clothes from? Guys?” I just kind of kept rambling at this point, as the other 2 were just staring at me as if I was an animal in a zoo or something. As I continue patting myself down I’m struck by how odd my hands look. I stop and just stare. Something is wrong…. I just need to see it… Oh. OH. Oh… what? They’re not only a different skin tone, but also calloused. They look like the type of hand on a manual laborer. No offense to them but that is not how my hand is. And the skin is so bronzed now, like someone who has clearly spent many cumulative years outside. What is going on here? Did I stumble into a tanning bed in the middle of the night? Are they open that late? Is that even a thing? …. Wait….. This had to be a prank. My friends capitalized on the fact that I got too drunk last night. That has to be it.

“Guys… uhm…. So another question…..” I continued