Somewhere a boy is having a conversation with a sandwich of all things. “Mr. Ham. Something isn’t right about you.”
In a posh British accent, he responded, “I take offense to that. I'll have you know I am a perfectly delectable piece of deli meat. That is primed and ready to be eaten.”
“Hmmm...” He eyed the sandwich dubiously. Not really believe it. “I don't know. I just get the feeling that something is off.”
“Well, as you can see by my expiration date on the side over there.” The sandwich pointed towards the package the sandwich came in. He had gotten on a whim from a gas station. He did in fact see it was not yet expired, it still had another day or two. “I am well within safe parameters for eating. So there is nothing to worry about."
“True and you do taste pretty good.” It argued its case very well. He went in for another bite but paused. “Mr ham do you wish to be eaten? I am just now realizing how rude it must have been for me to just take a bite out of you earlier. I didn't even take into account your feelings.”
The sandwich looked touched by his concern, “Why that is very thoughtful of you young man, but what else is a sandwich supposed to do? It is my life's, work. My destiny is to be eaten by one such as yourself. In fact the worst possible fate for one such as I would be to be tossed away like some three-week-old rubbish.”
“Mr. Ham you make a compelling argument, and I am most convinced to eat you.” He grabbed the sandwich still hesitant.
“Yes?” The sandwich asked curious.
“I would like to note. That I feel like something is wrong.”
“Does that mean you aren't going to eat me?” The sandwich voice turned fearful.
“No.” He said vehemently, “I just want Miss NotePad to take my remarks. Did you get that Miss NotePad?”
He looks over to a little notepad that is writing something. “Yes, Mr. Nowak. I have it right here and will file it for record.” She said adjusting her glasses.
“Thank you Miss NotePad.” He picked up the sandwich once more. Now Mr ham, I will now, with your consent eat you.” He looked seriously at the sandwich. “Any last requests?”
“Oh no my dear boy.” He replied in anticipation.
The boy shrugged and proceeded to finish the large sandwich.
#
Somewhere a rift opens in a kitchen. A creature unknown to this world jumps through landing on a linoleum floor something he had never seen. A Djinn, a strange blue-silver fire skin to this creature’s pink, and a rather dashing set of horns.
There he looked around and noticed the pink creature collapsed over what he thought was a sandwich. Then his eyes widened when he realized. “A human!” Thra said with a mix of excitement and trepidation. He was still unsure about what to believe about them. There were so many conflicting stories, some from the library, others from the other Djinn who claim their stories were the truth. Thra was not sure what to believe.
He approached the humans and slumped over the body cautiously, lifting him up he let out a sigh. Thra knew it was ludicrous to expect it to be the same human who took them but couldn’t help to worry. “Good it's not him...but what do I do now?”
He lets out a long breath as Thra went to go over the room. His mission was clear gather Intel then go back through the rift. Unsure of what kind of Intel this place had he began to examine the half-eaten sandwich on the plate. It smelled like food and even looked like a good piece of sustenance though the meat look kind of funny. There was green mold on it.
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Do these humans eat moldy meat? He looked from the sandwich to the dead man and shook his head. Probably not. Placing the food back down he began to search the place finding things both familiar and strange. Many of the odd he recognized from his time in the office, he jumped at didn't know what they were. Though he did like pushing the buttons on the box that lit up and beeped. He was so ensonced he missed the rifts closing.
He was opening up the large white box that housed all kinds of foods when he heard movement and a growl.
“Grrr.”
Thra froze. The sound was coming from behind him where the human was lying slumped over a table. What was that? He slowly turned around to find the human. Moving, and gnawing on the table. Its eyes were milky and white.
“What the...” He began but those two words caught the thing’s attention as its head snapped towards him, and ran at him.
“Shit!” Thra shouted reaching out for the closest object. He took a solid wood knife block and hurled it as hard as he could at the undead human. Striking its head caving it in and killing the man for a second time.
Thra was breathing heavily, as he took in the gruesome scene “The hell was all that?”
After he calmed himself he thought Now to finish getting the intel. Wait, intel? Thra looked around completely lost. Where am I? Why would I be getting intel on anyone? Thra was just a baker.
#
In an auditorium, a doll stares mouth agape at the scene she just watched. “What did I just watch?” Then another better question hit her, “And how did the Djinn even get there?”
Nicki laughed. “I know right? I was just as flabbergasted as you. Apparently, the Djinn had been opening rifts with the sword’s help. Looking for a way back. They did not realize they would forget once they were there and the portal closed.”
“So that’s why they had no idea what was on the other side.” She reasoned.
Nicki’s voice turned solemn, “Yeah. I think more would have taken the rifts if they knew. They wouldn’t have lost as much.” He shook himself. “I actually pulled him there to stop another tragedy.”
“You pulled him?”
“Yeah, I have a connection to” Nicki gestured all around. “Here. And when I felt the opening, I was able to connect it there”
“Why would you do that? Weren’t they just trying to go home?” She asked accusingly.
Nicki shook his head, “Did you forget? They couldn’t go back, at least not from there. No, they would have gone somewhere else. Could have been anywhere.”
“Still why pull them there?” She asked still trying to understand the logic. There had been no explosion, no multitudes of deaths. Just a single undead, easily taken care of.
“Do you know what happens when a mana-less world gains mana?”
“No. But by your tone, it’s not good.”
“Sometimes. Almost anything can happen. From rifts to the void, magic spontaneously appearing among the people, monsters appearing, random big ass explosion.”
“Got it anything could happen. But how did eating a sandwich release mana?” That was the part she didn’t understand.
“He was a Hero. His knot was tangled and deeply embedded in the tapestry. So when he broke free from his fate. That released a ton of Mana. In this case, he would have started the zombie apocalypse. If Thra didn’t stop it. So much as a scratch from him would have been enough to spread the disease, that’s how much mana was in his body.”
“I don’t know if I should be impressed on this one.” She said seriously.
Nicki laughed. “Now let me show you the price for my meddling.
#
In a place between a dream and a moment a man stands watching a scene of deviation unfold. A deviation he had caused, and he could only smile. He had finally been able to really do something. No matter how small he had protected the world.
Nicki had seen so much since being there. So much of it was reactive. This was the first he could protect them from the inciting incident. He looked down at his hands purple sparks jumped between his fingers he finally felt he could do something. Something that he had tried and failed so many times before, only for his body to burn, and the world around the Hero remained unchanged.
But now things were different, at least that was what he was desperately holding onto. He hated feeling so helpless being ripped from one scene to the next fighting against the Fates to protect as many people as he could. Somehow he had gotten ahead of them and even gained power to help.
Suddenly, Nicki tasted ozone and small purple lighting expelled from his mouth. The essence sparked expelling with the lighting. He felt himself become less again.
“That's probably not good.”
* * *