ARRIVAL

It all happened in a blink. We take it on faith that the world we leave before a blink will remain there when we reopen our eyes. In fact, humans blink more than is necessary for simple eye lubrication. I read about a recent study that mentioned something to do with changes in brain activity while we blink. A method for our brain to release attention for a miniscule amount of time.

blink

It had been an exhausting day. My eyes were starting to water from staring at the computer screen for too long. Which prompted an excessive amount of blinking.

blink

It was 2am on a Sunday night, or perhaps better to call it Monday morning. I needed to figure out this damn linking error in my code before standup tomorrow morning. Already at reduced mental capacity due to exhaustion, I kept looking over the same piece of code over and over again, hoping for some rare moment of insight that would help me find the bug.

blink

I felt that I was really close to figuring it out. My eyes were still glued to the screen. A dark background and lowered brightness to help reduce eye strain. Or at least that was the hope.

blink

Sunlight from a window assaulted my senses. I was suddenly standing and in a foreign place.

"What the fuck are you doing with that?"

I realized two things in that moment, the first that there was a giant of a man standing a few feet away from me. And the fact that I held a fancy sword in my hand. The hilt was wrapped in a smooth royal purple fabric with interlacing golden trim but the thing that immediately caught my eye was the largest diamond I had ever seen embedded in the hilt. Moreover, the diamond was emitting a bright pulsating white light.

"I'm not..."

The light pulses from the diamond had started to become brighter and more frequent. The man's look of fury transformed into a mix of worry and anger as he too focused on the diamond. He closed the distance between us and looked to grab the sword from my hand. A massive flash of light emanated from the sword causing me to drop the sword as I covered my eyes. The sound of glass breaking was followed by a shockwave that forced both of us to take a few steps back. I blinked in rapid succession as vision slowly returned after the impromptu 'flashbang'. My eyes were drawn again to the sword. It spotted burn marks on its hilt and a gaping hole where the diamond used to be.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"What is happening?!"

Smack

Pain exploded on my face as I realized the man had just struck me with such force I fell to my knees.

"What have you done boy?" the man questioned with rising panic. "The king will have both of our heads!"

"Who are you?!" I questioned.

This seemed to anger him further. He made to grab me but I scrambled away from his reach. Before he could attempt to try again, I got on my feet and made for the door. It was a heavy wooden thing but swung easily enough under the weight of my shoulder.

The smell was the first thing that assaulted my senses. It smelled like a mixture of sweat, urine and very strong perfume. A weird mixture to be sure but the sight that greeted me was even stranger. I felt like I was in the middle of a renaissance fair. A very dirty one to boot. The road was roughly paved with giant stones and all manner of dirt and grime filled the gaps. There was a mass of stalls on either side of the road and behind them were sturdy structures of stone like the one I had just exited.

My wondering had cost me valuable time and the giant of a man grabbed my shirt and lifted me in the air while turning me around with ease. I tried to free myself but his massive arms were as if made of the giant stones that paved the street for all that I could move them. He seemed to notice someone behind me and called out.

"Guards!"

"Yes, Master Smith. Who is this scoundrel?"

"This thief has broken the King's sword while trying to steal it."

"I didn't...I'm not even sure where I am" I tried to argue my side. One of the guards slammed the hilt of his sword into my stomach. "Silence!"

I doubled over in pain. I was panicking by now. Was this a nightmare I couldn't snap myself out of? What the fuck was going on? I was staring at my hands and noticed something new. There was a tattoo of a diamond on the palm of my right hand. Turning it over, I noticed the same tattoo on the back of my hand as well. That diamond looked eerily like the diamond that had been on the damned "King's sword".

One of the guards noticed my inspection of the tattoo and yelled "He's mage blessed!". This sparked immediate movement from the rest of the guards as they roughly grabbed both my arms and pushed them up against my back while pinning my body to the wall. Not unlike how the police arrest someone.

"WAIT!" I yelled, trying to wriggle my arms free.

"Better to just knock him out, I have not seen that blessing before." The smith provided. The next thing I knew, something hard hit the back of my head and I blacked out.