Chapter One – Relocation

A light breached the darkness, just the faintest pinprick, blurred and hazy, chasing away the last remnants of the dream, vague memories turning to mist and vanishing before the oncoming dawn. Slowly the light began to grow, spreading out through the night but remaining nothing more than an indistinct patch of colour, yellows and browns, and the faintest hints of gold, before all at once world gaining clarity. Eliot lay still a sudden sense of weight assailing him, sound and sensation braking against his psyche like a storm, voices gurgling and muttering in his ears, sharp cries and low wailing breaths, the dull echoing throb of life burning within his chest. He lay there for a long time, eyes half open the shadows slowly starting to lift away, and slowly he dragged himself upwards in a series of slow jerking pulls. He blinked slowly, the world about him coming into focus, enough for him to notice the small round face staring up at him eyes opened wide; a clear and transparent blue which seemed to sparkle slowly beginning to widen and die as they met his own the young girl taking a hesitant step back.

She was dressed in an ugly habit, a simple rough hemp dress with an off white length of cloth wrapped around her head keeping back her hair, lips drawing together in a wordless O. “Whas, oin o.” Elliot’s word’s caught in his throat strange and gruff unnaturally heavy and harsh his hand straying instinctively upwards to clutch at his throat. The child broke from her reverie turning in a single hasty motion and rushing away Elliot’s gaze now fixed upon his arm as they continued to rub at his throat. His arms were too thick, they’d been wrapped in dirty brown bandages, a lot of bandages, but even then his arm seemed too thick...

His gaze continued drifting restless over the strange scene he’d seemed to have found himself in, to either side of him were rows of cots and beds and rough blankets laid across the floor, well laid across the ground. The beds stretched into the distance to either side of him and in front of him as well, a strong golden light seeping through the thin cloth of the tent’s roof, a long narrow pavilion packed with so many beds there was barely enough room to walk along the crooked winding isle. Still most striking of all were the patients the stench of blood and death clinging to each and every one of them, men and women laid out across the beds sporting, bloodied scars, missing limbs, broken bones, deep burns, strange diseases and the list went on and on out of sight, doctors and nurses scuttling about between the beds doing what little they could to treat the wounded and the dying. He felt queasy right down in his stomach. It didn’t make sense, none of it, it didn’t make any sense.

Elliot reached up grasping at his temples he didn’t understand how he’d ended up in this hospital... No it wasn’t a hospital he wasn’t sure what it was. His head hurt, it ached, a steady sweat breaking out across his brow and then he remembered; he’d been playing a videogame. That was it? That what he remembered.

The Rule of Albion, it was a good game, he’d been winning right up until he’d run into one of the games top players, Redskull or something. He’d managed to win but barely, and it had cost him his entire army, just to get close enough, to breach through his lines of heroes and take the man out one on one, without a leader his army collapsed. Then he had turned around and then he’d seen her; Lyca. The memories came in a flood, with dizzying affect but it didn’t explain anything why he was here, why he was lying in some kind of primitive hospital, he, he just didn’t get it, not one bit. “So you’re still alive?” a stern voice broke him from his reverie Elliot turning to face its’ owner, a slender bony woman, with dark eyes and a twisted face, the young girl from a moment before standing beside her gaze directed to the floor hands balled into fists by her side, she was shaking but she didn’t run. He would have called her brave if he had any idea why she was so afraid.

“W... Where am I?” Elliot began his voice hesitant wavering as her gaze bored its’ way through his skull down and down into the recesses of his soul.

Then she opened her lips, long and thin drawn so tight they seemed to cut across her face, “Get out.”

She spoke evenly, her voice almost empty, but scathing all the same.

“What? Where am I? What am I doing here?” Elliot choked out his voice remaining as gruff and gravely as before the woman’s face contorting in something like rage simply colder and far crueler.

“I said get out! Out! Out! Out!” She yelled every eye within ward turning to greet him as the woman grabbed him by the wrist dragging him up from the bed onto stumbling feet before forcing him forwards. The way they looked at him, all of them, that eerie light which seemed to give life to the dying, that pulled the weak and the injured up to sit firmly in their beds, there was only one word for it; malice. It almost seemed like he was some kind of - “Get out of here you monster...” the old woman screamed her voice failing her at last barely able to choke out the final word as she gave him a final shove out of the tent pushing forwards into the sunlight which waited beyond

Elliot stepped forwards out from beneath the tent, the sun breaking against his back like the oncoming tide, the young man casting a glance back over his shoulder into the tent. A group of young girls had swarmed around the old woman supporting her as he body began to crumple down towards the earth as if all the strength had been drained from it there was nothing of that hate there now... He walked slowly, his body abnormally heavy weighed down by bandages his shirt missing only a pair of thick baggy pants protecting his modesty his torso wrapped in thick dirty brown bandages marked in splotches and splatters of blood, his mind drifting backwards and forwards an impossible concept bubbling to the surface.

You saw it in videogames and manga and those weird online novels all the time; people being transported to another world...

He came to a halt, teetering briefly before collapsing down onto his rear, an oppressive heat burning its way across his skin. His gaze slowly rising up from his feet and the grass, and stretched out before him lay an endless plain. Pale yellow grass wavered in the wind, a city of tents sprawling out across the hillside, the land sloping downwards for quite a way, a small dirt road marking the foot of the hill and wound away into the distance where a dark splodge rested on the horizon, a high walled city, dark spires and towers climbing towards the heavens miles and miles and miles away. That didn’t seem right, even if he had had his glasses on, which he didn’t, he shouldn’t have been able to see that far away, yet he could make out every figure winding their way up the road, each sentry mounted on the wall drifting backwards and forwards as time trickled by.

Elliot let out a low sigh turning his attention back on himself, reaching down to claw at the bandages wrapped about his hand slowly pulling them away layer by layer to reveal the skin beneath, his hand was more tanned than he was used to and there in the centre of his palm was a wide scar shaped almost like star, a blotchy red patch of colour, the skin having begun to turn white at the edges. Slowly the wound began to seep blood the bandage which had been keeping it in check having now come free. That wasn’t good. Elliot wound the bandages back around his palm, tying them in place about his thumb directing his gaze back towards the rows of tents before him. He just wanted to understand what was going on.

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

Elliot stumbled backwards falling onto his rear, his legs pulled up tightly to his chest, this wasn’t a dream, he was fairly sure about that, but if it wasn’t a dream then what was it? Being transported to another world... That was a fantasy a stupid story, nothing more than that, but it wasn’t like he had any alternative theories to pick from.

No. There wasn’t a single explanation that made sense of this, not a one, maybe he’d gone mad, playing all those videogames had finally fried his brain just like his mom had said it would.

He sat there for a long time watching as the sun slowly began its descent over the fields and the plains sinking lower and lower, the world before him an indistinct haze the same questions running on a loop inside his head, asking again and again, what was he doing there? What was he going to do next? How was he supposed to get back home... Did he even want to go home? He was a college student, eighteen years old, he’d never been particularly smart, or particularly stupid, just very average, very, very average. The only thing he could say about himself was that he liked playing videogames and even then he hadn’t been that good, Albion was the exception, that was the one game in which he honestly believed he had any kind of talent, and even then a lot of it had just been luck. Just what in the hell was he supposed to do?

He let out a long languishing sigh, a sudden realisation striking him still sky the breath catching in his lungs. The sun was sinking low over the plains, setting the yellowed grass alight, the fields burning in the distance in shades of molten gold, casting the mountains in dark shadows as the last remnants of blue slowly faded to a faint purple, before drowning beneath the oncoming night. The grass was blue now stretching out beyond the tents cooled to a frosty sheen, lanterns burning amidst the tents casting wavering silhouettes upon cloth walls people passing amidst the makeshift streets talking and laughing, and for one brief moment the questions seemed to vanish from his head, the stars above beginning to shine. Elliot let out a low laugh rubbing at his face, although it wasn’t his face... He probably looked like his character now, he looked like Garde, he supposed he was Garde.

A violent shake of the head snapped him from his reverie Elliot forcing himself upwards onto his feet. He needed to understand exactly what was going and for that he was probably going to have to go down into the camp. He swallowed hard, a chill night breeze rising up through the grass, as he took his first step down into the valley.

The tents had been erected in a winding maze, dotted at random without any semblance of order or coherence. The narrow streets were more or less empty although one or two people would always be sat outside one of the larger public tents; a merchants, a blacksmiths, one of the large pavilions resembling some kind of tavern; the walls stained all different shades of yellow and brown. Still it always ended up the same way, whenever he got close they would turn to look at him and the moment they did their expressions would change, they looked at him like the old nurse, they looked at him like he was some kind of monster. Maybe when he’d designed Garde’s character he’s paid more attention to making him look strong rather than making him ‘conventionally handsome’ but that didn’t justify this kind of reception. Elliot folded his arms letting out a low sigh dropping down onto a small crate resting between two of the larger tents trying to shrug off the cold as it continued to bite into his exposed skin. It was probably a good thing he was wrapped in so many bandages, without them he’d probably be freezing, still he had to wonder exactly where had his shirt gone, he should have been dressed in armour and carrying his axe...

Then it hit him the answer to all of his problems. The young man swallowed hardening his resolve and stretching out his hand before him; “Item box...” He let out a low mumbling call his voice dying on the breeze as nothing happened at all.

A rosy pink rose up into his cheeks as he cleared his throat taking in a deep breath and repeating the line again but this time louder, firmer “Item box.” Nothing. “Menu.” Still Nothing. “Inventory.” Nothing. “Bag”, “Storage”, “Box”, nothing. He continued to repeat every alternative phrasing he could think of, a note of desperation creeping into his words. By the time he was about to attempt his third re-phrasing of shed, a low roar of laughter cut him off, an icy jolt ripping up his spine. The voices came from behind him, drifting through the tents the wavering light of a lantern casting a pair of shadows onto the ground. Elliot turning on his little crate to face the light, a pair of shadowy figures starting to come into view.

“Ha, to the queen!” an old man rumbled raising up a large mug into the air barely keeping himself from keeling over, the child beside him carrying the oil lamp letting out a weary sigh.

“Human’s can’t hold yer liquor worth a damn” the child laugh in a deep booming voice, the lantern quivering to reveal a thick red beard and shinning bald scalp. Elliot paused squinting through the dark to confirm what his eyes were telling him it wasn’t a child, a dwarf then? Huh well that was a first, he was looking at a real live dwarf.

“Ah shut it, we won! I have the right to get as drunk as I like!”

“Huh? But didn’t your lord lose though?”

“Well yeah but he ranked fifteen that aint too shabby huh, and unlike the rest of those dumb arses he knew when to pull his troops out, that’s why I’m still here not a scratch not a bruise.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it.” The dwarf sighed slapping the human on the back and knocking the drunk forward a couple of steps.

“Come on give me some respect, so what if you ranked third, you didn’t win either!” The man paused briefly the dwarf shooting him a broad grin the pair stopping right in front of Elliot, the old man’s gaze directed up towards the skies and the stars above. “Brand new world huh, all the lords uniting as one, I suppose there won’t be any more wars right.”

“You’re right about that, but there’ll still be monsters to fight and bandits too, the world isn’t going to be any less dangerous.”

“Well I’m glad I want to keep my job thank you very much!”

The dwarf nodded in agreement, “So have you got yer orders yet?”

“Sure, we’re moving out tomorrow same as everyone else, we’re heading back home, the wife’ll probably nag me for being away so long.”

“Good for you, I’m going to be one of the guards at the council meeting tomorrow so I’ll be stuck here for another couple of days. Ah but it’s worth it for the chance to enjoy palace life.”

“Quit bragging.” The two continued their walk their voices fading into the distance.

The other lords huh? Maybe the other players had been pulled into the game as well. If that was true then he needed to meet up with them, they might have figured out what was going on. Of course if they were meeting up he’d just have to find out where they were going and head there himself. The dwarf had mentioned a palace, Elliot assumed they meant a palace in the city he saw earlier, well it seemed like that was settled. Finally it felt like he had some idea of what he was going to do. Elliot grinned rising up from his seat, well it didn’t seem like there was going to be any point in wasting time, if he was going to beat the other lords there he’d have to start walking now.

So Elliot’s journey began following the city lights as they flickered in the distance