“They don’t tell you about the other side in the stories,” Chris muttered as made his way to the front door.

Someone had been pounding on it for the last several minutes; someone who Chris did not want to deal with again for what felt like the millionth time since his brother had been magically summoned to another world.

“Hello Kayla,” he sighed as he opened the door.

Kayla was Charles’ girlfriend, and the two had been together since they started high school. While Chris often thought of his brother as a simple meathead, Charles was socially competent even though he lacked practical knowledge. She haughtily brushed past him as if she lived here.

“Please do come in…,” he said under his breath.

Kayla and Chris did not exactly get along. While they currently were not of the same physical build, as identical twins they shared features. Features that reminded Kayla of her missing boyfriend. Kayla had accused Chris of going so far as to murder and hide the body to explain why Charles spontaneously disappeared. Police had even asked him questions to determine just that at her insistence. Of course he could not explain how Charles had been summoned via magic, since that would have been a one way ticket to a psychiatrist and treatment for delusions.

Kayla was, similar to Charles, considered to be one of the athletic types in school, so it was almost natural that she and Charles had been dating. Chris did not necessarily believe in superstitions, which given the strange events that had occurred to him recently was ironic, but he had to believe that some of her hot-headed nature was because of her auburn hair.

“What do you want today?” he asked.

She had taken a seat on the living room couch and was already flipping through her phone for whatever conversation she was having before arriving. Sprawled out as she somewhat was, Chris briefly remembered the crush he used to have on her, before that night.

It was already two years ago, but the terror that Chris had experienced still lingered. Charles was caught with Kayla, intimately, by her father. Being his twin, her father had accidentally mistaken Chris for Charles. If not for their father and Charles intervening that time, Chris likely would have been beaten by the man. That Charles confessed to the situation he had fled from surprised Chris, but did little to alleviate his fears. Additionally, learning that Charles had been with Kayla ruined his attraction towards her.

“You know what I want,” she snapped back.

“I don’t know where he is.”

It was both true and untrue. Since he could connect mentally with Charles, he was getting familiar with the world his brother was in, so it could be said that he did know. Conversely, Chris had no idea where this other world was and how to get there, so it could also be said he simultaneously did not know.

“What did he say yesterday?”

“I haven’t gotten a call, text, email, or even a letter from him. The same as it’s been every day you come by and accuse me.”

Chris rolled his eyes and resumed working on the mobile game he had been coding. Eventually, she would leave on her own like always.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Why are you so calm about all of this?”

He turned in his chair to look at her. She had stopped looking at her phone and was actually looking at him. The gleam in her hazel eyes was both curious and angry, though Chris only felt the hostility.

“What can I do? Freaking out like you won’t solve anything. He left his phone and no note or anything. I’m sure once he gets bored of whatever he’s doing wherever he is he’ll show up again.”

That was a lie. Chris knew that Charles was at this very moment exploring a dungeon with his party to grow stronger. He had been having the time of his life since arriving in Adalth, and there was no way that he would be coming back anytime soon, if ever.

“He’d better.”

Chris had to commend Kayla on her loyalty to Charles, if nothing else.

“If you’re just going to break up with him when he does, why wait?”

“Because unlike him I have the strength to say it to his face!” she shouted.

Ah. So it’s not loyalty. It’s sticking it to him.

Chris turned back to his coding and continued in silence. Occasionally, he felt Kayla’s presence right behind him, peering at his screen and hoping to catch him communicating with Charles. Eventually, the front door slammed shut which broke Chris from his project.

After securing the lock and shoveling some food into his stomach, he sat in the recliner and put on his gear.

“Kayla stopped by again today,” he said as he found the spot in Charles’ mind he found most comfortable.

If it were left to Chris to explain what occupying a space in Charles’ mind was like and how to do it, he would describe it as such:

Imagine somewhere you are extremely familiar with being; a desk, your bed, or perhaps in your car. Now imagine you can only see what is going on when you shut your eyes and hear what is going on when you tune out everything else. In a sense, similar to a virtual reality. Now while you are focusing on those things, imagine a single second delay on everything. A single second does not sound like much, but that is four to five times slower than a human’s natural reaction time for visual and audio stimuli. On top of that, include a full orchestra playing every song you have ever heard, at the same time, right next to you while you are repeatedly stabbed with porcupine quills.

In short, it was slow, annoying, and somewhat painful. Charles did not seem to be affected though, which only increased Chris’s irritation.

“BRO!” Charles shouted.

The other party members looked at him and sighed. Whatever irritation they had held back over the past month was slipping out. Chris was truly concerned that Gray, the assassin, was going to kill Charles in his sleep.

“She accused me of killing you again and said she’s going to break up with you.”

“Why don’t you just tell her where I am?”

“And be treated like I’m crazy? I wouldn’t be able to help you otherwise.”

The later part was a lie, since there was nothing Chris could actually do outright. At best, he was another set of eyes and ears for information, and he had advised Charles on saying things to important people, such as the king of Therode.

“Just talk to me in your head like I do to you,” Chris asked again.

They actually had little to discuss. So Chris mostly observed through Charles’ eyes as they fought through the dungeon. None of the monsters posed any real threat to Charles, but the traps and pitfalls he kept springing were just embarrassing for Chris to witness. Even when such things were pointed out by Gray or Kelli, he would just go right up to it and trigger it.

“Seriously how are you not dead?”

“Hero thing, right?” Charles replied.

Despite it being a ‘hero thing,’ it was undoubtedly a frustrating element for the rest of the group to deal with.

“Since this is all you’re doing right now, I’m just going to go to bed. Call me if you actually need something.”

“Oh right. They said we would set off for the demon lord’s territory after we were done with this.”

“Cool. I guess you’ll be done quickly then.”

Chris sat up and rubbed his forehead. The chance to work with what was seen as the enemy was drawing closer. He hoped beyond hope that there was something that could be done once he somehow made contact.