It was weird seeing them hugging. Bec was into girls, but there was an intimacy between Ceylas and Cambrin that made me wonder if maybe she’d been stepping out on her girlfriend. “Do you two need a room?” I asked before I could stop myself from sounding like a jerk.

Ceylas fixed me with a glare. “He’s my brother, you moron.”

“Oh, right.” That was tricky. Bec didn’t have a brother, but Ceylas did and in the same way I felt a deep love for the mother only Lo’Kryn knew I guess they must both also feel whatever it was their host bodies’s felt for each other. I eyed Cambrin, wondering how he knew me since I couldn’t figure out who he was. “We should probably talk about this,” I said, gesturing with my hands to kind of indicate our bodies.

At the roll of Ceylas’ eyes I guessed I must have conveyed enough of my meaning. She leaned back, putting her weight on her good foot as she helped Cambrin up.

He glanced at the guards. They were both watching us, the human with clear amusement. The woman felinine leaned over to him and handed him two silver coins with a scowl. I didn’t know if I should be insulted or amused that they’d made bets on our getting out alive, especially since the felinine had clearly bet against us. The other guy took the coin and pocketed it then gave us a grin and a thumbs up.

Cambrin watched the exchange with a scowl. “We most certainly should speak on the matter,” he agreed. “But not here.”

“The Rise?” Ceylas asked, wincing as she shifted weight onto her wounded foot. She handed back the writ and I tucked it in my pocket.

Cambrin reached an arm around her to help support her weight. “Yes, we can rest and recover there.”

The chipper guard saluted us as we wandered off. I glanced back at the felinine and called, “We’ll be back tomorrow, you could double or nothing us then if you want!” She just stared at me with her large, yellow eyes. I sighed and followed Cambrin and Ceylas up the street.

No one bothered us as we limped into the Palladium Rise. Cambrin headed up to the room he and Ceylas shared. It was larger than Lo’Kryn’s room, but housed two single beds, a trunk, and a desk covered in random parts, scrap, and leather.

Cambrin settled Ceylas to the edge of her bed. She bit her lip to smother a cry as she tugged the tattered remains of her boot from her injured foot. Cambrin tossed her a pile of unsullied rags and she set about cleaning and binding her wounds (Medicine: 11+1=12). I stood, awkwardly watching, as the minutes ticked by in silence.

Eventually, Ceylas looked up at us. “You’re both a mess,” she said. She tossed a rag to Cambrin. “You should probably tend to those, too,” she added, pointing to his wounds.

I glanced down at the deep gash in my shoulder. Somehow the haversack had escaped damage. Which reminded me, I drew it down from my shoulders and put it before me as I sat down on the floor between the two beds. I tugged out the bronze chest and settled in to spend some time with both my jeweler’s tools and my thieves’ tools until I could pry it open. “Talk first,” I said, concentrating on the box as I worked, ears intent, “bath later.”

Cambrin sighed. He glanced at his own bed but shook his head and sat on the floor beside me instead. He pulled his knees up to his chest and rested his chin on them.

Silence fell between us again. Eventually Cambrin was the one to break it. “So, Bec and Nik, seems we’re in a right pickle,” he said, then sighed. The mannerisms of his language seemed less stilted, and maybe a bit older than his gnomish years. I tilted my head to look at him.

“Who the hell even are you, man?” I asked, peering at him. I couldn’t figure it out by looking at his face. Well, of course I couldn’t, because none of us looked anything like ourselves. At least Bec and I didn’t so I imagined whoever this was didn’t either. Cambrin swallowed.

Ceylas sighed. “He’s Jake,” she said.

My jaw dropped. I would never have guessed that. Jake was a fun-loving guy. Sure, he ate pizza with anchovies like some kind of freak but he always brought the chips to every single game. He’d DMed for us for years. I don’t think I’d ever seen him as a player but this prim, proper, studious guy? I just couldn’t believe it.

But he nodded, giving me a guilty glance before looking over to Ceylas. “How long have you known?”

“I figured it out when we were studying an old book in the library. You were geeking out about the triple Pantheon and how each of the Gods represented a combination of ancient Earth gods from several cultures. I swear, you were as obsessive over that as you’d been over the release of Mythic Odysseys of Theros.”

“That was hours ago. Why didn’t you say something?”

She shrugged a shoulder. “You didn’t ask.”

“Bec, I’ve been going insane thinking I’d somehow entered the Twilight Zone.”

She scoffed. “That’s pretty much what this bullshit is, isn’t it? I mean it’s some kind of weird dream or something. I probably had an anurism in my sleep and now I’m stuck in a sick fantasy with you two, and a damn crocodile that wants to rip my leg off.” She winced as she tugged the end of her bandage a little tighter. Then she looked up at us both, glaring as if this whole thing were our fault. “You’re probably not even real.”

“I thought it was a dream at first too,” I admitted, shaking my head. “But I don’t know any more. Nothing seems to wake us up. And I mean, I haven’t slept here or anything but what Siria said to me, that I’m a Traveller, well,” I paused, wondering if I should admit to them how I’d felt in that moment. They both gazed at me and I met each pair of eyes, then leaned forward to whisper, “Well, I mean, I felt kind of excited about it. Lo’Kryn knew exactly what a traveller was and felt excited too.”

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

“Traveller?” Ceylas asked. Clearly she hadn’t heard the word in this context before.

“Siria didn’t talk to you two about it?” I asked.

They both shook their heads.

My brow furrowed. Now that was curious. Was I the only one? But then… a thought occured to me and I asked them, “Have you two been hearing the rolling of the dice?”

They stared at me as if I’d lost my mind.

“You know, that thing where you hear the dice roll and if you close your eyes and concentrate you can see the outcome in your mind.”

Cambrin’s brow furrowed and he closed his eyes, pausing a moment as if concentrating real hard on something, then looked at me again, shaking his head. “I mean, I’ve heard the sound you described but I’ve never seen anything.”

“Of course!” Bec cried. “Rolling dice! Why hadn’t I considered that?” Her cheeks flushed with her excitement. “And you can see them, the dice rolls, in your mind?”

I nodded.

“I hadn’t tried that.” She closed her eyes and concentrated. When Cambrin went to say something she lifted as hand. “Shush, I’m concentrating.”

A long moment of silence passed between us, but then her mouth dropped open and a look of fascinated rapture came over her face.

“I see it,” she whispered. (Wisdom Check: 19+1=20) I could see the faint scan of her eyeball behind her eyelid as she appeared to be reading in her mind. “It’s my whole character sheet. I’m a level one warlock, that’s cool. Although shit, I guess that means I have some sort of patron or something.” She opened her eyes and looked at Cambrin. “Aren’t those guys always evil?”

Cambrin tilted his head. “Well, I mean yes, usually. But I suppose not always. Sometimes they’re just chaotic.”

Ceylas swallowed.

“Do you know much about your hosts?” I asked them both, wincing at the word. It reminded me of creepy alien movies, the ones where creatures burrow into your head. I cleared my throat then said instead, “Ceylas and Cambrin I mean. They’re real people here and if you tune in you can get a better sense of who they are and what they’ve experienced in their lives.”

“Yeah,” Cambrin said, “I don’t have to concentrate to know that. I just seem to know all about him. I think Cambrin and I think a lot alike. He’s always fascinated by the little details, you know? And creative. He and Ceylas grew up on the streets here in Talazan. We were about thirty years old when the Palladium Rise took us in.”

“Because of you,” Ceylas said. “Because of how smart he is. I’m just his carry on luggage here.” She pouted, then went back to concentrating and browsing more of the details she was finding in her mind’s eye.

“Do either of you know why we might be here?” I asked.

They both shook their heads. Ceylas didn’t even open her eyes.

I sighed, then said, “Siria, she runs the Palladium Rise I think, she said that Travellers, that’s apparently what we’re called, get brought here by this pantheon of three gods who restore balance. She says we’re supposed to seek out evil and destroy it.”

Ceylas scoffed. “With these stats?” She said, finally opening her eyes. “I’m surprised Ceylas doesn’t get knocked over by a heavy wind. Can you believe she’s a six in strength? Six! That’s like one point less than a kobold!” She looked at her thin arms, flexing the very imperceptable muscle of her bicep. “At least she’s hardy and charming. Plus, she has this cool magic lip gloss!” She took a small silver tube from her hip pocket. She pulled the cap and wound up the cherry red gloss. “It only has one charge a day but it’s great. It gives advantage on charisma checks and saves for one hour.”

“Wow, that is pretty cool,” Cambrin said, taking the tube and examining it before handing it back.

“What about you?” Ceylas asked. “Anything cool?”

Cambrin’s brow furrowed and his lips turned down. “I haven’t seen…”

He trailed off so Ceylas said, “You have to really concentrate. It requires a successful Wisdom Check to be able to see it. I have no idea what DC the check is. I rolled a dirty twenty so it was pretty easy for me.”

“It might be high, maybe,” I added, remembering the first time I’d done it. “I’d rolled a 17 though, so it’s not a difficulty class of 20 hard.” I closed my eyes again now. Taking a deep breath, I tuned my mind to pull up the information about Lo’Kryn’s skills and abilities. (Wisdom Check: 19+2=21) “Oh shit!” I muttered as I saw, right at the top of the sheet, flashing like mad with a great big, red, number one, was my health.

“What?” Ceylas asked in a whisper. I figured she must have been trying not to disturb our concentration too much by speaking too loud.

“I’m sitting on one hit point. Like almost dead kind of low health. I knew I was hurting but damn, I hadn’t realised how close we came.”

Cambrin muttered under his breath, clearly frustrated. I took a moment to watch him and the intensity on his face grew. “Seven, nothing,” he muttered, “six, that’s worse.” He puffed, his face had turned a little red. Then he gasped. “Ah ha! Twelve, there you are you…” he trailed off as his mind began absorbing the details. “I’m on only one hit point as well,” he said, “But that’s all you were able to heal me for after I fell unconscious.”

“And it required a roll of twelve or above to pull up?”

Cambrin nodded. “I have no modifiers for my wisdom which makes it harder maybe?”

“Yeah, probably. Given how low our health got, I’m surprised whatever this thing is that lets us see our stats didn’t give us better warning about our health during the battle,” I closed my eyes again and returned to browsing the rest of my sheet. Other than my equipment everything else appeared the same.

“We may have to become more adept at pulling up information, or perhaps there is a way to organise this content so we have easier access to the aspects we require. I’ll practice with it and see what I find,” Cambrin said. There was a slight absense or hollowness to his voice as if our conversation were only a fragment of where his attention lay. Jake was like that, his mind could work on multiple problems at once but it meant he was only giving a fraction of his attention to any one thing.

“What class are you?” Ceylas asked.

“Level one artificer,” he said. “I’d already figured that out.”

“Anything interesting?”

“Nothing unexpected. The only thing of note is the Banker’s Box and you’ve both already seen that. Oh, and I seem to have a weapon proficiency in firearms. I think that’s an artificer thing? Maybe I can make a gun.”

Lo’Kryn’s memories were of a fairly tech-limited world comparitively. “I don’t know if guns exist in this world. Are we supposed to mess with it by bringing stuff from our own time here?”

Cambrin shrugged a shoulder. His eyes were still closed as he studied his character information. “Chicken and egg really. Perhaps we are here exactly to effect evolution in that way.”

“I guess we’ll just have to ask these god things,” Ceylas added.

I swallowed. Talking to Gods, even ones committed to balance and against evil sounded like a horrifying idea. But if we’d been brought here by them they might be the only people, or beings I guess, who could really tell us why. I watched Cambrin and Ceylas a little longer. The more I watched the more I kind of saw Jake and Bec inside them. “You know,” I began, feeling a warmth as I watched my two friends, “I’m really glad you’re here.”

Ceylas and Cambrin both looked at me. I could tell I was grinning like a fool but they both nodded their heads.

“Yeah,” Ceylas said, “Even if this is a weird dream it’s good to at least feel like my friends are with me.”

“We can do this, whatever this is, together,” Cambrin added, slapping my uninjured arm with his hand.

“Now,” Ceylas said, glancing at the bronze box that lay forgotten between my knees. “Are you ever going to get that thing open?