Megan had a strange dream. She was back on Earth, but the scene around her definitely wasn’t Miami Florida. For one, it was bitter cold, easily below freezing. Megan had never experienced such cold in her life. She was walking down a quiet sidewalk that lined a small street, her entire body shivering. No matter what she did, she couldn’t warm herself up.

“Excuse me, ma’am,” A voice behind her made her jump. “Are you okay?”

She turned to see who spoke. It was someone bundled up in a long thick coat. Whoever it was wore a beanie and scarf wrapped around their face, so she couldn’t make many details out about them. The clothing looked warm, she thought. It was certainly better than her simple tee-shirt and jeans.

“I’m f-fine,” she stammered, her teeth chattering too much for coherent words. “Just freezing.”

“Well, yeah,” the stranger said, his voice amused. “It’s negative thirty-five, and you’re wearing a tee-shirt. And I thought I was crazy for walking out here, dressed like this.”

She made no reply to his small joke, her eyes riveted on his form. It suddenly occurred to her that she was in a strange place, totally lost, and facing someone she didn’t know. What if his intentions weren’t friendly? She even took two paces back as his hands went to the buttons of his coat, as if afraid he was reaching for a gun. He noticed the reaction and held up both of his hands in a gesture of surrender.

“Relax!” He said, his voice gentle. “I’m just taking my coat off. You clearly need it more than me.”

And so saying, he took the protective garment off and tossed it at her. She caught it in numb shaky fingers, immediately registering the heavy warmth it provided. She didn’t question it at all, but slung it around her shoulders, nearly disappearing into the long coat. The inside was lined with some kind of fleece, and she immediately felt better. A sense of warmth was cascading down her body. Had she ever been this warm?

“You might as well take this, too,” he said, taking the beanie off. He had to temporarily remove the headphones he wore to do it, and threw the hat, along with the scarf, at her. “I’ll help you find somewhere warm, and we can call you a cab or something.”

She quickly tugged the beanie over her ears and wound the scarf around her face, sighing in relief as she felt a bit better protected against the elements. Now he was the one not dressed for the weather, wearing only a thin hoodie and long baggy sweatpants. But, unlike her, he almost seemed unaffected. She looked at him in confusion, then, as he stepped under the cone of light provided by a nearby streetlight, she could make out more details about his face.

“Eric?” She asked, shocked. “You’re Eric Breeden, aren’t you?”

Eric, and she was sure it was him, hesitated for a moment, frowning at her. “How do you know my name?”

“Samuel told me about you,” she said shakily. “He told me all about your time in Ahya. You were the first one, before me.”

“Samuel?” Eric said, his frown deepening. “That name sounds familiar. I don’t know about a place called Ahya, though.”

He tailed off, clearly in deep thought, as if trying to recall a memory that was just out of reach. Then his face cleared, and he looked at her with wide eyes. “You don’t mean Samuel Bragg, do you? That’s the guy who sent me that letter, all that money, and bought me a house! Where is he? I’ve never met this man before, but he helped me out so much!”

“You don’t remember him?” Megan asked, thrown by his reaction. “He remembers you fondly. He’s got your picture up in his library, and talks about you like you were his best student or something.”

“I don’t remember a thing about him,” Eric said. “All I can think of when I remember his name is the dog.”

“The dog?” She asked, tilting her head slightly. “He didn’t mention a dog.”

Eric grinned suddenly and turned, whistling loudly. A loud bark answered the piercing noise, and a shaggy white form appeared from around the corner of a building. It was indeed a dog, more of a wolf, really. The animal had a friendly energy about it as it bolted over to Eric, barking once more at the sight of its friend, its tail whipping through the air. Eric fondled it behind the ears for a moment, and then it made its way over to Megan, clearly eager to greet a new friend and receive more pats.

Like nearly everyone else in the world, Megan loved dogs, so she obliged, petting him gently. The dog had bright blue eyes, and as she’d previously noted, his entire coat was bright white. Well, not completely, she realized. There was a jet-black line across his chest that interrupted the field of pure white. It was jagged and long and looked like a wound. She remembered what Samuel had said about Eric wounding himself to escape the rune. The similarity with the dog’s mark was unmistakable.

“Right,” Eric said, interrupting her thoughts. “I know this will sound weird coming from a complete stranger, but I live just down the road. Would you like to come to my house? I’ll cook some food, and you can tell me more about this Samuel person.”

To her surprise, Megan didn’t feel nervous at the suggestion. She trusted Archmage Bragg, and he clearly trusted this young man. He couldn’t really be dangerous, could he? Even if he attacked, this was all a dream. So she felt confident that, no matter what, she wouldn’t be harmed in this strange dream encounter. She nodded her agreement, standing up straight.

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“Sure,” she agreed readily. Then she looked at him again. “Do you want your coat back? It is really cold out.”

He waved his hand in dismissal, grinning. “I’m fine. My friends all think I’m crazy, but I actually like the cold. This is much more comfortable for me than you’d think.”

He walked closer to her now, and she was able to see that he wasn’t shivering in the slightest. As he passed her and began to lead the way, she paused for a moment to stare at him in wonder. Negative thirty-five degrees, he’d said, and yet he walked like he was in a balmy vacation destination. She agreed with his friends. He was crazy. Then she followed him.

They walked for about half a mile, mostly in silence, before they reached his house. It was certainly a nice home. It wasn’t nearly as big as the mansions she saw along the beach in Miami, but it had a cozy sort of feel to it. The wide driveway was completely free of cars, and the house was dark. Maybe he’d gotten bored and decided to wander around this small town, she mused to herself. The air, apart from being cold enough to sting her nose, was clean and fresh. Combined with the quiet night, it was probably a very peaceful activity for him.

“Where are we?” She asked suddenly as they made their way up the driveway. “I’ve never been anywhere this cold.”

He took several steps up onto his front porch and turned to face her, frowning thoughtfully. He seemed genuinely amused about something she’d said. “How did you end up in Fairbanks without learning the name of the city?”

“City?” She said, laughing weakly. “How can you call this a city? There’s no building taller than five floors from what I saw. This is like the size of two neighborhoods in Miami. That’s where I’m from.”

“You’re a long way from home,” he replied with a raised eyebrow. “Yep, Fairbanks is small compared to the other cities of the US. But we like it how it is. It’s big for Alaska, though. I think only Anchorage has a bigger population. But I hate Anchorage, so I’ve never checked.”

He unlocked his front door and stepped in. Megan felt the wave of warm air wash over her and hurriedly followed him in. Alaska! Suddenly it made sense. She’d heard about the northernmost state a few times in her life. It was rumored to always be cold, and her experience so far seemed to prove those rumors true. Frankly, she was surprised to see that it was this developed. Everyone said that people in Alaska lived in igloos and wore furs. She’d known that was an exaggeration, but somehow seeing the city herself had surprised her.

“Feel free to warm up by the fire,” Eric said. “I’ll go get a pot of water boiling for dinner.”

There was a large fireplace, she saw, with real logs crackling. The scent of woodsmoke filled the living room as she settled into a chair in front of the flames. She’d visited a few buildings that had fireplaces before, but those had all been electric fires. Somehow, they had never been able to provide the same overwhelming sense of warmth she got from this fire. She took the coat off, holding her hands out and basking in the warmth radiating from the stone hearth.

“So how do you know Samuel?” Eric asked. The living room was right next to the kitchen, with an open bar-like area that allowed her to see him moving around, filling a pot with water, and setting it on his stove. “And where is this Ahya place you mention?”

She hesitated before answering. If he couldn’t remember anything about Samuel, she doubted that he could accept that Ahya was a whole other world. But she wasn’t fond of lying. “It’s… far away. It’s another world, in fact.”

“That makes sense,” Eric replied after a moment, laughing. “Ever since I had that dream, strange things have been happening in my life.”

“Dream?” She queried. It seemed a popular theme in her life lately. “What do you mean?”

“I had a strange dream about a year ago now,” he explained. “I was in a different city. It was a little smaller than Fairbanks, and seemed like it was stuck in medieval times.”

“Milagre,” Megan commented. It was a logical guess. “What happened in your dream?”

“Well, I’d just woken up in a bed, next to a woman I didn’t recognize. Well, I didn’t think I knew her, but something about her felt familiar. Then, in the dream, someone tried to assassinate me.”

“What?” She burst out, turning completely to stare at him across the dimly lit bar. “Someone tried to-”

“Yeah,” Eric said with a laugh. “Like I said, strange dream. But I had swords and fought them off. Then I went around the house I was in, defeating the other intruders. After that, I woke up.”

She stared at him in wide-eyed horror. The thought of someone breaking into her dorm room at the College was terrifying. She was certain that she’d be dead if she were the target. There was a reason she went out of her way to make friends with the strong people, she thought to herself. If you seem like you’re friends with the popular or strong ones, nobody really thought to bother you.

“Here, drink this,” Eric said, returning with a steaming mug. Megan accepted it and gave it a sniff. It seemed to be tea of some kind. “It’s strawberry tea, my personal favorite.”

“Strawberry tea?” She took a sip. “Tastes like Mandra’s.”

He gave a short little jump at the mention of the name. “That’s another name that sounds oddly familiar, though I’m sure I’ve never heard it before. You’re for real, aren’t you? You’re really from another world called Ahya.”

He almost seemed disappointed at the undeniable evidence. Megan shook her head. “No, I’m from Earth like you. I live, or used to live, in Florida.”

“Ah,” Eric said, nodding as he sat down in a chair beside her. “Sorry, you did mention that. So what’s Ahya like?”

“It’s pretty cool,” she replied, between sips of tea. “It’s like the medieval world, but there’s magic, so that makes up for it.”

“Magic,” he said the single word with a flat, disbelieving tone. “But I had swords. If there was magic, you think I’d try to use it.”

“Samuel said you weren’t very good at magic,” she commented. His face fell slightly, and she hurried on. “But he also said you were a great fighter. According to him, you were picking up skills faster than anyone he’d ever seen.”

“Oh,” he said simply. “That’s cool. Was he like my boss or something like that?”

She hesitated again. She had no way of knowing just how long this dream would last. But she figured that, while she was here, she might as well tell him as much as she could. “Something like that. I guess I should start from the beginning, and just tell you what I know. I only recently learned about you, but if your job was like mine, l might be able to tell you a bit.”

“I’d like that,” Eric said with a grateful nod. “It would be nice to know that I’m not crazy. As I said, it’s been a weird year.”