Side Joshua
“Your majesty, the summoning has been successful.”
Those were the words I heard after being swallowed up by Harvey’s suicidal blast along with my younger brother. I scan the area for Florian and see that he is on the ground behind me. He doesn’t appear to be injured but he was closer to the blast than I was, looks like he’s just unconscious from the shock.
Next, I surveyed the perimeter. We appear to be in a throne room. I don’t recognize the design. The architecture looks European, but I can’t think of any country with a castle throne room this huge. The ceiling is at least 30 meters high, supported by twelve pillars lined up to the left and right of the room.
I start assessing our predicament. Right now we’re surrounded by what I can only describe as knights, like from an old fairy tale. They don’t appear to be hostile but with Florian out of commission, I can’t afford to let my guard down nor act recklessly. Up above at the top of the steps, upon a throne sat a middle-aged man. He appears to be rather young to others due to his shaved face but I can tell by the wrinkles that he’s much older, perhaps around 40. He wore a sullen expression and beside him stood a young woman on his left and an old man on his right. As I was sizing him up, he began to speak.
“First off, I know you must be very confused, but I pray that you will allow me some time to explain everything in detail. For starters, this is not your world.”
Not my world?…
“You have been summoned here at my behest by our great sage Fludrel. Via a branch of the Tree of life, we were able to successfully bring you here before your deaths.”
“Wait what do you mean?”
“I shall explain, this person is an honored seer employed as my vassal, Aqualia Fei. By mere coincidence, as she was peering into the future of our land, she happened upon the battle between you, your brother and the other individual. It seems that at the very moment she started her ritual, the Tree of life on our world became synced with the one on yours, allowing her to see events on your world as well.”
“I see, however”
“You want to know why we would go out of our way to save someone on a distant world?”
“Correct.”
“I guess goodwill is not an acceptable answer is it. Haha. Well, I will be honest-”
Suddenly I remembered, I turned to my brother on the ground still and hastily spoke out.
“Wait. What comes next seems rather important but I want to make sure my brother is safe first.”
The king paused with a surprised look, followed by an apologetic smile.
“Of course, I apologize. Garan, please escort our guests to the cleric for inspection. We will continue after your brother has been healed.”
“Thank you.”
I picked up my brother, declining assistance from the knight named Garan. He doesn’t seem to be too bothered by my attitude towards their king, rather he seems rather apologetic. There must be something more going on with this summoning. We exited the throne room as I still remain on guard for an ambush. I took a final peek at the king before the door to the throne fully closed, he had a rather tired expression. For now, I need to make sure Florian is safe before I can plan our next move.
***
“It seems he suffered a blow to the temple. I cannot detect any internal damage anywhere on his body so be assured that he will be just fine my dear~. I will heal the bruise to ease his rest but he should come around within a couple of hours. “
The middle-aged woman we met after entering a room Garan had led me to did a once over on Florian. I was really suspicious about what she was doing, it didn’t seem like any normal medical exam. She merely equipped an eyeglass and lightly touched him where his organs are, at least that’s what it looked like to me. However what I witnessed next was really surprising.
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“Lesser Healing.”
The woman placed her hand over the bruise on Florian’s temple and chanted out those words. Then a small light glowed from her hand and the bruise had disappeared. In all of history there had never been a Gifted with the power of healing, just how did she do that.
“He will be fine dear. Do you want me to give you a look over as well?”
“No I’m fine, I will stay here until he wakes up.”
The woman smiled and said, “very well. Feel free to use the neighboring bed though if you get tired, and if there’s anything you need just let me know okay.”
Then she left the room along with Garan, there seem to be soldiers positioned right outside the room, presumably to guard us. Now that I know my brother is safe, I should put a plan together on what to do next. I think that but I really don’t know what to do next. If what the king was saying is true and this is another world, which to be honest I wasn’t convinced until I saw that woman heal my brother, can we return? With my dad and his team still active, even if we can’t return the Family will be safe no matter what. They don’t need us back. But if we’re stuck here, then what? We’re alone here and Florian loves the Family to death, how will he take this news?
I look at Florian laying on the bed. Okay let’s take things one at a time, first I have to figure out a way to secure food, water, and shelter for us, we can think about what comes next after. I should take a rest, I’ll need my strength if things get messy. Fuck, just one thing after another. I want a break.
***
Side Florian
I wake to find myself laying on a bed in an unknown place. I remember Harvey’s suicidal gambit to kill us but nothing after that.
“Fucking psychopath.”
“Ngh.”
“Who’s there!?”
I see Joshua, or rather Ace, sleeping in the corner in a sitting position with one knee up. Come to think of it when was the last time I even saw him sleep? We haven’t had much time to hang out together after I was initiated when I was 15. Maybe it’s a chance to play a prank.
I try to sneak up on Ace and…
“!!! HA!”
Ace suddenly opened his eyes and unleashed a breath of fire. I hurriedly dodge but by just a hair.
“FUCK, what are you doing asshole!”
“Just testing you. Looks like you haven’t gotten worse these four years after all.”
“God, you don’t know how happy I was when I was able to take jobs by myself without your constant torture.”
“My “torture” is the reason you’re still alive, Florian.”
“Just call me Smoke, Uncle named me himself after my first solo job you know.”
“Yeah yeah whatever, anyway, let’s get down to business.”
Ace suddenly had a serious expression. In all the years I’ve known him, there have been only two other times I saw this. It must be really bad, what could possibly have happened-
“! Don’t tell me, Uncle!?”
“No Uncle’s fine, at least, that’s my guess.”
“Your guess?”
“Harvey has always been known to work alone. The Patriarca’s wouldn’t send any other soldiers anyway since if they got arrested, they would be linked to this and the Five Families would know.”
“That makes sense, I guess. Then what are you so serious about? Don’t tell me dad’s mad about Harvey is he? I shoulda just finished him off quickly. Fuck.”
“No, it’s not that either. It’s about where we are.”
“Speaking of that, where are we? Don’t look like Jersey. It’s way too clean, pfft.”
“Just listen alright.”
Ace put on his serious expression again. This time I focused up, there must be something going on.
“I believe we are in another world.”
“A what?”
“Somewhere not on Earth, that is.”
“What the fuck? You’re fucking me right?”
“No, I’m not. I don’t know all the details yet either. After Harvey’s blast, I found myself and you teleported to this castle. The king of this place tried to explain the situation but I needed to make sure you weren’t dead first.”
“Hmph, must be some kind of trick, we should just kill this king guy and get the hell outa here.”
“No, we must gather information, have you forgotten all that I’ve taught you already? Would you like another lesson?”
“Ugh. Fuck off. Fine, now what.”
“Now that you’re awake, we can go talk to the king and get some information out of him.”
“Yeah, and if he owns this place he must be loaded right? We should take everything as a souvenir for dad, maybe he won’t kill us.”
“...”
“What?”
“Nothing, let’s go.”
***
Ace knocked on the door and two soldiers came in. They sure got some outdated weapons. He briefly spoke to them and then we started making our way down a wide hallway. Man this place a fucking fancy, I can’t call myself a member of the DeCavalCante Family if I don’t empty this guy’s pockets.
After about 10 minutes of walking, we arrive at a room guarded by a bunch of men. The soldiers knock on the door and then after a short while, it opens and we enter.
Seems like a small office space, there were only four people inside. For someone who supposedly owns this place, he should have way more guards. I can only guess that they must be strong enough to hold their own. That, or they are severely underestimating us.
The man sitting on the chair behind a paper stacked desk stood up and greeted us.
“I am glad to see you are doing well.”
He says to me.
“For starters, why don’t I introduce myself first, as previous circumstances left no room for us to make our acquaintances. I am Jarv Alexander Ignarl the second, king of the Magnus Empire. May I have the pleasure of knowing your names?”
“Joshua ‘Ace’ Kuklinski, just Ace is fine.”
“...’Smoke’ Kuklinski.”
“Ace and Smoke, I am pleased to make your acquaintance. Allow me to ask, are those titles?”
“Something similar.”
“You must be rather important to have been bestowed a title. Similarly, this is my Knight, I believe you met him earlier, Garan. He’s been given the title of “The Indomitable” for his excellent war efforts.”
“Your words are wasted on me sire.”
“Well let’s get down to business, I understand you two must have a lot of questions for me, I will answer them to the best of my ability.”
“Alright. First of all, how do we know you’re telling the truth that this is another world?”
“Right. I suppose our magic is not sufficient? I believe you have witnessed it.”
“We have people with abilities back where we’re from as well. We are proof of that.”
Ace then effortlessly ignites his hand as a show of force. The first step towards intimidation, cool as always.
“Amazing. Such radiant mana and control. You must have claim quite a number of lives to get that strong, sir Ace.”
I immediately put up my guard and prepare to attack, however Ace stuck his arm out, signaling me to stop.
“So you know what we are.”
“Of course, your abilities may be rare and unstudied on your world but here, we have been living in harmony with the land and learning of its secrets since millennia ago. Also, you can be at ease, I do not judge you for your profession. I myself am steeped in blood as this is turbulent times.”
“Hmm, is that so.”
“As for proof of the divide between our two planes...this should suffice.”
The king opened a box and retrieves an item from inside. It looks like a palm-sized green crystal ball. Is it Emerald? A gem that big has to fetch a lot of money. I start planning my heist as Ace continues conversing with the King.
“This is an adamantite orb, imbued with the memory of my ancestor. Within holds the truth of our empire and world, to whom only a select few know of. This might hurt a bit.”
After saying some cryptic stuff the king clenched his hand on the ball and it glowed. Then suddenly, images started appearing in my mind.