Emily woke up to another lonely day. Her companions had been gone for a week now and she was pretty sure they weren’t coming back. She had been ten and a half when the strange bright light had whisked her off to this new world. One minute she was at the skate park with her friends and the next she was in a medieval tower. She might even be eleven now, but had lost track of how much time had passed since she had woken up here.
She had been in shock for the first day or so after being found by her two companions. They were an older man with a greying beard called Richard and a brown-haired young man in his late teens/early twenties called Tony. Richard was nice enough, but Tony gave her the creeps. He always seemed to have a crazed look in his eyes and she had caught him staring at her lustily more than once. He had told her she looked mature for her age and that her accent was sexy which grossed her out.
Richard had noticed the problem and always made sure she wasn’t alone with Tony. They had occupied the palace that surrounded the tower she had arrived in. Richard called it a summoning tower and it was what had brought them to this world as well. Richard had been here the longest and had found Tony and then her. They had both been from different corners of the United States while she had been from Australia.
The medieval looking city was empty of people but monsters roamed the streets. Their group always stayed in the palace at night and only came out during the day when the creatures were less active. Richard and Tony would go out scavenging for food and supplies while she stayed put. She had wanted to go but was told it was too dangerous.
She had seen the city from the top of the tower but had never ventured out into the streets. The alien sky and city unnerved her. She had grown up in a modern city and had never been camping so all of this was new to her and she didn’t like it. The palace was nice and the beds were intact but they couldn’t get anything to work. They were forced to make a fire in one of the courtyards to cook with and found a well that they could get water from.
She missed her home and her parents but couldn’t dwell on it or she would break out into another crying fit. Tony always yelled at her when she started crying but sometimes she couldn’t help it. Richard and Tony often got into arguments about Tony’s attitude and what to bring back from their supply runs. Richard liked to grab books and claimed knowledge was power. Tony thought it was a waste of time and gravitated towards different weapons and armor. She had seen them practicing with the weapons and neither was very good in her opinion.
The only thing in the books that got Tony excited was magic but so far they hadn’t figured out how to use it. Tony got frustrated easily and soon gave up on it. Richard kept trying but never got anywhere. She had looked at the books as well and was surprised that she was able to understand the language. She also seemed to be stronger. Richard and Tony mentioned they thought they felt stronger as well which helped them fight the creatures that roamed the streets.
She hadn’t seen any of the monsters, but Richard and Tony told her stories of what they had encountered. Richard had told them the city was surrounded by a dense jungle so there was nowhere to go and they were essentially trapped in the abandoned city. Tony wanted to try and follow one of the roads leading out of the city but when Richard showed him a map he had found, Tony gave up on the idea. It seemed the jungle extended to the coast which seemed to be a long way away. There were sure to be even more monsters in the jungle with nowhere to hide.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
It had been a day like any other when Richard and Tony left on their latest expedition. They went out a couple times a week so it was nothing unusual. They almost always came back before dark. There was only once or twice where they had come back the following day. As usual there was not much for her to do. She tried to be helpful by tidying up and washing the dishes but mostly just wandered the palace or looked out at the city from the top of the tower.
A lot of the doors in the palace were locked so they couldn’t explore everything. Richard and Tony had tried breaking into a few rooms but weren’t able to. Richard thought it had something to do with the magic they weren’t able to use. He was sure the palace had a library and Tony spent hours looking for a treasure vault but neither could get past the locked doors so whole wings of the palace were left unexplored.
Her room was next to Richards and she always locked it at night in case Tony tried something. As the weeks wore on he seemed to get more and more unhinged. Anymore she just tried staying as far away from him as possible and it was almost a relief when they left to get supplies. She had very few possessions. The only thing she had when she arrived was her cell phone which was low on batteries and had died soon after her arrival. Since then Richard had found her some medieval type clothing and some dolls. It was nice of him but she had outgrown kids toys.
Lately she had started practicing with the collection of weapons in case she needed to defend herself from a monster or from Tony. She didn’t know what she was doing but figured if she swung a sword enough times it would at least build up her arm strength. She also practiced with a bow and arrows which she found she enjoyed. She was even starting to hit the target now.
When they didn’t come back after two nights she started getting nervous. Richard had a lighter they used to start the cooking fire. Without it she had no way to start a fire. She tried rubbing two sticks together but nothing worked. She still had plenty of food in the form of sealed jars and some weird looking fruits. Luckily there were some fruit trees on the palace grounds that they had been harvesting.
The meat from the last beast Richard and Tony had killed was going bad so she was forced to throw it away. They had containers of water they had collected and boiled, but it wouldn’t last forever. Richard thought the well water looked good, but they still boiled it to be on the safe side. Without access to fire, she would have to drink it straight from the well eventually.
After a week had passed she was sure something had happened to them and they weren’t coming back. She didn’t know where they were planning to explore on their latest trip. She thought Richard had mentioned going to one of the other towers but she wasn’t sure which one. The three smaller towers were along the outer wall which was a good distance from the palace. Still, it shouldn’t have taken them this long to get there and back.
She had to face the fact that she was alone now. She had cried herself to sleep the previous night but needed to be stronger. She refused to give up. Maybe the summoning tower would bring another adult that could help her. It only happened during storms. Richard said lightning was what powered the summoning circle but there had been no storms lately.
She didn’t feel capable of exploring the city on her own. That felt like a death sentence. All she could do was wait, read books, and practice with her weapons. With nothing better to do, she decided to try and figure out how to use magic from the few magic related books Richard had found. She considered herself a good student and always got straight A’s in school. She hadn’t been much of a fan of fantasy books or movies, preferring comedies and romances instead. She understood magic could definitely help her out in this situation though.