Chapter 12:
Because of the much more plentiful dinner, the whole group of fifty gathered together to eat instead of separating off into groups like usual. They were mostly settled around the fire, which still had cuts of meat skewered near it to cook. Evelyn got up to monitor them from time to time.
She’d also set up slices of some of the leaner cuts of meat much higher with a support made out of sticks and bark twine. That was to smoke those pieces and hopefully preserve them longer. Daniel wasn’t sure if that was all it took to make jerky that could last, but hopefully, Evelyn's cooking skill would help with that.
The atmosphere around the campfire was like a mini-celebration and it fit well with their plans. Daniel should have been happy about that, but he was never one for parties. Not large ones mainly with strangers. He also didn’t enjoy Clark toasting him and making sure everyone knew that Daniel was the one who hunted the deer down. Not that he blamed the man or anything. It was helpful for Daniel despite it being unpleasant.
He had been an Arcane Shadow after all. He liked fighting from the shadows, and being the center of attention was not for him.
But he’d bear with it to hopefully make the reveal a lot easier. If they thought well of him, then maybe they’d be less likely to want to blame the only magic user here for their situation. And maybe it would also prevent other kinds of problems too. Like someone being overly religious to the point of zealotry. Daniel couldn’t remember someone like that, but they could have died in the original timeline before they got anywhere to learn about magic. Or, since he liked to keep to himself, especially after Nathan passed, it might have happened and Daniel had missed it.
Problematic, but he’d just have to deal with it if it came up. He hoped it didn’t but was prepared if it did.
As time went on, people continued to get their fill of the meat. It had only been three days since they were brought to this world and presumably three days since they were able to eat normally. Yet a lot of the people ate like they’d been in the wilderness for months.
Seemed like Evelyn wasn’t the only one who felt like they’d been out here a lot longer than they’d actually been. Or perhaps it was because this was their first taste of any real hardship? He knew that everyone from their group came from the US, so going hungry was probably not an issue for most of them. There were of course unfortunate people who dealt with that back home, but a lot less than in poorer countries or this world.
It had been his first time going hungry for more than a day when he’d been in this situation before.
More time passed, and as people finally seemed to be getting sated, and fewer and fewer people moved to get extra portions, Daniel realized it was about time for the reveal. The sun was also starting to set, already beyond their view behind the treeline, but still sending an orange glow across the sky.
Daniel looked to his side, where Nathan was lying back content, holding his belly. His friend caught his eye, and the smile dimmed a bit as he scooted closer. “It’s time?”
“Yeah,” Daniel said, keeping his voice low. The loud talking and even some attempts at singing had died down, but there was still enough noise that they wouldn't be overheard easily. The people that had crowded around Daniel, eager to hear about the hunt or just to thank him, had also dispersed. Still, better to be safe than sorry. “Now’s as good a time as any. Everyone has eaten their fill. Some people look ready to be in a food coma. Seems as calm as people are ever gonna get in this situation.”
“Alright then,” Nathan said, getting up. “Then let's go get the rest of them and do it. Like ripping off a bandaid.”
Daniel sighed and nodded before getting up as well. It was time to see just how reasonable people could be.
The two of them made their way over to where Sapphire and Jessy were. When they noticed their approach, Daniel waved them over. After that, he noticed Clark had already seen them and was headed over with Steve as well.
As the Six of them gathered by the fire, people started to take notice and turned their attention to them. After all, what exactly were two of the three major leaders of their 50 and the man who brought them all so much food doing all of a sudden?
“Hey everyone!” Clark shouted after getting a nod of confirmation from Daniel. That made everyone who hadn’t already noticed turn to them. Clark would be the one to start things off, as he was the best public speaker. “Now that we’ve all had a nice meal, there is something that we need to bring up. Because as nice as having some actual meat is, I’m sure you're all getting sick of living in these woods. I know I am.”
That earned a bunch of agreements from the crowd, who’d dispersed a bit as the dinner progressed, but had started to bunch back together to hear Clark.
“Now despite the hard work of our brave scouts,” Clark said, gesturing to both Joseph’s groups and Ted’s groups, “We still haven’t been able to find any sign of civilization or hints as to where we should go. I’m sure this has worried many of you. I know I’m not happy about it either. Not to mention that goblin attack yesterday. Thankfully, though, we found an alternate solution, and now know how to get out of the wilderness.”
The declaration caused everyone in the camp to go quiet for a moment. Then there was noise as people all started talking at once. Some were calling out questions, while others were excitedly chattering to their neighbors.
Clark raised a hand for silence, and after a moment, the people did manage to quiet down, except for a bit of muttering from parts of the crowd. He really was good at this kind of thing, Daniel couldn’t help but notice. Controlling a crowd seemed to come naturally to the man. It was one of the many things he’d been jealous of last time around. Now he was just thankful for it.
“Alright, I get that you're all excited to hear about that,” Clark said. “But shouting over each other won’t make it any easier to discuss this. So please hold your questions till the end. No doubt you guys want to know how we did it and how we know where to go, right? We’re happy to answer that, but to fully explain that, a secret has to be explained first. Not my own, but Daniel here. Now please understand that this secret is important. And the only reason Daniel is letting it out is to help everyone here survive. So please keep that in mind.”
With that Clark turned to Daniel and gestured to him, as if asking him to take the floor. Daniel nodded and took a step forward, drawing all eyes to him. Gods, he hated stuff like this. Over the years, he’d had to speak to larger and more hostile groups of people, but that didn’t make him hate this any less.
“Alright, so I’m sure you’re all wondering how exactly we found out how to get out of these woods,” Daniel said, scanning his eyes over the crowd. “Most of you probably just want to know where we should go and head there as soon as possible. We’ll hopefully be doing that tomorrow morning. But I know some of you will need some convincing to leave this relatively safe place; That we know what we're talking about.
“So I’m going to explain exactly how I figured out where civilization is and how I found us a path. And also reveal a secret to you all. The reason I need to do that is because this secret will allow me to protect all of you as we make our way through the wilderness. Which will be needed, because these woods are a lot more dangerous than they seem. And I’m sure you all already don’t think of them as safe, with that goblin attack and the things the scouting groups have been encountering.”
That earned a lot of muttering from the crowd. The scouting groups had gone out again yesterday and today, and while they managed to avoid anything dangerous today, both groups had encounters yesterday. Thankfully, they were far more mindful the second time around and also better equipped.
That had made it so that the scouting groups had managed to chase off the Monsters that attacked. Even if they ended up having to expend more ammo, it was a better result than one of them getting hurt. It was just too bad that they hadn’t gotten any kills and none of them had gained a Class.
Regardless, after coming back, they’d told their stories again, and it had easily spread throughout the entire camp. So everyone already was wary about traveling through the woods. Hearing that it was even more dangerous than they thought was no doubt disturbing.
Thankfully, with Clark behind Daniel, they seemed to remember to hold their questions for later.
“With all that said, I’m going to be blunt about this. Really blunt,” Daniel said, then took a breath and continued. “Simply put, the secret is I’m a mage. I can do magic. And yes, magic is real.”
Silence filled the crowd for a long moment. Daniel could have immediately performed some magic to make it more believable, but he wanted them to have time to process things before he shocked them further.
“Is that supposed to be some kind of fucking joke!”
Daniel held back a sigh as he turned his eyes to the person who shouted. He was unsurprised to see the angry man with a buzzcut and a now stained wife beater was the one who had spoken out first. Joseph was always quick to anger and definitely not afraid to speak his mind.
“Did you fucks seriously say all that, and get our hopes up, just to tell us that you know the way out of here cause of fucking magic?” Joseph shouted, stepping a bit out of the crowd, his scouting group behind him in support. Thankfully, though, the guy wasn’t dumb enough to charge at Daniel and start something. “What did you do, throw some fucking leaves in the air and decide that was magic making a map? Did it come to you in a stupid dream, and now you think you have visions or something? What a load of fucking bull.”
“No to all of that,” Daniel said calmly, even as he clenched a fist at his side. Joseph was a very abrasive man, and Daniel did not like being shouted at. He’d never dealt with that much back on Earth, but very quickly learned after being brought into this world that his instinct was to shout back. Or take things further if it was clear the other person was going in that direction. But that wouldn’t help at the moment. Heck, it rarely ever did, which is why he learned to control that urge. “My magic is much more complex. And I can demonstrate it right now, to assuage everyone's disbelief. I know that it sounds absurd. But so is being brought to another world, and that is our reality.”
“Oh not this bullshit again!” Joseph yelled harshly. “Fuck what those stupid blue windows said. That other world shit is nonsense. No one here with half a brain believes that. Like what, you think there's just another fucking planet out there, that people can just live and breathe on with no problems? And some sci-fi bullshit or nonsense magic exists that could bring us there? You fucks need to get over your delusions and pay attention to the real world.”
Daniel took another deep breath before he spoke. Joseph was a ridiculous hothead and a foul-mouthed one to boot. It made not lashing out very difficult. “I’m pretty sure that’s already been cleared up. Last night, if I’m remembering correctly, Clark and some others figured out that the stars in the sky were wrong. That none of the constellations match. I’m pretty sure everyone heard about that when they figured it out. That should be enough mundane proof, and I’m able to verify that with my magic as well.”
“Well then they fucking suck at finding constellations then,” Joseph said with scorn. “Or maybe we're on the other side of the world, and they’re too stupid to figure out that changes things. Or hell, we’re just in some kind of crazy large building and the sky is made up of fucking screens. All of that’s more realistic than fucking magic or science fiction bullshit taking us to a whole other world. I’m getting so sick of you dumb fucks buying into this bullshit. We aren’t ever gonna get home if you fall for these stupid games whoever the fuck brought us here is playing.”
Daniel took one more deep breath, heat building up in his chest before it dissipated. He was going to enjoy what was going to happen next. “The idea that they might be wrong isn’t something to be dismissed. And I can understand why you would be disbelieving of the possibility of magic or us being in another world. To normal people, that goes against everything you were taught to believe for the most part. But here’s my counterpoint to that.”
Unable to help himself, Daniel smirked before he cast the spell. Let's see you fucking yell about how fake this is you loudmouth.
During his discussions with Sapphire, Jessy, and Nathan, one of the things they discussed was the best way to reveal magic to people. Not just what he would say and how he’d explain it, but the best spell for it. To prove that without a doubt, that their previous understanding of the world was incorrect.
Daniel himself had considered just using illusion magic, but he hadn’t wanted to bring too much attention to the fact that he could do that. If things got hairy and he needed to scare people enough to get them to back down, it was for the best if they had no idea he could do that.
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So he’d gone a different route, after throwing ideas back and forth with the three of them. He needed something that you couldn’t easily dismiss as a trick. At the same time, with him being diminished as he was in terms of his magical abilities, he needed something he’d actually be able to do at the moment. Or at least, something he could do with some prep. So it had to be something within his specialty.
And, just in case, it needed to be something impressive. To destroy their worldview about what was possible. Something small might have worked, but then again it might not. And something in your face and awe-inspiring would hopefully prevent people from doing anything dumb later.
Because of that, he couldn’t just cast the spell normally. But he also didn’t want to show weakness by taking a while to create a ritual array. So he set things up earlier and hid the array under an illusion. He kept with him a rock tied to that array.
So when he wanted to cast the spell, all he had to do was pour his mana into the rock and cast it through the link to the array.
There was an explosion of water from the river, drawing gasps and even some shouts from the crowd. Then, the shouts died out and turned to silence as the water coalesced and slowed down, before slithering over to them. It was just above head height and within reach of everyone to touch.
Sweat began dripping from Daniel's brow as he struggled to control the spell. The connection to the array wasn’t great, and the spell wasn’t designed for prolonged use. It also wasn’t meant to move so slowly. But it was still easier to force the spell like this than cast one he was less familiar with.
Daniel found it was worth it as he saw the awe and wonder in many people's eyes. Some had even reached out to touch the water, and someone even splashed themselves when they scooped the water out of the slowly flowing stream and onto their heads.
That brought some laughter and encouraged others to give touching the water a go.
Of course, not everyone had such pleasant reactions. Even as he was reaching his limit, and started to move the water back to the stream, he could see it. In the faces of some of the people there, instead of awe of something magical was the fear of the unknown. Of something strange.
And of course, there was the other look some people had. The one he’d been expecting and dreading. The look of suspicion. No doubt in their minds, they are thinking, just what else could he do with magic? And if magic is real, and they were brought here by it, what are the chances that this guy isn’t the one who did it and is trying to play us?
Once the last of the water was back in the river, Daniel ended the spell. Part of him wanted to lie down and give him a moment to recover from the mental strain. But he didn’t want to show any weakness. And he also wasn’t done. So he discreetly wiped his brow as everyone’s eyes were still looking towards the river and continued.
“Now, like I said, magic is real,” Daniel said, keeping the exhaustion out of his voice. He didn’t address Joseph, but instead everyone around them. “And I am a mage. Something I’m able to do is scry. That’s looking at things from a great distance. And that’s how I found a way out of this forest. Using my magic I scouted much further than the teams we sent out could, and I’ve found villages and people.
“I’ve also seen all the Monsters that are roaming around. For some reason, they seemed to be avoiding the area around us for now. But we will have to get past them to get to safety. Scrying and avoiding fights will be what we mainly do, but if the worst case comes to be, then by working together and with support from my magic, I’m sure we will all be able to get through things safely. That’s why I’m revealing this secret to you all now. So you know how we figured out how to get out of here, and to prevent surprises in the future.”
Silence fell as Daniel finished. Then, despite not wanting to, he asked the question: “Now, are there any questions?”
As expected, there were many. Most of which were loud. It was going to be a long night.
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After his impressive demonstration, Daniel was bombarded with questions. It took a while to get everyone to settle down and ask their questions one at a time. Thankfully, once he started answering them, fewer and fewer people looked like they had something to ask.
For the most part, the questions were variants of: How was that possible? What is magic? What else can you do? Can I do magic too? If magic is real, then how has no one ever heard of it? And of course, can you get us home?
It took a while to answer all of these, and he had to be vague about some of it to avoid revealing his knowledge of this world and their situation. One of the bigger ones was people asking if they could do magic. He knew they could of course, but needed an explanation on how. Thankfully, there was a spell to check people’s affinity for mana, so he just used that as an explanation of how he thinks that yes, at least a large number of people here can. He said that he figured that out after noticing the change in his friend Nathan.
Of course, the other big one, besides the biggest question of whether he could get them home, also required an explanation. That, though, he hoped to hide behind pop culture. He did his best to explain without giving anything away, that the reason that magic’s existence was kept a secret was because mages back home didn’t want anyone to know. He made sure to emphasize that he had nothing to do with that, and if they got back home it would probably be best to keep it a quiet to avoid trouble with the magical government.
He ended up referencing a book about an orphaned boy and a magical school several times to get his point across and as examples.
And of course, after that came the biggest question. Could he bring them home? He had to burst everyone’s bubbles and explain that he had no knowledge about that kind of magic and didn’t have any way to bring people back home. Else he would have done it by now. And of course, he made sure to mention that his magic did allow him to figure out that this is definitely not Earth. Just to hopefully finally convince everyone of that, so that no one thinks that they can just walk their way back home or something silly.
Eventually though, after much talking, all the questions were asked. And while not satisfied, the majority of people were done for the moment. Several had asked to talk more about it later, and others had wanted to learn magic from him. He made sure to promise those who’d asked that he would. Because if they were invested in that, and wanted to learn, then they were far less likely to stab him in the back out of misguided paranoia.
“Alright,” Clark said when it was clear people were done for the most part. “So now that that is out in the air, I hope it’s enough for you all to trust that we know how to get out of here. And since we have such an abundance of food now, thanks to Daniel for hunting it and Evelyn and everyone else who helped with cooking, I think the best thing we can do now is go to sleep early, then set out first thing tomorrow. That way, we can make the journey with as many resources as possible and finally get out of here. Are we in agreement?”
That earned many cheerful agreements from the crowd. Mainly from the people Daniel recognized as those who went to Clark or Sapphire for leadership. Other smaller groups looked less enthused, but they didn’t seem to object either.
Of course, not everything can go their way.
“And what if we don’t want to follow you?” Joseph said, having been stewing ever since the big reveal before he went off with his team and a few other people. Probably talking amongst themselves and deciding what to do. “We’re just supposed to believe that we were magically whisked away to another world. And the one fucker with us who's apparently a fucking wizard has nothing to do with it? How about instead of following you through this monster-infested forest, you fucking send us back, asshole, with your bullshit magic!”
Joseph yelled that last part and pointed directly at Daniel. The guys behind him all stood straight, and while their hands weren’t on any weapons, he could see their hands straying. One of those guys had a gun, as far as Daniel could see, and so did Joseph.
Daniel let out a sigh even as he prepared for the worst. He sent mana into the necklace under his shirt that he’d made while on the hunt for the deer. It was a crude thing of plant twine and shaped stone, carved with a magical array and attached to two of the Monster crystals. It would hopefully be able to survive against a bullet or two, but Daniel was not eager to find out.
He also wasn’t going to solely rely on it. If things got out of hand, Daniel would throw up his shield and an illusion and end things fast. No mercy. He was not going to go easy on them if they went lethal. If they did, their deaths were on them.
“I can’t take us back home,” Daniel said as calmly as he could. He raised his hand placatingly since that didn’t prevent him from casting his illusions. “Because I don’t know any magic like that. I have nothing to do with whatever or whoever brought us here. I still don’t even know what the point of us being here is. All I want to do, though, is to get us out of danger. That’s all.”
“And we're just supposed to take your word?” Joseph snarled with a sneer. “Just believe it's all one big coincidence. And follow you into the woods and assume you're telling the truth. Who knows what the fuck you can do with your magic, or where you might be leading us.”
“Then don’t come!” Daniel snapped. Not wanting his anger to get the best of him, he took a quick breath to calm down before continuing. “No one is forcing you to go anywhere. If you think you have a better chance on your own, then don’t come when we go tomorrow. I want to lead us all to safety cause it’s the right thing to do, but I’m also not forcing anyone to do anything. And yes, man, coincidences do happen. Or maybe not. I have no clue why or how we were taken here! Maybe they purposely picked a Mage. Maybe it was random and I just got picked by chance. But I’m not the only fucking Mage in the world! And just cause I can do things beyond the norm doesn’t mean this has anything to do with me!”
Joseph's nostrils flared when Daniel finished, and he seemed ready to shout again when Clark stepped between the two of them. Not ideal if things turned into a fight.
“Let’s just calm down for a second,” Clark said, a strained smile on his face. “I get that this entire ordeal is super stressful. Yelling at each other won’t fix anything. Why don’t we just take a moment to catch our breaths.”
“I don’t fucking need a moment, boyscout,” Joseph snarled. “I need that fucker to stop playing around and take us home.”
“Daniel can’t do that. He wasn’t involved in whatever brought us here,” Clark said calmly. “I can understand that the revelation about magic is surprising, but that doesn’t mean that there is some kind of conspiracy here. What exactly would the point be?”
“Fuck if I know,” Joseph said, his anger barely contained. “But you're just gonna take his word for it? Just cause we don’t understand it, doesn’t mean there isn’t a reason. Who the fuck knows with magic or whatever the fuck he just did.”
“But it also doesn’t mean there is, or Daniel is involved. If he was, then why would he bother revealing his magic?” Clark asked, still trying to keep the peace. He also wasn’t just speaking to Joseph, but everyone around them as he raised his voice. “He could have kept it hidden. No one would have known about his magic if he hadn’t told anyone. But he didn’t. Despite fearing this exact reaction he reached out and revealed a very important secret. Just so he could be able to get all of us to safety. Does anyone else think the same as Joseph? Does anyone else believe there is some kind of conspiracy here, despite how little sense it would make?”
Daniel frowned slightly at Clark’s words. He could tell what the other man was doing. Trying to undermine any argument Joseph could bring to bear with the weight of the majority. But it could also backfire. People can be stupid sometimes. Especially when angry. If they saw him as a convenient scapegoat like Joseph did, then more people might end up agreeing with Joseph than they would like.
“We do,” one of the guys behind Joseph said. “It’s suspicious as all hell.”
A couple of other people shouted their agreements out too, but thankfully it was a pretty small number of people. Including Joseph and his scouting group, there were maybe five more people who voiced their doubts. Even then they weren’t nearly as adamant about it. Still, he’d have to keep an eye out for them.
“And does anyone else think the same as me?” Clark asked the group once more. “That it really just doesn't make that much sense. That the fact that Daniel revealed himself to us, instead of keeping his magic hidden, should be seen as a sign of sincerity. And also just unnecessary if he had been the one to bring us here?”
For a moment, there was a long silence, and Daniel was starting to think Clark had messed up. Sapphire, Nathan, or Jessy, could have spoken up, but they probably held back because they were clearly already on his side.
“Um, I do,” a somewhat timid voice called out. It was Evelyn. The short girl looked rather meek as everyone turned to look at her. “Like I can understand why someone might want to look for an easy target to blame all this on. But it just doesn’t make any sense. Like pretending to be one of us, and then just marking himself as different… If Daniel was involved, it just really doesn’t make sense in my mind. I know tomorrow that I’m gonna go with you guys.”
That finally seemed to open the floodgates and many other people called out in support. That they agreed they were going to go with them tomorrow. And that Joseph was just flinging around blame. It was almost a majority of the people, which… was at least better than Daniel had thought or hoped for.
Though of course, Joseph could just ignore all this and try to escalate anyway. It’s not like their group was held together by some kind of agreement to go with the majority. But hopefully, he’d be less likely to do something stupid now that he saw he doesn’t have that much support.
“Well, this wasn’t a vote or anything, but as you can see, most people don’t think Daniel is involved in this,” Clark said, as people started to quiet. “So maybe it would be best to reconsider things? Maybe we shouldn’t be jumping to conclusions or throwing around blame?”
Joseph narrowed his eyes and swept his gaze around the crowds. Then he snorted. “This isn't fucking over. I don’t care what you all think. It's suspicious as fuck and he’s up to something. He’ll reveal his true colors and then you’ll all see.”
“Does that mean you won’t be coming tomorrow?” Daniel couldn’t help but ask. Part of him wanted the answer to be yes. So he’d stop having to deal with this man and the people willing to support him.
“Oh no I’m fucking coming, asshole,” Joseph said with a snarl, glaring dagger at Daniel. “You may have tricked a bunch of people, but I’m onto you. Hell, don’t think I didn’t notice everyone who spoke up was the hangers-on of those two. You just had to convince them and everyone else fell into line. But we’re not sheep and when you fucking show your true colors, I’m gonna be there. Then I’m gonna make you take us the fuck home, and everyone gonna cheer me on.”
Daniel narrowed his eyes. The anger was bubbling back to the surface again. Part of him wanted to show this bastard just what would happen if they fought. To tear into the other man and show him that he didn’t stand a chance against him. And to show him just how deluded he was. To show him if he had any nefarious goals, that the bastard wouldn’t be able to do a single damn thing about it.
But he didn’t. That was the impulse of someone who let his level and strength above others get to him. And he also wasn’t quite at that point yet. He could probably take Joseph out without too much of an issue, but other people could get hurt. And trying to use magic to threaten the other man was just playing into whatever crazed narrative he was forming in his head.
So instead, Daniel took a breath to calm down before speaking. “That’s fine. I’m trying to keep everyone safe. That includes you, even if you are deluded. But I don’t care what you do as long as you're not hurting anyone.”
Joseph narrowed his eyes at Daniel’s words, and for a moment, Daniel thought the small insult was enough to push the other man over the edge.
But then the moment ended and Joseph just spat before stomping off. The people who’d been supporting him also went off with him, leaving silence in their wake.