Sparks and fire shoot out in every direction from my hands. Roderick’s eyes twinkle like stars in their afterglow. Even though he isn’t able to use fireball himself, he seems to be having an awesome time watching me fire them off.

As fun as I am having, I feel bad for him. I want him to be more than a passive observer to my newfound spellcraft ability.

“Now blast one in that direction,” he says, “now over there.”

“Let me try something,” I interrupt his guidance.

“Uhm, Derek, what are you doing?”

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to blast you with fire,” I say, as I place my hands on his back.

“Try it now.”

“Try what?”

“The spell, dude.”

“Okay, I guess. I doubt anything is going to happen though.”

He places his arms in front of him and inhales deeply. The hairs on my arm stand on end as the balance of power shifts.

“[Fireball]”.

An inferno blazing brighter than a thousand suns erupts from my brother’s arms. It sends us flying backwards with a thump. The massive blaze explodes with a thunderous echo, scattering pieces of burning reeds in every direction. They stick into the ground like torches, illuminating our path.

“Dang,” Roderick stares at his hands, “did I do that?”

“See! You can use magic after all.”

“I’m speechless. What made you decide to try that?”

“I didn’t want you to feel left out,” I smile. I didn’t actually believe that my gambit would work. Not only did it somehow succeed, but my brother’s version of fireball had to be at least three or four times as strong as mine. Talk about insane.

Roderick blasts a few more attacks at the reeds for the hell of it. We get bored and keep walking down the path we cleared with our fire. We slosh through pools of ash and charred vegetation. The horizon in front of us remains clear of reeds for at least a half a mile. Our need to bushwhack is eliminated and our progress hastens.

As I walk, I find myself coming to terms with the fact that I am in a game. I think Roderick understands our situation as well. In fact, he looks pretty concerned about it. I spy him looking at the mountain in the distance and frowning at the burning swamp surrounding us.

“This isn’t right,” he says, “this area was the main bread belt of the Imperium, what happened to it?”

“Was there anywhere else like this in the game?” I ask him, “maybe we are on the other side of the mountain, looking South.”

“No, we are definitely South of it, looking to the North,” he shakes his head. “I have seen this view hundreds of times before. This should be a very developed region of the Imperium, and yet it’s not.”

“Tell me about the Imperium,” I implore him.

“In the game, the Imperium is the pre-eminent empire on the Continent of Kadwyn. Its sprawling land area, rich economy, and bloodline magic helped it conquer and expand with relative ease. It’s just bizarre though, even if some cataclysm happened and caused a giant swamp to grow here, I would expect there to be some remnants of Imperial society. The remains of a building. A road. Something.”

“As far as I can tell, the only thing out here is us and the reeds. I don’t think I’ve seen a single living thing since we started bushwhacking.”

“The game world I remember was filled with magical creatures and mythical beasts. This place is completely lifeless. There aren’t even any mosquitos here.”

I shake my head and listen intently to him. The ground under my feet begins to crunch. The earthy substrate feels like wood.

“Ow,” a submerged object bashes into my waterlogged sneaker. The blunt pain sends me splashing into the metallic water.

“Derek,” Roderick flops back towards me. “Are you okay?”

“I stubbed my toe on something.”

Roderick kneels down at my side and starts to pat the water next to my foot. “There’s something metal here”, he says.

I quickly compose myself and sit back up.

Roderick struggles to pull a bulky muck-covered object up from the water. “Let me help,” I tell him.

I sit at his side and help him pull.

The object is cold and heavy. It appears to be made out of thick cast iron, and despite being submerged in water, it is remarkably sturdy. We jostle it back and forth and heave it up from the ground, playing a game of tug of war with the swampy silt.

“Got it!” A medium sized rectangular box pops up from the water. It is ancient and rust covered, but still manages to hold its shape.

Roderick’s eyes light up at our discovery.

“An Imperial Cache!” He bounces up and down, “these were carried in Imperial wagon trains. The mage commanders held important documents, items, and magical scripts in these.”

“Should we open it?”

“Duh, but only an Imperial or Acolyte can open it. You’d need to have magic.”

“We have magic,” I tell him.

“True, but its quite weak. Only a full-fledged mage can open one of these.

“Fine then, I’ll put my hand on your back. Go ahead and open it.”

“Smart thinking. I seem to have the ability to amplify your magic.”

I place my hands on Roderick’s back, and he places his palms on the box. “By my ancestors and the imperial flame, I command this cache to open.”

A bright blue light erupts from within the metal box. It pours out from all sides, illuminating the darkening day in magical light. With a barely audible snap, the top of the box lifts up.

I nod at Roderick who nods back at me. Together, we lift the lid up and push it to the side. The bright blue light sears our corneas as it comes rushing out. I close my eyes and shield them with my arms for extra protection. Even then, I am still overwhelmed.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in the game,” Roderick yells, “storage magic is super basic. It certainly doesn’t cause radiation like this.”

“When will it be over.”

“I have no idea.”

We wait and wait, for at least ten minutes or more. The unrelenting barrage of light slowly fizzles out.

I open my eyes and blink a few times, allowing myself to readjust to the light. Roderick’s head is still buried inside his anime shirt. I tap him and tell him to come out.

Like a turtle, he pops his head out and shakes himself off. “That was crazy.”

“Everything has been crazy today.”

“Let’s look inside.”

We kneel over the cache and stare down at its contents. Inside, a neatly folded piece of dark fabric conforms perfectly to the rectangular shape of the box.

“An imperial robe!”

Roderick carefully pulls the robe out of the box. It looks remarkably dry for something that was submerged in a rusty underwater box. The robe is long and black, with red and white accents. A simple red half cape billows gently over its right shoulder.

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“So cool.” Roderick says, as he looks the robe over.

“Look, there’s a pair of pants in here also.” I pull out a pair of silky red pants with a black waist chord. Seeing the outfit makes me feel relieved for my brother. “Looks like you can finally get out of your tight clothes,” I tell him.

“These are the robes of an Imperial,” he grins from cheek to cheek, He removes his ripped and tattered anime shirt and tosses it aside. He slides the robe over his head and dusts it off with his hands. “These robes are completely resistant to the elements, making them super strong and comfortable.”

He splashes backwards into the water and pops back up. The water beads right off of his robe and drops harmlessly into the swamp.

“That’s amazing.”

He grabs the matching pants from me and tells me to look away for a moment while he changes into them. That is fine with me. While he changes, I dig deeper into the box.

I peer inside the cache. My gaze is met with yet another layer of linen. I pull out a robe equal in appearance to my brothers, with the exception of the cape. Whereas the robe that Roderick took has a half cape, this one has a full cape. I am not as desperate for a wardrobe change as my brother, but getting out of my wet and tattered street clothes holds some appeal.

“Is it okay if I keep this one,” I hold the robe over my back, averting my gaze from him.

“It’s okay. I’m done changing,” he says.

I turn around and prepare to ask my question again. I stop dead in my tracks at my brother’s appearance. He looks like a character out of a nursery rhyme.

“If there are any girls your age in this world, then they are going to fall head over heels for you. You look cool, dude. I dig your new digs.”

“Who are you?” He asks.

“What do you mean?”

“The old Derek would have never said anything like that to me.”

“Time changes people,” I say, as I slip out of my tattered shirt. “See, look.” I point down at my fat rolls, “I think you might actually be more fit than me now.”

Roderick has a fit of laughter at my appearance. He is distracted. I carefully reach my hand into my jean pocket and remove my anxiety medication. I slide the baggie into the pocket of my new robe. He doesn’t notice.

Roderick reaches into the box and tosses me a pair of slacks, equal in quality to his, but black instead of red. I thank him, and then slide into them. They are super comfy and warm.

“What else is in there,” I ask him as I finish changing.

“No way!” He pulls out two weathered books and holds them above his head. “Chronicles. The most important tool of an Imperial!”

“Wow, talk about lucky!” I say and grab one of the books from his hand, “and there is one for each of us, just like the robes.”

“We can activate them later when we get out of this swamp, assuming we are able to get them to work. I can’t tell how this game world classifies our racial background. You definitely have the hallmarks of an Imperial, but I’m not sure if that’s what I am.”

“Why can’t we activate them now?”

“In the game, wild beasts and animals are drawn to activated chronicles like moths to flame. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to risk that kind of encounter out here.”

“Right.” A shiver runs down my spine. I imagine a massive crocodile and swamp hags emerging to attack us. I carefully slide the chronicle under my waist belt and tie it securely in place. I don’t want it to accidentally activate.

“There’s one more thing in here,” Roderick pulls out a piece of weathered parchment.

I kneel down next to him, and we take turns trying to decipher its gaudy typography. It appears to be written in English, but it is next to impossible to decode.

“This may be a magic script. Derek, can you lend me some magic?”

“Of course.”

I place my hand on my brother’s shoulder and he begins his incantation. “On the honor of my family name, I Roderick Smith, hereby invoke this script to activate.”

I close my eyes tightly, waiting to be showered in blinding magic light like with the box. This time however, the magic is far more subtle.

“It’s okay Derek. You can take a look.”

I open my eyes. A small white light is etching a pattern on my brother’s half cape. From the glint in his eyes, I can tell that a similar pattern is being woven into my own cape.

“An imperial seal! Wow, this is so cool. So we are Imperials after all!”

“An imperial seal?”

“Yes, all the royal houses of the Imperium have one. It’s a sign of status and honor.”

“It looks like a cross between a sheep and a dragon.”

“Hmm, our seal is not one I am familiar with.” Roderick quirks his lip as our magical seal takes the form of a youthful ram with scaly wings. It is eating what look like pieces of sugarcane. “Imperial seals normally feature a dragon. I guess ours does as well. Kind of.”

The magic hops off my brother’s cape and onto his chronicle. It inscribes the same seal onto it, then it moves over to mine.

“This is proof that we are in the Imperium, if we can find a city, then we should be able to blend right in. Imperials are highly respected by the populace. We are bound to meet some allies who can help us unravel the mystery of our arrival here.”

“So we are royalty then?”

“Not quite. We would have to control territory to be considered true nobility. Right now we are basically landless nobodies with cool costumes. Still though, we rank higher than 99% of the populace, so that’s something. Imperial society is hierarchical, Imperials are at the top, followed by Acolytes, then Warriors and finally Crafters and Peasants. These are both racial and job classes. They are hereditary.”

“So, people may help us due to our rank?” I like the sound of that, “now all we have to do is find people.”

“We shouldn’t be far from Emperor’s Watch.”

Roderick points his finger towards the mountain in front of us, “at the base of Emperor’s Beacon is the trade city of Emperor’s Watch. It’s a big city with a massive market, a bubbling hot spring, and impressive architecture – or at least it was.”

“Well, there’s only one way to find out if it still is,” I shoot a blast of fire at the reeds blocking the path in front of us, “let’s get a move on it.”

Roderick and I make haste towards the looming mountain. As we get closer to it, the surrounding reeds seem to get thinner and shorter. Slowly but surely more of the massive peak comes into view.

“Wow, it’s even more impressive than in the game.”

In the fading daylight, it becomes easy to see why this mountain is called Emperor’s Beacon. The mountain stands alone, unobscured by any other geomorphology. It reflects the bright red hues of the sun onto the surrounding landscape like a giant lantern. Though faint, I can just barely make out the silhouette of distant pines near its apex. These are as clear a sign as any that our trudge through the swamp is finally going to come to an end.

“The city should be close, stay on the lookout.”

As the final group of reedy stalks thins out in front of us, for the first time all day, I can make out dry land. Not only that, but there are structures too and signs of life.

“This can’t be right,” Roderick whispers as we trudge onto the grass. “This is where Emperor’s Watch should be. What’s going on here?”

There is a small village in front of us, hugging the edge of a gentle hill. It features simple mud huts made out of sticks and dried reeds. There is nothing particularly impressive about it, in fact, even a hobbit might scoff at how shoddy it looks.

My brother and I tiptoe up a narrow footpath, and continue into the village proper. We pass through the first row of mud huts, and I wonder whether this village is abandoned. Though the structures look moderately upkept, there are no signs of human activity.

“Derek,” Roderick whispers to me, “look over there.”

I quirk my neck to see what my brother is pointing at. Though it is faint, a meager plume of translucent smoke lofts vertically into the air at the far end of the village.

We inch towards it, making sure to stick to cover to avoid detection. As we get closer, it becomes increasingly apparent that this town is still inhabited by somebody. Whether they are friend or foe, neither of us know.

Roderick abruptly stops behind a clay shack. He motions me to creep forward.

I sneak up to him and stick my head out to see what he is looking at.

In the decayed husk of a large stone building, a crowd of people is gathering. They are short, and wear rags as clothes, but they are definitely human. A woman in a tattered black and red robe is marching up the steps of the ruin, carrying a smoldering reed torch in her hand.

She turns to face the gathered assemblage, and then kneels down in front of them. The crowd parts, leaving her to stare out over the endless swamp of reeds from atop the ruin.

“On this night we honor our ancestors. We honor our mothers. Our fathers. Our brothers and sisters. Though we do not remember their names, we will never forget their sacrifice.” Her voice echoes loudly through the village corridor.

“That ruin,” Roderick whispers, “that used to be the Imperial Seat of the Northern Frontier. My God. What happened to this place?”

I stay quiet, both because I do not know what he is talking about, but also because I want to hear what this priestess is saying. It makes me anxious not knowing whether the people in front of us are hostile. What if this was an evil cult? Could we die in this game world?

I start to feel sick and woozy, like I need my medicine. I only have a limited supply, and I have no idea how long my brother and I will be stuck in this world. I can’t use it. I really want to though.

“I have an idea,” Roderick whispers. “I think we should go out there. I think we should let them know that there are Imperials in their midst.”

“What! Are you crazy?”

“Shhhhhh,” he shushes me with his index finger. “There is something about the way that she is speaking. Though I have not heard these specific prayers before, her outfit is that of an Acolyte. The Acolytes are notoriously loyal to the Imperials. They even take an oath that binds them to help any Imperial in need.”

“How do you know that she didn’t just steal that robe from an Acolyte?” I whisper nervously.

“I don’t,” he shakes his head, “but we have nowhere to stay, nothing to eat, and it is getting dark. This is our best chance at finding refuge for the night. I don’t want to be outside in the dark. It’s not safe.”

“I’m scared,” I tell him.

At this point, I am practically shaking. My arms and legs are weak with trepidation.

Roderick looks baffled at my demeanor. This is not the way that I used to act. The old me would have run out there, guns blazing. The new me is an emotional wreck.

“It’s okay,” he smiles gently, “you have me to back you up, remember?”

“You’re right,” he manages to calm my nerves ever so slightly.

“Just follow my lead.”

I shake my head but don’t say a word. I know he is right, but I am still worried. I only just reunited with my long lost family. What if they try to take him away from me again? What if I can’t stop them?

Negative thoughts swirl around in my brain. I’m not sure that I can do this, but I have to at least try. Crap. I don’t want to do this.