August 8th, 1901.

It's a hot summer day in the hot Arizona desert. Not even the cold blooded lizards want to climb out of their holes to face the sun on a hot day like today, but when the government offers you a $1000 to chase down some nutcase saying he's a wizard cutting up peoples daughter and leaving their bodies on display in weird pagan ritual site, well it's enough to bring a certain bounty hunter with a reputation he doesn't want to lose out into this scoring desert. He better be worth all this trouble.

I've tracked him to a cave near what used to be a riverbed in the middle of this burning desert. He has me at a disadvantage; I don't know this cave; I don't know how big it is or if there's another way out. My only option is to go in quick and quiet. I leave most of my guns on my horse, just taking my revolver with me.

Looking from afar I see two boys just a few years away from becoming men. One has a rifle and the other pistol. No way boys this young would know to use them properly but a stray bullet can still do a man in. Besides that, I don't know how big this cave is or if there's another way out. I need to be quiet; I need to be fast, and I need to be smart. I tuck my clothes in the dry red dirt and put a handful in my mouth fighting the urge to cough it out and make my way down to them. 

"Water!" I shout as I make my way down to them, coughing up the mouthful of dirt in the process. The two point their guns at me but don't shoot.

"You best turn around, friend." The one pointing his rifle at me suggests.

"Please… I can pay you… I just need water and a way out of the desert… It's been days." I make a show out of falling on my face and just focus on keeping my eyes close, holding my breath, and keeping my limbs limp. I'm left waiting for a few seconds and the boys seem just as frozen as I am. I'm a bit worried that they didn't take the bait and may decide to leave me there or finish the job first, but I eventually hear their footsteps approach.

Both of them are two close. I slowly crack open one eye just enough to see. Both of these boys have stowed away their guns. I almost feel bad for what I'm about to do. These kids are in the wrong line of work but right now they're in-between me and the man I'm looking for. They're not gentle when they try to flip me over and try to look into my pockets. I take this moment to pull the knife out of my sleeve and slash one of the boys across the neck, before the other a chance to back away I grab him by the shirt and force him down onto my blade. It's not a clean kill but at least it's quiet. I take out my canteen and rinse the dirt out of my mouth, I take a large gulp of water and almost forget to save some for the trip out of the desert.

Now it's my turn to do the looting. I get some extra bullets for my revolver and about ten dollars between the two of them. This wizard clearly got what he paid for. I take what they have and make my way into the cave.

I don't see any other guards, but this cave is big. I'm worried that I'm moving in the wrong direction until I hear words I don't recognize. Wizard or not, someone else is in this cave and they're directly ahead of me.

I follow the words until I find myself at the entrance of a large circular chamber. The room is covered with weird painted symbols; the kind of a crazy wizard can think of, speaking of it the center is a man in black robes speaking nonsense; the wizard I assume, and in front of him on a stone slab is a young unconscious woman looking like she's having a hard time trying to wake up. I look closer and see a real fancy looking knife in his hand. It's obvious what's happening and what's going to happen. It's the same scene as every one of his murders. 

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I reach for the revolver ready to charge in before I see around the chamber are three more boys, their eyes glued to the site in front of them. Two are together and the other is further down the room. There's no time to be smart, I'll just have to be quick and quiet. I crouch down and move as fast as I can to the pair. They see me too late as I come at them with my knife. I slash them down as quickly as I can going for their necks. The third readies his gun and I throw my knife at his chest before he can fire.

The wizard now knows that I'm here and speeds up his gibberish, grabs his knife with both his hands, and raises his knife above his head before bringing it down to the girl. I had just a split second to draw my revolver and fire. The knife flies across the chamber but everything else in the cave freezes as we wait for the echo of the gunshot and the ringing of lead hitting steel to end. Once it does, I cock the hammer back on my revolver and slowly walk towards my knife never taking my eyes off the wizard.

"You don't know what you've done cowboy." The wizard said in an unnaturally deep voice but didn't sound like he was faking it. A hood covered his face and eyes, but I could feel him looking at me just as intently as I was looking at him.

"I know you have to be pretty weird to believe in magic at your age." I retrieve my knife from the young guard and put it back into the sheath. "Even weirder to kill for it." I keep one eye on him and another I check the girl. It seems I was a split second too late as she had a small cut on her chest; not deep to kill her, but deep enough for a bit of blood to spill out. I looked at her face and watched her breath, whatever they numbed her with wasn't going to wear off anytime soon.

"Yes, your world doesn't have much concept of magick. Just parlor tricks meant to act as a cheap imitation, but still carry a bit from my world." His voice makes my insides vibrate but I can't let him know that.

"I'm sure you'll fit right in at the underworld but first it's the gallows." I keep my gun pointed at him squeezing the grip as I slowly walk my way over to him. I wish I brought a bigger gun off my saddle, approaching this guy is like approaching a standing bear and all I have is this pistol. I want to shoot this loon, but I have a reputation of always bringing my bounties back alive.

As I reach this crazy loon as the stream of blood from the girl reaches the symbol on the slab and every symbol in this cave starts to glow. "What is this!"

"You're too late, cowboy. The ritual is complete. I'm going home."

"I'm not buying it!" The glowing grows brighter and engulfs the room.

"It won't be a noose that's waiting for me but a throne."

"Enough!" I grab the wizard by his cloak and force him against the wall. Doing so causes his hood to come off and what I see causes me to let go and back up. The wizard's skin is a dark gray, his head was stretched long almost twice the size of a normal person, his ears were also stretched upwards and came to a point, and his eyes were blacker than the night sky and looking at them felt like falling into the void.

"I told you; you don't know what you've done. Goodbye cowboy." 

The white light from the symbols consumes everything in the cave and I'm forced to cover my eyes to keep from going blind.

***

I don't know what happened, but I must have passed out and when I woke up the wizard was gone. I also don't know why he left me but just thinking that he did just makes me mad. I look around more and see that the girl is also gone. The animal must have taken her somewhere else to finish the job. I swear you'll regret leaving me alive when I find you again.

I look around more and they're not the only ones missing, the young guards are also gone as well as the painted symbols. Something also feels different, the air is cooler, and it has a sweet smell to it. How long have I been asleep? Could it already be night out? I need to get out of this cave and tell the Marshall that I lost the bounty.

My joints become stiff and pop when I try to get up and only now do I realize that everything hurts. My muscles are sore, and my head feels several sizes too big, but I keep moving knowing it's the only way to get it to stop. I start my walk back to the entrance barely able to move in a straight line. I take another drink of water only to cough it back up as soon as it touches my throat, but I keep moving. I don't know why he left me, but I don't want to be here if he comes back.

It must have taken me twice as long to reach the mouth of the cave only to be met with one more surprise. "Where on earth am I?"