Time moved on and another migration came and went. Chuck stayed inside during this swarm and there were no life and death struggles besides the struggle to stave off boredom. He finished studying and could now read and write with no problems and could understand the language fairly well. Speaking it was a lot tougher but he could say a few words.
Now he and Tess were heading back to the capital with R2. The capital alchemy guild wanted a demonstration of his new ammunition but Chuck was treating it more like a vacation. Chuck had been storing all the boxes of ammunition in the back of the pickup so they had plenty of rounds to shoot off.
The trip was uneventful until they were about halfway to the capital. Suddenly the sky turned black and it became cold with ice frosting up the rear window. The truck’s engine died and then the ground started shaking. Tess looked around in concern and asked what was going on. Chuck knew right away what it was but hoped he was wrong.
Sure enough, Chuck felt like they were falling before losing consciousness. When he woke up, it was still dark and seemed to be raining. He looked around in panic but relaxed slightly upon seeing Tess still in the passenger seat. He gently shook her awake, asking if she was ok.
“What happened?” She asked, groggily waking up. Chuck sighed deeply before starting to explain his previous encounter with the phenomenon. It happening to him once might be some kind of accident but twice implied someone or something was doing it on purpose. When he was done her eyes were big. “So you think we got transported to another world?”
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“I have no idea where we are. We’ll just have to take it slow until we figure things out.” Chuck said, holding her hand. A sudden thunderclap made both of them jump. The occasional lightning briefly illuminated their surroundings but the heavy rain made it hard to make anything out.
A look into the back showed that R2 was still with them but he wasn’t moving so Chuck didn’t know if the robot still functioned. He cranked the engine and could tell the battery was low but fortunately it started. If he let it run it should recharge itself over time. He turned on his one headlight but it didn’t help much so he shut it off to help the battery charge faster.
His spotlight was stored in the toolbox so he would have to get wet to hook it up. The best bet seemed to be to wait for the storm to end or for the sun to come up so they could see where they were. For all he knew they could be on the edge of a cliff. He was definitely glad the magical window barriers were working otherwise they would get soaked.
Chuck wished whatever had seemingly transported them would let him know what exactly he was supposed to do. He had no memory of meeting any god like individual or receiving any instructions after he blacked out. He asked Tess but she didn’t remember anything either.
They had eaten only an hour or so before the phenomenon so neither of them were hungry but Chuck did dig out the magic water skin. They just talked and huddled together on the bench seat while listening to the storm howl around them. Gusts of wind would shake the pickup occasionally and the rain continued to fall.
It had been warm when they were traveling but it was starting to get cold in the cab. Chuck didn’t know if that was because of the storm or if they had been dumped in a colder climate. He grabbed a blanket from behind the seat and covered them with it. Tess was in her blonde haired elf form today and snuggled up to him under the blanket. He was just thankful she was still with him since he didn’t know what he would do without her.