Cinnamon. And… vanilla?

As Eldren inhaled the warm, perfumed air, his nostrils flared.

Definitely cinnamon and vanilla.

He opened his eyes and found himself lying in a large fluffy featherbed. A soft quilt was draped over him and a plush pillow propped behind his head, which was throbbing with a dull pain. He sat up to look around and winced as he shifted his weight and a more intense pain shot up his left leg and abdomen. His memories flooded back to him, shaking him from his sleepy stupor. The horse had fallen on his leg. The monster was rearing to kill him. The black arrow and the stranger’s cheerful voice.

A glass of water and a small crystal vial of ruby-red liquid sat on a small night table nearby.

Should I drink that? The fact that he was asking himself that question felt absurd. He had no idea where he was or who had left it. Hadn’t Espella mentioned something about the last court wizard, Ardos, getting assassinated by poison?

“It’ll make you feel better,” a familiar voice said.

Eldren looked up. Espella was standing in the doorway. She no longer wore her bronze plate battle armor but instead had donned a long flowing emerald green gown that accented her now loose and wavy auburn hair.

“You made it too, huh?” he said. “Where are we?”

“Yes. In better shape than you,” she said, smiling and crossing into the room. She pulled a small wooden chair up to his bedside. “Drink.” She passed him the vial. He uncorked it and poured it quickly like a shot glass down his throat. For some reason, he had expected burning but was pleasantly surprised when the liquid tasted almost like a sweet cherry gas station slurpee.

Immediately, as he swallowed, a twinkling chime sounded from across the room. It was loud and startled him. He scanned the room for the source of the sound. The only item across the room was a small desk against the wall with a spherical blue glass paperweight on it.

“Ah,” Espella said, following his gaze. “You’ll probably be wanting that. I had them bring it here for you.” She rose, crossed the room, and gently picked up the orb. “Here.” She handed it to him.

The orb was slightly larger than a magic eight ball and lighter than he expected. The glass was cool against his hand. Suddenly, the orb began to glow, ever so slightly. A cloudy haze appeared inside, like clouds suspended in the glass. And words appeared. He shook his head slightly to clear his vision and then looked back into the orb to read them.

Registration successful.

Eldren Pendergast:

Health Points (HP) restored: 7

Health Points (HP) remaining: 8

Health Points (HP) total: 8

He stared. The words were in white writing and each line of text appeared after the prior one, almost like lines of computer code on a screen.

What?

His confusion must have been apparent because Espella spoke up.

“Most court wizards transfer ownership of their crystal balls when their appointed term ends,” she said. “This was Ardos’ crystal ball which now is yours until the full-time replacement wizard is appointed.”

“Ah,” was all he could say. “Er—thanks.”

I have a crystal ball? What the hell is going on?

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

“Don’t you want to know how we got here?” Espella asked.

“Oh, right,” he said, tearing his attention away from the crystal ball. “Yeah, what happened? I thought it was over when we fell. I remember the monster about to kill me. I thought you were dead maybe.”

“It was going to kill you,” she said. “But lucky for you, Akronaza and his Wind Riders showed up at the right time.”

“Akronaza?” he repeated the name slowly and carefully, trying to get it right.

“Yes, my dear boy?” A new voice boomed from the hallway outside his room and Eldren turned toward the doorway. What he saw surprised him so much that his grip loosened and the crystal ball fell out of his hand and rolled across the floor underneath Espella’s chair with a thud.

Standing in the doorway, stooping its — his?— head to get into the room was a gigantic person. Except, instead of human skin and feet and a face, the creature was feathered. Completely feathered like a bird with scaled clawed feet, massive majestic wings (which were curled tight to fit in the room), and a sharp, dagger-like black beak. The man speaking to him was, in fact, a giant crow person.

Mentally forcing himself to keep his mouth from dropping open, Eldren noted that the crow-man also had human-like arms that ended in claws in addition to full wings. He also wore a full tunic and belt with various colored pouches dangling at his side.

“Akronaza saved both of our lives,” Espella explained.

Luckily, Cam’s ever-polite personality surfaced momentarily to help Eldren find the words to say. “Thank you so much,” he said. “We’d be dead without you.”

“I do say, that’s the gist of it!” Akronaza said cheerily. It was the same voice he had heard in the swamp before passing out. “But, always happy to help a traveler in trouble. We had been hunting those abominable witch-spawned shadows for two weeks. Very difficult to keep track of, especially at night!”

“You’ve made a full report to Lord Razola?” Espella asked.

Akronaza nodded. “Yes, General. And, like our own Lady Alavanka, he is deeply troubled by the appearance of new witch spawn closer to the borders than ever recorded.” Espella nodded.

“Will you be staying long here in Nottengrad?” she asked.

“I’m afraid that I shan't,” he said. “Is that a word? Shant?” he mused. “Human words are so strange. In any event, no. Nottengrad was not on our flight itinerary until we encountered the two of you. But the first rule of the Wind Riders is that we leave no innocent in need unaided!” The top tip of one of his wings slightly unfurled and bent down to his forehead in a salute.

“We’re very grateful,” Espella said, rising from her chair. “Especially since it could not have been easy on your rangers, lifting and flying both of us back to the keep.”

“Not a problem, General. My crows are always happy to assist.”

“If you don’t mind, I’ll escort you back to the courtyard for departure. There are a few matters about the creatures and the Coven’s recent movements I’d like to ask your opinion on,” Espella said.

“Of course, General.”

Espella turned back to Eldren. “Pendergast, your tower is down the stairs outside this door and across the secondary courtyard, past the stables. Ask anyone if you lose your way. There is no password set yet.”

This meant very little to Eldren but he nodded, not knowing what else to do. “How long was I out?” he asked. The first step to figuring anything out probably started with piecing together a timeline of events.

“Two days,” she replied. “War Council was moved due to your condition. But now that you’re awake, I’ll alert Lord Razola. Plan to attend tomorrow morning.” With that she and Akronaza departed the room, leaving Eldren alone.

A ding went off from the floor. Eldren sat up and reached down and retrieved the crystal ball from where he had dropped it. Shockingly, after consuming the health potion, his leg felt better, almost as if it had never been injured. Gazing into again he read new text that floated into focus.

New Quest:

Visit the Nottengrad Keep wizard’s tower

Is this like a game? My subconscious nerd has turned my afterlife into a real-life RPG game. Fantastic.

He needed to figure out what was going on. If he was dead and this was some kind of purgatory or afterlife, he needed to figure out how to win the game and move on. He wasn’t interested in spending the rest of his afterlife being a wizard who couldn’t do any magic.

Or, what if he wasn’t dead? A thought crossed his mind that if he wasn’t dead then this was all much more concerning because he was going insane imagining an alternative reality.

But maybe he was unconscious? What if he just put his head back down, pulled the covers up, and waited for his friends in the game store to revive him? How long would that take? Did time pass the same here? Surely not. It would have been three days since their game night and would now be Sunday in the real world. Maybe he was in a coma?

This is Cam-think, he thought. Then he immediately regretted thinking that. It is not the mark of a sane person to think about their real identity as an alternative identity. He was Cam, not Eldren. Eldren is the character, he reminded himself.

Still. Eldren was probably right. He was conscious inside of some sort of alternative fantasy world--whether it was real, inside his head, or spiritual didn’t matter much at this point. What he needed was to learn more about where he was. That would let him start figuring out how to get home, eventually.

Eldren’s-thinking took back over. What better way to start figuring things out than to accept a new quest? He looked back at the crystal ball and sighed.

“Let’s go check out the wizard’s tower,” he muttered to himself as he climbed gingerly out of the bed.