Dungeon Crawl

[Hiver]

Collapsing against the tree, I put the Crystal Device back into my inner pocket.

Fuck.

I let myself sink down onto the ground with my back against the tree and suddenly became aware that I was hurting all over.

Ow, when did my shoulder start bleeding? I was actually surprised that that monster didn't smell my blood.

Maybe it hunted by sight or something.


At the very least, it seemed to have frightened the little red bastards away. What in all that was holy was those little things?

Nasty things.


Groaning, I pushed myself back onto my feet, using the tree for support before heading down to my dropped bag of supplies and the ugly half of the monster.

Meh, just fucking with you. Both halves had been equally ugly.

Picking up the pack, I looked it over. Good, at least that thing hadn't damaged it. Some of the things in it were kind of fragile.


I started to open it to pull out the first aid kit, but I was interrupted by yelling and I very slowly and carefully looked over my shoulder.


The tribe of ill-tempered locals was at the top of the hill, looking down at me.

We were all silent for a long moment before one of them slowly walked a couple of meters forward. He came to a stop and we stared at each other before he raised his short spear above his head, shaking it as he started to yell again, charging towards me. The rest of his tribe raised their weapons at once, following his example.


Shit!


Abandoning the idea of bandaging my wounds just yet, I threw the shoulder strap of my pack over my shoulder and quickly dug the Crystal Device from my inner pocket.

Here goes nothing.

Trapped forever or back home in time for tea and medals?

I didn't exactly have much time for existential deep thoughts so I just raised the Crystal Device, pressed the button before I dove through and closed it behind me before the locals reached me.


First thought: This was clearly not the storage module. Crap.

Second thought: This place was clearly constructed. I was in what looked like an alleyway and it was dark outside, but I could see stars up between the buildings. While it was mostly quiet, the place sounded like a city would with no machines around. Sounds of living people. Where the hell did I end up?

Third thought: What's that smell!?

I looked to the side and saw a large pile of horseshit.

Ah. Crap.

Oh no.

No no.

Nonononononono!


Groaning, I rolled onto my knees and got up. A quick check revealed that my pack of supplies seemed intact. Good, I did put some padding in it around the sensitive parts.

Best case scenario, I ended up somewhere on Earth but with not a lot of technology. But even then I should have heard some kind of music... and what city still used horses?

I would say Best Korea, but they have likely eaten all their horses by now.

Second best scenario, I somehow traveled in time. Sucky, but at least the local population won't try to eat me.

Well, might not try to eat me.

Worst case scenario, I was on another random world.


Struggling onto my feet I threw the shoulder strap over my shoulder and sheathed my shortsword. Okay, let's see what we have or if I have to portal out fast.

Bloody hell, I was tired. Needed to find somewhere to rest.


Groaning I put my hand against the wooden wall before starting down the narrow alleyway until I reached the street.

Well, it certainly looked medieval. Other than the lightpoles with glowing crystals on top.
Okay, so, not earth.


The door to the left of the building opened and suddenly I could hear music and smell food before it closed again and a drunkard in green clothing exited the building, stumbling in my direction.

He couldn't help but spot me, the street lit up like it was.

"Hey... heeeey." He said before he frowned, "Is that blood?"


English? Well, that made things easier.

"Got jumped by some big guy with a dagger." I said, hoping he wouldn't notice anything else off about me. Like my everything. "He got a couple of good hits in before I drove him off."

He nodded and said, "You should go to the temple and get that looked at." before he continued past me while undoing his pants.


"Ah... I think you may be right. Think you can point me in the right direction?" I asked after a second.

He didn't even look in my direction, just pointing to the right.

Seeing that he was distracted, I made my cunning escape down the street. I needed somewhere to hole up to treat my wounds and figure out what was going on and how the hell I could get back home.




AN// A loot chest of Thanks to Grey Rook! He have slain the errors, he deserve to roll first.

 

[Hiver]

I holed up in an alley behind a pile of boxes to clean and bandage my wounds in the light of my headlight.

It turned out to be less severe than I thought, the only one close to serious was the cut on my shoulder where something had hit me and it was dubious if that even needed to be stitched up.

Letting out a breath I rolled my shoulder, trying the bandage before I pulled my long sleeved t-shirt and vests back on.

Collapsing back against the wall I took an anti-inflammatory pill and some antibiotics, ordered online. Not that I had any way to know if they really were antibiotics, but if they didn't kill me, they might help.

Last thing I needed right now was an infected wound, but at least I cleaned it the best I could. Nobody could say I didn't try to prepare to the best of my abilities.


The question was... what the hell should I do now? This was the first place I ever found where the locals didn't at the very least wanted to eat me.

Then again, he seemed very drunk so perhaps he didn't realize I didn't belong.


Pulling out the Crystal Device struggled onto my feet and raised it. Let's see if I can't get back ho...What in the world?

The red button was no longer the red button. It was now blue.

I lowered the Crystal Device and looked it over. It now looked like a deep blue sapphire instead of a ruby.

Now that's just odd.

Mentally shrugging I raised the device again and pressed the button, causing a portal to a dark and damp dungeon to open. Nothing was moving and it looked clear so I picked up my backpacks and stepped through, one hand on my sword hilt just in case something emerged from the shadows and decided that I was tasty looking.

I took one look back into the alley through the portal before I raised the Crystal Device again and closed it behind me.

It was the friendliest place I had run into(AKA, nobody tried to kill me at sight), but I needed to find out if I could get back home.

The portal closed, leaving me in the dark other than my headlight before I pressed the button again and the portal reformed... to show me the same alley as I just left.


What... the...


I stepped through and looked around. Yep, exactly where I left. There was the wrapper of the bandage roll.

I gave the Crystal Device a glare. NOW you fucking decide that it's a good time to start being consistent!?

Dropping down to sit on the closest box, I rested my head against my hands.


Fuck. For some bloody reason, this thing liked this place. Maybe it was made here? Those crystal lampposts did point towards there being magic in this place.

It somehow ended up in my world which mean that there is a way to get from here to there. Okay... not quite stuck then. Just a bit... lost.

Just.. very lost with no idea where to even begin getting back home.... and my research data go public in about twenty hours.

I let my head thump back against the wooden wall. No. Now is not the time to panic. Panicking get you killed in interesting and horrible manners.

Fear is the mind killer and all that bloody bollocks that never help.


Okay, I need a plan of action. I have food for another couple of days. I have my support bag just for this kind of circumstances.

First things first... the locals didn't seem like they wanted me dead yet, so the first thing on the checklist would be to find somewhere to hole up.

Somewhere I could stay safely. Which meant legal.

Which meant hiring a room somewhere.

Which in turn meant money which I had none.

Bollocks. Most of the loot I salvaged wasn't gold, but that didn't mean I hadn't found a couple of pieces of jewelry and gold coin.

Not that that helped, they are currently stored in my apartment which might as well be on a different world right now.

...Shut up...

I really should have thought to carry some around on me.


Opening my eyes again I stood up and stuffed my small empty backpack into the larger one before shrugging it on. Checklist.


Number one: I need intelligence. They speak english, what do they use for currency, how much is it worth, do I have anything to sell, where the fuck am I?

Number two: Acquire local currency.

Number three: Find somewhere to live.

Number four: Panic(Quietly).

Mental checklist done, I turned the corner and started started down the road as the sun started to rise.



AN// kinglugia is the one that attacked the errors in this section. All thank's to kinglugia for saving the kingdom! Sadly, the princess is in another story.

 

[Hiver]

Walking inside the room, I dropped my backpack on the ground before pushing the door closed, turning the key and putting the locking bar down and across the door.

The room was small, barely enough room for a bed and a small wardrobe, but it was the best I could afford. A small window facing into an alley let in the light onto the bed and the small night-side table with a candle on it.

Primitive, but at least it looked clean.

Sighing I headed over to start looking through the bed. It was a simple hay-stuffed mattress covered with some blankets.

Lighting the headlight I started to look through the blankets and walls for bedbugs. The inn 'Drunk Herring' had a good reputation from what I had been able to find out, but it didn't hurt taking a second look.


The sun was already setting though. Most of the day had been spent lurking around the city, listening and observing.

I was surprised at first that I didn't get more looks with all of my very strange looking gear, but considering the amount of people, I didn't stand out that much.

Not even the fact that I was armed and walked around with a metal shield on my arm draw much attention at all. It turned out that it wasn't that uncommon.

The city was called Teralis and was apparently the capital of a Kingdom I have not yet found out the name of. While the country wasn't at war, apparently they had problems with bandits... or something... it wasn't too clear.

In any case, merchants hiring mercenaries wasn't uncommon. I saw plenty of armed and armored people around.


That's not even counting what clearly was the city guard or something like it. Walking around in heavy, shiny armor with spears and big shields with a flying white dove motif on it.

I stayed way away from them, just to be safe.

Luckily though I was able to find a second hand arms and armor shop in the rattier side of town that was willing to pick up my vambraces for a small sum of money as well as anything I might be willing to sell in the future.

Sure, there were haggling, but from what I observed about the value of money in the marketplace, I wasn't cheated on the value of the armor.

It did give me enough to rent this room for two days as well as leave me enough to feed me for about as long... as long as I kept to relatively cheap stuff.

Finally satisfied it was clean, I sat down on the bed, putting my sword and shield to the side before I sighed, resting my face against my palm.

Lost in a world not of my own. Almost completely out of money. Yes I had a bunch of stuff to sell, but anything but my armor and weapon couldn't be replaced here.

I felt exhausted.


Groaning I got up and got the sleeping bag, laying it out on the bed before I undressed and got into it, putting my glasses on the nightstand.

Tired.

So what do I do now? Sleep.


Closing my eyes I tried to fall asleep, but my mind kept churning. Today had just been so damn much. Running, fighting, terror, getting stuck here and then trying to keep my wits around me to get a safe place to stay.

I had a safe place now. It was safe.

So what would I do for money? I needed money to find a way back home. Well, the course there was clear, I simply had to keep going through the portal and bring back stuff to sell.

That should at least keep me with a roof over my head and with food.

I also needed to keep recording and exploring this city. It was amazing, I had seen so many species! Aliens!

Well, not aliens, but non-human sophonts.

Today had been pretty amazing. I had seen Centaurs, What could have been a Drow, A normal Elf if the ears were anything to go by. They had cat people. Kind of khajiit like. I could have sworn I got a catgirl as well.

A Dwarf was running that second hand weapons shop. A classical dwarf. Short and wide with massive beard and muscles.

It was if I had stumbled into some kind of kitchen sink fantasy world. I even saw what could only have been an old wizard.

Nobody but a wizard could pull of a robe, staff and a white beard long enough to almost drag along the ground.

I already suspected there was magic here from the crystal light-poles. Magic was the key to getting me back home. Magic got me here, magic will get me home.

I just needed to find somebody who knew how the Crystal Device worked. That meant find out where the wizards lived.


Rolling over, I sighed.

But not tomorrow. Tomorrow I needed to do some raids to find stuff to sell. If I didn't have money for food and roof, I couldn't spend the money to learn how that damn thing worked.




AN// kinglugia is the slayer of errors!

 

[Hiver]

My eyes were closed as I took slow, deep breaths.

Three days since I had arrived on the new world and every day since I had been doing raids through the portal to get stuff to sell for rent and food. With little luck, I might add. Mostly weapons and armor, nothing really valuable. I could try to give these people steam power or something, I had the knowledge, but right now, I would much rather keep a low profile.

Sheathing my sword I reached up to put in my earbuds before I pulled my phone from my inner pocket to select a good tune.

You know, I could not help but think I had become a bit jaded in regards to this entire 'fighting for my life and loot against undead abominations to nature and science' thing.

Or just a bit unhinged by all the fighting.


"Winter wrap up, Winter wrap up..." I hummed along to the music as I pulled my sword again and rounded the corner into the wrecked library room filled with armed skeletons.

I ducked below the slow swing of the closest one, slamming my shield into its ribs to drive it back before I stepped backwards, chopping the wrists off the second one.

Blocking the blow of a sword from the first one I stabbed out into its right eyesocket, causing it to drop deader to the floor. Kicking it in the chest I to get it off my sword I pulled back. In the same motion I spun around, taking the legs off the disarmed skeleton behind me, causing it to fall onto the floor instead of trying to beat on my back with its stumps. Skeletons were just dry bone. Fragile.

As second blow destroyed its skull and it to stopped moving.

Fucking strange that destroying the head caused these things to die while a zombie was more than happy to completely ignore decapitations.

I liked fighting skeletons. They were slow and actually went down when you hit their vital spot. The drawback is was that there usually were a lot more of them.


I didn't have time to enjoy my victory as the next group was getting close enough to engage.

Three of them this time. The first one raised its massive battle axe and I stepped close, stabbing it in the face before I brought my shield up to block the one-handed mace of the one to the left while stepping towards the third one to keep it from using its spear.

Spinning I slammed my shield into the head of the one with the spear. It didn't kill it but it did drive it back... just in time for me to catch a bright light out of the corner of my eye.

Reacting on instinct I threw myself aside, hitting the ground hard enough to drive the air from my lungs. Since it kept me from getting a fireball to the face, I considered it a fair trade.

Scrambling into cover behind a bookshelf I tore the earbuds from my head.

Fucking hell! They had a mage! I had never seen one before! I didn't even knew there could be mages, yet alone skeletal mages!

Oh. Shit.

There had to be a lich. I was so not ready for a lich!


A skeleton shambled around my cover and I struck out with my shortsword, taking its legs off at the knees. As it fell, my second blow removed its head off.

I couldn't stay here. Two options... fight or flight. There was a narrow corridor from here all the way to the portal.

If it turned out to be in the line of fire, I would never make it.... if the fucker was even limited to line of sight.

Likely was or I would be dead right now.

Fight it is then. Even if it's a lich, it won't respawn at once. Maybe if I get close I got a shot.


A crackling sound caused me to roll to the side, just in time as a bolt of energy blasted straight through the bookshelf, causing splinters and rotten books to fly through the air.

Oh shit!


Scrambling to my feet I dashed to the side, trying to keep low and quiet as well as out of sight as I moved around the corner of the old library.

A skeleton wandered into view, raising its sword to swing at me. Without slowing I took its head before it was able to bring the sword down. Which was a good thing.

Another bolt of energy blew a hole straight through the bookshelf in the general area where the skeleton had been.


That... that fucker was smart.


He used the skeletons to get a bead at on my location without having line of sight and then he used that piercing bolt to try and tag me.

A single hit of with that and I'd be fucked.

I was right not to try for the portal. If I had I would have died, he would have speared me before I was halfway there.

Worst of all, this guy could actually think. None of the hostiles I had run into before this had anything even approaching smarts.

I stopped running, trying to make as little sound as possible, sneaking from shelf to shelf. I knew what general direction he was in from where the spells came from.

Peeking around the corner I saw somebody stand in the middle of the library. He was pale and had long white hair, wearing a long dark robe, his eyes glowing green.

He had two skeletons with him, both of them armed with sword and shield. They looked fancier than the other ones he had used and stood straighter, a green glowing rune that looked like a triangle with a dot in it on their foreheads.

If that wasn't a lich, it at the very least was a necromancer.

Oh, fucksticks.

I really didn't want to hurt somebody. Undead and monsters were one thing, but he was a person. But then again, he had tried to kill me and was most likely not a generally nice guy.

Most nice guys don't hang around in dungeons surrounded by undead and old, half rotted and dried out stuff.

Besides, he tried to kill me first.

Would it hurt him to put up some curtains? Maybe more than a couple of torches?

Yeah, my mind gets silly when I'm terrified.


Rush? No, all he would need to do would be to turn and fire. Time from when I killed the skeleton to when the bolt arrived had been about a second.

That meant short refire time.

Wonder how many times he could do that? Was it even possible to run out of magic?


Silently I sheathed my sword, pulling my dagger instead. Range was about ten meters. Throwing a knife is a bad idea in general.

For one thing it was not made for it.

Second, I'm crap at it.

But I could throw it over him. Ten meters I could cover in a very short amount of time at a run. If I could just distract him for a moment, I would be able to get close.

Hell, even if he was a lich, a sword through the chest should at least distract him.


Taking a slow, deep breath to steady myself, I raised my arm to throw the dagger... only for the skeleton on my side to turn its head in my direction, causing the Big Bad to do the same, his hands coming together and starting to crackle with energy as he started to say some arcane sounding words.

Oh crap!

I barely got out of the way of the bolt as it pierced through the bookshelf, blowing a big hole.

Throwing the dagger as hard as I could at him, I pulled my sword and rushed towards him.


He raised his right hand, a fireball starting to form to his whispered words when the hilt of the dagger struck him in the forehead.

His spell exploded in his hand, blowing it apart as his concentration was broken and he screamed in pain.


The skeleton closest to me moved, raising its shield and swinging its sword. Fast. As fast as a person.

I let myself fall, sliding along the floor, my feet slamming against the skeleton's legs, taking it off its feet and making it fall to the floor.

Rolling to the side to avoid being grabbed by the undead minion I lashed out with my sword pommel, cracking its skull before I scrambled onto my feet just in time for a spell to slam into the floor where I had been half a second earlier and I was showered with ice shrapnel.

I barely felt it as I rushed the necromancer.

His right hand was missing but it wasn't bleeding, his left hand raised as he roared arcane words at me, his hand crackling with energy and I dove forward, another spell flying above my head as I tucked into a roll, getting onto my knee as I slammed my sword up into his chest.

The necromancer fell with a choked sound, hitting the ground hard.

He looked like he was trying to say something before the green glow in his eyes faded away into nothing. The skeleton that was his other bodyguard stumbled a couple of times before collapsing into a pile of bones.

Panting hard I let go of my sword hilt, collapsing onto my back on the floor.

Holy shit.

...There had to be an easier way to make rent...



AN// *Picks DonLyn up and drop him/she/it into a pool of thanks for betaing this section*

 

[Hiver]

Laying the last of the weapons and pieces of armor I gather next to the portal I turned and headed back into the library.

The area was actually pretty small and with their master dead, it was cleared of undead.

The corridor from the portal led into the library and from there there was another tunnel to a heavy-looking metal door with locks, chains and squiggly patterns on it.

Locks I had no way of opening.


So instead of wasting time trying to unlock the door, I had used one of the skeletons' swords to wedge in between it and the frame so it couldn't open even if unlocked and then I moved to gather the loot.

A lot of them were trash.


The skeletons was mostly naked, only a couple had been wearing anything approaching armor and that had been the 'elite' ones which had been wearing breastplates.

Those I could sell. As for the weapons... I had gathered them all up in a pile. I would just bring the best ones back.

There was only so much I could carry and sell. While the dwarf did say he was willing to see what else I could sell, I didn't want to throw to much in his direction just in case he get too curious.

I had hoped I would be able to pick up some new vambraces though. Maybe I should just buy my old set back for some of this stuff.


Stopping I looked down at the dead... whatever he had been. It wasn't a necromancer or a lich. A necromancer was human... I think. If he was, he would had been bleeding.

A lich wouldn't be killed by a blow like that.

Whatever he had been, he was dead now. He had some jewelry on and it looked like gold... but how about we don't touch any of that.

I don't know if enchantment was a thing, but from the glowing crystal light-poles and my Crystal Device, it was a good bet that it was... and who knew what nasty things could have been put on those things?

Nope, not touching them. That's even ignoring the squick factor.


Walking past, I kept looking along the bookshelves. Everything was in to bad condition to save, clearly rotted or waterlogged.

If this was a place for magic and considering what tried to kill me half a hour ago, who knew how much knowledge had been lost?

What was it with the placed the portal took me that caused them to always be wrecked? Couldn't I ever go somewhere nice? It's almost like the damn Crystal Device insisted on bringing me to places with barely anything to loot.

It was always undead this, undead that, monster that, monster this. Why was it never a nice sunny beach with to... oh hello there.

Grinning I reached out and pulled a leather-bound book from the shelf. It looked... well, new or even lightly worn would have been really pushing it, but it at the very least looked mostly intact. It was in the corner and there had been a book laying on top of it so that would explain why it was in such a good condition.

It was pretty big, if it was a modern book, I would most likely guess at maybe five hundred or so pages, but who know with this thing.


I turned it around, giving it a good look over. Nothing on the front, nothing on the back. Well... it didn't 'look' like if opening it would summon the great old ones.

I decided to chance it, opening it to read the title on the first faded page.

"Horandic Demonology Compendium."

Nope. Nopeidinope.

All of my nope.


I quickly and carefully closed the book and was about to put it back on the shelf before I hesitated. Leaving a book behind to just rot away on the shelf.

There was no reason why I would need to actually summon demons to read what was in the book. As long as I didn't speak anything out loud, it will be okay, wouldn't it? If nothing else, it contained information that might save my life in the future.

I mean, the book itself didn't 'look' evil.

...Or was the book fucking with my head? I was wearing gloves so I had not actually touched it, so it seemed unlikely.

But just to be as sure as I could be..


I put it down on the shelf and walked to the other end of the library, getting out of line of sight and putting some distance between me and it.

Nope, keeping still seemed like a good idea. Information was information.


Nodding I walked back and put it in my backpack. No way I ever touch it without gloves though without having it first checked over by a wizard and I can't do that before I find out if owning something like that book will have them burn me alive.

Still, just throwing it away seemed wasteful.

Now with what might possibly be the love child of the Necronomicon and the Lament Configuration stowed away safely in my backpack, I shrugged it on and headed back to the pile of weapons and armor.

Time to sort out the good ones and get back before the portal close. While the Crystal Device seemed to open to the same world every time now from this side, I rather not risk getting completely lost again.




AN// All the thanks goes to kinglugia for betaing this part.

 

[Hiver]

I ended up hauling everything back to my room at the inn.

There had to be more than one store willing to buy old weapons and armor and the more I brought back, the less I would have to go back in.

Because that was getting dangerous. A fucking magic user... no matter what he was... he got too damn close to getting me dead. Or worse if he really was a necromancer.


Letting out a faint sigh, I stepped out of the arms merchant's store, narrowing my eyes against the bright light of the sun after the dark of the store.

With a pocket full of silver and no longer needing to carry around a bunch of armor I couldn't use, I felt a lot better.

None of it had been in the best condition... considering it had been worn by walking skeletal undead I was actually surprised that he had valued the armor as highly as he did.

Then again, he didn't know where it came from and the metal was okay, they mostly just needed new straps.

Closing my eyes against the light for a second I stayed still before I turned down the road towards the right.

Four days in this city and I had not properly explored it yet. Time to have a good look around.

The city looked... well, other than the lightpoles along the main streets with crystals that lit up in the dark, it looked like a medieval city.

What surprised me was the general lack of smell.

Medieval cities stank. This one... didn't.

For one thing, they seemed to have a functioning sewer system. So nobody threw their shit in the streets.

Well... almost nobody.

I stepped around a pile of horse waste product on my way down the street. Or at least I hoped it was horse. I had after all seen centaurs...

Very firmly putting that thought out of my head I turned the corner onto the main marketplace, cutting through it.


The marketplace was alive, buzzing with people and voices of all species. Even as I avoided a dwarf trying to sell me a carpet I could see elves, humans... several species I didn't recognize.

Maybe some variant of elf? They did have long ears even though their spots made them look strange.

It was pretty amazing all around.

What would been even more amazing would have been if I had just been visiting with a clear way back home.

"No, I don't want a carpet. I have nowhere to put it in any case!" I quickly said as the dwarf shoved it into my face again before turning to quickly walk away.

Bloody hell, and I used to think that phone salesmen were annoying.


I quickly made my way across the market and out onto another main road through the city, leaving the craftsmen's district.

The buildings became nicer and turned from wood to stone as I passed through an open gate in a city wall.

The city was clearly built for defense. I had already spotted the outer wall earlier so this was apparently a second line of defense.

Oh. The buildings outside this wall were all made of wood. No stone to be seen. That... that was actually kind of effective.

If the enemy breached the outer wall, they would pull back to the inner wall and set the entire outer ring on fire.

Effective... but kind of morally questionable. What of the people who were living their lives here? Living in these wooden houses?

I guess it would be preferable to getting a sword to the gut though, but then again, most things are.


The people had changed a bit with the buildings. Most people here were wearing less leather and more fancy clothes.

Made me glad that I had left most of my stuff locked into my room at the inn. Only piece of gear I carried was a dagger and my sheathed sword. Considering all the shit I was carrying to sell to the armor and weapons merchant, the less I had to carry around the better.

Still, it did make sure I didn't stand out to much even if my stuff likely looked a bit odd.

The stores changed as well. Less food and raw materials and more fine clothes, expensive weapons and... is that a book store?

If the sign above the door was anything to go by, it was.

An open book.

Nodding to myself I pushed the door open and headed inside.



AN// ALL HAIL GREY ROOK! THE GREAT BETAER!

 

[Hiver]

The store was dimly lit.

You would think people who had glowing crystals to light up the major streets at night would also use them inside.

Especially in a bookstore.

No, seriously, who the hell would have a dimly lit bookstore!?


Well... bookstore might have been pushing it. Yes, there was some books, but most of the merchandise consist of scrolls. Bookshelves stuffed with scrolls and books.

Also, writing supplies.

Quills and ink.

Oh... bloody hell. Quills and ink. I hate writing manually even with pencils.

I had never been so glad I had a laptop in my backpack. I would Hate it if I was limited to pencils... yet alone fucking quills.


The place was empty, nobody at the counter so I headed over to look along the shelf, pulling a book out and checking the first page.

"History of Keralis. What the fuck is a Keralis?" I muttered and flipped the page.

Oh. It was the name of the world I was trapped in.

Well, this would be interesting. How useful it would be was questionable but it sure would be intresting.

Putting the book back I continued down the shelf to check on of the scrolls instead.

Pulling it out I checked the note written just below the seal on it, "Frost Arrow."

Wait... were these spells!?

I put it back and checked the next one, "Shield of Frost."

They were.


I looked around the store, my eyes growing wider. Bloody hell. There had to be... hundreds of scrolls. Thousands.

Thousands of spells.

It was a... treasure. THE treasure I had been looking for since I first stepped through that portal.

I found it.

I found it for sale in a little store in a city, not in a hidden archive in some castle.

Bloody hell.


Sighing I put the scroll back and ran my hand down my face. Well, that was kind of anticlimactic.

Sure, there people clearly had either magic or hypertech from the way those crystals glowed at night and my bet had been at magic, but I expected spells and such to be guarded secrets of the Mage's Guild or something.

But apparently you could simply buy them straight off the shelf.


"Yesss?" a dry voice said and I jumped in surprise, spinning around to see a ancient looking man. He was bold, crooked and had a short white beard.

He was also short, but not in a dwarven way. In a little old man way, he barely reached to my chest and I'm of medium height.

"Ah... uhm..." I started. Well, very well spoken there. I'm sure that kind of acting will get you an Oscar award at any moment.

"I'm looking for a spell. Something suitible to teaching beginners." I then finished. Much better.

Shut up, brain.

"Yes!" He said and shuffled past me. Seriously, I seen zombies that looked more alive.

The old man ran his hand along the shelf before he pulled out a small dry scroll and held it up for me. "Magelight," read the title.

That sounded promising.

"Yes?" he asked as he looked up at me.

I nodded, "How much?" I asked in return and he held up five fingers.

"Five silver?" I asked hesitantly. It could be copper, but that seemed very, very cheap. Gold would have been way out of my pricerange though so I hoped for silver.

"Yes."

I took the scroll, digging five silver from my pocket, "Do you have something about the training of mages? Mages Guilds... Schools... that kind of thing?"

He nodded, "Yes..." and wandered off, soon returning to show me a book.

"The Teralis School of Magic." I read on the first page before I closed it and gave him a nod, "How much?"

He held up ten fingers three times. Thirty silver.

Damn, that was expensive. Almost all I had.

Fuck it all.


Sighing I nodded again and dug out twenty silver instead, "Twenty. I'll give you twenty silver for it. Acceptable?"

He gave me a dubious look so I continued speaking.

"If I get in, I'm likely to come back and buy more scrolls here, you know."

The old man finally nodded and took the silver, "Yes."


"Okay then." I said, putting the scroll and book in my backpack, "I'll... just get going now then."

"Yesss."




AN// Several piled of thanks to kinglugia for betaing this section.

 

[Hiver]

"Zira ti." I whispered as I raised my hand, focusing on it.

The feeling of using magic was... amazing. Even little cantrips like this 'magelight' spell. But even that left me feeling tired.

Spells were complex, but basically they worked like this: You speak the spell and it takes energy from you to cast the spell. However, according to the book a spell could take up to half an hour to cast for the most complex ones. You hardly wanted to take ten minutes to cast a fireball in the middle of a fight.

Luckily, however, you can prepare spells beforehand, as many as you can sustain on your level of power. Just don't say the final word.


The Magelight cantrip, though, was only two words long and was as such quick to cast.


I should likely be thankful that I could use magic at all. Then again, according to the book, almost everyone could do simple cantrips such as lighting a fire or creating light.

Most people don't bother learning anything more. Nor can they.

With practice your ability to use magic increased and while even people with basically no talent can get good enough to be able to throw the basic 'bolt' level of spells, it could take them their entire lives to get there while somebody with actual talent could get there in a month.


A small, pale white sphere of light rose from my palm and floated into the air above my head, lighting up the small room in the inn as I felt that drained feeling. Almost like I had studied too hard or to long. Worked too long on a math problem or something.

I felt like I needed a energy drink.


I had compared it to the book and the sad thing was that I was actually not at the bottom end of the curve. Hell, my ability was apparently good enough that I could apply to the Magic School as long as I kept to subjects that didn't need that much raw power.

But I would never fling fireballs around like candy in combat. Even if I practiced every day of my life, I simply didn't have the magical potential.


Still, that was something to think about. The book about the school did say that you needed money to apply unless your talent was exceptional.

Mine wasn't. Hell, it wasn't even exceptionally bad. Just... low.


But should I? It would waste hell of a lot of resources. I would need to make ten times the haul of the last trip to be able to afford a term there.

I could just... stay at the Inn and keep buying spells off the old man. But then I would need to learn them myself.

Was it worth risking my life again and again for magical power?

D'uh, Bloody D'uh.

Of course it bloody was. It was what I was here for! I would need to keep going into the portal to be able to afford to live anyway, if not as often.

Besides, a mage school seemed like just the place I would need to get access to to figure out how the Crystal Device worked.


Could I simply go there and ask somebody to have a look at it and see if they could get me home? Sure, it might even work.

But there was also a massive risk that they would simply take it and then I really would be stuck.


Looking over at my laptop, I nodded and disconnected the harddrive of the GoPro. The transfer of files had finished and it was empty again, ready for another trip.

I would need to start editing soon. I was saving everything I could, but soon I would need to start deleting footage of less important things like fights.

Video files are large, even if I had stepped down in quality as much as I could while still allowing you to see what was going on. But there was only so much room available for me, even with the extra terabyte of harddrive I had installed in the small laptop.

I hated the thought of deleting footage. I wanted to document as much as possible of this, just in case I ever managed to get back home.

But there was only so much room. It was a physical limit I couldn't get past.

Technology had its limits.

But so did magic, apparently, it was only as good as the user.


Still, magic in this case had an advantage technology didn't. Connecting the harddrive to the camera I put it into my inner pocket before adjusting my helmet and making sure that the camera cable was out of the way before I pulled my sword and drew the Crystal Device.

The magelight would last for half an hour before needing to be recast.

Using it instead of my headlight would really help preserve the batteries. I didn't think of getting a manual charger for the batteries in that.

Yes, my flashlight was a 'shake and charge' model but it didn't leave my hands free.


I did one final check to see if I had all the gear I needed and that the door was firmly locked, both with key and with crossbar before I pressed the button on the Crystal Device to open the portal.

Forest. NOPE! Never again.

Desert. Don't think so. I need artifacts. Stuff I can sell.

Egyptian looking tomb. No way, too many traps. I barely made it out last time. It was only because I heard the click from the thing I stepped on that I was able to avoid the arrows.

Was that a street?

I paused and walked back and forth before the portal to get a wider view. It looked like an abandoned city. Medieval tech, so it wasn't back home or another contemporary style world. Damn, what I wouldn't give to be able to get my hands on a AK-47 or something to use for these raids.

Those who live by the sword die by gunshot after all.


Still, the sun was shining on the other side and while there was grass and other things growing between the stones paving the street and it was clearly abandoned from the state of the buildings, it seemed like a good enough place to check out.

Nodding, I put the Crystal Device back into my inner pocket before starting the timer on my wristwatches and putting my laptop back into my survival bag.

Clenching the handle of my sword a bit tighter in my hand, I stepped through the portal, taking my survival bag along.

Here we go again.



AN// "And to Grey Rook, my faithful beta reader... a boot to the... no wait, a bucket of thanks. And two to Jenny and the whimp! Boot to the head!"

 

[Hiver]

"Zik." I said, canceling the magelight spell as I looked around.

I clearly didn't need it here.

The cobblestone street was broken up by grass growing through it. No trees. Not that long ago then. A year, maybe two?

Still, the city was abandoned or at least the inhabitants were nowhere in sight and the only things I could hear were the wind and the sound of birds.

"Yeah... this isn't creepy at all." I muttered to myself. I still sheathed my shortsword and dropped my bag of supplies next to the portal. No need to lug it around.

At least there weren't any dead bodies lying around, making it unlikely that there had been a plague that was about to kill me.

...There were no dead bodies lying around in an abandoned city that, judging by the rubble and condition of the buildings, had taken some kind of bombardment.

No bodies meant something and there were not that many options.


Option One: The invaders buried them.

Option Two: The invaders ate them.

Option Three: The dead bodies got up again.

Option Four: Something else ate them. And might still be here.


Three out of four options could spell bad news for me. If the inhabitants had won, the city would still be alive. If the invaders took over, it would still be alive.

I pulled my sword again.


...Somehow a dungeon filled with undead made me happier than an empty city. At least then I knew more or less what I was dealing with.

Moving closer to the wall I peeked around the corner onto the next street.

Clear.

Well, the road was blocked by what looked like a collapsed piece of siege equipment, but other than that it was clear. Some kind of battering ram.

A battering ram with lots of spikes, ending in a metal skull.

What the hell, had the forces of fucking Sauron invaded this place or something?


I took another look around before I rounded the corner to approach it. It seemed like it had taken a hit from something, one of the wood and iron wheels had broken off. With the grass around it I'd say it had been a while ago.

The iron parts were rusty, but not completely. That fit the theory that it had not been here overly long.

I'm hardly an expert, but I would still have estimated that it had been lying there for a year, maybe two.


Good news: Whoever it was that invaded, didn't stick around to repair their siege engine. Likely sacked and then continued.

Bad news: Sackings usually follow the base rule: Loot, then burn.


While I might not need to actually fight anything, the question was if I would be able to find anything worth salvaging.

Even so, I didn't sheath my sword as I turned and continued down the street in the other direction, heading for the first building that looked like it was more or less intact.

Some kind of living area.

No. Somebody's home. Somebody had lived here.

The heavy oak door had been broken down from the outside already, the inside was dark.

I paused and listened hard.

Nothing. Other than birds and the wind, all I heard was silence. Creepy as all hell.

Raising my shield hand I whispered the incantation for Magelight, lighting the room up.


The first room was empty other than some broken down furniture. A painting was on the wall, showing some guy in heavy armor. The painting had a cut straight across it.

A small entrance hall.

The wooden floor had a large, dark discoloration on it. Blood.

I slowly entered and knelt down, keeping a eye on the open door into the rest of the structure as touched the stain.

Bone dry. It was out of the rain so that made sense.


I stood up again and glanced back out through the door before slowly advancing further into the empty structure, sword in hand and shield at the ready.




AN// Several piles of Thanks to DonLyn for betaing this section.

 

[Hiver]

The inside of the house was trashed. Somebody had searched the place.

I kept my sword ready, though.

I could have sworn I had seen this movie. Sooner or later something was going to jump from a closed wardrobe and try to eat my face.

And that damn, cold, white light from the magelight floating above my head made the scene look even more creepy.

Not that it didn't need help. The table that once been the center of the room had been upended and was against the wall, the paintings had been destroyed or torn down.

The blood splatters... or at least what looked like blood splatters didn't help either in making me more comfortable with the entire setting.

"I should have picked a fucking dungeon again..." I muttered to myself as I slowly moved through the room, keeping an eye on the closed door at the other end as I slowly pulled the first drawer out and checked inside.

Nothing. Well, nothing useful. Looked like a sewing kit.

I guess I could get maybe a silver from that if I'm lucky. I left it where it was and kept up my search. The fact that I had to do it with one hand and put down my shield to do it slowed me down quite a bit but there was no damn way I was putting down my sword.

Moving to the next container, a chest by the wall, something caught my eye and I turned back towards the dresser.

What was that?

It wasn't movement, something metal had glinted in the light when I moved. It was gone now so I shifted again until it caught my eye again.

Ah, there. There was something behind that dresser.

Moving back, I grasped the sturdy furniture and pulled. The damn thing didn't move so I sheathed my sword and used both hands with a groan, putting my weight into it.

Bloody hell, they built furniture sturdily in the age before IKEA. No wonder they were popular, no matter how confusing the instructions could be at times.

The heavy dresser scraped across the wooden floor, the sound cutting into my ears and in the silence it sounded like as loud as a angle grinder to me.

I froze, half expecting a horde of those red little bastards from the forest to descend on me at any moment.

Nothing happened.


Letting out a sigh of relief, I relaxed slightly before reaching in to pull out a candlestick before I stood up and held it up in the light, looking it over.

Now what do we have here? It must have fallen behind the dresser during the fighting. Was it really silver or was it pewter or something?

How the hell would I know?

Even so, it went into my backpack. Maybe I could get it sold even it turned out to be tin or something.


Pulling my sword again, I continued to check the chest. Sadly, it was revealed to be a waste of effort. Other than some cloth at the bottom it was empty.

Glancing at my wristwatch, I headed towards the door further inside. Still had another twenty minutes to my safety limit of forty five minutes.

On the way I picked up my shield again before pushing the door open to reveal a narrow wooden staircase leading up into the dark.

Oh fucking hell.


Slowly making my way up the creaky staircase I was on high alert. Damn this thing was loud! Well, it likely wasn't, but it felt like it to me.

Carefully, I used my shield arm to push the other door at the end of the stairs open to reveal a dark corridor.

Oh bloody hell, I don't like this!


Swallowing, I held my sword at the ready, slowly moving along the corridor to push the first door open to reveal a room with a bed and a window.

It was trashed, the window broken. A bird had built a nest on the bed.


A quick look around showed that there was nothing valuable I could quickly see so I moved on.

The next room was similar, but with two beds and no window. Also wrecked and it stank of decay. Something had died in there.


That door I closed again behind me before moving on. Just because something was dead didn't mean it was dead enough. Sometimes you had to redead it. To make it deader.

Yeah.


I pushed the last door open to reveal another room, this one larger and with a small fireplace. A large bed as well.

More blood splatter.

It seemed to me that the city had not just been sacked, but outright exterminated. But what was really bothering me was... where were the bodies?

Hell, even if it'd been a couple of years and scavengers had gotten to them, where were the bones?


I kept my sword pointed at the closed wardrobe, and after a quick check behind the door I slowly approached it.

If there was something in here... it was in there.

Slowly, I reached out with my shield hand to pull the door open to reveal... a wardrobe with some old clothes in it.

Letting out a sigh of relief I sheathed my shortsword. I was in the clear for now, unless there was something undead in that smelly room.

Now I just needed to give the place a good search and then move to the next door and rep...

A sound caused me to pause.

Was that a voice?

I quickly hissed the counterspell to the Magelight and pressed my back against the wall next to the broken window before peeking outside.




AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for dissecting this sectiod.