Two minutes later, I manage to calm my breathing down from ‘I just finished a marathon, help me I'm dying.’ To, ‘I decided to take the stairs instead of the elevator.’ Looking around as I got myself under control my jaw dropped at what I was seeing.

"None of this makes sense. What the fuck is going on?"

Sitting up, I began to put together the pieces. It's a big ass tree... and I’m on a huge branch… like absolutely massive! The tree didn't look like anything I had ever seen before. The branches had a vine-like quality to them. Twisting and turning, weaving together, and in some spots, the tree made big basins. I could see into two of these bowls and above me, there was a third.

The first basin helps with the sense of scale. And by helping I mean it is basically frying my brain. How can a tree hold up an entire ocean of water AND an entire continent in it?! Looking closer I can see the continent has two distinct mountain ranges, and I think I make out a city on one of the coasts.

The second basin appears to be smaller. There is another ocean of water but it looks like it only houses a chain of islands. One island appears to be made of red sand. Another houses two mountain peaks. Two islands are heavily forested. And the last is split between mountains and forests.

Processing this all takes a while. Or maybe it wasn't so long. I no longer seem to have my watch so I can't tell. It also looks like my backpack did a runner.

I spin and see the branches travel a long way out and end in the expected leaves. Then I move closer to the edge of the branch I'm standing on. It's marvelously flat, like a sidewalk or highway. The section I'm standing on is pretty close to the width of a 4 lane highway.

I stumble almost falling on my ass. It's a sheer drop into space. The entire fucking tree is floating in space. Gravity makes no sense. I don't know how I'm breathing out here. As I once again try to catch my breath and stave off hysteria I realize I'm not on earth anymore. Something like this breaks the laws of physics. It cannot exist. Am I even in the same dimension?

I drop that train of thought as it won't help me much right now. Scanning the tree one again I notice two more basins higher up that I can't see into and there is one below. The basin below is oddly out of focus like someone covered it in a thin fog that blurred the outlines of everything inside. While watching I saw something leave the blurred space.

I'm not sure I want to wait for whatever that thing is to come this way so I start backing up. The larger basin was the closest one I saw so I took off in that direction. As I turn I hear it. A rush of sounds like an avalanche, or a rockslide. The rumbling bass of the sound causes the branch I'm standing on to vibrate slightly. I should have known that thing wasn't small. The basin was forever away!

I took off down the branch. I can't judge the distance very well since the damn thing is huge. A couple minutes of running later and something is odd. I'm feeling good right now... I NEVER feel good while running.

It kept feeling that way too as my feet kept falling to the ground. Eventually the tapping of my feet lulled me into a haze. I must have already run over 5 miles. I feel so light on my feet!

I walk over to the edge to take another look and the thing has increased 10 times in size. It's moving FAST! It looks in my direction and I freeze. It's a dragon. And it looks like it's solid white. I take off again. Who knows if it's friendly. And I don't want to be a snack!

I take about 10 steps while starting back up my run and skid back to a stop. I've not gotten any closer to the basin, but ahead I can see a massive sphere of vines. I move towards the bulbous appendage as it looks like the only thing I could hide in. As I covered 3/4ths of the distance I was buffeted by a gust of wind.

The wind pushes me forward causing me to slide on the branch straight towards the tangle of vine-like branches. As I come to a stop about a dozen feet away I turn back and see the dragon on the branch behind me. The dragon barely fits, using its wings to balance. Its scales were creamy ivory colored, its wings were alabaster and the membranes slightly transparent. It had short spikes going down its spine and huge gray claws digging into the wood of the branch it stood on.

But the most impressive thing was its horns. Two horns stuck out the back of his head, perfectly straight, long, and silver. One faced down from the tip of its jaw it was shorter, jagged, and a deep gray. On its forehead sat a single horn that looked to be made of a glowing purple crystal and the light it put off had a sinister feel to it.

As I stared at it I saw some floating text above where it's head would be.

[Animura - Dragon, Level ??]

I can see its name?! It has a level? Not to mention it's a damn dragon!

The shock of the information I can see allows me to shake off the daze I was in. I back up three steps to get closer to the ball of vines. Animura roars and lunges toward me. But as I stumble back I see runes light up on stones hidden in the tangle of vines. I’m apparently inside a ring of them. The runes start getting brighter and as they grow more blinding the dragon slows down until everything goes white.

When I finally regain consciousness I see a roof over my head. It's a beautiful light-colored marble. It's intricate and the molding is an artful and downplayed geometric shape. It's actually really impre…

"WHAT THE FUCK!"

I nearly shrieked as I sat up. What happened to the dragon? Where am I? Did I go back home? This is too fancy, am I in Francis' house again?

As my racing mind slowed, I looked around but things started making even less sense. It looked like I was in a building entirely made of marble. Wooden shelves lined the wall with herbs hanging from them. Presumably drying. And on top of them sat all kinds of glass containers with various colored liquids and powders.

Below the shelves was a long workbench with what looked like a chemistry set on it, but it was a different shape than what I was used to. It had a metal ring floating under it that was holding up one side. The other side was sitting in a ring of metal held up by metal feet with locking arms holding the flask in place. Under the metal feet was a soft fire causing the red liquid inside to bubble. Is this a chemistry lab?

Looking around I saw two more beds like the one I was laying on. Then I turned to look on the opposite side of the room and saw an elderly man looking at me with distaste. I figured I'd start talking since he hadn't yet. Maybe he could tell me about this chemistry equipment.

"Hello."

He nodded toward me, "Hello young Hero."

Uhhhhhhhh what?

"I'm sorry? Hero?"

"Ah, you arrived unconscious so we couldn't greet you as we planned." The man stood up and bowed slightly to me.

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Marcus of House Sana, I am the castle healer. You have arrived as a summoned hero for the Kingdom of Rune. Now that you are awake I'll send for someone to alert the King. We will go meet him after we make sure you are in good health.” Summoned Hero. I'm definitely nowhere near Earth.

Marcus moved to one of the sections of desks with various instruments on it while murmuring to himself quietly. He pulled out a short rod with a crystal on one end. Watching him move over to me he tapped it on my head.

I held back a shudder as a chilling sensation moved through my body. "What is that? What are you doing?"

"Do you not know of magic?" He asked.

I shook my head. That's why I asked, old man. "No, magic doesn't exist at home."

His eyes widened and his eyebrows went up. "This is an enchanted wand used for checking someone's health. It appears yours is full which is great and it doesn't seem you have any ailments affecting you."

"Based on your size, I'm guessing you are 12 or 13? Not using skills yet? Hmm?"

"I'm 17. I'm just not very tall." Asshole.

Marcus froze. "Have you had any training?"

"I've nearly finished high school and I was in AP Chemistry."

“Anything physical? Skill with a weapon? Have you been taught strategy and the art of war?”

“No, I was pretty bad at everything in school, and weapons are banned from the school.”

"Great." Marcus’ response was terse as he gritted his teeth. "Best we get this over with then." Marcus set out a stack of clothes. "Go ahead and put these on. There is a pair of leather boots at the foot of the bed. I’ll be back as quickly as I can and get you to meet the King.”

Marcus stepped out of the room and I pulled back the blanket noting that I had been stripped naked. Nice. Showed my junk to an old man. I move around the bed and find a pair of underclothes and some woolen socks, a pair of well-made linen pants, a shirt with wooden buttons up the front, and a vest with shiny metal buttons. I slipped into the underclothes and then the pants and noticed they fit perfectly. Did they have someone take my measurements? I’ve never had pants that fit this well. I put on the shirt and vest. Everything was too perfect. Kinda spooky. I guess I can at least ask him when he gets back. I put the wool socks and leather boots on and experienced the same perfect fit.

I spent the next hour alone in the room. But I had the fancy chemistry equipment to inspect while I was waiting. It was fascinating, the flame never went out. And the liquid looked like nothing I had ever seen before. After taking all that in I started looking at all the other items on the shelves. Flowers, herbs, some claws in a liquid, eyeballs… I don’t think this is chemistry. Or at least not what I know about chemistry.

While looking at the rest of the items the door opened and Marcus walked back in. He looked at me with disdain. “The shirt is meant to be tucked in. But you look acceptable I guess.” Acceptable?! I’m going to meet the king I guess… you could at least not be an asshole.

“Did you guys get my measurements or something? All of the clothes fit perfectly.”

“That would be the enchantment on them. They fit anyone perfectly as they put them on. They are common to all noble houses and the people working in the castle. Come, we are due to meet the King.”

I followed Marcus out the door and had to work hard to keep myself from gawking. The walls were the same marble as before, but they had all kinds of gilding and decoration. Paintings, sculptures… it was ostentatious but still beautiful.

We climbed a large staircase and walked down a high ceilinged hallway. We stopped outside a door. “The King is waiting inside. You will call him ‘Your Grace’, you will only speak if spoken to, and you will speak to him truthfully.” With that Marcus pushed open the door.

I’m still kneeling. The King has been staring at me for the last 5 minutes without saying a word. He has an air of total authority that almost feels physical, like someone’s hands are on my back pressing me down.

What little I saw of him before I started kneeling was just an average middle-aged man. A scowl settled firmly onto his face. He had black/brown hair speckled with gray around his temples. He wore black clothing that was well-tailored to him and had gold embellishments. Seated on the King’s left was the queen. She had long dark brown hair and a deep green dress. On the other side stood Marcus. Apparently the King’s right-hand man. Old git. He could have told me what he was.

My peripheral vision afforded me a view of the feet of around 12 nobles on either side of me. They all were standing along the wall facing the King. A few of the nobles started shifting back and forth impatient for this to be over.

The room was well lit and had no furniture in it aside from the throne the King sat on. Both sides of the rooms had tall windows letting lots of light into the room. There was a carpet leading up to where the King sat on the throne. And this carpet was what I was kneeling on.

Finally, the King spoke up. “Who are you?”

“My name is Jackson Rollins, Your Grace.”

Anger seeped into the King’s voice. “Marcus tells me you have had no education, you’ve never fought in a war, and you have never held a weapon. He also tells me you have already passed the Age of Skill? ” His voice rising slightly at the end indicating the question. A couple of the nobles froze and near the front of the room and the collective gasp of air was audible.

Another asshole... I looked up as I answered. “I have had an education, Your Grace, but it was general schooling in math, science, and history. And I do not know what the Age of Skill is, however, I am 17 years old.”

Anger flashed on the King’s face and the room stilled. Apparently I’m missing something big here. I started sweating as I felt the displeasure roll off the King. I bent my head back down and stared at the floor from the pressure.

“As you all have heard, the Summoning has failed. The summoning was supposed to bring a warrior to defeat our enemies and save the Kingdom of Rune. This man has the hero mark, yet cannot help us. We are on our own once more. Jackson, you are a human so we will not remove you from the city. However, we will not spend our resources on you as we had planned. Guards. Remove this man from the castle.”

Two guards moved towards me, grabbed me by my arms, twisted them behind my back, and frog marched me out the door. I’m blasted once more but this time it’s what feels like a stab of disdain.

“Nobles, while we have lost a great store of mana gems on the summoning, we still have the war taxes to spend on training troops or to raise individuals from your Noble Houses. We will hire the weapons master from Rivertown and step up attacks on the Shattered Plane…”

The doors slam behind us as we step out of the room. My head is spinning leaving me in a daze. We flew through the castle as they kept up this walk down more halls, downstairs, and then out the doors. Once outside they let go of me and them standing on either side of me we moved to the bridge separating the castle from the rest of the city. The guard on the left shoved me forward and I began to walk into the city proper.