”.sehtolc yna tuohtiW“ ,*tipS* *hguoC* ”.yob elttil a yb devas erew ew tub ,htomeheb a yals ot deganam ew evah ylno toN ?won tahW“

”?stnerap ruoy era erehW !yoB .ti fo draeh reven evah I .egnarts si desu eh ecived eht tub ,wonk t’nod I“

I strained my ears to try and understand the conversation. but not only was it in a foreign language, I could barely hear them. My body stiffened and I returned a confused but heart-warming look. One of the men abruptly turned and started walking away for me.

”-srif dliug eht ot nruter ot deen ew ,detimil era seitiliba gnilaeh yM .oga stnemom ylno doolb pu gnihguoc erew uoY ?uoy era ydob eht pu kcip og ot gniog ton er’uoY ?gniog uoy era erehW !yeH“

Seeing the clothed man extend his arm towards the armoured man, I focused on his lips trying to decipher the speech in vain. I barely caught a glimpse of the knight as he disappeared and reappeared in front of me. His hand was coming in a chopping motion towards the base of my neck. My mind screamed danger, my instinct took over causing me to turn my left hip towards the knight and avoid his strike by a hair’s width. The knight’s visor prevented me from reading any emotion coming from him.

‘Why is he attacking me? Did I not help them? Perhaps they think I am a spy?’

Doubt it, I should look like an ordinary child to them. Sweat started to cover the back of my neck, the previous demonstration of speed and power cut off any thoughts of an escape.

“.si pmac sih erehw eeS .wollof dna pu ekaw ot mih rof tiaw ,tuo mih kconk ew yas I .kcart ot elba eb neve t’ndluow knar dloG a woleb enoyna taht ekirts a dediova eH .dlihc yranidro on si tahT ?taht eeS”

“.kcul erup neeb ev'dluoc ti ,sediseB .efil ruoy gnivas naht rehto gnihtyna fo ytliug ton si eh ,yob eht llik t’nod tsuJ .llew yreV”

Something welled up from within me and I spat. More blood.

‘Shit, this isn't good’.

With adrenaline wearing off, I felt multiple internal injuries inflicted from the previous battle.

Just how powerful were the noises from the fight?

My vision began to dim and controlling my body became a more demanding task by the second. I watched the armoured man wearily as he took several steps back. The knight didn't even halt before dashing forward and repeated the same attack. Baffled by his stupidity, I dodged with the same stepping motion. At that moment, I realized that one of his legs was missing!

‘Shit’.

My heart skipped another beat and I broke into a split while bending my body forward to embrace my knee and dodge the incoming kick. The coldness of his armour reflected on my skin as it passed over my head, neck and back before a sudden pain erupted from my spine and the grass below started rapidly approaching.

Just barely being able to suppress the agonizing pain, I drifted through consciousness, my body refused to listen to me. I could only close my eyes and listen to the two people talking.

”?pu sekaw eh ecno erom emos mih htiw dnuora yalp dluoc I spahreP .og dluoc eh raf woh ees ot detseretni ma I .gnimoc woble ym ees t’ndid eh dab ooT .ytilibixelf gnisirprus s’dik eht noitnem ot toN .rerutnevda dloG a fo deeps eht ta erew taht skcatta owt degdod tsuj yob tahT ??em gniddik uoy erA ?yas uoy ekulF“

”.od htob eW .won efil ruoy mih ewo uoy ,retal ezigolopa retteb uoY .yob eht ot derapmoc ekoj a si noitidnoc ruoY .evom ot elba neve saw eh taht desirprus m'I .gniliaf fo egrev eht no snagro lareves dna smurdrae derutpur dah tuo mih gnikconk yb efil ruoy gnivas rof diaper yldnik os uoy taht yob eht ,detseretni er’uoy esac nI .noitidnoc sih yb gnigduj ,sruoh lareves nihtiw pu ekaw dluohs eH .mih laeh I elihw seert ybraen eht ni edih dna ecneserp ruoy ksam ,hguonE .yawyna eciton dluow uoy taht toN .knil a tuohtiw htgnerts hcum os deriuqca yob eht woh tuo dnif ot deen ew ,hguone s’tahT“

********

I opened my eyes. The Sun was quickly setting. It’s time for me to head back and meet up with Eagle...I tried to get up but after a single step, collapsed. As I fell a flood of memories rushed back to me, the desolated path, the ash covered creature and the two men that I saved and got...knocked out by them?

‘Where are they now?’

They must have left by now…. I decided to do a quick sweep of my surroundings before heading back.

My first destination was going to be the huge crater left behind by the explosion. Beginning to approach it with great caution, breathing became more and more difficult. A particularly crunchy noise led me to look down, the leaves by my feet had withered to varying degrees, those further ahead completely shriveled up. By the time I reached the very edge of the crater I was holding my breath from the lack of air.

The body of a hulking beast laid in the middle of a perfectly round crater, in fact, had I not witnessed the explosion I would say it was a work of art. However, there was an unnatural feeling around it - being covered in a substance that resembled gray sand did not make it any better.

As I crouched down to pick up the sand, a sudden gust of wind picked blew several leaves straight into the pit. The most absurd thing happened, right before my eyes, all of the leaves rapidly withered as they crossed the threshold and turned into the same ash sand.

‘Would that happen to me as well?’

I quickly backed away and regained my breath.

‘Wait What? How was I able to hear the leaves rustled by the wind?’

The pain was also gone! I groped around my stomach, everything felt normal.

‘Just how long was I out?’

It couldn’t be too long, otherwise thirst and hunger would have ran rampant.

Fighting back the feeling of unease, I began circling around the clearing looking for any tracks, snapped twigs and other stomped plants. Finding none, I started to trace my path back. The walk was rather uneventful but one filled with paranoia. The most notable part was me picking up the claw I had stepped on before.

I looked up at the sky to be greeted by a magnificent sight.

There was a moon, far bigger than the one back home, sitting in the sky. Yet, instead of a boring white, it radiated a soft green glow and the sky was filled with stars. It was as if someone sprinkled sugar all over a black sheet.

‘People would pay millions to see a sight like this, an unprecedented tourist attraction. Too bad I have no idea where this is.’

********

I finished my walk under the starry night and approached the clearing. With a quick glance, I confirmed that our piles of clothes were in the same spot, but the prisoner was now tied up to a tree and seemingly asleep. Eagle was nowhere to be found. Clearly the prisoner wouldn’t tie himself up so I approached him to ask where Eagle went. Only a few minutes passed before the flow of air behind me shifted ever so slightly.

I turned, fearing that either the men decided to attack or the creature managed to survive. Something was charging straight at me. Not able to make out the rapidly approaching figure in the dim light I didn’t hesitate to pull out my gun.

As I was about to pull the trigger a rock came flying from my right and hit the top of my hand. Dropping my gun from the impact I rolled to the side to avoid the figure which covered head to toe in branches and leaves.

Planting my left foot, I prepared for a powerful punch to knockout the creature, only it was a faint, quickly shifting myself I turned to my right and threw my punch forward at another figure. A satisfying feeling flowed up my arm as it connected with flesh. The figure fell backwards and coughed. I looked over my shoulder and saw-

“Cap-Cato, man you’re no fun! Even after walking straight into a trap you could see right through it. You just have no blind spots, do you?” Eagle said in a jovial manner and prepared for a kick up.

Enraged by his carelessness I snapped from the accumulated stress and punched Eagle once more straight into the chest in the middle of his motion.

I started shouting, fury flowing from my voice, “Are you out of your mind? What are you doing messing around in enemy territory!?”

“Woah, easy, easy. I know I may have went a bit too far but that second punch was a bit too much, don't you think?” Eagle struggled to say as he supressed a cough or two.

“You have no idea what I just went through and just how close I was to greeting Kevin.” Bathed in anger I mentioned a person I shouldn't have and Eagle’s face grew darker.

“Surely you’re kidding, what kind of situation could of possibly threaten you?” Eagle asked, his tone turning serious, a sharp contrast to his joking attitude a while ago.

“We will talk in more detail later, the short story is that there were two people and a creature at least three times our size, there is definitely nothing like that on Earth.”

“On Earth? Well that makes it easier, the landscape further north from here isn’t anything that can be found on Earth, at least as far as I know.” Eagle interrupted me, admittingly for a good reason.

“Well that just about confirms it. Moreover, there are people, as well as creatures, that can move at Mach speed. They also have other powers that I cannot confirm but seemed related to healing, controlling earth and causing explosions.”

I summarized my encounter and observed Eagle’s face as, to my amazement, a wide grin took form.

“So, are you telling me that when I said we are in a different world, with magic and such I was right? Eh Captain?” I clicked me tongue, he’s right. In fact, it's almost as if he knew more of this world than our own.

“Yes, anyway, seeing as how you were correct with your earlier prediction, you’ll have to brief me-”

“Will do, but first Cato, you mentioned two men moving pretty fast. Does one of them wear something heavy, like metal, and the other a light fabric?”

“That is- hold on, how did you know? I never told you that.” I furrowed my eyebrows as Eagle said something he shouldn’t know.

“Well, I can't see clearly at the moment, but they followed you to the edge of the clearing - don't turn towards them - and are inside the tree tops. Why don't we walk over to my baby and take a shot at them?”

Eagle proposed a very enticing idea. In fact, I was very much intrigued myself whether they could dodge a bullet from a sniper rifle. After all, they would have never seen anything like it and had no reason to dodge...

“You have my permission but to be on the safe side, shoot the one in armour.”

“Roger that!”

Eagle responded while chuckling to himself, his love for shooting big guns was unrivaled, and he rarely got to use his favourite, a Cheytac. We both walked towards Eagle’s pile of clothes as if nothing was amiss. I watched as he crouched down, pulled back his stuff to reveal the apex of snipers.

[The Knight’s perspective]

“What are those kids up to now? I can't understand a single word they're saying.” The metal-clad Barth stopped and looked at his gauntlets. “Ah great, now my armour is covered in sap.”

“Just be quiet and listen, actually I believe we should change position. That second kid had the same look as you when presented with a target, something just doesn’t seem right…”

The clothed man spoke as he watched the boys under the blanket of darkness.

“Hey, is that second boy, the one lying beside a metal rod, not looking straight at us?”

“I thought you agreed to let me listen and figure out their nationality fr- Barth, raise your shield, now!”

The clothed man knocked on the shield. Barth yanked it off his shoulder and brought the shield up to his eye level. A bullet longer than his middle finger was deflected by the very top edge of the kite shield and burrowed a hole into the trunk of the tree.

“Hey Marden, isn't it dangerous to have so many florans die?” The armoured man asked while pointing with his thumb at the hole.

“Absolutely, you need to go and stop them now, thankfully the hole was rather small and I can stem the flow, perhaps there’s hope.”

Marden replied in an exasperated tone and brought his arms towards the hole.

“Do not harm them.”

A loud creaking noise came from the branch in protest as Barth lifted himself and kicked off.