Emett:

I came to in a sea of bombs.

I seemed to be weightless, floating in an endless expanse of nothing, with no light. Still, though, I could see clearly. The vast majority of what I saw were bombs drifting aimlessly to and fro, with no clear destination in mind. A bundle of bread drifted by me, and I grabbed it.

I recognized the bundle immediately. This was the bread Lyn and I had intended to take to grandmother.

“Gods damn it, Lyn, did you stuff me in the basket?!”

I hear her voice from somewhere...outside. Clearly not in the void, but in no particular direction.

“Oh, I guess he’s awake.” Lyn didn’t sound particularly concerned. “Help me get him out?”

“Sure.” I didn’t recognize the second voice.

A white square opened in space, and a man’s arm reached through.

I grabbed the arm, and he began pulling. Progress was quick at first, which was wonderful, as there was nothing for me to actually push off of to get any traction. My escape did, however, slow significantly as my arm left the basket.

“Holy shit you are a heavy guy,” the man said.

“Years on a farm will do that,” I said. “I can’t push myself out, so just keep pulling.”

A few more moments of effort, and my head and shoulders were out of the void, with the rest of my body dangling inside. At this point, the man could make no more progress.

“You’re on your own from here,” he said, “that’s the extent of my ability to lift dead weight.”

I looked around, considering my options. I probably could get out from here, but it’d be very awkward to lift myself directly out. Unless…

“Hey, can you tip the basket over?” I asked.

The man lifted his eyebrows. “That seems like that last thing you’d want.”

“If I can crawl out along the ground, I don’t need to fight gravity on my way out,” I said.

“That’s a solid idea,” he said, carefully pushing the basket over. It was a strange sensation, where my head and arms were aware they were falling over, but the rest of my body was completely unaware of the shift in orientation.

Finding new leverage along the ground, I was able to crawl out of the basket, albeit completely gracelessly. It would still be better than spending the rest of my days in a pocket dimension composed almost entirely of bombs, I supposed.

I climbed to my feet, and offered my hand out to the man. “I’m Emmet, nice to meet you.”

He took my hand and shook it. “Lyn mentioned as such. I’m Aston, The Archmage.”

I looked around for Lyn, but didn’t see her. We appeared to be on a road, just outside of a small town. “Speaking of, have you seen my gremlin of a sister? I heard her while I was in the basket, and I would just love the opportunity to thank her for her care.”

Aston chuckled. “I think she was expecting as much. She ran off into town and left me with the heavy lifting.”

I sighed. “Of course she did. Let’s go find a room, get some dinner, and discuss…” I waved my arm around, not finding a word big enough for everything that had been happening today. “Well, let’s find Lyn, then do all those things.”

Aston nodded, and led the way into town. He walked with an air of confidence, no hint of doubt in any movement. I was sure he’d be a boon to us, though I was concerned that my inexperience would hold him back.

Walking to the town square, we immediately found a crowded marketplace. Lyn probably thought she was being sneaky, inconspicuously milling about the crowds. It may have worked, on another day. Unfortunately for her, she happened to be wearing an eye-catchingly bright scarlet cloak.

“Lyn!” I called out at her. She flinched, but tried to pretend she hadn’t heard me. I started walking over. “I know you heard me, you’re wearing the most obvious cloak you possibly could be.”

The crowd parted for me as I approached, and Lyn took the hem of her cloak into her hand, glancing at it briefly with a look of betrayal.

“Emmet!” she called, as I approached, mirth in her voice. “I’m glad to see you’re alright!”

“Don’t give me that,” I said. “You threw a bomb at me.”

“It was only a little bomb,” she replied.

I scoffed. “Little?! It knocked me out and, considering you’re still here, probably half a pack of wolves as well!”

“Details.” Lyn dismissed my concerns.

“And what was the whole ‘Hey, Emmet, catch!’ thing about?” I continued, growing more frustrated. “You couldn’t have warned me?”

“The wolves might have heard and stopped being so grouped together.” Lyn responded.

“Just…” I sighed, resigning myself to Lyn’s unrepentant chaotic nature. “Let’s get to an inn and we’ll discuss this further.”

“Well,” Aston chimed in, “while you were making a spectacle of yourself, I have located a nice inn right over there.” He pointed toward a building, helpfully labelled Traveler’s Rest.

Before Aston had spoken, it hadn’t occurred to me just how many people had been watching that. I became acutely aware that every eye in the marketplace was on us, seemingly entertained by the show. Wonderful.

“Let’s head over there, then.” I said, sheepishly.

As we walked over to the inn, another, more interesting building caught my eye.

“You know what I think?” I asked the group, but I didn’t wait for a response. “I think we’ve already put up with enough bullshit, and I think that pub next door to the inn probably has some sort of booze to wash it all away with.”

Aston chuckled, and started to say something, but was immediately talked over by Lyn. “No, pubs are terrible. People expect chaos in pubs, it’s just not nearly as fun.”

“How about this,” I said, attempting to mollify Lyn. “We’ll go to the pub, you can get us a couple rooms at the inn and then do as you please, as long as you don’t get yourself arrested.”

“Deal,” Lyn declared, and was absorbed again into the crowd before I could think about what we had just agreed on.

“Are you sure that’s a great idea?” Aston asked, worry in his voice. “She seems rather...mischievous to me.”

“Oh, she is, but she’s reliable where it counts,” I reassured him. “I will never stop giving her shit for how she did it, but at the end of the day, she saved me from being torn apart by wolves within 5 minutes of being chosen. She’ll keep her antics just barely on the side of legal.”

We arrived at the door of the pub. Aston didn’t look particularly reassured. “That wasn’t exactly the glowing recommendation I was hoping to hear.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t, but it’s the one you’re gonna get.” I said, and walked into the pub.”

I immediately found myself at the counter, with no memory of crossing the intervening space. A Notice appeared.

Quest

Rumors

Leave

I did not want any of these options. I wanted beer. I pressed the ‘Leave’ option, only to find myself back outside the pub.

What.

I re-entered the pub. The same Notice met me again. I attempted to move around the Notice, and found I could not.

No.

The ‘Leave’ option just put me back outside the pub again.

This was utter bullshit.

Aston and I settled into a table in an inn room, having managed to acquire a bottle of wine from the marketplace, after some hassle.

“I know being chosen as a Disciple is a great honor,” I said, “but, really, it has been nothing but terrible to me.”

“At least Lyn seems to be having fun with it,” Aston said.

As he spoke, there was an explosion outside the inn. I took a deep breath to calm myself, walked over to the window, and braced myself for whatever chaos Lyn was causing.