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“Keep up, Ascion, or I'm leaving you behind!”

I hurried to catch up with Preknet Giona as I carried an entire canteen of supplies on my back. Being the newest Ascion, of course I was ‘volunteered’ to carry the supplies. I readjusted my pack as my tail got snagged under a rock. We were in the Endless Plains on a survey for possible encampments. Pcoratia had been a bit too aggressive around the border, sending small parties to investigate the ore veins. The Endless Plains were rich in minerals and ores, which made me think we could easily settle a deal with Pcoratia. But the Mad King never played nice, so into the plains we were sent. I huffed as my talons dug into the soft dirt for some traction.

Thankfully we were only in half plate, so it wasn't as bad as it could be. Not that my back was thankful for the load I was carrying. My forked tongue panted as I tried to keep up with my squad a few paces ahead of me.

We continued to march for another few hours, climbing up and down hills. We only stopped for a few moments for Preknet Giona to take a short look at the hillside before we kept marching. My tail started dragging along the ground after three hours of marching, my crimson hide a deep maroon, slick with sweat. Perhaps the Preknet decided to show a small amount of mercy, for after four hours of marching she declared,

“Soldiers, halt!” I snapped to attention as I tried my best to control my breathing. She stared at us for a short minute before stating, “At ease!”

All of us sighed in relief as we all sat down in the dirt for a break. We were a squad of four: Preknet Giona Skyhorn, Ascion William Wenkinbach, Ascion Enderal Borrelia, and myself. Preknet Giona was a tall eaglekin with a wide wingspan. Her feathers were a deep brown with cream highlights and a straw colored beak. She was picked exclusively for surveys due to her excellence in flight and cartography. It impressed me how she could march and mark her maps at the same time and not get lost. Wenkinbach, or Wek as we called them, was a bit of an enigma. They were a ferret, that much was sure. But they were not a typical ferret;: they were huge, and their fur was jet black. They had snow white eyes and were missing the tip of their left ear. They never really said much, just kept to themselves and dug into the ground whenever Giona ordered so.

Quite the interesting character, I thought as I pulled out my water skin.

I glanced over to Enderal as he said, “Man, this march has got me beat! Working harder than I do with my girl every night! This reminds me of this time where I-”

I started to tune him out. Enderal was the antithesis to Wek. Whatever the Gods were smoking when they put that much boastfulness and charisma in one hyena, I want some of that. He had a brown and white striped mane, but the rest of his body was the inverse of a normal hyena’s markings. Instead of most of his fur being tan, it was dark brown with flecks of tan. If you didn't see his golden tooth, he'd tell you all about it within five minutes of meeting him. I'd think he was cute if he wasn't such an ass.

“So! New blood!” Enderal said as I snapped out of my reverie and realized he was talking to me.

“You don't say much, so we gotta fix that! Don't need another Wek!” He laughed as he glanced over at Wek. Wek just gave him another of their signature glares., They were quite good at that.

“Where are you from, new blood?” Enderal said as he laid back against a nearby tree.

“I'm….from the south.” I mumbled out. “From Quandí.”

“A Quasslur!” Enderal exclaimed. He slapped his leg and laughed. I felt my scales begin to burn at the sound of that slur, but I forced myself to not react. People from outside Quandí called us ‘Quasslur’ because of how our speech sounds like we're drunk. Quandían is simply a fast spoken language, no alcohol involved. I put on a pleasant face and chuckled along, keeping the anger beneath the surface.

“Your accent is thick, new blood. I'm surprised you speak our tongue so well!” My anger started to surface again, but I forced myself to stay calm. It bothered me immensely when people kept reminding me that I don't belong or that I'm new. I can fight too, just let me prove myself. I forced a pleasant tone and said,

“We speak both Zugoni and Quandían in Quandí. We were annexed by Zugonia 5 decades ago.”

“How exotic!” He exclaimed.

“What city are you from?” Wek said quietly. We all sat there in shocked silence, even Giona turned from her maps to look at Wek.

“I'm…not really from a city. My village is called Qu’anthii’Rok, or Village of Tumbling Stones. It's near the Earthbreaker Fault.” I said, trying not to dip into my accent too thickly. Giona’s eyes bulged from around her beak.

“You grew up around the Earthbreaker Fault?! How did you not get crushed?” She asked, putting aside her maps and all sense of decorum. I chuckled.

“By walking very, very carefully. We have Conyroks, or Rock Walkers, who spend their entire lives training and guiding people living near the Fault,.” I said, feeling a twinge of homesickness. My father was a Conyrok, or so my mother told me. She said he was red like me, her own scales dark as night.

“Why did you leave?” Wek said, speaking barely above a whisper. All eyes turned back to me.

“Because my village fell to the Fault. I lost my pyomo -- my mother -- and my sisters. I had nothing left. So I headed north. I knew how to track and hunt the beasts of my land, so I hoped I could find employment in Zugonia somewhere. I saw the king's banners and found my way to the military.”

“And we're better for it!” Enderal laughed, slapping me on the back. “You can make Wek talk! This is the most they've said in months!” We all started laughing save for Wek, who gave us another glare. I really should learn how to do that glare.

“You said you can slay a beast?” Wek said.

“Yes, I hunted for my village. I would hunt sand drakes, wyverns, or anything really that had meat.” I replied, remembering the scars on my torso and back from a nearly deadly encounter with a feral sand drake.

“Duel with me.” Wek said. It was unnerving how Wek could threaten me without raising his voice. I looked over to Giona. She nodded her assent, undoubtedly interested in the result.

I took a deep breath and said,

“Let us duel then. But if I win you're carrying the pack.”

I dropped my pack, grateful for the loss in weight. I reached down into the pack and drew my sword and shield. They were standard issue, the shield round with the emblem of Zugonia. I turned to square up with Wek. The black ferret drew two daggers from hidden sheaths at their waist as they pushed his shoulders out and widened his stance, trying to make themselves as big as possible. It was uncommon that I felt small in a battle, and my tail started to twitch nervously. I pulled up my weapons and started circling Wek. They circled too, patient. Waiting for a window. I knew better than to leave an opening for too long. I shouted and did a short lunge at Wek. The ferret easily sidestepped my stab and tried to backhand a dagger to my neck with breakneck speed to my right. I spun my shield around and barely blocked in time. They snarled, pushing down on my shield. It felt like the full weight of a boulder pushing me down into the ground. I stepped out and tried pushing with all my might against Wek. As soon as I tried, they stopped pushing, leaving me unbalanced. They took the opportunity to slide down and take a slash at my ankles.

“Ooh, first blood!” Enderal cheered. I hissed as I felt steel cut into my heel and snarled at Enderal. While Wek was behind me, I whipped my tail up and hit their chin with its tip. They grunted as they fell back, rubbing their head. I dashed again and brought my blade down on their head, aiming the flat of my blade for their helmet. They crossed their daggers together to catch my blade and push me away.

They're fast! I thought, flipping my blade around and sprinting towards Wek. They started sprinting towards me too, knives drawn. We were almost in contact-

_WHAM! _

A loud crack like thunder slammed into my ears and I collapsed to the ground, shield over my head. I could barely hear through the wind and thunder Giona shouting,

“GET DOWN!”

I tried my best to look out from underneath my shield. The sky had gone dark, both Eia and Pho hidden from the sky. Clouds turned a stormy black and a gale storm wind buffeted us. I looked to my left and saw a giant disc in the sky! It was encircled by lightning and floating one hundred feet in the air above Dummon’s Forest. Metal crates, rocks, and other debris were flowing out of the magical disc, seemingly from nowhere. Then I heard a scream:

“aaaaaaaAAaaaAAAAAAHH!” I looked out and saw a person falling from the portal! They were tumbling in the air, hard to see clearly from the distance.

“AAAAAAAAAA-” The scream stopped suddenly. As soon as the noise ceased, the disc began to shrink. The sky began to return to its normal color as the disc diminished to nothing, moons Eia and Pho dancing their lunar waltz. I sat on the ground while I tried to process what I just saw. I jumped out of my scales when Giona landed next to me. Must have taken to the air with the strangeness that just happened.

“Scion, report!” Giona demanded. I looked at her, puzzled.

“Report? Report?! Sir, there was a MAGIC DISC IN THE SKY, SIR!” I shouted, fear climbing in my heart and making my eyes go wide.

Giona shouted, “Compose yourself, soldier!”

I immediately snapped to attention, pushing my fear down into a neat box to deal with later. Wek and Enderal formed up with me, all of us standing at attention before Giona. She assessed all of us and spoke.,

“Soldiers, I don't know what just happened but we are going to get to the bottom of it. Wek, fall back to Camp Locratia and get reinforcements. Firestone and Borrelia, close in on that portal’s position from the south. I will be in the air providing reconnaissance. Am I understood?”

“Sir, yes, sir!” We shouted. Wek spun around and dashed across the fields, heading back to Camp Locratia. Giona crouched down and sprung up into the air, coasting to where that disc was last seen in the sky. I scrounged up the contents of the pack and Enderal and I quickly followed Giona the best we could, rushing into what, I couldn't say.

---

I advanced towards the center of where that portal was with my shield up, weapon pointed forward. Enderal was behind me, bow ready to shoot. We were looking around quickly, trying to catch sight of anything.

“Tell me you see something, Enderal” I whispered. He wasn't cracking and witty jokes now, he was scared too.

“I don't see shit, Venyran.” He whispered back as we sneaked forward. Giona hadn't called out to us yet, so she hadn't found anything yet and we weren't retreating. My mind was still running through a thousand explanations for what we just saw, and not a single one could explain the phenomenon. Magic didn't exist, or at least it didn't until now. We passed several bits of debris written in a language both of us couldn't understand.

*Crunch* I spun to my right as a sound startled me. Enderal drew his bow, waiting for any sign of something moving. My sword remained drawn, ready to strike. Slowly, we advanced towards the sound we heard. The forest was eerily quiet, the trees ruffling silently as a wind blew through them. As we passed around a tree, we saw a big metal box crashed into the ground. It appeared to be broken, or at least that was my guess as jagged bits of metal poked out at erratic angles. The front of the metal box had a hole cut out with a crystal door attached to it, hanging open. We held position for a moment while we decided what to do. I took one intrepid step towards the metal box when Enderal grabbed the back of my armor, pulled me back and hissed

“Are you crazy?! We don't know what that thing is!” I shook Enderal off, hardened my focus and crept toward the metal box. Enderal stayed behind, ready to shoot whatever this thing was. I very cautiously approached the metal box and tapped it with my sword. I immediately retreated and waited for something to happen. Nothing did. Slightly placated, I re-approached the metal box and cautiously looked inside the hole. It had a metal cylinder inside with clothes in it. I sniffed and smelled a foreign scent on the clothes. Strange, but definitely an alive creature. Something warm blooded, if I had to guess. I looked down and noticed a footprint in the dirt, but I didn't recognize it. It was round with five toes and a heel. No spikes or any special indications. Wasn't any species I was familiar with.

“What did you find, Firestone?” Enderal quietly called out. He was still a good twenty feet away, panning quietly for any movement.

“Someone was here, and recently.” I said, sheathing my sword. I took a deep breath and felt my mind start to travel down old paths in my head as I started to track this quarry. Whatever this creature was, it wasn't from Zugonia, smelled too foreign. The footprints suggested they approached the metal box, took something, then fled. But where? I looked around at the immediate area. We were in a small outcropping surrounded by trees, bushes, and various flora. Dirt was tossed around from the impact of the metal box, coating the ferns and roots around us. They wouldn’t be close by now, but where could they have gone?

I closed my eyes and took in the sound of the forest. A chittering squirrel in a nearby tree. Enderal’s ragged breathing a short distance away. The distant sound of rushing water. Wait, rushing water. Every creature needs water to survive. I opened my eyes and motioned Enderal to follow. He started to speak but I put my finger to my lips. Didn't want to alert my quarry. I started to lead us towards the sounds of the water, looking closely for any signs of my prey. A few paces in and I found a broken stick behind a log. I inspected the stick and looked back where we came from. The same direction I heard the crack earlier. I quietly drew my blade and Enderal gripped his bow again.

We kept moving towards the river for another twenty minutes. More footprints started showing up as I continued tracking. As we got closer, I heard the sound of something drinking from the water. I stopped and closed my eyes again. I heard something stop drinking and take a ragged breath. I opened my eyes and motioned to Enderal to approach from the left as I snuck in from the right. The river would help cover the clinking of our armor, but we'd still have to get the jump on the quarry. I felt my heart start to speed up at the conclusion of my hunt. Partly out of excitement, but also out of fear. What was going on today? I crouched low and peered to my left and beheld the strangest sight.

It was a person, but he didn't have any fur or scales. I thought it was a male anyway, had a masculine build and his breasts were considerably small. He had some black hair on the top of his head and some hair throughout his body, but not nearly enough to cover his pale peach skin. He was also completely naked, scraps of cloth laying beside them drenched as they sat down on the riverbed.

He was washing the clothes… I thought in surprise. So this creature was intelligent. I was wondering what to do when Enderal charged forward, bow drawn shouting “Freeze!” The male exclaimed in surprise and showed Enderal both of his palms.

“ Please don't kill me!” he yelled, trembling as he tried to get to his feet. He tentatively lowered one hand between his legs as Enderal kept his bow drawn and pointed at this creature.

“Tarrun…” I swore in Quandian as I burst out from the treeline, sword and shield drawn. The creature jumped as he heard me run onto the riverbed. I put my shield up and pointed my sword at him, mere feet separating us. His eyes looked frantically between the tip of my sword and Enderal’s arrow.

“Please…” he whimpered as tears leaked from his green eyes. I felt my mind take a step back, this felt wrong. I shook off the deja vu and stated firmly,

“What are you, creature?” I watched Enderal take a few steps back as I approached this creature. He furrowed his eyebrows, gesturing both hands outward as he said

“What?!” I redoubled my grip on my sword and he pushed his palms out further.

“Who are you?!” I shouted.

“What’s the plan here, Firestone?” Enderal asked, his voice wavering. Enderal’s stance was trembling, he seemed terrified of…whatever this thing is.

“I do not know, hold on Hoo’ark’tu!” I snapped back. The creature cocked his head after I slipped out a Quandian swear.

“Who am I?” he asked. Hearing a creature swear at me with a terrible accent was mentally jarring enough to make me stop for a second. I lowered my stance a little, which made the creature relax a little apparently.

“Who am I?” he asked again.

“Hoo…ark’tu?” I hesitantly responded, my sword still pointed in his direction. I was sure he was a male now. The dangly thing between his legs was shriveled up but still visible as we …conversed? He stuttered as he said

“I’m…I’m Merrick.” he laid an open hand on his chest as repeated the word ‘Merrick’. I cocked my head. I copied his hand on my armor with my sword as I said,

“M-Merrick?” He shook his head, his body language becoming more erratic as he said

“No no, I’m Merrick. Merrick.” He kept pounding his chest as he said Merrick again. I did not recognize what he was saying, but he seemed emphatic on saying ‘Merrick’.

“What the hell is going on, Firestone?” Enderal trembled as he held the bow taught. I realized that Enderal has been ready to shoot this creature while he was speaking. I quickly locked eyes with Enderal and said,

“It’s…okay Enderal. Lower your bow.” I slowly started to sheath my sword, the creature watching my sword through every motion.

“Put my bow down; Firestone, are you crazy?! It could be dangerous! We should kill it before it kills us! We need to call the Preknet!” Enderal started shouting. Enderal was starting to panic. I needed to calm him down if I wanted to diffuse this situation. I spoke in a soothing voice,

“Enderal, we will report to the Preknet as soon as we figure out what’s going on. He is clearly unarmed and does not pose any danger to two trained Ascions. Just take a deep breath” The creature was looking between the two of us again, growing nervous again as we conversed in Zugoni. Enderal looked terrified, but he slowly started releasing the tension in the bow. He did not put his bow away, however, the arrow still knocked. I turned my attention back to the creature. Merrick, Merrick, what did that mean?

“Merrick…” I mumbled, and the creature started to nod emphatically.

“Merrick! Merrick!” he said, pounding his chest again. He pounded his chest and said Merrick, was that what he called himself? I pointed at him with a clawed finger and asked,

“Merrick?” He nodded excitedly. I could feel my mind turning over itself trying to understand what was going on, but ‘Merrick’ did not seem to be dangerous. I placed my hand on my chest again and hesitantly said

“Venyran?” It was now the creature’s turn to look at me with unmistakable confusion.

“Ven-y-ran?” he said as I nodded. Merrick let out a ragged sigh, a small amount of relief spreading across his body. That relief did not stop shaking him as he wrapped himself with his arms. He was..shivering, right? I don't know why, but I started slowly laying down the pack, searching for something.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Enderal shouted again, but he wasn’t trembling as much now.

“Give me a second, Enderal…” I said as I found a fleece blanket pushed to the bottom of the pack. I pulled it out and Merrick eyed the blanket longingly, his peach skin turning paler. I slowly laid the blanket on the ground between us and slowly started backing away. Merrick hesitated, but slowly reached down and grabbed the fleece blanket. He quickly wrapped his body with the blanket, his head and feet poking out.

“Thank you…” he said, still shivering a little underneath the blanket. I smiled a little. I had no idea what he said, but he seemed grateful for a little warmth. Now if I could only figure out what to do…

---

‘What the hell is going on…’ I thought as I sat on the damp bed in my cell. These ‘animal-people’ took me to a castle-like place that looked exactly like Monty Python. Iron bars, stone cells, and not a single unladed swallow in sight. At least they gave me a change of clothes. Though why they made a small hole above my butt, I don’t understand. I laid down and looked up at the stone ceiling and took a deep sigh as recent events flew past my mind. Waking up that morning, going for a walk by the dam, slipping on the ice and then…falling. I run a hand through my hair as I feel for any cut or bruise. Nothing.

‘How did I not die from the impact?’ I couldn’t think of any reason I would survive the fall. I couldn’t think of any reason why I was still alive. Where were the other humans? Why did every person look like a mix between humans and animals? I started to cry again as the scariest question loomed over me: Will I ever go home?

I heard a rumbling voice around the corner of my cell. I stopped crying as I realized it was that red dragon’s voice. Sure enough, his red snout peeked around the bars of my cell with…concern in his eyes? I shrunk to the back of my cell as he stood there watching. He sighed and sat down on the stone floor outside my cell. He just sat there, staring at me, not saying a word.

“Venyran…” I said quietly, arms wrapped around my knees. He perked up at hearing his name, his tail flicking slightly in the lantern lit corridor.

“ Merrick… ” he responded, the word emanating from his snout as he figured out how to say my name. He reached back into his pocket and pulled out an apple. Slowly, he reached the apple through the holes in my cell door and placed the apple on the ground. I eyed the apple dubiously, then I scrambled to grab the apple. I took the first bite and sighed in relief as the cool juice spread down my parched throat. The apple was gone within seconds, save the core which I flicked into a dark corner. I looked over at this red dragon and grew still as my mind could not come to a decision. Do I hate this dragon for imprisoning me, or is he the only friend I have in this strange world?

“Thank you, Venyran.” I said quietly. I slowly sat down opposite of him, my stuff joints protesting the motion. He smiled at me, and I couldn't help but smile back.