His eyes tracked over the sights around him, taking in the strange, but oddly familiar landscape. The sky was blue like earth, the grass green. But it was more than that—the sky was a deep, brilliant blue, the grass under his feet emerald green. It was like Earth, but more.
And that wasn’t all. He had an egg in his pack that supposedly held his monster offspring. What kind of parent would he be? Hell, what kind of ruler would he be? If Melody was right, he’d eventually be the lord of all he saw.
A grin spread across his face, a cool wind whipping over his body.
He was ready.
“Benjamin?” asked Melody, her tone suggesting she could sense he was caught up in the wonder of it all.
Ben cleared his throat, focusing on the moment. He turned his attention to the path ahead—specifically, the huge chasm.
Then he noticed that the only way across the chasm was over a rickety rope bridge.
Classic. If movies had taught him anything, a bridge like that was the exact thing you’d think to see over a yawning, endless chasm—the kind of bridge that would shake with the wind as you hopped from wood plank to wood plank, the rope fraying as it struggled to support your weight. Ben half-expected to pass Indiana Jones crossing from the other side, his adversary hacking away at the rope with a machete.
“Of course, it just had to be a flimsy rope bridge over a bottomless chasm, didn’t it?”
“Hmm?” Melody was gazing absentmindedly into the distance and not paying him much attention. “Sorry, Benjamin—it’s only been a week, but I missed the air in my world.”
Ben took a deep breath. She was right, there was something different about it. The air was thicker, and he could feel the increased oxygen bringing strength to his limbs. There was a freshness to it, a sweetness. Was this what air was meant to taste like without millions of cars spraying smog into it?
The sun was just rising over the horizon. He guessed they’d skipped back a few hours. He found himself wondering if he could get jetlag from a magical portal.
On the other side of the bridge, an overgrowth path led down a slope into a dense forest, where it disappeared into the fir trees. The sweet song of early morning birds came from the trees. The birdsong was strange, unlike anything he’d heard on earth. Their chirping struck him as more…conversational, like there was an intelligence behind it.
There was a large clearing, perhaps a mile off, a few buildings clustered together. From what Ben could make out, they were short, dilapidated huts. Among them were stone blocks that might have been the ruins of a much larger village that had existed long ago. If those collections of huts were a settlement, perhaps they’d encounter people there. Or perhaps some other kind of beings, Ben thought, as he glanced at Melody’s furry ears and swishing yellow tail.
Ben continued to look around, amazed by the beauty he saw in every direction. The birds that flitted from branch to branch would put the most splendid tropical birds of earth to shame.
His back straightened, and he felt stronger, more refreshed. The weight of the egg in his backpack was now barely noticeable.
Was this how Neil Armstrong had felt taking his first steps on the moon? He had been stronger on that world too, with reduced gravity. That said, Ben didn’t know if he was the first human from Earth to visit this world.
“Has anyone else from his world been here before?” he asked Melody. “Are there humans like me here?”
Melody shrugged. “You would have to ask someone more learned than me about that. Archmage Kamila might have the answer. Though she also said that Earthlings have very little magical ability.”
She waved her hand in a gesture, encompassing the vista before us. “If any Earthlings did come here, they probably died to monsters soon after.”
“Monsters?” he asked. Melody had mentioned monsters in the hotel room, but from what Ben had seen in his vision, he had controlled them. Now she was saying Earthlings might have been killed by monsters. That didn’t sound very encouraging.
“Monsters inhabit the desolate and remote regions of this world, preying on lesser creatures and waylaying travelers.” Melody’s face was as grave as her tone. “But they are also the ancestors of the Forgotten Ruler’s army. Every time the ruler has returned, he has built his forces from the most formidable outcasts and savage beasts.”
“What are the monsters? What makes them different from other creatures?” Ben asked, eager to learn all he could about this new world.
Melody gave him another puzzled look. “Monsters…have more magic,” she said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
“Of course, magic is the answer to that question again.” He sighed. This would take a bit of getting used to. “Where do monsters come from?”
“They come from dungeons beneath the ground in the desolate places, where the Xurian Realm has not established its domain.”
Ben raised his hand to stop her. “This Realm is like the big bad guys in this world, is it?”
“That is correct. It is a force you’ll need to defeat if you wish to take your rightful place here.”
He didn’t want to overload himself with information, so he decided to get back to small-scale questions.
“You mentioned dungeons, right? I think I saw some of them in my vision. They had traps and things that could kill intruders.”
Melody nodded. “The dungeons were once your strongholds. It is said that the power you once had is still contained within their depths. But I can’t tell you any more than that, you will have to find someone more learned than me to answer such questions.”
“So, if Earthlings are too weak to face these monsters, why did you bring me here?”
Melody chuckled.
