Young Writers Society

@Magebird



Sorenson stirred from his sleep. His back was a bit sore, and this didn't feel much like the bed of leaves he'd fallen asleep on. It was quite stony, to be honest. He rubbed a hand along what felt like the arm of a chair and determined this was, in fact, rock. Sorenson tilted his head thoughtfully, then opened his eyes.

He was seated in a grand throne of rough slate, a rusty sword resting against the right side. All around him were high stone walls, and from those walls protruded porcelain faces twisted into mad laughter. Painted tears slipped down these faces, which were of every race and species Sorenson had ever seen, and much more. The ground was white tile decked every six feet with square green hedges. Across from Sorenson was another throne, which also held a person.

Sorenson frowned and stood slowly, narrowing his eyes at the individual--male, perhaps? A male human, quite young, yes.
"Hmm," he mused, and meandered over to the young man. "Hello? Are you alive, old chap?"

When I opened my eyes, I found myself in a place I didn't recognize.

The last thing I remembered doing was bugging Natty boy. I had been working on using my ghostly powers more, so I decided to train them by moving things constantly just out of reach for him. I had done it a few times here and there before, but this was the longest I had ever done it—an entire five minutes. It was subtle enough that I wasn't getting fully kicked out of my body, but it was enough to knock me out for another few minutes.

I should have opened my eyes to see the inn room we were staying in, but I found myself in a stone room decorated by weird faces. I hadn't seen a place as weird as this one before. I was sitting in some kind of throne. There was another guy sitting in a throne across from me, too. The guy didn't look normal by my world's standards, but he would have fit in perfectly with Nikko's world.

I got to my feet and stretched, smirking at being called an 'old chap'. If only he knew how old I actually was. Asking if I was alive was another bit of irony that would completely go over the other guy's head, but it made this situation more bearable.

"Hey," I said, sticking my hands into my pants' pockets. "I am. How about you?"

Sorenson patted himself down. "I certainly feel like I am, but I don't recall going to sleep here. I wouldn't fall asleep on a throne; it's bad for your back, you know." He eyed the fellow in front of him curiously. "You appear to be human, so I hope I'm still in Faerun, at least. That would make this whole situation a bit less stressful, don't you agree?" It didn't look like any place in Faerun he'd heard of, though, and that was potentially problematic. He looked up, and the sight of a clear night sky gave him a moment's relief. But that relief was short-lived, as he realized he recognized none of the constellations. "Oh, dear."

I wasn't sure what he had spotted up in the sky, but I had a sneaking suspicion it had made him realize that we weren't in that Faerun place. I had been about to say I wasn't from there. It looked like the sky had beat me to it.

"I also didn't fall asleep here," I said. "I could have been physically dragged here while I was unconscious, but this seems like a magic kind of thing."

It wouldn't have been the first time I randomly ended up in another world. That was how I met my friend Nikko—I had been whisked off from my world to hers, coincidentally when I was also trying to prank Nathaniel. Maybe that was a sign from whatever thing kept kicking me out from death that I needed to stop bugging him.

Not that I would, of course.

Sorenson hardly heard him. "The stars." He pointed. "The stars, human. Do you see them?" Turning, his hands flitted above his head to gesture at the sky. "Do you see what's wrong? Where are we?" This couldn't be right. He hadn't stepped through any portals; he'd been happily asleep in the forest. Unless some mage had mischievously wandered by and tipped him into another dimension. That might explain things. But the presence of this human and his strange clothes was bewildering as well.

I followed his gaze up.

As far as I was concerned, the stars were just stars. I knew he saw something there. From his confusion over where we were, he probably didn't recognize them. But it had been a long time since I regularly saw Earth's stars, and I didn't pay too much attention to the ones on Arium.

"Whatever you see up there," I said, "I don't see it. And I'm just as lost as you are—I've never seen a place like this before. But where we are doesn't really matter. If we can find whoever brought us here, you can get back to that Faerun place and I can get back to where I'm supposed to be."

Sorenson's eyes lit up. The boy was right! Finding the culprit and defeating them usually meant getting sent back home right after. At least, in the books Sorenson had read that's what happened. "You're a clever fellow, aren't you?" he said eagerly. "You're spot on. Now, who do you suppose sent us? Halaster Blackcloak? Nealor? Or perhaps--" Hang on, who was this human anyway? His Common was spoken with an odd accent. "--oh, I do apologize, old sport, where are my manners?" He swept into a deep bow. "To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?"

"The name's Skull," I said with a smirk. "And I haven't heard of any of those people you just mentioned—I'm not from wherever you're from."

"Oh certainly not, certainly not," Sorenson chuckled, jerking out of the bow and offering Skull his hand. "What a dreary name you have! Fascinating, though. Is it a nickname? And where exactly are you from, if not Faerun?"

After a pause, I took the hand. I still wasn't used to that gesture after being stuck in a jar for so long. Besides Lucy, no one had even been able to hear me back then; they weren't exactly striking up friendly conversations with me.

"You could say it's a nickname," I said. It was, technically. It had become more than that by this point, but I wasn't going to get into semantics. "And I'm from a place called Earth, originally. Now I'm usually on a world called Arium, unless I'm getting to places like this."

Smirk still remaining, I asked, "What about you?"

"Ah." Sorenson placed a long-fingered hand on his chest. "I am Sorenson Ogleby, explorer, sorcerer of the skies, and deeply valued noble of the High Moon Elves. Pleased to make your acquaintaince!"

I raised an eyebrow. I hadn't ever heard of "High Moon Elves" before, but I had a feeling they all had the pointy ears and weird-colored skin this guy had. I also wasn't a fan of anyone who could consider themselves a noble.

"Nice to meet you, too," I said, a little bit of my disgust seeping into my voice. If he was more aware than he came across as, he would probably pick it up. If not, he would be blissfully unaware of how much his title irritated me.

Sorenson noticed the change in tone. What, was this fellow against elves?
"I find human beings quite fascinating," he said enthusiastically, resolving to push forward. "Your culture is such an amazing model for society, unlike anything I've ever experienced myself." He adjusted his ascot. "I've been on a century-long study of humanity now. Coming up on 102 years. Now, how are we to get out of this place? I have people waiting for me back home." He had no such thing, but he liked how it sounded.

Oh, great. He was like Cubbins, but this time actually had money. I rolled my eyes as I turned my back to him. We could have tried scaling the walls of this place, but I doubted it would get us all that far. That was assuming we'd be able to make it all the way, too.

When I looked around the room, I spotted a seemingly straight passageway. I couldn't remember if it had been there before, but why kick a gift horse in the mouth?

"That way," I said, pointing at the passageway.

(Sorenson is perceptive but clueless )

Sorenson strode up to the passageway, running his fingers along the walls. "Hmm." He looked back at the room. "And what about these, these faces? The passage seems a bit straightforward, doesn't it? Are there other ways?" He paused. The walls were very high, but with some climbing hooks or a boost of magic he might be able to make it. "Could we climb up to the top of the walls and see if we can get our bearings."