The Meeting

A short while later Brand awoke to find himself lying up against a tree. The bizarre but beautiful looking girl with long blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes from before was crouched in front of him. Making sure he was fully conscious, she started speaking to him again. "Ishas slaybas nurnen followfinses? Feela noonis shishnis valur!" she sternly demanded.

"I'm sorry, I don't understand." Brand replied. He had never heard this language before. Of course the strange looking girl in front of him didn't speak English. He decided to try some basic communication skills he had learned from various movies over the years. "Me... Brand." he gestured to himself. "You?" he pointed at her and hoped the inflection in his voice and quizzical expression would let her know he was asking a question.

The girl looked a little confused then started to giggle a little bit. She moved forward a little bit and started to chant something while staring Brand straight in the face with her shimmering blue eyes. Her forehead then started to glow with a dazzling green light. Still looking at Brand she started to lean forward.

With his back against the tree, and the girl so close to him already, Brand couldn't avoid suddenly touching his forehead with the one that was fast approaching him. As soon as their foreheads touched, Brand felt a jolt run down his entire body. His brain felt for a moment like it had suddenly freed from invisible shackles that he never knew he had. Then all at once he felt completely normal again.

"Honestly, translation magic is a basic magic that I thought everyone was taught when they were little more than babes." the girl spoke in perfect English. "I wouldn't have been surprised if you were an illum, but a human not being able to cast a basic spell like this is quite surprising. Now, what is your name, where are you from, and what are you doing in the Ostish Forest?" the girl questioned.

Almost certain he wasn't hearing things, he repeated "Magic..." in a daze. "My... my name is Brand." he started while he stood up. "I'm from America and I have no idea how I got here. I was just sleeping in my room when my chest started to hurt and then it felt like I was sucked from there to wherever here is." Brand started speaking on fast forward. "Did you say Osditch Forest? I don't know where that is. Where is here? Who are you? What are you? What was that thing you saved me from earlier?"

The girl motioned for him to be silent. "My name is Alreya." she began. "It's the Ostish Forest. On the western edge of the continent? I've never heard of... Amirika before, is that one of the far eastern countries? I can never remember their names. And what do you mean what am I? I'm obviously an elf." she said a little indignantly. "I know they aren't common in the east, but surely you've heard some description of us? As for the pain in your chest, I've heard that something like that always happens to humans on the exact moment they turn 14. They call it a magical awakening right? When the magic in your body begins to manifest? As for Bidoos I thought every forest on the continent had them. Nasty little life suckers."

Brand was stunned. "An elf?" he thought. "Magical awakening? Bidoos? Life Suckers? What is this girl talking about? Am I in some sort of fantasy novel?" feeling a little dizzy in the head he fell back and leaned against the tree with his right shoulder.

Suddenly seeing what was in Brand's pocket, Alreya became incredibly angry and immediately pulled out her bow. She knocked an arrow as quick as lightning and pointed it at Brand's head. "Now I know why you were in our forest human!" she shouted at him while gesturing towards his pocket. "You were just playing dumb. You're here to hunt dragons to try and become a dragon rider! Were the dragons in your land too scarce or too fierce to hunt? You do know stealing another country's dragon is a capital offense punishable by death?"

"Dra... dragon?!" Brand squeaked as he threw up his hands. "What do you mean stealing a dragon? This is just a tooth. A dinosaur tooth!"

"Stop speaking nonsense! Now human, tell me where you're really from or I'll put this arrow through your eye!"

Falling down, closing his eyes, and turning his head away, Brand shouted back "I'm from the United States of America! It's in between the Atlantic and Pacific ocean! Under Canada! Above Mexico! It's one of the biggest countries on Earth I swear!"

Instantly Alreya's eyes went wide. She lowered her bow and stared at Brand in almost disbelief. "Say that again!" she yelled. "Human! Say what you just said again!"

"The United States of America?"

"No, the last part! Say the last part!" she demanded again.

"It's one of the biggest countries on Earth?" Brand's face strained with his eyes tightly closed, sure that an arrow was about to embed itself in his brain any time now. After a few seconds of silence Brand slowly opened his eyes and looked at where Alreya was standing. She looked stunned. Almost like she had been struck by lightning. "Umm... are you ok?" he asked.

"Earth..." Alreya whispered to herself while she looked down. "That's impossible... it can't be..." Just as Brand was about to ask what was going on, she looked up at him again and asked "You're from Earth? THE Earth? You're not lying to me are you?"

"No... I'm not lying to you. As far as I know it's the only planet I've ever been on." Brand said. Then he realized something that made his stomach feel like it was full of butterflies. "Wait... if you just asked if I'm from Earth... does that mean we aren't on Earth right now!?"

After pausing a moment Alreya said "Well, I've only heard stories, but from what I've heard we are and we aren't. It's difficult for me to explain." All traces of anger had vanished from her face and was replaced with a sort of excitement.

"Is there any way for me to get back to... where I was before?"

"I don't know." Alreya said. "At least I've never heard of somebody being able to go there. But it seems to me like you really are telling the truth, and if that's the case, then we have to tell the elders at my village right away. They'll probably know what to do. Follow me and I'll lead you there... Brand."

Feeling a little more confident now that Alreya wasn't pointing an arrow at his face, Brand got up and dusted himself off. Reasoning that if she wanted to kill him she could have already, and that the alternative was staying by himself in this forest filled with monsters and possibly dragons, he decided to trust the elf named Alreya and follow her to her village. "Alright." he said. "Lead the way."