The City

Sigurd Agnarrson

He threw us back into the cart. I managed to take a blurry glimpse of the man who breathed fire. His head was simply cleaved off his shoulder. And the other guards were disposing of his body by throwing him off to a ditch.

The chain around Akira's and my neck loosened, as the unconscious body of Vladimir was thrown next to us, his arms bound yet again with cuffs and chains. The other chains around the cart levitated in the air, before lunging towards us, clasping around our wrists and pulling them down.

"Agh-!"

"It was a nice attempt. But sadly, none of that worked." The leader mocked us, "You really shouldn't have done that. The matriarch would REALLY like to know what happened. And I'm sure to enjoy what she'll order us to do with you."

He raised his hand, and the chain that he used to drag us here expanded into a bright metal sheen. Covering the entrance that was burned through the cart. After a few seconds, the cart began to move again. The only remaining survivors of this were the mother and son that was held at knifepoint, the Yankees cap dude, and four other humans. Guess those who tried to escape as well weren't as lucky as we were.

"Shit…" Akira groaned, "I thought it was gonna work…"

"We were fools for thinking so…" I agreed, after all, what the hell was that?

"Man…When I held that Halberd, I felt something. Like…something that just made me think I could actually escape…"

Wait a second… "Repeat that?"?

"I thought I could actually escape?"

I shook my head, "No before that…"

"I felt something?"

"Yes…that." I thought over it for a second, she felt something, "Did you feel anything when the countdown finished?"

She held her chin for a second, before she shook her head, "No…I didn't."

I looked down at the floor, pondering over everything that just happened. Push away those…odd thoughts away. And think. They mentioned…boon wave. I felt like I heard that term before. Somewhere in a book or something.

Book…? Book-! Wait a second! I ran over to the wall, holding on to the barred window, "Hey! Sir!"

"What?" The orc growled.

"What…continent are we on?"

The orc raised an eyebrow, "You…know we're on a continent?"

"Yes. But what is it?"

He readjusted his gear, recalling where they were, "Fengári. We're in Fengári."

Hearing that my theory had been confirmed, I felt an odd mix of relief and fear coalescing into pieces of a puzzle that solved itself. I slowly melted down the wall; the realization had really struck me now.

"Woah woah woah" Akira crawled to me, "Hey now, don't lose yourself! What happened? What did you find out?"

"Apocalypse of the Sole Human." I answered, "Have you heard of it? It's a popular book."

"Oh! Yeah, yeah! I read it! I…" Her expression darkened immediately. She realized it as well. "Oh, I remember now. Fengári…That's a continent in the book, no?"

"Yes…you know what that means right?"

It doesn't take a genius to figure out what I was hinting at, "Nah…this can't be real…" Akira shook her head.

"Did the escape attempt feel real to you?"

She didn't respond at all, just staring down at the ground hopelessly, "Oh, so none of you knew?" Another voice spoke up. We turned to the side, as a girl in what looks to be her pajamas and messy hair jumped into our conversation.

"Know what?"

"The books of 'Apocalypse of the sole human' all started to act weirdly, maybe five or ten minutes before all this happened. They started floating…glowing. Then before we knew it, we're here."

How would I have known that? The only thing I remember before that was standing in the courtyard as Einar…That fucking asshole. Just thinking about it made my blood boil. 'He'll distract them uhuhuhu' Bull shit. He's always done this before. No matter how small or insignificant it was. I just hope that whatever is happening to him right now, is much worse than my situation.

I just laid against the wall again, observing the slowly awakening Vladimir as he rubbed his head, "What…?" He looked around.

"Nothing worked mate." Akira sat next to me, crossing her arms, "We tried and we failed."

"That…I demand an explanation." He sat up groggily. 

I remained silent as Akira explained what we had discussed previously. The book. The levitation and glowing, then the sudden transport. Judging from his expression, he's just as confused as we are. Albeit, maybe a bit more understanding. He didn't question if anything was real or not. This man had spilt blood, and the wet coating of their ichor was enough to confirm reality and fiction.

Time seemed to blur under this unending march and creaks of the prison cart. Eventually, after Akira had explained everything, Vladimir checked if he still had any weapons on him. But they had thought of that earlier. Defenseless, he just sat on the opposite wall in front of us, silent like he was before.

Akira just shifted in place before closing her eyes and crossing her legs to the best of her ability. But that just left Vladimir and me the only ones awake, as others fell asleep after crying or praying. They all fell into the same solemn fate of everyone here: capture.

I don't think Vladimir would be happy with me striking up a conversation. And thank god for that. Those videos I watched on how to do so is complete bullshit. No need to prove my theory further with this man.

As the hours passed by outside, the sun slowly settled down, bringing in the time of dark nights with the familiar and estranged full moon hanging above us. Fengári…They only just stood for the moon in Greek. Whoever the author of this world was, he's pretty unoriginal. But at the same time, no doubt in mind he's the one who caused all this. Could he be the same god who had cursed me with life? Or was he simply someone like Lucifer? With his own twisted way of rebelling against god.

But I will thank him for one thing. For putting us in Fengári. The other continent…would have been a death sentence for us. I have read the book, unlike my 'friends'. I hope they're in Asteria. That's where they belong. That's where they'll suffer. 

Before I knew it, I could feel my eyes barely managing to hold themselves open. Dozing in between sleep and consciousness as my head continuously moved up and down, jolting awake for one second before closing them again. This cycle seemed to continue for a long time. Only to be forcefully jolted awake with a loud creaking.

"Up and awake!" The scarred elf shouted, "You had your sleep, now's the time to wake up!"

The sounds of grumbling echoed through the cart as many of the humans rubbed the sleep of their faces. Same with Akira and Vladimir, though, he didn't seem too disorientated compared to the two of us.

Next to me, Akira stretched her body, nearly hitting me on the face, "Ugh…What's…happening?" She asked in a sleepy voice.

"We reached our destination…" I stood up, pulling Akira up by the sleeve.

"Hey now…don't rip my jacket." Akira pulled my hand away, "It's-"

"Five hundred dollars. I know."

She smiled a bit, taking solace in the fact that I remembered what she mentioned, "If it's ripped, you owe me that much."

"I'll see if I can pay it."

Vladimir walked past us, leading us through the cart as the chains pulled us along. His face was devoid of emotions, as before. "That's if you even live after this."

As he walked away, Akira just crossed her chained arms, "Way to go mate. You killed the mood."

He didn't bother responding, as the rest of us hopped off the cart, following each other closely behind with chains cuffs around our wrist, through lush greenery that was overshadowed by the moon's light. We stopped for a second in front of a large twenty-foot tall gate. Guarded by two people. An elf and a dwarf.

The leader of the people who captured us just handed them an insignia of some sort, "Let us in. We got some interesting batch of creatures for the matriarch to see."

"Creatures…?" The two guards peeked over the leader's shoulder. Laying eyes upon us all, "Huh…Elves without…ears?"

"Nah. Too ugly for elves." Ouch. That hurts, "I wonder what she'll think about them. Come in."

Before we knew it, they tapped on the gate a few times, before it screeched open. Letting us in with open arms and a deceitful grin, "Welcome to the City of Archés."