Chapter 1: The Arrival

Novac looked at each of his new friends in turn, seeing their happy faces and hearing the excitement in their voices. He realized at that moment that going back home to their old lives was the farthest thing on their minds. He realized that, out of all of them, he had changed the least, and he was the only one concerned about the changes he had observed in himself. Granted, being out of prison was a nice respite, but being attacked by monkey people and giant ticks was not something he enjoyed. The others seemed to have forgotten all about that. He finished eating and leaned back to let their captors answer AJs question.

Dalton was finishing a bite of bread when AJ asked the question. Exactly what he had been thinking, it was fine to be celebrated, but celebrating this much almost seemed religious. "Queue the talking lion..." he whispered to himself.

"Ha, well I'm glad to hear that stuffing our faces with your food made us seem more trustworthy. We're struggling to take things at face value since everything is alien to us here, but a man lost in the desert must take what water he is offered. Or something like that. A quote from a book I read recently."

AJ follows after Nketiah to the meeting chamber, waving farewell to the other Ekujae from the feast. The event and the seemingly honest response did a lot to relax her. However, leaving behind the bonfire for the quiet room allowed her thoughts to wander briefly. What should I even expect them to say?

Her brow furrowed with focus as the linguist now began to pour with answers. Aiudara... they must be our way back home. Us being rare arrivals was about what I expected though. Once the word "god" fell from Nketiah's lips, AJ's eyes began to widen. Soon after, her lips parted as her jaw dropped. And then, the corners of her mouth rose into an open, bewildered smile. That's fucking badass, holy shit. What is this? Elden Ring? Is this the Shattering? Her instinct was to voice these clearly inappropriate thoughts, but her limited filter managed to stop her. Instead, a grunting cough sputtered out as she cleared her throat and tried to retake control of her body language. Still, the excitement in her eyes was hard to miss.

"Heroes it is then."

Looking to see the response of the others, her smirk was still not so well-contained. Seize divine fragments from the Godsrain... Become as gods. Really not contained at all.

Novac crossed his arms as the story was told. Fallen gods? Fragments falling from the sky? Someone heavily borrowed from Greek mythology. His ears perked up when Nketiah mentioned people leaving through the gates they came in from. When AJ mentioned heroes, he had to laugh. He quickly apologized. "I am sorry. I mean no disrespect. I am sure the recent events were traumatizing for the inhabitants of your world. It is hard for me to believe in fallen gods, since I am hardly spiritual where I come from. The biggest question for me is, how can we leave this place? Again, I mean no disrespect, but the way you are telling the story doesn't give us the slightest hint of what you want us to do. I want to go home, so what do you want me to do to get me home?" Novac intentionally used "me" as he wasn't so sure that the others still wanted to go home.

"We're in a fantasy land with new bodies that shit magic and you find it hard to believe gods exist here? This isn't about being spiritual or religious any more. Shit, the fact that we're seemingly in some different universe introduces so many cosmological questions about the nature of reality. And as for getting back home, they probably don't know. Why else would they still be here? Who says they even want us to do anything?"

AJ was quick to fire off as if Nketiah wasn't even there. Her mind raced with possibilities and bewilderment at the wonder of the world they ended up in. This is pure insanity. Nothing we knew about anything matters much any more. Fuck, if only one of us was a scientist. That'd be hilarious. A part of her was certain that the only way back would be divine intervention. The Godsrain seemed like an opportunity to take that matter into their own hands.

Dalton listened closely to the story, which made no sense to his normal reality, but in a place where his companion was breathing fire, it left room for belief.

He shrugged to AJ's while looking at Nketiah. "Although it was not spoken, I'd say that the story heavily implied that the new arrivals would signal someone to help with the current situation. You said it yourself, 'Heroes', which indicates something heroic must be done."

Dalton paused with a sigh, "If some of us had not already been doing 'magic' I'd probably say you have a freak meteor shower hitting your planet. Rocks fall from the sky all the time."

He looked at Nketiah, "A god dies - some strangers show up from another planet - so now what? How can a few mortals help where a god has died?"

Al reflected on Nketiah's words.

"Nketiah, as the others mentioned, would you be able to use your gate to return us to our own world? In these stories about the others who were brought from their worlds, were any of them able to make it back?"

"Godsrain ... what are we getting into"

Al pitched in the group's conversation with a tense expression.

"If we assume Nketiah is telling the truth about all this god stuff, which I would, then it's best we get home quick before we get involved with something worse than those creatures we saw."

Dalton was absently tapping his finger on the table, "I guess that is the root question... embrace our potential roll in this or try to avoid it. Assuming that would be even possible."

Called it.

"That's very generous of you and your people. The altruism the Ekujae have displayed since our arrival won't be forgotten. For me, I have loved ones to return to. Hopefully we will learn more about our way home at this Nantambu. Whether it's knowledge or one of those divine fragments that is the key home, we'll seize it. Right, guys?"

AJ looked to the others with a frown. With Nketiah's answers out of the way, the reality of the situation was finally starting to hit.

There really is no certainty that I'll ever see home again. I'm going to try my best, but it's so hard to believe that I can go through all of this to actually go back at the end. And what? Live out the rest of my days with my memories from here? A secret I take to the grave or be labeled insane? God, I'm going to need so much more therapy.

Her mind started to envision what their long trek to Nantambu might look like. Then, what could be required after. Suddenly, she felt very tired. Her shadow began to curl up in a corner. Anxiety started gnawing at her guts.

"Arbiters of our destinies."

She repeated Nketiah's words, trying to throw kindling on her weakening internal flame more than encourage the others. Submerging one's self in the comforting blaze of vanity wasn't always easy.

Dalton sat quietly for a moment, then responded quietly, perhaps his mind still working through some things. "Well said AJ - thank you Nantambu. You owed us nothing - it was kind of your people to aid strangers."

The muscled warrior nervously worked on a finger nail, finally folding his hands together in front of him. "I do not see that we have many options - we've come through a one way door as far as we know. Our best hope is to find someone who knows more about how we got here. A magic school may be the best hope."

How many times had he watched Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Conan - countless other fantasy stories. Fallen gods - powerful magics - it was insane to think what they might come up against in this place.

If it was even real...

In a whispered voice, mostly to himself "There is no spoon..." perhaps that would be his new mantra.

Novac, in agreement with AJ and Dalton, also thanked Nketiah. "Thank you for providing us with a meal and the information. I apologize for my harsher tone earlier; it was spoken more out of desperation than anger. Any aid you can give us will be repaid, when and if we can." Turning to his new companions, he added, "Well, we're stuck with each other for a while longer. So, if you don't mind traveling with a guy who generally sees the bad in everything and everybody, I am your man." Looking at Dalton, he added with a smile, "Also, our Jackie Chan here needs someone to keep him from running headlong into any fight that might present itself."

Dalton smiled at Novac's comment and shakes his head. "What can I say - apparently my only new skills are punching things. Maybe I'll hang back and AJ can just incinerate everything."

He glanced at the woman who was a growing pyromaniac. "My guess is on this long journey to - what was it the Song Wind city - we will run into a few things. We'll probably have to figure out how to fight together. Only fights I was in before this was high school bullies. Seems this body knows a lot more than that."

He drifted off for a moment, glanced down at the hand, which was not his own, then continued. "I'm still trying to figure it out... I'm me, but I'm also this guy. I feel like I keep pulling out movie references, maybe I watch too much TV.

In the Bourne movies, he looses his memory, but he remembers how to do all this fancy stuff. Feels a bit like that I guess - I remember my whole normal life - but I glance at Novac here and I suddenly can think of ten different holds to break his arm - I sprang up the tree like an Olympic gymnast - I'm pretty sure I can do a one armed handstand." he shook his head again - it felt like a jumble at times with odd things encroaching into his bland normal life.

He looked at AJ again, who had done the most amazing things so far. "And what you have done so far - real magic - healing my leg - I'm not sure I'm going to get used to seeing that."

"If it's any consolation Dalton, it's good that we're all going through the same thing."

"Makes it a lot less scary."

Thinking of the journey ahead, Al approached Nketiah.
"I hope we can learn what to expect on the journey ahead. The jungle was dangerous enough getting here!"

Dalton raised an eyebrow at Nketiah's comments, "Not selling the trip very well... guess its good to know what is in front of us. Despite our new potential abilities - I can't say that sounds fun." Perhaps there was more to be said, but Dalton grew quiet.

If it was a dream, it did not matter, he would wake up eventually. If not, he was not sure they would survive to reach where ever it was they were going.

"Nketiah, thank you for your generous offer. While I'd love to stay longer, we really need to move on. If you don't mind, we should get some rest and aim for an early start tomorrow. Could you provide us with a map, and perhaps point out any friendly settlements we might reach by nightfall? We'd greatly appreciate it."
Novac glanced at the group and whispered, "Here's the problem: we don't know how time flows here compared to our world. If it's the same, I'm likely a wanted fugitive by now. It won't be a dramatic manhunt, mind you—I'm just a thief. I might make the evening new though" Nivac smiled at the thought of that. "But this could add years to my sentence. My best hope is that time moves faster here. But regardless, we need to reach our destination by the most direct route possible."

Dalton's remarks on her powers fed the flame. It was a welcome distraction, allowing the anxiety to pass. The frown on her face quickly dissipated, converting to something more subtle and smug.

"You're right, figuring out how to fight together will be crucial. As awesome as it it to be able to roar fire like a dragon, it does get a little more complicated when you're punching things that I want to set on fire, hahaha. But yeah, I relate to that feeling. I think I saw the Bourne movies when I was a kid. It's not just fire that I think I'm good at. My voice is different. In a bunch of ways. I feel more in control of it than I did in the other world. Pretty sure I could literally scream someone's head off if I wanted."

Listening to all of the threats Nketiah listed, AJ's eyes grew wide. It's really sounding like I found myself in some kind of crazy video game. This world is so damn cool. It was difficult to consider the dangers realistically when only having fought some ape-like creatures and overgrown ticks. Instead, she could only manage to think of them the way anyone would think of a fantasy creature in the world she came from. It was merely an idea.

Novac's suggestions elicited nods of agreement from her.

"Ya' know, I was gonna ask what you were in for, but it felt rude. Glad you just stole shit and weren't a serial killer or anything. I'd rather get back with as little time difference as possible. My wife is going to be a wreck with me missing. And my friends and family won't be good either. To be honest, I'm surprised you want to go back at all. A fugitive. And you didn't mention anyone waiting on you. You could probably start a new life here with the Ekujae without having to face a cell."