The bowl of soup Marta brought me was more of a broth. I didn’t recognize the meat or the sparse vegetables. But I really couldn’t expect to in a world quite separate from my own. It was good and filled me up nicely. It had been two days since I had woken up from my coma, yet I was not as hungry as I should have been. Made me wish I had access to cannabis, but I doubted that grew here. Just had to get back to normal without it.

  Harper came by to check on me while I mused over the lack of a joint. “You’re looking better, New Guy. Wanna tell me what’s so fascinating about that tapestry?”

  I looked up at her in shock. She hadn’t made a noise when she entered the room or when she sat down. I’m never going to get used to that. “I… I was thinking it would be nice to smoke some cannabis since I have had little appetite.”

  “Cannabis? Oh, you mean weed! God, I wish we had that. Not that it was very easy to get before I was taken… there was talk of legalizing it, but that was a pipe dream,” she said.

  “Really? When I left, it was legal in most states. You could go down to any of the dispensaries and buy it. Hell, most gas stations had joints you could buy.” I sighed bitterly. “Not that it matters anymore.” I raised another spoonful, forcing myself to take another bite.

  Harper laughed. “Yeah. There are some things you can smoke here, but I wouldn’t recommend them.” She gestured at the bowl. “How’d you like the brask meat?”

  I blinked. “Brask meat? Did I miss something? I thought they were too strong to take on,” I responded incredulously.

  “Oh, do I have a story to tell you, New Guy! But that’s for later, around a campfire. Needless to say, I got them. With some help from our favorite bow-wielding old guy, of course!” she said, looking smug while I just stared at her in awe.

  “Wow. It’s going to take me a while to get to that level of ability,” I said, moving the spoon around my bowl.

  Harper smiled, putting her hands behind her head and leaning back. “Yep, I’m pretty awesome! But enough about me. Tell me how you are feeling.”

  I set my bowl down and looked at my hands. “I’m exhausted. You saw me last night. I couldn’t make it ten feet toward the barbecue before I had to be helped back here. Marta tells me it’s okay, that my recovery will take time. Even if she had the ‘good’ potions, I’d still have to get my strength back,” I grumbled.

  “That fits with what I know. Health potions, even the excellent ones, only do so much. The worse you’re hurt, the more energy it takes to heal. I’ve heard of potions of regeneration that can heal just about any injury without as high a price, but I’ve never seen one. Say, can you brew potions? That would be an excellent way to make money,” she mused.

  “That’s a thing? Man. It would be nice, but no. I can enchant things, but only at level two right now.” I sat there thinking about it and picked up my bowl of soup. “Could I learn how to make potions?” I asked.

  She looked thoughtful, but then shrugged. “I don’t know. That’s a question for Juan. He’s helping break up the soil for cultivation. Can you believe that the soil in this grassland is like a foot of roots before you hit dirt? It reminds me of settlers back home, making houses out of sod in the Midwest when it was called the Great Plains,” she replied.

  I yawned. “Sorry, not bored. Just tired.” I felt bad because I liked Harper’s company. It was just nice having someone near my age to talk with about things from home. “Can you come back later? I enjoy talking about home.”

  Harper laughed, “Alright, New Guy. Get some rest.”

  For the next several days, Harper and Juan would come chat with me. They encouraged me to rest, but also to move around. It took a week before Marta was willing to give me the go-ahead to leave her care.

  “Now, I know I already told you this, but you need to listen to your body. You can push yourself only so far before you crash,” Marta reminded me. She gave me several packets of herbs. “Mix one of these with hot water every meal, and they’ll help with the pain and nausea. Use all of them!” she said pointedly.

  It was so normal, so mundane, that I couldn’t help but smile. “Thank you for everything, Marta. I don’t think I would have made it without you,” I said.

  Her face colored a little, and she grinned and gave me a hug. “You just avoid falling off your horse for a few days, Finn. I miss having my bed to myself,” she said before stepping back.

  Harper elbowed me in the side. “I thought you weren’t ready for physical activities,New Guy! Is she why we are just leaving?” She murmured to me with a grin.

  “What do you —” I started and glared at her when I realized what she was implying. “I didn’t do anything of the kind. Marta was my doctor! And I couldn’t,” I hissed at her. She just chuckled at my embarrassment.

  She was going to say something else, but the head councilman of the goblins cleared his throat, causing the crowd of goblins seeing us off to quiet down.

  “Ahem! Yes. Juan and Harper, on behalf of our temporary settlement, I’d like to thank you for all the help you have provided. Even if we had required payment for your friend’s recovery, you have gone above and beyond what anyone would have required. Thank you for making our home more alive with your presence,” he said warmly. “If ever you come back this way again, you are always welcome here!”

  The crowd cheered their agreement as Juan, Harper and I mounted our horses and rode through the open gate. As we passed the hill that hid the temporary settlement of the goblins, I relaxed and promptly fell off my horse.

  I sat up woozily. “I’m okay,” I said, holding up a hand. “Just give me a minute and I’ll get myself sorted.”

  Harper giggled. “What did I say about staying on your horse, New Guy?” she teased. I glared at her and got back on my mare as Juan just shook his head. He mumbled something, but so low I couldn’t hear.

  My mount, like the other three, was very excited to be on the move again. So much so that her normally placid nature was replaced by the need to run. My balance was still off, so I white-knuckled her reins for the entire first few hours.

  This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

  When we stopped to have some lunch and give the horses a chance to rest, I almost fell off again. My legs were like wet noodles. Juan made a small fire for tea, the medicinal one Marta had sent with me and some other blend for them. I sat sipping my tea, balancing a travel plate with some food on my leg. “The goblins were not what I was expecting,” I said.

  Juan nodded and swallowed. “The stories, games, and movies from home don’t do most people here justice. Especially the goblins. Jumping to conclusions has been the downfall of many Earthborn over the years,” he explained.

  I let what he said sink in for a moment. I had already made that mistake more than once since I had gotten to this world. “Why are there so many similarities, then? All those stories, like nursery rhymes or fairy tales for example,” I said and set my tea carefully on the ground next to me. It was helping, but I needed to eat.

  Juan swallowed and shrugged. “Coincidence, maybe? Logically, in a big enough universe over a long enough time, our lives could be stories somewhere else. But there are other possibilities.” Juan replied, maneuvering his fork to get some fresh greens we had gotten from the goblins.

  Harper mumbled something around her food, unintelligible. We looked at her, Juan with annoyance. She finished chewing, swallowed, and took a sip of her tea. “As I said very clearly, if you were listening, the presence of a way here and a way back suggests that some people returned home and told stories of this place and their adventures. If this were happening centuries or millennia ago, then that would explain much of Earth’s mythology.” She stuffed some more food in her mouth, done talking for the moment.

  “That would make sense. But if they got home, how did they do it?” I asked.

  “Chances are that they had different requirements.” Juan replied. “And I’d like to think if they did, it was easier than what we were given. I have my doubts, though.”

  “So, it may or may not have happened?” I said, my exasperation growing. “Wait. Let’s see if I got this straight. This has been going on for centuries, so it’s not the government. Who’s been doing this to us, then? Aliens? Old gods? The Illuminati?”

  I waited for Juan’s answer as he chewed some meat. “Who knows? I suspect the Lich knows, but that pendejo isn’t sharing that information with anyone. Any guess is valid for now. We all go through this, Finn. The questioning, the anger. What we do with it is important.” He waved his cup of tea expansively before he continued. “All of this — this world and its people — is affected by what we do. Even the good we do can have negative consequences. But ask yourself: is it better to do nothing, or worse, lash out? Or is it better to help people?”

  Harper’s abrupt laugh startled me, and I almost lost my precariously balanced plate of food. “Please, old man! That level of philosophical sophistry requires at least one decent bottle of wine. Don’t burden him with these questions before he’s ready,” she said fondly.

  Juan looked sharply at her. It was a clear admonishment, a teacher dealing with a former student who hadn’t had the experience to direct his lesson. She still grinned at him, not bothered by his glare. Juan looked back at me. “I think he can handle these questions. Finn, what were you studying again?”

  “Political science. I’ve had my share of classic philosophies. It’s kind of a requirement,” I replied.

  “So, as I assumed, you can handle these ethical and moral questions.” He glanced at Harper to see if she had anything to add. “Now, take our goblin friends. They are casualties of a war directly aimed at us. Yet, they still have this overarching belief that helping others is an important tenet of existence,” he pointed out.

  My eyes widened. “That’s why Marta and the rest were so eager to help me get on my feet, even after everything they had been through!”

  Juan nodded. “Yes, chico! And someday, I hope that I can get a goblin to explain why its so important to them,” he stroked his goatee. “All of us who have come to this world have changed its course of history in both helpful and destructive ways. There are certain ideas and inventions in this world that are beyond the current level of development. Things that shouldn’t be here. We cannot know where this world would be if we had not come here. The magic of this world is much more advanced than its science, with levels of intricacy and art that would confound Einstein,” Juan said, drinking some tea.

  “Whoa, hold on. What does that have to do with the goblins?” I asked.

  “It’s this war in the west being waged by people who believe we have to be stopped. So much so that stopping us is part of their religion. The implications of that are even worse, suggesting a deity is directing them. Our actions, and the actions of those who have come before us, have resulted in this war. We are responsible for everyone who has been hurt by it,” Juan stated.

  “Are we though? Did not this empire start the hostilities? Hell, it’s in the name. Empires attack and try to absorb other countries. That is their nature, to be imperial.” I replied, disliking the simplistic view of the situation.

  Harper snorted. “What I know about the Empire of Guanathas is that it formed within the last few decades with the express focus of dealing with what they call the invader threat. Meaning us,” she added. “In that sense, the old man’s right, Finn. And since we have the power to help, doesn’t that obligate us to do so?”

  “Hey, if I wanted to be a social worker or a superhero, I would have gone that route,” I said, gesturing with my fork. “The people with the swords, the people directing them to stab and cut, and the people in charge are the ones responsible for the harm they have done. I would agree that they aren’t going to pony up the supplies, doctors, and money to help those they have harmed without being forced to, but their actions are not my responsibility.”

  “I don’t disagree with you, muchacho, but until they pay restitution, the survivors still need help. If not us, then who?” Juan countered. “There’s no red cross here. No Salvation Army or other group who does that kind of work. Other than the Dark Sisters, and they are a small order without many supporters.”

  “Dark Sisters? That doesn’t sound good.” I questioned.

  Harper shrugged, “They worship Hiantsa, goddess of the darkness and healing. She’s a little disturbing, and most people shy away from her.”

  I shook my head at the oddness of it all. “Some of these deities make little sense. How are healing and darkness connected? I could understand light and healing…” I trailed off, trying to wrap my head around the weird combination.

  “It doesn’t matter too much, Finn. The gods usually interfere indirectly, other than Missanna the Storyteller and the goddess Shaizarilyn,” he replied. He looked down at his plate for a long while. “I’ve been here for a long time, and these people don’t deserve to have their lives turned upside down just because of us. I’ve contributed to the suffering of others through many of my actions. Maybe that’s why I feel like this. I cannot stand by for long without trying to help,” Juan said with a bitter laugh.

  “Okay, okay. I don’t know if I agree with your reasoning, but I get helping those who need it. And if I am hearing you right, you’re saying that my problems don’t mean squat. And that my desire to get home is not only a pipe dream, but could distract from this conflict that I, not even here a month, had nothing to do with. That’s kind of fucked up, Juan,” I growled.

  “No, not just fucked up. You could die because of it, just for being you, chico.”

  The rolling plains eventually became broken up with thickets as we got closer to the mountains. There was a river in the distance, a glistening ribbon in the bright sun. Its tributaries and creeks ran throughout the area, and the increased water provided a better environment for trees. The change was good, as we were running low on food, and there had been little in the way of game or threats.

  The road itself had changed from packed dirt to sections of stone. While the grasses bordering it became more verdant and mixed with other plants.

  Some snake things attacked us when we stopped to stretch our legs and rest the horses. It was a quick fight, and we made quick work of them. Unfortunately for our traveling larder, their meat was as poisonous as their bite was venomous. I leveled up once, reaching level seven. This increased my mana pool to 165, and I increased my stamina and dexterity to 17 and 21, respectively.

  Other than the venom sacks that Harper gathered carefully, there wasn’t any good loot to be had.

  We were attacked three days later when we left the road to camp.

  Oh, I wanted to ask: Are there enough numbers so far? I know some folks love numbers/data while others dislike too many... Let me know!

  Thanks for reading!