《Serendipity Chronicles》


 Chapter One

    Chapter 1


    A tall elderly man, with a head filled with gray hair sat hunched over the table, writing in a journal.


    ¡°I have always regretted that day. I could have saved them but chose to return back to my world. I hope that you will be able to make the right decision if you ever come across something like this one day.¡±


    The old man put his pen down and stretched his hands into the air. You could hear loud cracks coming from his back, showing that he had been hunched over for a long time.


    ¡°Grandpa! Grandpa!¡± shouted a young adorable girl with blond hair.


    She ran into the room while holding on her a book that she was able to barely hold onto.


    The child had dirty blond hair that was tied up into pig tails, which made her look even cuter with her full, round cheeks that most people couldn¡¯t help but pinch.


    ¡°Ha ha, did you have fun Lily?¡± asked the old man as he picked her up and set her on his lap.


    ¡°Un!¡± she said as she nodded her head in an adorable manner.


    ¡°Today I went to the libwawy with mommy and found your book! Then we went to the store and bought lots and lots of ice cweam!¡± Lily proceeded to tell her grandfather the exciting events of her day as her grandfather focused all his attention on her, and one could see the affection he had for her in his eyes.


    -Ten years later-


    ¡°Sigh¡­ I hate the weather in Washington.¡± said the young girl with tight-fitted jeans that showed her well-defined legs.


    She was about 5¡±5 with long blond hair, beautiful green eyes, high cheek bones and a nose sculpted by Michelangelo. One can see that within a few more years, she would grow up to a gorgeous woman.


    ¡°C¡¯mon Lily, we¡¯re gonna be late for class.¡± Said a non-important character who is not going to be in the story ever again.


    The two friends quickly headed off to class as the bell rang.


    ***


    ¡°Molecules and atoms are always in a constant state of motion, therefore, it is theoretically impossible for there to be absolute zero. Because absolute zero means that all of the molecules are still and aren¡¯t moving at all. Which is why when molecules move faster and bump into each other, it gets hotter, and when molecules aren¡¯t moving that much it gets colder.


    Heat transfers. When you touch a metal spoon, it feels cold right? But after you hold it for a while it gets warmer. That is your body heat transferring to the spoon. Things with a higher temperature move to objects with a lower temperature to heat it up. So technically, the word: cold, isn¡¯t even real, it is just the absence of heat. Blah, blah, blah.¡±


    As Mr. Vand was going over materials that were surely going to be on the next test Lily was staring at Lucas S. Magnus the hottest guy in school. She was daydreaming about him asking her to prom and them going to college together, getting married, having kids and growing old together. How romantic.


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    She thought she was incredibly lucky that she was able to sit next to him in their table group of four.


    There was Lucas S. Martens, the hottest guy in school, of course. He is tall, has dreamy eyes, a handsome chin, and amazing pecs. Then there was Jason Crown. He was the typical nerd; a bit chubby, glasses, a little bit of body odor and a face full of zits. And the third group member was Dylan Lin. He was a really quiet Asian guy with glasses. He never really talked much. But then again, Lily never really talked to anyone in their group besides Lucas because she was so infatuated with him.


    ¡°Lily, are you paying attention?¡± said Mr. Vand.


    Lily snapped back into reality. ¡°Huh? What?¡±


    ¡°Jeez. Maybe if you stopped staring at Lucas over there and focus on me, maybe you would have a better grade in this class.¡± Said Mr. Vand.


    ¡°Oooh! Burn! Savage!¡± Several kids in the class taunted her as her faced transformed into a deep shade of red as she squirmed in her seat, embarrassed.


    ¡°Anyway, discuss with your group about what you have to do next week for the field trip and make sure you know all of your roles for the lab and the data that you have to collect.¡± Said Mr. Vand as the bell rang, which signaled the end of the class.


    As Lily headed off to her locker Jason came up from behind her. ¡°Hey Lily! Do you need me to help you with studying? I have lots of free time. Ooh! Guess what? Wanna see my match history on my latest on League of Legends! My KDA was 21:2:5. Aren¡¯t I great? You should play with me sometime and we-¡°


    Suddenly the school intercom turned on and the office lady that normally says the announcements said, ¡°Lily Ladin. Please come up to the main office.¡±


    Lily was inwardly relieved and quickly said goodbye to Jason and left him behind.


    It¡¯s not that she hated Jason. It was just that she didn¡¯t find him that attractive albeit annoying with his talk of nerdy jargon. He also kind of smelled. And there was also Lucas. Smokin¡¯ hot Lucas.


    Lily entered the main office and saw her father waiting for her.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go Lily.¡± Said her father as he grabbed her hand and led her out.


    ¡°Wait. What¡¯s going on?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you in the car.¡± He replied.


    There was sleek, black Tesla Model S that was in the parking lot.


    Jeez. Did dad buy a new car again?


    She entered the car and her father started driving.


    ¡°So what¡¯s up? It¡¯s not every day you let me skip school.¡± Lily said.


    ¡°You grandfather¡¯s dead.¡±


    "..."

 Chapter Two

    Chapter 2


    ¡°Lily, your grandfather died.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    Lily was stunned.


    Most of Lily¡¯s childhood was spent with her grandfather. Her parents were busy with their work and had her grandfather babysit her most of the time and as a result she had an intimate relationship with him and thought of him as her own father.


    ¡°¡­¡±


    Lily was silent throughout the entire car ride and when they reached the hospital she finally asked, ¡°How did he die?¡±


    ¡°He had a heart attack.¡± Her father replied in a detached tone.


    Lily moved her hand to the pendant that was tied around her neck. It was gifted to her by her grandfather when she was a child and never went anywhere without it.


    It was a small stone. Some sort of green crystal. Lily always assumed it was emerald.


    Lily followed her father to her grandfather¡¯s room.


    When she saw the corpse of her grandfather she broke down into tears. Her father barely gave the dead, cold body a glance and left the room.


    -Several Days later-


    ¡°May Robert Cornelius Ladin rest in peace.¡± The priest ended the ceremony with a prayer and the coffin was lowered into the ground.


    Lily stared at the coffin with a blank look on her face. A hand touched her shoulder. ¡°Let¡¯s go Lily.¡± Said her mother.


    She was a beautiful, mature woman who looked exactly like her daughter, except she was taller and had a more defined hourglass figure that was accompanied by large breasts. Many of the males in the funeral were rudely ogling her the entire time. No one would expect her to be the mother of a 15 year old girl, as she still looked like she was in her early twenties.


    The family drove to the large Victorian styled mansion of the deceased man. Inside of the living room was a man with glasses and thinning hair.


    The man put on a gentle smile and shook hands with Lily¡¯s father. ¡°Hello, nice to finally meet you. I am Andrew Phillis and was the lawyer for your father in law. I will recite the will of Robert when everyone else arrives.¡±


    Time went by impossibly slow as Lily was seated on the sofa. She could hear the ¡°tick tock¡± of the grandfather clock in the room.


    Gradually, one by one, all of the Ladin family members entered the room and found themselves a place to sit or a wall to lean on.


    Lily internally groaned when she saw her uncle Fred and his two children:  Alex and Alissa, who are twins.


    Her dad and Uncle Fred always had a rivalry with each other for reasons that Lily never cared about.


    Lily¡¯s father is a lawyer and Uncle Fred a prosecutor. Apparently they went up against each other in court several times before they got married and butted heads frequently. Their relationship didn¡¯t improve at all when they became in-laws. In fact, Lily¡¯s father almost left her on the wedding day when he found out that he was going to be related to Uncle Fred, which told a lot about their relationship.


    Because of their fathers¡¯ rivalry, the twins took on the mantle and decided that the younger generation needed to compete also and so they always had disdain for Lily and they constantly bullied her when they had the chance.


    The twins were two years older than her and they also outnumbered her two to one. So there was little she could do but cry when they shoved her into the pool when she was seven years old and didn¡¯t know how to swim.


    The adults thought it was just children playing around and let them be but they actually knew that if they took one side of the children then they would get involved with the rivalry of the two fathers and so they were apathetic to Lily¡¯s situation.


    The only one that stepped in was her grandfather who actually knew what was going on and harshly berated the twins. This made them hate her even more and made them feel resentment towards their grandfather for being on Lily¡¯s side.


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    Lily¡¯s grandfather and four children. Two older boys and two younger girls.


    With the exception of her parents and Uncle Fred, her grandfather¡¯s other children never did too well financially, mostly because they were all spoiled as children and never learned to take care of themselves. They probably believed that daddy would take care of all their problems when they left the house. Which is why they constantly asked him for money whenever they overcharged on their credit cards.


    Lily¡¯s grandmother passed away before she was born, so she had no recollection of her other than some old photos. If she were still alive then the inheritance would quite possibly have gone to her.


    Lily¡¯s grandfather was a successful author who wrote multiple best sellers and some of which later had film adaptations because of their popularity. So throughout his life he accumulated vast amounts of wealth.


    ¡°Now, let¡¯s get started shall we?¡± said Mr. Phillis as he took out an envelope from his brief case and opened it.


    ¡°I must let you all know that the deceased Mr. Robert Anderson was in a sound state of mind when he wrote this will a year ago. Also, I am not exaggerating anything and am just reading exactly what is written on this letter. So I ask that you do not interrupt me and please keep your questions and comments till the end.¡±


    Dear Family,


    If you are reading this then I am probably dead. I have lived an abundant life and am satisfied with what I have accomplished. But I have two great regrets. The first is none of your business, as it happened before you were born. And the second is that I was a terrible father. I absolutely spoiled you children. I should have been a better father that disciplined you. That is why this is my last attempt to teach you something for your own good, which is why I will be giving you nothing.


    ¡°What!¡± yelled Uncle Jones and several other family members.


    Ignoring the outcries, Mr. Phillis kept on reading.


    I will only give money to my grandchildren and that is to pay for their college education. The rest will go to charity.


    But all of my property such as this mansion and the vacation home in the Bahamas will go to Lily. But she will not claim ownership of it until she turns eighteen and she cannot give away or sell any of my inheritance until she is forty.


    I hope that this will finally help you grow and mature and learn to rely on yourselves in the future.


    I¡¯m sorry for being such a terrible father. You may hate me now but this is for your own good.


    Love with all my heart,


    Robert C. Ladin


    Everyone was silent. Everyone in the room looked towards me. Most of the family members, especially Alex and Alissa glared at her with jealousy. If looks could kill then I would have died dozens of time over.


    I was stunned. I never expected to get all of this property. I don¡¯t even know what to do with it.


    ¡°Lily let¡¯s go, we¡¯re leaving.¡± Said my mother as she grabbed my arm and led me out the door with my father following behind us.


    ¡°Hold on Mrs. Ladin.  Mr. Robert left his diary for your daughter.¡± He said as he handed me a book that was practically the size of an encyclopedia.


    I took the book and stared at it blankly as my mother dragged me to the car.


    ¡°Where do you think you¡¯re going!?¡± yelled Uncle Fred.


    My parents ignored the yelling of my relatives and we left.

 Chapter Three

    Chapter 3


    As soon as I got home I headed straight to my room and landed on my bed.


    I don¡¯t know how long I laid there for because I must have dozed off.


    When I woke up I saw that it was 3 a.m., then I saw that my pet bearded dragon: Sally was staring at me. I took her out of her cage and set her on my stomach and played with her for a while then fed her and put her back in her cage.


    I couldn¡¯t go back to sleep no matter how hard I tried and finally gave up. My eyes wandered around and focused onto my grandpa¡¯s diary. It was thick. (That¡¯s what she said) It was also old, and had the smell that only old books have.


    I lay on my bed and turned to the first page and began to read.


    Dear Lily,


    If you are reading this then I have probably passed away by now. Don¡¯t be disheartened by my death. Death is a part of nature and everyone will die one day, whether they like it or not.


    Well¡­. That¡¯s depressing¡­ thought Lily. Anyway, she continued to read.


    I accepted my death a long time ago and you should too. Although it may be hard to see beyond the sorrow, you will be comforted by the memories tomorrow.


    That was a pretty good rhyme right? What is it you youngsters say? That was fire? Heh, I bet that made you laugh.


    Even when I¡¯m dead I¡¯m still able to make you laugh like always.


    ¡°Pfft!¡± Lily gave a muffled laugh as tears slowly ran down her cheeks as she remembered all the times she had with her grandfather.  Her grandfather always did have a sense of humor and he always kept up with the modern slang because of his occupation as an author.


    I know how much you enjoyed reading my ¡°little stories¡±. So you can consider this as my last one that is especially for you.


    ¡®How ironic.¡¯ Thought Lily. Her grandfather¡¯s stories were hardly ¡°little¡±. They were all at least over 500 pages and took hours to read, but they were well worth the time. His writing in his stories was able to make clear depictions of the scenes that made the readers laugh and cry with emotion. And his plot twists were simply legendary.


    I regret not being able to see you grow up into the beautiful woman I know you will turn out to be.


    Never be afraid of anything Lily. You have the power to do anything you put your mind to. As the saying goes: ¡°Quitters never


    win and winners never quit.¡±


    And a little bit of elderly wisdom for you. Don¡¯t be afraid to try new things in life. Experiencing new things is what makes life so exciting! A good old friend of mine always used to say this, ¡°No guts, no glory.¡± Remember this. Life is a journey, not a destination. The experiences you have, the people you meet and your actions will all lead you on your own path that you were destined to walk.


    Love,


    Grandpa


    Lily felt good. The fact that her grandfather personally wrote this for her improved her mood greatly.


    She turned to the next page and continued reading.


    ***


    Grandpa¡¯s Diary


    I, Robert Cornelius Ladin, am destined for greatness. I feel it in my bones.


    ¡®Wow, grandpa¡­ you sure were ambitious.¡¯


    It is the year 1963, and I have just graduated high school as the valedictorian of my class. I was accepted into Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. But I refused them all.


    Do you know why? It¡¯s because I have a goal. And that is to become a successful author that makes millions.


    My parents were obviously against my idea and encouraged (forced) me to go to college. So I did the one thing that I could. I ran away from home.


    Yes, with $245.29 in my pocket I left home with great confidence in accomplishing my goal. But who would have thought that after two weeks I would be down to a mere $3.31.


    ¡®Yeah¡­ running away from home was a pretty stupid idea gramps.¡¯


    I went freight-hopping all the way from California to Washington. I actually planned on getting off on Oregon, but it was night time and I fell asleep on accident. A simple miscalculation on my part.


    After being misdirected by a kind old lady who seemed to know where to go but in reality knew nothing, I landed in some beach called Kaloloch or whatever it¡¯s called, within the state of Washington.


    ¡®Boom!¡¯ Thunder resounded in the skies and I searched for shelter from the impending storm.


    I ran along the beach and spotted a cave about a mile off from where I was and headed towards it.


    ¡°Ouch!¡± I finally reached the cave and my head hit something. I looked up and saw long roots of a tree. It looked quite amazing actually. The roof of this cave has roots of a tree hanging from the top of it.


    A strong wind blew into the cave and so I headed deeper into the cave.


    I walked about 10 meters and then I tripped and fell into a hole. A large hole. A deep hole.


    ¡°AAAAHHHH!¡±  I was in freefall for roughly 3 seconds and my life flashed before my eyes. Me, playing with my friends in elementary school, reading the new comic books at the store, receiving my first report card with straight A¡¯s, and going to prom with Becky Brandell.


    ¡®Was this the end?¡¯ I thought to myself. I can¡¯t accept this. I won¡¯t accept this. I had so much that I wanted and needed to accomplish with my life. It couldn¡¯t end here.


    I frantically waved my arms trying to grab hold of something to lessen the impact of my fall. But it was pitch black and I couldn¡¯t see anything and I couldn¡¯t feel anything.


    30 seconds passed and I was slowly coming to my sense. ¡®What¡¯s going on? How bloody deep is this damn hole?¡¯


    10 minutes later. I was practically bored to death. I even got used to the feeling of falling down to my death at speeds of over


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    120 miles per hour. I¡¯m pretty sure I did the math right because the gravity of earth is 9.8 m/s times my weight should be around that speed.


    1 hour later. ¡®Somebody please just kill me already. I would rather die than spend eternity falling down this endless hole.¡¯ I had mastered the art of spinning and flipping through the air and now had nothing to do.


    My wish was granted as I hit the ground.


    ¡°Umph!!¡± I groaned in pain as the breath was knocked out of me.


    ¡®Wait a minute¡­ I should have died. I should have turned into a pile of crushed meat. How am I still alive?¡¯


    I slowly got up shakily and observed my surroundings.


    ¡°What the hell? Sand? Sun? How the hell did I get here in the middle of the desert?¡±


    Hills of sand, as far as the eye could see was all there was in this scorching, arid environment.


    ¡°What in God¡¯s name am I supposed to do now? Where am I?¡±


    My brain was running a hundred miles per hour trying to figure out what happened and where I was. And after about five minutes I realized that I literally had no supplies to stay here for the long term. I only had my backpack, which had my journal, to write down stuff for my stories, spare clothes and one water bottle that was half empty and an apple.


    I swiftly came to the conclusion that I desperately needed to find water or else I really will die here in this wasteland.


    I covered myself with my spare clothes in attempt to cool myself even a little bit from the blazing sun and headed west. Hell¡­ I didn¡¯t even know where west was. I vaguely remember reading from a book that the sun moves west as the day passes¡­ or was it east? I don¡¯t remember. Anyway¡­ I headed west. I hope.


    My sweat evaporated as quickly as it came out of my pores. My shoes were filled with sand and I had no more water and I even ate my hot apple just for the juices that it had in an attempt to quench my thirst.


    ¡®Note to self. Don¡¯t ever eat a hot apple again. It tastes horrible.¡¯


    After an indefinite amount of time I started to get dizzy and my vision began to get blurry. I knew that I was dehydrated and that if I didn¡¯t find water soon I would pass out and most likely die in this godforsaken land.


    Thus I panicked. Which was my first mistake. Never panic in a dangerous situation. It leads to bad decisions.


    I mustered all of my energy and ran in hopes of finding an oasis or better yet, people.


    But, because of my stupidity I passed out.


    I don¡¯t know how long I was out for but when I came to I was surprised that I was even still alive.


    ¡®Heh, of course you didn¡¯t die. You¡¯re the main character. Main characters have plot armor.¡¯ Lily said to herself.


    It was at that moment that I saw the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. She had beautiful middle-eastern features and was wearing a head scarf. I bet she was no older than 20.


    Her piercing black eyes stared at me as I looked at her with my mouth agape.


    I must¡¯ve looked pretty stupid because she let out a laugh. Oh, that melodious laugh. It was like a majestic waterfall that I couldn¡¯t help but think of how amazing it sounds.


    ¡®Oooh¡­ grandpa¡­ what about grandma?¡¯


    ¡°Drink,¡± Is all she said to me as she brought up a leather skin filled with water.


    It was warm. Not that I¡¯m complaining, since I almost died of dehydration but I guess it¡¯s to be expected because I am in the desert. I made sure to drink slowly, because I¡¯m pretty sure that drinking too fast can cause some problems for my stomach.


    While drinking, I looked around and saw that I was inside of a small tent.


    ¡°Where am I? Who are you? How did I get here?¡± I rattled off these questions like a machine gun.


    ¡°You are in the Atacma Desert. I am Adira. One of my father¡¯s scouts found you in the sand and he brought you back here. It is


    considered rude in our custom to not introduce yourself first, stranger.¡±


    ¡°I apologize. My name is Robert C. Ladin.¡± I wracked my brains trying to figure out where in the world a place called the Atacma Desert was but I couldn¡¯t think of anything.


    ¡°That is a strange name, Robert. Where do you hail from?¡± asked Adira.


    ¡°I¡¯m from the United States of America. What country is this?¡±


    ¡°Hmm¡­ I have never heard of that country before, you must come from the far north stranger. Their countries have strange names that I am not familiar of. The Atacma Desert is no country. There are many tribes that inhabit this desert and we frequently wage war on each other for precious resources.¡±


    I tried to get up but failed miserably.


    ¡°Rest. You are exhausted from your journey.¡± I heard Adira mutter some strange language and I found that my eyelids were getting heavier and they soon shut.


    When I woke up again I felt completely fine. I had another drink from that leather skin that I found laying next to me and I exited the tent.


    ¡°AAHHHH!!!¡±


    I couldn¡¯t believe my eyes. I stumbled and fell backwards in terror.


    A huge, black scorpion. Twice the size of a full grown man.


    ***


    ¡°Beep, beep, beep!¡±


    My alarm went off and I jolted upwards.


    ¡°I don¡¯t wanna go to school¡­¡± I groaned.


    Then I suddenly remembered that there was a field trip today. With Lucas.


    I got out of bed and rushed to the shower.


    ***


    ¡°Huff, huff. Sorry I¡¯m late guys.¡± I came in running on the school bus as everyone was waiting for me.


    I saw Lucas smile at me and I blushed. But my mood dampened as I saw that Lucas was sitting next to Dylan (Asian Kid) and the only spot open was the one next to Jason (Chubby Nerd).


    ¡®Great¡­¡¯


    I sat next to Jason and he attempted to start a conversation with me but I shut him down and took out my grandpa¡¯s diary and began reading. I also made sure to put on my headphones so that he doesn¡¯t talk to me.


    And thus, the 2 hour bus ride to the beach, where we would study marine life began, and I spent the entire time reading


    Grandpa¡¯s diary.

 Chapter Four

    Chapter 4


    Grandpa¡¯s Diary


    ¡°AAHHHH!!!¡±


    I couldn¡¯t believe my eyes. I stumbled and fell backwards in terror.


    A huge, black scorpion. Twice the size of a full grown man was in front of me.


    It stared at me. I stared at it. Its eyes were black as midnight and it reflected the glares from the sun.


    ¡®Am I going to die here? Is this how I, Robert Ladin am going to perish? I should have gone to Harvard, like my parents told me to.¡¯


    I heard laughter behind the humongous scorpion and a figure came up from behind. It was Adira.


    She stifled a giggle as she saw me once more and I looked down at myself and saw my miserable face.


    ¡°There¡¯s no need to be afraid Robert. Aboo is a kind soul. Isn¡¯t that right Aboo?¡± Adira said as she pet the scorpion on its head.


    It was like the scorpion actually knew what she was saying, as it stridulated and shivered under her touch in happiness.


    As she was petting Aboo, I noticed that Adira had an incredibly intricate tattoo of a scorpion on the back of her right hand.


    (stridulate: to make a shrill creaking noise by rubbing together special bodily structures; because most scorpions don¡¯t make noises from their mouths.)


    ¡°Come, follow me. My father wishes to meet you.¡±


    I got up, patted the sand off my butt and followed Adira.


    Adira led me across the camp and I saw scorpions. Lots and lots of scorpions.  It turns out that Aboo, Adira¡¯s scorpion was actually one of the smaller ones around and most of the ones that I saw were as large as half a school bus and some were a bit bigger.


    There were males and females that were going on about in their daily business, while the children were running around and having fun. I swear, most of the males were on steroids, because they were all buff and shirtless, with their shredded six-pack abs.


    Their sweat covered bodies gleamed in the sunlight and I was kind jealous of them, to be honest.


    The tribe members stared at me as I followed Adira but they mostly ignored me after giving me curious glances and went on with whatever they were doing. Some of the naughty children followed us from behind, probably trying to prank us or they were curious because I was probably the only white person that these children ever saw in their life, so I didn¡¯t really mind.


    We reached a large tent that was the size of about the average house, with the square foot of roughly 2,000 square feet.  It was the largest tent in the entire camp.


    ¡°Before you meet my father, it is common to show respect to the chief of a tribe by kissing his hand and bowing your head. And do not lift your head until he says so.¡±


    ¡°Eh, Thanks for the advice.¡± I replied as I entered the tent.


    The inside of the tent was huge. I did not expect this. It didn¡¯t even look like we were inside of a tent but a large room that was meant for council meetings for politicians. I was half tempted to go back outside and check to see if my eyes were playing tricks


    on me.


    But I looked ahead and there was 12 people sitting in a semicircle. The guys on the right were all old men with wrinkles, but you could see the wisdom in their eyes. And the guys on the right were all body builders that made my school football players look like skinny nerds.


    And finally, the guy in the middle was most definitely the best looking out of all of them. He had a sharp nose and high cheekbones and had eyes that were similar to Adira.


    ¡®So that¡¯s who she gets her looks from.¡¯


    I went up to him and kissed the back of his hand that he held out for me and bowed my head.


    ¡°Rise traveler.¡± The chieftain said in a deep, masculine voice.


    ¡°We welcome you to our tribe and partake in our hospitality. But first we must ask, how did you get here Robert?¡±


    ¡®Wait¡­ how did he know my name?.... oh right. Adira. Hold on¡­ am I supposed to tell him I fell in a hole and traveled through


    time and space and just fell into the desert? No way. He wouldn¡¯t believe me. Although there are some strange things here, I doubt that he would believe my story. I better come up with a convincing lie.¡¯


    ¡°I uh¡­ come from the far north in the kingdom of¡­ uh¡­ California. I¡¯m a writer and I wanted to go on an adventure to write an epic tale, but¡­ um¡­ I got lost. I don¡¯t even know how to get back.¡±


    ¡°Tell me Robert the Writer. What exactly does a writer do?¡±


    ¡°Well, sir¡­ I¡¯m basically a story teller and hope to make my fortune by writing stories.¡± Several of the buff guys on the right


    chuckled at my response and it kind of ticked me off. What¡¯s wrong with being a writer?


    ¡°Hmm¡­ an interesting concept. Are there many writers in your kingdom?¡±


    ¡°Yes sir. There are many writers. Although not all are successful and become famous.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Would you grace us with one of your stories? I am interested in hearing a good story right now.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t tell if he was humoring me or being sarcastic. But I knew that if I wanted to make a good impression then I better tell a good story.


    I wracked my brains to think of a story that I knew well.


    The chief must have noticed my hesitation because he said, ¡°If you cannot tell us a story now, then you can tell us one later during the feast for you. I hope that will give you time to think of a story.¡±


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    Several of the men on the left laughed again, teasing me and my face turned red. The chief dismissed me and I bowed and exited the tent.


    Adira smiled at me when she saw me and I couldn¡¯t help but be mesmerized by her beauty.


    She didn¡¯t ask what we talked about and instead showed me around the camp.


    ¡°How are you able to tame the scorpions?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Long ago, our ancestors formed a covenant with the Great Scorpion and in exchange for our offerings she grants us protection and power. Every three years go to give sacrifice and honor the Great Scorpion. That is where we are going right now. It takes about 2 weeks of travel to get to Scorpion Mountain, where the great Scorpion resides.¡±


    While exploring the camp I saw many strange things and Adira explained them to me, but I noticed that some people were different.


    ¡°Why are there some of your people that have those marks on their foreheads?¡±


    ¡°They are slaves, that our warriors captured from neighboring tribes or they are those that have fallen into debt and sold themselves to pay off their debt.¡±


    ¡°You guys permit slavery? Isn¡¯t that¡­. inhuman?¡±


    ¡°Do you not have slavery from where you are from Robert?¡±


    ¡°Well¡­ we used to¡­ but we abolished it about a hundred years ago.¡±


    ¡°Why did your country get rid of slavery? How does your country function without slaves?¡±


    I tried my best to explain to her about our history of how it was dehumanizing to treat another human being as property, and that every human as inherent rights that should not be infringed upon and the right to happiness.


    ¡°How would you like to be a slave? That was a rhetorical question, no need to answer it. My point is that no one wants to be a slave. Where I come from, we have a golden rule: ¡°Treat others as you yourself would like to be treated.¡±


    ¡°I would accept my fate of being born from a weak tribe, or that it was my fault for breaking my promise and not paying back my debt. Anyway, you come from a strange land Robert, but your philosophies interest me.¡±


    I knew this would probably lead to nowhere so I changed the subject.


    ¡°How many tribes are there in this desert? How big is your tribe compared to others?¡± I asked.


    ¡°There are many tribes. Even I do not dare say that I know of every single one. But compared to others, we are a mid-sized tribe of about 8,000 members, not including the slaves of course.


    The Brown Hawk tribe is acknowledged as the largest and biggest tribe. They have over 20,000 tribesmen and their warriors are the fiercest. And the Devil Lizard Tribe is closely behind them in terms of strength.


    We are allied with the Poison Toad Tribe, Divine Tortoise Tribe and the Red Centipede Tribe.


    Our sworn enemies are the Star Cobra Tribe, Moon Owl Tribe and the Sand Baboon Tribe.¡±


    ¡°Wait. Baboons live in the desert? And why is every tribe named after some sort of animal?¡±


    ¡°We name our tribes after our patron Godbeasts. Almost all tribes make a covenant with a Godbeast in order to become stronger and fight off other tribes. Those that don¡¯t are far and few in between and are small tribes that never last long.


    But the Red Berserk Tribe is one of the exceptions that was able to become a mid-sized tribe without a patron Godbeast, by relying on their own strength. Their warriors individually are acknowledged as the strongest warriors in the Atacma Desert.¡±


    ¡°Hold on. Sorry to interrupt again, but what are Godbeasts? And from your information, your tribe is allied with three others, while your enemies are only three tribes, which means that you outnumber them, 4 tribes to 3. How come you don¡¯t get rid of them?¡±


    ¡°You are full of questions Robert. But I suppose I like that about you.¡±


    ¡®Did she just say she liked me?¡¯


    ¡°Godbeasts are magical creatures. They are our gods. Our ancestors from long ago discovered that they can make contracts with the Godbeasts in order to gain power to strengthen and protect their tribes. In exchange for our worship and sacrifices, they give us protection and power to help us survive in the desert.


    Although we might outnumber our enemies there are other factors that we must put into consideration. Our enemies have 2 large-size tribes and one mid-sized tribe. While our alliance has 1 large-sized tribe, 1 mid-sized tribe and 2 small-sized tribe.¡±


    ¡°What is the number required for a tribe to be considered large?¡± I asked, hoping that my curious nature will make her like me even more.


    ¡°15,000 tribe members or more, not including slaves is what we consider a large tribe, mid-sized tribe is anything from 5,000 members to roughly 14,000, and a small-sized tribe is anything under 5,000.


    I hope that answers all of your questions, because I must leave you now, for I have to assist with the banquet in honor of you. I trust you know how to find your way back to your tent?¡±


    I nodded dumbly and she left.


    Turns out that I didn¡¯t know the way back and I spent an hour looking for it until a kind little kid showed me the way back.


    While I lay sat on the ground going over everything that happened today, I decided to write down all the events that occurred today in my journal.


    ***


    I look up and see that we arrived at our destination. Jacob is lying on the window drooling. Eww.

 Chapter Five

    Chapter 5


    We all exited the bus and got into our groups.


    I found myself standing next to Lucas nervously while Dylan was standing silently and Jacob was going on and on about DOTA or something and wouldn¡¯t stop.


    ¡°Okay, I trust everyone read the instructions and knows what to do correct? You¡¯re all high school students, so you should be mature enough to not stray too far away from us. Be careful and I expect the full data report to be due next week on Monday.¡± announced Mr. Vand as he led us to the beach.


    ¡®Sigh¡­ why couldn¡¯t we bring out swimsuits and have some fun? I have a really sexy bikini that I want to show off to Lucas. And the weather is terrible also¡­ I bet it¡¯s gonna rain soon.¡¯


    The clouds were dark and the temperature was cold.


    We walked along the beach gathering samples of the ocean water and looking for any type of marine life. We found this little pill bug things that were buried in the sand but we left them alone.


    Before we knew it we were pretty far from the main group.


    ¡°Rumble!¡± There was bright light that flashed above us. It suddenly began to rain hard.


    ¡°Oh shoot. We gotta get back.¡± Said Lucas as he grabbed my hand and we started running towards the main group.


    ¡®Kyaa!! Lucas. Is. Holding. My. Hand.¡¯ My inner thoughts were in shambles.


    I let him lead me when suddenly Lucas got a text on his phone.


    ¡°Okay guys, Mr. Vand told us, because we¡¯re too far away we might get sick. There is a cave nearby that he saw and he told us to go wait in there and he¡¯ll come to us with umbrellas.¡±


    After about 2 minutes of jogging, we found the cave. I looked up and saw long roots of a tree. It looked quite amazing actually.


    The roof of this cave has roots of a tree hanging from the top of it. It was pretty cool.


    I was completely drenched my clothes were sticking to my body. Soon it started to get really cold because the wind was blowing into the cave and I started shivering uncontrollably.


    ¡°You must be cold. Let¡¯s go deeper into the cave.¡± Lucas said, and he put his arm around me and we walked deeper into the cave while Jacob and Dylan just followed behind us.


    ¡®Oh. My. God. Is¡­ Lucas flirting with me?¡¯


    My mind was going at light speed as Lucas took out his phone and used a flashlight app.


    ¡®This is perfect. Lucas holding me in a cave. Us, both wet from the rain. This is so romantic. If only Jacob and Dylan weren¡¯t here.¡¯


    We were walked for about 10 meters and I was completely enraptured in the moment when Jacob interrupted it.


    ¡°Hey Lucas, shouldn¡¯t we be heading ba-!!! AAAHHHH!!!¡± Jacob stopped mid-sentence and screamed like a little girl. Even I don¡¯t scream like that.


    We were all in free-fall in the large hole that mysteriously appeared out of nowhere beneath us.


    Fast. That was how we fell.


    ¡®Was this how I was going to die? Holding hands with Lucas? Worth.¡¯


    What I didn¡¯t expect was that we didn¡¯t die. My eyes were closed for roughly 1 entire minute and I realized that we weren¡¯t piles of meat yet.


    I tried to say something but whenever I opened my mouth a burst of air entered and I was incapable of speaking.


    So I waited and waited. It was dark so I couldn¡¯t see anything or anyone.


    I lost track of time as my mind was just in a blank state because I was so bored, it was on autopilot.


    ¡°Oomf!¡± I hit the ground and for some reason it didn¡¯t feel like I was falling to my death. It was a normal fall to the ground.


    I got up and looked at my surroundings.


    ¡°Ugh. What happened?¡± I noticed Lucas¡¯s voice and saw that he was on my left. Jacob and Dylan were behind us and I saw that Dylan was already up and looking at our surroundings with caution.


    We were in a large prairie.


    ¡°What the hell? How did we get here?¡± Jacob said in confusion.


    ¡°Did we somehow travel through time and space and reach a different dimension?¡± Jacob just went on a tangent about some weird sci-fi, nerdy stuff and about how he read something like this in a book before or something but I¡¯m pretty sure most of us were ignoring him.


    I had an epiphany. Grandpa¡¯s diary. I began to connect the dots and it all started to make sense. We entered the cave. What was the caves name again? It started with a K¡­ We then all fell into the hole and came to this world.


    I took out my grandpa¡¯s diary and everyone looked at me strangely.


    ¡°This isn¡¯t the time to be reading Lily. We have to find out where we are and look for help.¡± Said Lucas.


    He was right. We have to first find out where we are first. How come we¡¯re in the grasslands while grandpa was in the desert? It doesn¡¯t make any sense.


    ¡°Okay guys, I think that we should all head to the hills in that direction.¡± Said Jacob as he pointed at the single hill in the distance.


    Because no one had any objections we decided to go there. It took us roughly 30 minutes to walk to the hill. The grass on the


    prairie went up to my waist and I saw a couple of large bugs that creeped me out.


    Jacob was breathing heavily by the time we got up to the top of the hill.


    ¡°Hey look! I see a road over there.¡± Lucas pointed towards the right.


    We all decided to head towards the road and it took us another extra 30 minutes. It was a dirt road. The kind that you would see in the country side and it was poorly maintained.


    ¡°Okay guys, which way should we go, right or left?¡± said Lucas.


    ¡°How about a short break first, huh guys?¡± interrupted Jacob. He was sweating and began to smell a bit. He was kinda fat so I guess it¡¯s expected that walking for an hour was rough on him.


    ¡°Sure. No problem.¡± Lucas replied as he took out a water bottle for Jacob to drink because Jacob drank all his water by the time we reached the top of the hill.


    We rested for a quarter of an hour before we decided to head to the left. Dylan was silent and just nodded, which we assumed meant he either didn¡¯t care or would just follow along with what we chose.


    Good thing I brought sunblock in my bag because the sun of bright and I didn¡¯t want to get a tan.


    ¡°Do you guys want some sunblock?¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    ¡°Thanks.¡±


    ¡°What about you Dylan?¡±


    He ignored me. Wow. What a bitch.


    Suddenly, we could hear rumbling from the ground.


    There was a dust cloud from behind us. After a while we saw that it was a bunch of horse riders that were riding full speed in our direction.


    ¡°Hey guys, I think we should get out of the way.¡±  I said. And we moved roughly 10 feet away from the road and waited for them to pass by us. Unfortunately, that didn¡¯t happen.


    The foremost rider saw us and he waved his arm and as he reached us he abruptly turned to our direction.


    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    ¡°Woah! Watch out!¡± Lucas cried out as he grabbed my hand and pulled me back along with the others.


    The other riders followed his lead and they all circled around us with their horses and surrounded us.


    ¡°W-what¡¯s going to happen to us?¡± asked Jacob. I wish I knew, because they didn¡¯t look like they were the friendly type.


    I saw that every one of them was wearing some sort of armor and helmet and was equipped with swords hanging from their waists.


    The dude that was leading suddenly stopped and the others stopped as well. I noticed that he had a mustache and was kind of short.


    ¡°Hey, bros, you know that umm¡­ you guys are kinda in the way right? So¡­ um¡­ do you mind moving just a bit?¡±


    Jacob somehow mustered the courage to say that while I was thinking he was being a complete fucking retard. I mean, we¡¯re obviously not in fucking America right now. These guys have freaking swords and can and will kill us. I¡¯m the only girl in this group. You guys will probably become slaves or something, while I¡¯ll become their sex toy. I was muttering curses at Jacob in my head and the leader spoke.


    ¡°Seize them.¡± Was all the dude with the mustache said and several men got off from their horses, manhandled us and tied us in rope.


    The leader of this gang then got off of his horse and walked towards us. Yup, he¡¯s definitely short. I¡¯d say about 5¡±5.


    He came up to me first and held up my chin.


    ¡°You¡¯re a pretty lass aint¡¯ ya? You will warm me bed tonight.¡±


    ¡°Let go of Lily!¡± Jacob shouted.


    *Ooomf!* Jacob fell to the ground as the short man with the mustache slapped him with the back of his hand. It looked very painful because Jacob¡¯s nose was bleeding and I saw a tear on his lip.


    Another man came up from behind him and started kicking him while he was on the ground.


    ¡°Do not speak unless spoken to by the captain!¡± replied the soldier


    ¡°You must be spies from the west. Did you think we were stupid with you strange clothing?¡±


    ¡°What the hell are you talking about? What spies? We were just on a field trip and- Oof!¡± Lucas was cut off midway as the same soldier hit him behind the head and he got knocked out.


    ¡°No! Lucas! What¡¯s wrong with you guys!¡± I screamed but they ignored me.


    ¡°Take their bags. They might some information.¡± Said the short captain and he went back on his horse.


    ¡°What? No! Don¡¯t! Hey! Give that back!¡±


    My grandpa¡¯s diary was in there. If they find out that we¡¯re from another world then I have no idea what would happen.


    We were quickly rounded up and they forced us to lie down on their horses on our stomachs and they tied us so we wouldn¡¯t fall and they began to ride.


    I was in the position for over 2 hours before we took a break and my stomach was insanely sore and hungry. Jacob apparently didn¡¯t learn his lesson was being incredibly annoying with his smart mouth and they eventually gagged him. I fortunately learned from his lesson and didn¡¯t say anything the entire ride.


    We reached a small town by nightfall and I was pretty sure that I would have bruises on my stomach.


    The town was old. In my opinion, of course. There were people wearing outdated clothes and the streets weren¡¯t paved that well.


    There was a lot of dirt and most of the buildings were made of stone or wood, kind of like those old European towns in movies.


    We were sent to a prison cell that had steel bars that prevented us from leaving and they didn¡¯t untie our restraints.


    It was night time when Lucas finally regained consciousness. ¡°Wha- where am I? What happened? Lily, why are we tied up?¡±


    *Smack*


    Lucas was hit in the back of the head again by the guard who was behind the bars and I screamed as Lucas fainted again.


    ¡°He could get a concussion! You could give him permanent brain damage! Stop that!¡±


    I was scared. I didn¡¯t know what to do. If only I had completely read Grandpa¡¯s diary. Maybe that would give me some answers.


    I want to go home. I miss my parents, my bed and my TV. I never realized how ungrateful I was to the things that I owned.


    I guess being in a miserable situation such as this stinky cell opens up your eyes and makes understand that you never really appreciate the things in life until things go sour.


    The guard finally left and Dylan was as quiet as always and I figured he was scared so I tried to talk to him because I didn¡¯t feel like talking to Jacob. Plus he was still gagged.


    ¡°Hey Dylan, how are you holding up? Funny situation we¡¯re in right? So¡­ what you thinking about right now?¡±


    ¡°To escape.¡±


    ¡°What? How? We are literally tied up and locked behind bars. How do you plan to do that? I asked.


    He showed me his hands and I saw that the ropes were untied as they slid off his arms.


    Jacob¡¯s eyes widened and I stared in shock.


    ¡°How did you do that? Well¡­ what¡¯s the use of getting out of your bonds when you can¡¯t get out of this cell?¡±


    He reached into his back pocket and took out the key that the guard used to lock this cell.


    ¡°What the f- How did you do that?¡± I asked incredulously.


    ¡°I took it.¡± Dylan answered cockily as if it was the simplest answer in the world.


    ¡°Did you do some of your Asian kung fu stuff?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s racist.¡±


    ¡°No that¡¯s not! I was just asking a question.¡±


    ¡°You assumed I knew some ¡°Asian kung fu stuff¡± because I¡¯m half Chinese. You stereotyped me and therefore, were being racist.¡±


    ¡°Oooh, you''re racist Lily.¡± Jacob tried to intervene in the conversation but he couldn¡¯t really say much because he was gagged.


    Dylan ungagged Jacob and released us from our bonds and unlocked the cell.


    ¡°Jacob you take Lucas.¡± Directed Dylan.


    ¡°But why do I have to? I¡¯m injured.¡± Groaned Jacob.


    ¡°Because you¡¯re injured you can¡¯t fight the guards off. And you don¡¯t know how to fight anyway.¡±


    ¡°Hey! I took karate when I was a kid and reached black belt!¡±


    ¡°Some good that did you today.¡± Snorted Dylan and that shut him up.


    ¡°Hurry up. We have to get out of here before the guard comes back.¡±


    ¡°Wait! We have to go find our bags! I have something important in there! It can help us get back home.¡± I said.


    ¡°How will it get us back home? We¡¯re obviously not in Washington, let alone the U.S. Lily. Heck, I doubt we¡¯re even on Earth anymore.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s my grandpa¡¯s diary. He¡¯s been here before.¡±


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell us this beforehand?¡± said Jacob.


    ¡°Well¡­-¡° I was cut off because of the sound of a bell ringing in the distance.


    ¡°Murderer! Catch the murderer! He killed the captain!¡±


    We heard the guards running towards the direction of the alarm.


    ¡°We have to go now.¡± Dylan said and we followed.

 Chapter Six

    Chapter 6


    We ran outside of the cell room and saw a corridor of many rooms.


    ¡°Hurry and check the rooms and find our bags.¡± Dylan commanded.


    It took like five minutes before I finally found the room where they kept our bags.


    ¡°Guys I found it! We can go now!¡± I shouted as I grabbed all of our bags.


    ¡°Hold on take the other stuff on the tables just in case.¡± Dylan said and randomly took the miscellaneous bags and items. There were a few knives and swords that were hanging on the walls. Dylan randomly picked one and swung it. He seemed like he¡¯s done this before and his swing looked very natural. Seemingly dissatisfied, Dylan went on to the next weapon, and the next, and the next.


    ¡°What the hell! These are all trash!¡± he sounded really annoyed. And how does he know whether a weapon is good or not?


    We heard more screams outside and people sounds of people in pain. Dylan picked up a random sword and handed one to me and Jacob.


    ¡°Wait! I don¡¯t know how to use this!¡± I said as I tried to life the heavy sword in my hands. I was also carry most of the bags and I couldn¡¯t swing that well. Jacob was also carrying Lucas on his back and he probably wouldn¡¯t be able to do much either.


    ¡°You just stab like this.¡± said Dylan, as he demonstrated a simple thrusting motion using both of his hands.


    ¡°C¡¯mon, we have to get out of here before they get back or things will get really messy.¡±


    We exited the prison and saw people running about in chaos and fire set on multiple buildings.


    ¡°How the hell did this happen?¡± asked Jacob.


    There were people running around with buckets of water trying put the fire out.


    ¡°Let¡¯s follow the civilians. There will probably be less soldiers there, where they are because they are looking for the assassin.¡±


    How is Dylan being so rational about all this? And this is the most that I¡¯ve ever heard him talk. Ever.


    We followed the women and children as they were headed towards the exit of the town.


    In front of us was a man in a tattered brown cloak. He was wearing a hood that covered his face and he stopped in front of us.


    ¡°Give me Lucas and you can leave.¡± Said the cloaked man.


    ¡°Who the hell are you? How do you know who Lucas is?¡± Jacob asked.


    Without replying, the cloaked man drew his sword and the air around him turned gold. The pressure suddenly intensified and I found it hard to breathe. It was like he was emitting a golden aura that covered him.


    ¡°Leave Lucas behind and you can go.¡± He said once again.


    Dylan walked in front of us and the pressure lessened dramatically for some reason. ¡°You guys go ahead. I¡¯ll catch up to you later.¡±


    ¡°Wait. How are you-¡°


    ¡°Go now!¡± Dylan shouted.


    Jacob grabbed my arm and we tried to run past the cloaked man but he was quick. I don¡¯t even think it was physically possible for a man to move that fast. He swung his sword down at Lucas, aiming for his neck.


    *Clang!*


    Suddenly, Dylan appeared out of nowhere and blocked the sword with his own.


    ¡°I¡¯m your opponent.¡±


    ¡®Woah¡­ that was kind of cool... the way he said it.¡¯


    ¡°What are you guys doing? Leave already!¡±


    I looked back one more time before I ran away with Jacob.


    ¡°You¡¯re no match for me Dylan. Not the way you are now.¡± said the cloaked individual.


    ¡°Why does your voice sound familiar? Have I met you before?¡±


    The man stopped talking and charged at Dylan. He swung his sword downward and Dylan raised his own to block it but it was a feint and he kicked Dylan on his side. He had incredible strength because Dylan flew over ten feet and smashed through the walls of a house.


    ¡°Do you really think that you can get away from me?¡±


    As the cloaked man was about to give chase he turned around and swung his sword at the projectile that was thrown at him. It was one of the bricks that came loose after the collapse of the wall.


    ¡°Woah. Do you have eyes on the back of your head or something?¡± Dylan walked out of the collapsed wall and dusted off his clothes. Blood could be seen dripping from the side of his head.


    ¡°That hurt y¡¯know? What¡¯s that golden aura that is surrounding you? Is it ki? Feels pretty similar to it.¡±


    ¡°We found the murderer! Quick! Catch him!¡± A soldier shouted out and many footsteps could be heard in the distance.


    ¡°So this is what happened last time¡­ It was nice seeing you again Dylan. But I have to finish this and get Lucas.¡±


    The golden aura around the man became stronger and more intimidating. The soldiers that were surrounding him cried out in shock.


    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.¡°He¡¯s an Adept! Shit! Run for your lives!¡± A soldier cried out. The soldiers panicked and ran away in a chaotic fashion.


    The look in Dylan¡¯s eyes changed as it became more serious and he changed his stance with the sword.


    *Crash*


    Something landed from the sky and created a small crater which made dust scatter.


    ¡°Who the hell do you think you are to create a mess in my town? Huh?¡± A humongous, muscular silhouette could be seen in the dust.


    ¡°It¡¯s the mayor! The mayor came to save us! The mayor is a powerful adept that was even recognized by the Duke!¡±


    The mayor was over two meters tall and had biceps the size of Dylan¡¯s waist. He had a fabulous mustache that emanated extreme masculinity.


    ¡°Are you the two brats wreaking havoc in my city? Time to teach you a lesson.¡± said the mayor as he unleashed his own aura. It was a light green color that surrounded his whole body and it seemed more vibrant and full of vigor than the cloaked man¡¯s.


    ¡°Why is his green and yours gold? Is everyone¡¯s ki a different color?¡± asked Dylan.


    ¡°You don¡¯t even know what aura is you brat. You¡¯re a hundred years too early to even think of using aura. Your punishment for creating chaos in my city is death!¡± The mayor rushed towards Dylan first and punched down towards him with amazing speed and strength.


    The huge fist got closer and closer towards Dylan¡¯s face when suddenly a bright light purple light enshrouded Dylan.


    Shock filled the mayor¡¯s eyes but the fist continued to descend.


    What happened next was a complete blur, too fast for the eye to see. The people around heard something hit the ground and


    they couldn¡¯t believe their eyes.


    The mayor¡¯s head was embedded into the ground while the skinny boy with somewhat small eyes was perfectly unscathed.


    ¡°Heh, this isn¡¯t that hard. All you have to do is emit your ki externally. Why is my ki purple? I hate purple¡­ I guess everyone¡¯s is different.¡±


    ¡°Im-impossible¡­ The mayor was¡­ beaten?¡±  a soldier muttered in disbelief.


    ¡°H-how did this happen? Only one in a thousand are able to become an Adept. And this kid just happens to be one along with


    that man? There are 3,000 people living in this town and the mayor was the only Adept and he was so casually defeated¡­¡±


    The mayor¡¯s body began to move and his hands touched the ground and you could see the bulging muscles and veins on his arms as he pushed up and his head was released from the ground.


    ¡°AAAHH! You will pay for that you brat! I was unprepared. I never expected you to be an Adept like me. Hmph, judging by your aura, you have only just recently stepped into the realm of Adepts. A beginner like you is still no match for me.¡±


    ¡°Come at me you mustached freak.¡± Dylan taunted.


    ¡°How dare you disgrace my manly mustache?!¡±


    The mayor¡¯s face turned red like a tomato and his veins popped as his green aura blazed like a huge bonfire that covered his body completely for an entire meter.


    Dylan¡¯s expression changed into one of seriousness as he realized that this huge freak is actually a monster.


    ¡®How the hell is this guy able to emit such a vast amount of ki? This is physically impossible...¡¯


    The mayor disappeared.


    Dylan looked to his left, right and even up above but he couldn¡¯t find him.


    His instincts were screaming at him to run as he finally turned back and saw the same huge fist descend upon his face before he blacked out.


    Dylan¡¯s head was smashed into the ground, similar to what he did to the mayor earlier and his body was completely limp.


    ¡°Heh, cheeky brat. You¡¯re too early to even think about fighting me.¡± said the mayor. And as he lifted his hand up to caress his mustache he saw that his wrist was dislocated and his eyes were filled with shock. But then he put on a huge grin as a loud pop sounded from his hand as he put it back in place.


    ¡°Hahahaha! You¡¯re a funny brat, I have to admit. It¡¯s been a while since anyone has been able to injure me. I think I¡¯ll keep you around for a while. Oh right¡­ You can¡¯t hear me. Oops¡­ Hahahaha!¡± the mayor laughed as he grabbed Dylan by his foot and pulled him out of the ground.


    ¡°Now¡­ I do believe that there was one more fellow that needed my attention correct? Eh? Where¡¯d he go?¡±


    ***


    ¡°Huff¡­ huff¡­ Hey Lily, huff, I think this is enough. Lucas is getting kinda heavy now.¡± Jacob said in gasped breaths.


    Lily was gasping for air also and she put her hands on her knees while breathing heavily. ¡°Alright, huff, huff, let¡¯s¡­ take a break.¡±


    After roughly five minutes of break, Lily and Jacob slowly began to travel in the opposite direction of the town.


    ¡°I found you.¡±

 Chapter Seven

    Chapter 7


    ¡°I found you.¡±


    Lily stopped breathing and she felt like she was about to have a heart attack. Jacob¡¯s face turned pale and his knees began to shake.


    They both slowly turned their heads and saw the cloaked man walking towards them.


    He disappeared like the wind and he reappeared just as suddenly in front of Jacob and sucker-punched him in the gut, right in the solar plexus.


    Jacob¡¯s facial contortions changed into one of great pain as his face turned red, he opened his mouth but no sound came out and drool began to spill out. His eyes rolled backwards as he passed out from the pain and dropped Lucas on the ground with him.


    ¡°Jacob!¡± Lily cried out and rushed towards him and knelt on the ground next to him.


    The cloaked man walked towards them and reached out his hand towards Lucas, when suddenly a small explosion rang out behind them several meters.


    *Boom!*


    ¡°Hahaha! Did you think that you could escape from me?¡±


    ¡°Sigh¡­ you must really enjoy those drastic scenes where you arrive at the last minute like some sort of superhero.¡± said the cloaked man as he activated his golden aura that shrouded him and drew his sword.


    ¡°Hahaha! The hero always arrives at the perfect moment. That is what makes a hero a true man!¡± as he said that the mayor unleashed his own light green aura that covered his body.


    They both stared at each other for a long time. Lily¡¯s legs were getting kind of cramped because she was kneeling for so long but she didn¡¯t dare move because she didn¡¯t know what they were going to do.


    ¡®I have to find a chance to escape while these two monsters are fighting. But how am I going to escape with these two passed out?¡¯


    The cloaked man with golden aura made the first move, as he rushed towards the mayor in inhuman speeds and his swung his sword, aiming for the head. The mayor lifted his arm and grabbed the sword with his bare hand. The cloaked man¡¯s eyes widened in shock but his lips formed into a slight smile.


    The mayor¡¯s huge fist headed straight towards the man¡¯s chest and upon impact the cloaked man flew like a cannon ball, crashing through trees, into the woods.


    This all happened in the blink of an eye and Lily was barely able to see all the occurred much less take action to escape.


    ¡°Now, come with me lil¡¯ miss, I promise not to hurt you and your friends. Judging from your clothes, you¡¯re not from around here. I¡¯ll protect you and your friends as long as you behave and tell about where you¡¯re from.¡±


    ¡°How do I know I can trust you?¡±


    Lily was greatly intimidated by this giant of a man who stood over two meters tall and had bulging muscles and a scary mustache. What Lily needed most was time. She needed to find a safe place to completely go over her grandpa¡¯s diary and learn all the information that she can and go back home.


    ¡°I have my honor as a man. All I can give you is my word.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll give you an 8 out of 10.¡± The cloaked man suddenly appeared next to the mayor like a magic trick and he aimed a kick straight at his head. The mayor flew over a dozen meters, tumbling through the ground and finally stopping after his head hit a tree.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t survive eight years in the Coliseum by luck y¡¯know? There were plenty of brutes that were much faster and stronger than you, mustache dude.


    Now, hand over Lucas or you¡¯ll get hurt Lily. I don¡¯t want to hurt you.¡±


    ¡°H-how do you know my name? Who are you?¡±


    ¡°I know a lot of things Lily. And one thing you should know is that Lucas is dangerous and I have to kill him.¡±


    ¡°Why? What did he ever do to you?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not what he has done, but what he will eventually do. Let¡¯s handle this peacefully. You give him to me and I¡¯ll tell you how to go back home.¡±


    ¡°How do you know where I¡¯m from? I don¡¯t need your help! I can find my way back without you.¡±


    ¡°How are you going to find your way back without this?¡± the cloaked man lifted up Lily¡¯s bag and took out her grandpa¡¯s diary.


    Lily¡¯s eyes widened and realized that she was no longer carrying her bag and realized her mistake.


    ¡°Give it back!¡± shouted Lily.


    ¡°Give me Luca-¡°


    ¡°I must be getting rusty. Two people have injured me in one day.¡± The mayor appeared behind the cloaked man and grabbed him by the head and slammed him into the ground.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go little lady. I promise that I won¡¯t hurt you and your friends.¡± The mayor picked up Lucas and Jacob as if he were handling little kittens and swung them over his shoulders and took the bags.


    ¡°Ugh¡­ that hurt you bastard.¡± The cloaked man slowly got up and patted the dust away from his clothes.


    ¡°Wait, you must be General Ferbias, the Thousand Man General. They said you died by an assassin after the war ended. What the hell are you doing here in this backwater town?¡±


    ¡°Sigh¡­ that¡¯s former general now. I got tired of being in the army and serving pretentious, selfish pricks who force young men to fight for their own gains. Well then, now that you figured out who I am¡­ I¡¯m going to have to kill you.¡±


    The mayor/general Ferbias dropped Lucas and Jacob to the ground like sacks of potatoes and his light green aura blazed with even more intensity than before.


    They both stared at each other for a moment before they simultaneously charged at each other, the cloaked man wielding his sword and the mayor lashing out with his fists in a blur that made it look like he had more than two arms.


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    The battle raged on and it was more like two monster were fighting against each other. Trees were toppled down, the ground trembled and cracked under the force of their brutal attacks meant to kill each other.


    The fighting was getting more and more chaotic. The terrain was literally being changed by these two monsters and Lily couldn¡¯t believe what she was seeing. They were fighting all over the place and their battle gradually got closer and closer to Lily and her friends.


    Ferbias smashed his fist downwards to the cloaked man but he missed, resulting in him destroying the area where he punched the first on the ground and stones flew all around the surrounding area.  Unfortunately, Lily was the target of one of the stones and it hit her straight on the forehead.


    Blood splattered and she slumped on the ground, unconscious. The blood slowly trickled down her face and it reached the small pendant that her grandfather gave to her as a child and it began to give out a faint green light that was barely visible. Now, all four high school kids were knocked out and unconscious.


    ¡°Lily!¡± cried out the cloaked man.


    ¡°Uh¡­ oops?¡± said the Ferbias looking apologetically at the group of children lying on the ground.


    A sound of a horn was heard in the distance and you could see a couple hundred soldiers running in their direction.


    ¡°Hurry! The mayor is fighting the murderer! We have to go help him.¡±


    ¡°Shit.  I don¡¯t have time for this.  You¡¯re lucky Lucas. I¡¯ll get you next time.¡± The cloaked man said as he ran off into the distance while Ferbias went up to Lily and began to put pressure on her wound to stop the bleeding.


    ***


    When I woke up I felt a throbbing pain on the side of my head and felt nauseated.


    ¡°Lily! You¡¯re awake!¡±


    I saw Jacob and Lucas come up to me and they asked me if I was fine. I saw Dylan lying on a bed reading a book. Wait a minute¡­ that book is¡­


    I ran up to him and snatched back my grandpa¡¯s diary.


    ¡°What do you think you¡¯re doing?! That¡¯s mine!¡± I yelled at him. I immediately felt dizzy from my sudden movement and swayed a little before Lucas came next to me and supported me.


    ¡°Thanks Lucas, I¡¯m fine. Dylan, why did you take my grandpa¡¯s diary without asking me?¡±


    ¡°Because you specifically said that your grandfather was here before, which means there should be clues on how to get home from his diary. This diary is probably our only chance of getting back home and you¡¯re being selfish because of sentimental values and not thinking about the rest of us.¡±


    Silence pervaded throughout the room.


    ¡°Haha, it¡¯s alright Lily, Dylan doesn¡¯t really mean that, he¡¯s just mad because he lost the fight with the mayor. Mayor Ferbias came in earlier to check up on us and the first thing that Dylan did was challenge him to a fight but he lost instantly-¡° Jacob was interrupted because a pillow was thrown at his face from Dylan.


    Dylan stared at Jacob for a few moments before he said, ¡°I¡¯m going to sleep. I only got up to the part where your grandpa was encouraging you about your life.¡± He covered his head with the blanket and turned to his side, facing away from us.


    I felt a little bad now honestly. I should have considered the situation before and asked him how he was. I mean, he did sacrifice himself to fight that huge monster.


    ¡°Dylan¡­ I¡¯m sorry that I lashed out at you. My grandpa passed away last week and I¡¯m still kind of emotionally unsettled by all of that and the current situation that we¡¯re in, and thank you for sacrificing yourself for us earlier.¡±


    There was no reply from Dylan as he just lay there. Jacob just looked at me and shrugged.


    ¡°Lily, we need you to hurry and read your grandpa¡¯s diary. Because it¡¯s the last memento that your grandfather left for you, we feel awkward reading it. So we have to leave this to you. You need you find out how he got back home for all our sakes.¡± Lucas said.


    I found it sweet that he said that he won¡¯t read my grandpa¡¯s diary out of consideration for me. Does that mean he likes me?


    They left to do their own thing so that I could have peace and quiet while I was reading my grandpa¡¯s diary. Lucas told me that they would send someone up to get us when it¡¯s time for dinner. I was already starving.


    My hunger soon went away as I immersed myself in my grandpa¡¯s story.


    Lily did a quick recap in her brain before she began to read so that she didn¡¯t forget anything.


    Her grandfather fell in a hole in the cave just like her and her friends¡­ was it a coincidence? Her grandfather landed in a desert,


    whereas Lily and her friends landed in the plains. Did something happen to make the terrain change? Did thousands or perhaps millions of years pass by? Or were they sent to a different place?


    Her grandfather met Adira the one he currently has a crush on and she taught him about her tribe. Then her grandfather got into an awkward position of having to tell a story to the entire tribe during the banquet prepared for him, in honor of him being a guest and I assume it was just basic hospitality customs.


    Currently, her grandfather was resting in the tent and writing what happened so far in his journal.

 Chapter Eight

    Chapter 8


    Grandpa¡¯s Diary


    ¡°Robert, it is time for the banquet to begin.¡±


    I heard Adira¡¯s voice calling me from outside of the tent. I looked up from my journal and cracked my neck and stood up.


    The sun was already beginning to set and the fires were getting lit. I could smell the delicious fragrance of meat coming from a distance away. The sound of drums resounded throughout the camp and I could see tribe members shaking something that vaguely resembled a maraca. People were dancing and singing and all in all, having a great time.


    Adira led me to where her father was sitting and when he saw me he smiled and raised his hand. When he did so the music stopped.


    ¡°Ah, Robert, you have finally arrived.¡± He motioned for me to come sit next to him and Adira followed me and sat next to me on my right.


    ¡°Fellow tribesmen! Today, we honor our guest Robert C. Ladin for visiting our humble tribe.¡± And then he went on about what I do and roused up the tribe members about how great of a storyteller I am. Soon enough, everyone was looking at me with expectant looks, except for a few I remember who were in the tent with the chief and had slight looks of scorn on their faces.


    Luckily, I had time earlier to think of a story to tell these people. I racked my brains earlier to think of a story that could relate to these people and I finally remembered a fairy tale from my childhood: Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.


    Because it was in a desert setting like the Atacma Desert I thought it would gain the approval of the people.


    But the main problem was that I forgot some of the minor parts of the story. Fortunately I was given enough time to fill in the parts that I had forgotten with some of my new ideas to make it more interesting.


    ¡°Now, Robert, if you will.¡± said Adira¡¯s father as he gestured to move to the front.


    I got and up and I cleared my throat to show that I was ready.


    It was a bit nerve wracking because of the amount of people that were staring at me. There were more than triple the amount of people than when I had to speak at my graduation because I was the valedictorian of my class.


    ¡°Ahem, in a land far, far away, there were two brothers. Ali Baba and his elder brother Cassim were sons of a wealthy merchant. After their father passed away, the greedy Cassim married a wealthy woman and continued to build his father¡¯s business.


    Ali Baba on the other hand, marries a poor woman and becomes a humble wood cutter as his profession.


    One day, while Ali Baba was cutting wood, he came across 40 thieves visiting their treasure trove. They said the words, ¡°open sesame¡± to open a secret entrance in a mountain and ¡°close sesame¡± to close the entrance.


    After the thieves leave, Ali Baba sneaks into their cave and takes with him only one bag of gold coins.¡±


    The audience looked pretty entranced by my story telling so I did not stop and continued telling the story of how Cassim¡¯s wife found out about the Ali Baba¡¯s new fortune and he forced him to give him the secret.


    The tribe members were enraged with the actions of Cassim and they cursed his name.


    Wow. I didn¡¯t expect them to get so riled up over a story.


    I reached the part where Cassim forgot the password to leave the secret cave and when the thieves came back they killed him and mutilated his body and hung his body parts outside.


    The audience seemed happy that that happened to him because of his greed.


    Later on Ali Baba found his body and gave him a proper burial along with the help of Cassim¡¯s former slave, Morgiana.


    But the thieves saw that the body was missing and they soon found out that it was Ali Baba and they plotted to kill him in order to keep their secret.


    Because of Morgiana¡¯s quick wit, she was able to save his life twice from the thieves. Because of her amazing aptitude and in thanks for saving his life, Ali Baba released Morgiana from slavery and even married her to his own son.


    In the end Ali Baba was the only one who knew the secret password to the cave and everyone lived happily ever after.


    As I ended the story the crowd got up and clapped and cheered. I was a bit surprised that they were clapping so enthusiastically but I bowed and I went back to my spot next to Adira.


    It took a little bit over an hour to finish the story and my throat was really dry.


    ¡°That was a profound tale Robert. You grace us with you amazing story. Now, let the feast begin!¡± announced the chief.


    Adira gave me a smile and I blushed. Soon, platters of all kind of food was being sent out by the slaves and I realized how hungry I was.


    There were a lot of things that I¡¯ve never seen before, like the weird, fried cactus plant, and this steamed scorpion the size of my head, for example.


    ¡°Umm¡­ Adira? How do I eat this¡­ scorpion? And are you guys even allowed to eat scorpions? I mean, you guys are the Scorpion


    tribe¡­ so isn¡¯t like, you know, sacrilegious?¡±


    ¡°These scorpions are a different species from the magical scorpions that we have a contract with. The scorpions that we contract with are all children of the great Mother Scorpion who is our patron godbeast. They are a delicacy in our tribe and are quite delicious, the tail is the best part.¡±


    Adira showed me how to take apart the scorpion and showed me where most of the meat was hidden and even fed it to me.


    Is she¡­ perhaps¡­ flirting? It tasted vaguely like lobster. There were many other foo


    I never really talked to girls that much during school. I was too focused on my studies and playing around with my friends and I¡¯m pretty shy¡­


    I found that I could actually open up to Adira and we had a great time talking to each other and enjoying the banquet. Many people came up to me during the feast and told me that I told a wonderful story and that they looked forward to hearing more of my stories.


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    Suddenly a somewhat decent looking guy with a mustache came up to me, or more accurately, Adira.


    He gave me a look of disdain.


    ¡°Hmph. You¡¯re story was decent, for a foreigner.¡± He said in an snobbish voice.


    I was taken aback. What did I do to offend this guy?


    ¡°Husseng! You are being very rude to our guest.¡± Adira reprimanded him in a angry tone.


    This Husseng dude ignored what she said, ¡°Come sit with me Adira, you know that our fathers have been discussing our engagement. We can think of names for our children.¡± He said in an arrogant voice.


    Wait, so Adira¡¯s engaged?


    My facial features visibly darkened and Adira seemed to notice this and immediately said, ¡°We are not engaged yet Husseng and I would rather be married to Robert than to you.¡±


    ¡®Is that a compliment or an insult? Was this guy jealous that I hit it off so well with Adira?¡¯


    At this moment the chief intervened.


    ¡°Husseng, now is not the time and place for this, you are disrupting other¡¯s enjoyment.¡±


    ¡°Yes Chief.¡± He said respectfully and then left us.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for that Robert, Husseng is a nice person if you get to know him. He has been trying to court me for a long time but he has been rejecting my rejections.¡± Adira said to me in a defeated voice. We still had pleasant conversation but I could tell the mood had dampened between us.


    The banquet gradually came to a close and Adira led me to my tent again. We said goodnight and she went to her own tent.


    The next morning a slave brought me breakfast that consisted of bread that was dry and bland that vaguely resembled pita bread/tortilla with some sort of sauce that you dip with it and some weird desert fruit that I didn¡¯t know how to eat.


    Turns out that the slave is going to be my ¡°chaperone¡± during my stay at the camp. His name is Aashiq and he is 16 this year. He is actually pretty decent looking in my standards, with high cheek bones and sharp nose with a strong jaw line. He has a lean body and he seems like a nice guy.


    ¡°Did you eat yet Aashiq?¡±


    ¡°I have not my lord.¡±


    ¡°Then come and join me. I don¡¯t like eating alone.¡±


    ¡°I would not dare my lord. I am just a slave. I have no right to partake in a meal of someone of your status.¡±


    ¡°Sigh¡­ don¡¯t be like that. Come, sit. Where I¡¯m from, there are no slaves and so you being like this is very uncomfortable for me. So don¡¯t act like that, because I¡¯m not used to it.¡±


    After much persuasion on my part, I eventually convinced Aashiq to eat breakfast with me and he opened up a little bit to me.


    We finished eating and I decided that I wanted to explore the tribe a bit more. Aashiq showed me around the places where I never visited with Adira. I noticed that I was getting a lot of stares from the slaves. Confused, I asked Aashiq.


    ¡°Aashiq, why are the slaves staring at me?¡±


    ¡°That is because of your story last night. Many slaves were inspired by Morgiana and how she was able to become the wife of her former master¡¯s son and her loyalty and cunning. Therefore, we all look up to you and hope to become like Morgiana one day and gain our freedom.¡±


    I was quiet embarrassed when he said that they all looked up to me. But it made me feel a bit good inside.


    Aashiq gave me a more detailed tour of the tribe than Adira, I think because he was a slave he had more in-depth knowledge of the tribe and its inner workings because he gets sent on errands and I¡¯m pretty sure that there is a lot of gossip among the slaves.


    He showed me where they breed the scorpions that I ate last night and several other weird species of animals. The one that stood out the most was this weird ostrich looking animal that had horns and four feet.


    ¡°These are called shtruc. They are the fastest animals in the desert and they are used by scouts.¡±


    I even got to pet one and feed it one of those scorpions. After I saw its rows of sharp teeth I became more cautious around it.


    We had lunch again in my tent that was when Adira came in.


    Aashiq immediately got up and bowed to her respectfully.


    ¡°Robert, my father wishes to see you.¡±


    ¡°Right now? Alright.¡±


    ***


    ¡°Haha, Robert, your story last night was magnificent.¡± said the chief.


    ¡°I¡¯m not worthy of your praise.¡± I tried to be as humble as possible.


    His advisors seemed to like my story as well, they were mostly old men but the warriors on his left side didn¡¯t seem too impressed with my story as they looked at me with somewhat indifferent expressions.


    ¡°Robert, we are going to begin our pilgrimage to the Great Scorpion tomorrow. Would you like to come with us?¡±


    A few of the warriors objected, saying that it is sacred to their tribe and how an outsider would disgrace it, but the chief silenced them with a wave of his hand.


    Considering that I am literally on a different dimension, and I have no idea how to get home, I figured that it¡¯s probably safest being with them. We¡¯re in the middle of a desert after all.


    I told the chief that I would be honored to go with them on their pilgrimage and the chief seemed happy with my answer.


    He said he wanted me to tell another story later on in the evening again because many tribe members enjoyed it.


    I agreed to his request. I¡¯m going to try not to be a freeloader to this tribe. I can at least provide some sort of entertainment for them so that they don¡¯t think I¡¯m completely useless.

 Chapter Nine

    Chapter 9


    Grandpa¡¯s Diary


    Evening came quickly and soon it was time for dinner. We didn¡¯t have a banquet like yesterday. Instead, I had my dinner in my own tent accompanied by Adira and Aboo who was eating outside, and when we finished we went outside to the large bonfire where many people were waiting for us.


    They were all waiting for my story tonight and I think that they had high expectations because of last night¡¯s story.


    I hope I don¡¯t screw this up.


    This time I decided to go with a somewhat different story: Aladdin¡¯s Lamp.


    ¡°There was a poor boy named Aladdin,-¡°


    ***


    ¡°Ugh!¡±


    ¡®Grandpa! I don¡¯t care about the stories you told them! I need to know how you got back home.¡¯


    Lily was frustrated. As much as she would love to read over her grandpa¡¯s diary slowly and enjoy it because it turns out that everything that happened was actually real. Lily was given the job of finding the way back home for Lucas and her classmates.


    ¡®That¡¯s it, I¡¯m just gonna skim everything until I find how he got back home.¡¯


    Grandpa¡¯s Diary


    People seemed to like that story even more, the next day they packed up and began their pilgrimage. Apparently it will take about three weeks.


    I have gotten a better understanding of the tribe and the people seemed to have accepted me. I have a good reputation among


    the children and they always come to me for stories. They¡¯re cute kids.


    I try to help where I can by help feeding their livestock and other odd jobs.


    I became fast friends with Aashiq and my relationship with Adira got deeper.


    (Skip a few pages)


    In the second week of traveling, we came across a sand giant. I heard it was an earth elemental spirit that uses the forces of nature and it is very powerful. It was enraged that we came across its territory and the tribe sent roughly 200 scorpion riders to deal with it.


    I saw the battle from afar and the sand giant was humongous. It was at least 30 feet tall if not taller. I heard the warriors say that only an 8-star adept or higher would be able to kill the sand giant.  The most that the warriors can do is delay it and give the tribe enough time to pass through its territory before they retreat.


    The battle looked incredibly dangerous in my eyes. The sand giant picked up the scorpion riders like they were little toys and threw them around and it controlled the sand around to create sinkholes, but the scorpions were too fast and they circled around while the warriors barraged it with arrows covered in their aura.


    Aura. It¡¯s something that I first saw when two warriors got into a serious argument and they had to settle it with a duel with the chief as the judge.


    At first I thought it was some sort of magic but Aashiq later explained to me that it is the power from the soul that humans are able to use to strengthen themselves. Of course, not all people are able to utilize aura. Only those talented and strong enough are able to. In this tribe, pretty much all of the scorpion riders are able to utilize aura. They are called adepts.


    I learned that there is a ranking system for adepts. It goes from ranks 1-12. Most of the adepts in the tribe are either one or two star adepts. The strongest in the tribe is the chief as a five star adept and he is acknowledged as the greatest warrior of the tribe.


    There are about 500 scorpion riders, which means that only 500 of the 8,000 tribe members are adepts.


    (Skip a few pages)


    After traversing the desert for over three weeks my skin has gotten a lot tanner but I have definitely become more fit. I have been training with the warriors because it gave me something to do and I figured that the stronger I get, the less I would have to rely on others and then I would have a better chance of getting home.


    At first some of the warriors sneered and made fun of me for not knowing how to wield a scimitar but they eventually got used to me practice with Aashiq as he gave me pointers.


    ***


    We finally arrived at the pilgrimage site. It was a huge canyon and there was a cave at the end of it. And on top of the entrance of the cave was a humongous sculpture of a scorpion that was beautifully carved with amazing detail. I was simply awed by its magnificence. There was also an altar that was about three stories tall in front of the cave.


    The tribe began to set up preparations for the ritual to summon the godbeast.


    (Skip a few pages)


    The ritual ceremony was very long and intricate. The shaman of the tribe was chanting something in a weird language that I couldn¡¯t understand. But for some reason his words sounded mysterious and powerful. Soon enough, rumbling could be heard from the cave. Soon I was able to spot two red dots shining in the darkness of the cave.


    The chief walked up to the center of the altar and cut the palm of his hand and raised it up towards the cave where the two red dots were shining.


    I somewhat braced myself to expect a large scorpion and I was not disappointed.


    The scorpion was huge. Even larger than the sand giant that we met about a week back. Its body was completely black and it had humongous pincers and it actually had three stingers instead of one.


    The godbeast approached the chief and I don¡¯t know if I was daydreaming or not but the scorpion shrank. Like a lot.


    I couldn¡¯t believe my eyes. The Great Scorpion shrunk into an incredibly beautiful woman that seemed otherworldly.


    Her skin was literally pitch black like how she is in her scorpion form and she was wearing a beautiful white toga for some reason and she also had her three huge stingers like they were tails that protruded from above her buttocks. And did I mention that she was tall? She is tall. She towered over the chief by at least two feet. And the chief is a tall guy. He is probably six foot three inches.


    All the other tribe members were prostrating before them and the shaman ordered the offering to be brought up.


    It was a huge pile of crystals pulled by a scorpion and it left it on the altar. At least I thought they were normal crystals until Adira informed me that they are soul stones. They have various magical properties and many more that are undiscovered and they can help mages and they are basically coveted by almost all magical beings.


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    I focused my eyes back to the ritual and the Great Scorpion proceeded to drink the blood of the chief from his hand.


    Then the Great Scorpion used her middle stinger and touched the chief¡¯s forehead lightly and a bright light was emitted from their connection.


    Suddenly a voice rang out from behind.


    ¡°We¡¯re being attacked by the Brown Hawk tribe!¡±


    ***


    ¡°Lily it¡¯s time for dinner.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡± I looked up and saw that Dylan and Jacob were already gone. Lucas was the one that notified me.


    ¡®Dang. Things were just getting good.¡¯


    ¡°So did you find out any interesting information on how to get back home?¡± asked Lucas.


    ¡°No, not really, it was mostly just stuff about his time at some tribe in a desert.¡±


    I felt bad because they depend on me to find a way back home but I wasn¡¯t able to show any results.


    ¡°Hey, it¡¯s no big deal, cheer up, it¡¯s not every day that you get to travel to a completely new world.¡±


    Lucas is such a nice guy for trying to cheer me up. I felt myself blush a little when I saw him smiling at me with that gorgeous smile of his.


    ¡°Hahaha, you¡¯re finally here. Come, sit. You¡¯re honored guests at my home.¡± The deep voice of the mayor resounded throughout the halls.


    Dylan and Jacob were already seated and the food was being sent out by the servants.


    The food was okay, I assumed it was because of their lack of spices or their technology was far behind ours, that it didn¡¯t suit my tastes. But my hunger soon overwhelmed me and I ate unsparingly.


    During our meal Mayor Ferbias, turned out to be a pretty cool guy with very good manners.


    He eventually asked us where we¡¯re from and Lucas was honest with him and told him that we were from another world.


    Surprisingly, he didn¡¯t seem very surprised. ¡°When you live in a world of magic, anything is possible.¡±


    ¡°Can-can you help us find a way home?¡±


    ¡°It is a man¡¯s duty to help those that are in need. I would be honored to go on this epic journey with you.¡±


    ¡®What the hell? It¡¯s that simple? Does he have some ulterior motive? Or is this just his character?¡¯


    Lily was suspicious about his actions. No one just randomly helps strangers on a mission to go back to their world.


    ¡°Dylan, where did you learn to fight? Based on your aura, you should roughly be a three or four star adept. You¡¯re quite the genius for your age.¡± said the mayor.


    ¡°My grandpa.¡± Dylan curtly replied and went back to eating I silence.


    There was an awkward silence after that and so I interrupted it with a question.


    ¡°What about you mayor Ferbias? What rank are you?¡±


    ¡°Haha, I am a seven star adept.¡±


    ¡°Really? Isn¡¯t that really strong? I bet there aren¡¯t that many people as strong as you.¡±


    Based on grandpa¡¯s diary, the chieftain of the Black Scorpion Tribe was a five star adept, so the mayor should be much stronger than him.


    ¡°What is the highest rank of adept?¡±


    ¡°Twelve star adept is the highest rank and when you become an ten star adept you are able to contend with godbeasts.¡±


    ¡°What are godbeasts?¡± Jacob asked.


    ¡°They are the gods¡¯ creations. Some are children of the gods and others reached that state by an amazing stroke of luck or some


    type of mutation. They are considered demigods.¡± Ferbias answered.


    ¡®Wait, but in grandpa¡¯s diary the tribe worshiped a godbeast¡­ Do they have different beliefs?¡±


    ¡°Hold on, you said gods, as in you have multiple gods?¡± Lucas said.


    ¡°We have many gods. Too many to count. But we have the god pantheon which is a council of the twelve most influential and powerful gods. They are the ones that are mostly worshipped.


    You¡¯re world must be very different. Do you not have multiple gods? Also, you seemed surprised about aura, does your world not have adepts?¡±


    ¡°Well, the place we come from has many different religions, 4,000, I believe. Many believe in different gods or God and many are branches of others that separated through the passage of time. I¡¯m personally a Christian, so I believe in only one God.¡± Jacob explained.


    ¡°We also don¡¯t have any adepts in our world either nor any magic. I mean there might have been hundreds or maybe thousands of years ago, but nowadays magic is considered a fairy tale.¡± Lucas added.


    ¡°But how come your friend Dylan here can use aura?¡±


    Everyone stared at Dylan as he put a piece of meat into his mouth.


    He looked up. ¡°What you call aura, I call qi. Martial artists and monks in ancient China discovered it thousands of years ago and it was passed on generation after generation.  Qi is everywhere around us, the air, water, earth. But compared to this world, the qi is infinitely more abundant than ours. I¡¯m assuming that¡¯s the reason why you guys are able to use this ¡°aura¡± thing.


    Normally, martial artists control their qi inside of their body to strengthen it from the inside and that is how they are able to perform inhuman feats and are much stronger than the average person.¡±


    ¡°Woah¡­ so you¡¯re saying that those historical figures like Br*ce Lee and those ancient Chinese generals were all able to use qi?¡± asked Jacob.


    ¡°Yeah, pretty much. But in our world everyone with enough training and years of discipline is able to utilize qi. But, in this world it¡¯s apparently very rare for an adept. So, I¡¯m assuming that the techniques that we use in our world are far more advanced and efficient than yours in activating qi.¡±


    ¡°Ho ho. Interesting. I¡¯m going to have to ask you to teach me just how advanced your world¡¯s aura circulating techniques are.¡±


    The dinner ended pleasantly and Mayor Ferbias volunteered to show us around but I refused saying that I was tired, but I really just wanted to keep on reading grandpa¡¯s diary and find a way to quickly get home.

 Chapter Ten

    Chapter 10


    I was given another private room so that I don¡¯t have to sleep with the guys.


    A servant led me to my new room and I lay down on my bed and opened the book to where I was before.


    ¡°Lily.¡±


    I jumped up in fright.


    ¡°Who is that?¡±


    ¡®Is it that cloaked man from before?¡¯


    ¡°Lily.¡±


    I look around the room and see no one there.


    ¡®Why does that voice sound familiar?¡¯


    A light shined from the pendant that my grandfather gave me and a green mist-like figure emerged from it and appeared in front of me. Its hazy figure gradually became more detailed.


    ¡°Grandpa!¡± I shouted out as I reached out to hug him.


    ¡°Oomf!¡± My figure passed right through him and I hit the ground.


    ¡°Haha, it¡¯s good to see you too Lily. Wow. You sure grew a lot since the last time I saw you.¡±


    ¡°Huh? What do you mean? I saw you several months ago, before you died. Wait, you died. How are you here?¡±


    ¡°So, I died. Lily, I¡¯m a just a projection of memories that I created just in case I lost my memories. Happened more than once.


    Very unpleasant experience, trust me. I created the pendant in case of emergency situations where I might have lost my memories and needed them back and I gave it to you as a good luck charm.


    The last time I updated my memories was when you were only 5 years old. So I don¡¯t know what happened during that time period before I passed away.


    Anyway¡­ this is awkward¡­ and we¡¯re clearly not on earth. So, why are you here? How did you get here?¡±


    ¡°So we were on a field trip-¡±


    I went over all the things that happened thus far and when I finished grandpa looked at me.


    ¡°So you just need to find a way back home? That¡¯s easy, all you need to do is gather enough magic or soul energy as a conductor and say the magic words and poof, you¡¯ll be right back home.¡±


    ¡°But what about our families and friends? What about the police? Won¡¯t they have been searching for us? How do we explain that we fell in a hole and traveled to a different world?¡±


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s not a problem. When you return from this world, back to earth, time won¡¯t have changed. You will be in the exact same time that you left.¡±


    ¡°How does that happen?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, it just does. I never questioned it. It was just a convenience for me.


    Sigh¡­ who would have thought that my own granddaughter would have the same fate as me? How ironic.¡±


    *Knock knock*


    A servant suddenly entered the room.


    ¡°Excuse me miss. The mayor has sent me to give these clothes to you.¡±


    She laid down the clothes on my bed and left the room.


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t she seem to notice you?¡±


    ¡°Only you can see me Lily, because you¡¯re the one with the pendant. I created the pendant in case of emergency situations where I might have lost my memories and needed them back.¡±


    ¡°Ok, I need to go and find the others and tell them that I know how to get home.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll be in the pendant. Just call me when you need me. Oh, and don¡¯t tell anyone about me.¡± Grandpa said as his figure faded and disappeared into my pendant.


    Lily didn¡¯t really know how she felt about the situation. Yes, she found a way back home, and her grandfather¡¯s back, so you was in a good mood maybe? She quickly changed her clothes and it was very uncomfortable. The material was rough on her skin and it was difficult to put on.


    She asked a servant where the others were and she found them outside of the mayor¡¯s mansion in the courtyard where Mayor Ferbias and Dylan were sparring for the second time that day and Lucas and Jacob were watching the show.


    ¡°Hey guys! I found out how to get home!¡± I shouted out to them.


    ¡°Really!¡±


    Jacob and Lucas ran over to me but Dylan and Ferbias ignored me and kept on with their spar. Dylan was using a pair of knives, his knees and feet to barrage Ferbias in ways that I couldn¡¯t believe was possible for a human body. He was so flexible it kind of made me jealous.


    We waited for them to finish before I began. At first it seemed like Dylan was overpowering Ferbias with his speed. But suddenly the tables turned and the mayor¡¯s aura increased significantly and his speed and power also increased and Dylan was defeated in seconds.


    ¡°Hahaha, you¡¯ve gotten better at controlling your aura. You¡¯re a lot stronger than I was when I was your age. Come, let us head


    up to your girl friend, she seems to have found a way to get you home.¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s not my girl friend.¡±


    I told everyone that I found out in grandpa¡¯s diary of the method on how to get home.


    ¡°Well, this is going to be a problem you see, soul stones are extremely rare. A single one costs over 10,000 trals and you can¡¯t always find one on the market.¡± Ferbias said.


    ¡°What are trals?¡± Jacob asked.


    ¡°They are the form of currency that we use. One hundred trals is enough to feed a small family for roughly a month.¡±


    ¡°How are we going to get 10,000 trals?¡± Lucas questioned.


    ¡°Oh, I have enough trals to lend you. It¡¯s just the question of where to obtain them. They are hardly on the market nowadays. And whenever they are they are sold out extremely quick by the rich aristocrats.¡±


    ¡°Are you sure about lending us that many trals? Isn¡¯t that a lot of money?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Haha, don¡¯t worry little miss, I have more than enough money from my days in the army. Plus, I¡¯m the mayor, I get a certain percentage of the taxes that I collect for the King.¡±


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    ¡°Then the problem is how to get a soul stone. Do you know where to get them?¡±


    ¡°Hmm¡­ let¡¯s see, the only place that I can think of is Bear Mountain which is a month¡¯s journey from here. That mountain is the area where there are most reports of people finding soul stones.¡±


    ¡°Then shouldn¡¯t we head there?¡±


    ¡°Haha, calm down, rest for the night and we can get all the things ready for your travels tomorrow.¡±


    The sun was setting and was almost completely gone. We said our goodnights and went to our respective rooms.


    ¡°Grandpa, what do you think about Mayor Ferbias? Is he trustworthy? And you said getting home was easy. Why is it so hard to find a soul stone?¡±


    The green light shone from my pendant again and my grandpa came out.


    ¡°I can hear everything that you guys were saying so don¡¯t worry about filling me in.


    Hmm¡­ well, you see Lily, there are two possibilities of what happened that I can think of.


    First, we are on a completely different continent than where I was in my travels and this place has a low quantity of soul stones. Second many years have passed, possibly hundreds or thousands since I last came to this world and many things have changed.¡±


    ¡°Wait, I thought you said that time is in the same place when we go back.¡±


    ¡°Yes, it is the same from where you left back home. Not here. Time moves differently in this world. After you leave this world and


    when you return, you can come back days or years later from when you were in. When you come to this world, you are never returned to the same place.


    It gave me hell of a time when I landed in a volcano where a lava elemental was sleeping. But you can read that in my diary.


    And that Ferbias man, he seems like a decent person, just don¡¯t trust him too much.¡±


    I lay in bed and sleep quickly overtakes me.


    When I woke up in the morning I find that everyone is already up and eating breakfast. Ferbias tells us that he will have everything ready to go by noon, which is when we¡¯ll leave for Bear Mountain.


    Mayor Ferbias got us three wagons that is being pulled by two horses each. One wagon is for us, another for the food and supplies and the other is for the guards that are going to protect us throughout the journey.


    When we first began our adventure to Bear Mountain, I was having a great time. Lucas and I flirted. Kyaaa! Lucas and I were getting pretty cute and romantic in my opinion. We teased and played jokes on each other. God, it was such a great time.


    Other than my time with Lucas, it was really boring it was either just eat, flirt with Lucas, or just look around in silence in the wagon. I swear I¡¯m getting fat from not getting any exercise.


    Suddenly an idea hit me.


    ¡®Grandpa! Are you there?¡¯


    ¡®Yes, Lily, why, do you need something?¡¯


    ¡®Well, I was feeling kinda bored and needed something to do. And since you¡¯re here, I was wondering if you could tell me what


    happened in your diary?¡¯


    ¡®Sigh¡­ good old times. Of course, I would love to. So, tell me where you left off.¡¯


    ¡®I was at the part where some tribe attacked the scorpion tribe while you were in the ceremony/ritual thingy.¡¯


    ¡®Oh. Those weren¡¯t good times¡­ well¡­ um¡­. Lily, I think that you should get to know your classmates better. I saw that you have only been talking to Lucas and I personally don¡¯t really like him. That Dylan or Jacob fellow seems like a much better person, in my opinion.¡¯


    ¡®Gasp* Grandpa! How dare you talk that way about Lucas! Hmph. Don¡¯t talk to me for the rest of the day.¡¯


    ¡®Sigh¡­ Females¡­¡¯


    I shut off my connection with grandpa and thought over his words. I thought it was just him saying that because he¡¯s my grandpa and he doesn¡¯t want me to be in a relationship yet. But I know that I¡¯m mature enough to make my own decisions, because I¡¯m a grown up and independent woman.


    But I realized that I really should get to know the others. I have only been talking to Lucas so far. So I decided to open up to the others.


    Jacob seemed glad to find someone to talk to other than Ferbias, because I was flirting with Lucas and Dylan was doing this weird meditation thingy and the other soldiers kept to themselves.


    It turned out that Jacob was a pretty funny guy, albeit he had horrible puns like: Why do seagull fly over the sea instead of the bay? Because then they would be called Baygulls! (Bagels)


    A friend of mine tried to annoy me with bird puns but toucan play at that game.


    But I have to admit that I laughed at some of them because they were so cheesy. It turned out that grandpa was right about how I should get to know my classmates better. Mayor Ferbias didn¡¯t understand any of the puns at all because they couldn¡¯t really be applicable to the inhabitants of this world.


    By sunset we set up camp and we had dinner. It was some sort of stew with rabbit meat that a soldier caught earlier with some potatoes. It wasn¡¯t that bad.


    I lay down in my tent and called to my grandpa.


    ¡®Grandpa, can you tell me what happened now?¡¯


    ¡®Are you comfortable Lily? It¡¯s time for you bedtime stories. You love these.¡¯


    ¡®Oh my god, grandpa, I¡¯m not a five year old kid anymore.¡¯


    ¡®Hahaha, I know, I know.¡¯


    Grandpa¡¯s Memories


    ¡°We¡¯re being attacked by the Brown Hawk Tribe!¡±

 Chapter Eleven

    Chapter 11


    Grandpa¡¯s Memories


    ¡°We¡¯re being attacked by the Brown Hawk Tribe!¡±


    Everyone around us stared at shock, not able to process what he just said.


    ¡°Ah!¡±


    We heard sounds of battle outside of the canyon and it got closer and closer. The warriors in here are forbidden to bring any type of weapon into the ceremony in order to show respect and humility to the godbeast that they serve. However, now it turns out that the enemy is using this to their advantage and attacked at the opportune moment.


    ¡°Prepare for battle.¡± I heard the voice of the female scorpion godbeast. The voice was filled with anger and power. I knew that I should never piss that woman off or I would probably, no, most definitely die.


    Her face and figure contorted into something disgusting before she transformed back into her original form of a humongous badass, black scorpion.


    Everyone, from the warriors to the slaves rushed to the exit of the canyon to retrieve the weapons.


    Aashiq was running in front of me and I saw shadows cover us from above. I looked up and saw a huge boulder falling down towards me.


    ¡°Oomf!¡± I was tackled by Aashiq and we crashing into the ground.


    *Bang!*


    The 500 pound boulder crashed down into the ground and it shattered and its broken pieces scattered and hurt those in the area of its fall.


    ¡°Are you okay my lord?¡±


    ¡°Aashiq? You saved me.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s my duty my lord.¡±


    ¡°Oh my god, Aashiq, you¡¯re bleeding.¡± I saw Aashiq bleeding from his head. He probably has a concussion or something worse. What if he had a fracture on his skull?


    ¡°As long as your safe my lord.¡±


    ¡°No! Shit, what the hell is going on? Come on, get up, we need to get you some medical attention!¡±


    I lifted Aashiq up, but he stumbled and I caught him. He obviously couldn¡¯t stand on his own. I put his arm over my shoulder and


    did my best to get him out of here.


    Getting of here was actually really difficult to do while carrying an injured person and having huge birds dropping rocks that could immediately squash you. All in all, I was scared shitless.


    Either by luck or fate, we made it safely under a cliff where some supplies were and I was able to do a rough job of bandaging Aashiq¡¯s head and managed to stop the bleeding.


    ¡°Lay down here. It¡¯s dangerous.¡±


    ¡°Where are you going my lord? It¡¯s dangerous.¡±


    ¡°I need to find Adira.¡± I said as I headed back out of the cover of the cliff.


    The sounds of swords clashing and people screaming in pain was getting closer and closer. As I came out from the cliff, the rocks stopped falling. I look up and see that there are no longer any birds in the sky.


    *Puke*


    ¡°Gasp, gasp.¡±  I try to breathe but the sight of bodies crushed under boulders is an extremely unpleasant sight. Blood is seeping out of the crushed bodies and¡­ is that¡­ brain matter?


    *Puke*


    Okay¡­ I think that was my lunch. I think I¡¯m out of stuff to puke out.


    *Puke*


    Nope. Never mind, there goes my breakfast.


    ***


    ¡®Eww¡­ Grandpa! That¡¯s disgusting!¡¯


    ¡®Sorry, Lily, it¡¯s part of the story.¡¯


    ***


    Yup. Now I¡¯m sure that I¡¯m out of things in my stomach.


    I try my best not to step on any dead body or body parts or the blood. The stench is nauseating and I cover my nose with my sleeves.


    I find a knife of a fallen warrior and pick it up for protection. I see scorpions twitching in pain and I don¡¯t know what to do.


    I see survivors crying and panicking about. I see one child screaming and crying for their parents.


    ¡°Warriors! Stand! We will get revenge for our fallen!¡± Husseng who I¡¯m surprised to find is still alive, is on his contracted scorpion and he leads his group of men to the chief who was protected by the scorpion godbeast to receive orders or something. None of them were injured at all and they all looked perfectly calm.


    But I was worried for Adira and didn¡¯t pay much attention to them. I scan the crowd looking for Adira, but I can¡¯t find her anywhere.


    ¡°Chieftain Adar! It is in your and your tribe¡¯s best interest to surrender to the might of our Brown Hawk Tribe!¡± an unknown voice resounded throughout the canyon.


    Suddenly the huge hawks carrying warriors from their tribe descended and landed on the cliffs, overseeing us.


    A man that was riding on top of the largest brown hawk I have ever seen landed right in front of the chief. Well, all of the hawks were the largest I¡¯ve ever seen, they could all easily carry five people. But the one that was ridden by, who I assumed is the chief of their tribe, had the largest hawk. It was over 20 feet tall and its wingspan was over 30 feet.


    As they landed the wind blew all over and dust entered into my eyes and I started tearing up.


    ¡°Cassim, why have you attacked our tribe? We have no enmity with your tribe. What have we done wrong? Does your father, the chief of the Brown Hawk tribe know of this?¡±


    Well, it turns out that I was wrong. He is not the chief of their tribe.


    ¡°It is the will of our patron godbeast. He wishes to unify all the tribes of the desert with us reigning as sovereign. Surrender and


    we will make sure that no one will get hurt.¡±


    ¡°We will fight to the death!¡± the scorpion godbeast intervened and in the blink of an eye, one of her stingers aimed for the chief of the Brown Hawk Tribe.


    Her poison tip stinger was literally inches away from the son of the Brown Hawk Tribe¡¯s chief and his eyes widened in shock.


    ¡°Charge!¡± the chief of the Black Scorpion tribe yelled out and suddenly, scorpions came out from underground and they attacked the warriors of the Brown Hawk Tribe.


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    I finally stopped crying and I saw the battle ensuing around me. It was chaos. I just ran away from the battle. I knew that I would be useless because all of them were capable of using aura and I wasn¡¯t and I definitely didn¡¯t want to die in vain.


    ***


    ¡®Okay, Lily, I think that I should stop for now. It¡¯s late and you have to travel tomorrow.¡¯


    ¡®Aww, grandpa, come on. Don¡¯t do this to me¡­¡¯


    But grandpa ignored me and shut off all communication.


    I went to sleep pretty quickly, much to my surprise. Turns out I was more tired than I thought I was.


    The next morning I woke up to the smell of delicious bacon. At least I thought it was bacon and I heard Jacob and Ferbias


    speaking to each other.


    ¡°Yeah, in our world, we have amazing heroes such as H*rry Po*ter, who defeated the dark lord also known as ¡®he who shall not be named¡¯, and L*ke Skywalk*r who saved the galaxy from the other dark lord who turned out to be his father.¡±


    ¡°Amazing, they have done much service to your world.¡± said Ferbias in an incredibly serious tone that I couldn¡¯t help but giggle at.


    ¡°Oh, Lily, you¡¯re awake.¡± Jacob gave me a cheeky smile as I exited the tent and I also smiled back at him in return.


    ¡°What about you Dylan? You haven¡¯t spoken yet. What do you think is one of the greatest problems in our world today and who is your hero?¡± Lucas asked.


    ¡°Well, I think that we have a serious problem with overpopulation in our world. We have over 7 billion people living on our planet and the number is not stopping. That¡¯s why my heroes are Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Mao Zedong. I think that they did an incredible job in keeping the population low so that there are enough resources for everyone.¡±


    Jacob, Lucas and I stared at Dylan in awkward silence.


    ¡°So how did they solve the problem? Based on what you have said your world has a real big problem because of having too high of a population. Which, is opposite of ours.¡±


    ¡°Oh, you know, mass genocide, getting rid of hated peoples.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± Ferbias went silent.


    ¡°Hahaha! I was just joking guys. Hahaha! You should¡¯ve seen the looks on your faces. Haha!¡± Dylan bent over while grabbing his sides.


    While Jacob tried to force out a smile. ¡°Haha¡­ that was a good one, Dylan¡­¡±


    ¡°I know right?¡±


    After breakfast, we headed out and resumed our journey to Bear Mountain.


    During lunch, Jacob wanted to start a joke contest and eventually coaxed Dylan into participating.


    It turns out that Dylan has a very crude and nasty sense of humor. He kept on saying racist and obscene jokes like: How long does it take a black woman to take a shit?


    Nine months.


    Or Knock knock,


    Who¡¯s there?


    Allah.


    Allah who?


    Allah ackbar¡­ Boom!


    Or¡­


    How do black people pick up girls?


    Like cotton.


    Or¡­


    Where do Chinese people come from?


    The Vachina.


    Yeah¡­ I didn¡¯t really laugh at these. Lucas laughed at some and Jacob seemed outright disgusted.


    My grandpa on the other hand thought he was hilarious. ¡®Hahahaha¡­ This kid¡­ is a genius¡­ he¡¯s a lot better than that Lucas kid.¡¯


    ¡®Hmph. How can you like these jokes grandpa? They¡¯re horrible.¡¯


    ¡®You just have to wait for your sense of humor to mature Lily.¡¯


    Of course, Ferbias and the soldiers didn¡¯t understand these jokes.


    After that we continued our travels. I actually got a little bored and began walking alongside the wagon to get some exercise. Lucas joined me which I thought was sweet.


    Jacob was taking a nap and Dylan was doing his meditation thingy.


    ¡°This will turn out to be one helluva story huh?¡± said Lucas as he walked beside me.


    ¡°Yeah, can¡¯t believe I¡¯m saying this but¡­ I miss school.¡±


    ¡°Haha. Yeah¡­¡±


    We walked together wordlessly for a time when suddenly I feel something on my hand. It¡¯s another hand.


    Oh. My. God. Lucas. Is. Holding. My. Hand.


    I look at Lucas and he gives me a smile. I smile back.


    We walk for a while in silence and Dylan walks out and begins stretching. He sees us. Dylan stares at us for a while and he goes back into the wagon.


    Suddenly Jacob comes out of the wagon and stares at us. Then with a blank face he goes back in.


    ***


    Dylan POV


    Jacob comes back in the wagon and sits down with an expression of disbelief on his face.


    With a sigh I sit next to him and pat his back.


    ¡°Sigh¡­ it¡¯s okay dude. There¡¯s plenty of fish in the sea.¡±


    ¡°I¡­ I really liked her you know?¡±


    ¡°¡­ Yeah.¡±


    I personally didn¡¯t really know Jacob and Lucas that well and we couldn¡¯t really be considered friends because I mostly kept to myself during class and never associated with them in and out of school. The only reason that I¡¯m attempting to comfort him is because we are in the same boat right now of being in a different world and need to find a way home.


    But I knew that I definitely like Jacob more than Lucas. Lucas just kind of seemed very superficial to me for some reason. I don¡¯t really know why it¡¯s just a gut instinct.


    ¡°Hey Jacob, wanna become strong?¡±


    Jacob looked up.


    ¡°Huh?.... yeah!¡±


    Well that seemed to cheer him up.


    I began teaching him breathing exercises on how to control qi and take in from the air and circulate it through his body.


    He couldn¡¯t grasp it at first. It¡¯s difficult for all beginners, but he seemed determined and it took his mind off Lily so I thought it was a good thing.

 Chapter Twelve

    Chapter 12


    Today was a good day. Lucas and I held hands for the first time! Kyaa! I¡¯m so excited!


    When we settled down for lunch, Lucas sat next to me and we had a great time. Jacob seemed to be a gloomy mood when he saw Lucas and I sitting together and I knew that I was the reason why.


    I know that Jacob likes me and all that but I never really found him that attractive and I think that I was pretty obvious in telling him in subtle ways that even morons could understand that I wasn¡¯t interest in him.


    Dylan asked Mayor Ferbias a question while we were eating.


    ¡°So, is your country in some sort of war or something? Because I heard some of the guards yell, ¡°traitor!¡± when you were chasing the cloaked man.¡±


    ¡°Sigh¡­ yes, well, it¡¯s complicated. Our kingdom is over 800 years old and there have been good and bad monarchs. But the past three rulers were quite horrible and they treated the people unfairly and therefore, a rebellion occurred.


    The first rebellion was quickly squashed by the military but wasn¡¯t able to completely eradicate them. The ones that escaped got smarter and planned better the next time around and created a huge organization that became quite influential in politics and towards the citizens. They want to overthrow the monarchy and create some sort of system called democracy, where the people¡¯s voices are heard and want equality for all.


    But the current monarch right now is a righteous man. A true man that cares for the people unlike his predecessors. But by the time he came to power, the rebels became quite a force and ignited a second rebellion. Although unsuccessful, they still have quite the back from other countries and are still able to run their organization to overthrow the monarch.


    After the civil war there was an invasion from another country because they saw our weakness and wanted our resources.


    That was when I got involved in the war and helped fight back against the invaders.¡±


    ¡°General Ferbias is a true hero. He stopped an army of ten thousand with only one thousand men.¡± A soldier said with a look of fanaticism.


    ¡°Haha, you praise me too much Carson. Anyway,  I was a general for quite a while and made many military achievements. But I grew tired of the slaughter of man and retired from the army. Also, I got tired of the many assassination attempts on me and didn¡¯t want to live my life that way.


    Soon after I retired the enemy too grew tired of the war and a peace treaty was signed by both countries and the war ended.


    These soldiers were who are traveling with us are actually a couple of my subordinates who followed me from the war, for some reason, I don¡¯t know why, haha! Must be my manly charms! But nonetheless, they are all fine men!¡±


    That night, after dinner, I was too excited to go to sleep and kept on rolling around.


    ¡®Grandpa! Tell me your story!¡¯


    ¡®Sigh¡­ Lily¡­ I told you not to do this¡­ sigh¡­ You¡¯re too young to be in a relationship Lily. You¡¯re only 15 years old!¡¯


    ¡®Grandpa¡­ I asked for a story, not for you to give me relationship advice.¡¯


    ¡®Sigh¡­ this is why I never wanted daughters¡­ nor granddaughters¡­¡¯


    ¡®What!?¡¯


    ¡®Nothing¡­ sigh¡­ anyway¡­ where were we?


    ¡®You were being completely useless and screaming like a girl.¡¯ I retorted.


    ¡®That was very uncalled for Lily. Hmph. How rude. I should¡¯ve have raised you better.¡¯


    Grandpa¡¯s Memories


    ¡°Aah!¡±


    I heard a scream in the distance and it sounded familiar.


    ¡°Adira!¡± I heard the chieftain of the Black Scorpion Tribe.


    I halted. I looked back. I ran towards where I heard the scream.


    ¡°Umf!¡± I stumbled over a body and fell.


    *Whoosh* I heard something fly overhead.


    *Screech* Multiple large, brown hawks swarmed over the scorpion godbeast and the chief who was on her back.


    They scratched at them with their talons and the hawk riders shot arrows. But the arrows did nothing to the impenetrable armor of the scorpion and the talons only made some small dents.


    The scorpion godbeast¡¯s three stingers pierced through the hawks like lightning and many died. I saw brains and other matter erupt from the places where the stingers drilled holes through their bodies and I almost puked again.


    Those magnificent creatures were being slaughtered like pigs in the butcher house and the butcher is the scorpion godbeast.


    But then again, they were the ones that invaded, so I guess they kind of deserved it.


    I saw Adira unconscious about a dozen meters away from me and so I crawled and made my way towards her trying to be as inconspicuous as possible.


    A hawk almost fell on me as it crashed towards the ground but I guess I was lucky and it fell on the dead bodies next to me.


    I finally reached Adira after the time it took for half an incense stick to burn. I crawled up to her body and measured her pulse and her breathing. She was unconscious, but other than that everything was fine.


    After a couple of fails on trying to be inconspicuous and get her on my back without anyone noticing. I stopped caring and just slung her over my shoulder. Surprisingly she didn¡¯t weigh that much at all and her slim waist felt good on my hands but I managed to focus and quickly made my way to where I left Aashiq.


    The battle seemed to by dying down by then and there were heavy casualties on the Black Scorpion Tribe¡¯s side. Women, children, warriors, slaves and scorpions were killed. But the Brown Hawk tribe had many casualties also.


    The chief and scorpion godbeast were still slaughtering hawks and hawk riders left and right.


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    I saw Husseng run closer to the chief with his red aura activated and jumped up behind him with his sword in hand.


    ¡°Watch out!¡± I tried to scream as loud as I can but it was too late.


    *Stab* A sword pierced through the back of the chieftain and out of his front.


    It was at this moment that Adira chose to stir and wake up. I think it was because of my scream.


    She saw her father cough up blood and he was pierced by arrows from the hawk riders.


    ¡°No!¡± Her eyes widened in disbelief and just sat there looking at him. The chieftain was somehow able to notice her past the fighting and the fallen tribe members and stared back at her.


    He gave her a small smile and he closed his eyes and fell.


    At that point the scorpion godbeast began stridulating in anger. It seemed that it wasn¡¯t going all out while fighting them and she began to emit some sort of black, hazy mist from her body.


    Anything that touched it turned into dust and it spread everywhere. All of the hawks hawk riders disintegrated and their remains were just dust in the wind.


    But strangely enough it did nothing to the members of the black scorpion tribe. The Brown Hawk tribe members screamed in terror and they fled from the black mist, but it was too late for the majority of them and only a handful were able to flee on the backs of their hawks.


    We all stared at the scorpion godbeast and she transformed back into her human form. She walked towards Husseng whose face was half disintegrated by the black mist. All of his lackeys were gone, presumably reduced to dust and he had an expression of being absolutely terrified.


    ¡°Why have you betrayed your tribe?¡± the scorpion godbeast asked.


    ¡°Hehe¡­ ha¡­ hahaha!¡± Husseng began to laugh maniacally and was grasping for air. ¡°Do you have any idea what you have just done? You killed the first son of the chief of the Brown Hawk tribe! Now there will be irrevocable hatred towards our tribe!¡±


    ¡°You still have the face to call this your tribe? You are a traitor who killed your own chief. Why?¡±


    ¡°Do you have any idea how powerful their tribe is? This is only one of their many legions of hawk riders. They have thousands! I betrayed the tribe so that we could survive! They would have slaughtered us all!  Now it is too late to go back. They will come back and destroy us.¡±


    ¡°Your decision to betray the tribe is a serious crime and you will be punished. I shall consume your soul and sever your fate. You will no longer be bound by fate and will not be able to reincarnate.¡±


    As she said that she put her palm in front of his face and a white light emitted from his eyes and mouth and the white gas resisted her but was unable to do anything and was completely ejected from the body. As soon as that happened, Husseng¡¯s body slumped to the ground, unmoving.


    The scorpion godbeast brought his soul to her mouth and consumed it. Everyone was shuddered at what happened but they felt that he deserved it.


    I on the other hand was kind of freaking out. I am a Christian and believed in Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit. This completely shook the foundations of my belief. How in the world was she able to consume his soul? Reincarnation exists?


    ¡°Cremate the dead, prepare to migrate out of the desert. I need to rest.¡± The godbeast transformed and went back into her cave.


    She said she needed to rest and looked completely fine. But what I didn¡¯t know was that she was actually putting up a front and was extremely exhausted.


    What I would later find out was that she used up her divine essence, which is what makes her a godbeast and gives her, her demigod status. She used a large portion of that to save the rest of the members of the tribe and she would need a long time to recuperate.


    Adira was silently crying and I didn¡¯t know what to do. I put my arm around her shoulders and stood next to her in silence.


    By nightfall we had gathered the dead into one huge pile in the middle of the canyon before the cave of the godbeast and lit it on fire. Over 3,000 people died. The smell of over 3,000 people burning was not a good smell.


    Many were mourning for the dead, especially Adira. That night I didn¡¯t sleep well. I don¡¯t think anyone did.


    The next morning everyone woke up and got to work in preparing supplies for the migration out of the desert. We needed to work fast because Brown Hawk tribe has an advantage in terms of speed because they can fly.


    We began our trek by midday under the scorching hot sun. The shaman¡¯s apprentice Farfer showed remarkable leadership capabilities and now he is the one that is somewhat leading the tribe under the scorpion godbeast.


    I haven¡¯t talked to Adira the whole day. When I saw her I tried to cheer her up but she wouldn¡¯t respond and so I just decided to give her some space.


    ¡®Hey grandpa, sorry to interrupt but what about grandma?¡¯


    ¡®Oh, she¡¯ll come later in the story, waaaaaay later. Don¡¯t worry about it.¡¯


    It was been a week since our journey. Apparently it will take three months to get out of the desert and I was pretty sure that we were traveling at least 100 miles a day. The scorpions can go pretty fast and they don¡¯t need that much rest.


    Adira still hasn¡¯t been talking and I think she lost weight. I decided to focus much more on my training on getting stronger. I realized how pathetically useless I was during that battle and I hated feeling useless. Every time we rested I asked Aashiq or some other warrior that I was friendly with to spar with me and my skills slowly but surely improved.