《The Traveller》 Chapter 1 : ORIGIN ¡°Have you ever wondered about travelling through time? Maybe through dreams? Not only yours¡¯ dreams but also dreams that are born in the mind of the others. Have you ever imagined teleportation to other planets, universes or even dimensions? Well I didn¡¯t. To be honest, I¡¯ve just realised about it. But I don¡¯t travel neither through time, nor dreams, nor universes. But I¡¯ll tell you later about it. I think you still don¡¯t know me. I¡¯m sure you don¡¯t, because I didn¡¯t know myself either till few minutes ago. I am the Traveller. I have no name, I have no origin, I just exist. I don¡¯t know my parents, nor where I came from. I don¡¯t even know how I look. Never seen myself in a mirror, never seen my reflection. I still don¡¯t know why it is. I just know my voice and how people talk about me. Whenever I asked about myself while travelling, people refer to me as blonde. Usually they would say that I¡¯m tall and slim, blond hair which would be longer and fully covering my ears. What do I do you ask? Why am I the traveller? Well I can travel through realm. There are 9 realms in total. North Gods realm known as Valhalla, East Gods realm know as Heaven, Devils realm known as Hell, Western Gods realm known as Stars. In between these Gods realms there are 5 other realms that I still didn¡¯t mention. Human realm, Fallen angel realm, Spirit realm, Demon realm and the abyss. While I travel through these realms, I don¡¯t loose my personality, but I loose my memory. At the moment I decided to stay in the human realm, because of the accident. I know you might not believe me, but I¡¯m not lying. I¡¯ll try to inform you on every step I make in order to help humanity. I know that this is just a post in a forum for religious conspiracy theorists, but I want to be heard out.¡± The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.April 27th 2023 Arthur ends reading the post. He looks down to the book on the table. It¡¯s named ¡°The holy sword¡±, it was a gift for his 17th birthday from his mother. Now, one year has passed and he is finally 18 years old. The age, where boy finally starts to live and breathe fresh new air, but he was sad. He was alone. His father died in the army, in a war between Germany and United Kingdom, now known as Holy Victoria. Mother? His mother left him 2 weeks ago. Her last words were ¡°Just rot you little piece of shit, I finally found a man and you will not take him away from me, like you did with the others. Here. Have some money and die already! I hate you! I never wanted you to be born¡±. Those words were devastating to him. He lost his hope to live, to survive and his final exams were coming in one month. He had enough money to stock up food for 1 week. Arthur sighs and starts thinking out loud : - What a mess, - looks at the screen ¨C I wonder if this is true¡­ What if it is? Maybe I could meet him? Maybe I could ask him what to do? Maybe he would show me new life? ¨C Arthur stands up from is chair at gets ready to go to school. He dresses up in his school uniform. Light brown pants, whit short sleeved shirt, light brown tie with dark brown stripes, and red sneakers with black laces. Takes his black backpack full of books and leaves for his school. Chapter 2: SCHOOL On his way to school, Arthur decided to go to the local store, that doesn¡¯t really sell much. He looked around. He could see bottles of booz, beer and wine, chips, cookies and more food that is not healthy though very tasty. He went up to the cashier and asked for a pack of cigarettes. Though he smoked for 3 years, today was the first time, he could buy the poison legally since it is his 18th birthday today. He walked out, took out one cig, light it up and on his way he smoked it. Though he didn¡¯t like the taste, nor the smell, he found smoking as a process that helps him relax and calm down. While smoking he had a thought. ¡°Maybe the traveller is real? Maybe it¡¯s not just a forum hoax?¡± On these thoughts he saw 3 boys from his class. They came up to him : - Hey there, blonde, - said the fat one,- give me some smoke, or do you wanna get it? ¨C and he showed his fist. - Fuck off, James, go buy some, you little shit! ¨C said Arthur in anger. After these words, the next thing Arthur remembered was standing by the school doors, looking up to the principal¡¯s office window. His nose was bleeding and so were his fists and eyebrow. Classmates were always bullying him, because of his hair colour. He was the only blond guy in school and had a german feel to himself. ¡°Oh, how I wanna make em pay¡­. Those little shitheads don¡¯t deserve to walk free, I will make em pay¡­. If not today, then tomorrow , if not this week, then next week, if not this year, next year, but they will pay¡±, those were his only thoughts. He finally opened the main door to school and went to his class. Like always the last table near the window was full of trash. ¡°It¡¯s them again¡±, he threw the trash down and sat down. A girl walked to him. Her name was Sarah. Long red hair, dyed like it has to be. Maybe that¡¯s why they shine so much. Tall, about 175 cm. Pure face, no bad habits and the best student in class. Her body was saying ¡°I¡¯m young and pretty why don¡¯t you fall for me¡±. Arthur looked at her and smiled: - Hey, Sarah. - Hi, Arthur. Did it happen again? - You mean this? ¨C he showed at his bloody face ¨C doesn¡¯t matter. There were three of em. The pig, slug and stinky. Well stinky managed to escape, but fatso and slug had it. Maybe they are still lying on the ground, near the store, but I¡­.. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.- YOU DID IT AGAIN DIDN¡¯T YOU? ¨C Sarah shouted at Arthur- HOW MANY TIMES¡­. How many times I asked you not to involve in fights¡­ how many? How many times I have to say I love you, so you could finally stop fighting? I don¡¯t want see you get hurt and I don¡¯t want you to be in trouble¡­. CAN YOU JUST LISTEN TO ME FOR ONCE? - I can¡¯t help it and I¡¯m sorry. ¨C he looks down away from her because he feels ashamed ¨C I can¡¯t love you back the way you want to¡­ I¡¯m sorry. Sarah smiles in pain. It was the first time she heard words like that from him. Of course they weren¡¯t a couple, but she had a crush on him since 5th grade. - OK. If you want it this way¡­. Ok¡­ - she puts down a wrapped box on his table ¨C Happy Birthday, Arthur. ¨C and she runs away from class in tears. Arthur takes the box. Unwraps it and sees a picture of them together on a sports festival, holding hands and laughing with sincere smiles, loving the moment and looking with eyes which are saying that that was one of the best times in their lives. There was also a letter. He put it in his backpack and got ready for math class. The day at school was same as usually, couple of fights against bullies, couple of cigarettes and couple of coffee cups. At the beginning of last class ¨C history, he looked through the window and he couldn¡¯t believe his eyes. There was a person. An identical copy of him, just walking around school. Then he noticed that Sarah was outside too, talking to the imposter. He looked around the class. Sarah was not in her seat. He looked back to the stranger, and he felt pain. He saw them holding hands, both of them smiling and laughing. Sarah seemed happy, Arthur was in pain ¡®cause he might have lost a person that believed in him to¡­. Himself? And an imposter was grinning with an evil smirk on his face. ¡°Who is he? And why the fuck he looks like¡­ me?¡± Chapter 3: LOSS Arthur couldn¡¯t take it, he couldn¡¯t just sit in class and watch Sarah being taken away from him. Although he told her that he doesn¡¯t love her, he was lying. He was lying to protect her, he didn¡¯t want other people to bully her because of him, he wanted to protect her and be with her. Arthur stood up in the middle of his class, didn¡¯t pay attention to the teacher yelling at him, to come back to his seat, didn¡¯t care about other schoolmates looking at him. He ran out with his backpack on his left shoulder to the school yard, where the new born couple was standing. He saw the imposter holding Sarah in his arms, kissing her sweet pure lips, that haven¡¯t been kissed before. He ran to the imposter and punched him in the face as hard as he could. - Arthur? ¨C gasped Sarah.- But I thought you were¡­. ¨C she looked back at the imposter holding her and yelled from the top of her lungs. The creature holding her was not Arthur. What they saw was a yellow eyed, red skin creature with sharp horns, about 5 cm long on his head. His whole head was bald, also he had no beard. The smile was frightening, it had sharp teeth like a vicious wolf and a furry tail. His long nails where inside her arms which were bleeding now. - Who the fuck are you? Or should I ask, what the fucked are you?! ¨C Arthur shouted at a demonic creature. - Well puny human, I am Lord Maximus, leader of the Aalgathus of the demon tribe which is rising to become the leading tribe of the demon realm, and what we need is a human sacrifice which was born in the mid realm, just like you. Arthur couldn¡¯t hold his anger anymore. He started punching the demon with all his strength, kicking his legs with everything he had, but it seemed it had no effect. - Watching you struggle makes me laugh, weakling, now bow before your new master, - and he used a demonic spell on him, without any words spoken, bringing Arthur to his knees, - Now watch me devour your little girlfriend and making her my bride. ¡°No! NO! NOOOOO!!!¡±, the words were just sliding through his head, Arthur couldn¡¯t understand what is going on, he tried to break free, but every effort he put up was useless. At that moment, Sarah started smiling. - So it finally comes to this¡­. On these words Maximus started extracting her soul from the body. It went up right to his mouth and was gone. What was left, was just an empty body of Arthurs one and only love. The sight of seeing it was unbearable, Arthur lost conciseness. When he finally woke up, he was holding an empty body in his left arm, and the tail of the demon in his right arm. He didn¡¯t know what or how it happened, all he knew, he needed help. Though he was lost in his mind because of this incident, the only name came to his mind, the only solution for help he could find was ¨C The Traveller. He looked around. He was still standing in the same school yard but it was dark, the night had already settled in upon the sky. While holding his love and the tail in his arm he ran back home, turned on his PC, went to the forums that he was the moderator of and found The Travellers profile ID. There was still only one message from him on the forums, but he was his only hope, since he knew about the demon realm. He clicked on PM and started to write a help asking letter. ¡°Traveller I know this will sound odd, but I need you. You said you knew about travelling through realms. I fought a demon today, he said that he is some kind of a Lord in his realm, by the name of Maximus. Also he has a tribe that tries to conquer the demon realm, I just can¡¯t remember it¡¯s name. Please I need you¡­ I need your help. Please. He stole the soul of the woman I love and I need to get it back. I¡¯m scared. I don¡¯t know what is real now¡­. Please reply to me. I have lost conciseness when he binded me and made me to kneel before him. When I woke up I found his tail in my right arm and my¡­ my girlfriends body in my left arm, though there was no sign of him. HELP ME! I BEG YOU! Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.Arthas¡± He looked down from the monitor. His room was still the same. Messy, dusty, but the body of Sarah was in his bed while the tail was on his desk, right by the book he had as a gift from mom. He looked down to his backpack. The photo of him and Sarah was still there, and an unopened envelope too. Arthur opened the envelope and there was a letter. ¡° Dear Arthur, Happy 18th birthday. I wish I could tell you how nervous I am writing this letter to you. I already told you that I loved you since 5th grade, but now it¡¯s 12th and you still don¡¯t love me back. I hope this photo I gave you will remind you of the lovely times we had together, though you saw me as a friend, even though I told you how I told you how I feel about you, but it seems you think it¡¯s just a joke or something. I wish that we could spend much more time together, I wish that everyone would stop looking at you in a bad way, I wish¡­. I wish to see you smile and tell me that you love me. Please don¡¯t leave me alone after this birthday cause I need you in my life ever since 5th grade and you know why. Don¡¯t want to repeat myself. Oh and by the way, I have a special gift for you today before history class, cause I know how boring you find it to be. Meet me in the school yard today. I will be waiting for you Lots of love, Sarah¡± Arthur finished reading the letter. He started crying. He felt pain and sorrow. ¡°WHY? Why? Why¡­¡± went through his head. All he could think about was loosing Sarah for the rest of his life. It was a loss that he would regret for the rest of his life. And at that very moment he heard a signal, that he had received a new PM. ¡°Hello, Arthas, Could you tell me your real name, and where you are? Just so happens to be, I have no memory of other realms, but there is still hope. I was always writing a diary, since I forget everything when I travel through realms. The weird part is, I¡¯m the only one in whole history of travellers who looses his memory while travelling. It¡¯s very hard to keep my sanity, but I am willing to help you and I¡¯m not really sure why. Maybe you are the only person, who believes me in this whole messed up world, but how about a meet up? If my locators show correct info, I¡¯ll be by your school in 5 minutes. I¡¯ll fill you up with all information I can and help when we meet up. See you there. The Traveller¡± ¡°So it finally comes to this. I¡¯ll meet him and find out the truth about this world.¡± Right after reading that message Arthur rushed out of his apartment, and ran as fast as he could to his school. When he finally got there, he saw a normal person around of 23 years old age standing and looking at him, while smoking the same cigarettes as Arthur does. The facial expressions were also almost identical, except for the scars on the face. Even their height was the same. Body build was also almost the same. Arthur just stands and watches him silently. Could it be another demon? Chapter 4: EXPLANATIONS The standing figure walked up to Arthur. He smiled: - Hey, there,- said the stranger with smile,- Are you Arthas? Well if you are, then I am The Traveller. I hope you are him, since I don¡¯t want to cause trouble. - Yes I am. Let me explain everything what happened to me with that demon. After those words Arthur told The Traveller every detail about his confrontation with Maximus. - Well your situation is interesting, but what do you want from me? - I want you to tell me how to get to the demon realm and everything about it,- honestly answered Arthur,- can you do it for me? - Well it will be easy to get there, but it¡¯s no good. I know that you are mid realmer, you have the ability to cross realms if you want, but I must warn you - they, demons and especially Maximus will try to kill you, you don¡¯t have any---- - I DON¡¯T CARE!- shouted Arthur,- I must get her soul back, if there¡¯s at least 1 percent chance to succeed, I will do it no matter the cost. - Fine. I¡¯ll tell you how to get there. First of all you need something that is connected to the other realm. That¡¯s not a problem since you have Maximuses tail. It is your ticket to their realm. The other thing you need is a ritual where you have to sacrifice something that belongs to you. After you do it, you should be there. In order to get to the demon realm, you have to sacrifice one litre of your blood. So keep in mind that you will be weakened when you get there and you don¡¯t have any training, so you don¡¯t have any chance of survival there, I¡¯m not even talking about getting the soul of Sarah back. - Thanks¡­- whispered Arthur. - So now, Arthas, I have my diary here about being in Demon realm,- The Traveller showed him a small book,- I think you¡¯ll need it. - I guess so¡­ Would you mind coming to my place? It¡¯s not far from here. - Sure, why not, if you trust me of course. - Ok, let¡¯s go. ¨C they started walking to Arthurs place,- And by the way, call me Arthur, it¡¯s my real name. - Well you¡¯re not original at creating names,- laughed the mysterious traveller. Not so long after they reached the apartment where Arthur lived. - Coffee or tea? ¨C Arthur asked. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. - I¡¯d prefer tea. Arthur made some tea and put it on the book, that he had as a gift from his mother. - Could you hand me that diary of yours? - Sure. ¨C the Traveller handed him his diary and took the cup of tea. He read the name of the book. He stood up so fast that he spilled the tea all over the old dusty carpet.- YOU HAVE THE BOOK OF THE HOLY SWORD? ¨C yelled from amazement,- Do you know what it is? - Well, not really, since I had never even opened it before. What¡¯s wrong? - This is not just a book. This is your chance of success. This is not a book. If you truly are a mid realmer, this is your greatest weapon at the moment. - What do you mean by saying it¡¯s a weapon? - Just open it.- persisted the Traveller. Arthur opened the book. There was written ¡°Amino no querittto¡±. Since whenever Arthur would be reading something, he would be whispering the words of the book outloud. That exact moment the book that he was holding in his right hand transformed into bright white light that made Arthur close his eyes since they started to burn from the energy of the light. Once he opened his eyes, he saw a snow white katana with ¡°Amino no querittto¡± written on the blade in golden letters. - WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS? ¨C jumped Arthur and dropped the sword on the ground. - This is your greatest weapon. I have a few of them myself, but this one¡­. This one is legendary. It was forged in heaven, and few angels visiting human realm lost it. It¡¯s the strongest sword so far, which only opens to the mid realmers with kind hard and sense of justice. You can take revenge with it and get your girlfriends soul back with it. Now all you need is training in sword combat and you will have about 15 percent of success in your mission. Would you mind if I would train you to reach your goal, and explain my whole diary about demon realm to you? It is your destiny. This cannot be just a coincidence, you must become my apprentice. You must become the next traveller! ------------------------------------END OF CHAPTER 4-------------------------------------- Dear readers, this is Tryndeze. I hope you enjoy my work, but I want to improve and make it better, so I¡¯d like to hear all the good and bad points about my writing style and also about the eye enjoinment of reading it. By eye enjoinment I mean, the structure of spaces between words and paragraphs and dialogues. Chapter 5 will take a longer time to make so if you are hungry for continuation of the story please be patient. Yours truly, Tryndeze