Chapter 1
My name is Sam. That's the only name I was given, wrapped in a bag in New York's back streets.
I was found by a leader of a, well what other people call a cult. A small group of people really dedicated to protecting the world from demons.
Sounds crazy huh. He taught me from the age of four to be the best magician in the world. He told me about the ancient times, about the realms that were so close and yet so far, about the ancient language that bound everything, and the tricks with magic and things I could do.
He gave me a satchel for my birthday, which could store infinity. Literally any number of things if the object fit in the satchel. He also told me about the stones of the realms and how they would transport people to other realms if people knew the correct rituals.
I had a pretty good life, I made friends along the way, lost friends, and saw so much. But in April a demon got out from a vault and killed all my friends, my family, my cult.
It poisoned the world until it was a burnt out husk, the people fighting for scraps of food whilst I looked for a way out to correct it. My life was already in tattered pieces and on my twentieth birthday, when I was making my way through an abandoned subway station I found something which would change my life even more, forever.
I was twenty, tall, bulky and with short black hair and pale skin. I probably looked like a Goth but since I stuck to tunnels and clouds mostly covered the sun I hadn't been out for about two years.
I walked down the tracks, balancing on the blackened rails whilst whistling to myself. I probed the area with my mind for the hundredth time in absolute boredom when suddenly I felt something faint. I stopped whistling and pulled out my Sten mark V, old fashioned I know but I found an ancient War Bunker from World War 2 with so many cartridges so I liked it.
I moved silently through the tunnel feeling uneasy and wanting too run. Definitely demons, I thought. I moved silently until I noticed a corner. I slid behind it and peeked. I saw a gigantic hole leading into god knows where. I moved forward slowly taking short quiet breaths. I descended into the hole and crept forward towards the pulsing red light. I appeared in a central chamber which was lit up by a red gemstone. I gasped when I first laid eyes on it. It was a realm stone, a thing that my father had told me he destroyed all seven of so many years ago but now one was here in front of me.
"Good day Sam" said a voice from behind me. I whirled around and saw him, the demon was bigger than most and had an army of undead behind him. He
Had a maniacal grin and grey skin with two beefy arms, one of which had a large blade sewn into the skin. He Smiled manically and nodded to the stone, "took me an entire year to find it and now a magician Is here I can destroy the world" he gazed off into the distance and I took the chance.
I raised my gun and fired a spray of bullets which pinged off his chest harmlessly. I threw up mental barriers to stop him getting into my mind and leapt across the room, foolishly missing the net he had cleverly placed.
I fell into his trap which closed on me and began to lightly shock me. I cried out in pain and looked up at him laughing at me. He moved the stone until it was facing me, I forgot about the pain and did the worst possible thing a person could do. I stared at it. I was entranced by it's intricate designs and patterns.
I reached through the net to touch it and as I did the gem exploded and I was flying. Yes that's right zooming up through the air, travelling through structures and desolate buildings. I looked down and saw I was a ghost like form. I looked down at the Earth that was getting very far away and saw nothing but an orange fireball tearing itself apart. I felt horrible. I was responsible for the destruction of the world as bad as it may have been. The demons had won. I wept as I watched as the I and my dead friends had worked to protect. I felt dizzy and tired so I decided to black out although I had no idea how considering I was some kind of ghost.
I woke up cold, the sound of something moving through some thick undergrowth. The thing cursed loudly and I heard a tripping noise and realised it was a human. I thought back to what had happened and did a very manly thing. I broke down and wept.
The moving stopped and I heard hushed whispers. Suddenly something large swept me up from where I was flying and for a second time I was flying through the air. I looked up but all I could see was blue, putting my grief as I tapped into my magic and spoke "Jierda".
The thing gave a mighty roar as I broke one of it's bones and it dropped me. I fell through the air and yelled Reisa.
I stopped and started to rise slowly I lowered myself down until I touched the floor. I got a Sten out of my satchel and scanned the skies for activity.
I saw an eagle circling the sky and decided to go find the people that I heard whispering. I ran through the forest probing with my mind, suddenly a force attacked me and I threw up barriers. I ran in it's direction. I came to a clearing in the forest and saw naught but plains. I looked ahead and saw two men running towards a small medieval looking village.
I sprinted up to catch them, slinging the Sten around my back. I caught up to them and they turned around to face me an old man grey hair and wise pulled a red sword out whilst a boy with chestnut hair and eyes to match about a year or so younger than me pulled a small knife from his belt.
"Excuse me I mean you no harm I am simply searching for answers" I said. "What kind of answers" asked the man, levelling the sword with my head. "My name is Sam" I began "If you've heard of magicians I am one and I come from a far away place that no longer exists" I finished with a wobbly voice.
Suddenly the pain I felt came rushing through my system again and I collapsed at it's emotional intensity.
I began to sob as I it played over and over in my head. I let a demon trap me. I destroyed the world. The old man put an arm on my shoulder. "I know of magicians, but what allegiance do you have?".
"I hold allegiance to the people" I told him, sniffling and getting wobbly to my feet. "If I can look at your mind then I will see what I can do" he said. I looked at him in surprise, "you have telepathy?". He nodded and I permitted him to search my mind. He focused for a minute and then his eyes went wide with wonder as he looked at me. "The things in your mind are incredible" he said. "I see nothing that can connect you to this land at all". "However you did break one of Saphira's legs and that gives us a reason to distrust you" said the old man. I looked at him in surprise "I didn't hurt anyone". "Just then the boy spoke up, "You hurt my dragon Saphira when she attacked you, also hurting me through are mental link".
I looked at the boy astounded "You're a rider" I said "my father told stories of one of the realms housing a weird set of creatures but dragons… wow".
"You can call this land Alagesia and you can call me Brom" said the man shaking my hand. "I'm Eragon" said the boy taking on a more pleasant look. "I'm sorry but I thought she was a demon". I broke down into sobs again and they both looked at me awkwardly. I controlled my sobbing and asked "where am I and why are you both armed in such a way". "I will tell you as we walk towards Utgard" he said nodding to the village.
So he told me of Alagesia and the riders, the Empire, Galbatorix and the Varden. Then he explained there situation and how they was hunting the Raz'ac.
I was surprised he was so open with me about his plans and what they had done. He finished and we reached a bridge where an annoying man asked him to pay passage. The old man paid him and I noticed he slit his money pouch on the right side of his belt. I passed by him and also slit his left pouch.
The man grinned and nodded to us whilst Eragon complained angrily to Brom. Brom showed the pouch and I threw in the other one. Brom looked at me and I said "He was a robber so". He chuckled and we walked to a stable. "Well thank you for all you have told me I said to them". "Where will you go now" asked Eragon. I honestly didn't know, I was still trying not to break into a million pieces over destroying my world and I had no friends here". "Brom looked at my gloomy expression and turned to Eragon.
They whispered among themselves for a minute before Eragon asked "would you like to join us"? I looked at the two of them and saw Eragon's hopeful expression. "I would be more than honoured". Eragon grinned and Brom failing to hold his blank expression had a smile on his lips as well. "welcome to the club". We all bought horses with the money we had collected which was virtually nothing now and departed. I had no idea what to do with a horse and looked at it in dumb confusion. The horse looked back at me, "what" I said, how should I know what to do. Eragon looked down at me from his mount and laughed.
"You put your foot on the stirrup and swing yourself on". I looked at the foothold and placed my foot on it. I swung myself up but with a little too much force and collapsed over the other side of the horse.
It neighed as if laughing at me whilst Brom was trying to maintain a strait face and Eragon giving no heed to being nice was in fits of hysterical laughter. I tried to stop my cheeks burning and tried again.
I succeeded but was facing the wrong way. Yet again more laughing and even Brom joined in this time. I manoeuvred myself into an upright position and held the reigns firmly. I made the horse trot and soon was following Brom and Eragon.
We travelled with them as Brom taught Eragon the basics in defending yourself with a sword. I snorted at the aspect of using a sword in battle. Brom looked at me "so how would you defend yourself without a sword". I unslung my Sten and showed it to Brom. "I could probably take ten men down in the span of a couple of seconds with this thing". Eragon snorted now "how would a metal pole kill ten men so quickly" he said chuckling. "I looked around and scanned the horizon.
I thought it was safe so targeted pigeon passing by. I fired and the pigeon fell. Not the only thing that fell my horse reared and bucked me off whilst the others horses skittered and whinnied. I got up and rubbed my rump as both Eragon and Brom calmed their horses whilst looking at me in awe. "How did you" began Brom but I shook m head "it's probably best you don't know, these things killed millions of my people before I destroyed…" I stopped there and staggered a few moments as I tried not to cry at destroying the world.
After a brief moment I got back on the horse barely and we continued on with our journey. Brom talked about dragon riders now and I listened on in fascination as he told me of their beauty and grace.
Night eventually came and we rode into the middle of the forest, I questioned why we had to detour instead of camping on the side of the road when large wind beats came in. "Brisinger, iet tauthr" I said and a fire came to life hovering above my head. It exposed the blue stony scales of an angry dragon and I yelped and fell off my horse for the third time that day.
Eragon laughed as he went over to pet his Dragon. I got up and looked at it in awe. Eragon turned to me and said "Sam may I introduce Saphira". I bowed awkwardly to the dragon and looked at her leg which looked to be at an odd angle. I guiltily stood up and Saphira spoke to me "hello annoying one, it seems we met under ill circumstances so I will forget the leg and say that if you betray us I will eat you". I gulped then said "If you wish I can heal you oh mighty dragon". Her attitude seemed to soften and she agreed. I looked at her leg and saw it was a fairly easy fix. "waise heil I muttered and the leg began to correct itself.
Saphira seemed to relax more and she thanked me tersely. I grinned and tied my horse to a tree. The others did the same and got things out to start setting up camp. I chuckled and fell where I lay onto the ground.
They looked over at me and Brom said "we do have a spare tent you know, you can have it". I laughed and sat up slightly, when you've slept in sewers and subways for a year you'll know that a forest is really nothing".
The two got a fire going while I pulled out my Sten and began to strip it down and clean it. Eragon looked at me and asked "what was the spell that put fire above your head?". "Brisinger" I told him and went back to cleaning my gun.
The other two got wood and I lit a fire for them. They got stew out and I looked over at it. They prepared it and gave me a bowl. Having not eaten properly since society had collapsed I ate the stew greedily. The other two looked at me with astonishment but I shrugged and said I was hungry.
Brom got to his feet and Eragon saw it as some kind of a signal and also stood. He grabbed a stick from the side of his pack and took up a defensive position. I looked on in curiosity I saw Brom pull two sticks out and throw one at me. "Defend yourself" he told me and lunged. I dived out of the way and was about to ask what he was doing when he swung at me again and I ducked. I saw he was testing me so grasping all the knowledge from a fencing lesson I'd had when I was nine I got into a defensive position as he attacked again.
I parried his blows and thanks to carrying my Sten for years the stick felt light in my hands. But the man was skilful and after three minutes he nicked me in the leg and my confidence wavered. He took advantage and hit me with some quick follow ups.
I stumbled and fell over as Eragon laughed from the sidelines. The smile was wiped off his face as Brom turned on him and hit him with a light jab in the side. "Don't get cocky boy".
Saphira rumbled in laughter as Eragon got up and got his ass whooped. I stood up to help and the whole thing ended with both of us lying down gasping for breath battered and bruised. Brom smirked and put his stick away. "I see you have had a lot of practice" he said. I looked at him indecorously and lay down and fell asleep. I woke up early and saw that everyone was still asleep. I got up and looked at then sunset with longing.
The sun was nice, the sun from my world was obscured by pollution and smoke so I never saw it much. Not that I even went to the surface because of the demons and creatures which overran the world.
I looked at Saphira and saw her sleeping. She was a magnificent creature with large wings and amazing fangs and blue eyes. I looked up and saw she was awake. She looked at me and yawned. "Morning, nice sunset". She looked at me and seemed to look directly into my eyes. I saw her staring into my soul and quite suddenly she looked at me in astonishment. I noticed and asked "what?". She looked at me and said "your eyes look like that of a dragon". I looked at her as if she was joking and found that she was serious.
"Well I guess it's just the light" I said aloud. The others woke and after Eragon exchanged brief words with Saphira she took off. We ate, packed up and got on the horses, I had more success this time.
We rode for most the day and the night played out much like the last with me being bruised and battered. Next day Brom announced we'd be arriving at Yazuac tomorrow and Eragon looked happy. "Why so happy I asked". "It mean we're a step closer to my uncles murderers".
He looked at me suddenly and said "do you have a family?". I looked at the sky and answered, "I was an orphan I had a person who took me in, taught me magic, I called him Father but other than that just friends. they're all dead though". Eragon looked at me with sympathy, "I too was an orphan and my uncle was like a Father to me".
We both looked over and saw that we had a lot more in common than I thought. We stopped for the night and Eragon got his ass whooped again along with me. Next day we rode towards Yazuac.
Brom continued to tutor Eragon and I kept to myself. We neared Yazuac and Brom noted no noise, dogs nothing but silence and crows. We entered the town and I saw a too familiar sight. I saw bodies and blood everywhere and a baby on a spike. A crow tried to fly to it but Eragon shot it, he then threw up and Brom patted him on the back. I got off my horse and looked at the tracks on the ground. My eyes widened in surprise and I shouted "Ride!".
But seven Urgals already appeared from the mound of bodies and ambushed us. Brom got knocked out and his horse sped away out of the village. The Urgals knocked Eragon off his horse and it followed Brom. The Urgals were going to kill Eragon when I shot them. I took down four before my gun jammed. "Crap" I said as Eragon ran down an alley.
I was going to follow when an Urgal charged me and knocked me down. He was stronger than me and was trying to choke me, I lost the battle and ended up with him holding me at his height my legs kicking uselessly. I reached for the Urgals belt and grabbed a dagger I cut his throat and he gurgled as blood dripped from his mouth and neck.
He dropped me to the ground and walked into a burning fire where he screamed, flailed and died. I got up and grabbed my gun. I continued down the alley hoping not to find Eragon dead. I found him with his bow in his hand and three dead, burnt Urgals. I looked at him questioning the bodies. He tried to say something but instead decided to collapse.
Just then Saphira turned up. "Where are they, I'll rip them to shreds!". "They're gone Saphira, what remains is bodies". She landed and looked at me "Thank you" she said. I looked back at her "Thank Eragon, I only killed five back down that alley". "Brom's horse ran out of the village" I'll go get them and bring them back can you carry Eragon out of the village?". "Yes" she replied. She took off with Eragon in her arms and I ran back to my horse and galloped after where Brom was last heading. I found the horses and guided them a couple of miles out of the city before making camp just inside a wood.
I healed Brom and told Saphira where I was. I looked at Eragon and immediately noticed he was drained of energy. "I think Eragon killed those Urgals with magic" I said. "But how would he learn the words?" asked Saphira.
"I may have taught him one" I said sheepishly. I cleaned my gun which I gave a very evil look at. "Why old friend do you jam when I need you most" I said like a parent scolding a child. Saphira looked at me quizzically before stating "you do realise you're talking to a bit of metal".
I looked at her and then at my gun. "When this thing saves your life every day you wonder why it betrays you".
She gave me another odd look before nestling down next to Eragon. I talked with Saphira for a while and eventually got on to the subject of my eyes again. "Why do you think my eyes look like that of a dragon?". "Because they do" she said. I looked at them through the reflection from my gun.
They did look a little bit more vibrant and colourful. Maybe the stone changed them I thought. We fell asleep and when I woke up I found Brom awake and talking to Eragon about magic. I got up and smiled at Eragon. "Looks like we have a junior magician in our mists" I said. I got an apple from my satchel and bit into it. I gasped in pain as I spat three of my teeth out onto the floor.
Eragon looked at me and worry but I signalled that it was fine. I opened my mouth and healed them to stop the bleeding and inspected the three tops of my teeth. They were gone but I felt little sharp points there in turn. I decided not to worry about this and thought the Urgal had hit me and I forgot about the pain.
I decided to look at it later. I looked over at Eragon as he asked Brom on magic. I gave some replies as well but mostly let the old man teach. "You must take this stone and practice with it" said Brom handing a stone that Eragon was supposed to levitate. I sighed as I watched Eragon repeat Stenr Reisa a couple of times in disappointment. We packed up camp and Saphira took off as we continued out journey this time towards Teirim to track Seihtr oil to a destination. Brom said he had a contact in the city so we kept riding for a couple of days.
We sparred and me and Brom taught Eragon magic whenever we could. Eragon learned quickly and soon the stone did rise after he repeated it enough. On the fourth and last night before we reached Teirim nearly all my teeth fell out which gave quite a horrible surprise. I had blood running down my face much to Eragon, Brom and Saphira's concern. I healed myself and felt inside my mouth.
There was many little points there and I though it was odd. I sounded odd when I spoke now but everyone was too worried to care that it sounded ridiculously funny. We woke the next day and rode towards the city. I felt nervous as it came into view and Brom and Eragon noticed this.
"What's wrong"? asked Brom. "Nothing" I said but for some reason every fibre of my being said I shouldn't go into that city. As we neared it Saphira told us that she would be on top of a craggy rock behind some trees and I wondered how she was all alone. As we came onto the main route towards the path I suggested " maybe I should stay with Saphira and keep her company. Brom looked at me quizzically but Eragon looked at me in delight and said "yes that would be good, but are you sure you won't miss the city?". Oh no I'll be fine I just don't have a good feeling about the city is all. We stopped and I gave my horse to them and walked in the direction of the rock. I climbed up the rock surprisingly fast and I noticed I was a little stronger than usual. Thinking it was all the horse riding I shrugged to myself and set off in the direction Saphira was resting. "Sam what are you doing here" she asked. "I wanted to keep you company plus my instinct told me not to go into the city" I said. "Since when do you have instinct" she asked.
I cocked my head slightly. I don't know" I said. I decided to let it go when I had an aching feeling in my back. I gasped at the pain and chose to sit down. I put my stuff down and tried to get rid of the back ache. I healed it but the pain seemed to get worse so I stopped. I don't know maybe I injured myself I muttered.
I decided to clean out my satchel so I opened it up and tipped everything out. First hundreds of ammo clips and weapons came out, then loads of medication, then odd magical items of no importance, some photos, demon teeth which I used to collect, some jewels and American money (which was pretty worthless now), a couple of odd bits and pieces, dust and for some reason a dead pigeon. Saphira looked at the gigantic pile of supplies, books and junk. I also looked at myself stranded in the middle of it all.
"Yeah I haven't really used this stuff since I was fifteen so". "You collect a lot of weird things" she said. I searched amongst the rubbish and found a fairly simple sword which I struggled to remember it's origins. I strapped it to my belt and packed everything of use back into the satchel.
I lit the rubbish on fire and watched it burn, dead pigeon and all. He pulled out a book on gardening and having absolutely no interest in the subject sat and looked at the pictures. Saphira noticed the pristine pictures but didn't say a word. He finished reading as it got late and saying good night to Saphira he fell into a deep slumber. I was in a dark place which suddenly swirled around me and made me feel sick. I looked up and saw a ladder.
I climbed it to the top where I found a staircase which went up to a gigantic metal door with carvings of dragons on it. It had numerous keyholes in it but I wasn't looking at that I just marvelled in it's design.
I heard a faint voice in my head, it seemed to say "The key is in your pocket boy". I put a hand in my pocket and sure enough found a key inside. I looked at the nearest keyhole and decided why not, after all it was only a dream. I turned the key in the lock and the minute it opened I gasped as my head filled with a voice of something old and wise. "About time boy, I thought you were going to stare at that damn key for eternity and more". I stumbled away from the door in surprise as silver runes lit up one side of it.
I looked around for the speaker but saw nobody, "I'm stuck in your head boy, where else could I be in your dream". I thought for a moment before asking "what are you?".
"I am the essence of the seventh gemstone which was a bridge to this world". "A bridge which that demon meddled with and caused you to accidentally destroy". "I didn't do anything but touch it though". "Indeed, but the stone had powerful magic to make sure nobody could touch it or else they would be destroyed, but that demon switched it so that whoever touched it would destroy the stone and that side of the bridge". "I am trapped inside your head now, my spirit having nowhere else to go, I rest behind this door in your mind, you must unlock it by finding the keys so I can get out and reconstruct the bridge"
"In doing this I can repair and reset your world and help you along the way". I frowned at him "how can you help me out?". "You'll see when you wake up but for now you must rest" he said. Suddenly I felt really tired… is that even possible in a dream. Anyway I fell asleep… again and had no dreams at all. I woke up really late because the sun was fully up now.
Saphira was nowhere to be seen so I figured I'd go explore a bit. I got up and stretched feeling strong and healthy like never before.
Surprisingly I was hungry so I opened my satchel and took out a piece of bread, as I bit into it I was shocked and surprised by two things. One I had teeth and two it tasted fowl and horrible. I spat out the bread and moved my hand over my mouth. I was stunned to feel the points of really sharp teeth. I noticed all my senses were tuned amazingly well, especially my sight. I ran towards a stream and looked at my reflection. My teeth were like nothing I had ever seen.
Sort of carnivores teeth. I found an apple in my bag and bit into it, same response as the bread it tasted fowl. Suddenly I noticed something in the trees. It was a white and fluffy bunny with blue eyes and a puffy tale. I licked my lips and was contemplating what it would taste like when I realized I wasn't thinking aww… it's cute, I was thinking on which limb I would tear out first.
I unslung my Sten and brought it up. I shot the bunny and it's brains blew all over a tree trunk :0 . I quickly ran to it and started to bite into it with my fangs whilst it was still raw.
I only just realized this when there was a leg left and I suddenly remembered that dream I had had. I thought of the essence of the gemstone and realized this is what he meant. If I could free him and he could at least give my world another chance then I might repent for accidentally destroying my world. I walked back to the camp and found Saphira licking her talons clean from a fresh kill.
"Hello" I said cheerfully. She looked lazily at me and her eyes went wide with shock "what happened" she exclaimed in worry. I frowned and then realize I was probably covered in bunny blood. "Oh… right, well the thing is I was attacked by a pack of wolves and killed them all and I had to bite one to free myself" I finished pathetically. She looked at me then asked "Why is their a rabbits tale hanging on your arm?".
I quickly flicked it away before answering "I don't know why but something is changing me into something else, I don't know what, it just said it would make me stronger". She looked
at me then asked "What is changing you?". I was going to respond when a voice in the back of my head told me "NO!". "I can't tell you" I said aloud. She looked hurt at first but then after I begged her to drop it we moved on with conversation. "So you only eat meat now?" she asked me.
"Guess I do I guess this mean I need to hunt for my food now" I said, giving her a toothy grin. She grinned back, bearing her fangs which seemed much more fearsome than mine.
At this time Eragon arrived and told us about Jeod and how he was going to learn to read. We talked for a while and I told Eragon about what had happened minus the finer details. He showed me some basic spells he was learning and I helped him in improving his technique. Eventually he had to go much to Saphira's displeasure. After he'd left Saphira seemed a little annoyed so I asked "what's the matter?".
Eragon is my Rider yet he shies away from flying with me like a newborn hatchling, it is so confusing". "He'll go eventually" I consoled. She seemed to straighten up a little and relax more after I'd said this.
We talked about a bunch of things and eventually we talked about Saphira from hatching to snatching me up when I'd first arrived in Alagesia, confused and dazed. "You had more respect when I wanted to eat you, what happened to oh mighty Dragon and Swift on?".
"I simply thought you didn't want to eat me anymore so I deemed it unnecessary". She opened her maw wide and exposed her teeth. "Don't count on it". We soon drifted off to sleep and I was once again plagued by the door except this time there was no voice.
Only me, stranded by the door till morning came.
