Chapter One: Translation
"Tyler Owens?" My mom called from downstairs. "Get your lazy bum down here right now!
"Coming mom!"
Heaving a sigh, I carefully inserted my reminder card in between the pages of the novel I had been reading: The Ruins of Gorlon by the amazing author John Flanagan. I owned the entire series and knew all the important characters by heart. I could even tell you about the unimportant ones that only appeared for a page or so. The Ranger's Apprentice series was my all-time favourite and I loved it. For some reason, I couldn't put the books down and had to read and reread the series all the time.
Sadly, mundane, every-day-life interfered with my escape from reality so it was with great reluctance that I set the book down on the small table beside my bed. My head was aching from reading so much and I hadn't had my afternoon coffee yet. If my mom had her way, I wouldn't be drinking the stuff at all but my dad didn't care. I was sixteen after all so he let me. He didn't like the fact that it was because all true Rangers loved coffee but who was he to stop me? I jotted down a note in my mental notepad to make a mug of that soon. I just had fifty-three words to read and I was done the tenth chapter.
In a matter of minutes, I left the room behind and padded softly and swiftly down the stairs. I slunk behind the banister like a wraith attempting to hide in the shadows like a Ranger. My older brother always scoffed at my training claiming it was a waste of time. Somehow, I didn't think so! Ignoring the messy living room I headed to the front door only a few feet away from the stairs to my room. The door was already open and a man of medium height was standing in front of me. He had a finely trimmed but rather long beard like Merlin or Gandalf the White but wore normal clothes which comprised of a grey and blue inform. A cap kind of like those ones cops wore was on his head. A pair of sharp blue eyes stared out at me from underneath two bushy eyebrows.
A package was tucked under his arm and he held a long, rectangular notebook in his arm opened to a page in the middle. It looked like some kind of checklist was scrawled on there. But either the handwriting was too messy or in another language since I couldn't understand a word of it.
"Are you Tyler Owens?" He asked not unkindly.
I had no idea who this man was so I was naturally a little on the suspicious side.
"Yes," I answered warily.
"If you'll sign right here then you'll get the prize you won for the Ranger's Apprentice Online Competition," The man replied with a smile.
Oh that! I had completely forgotten about it but some fan site offered a Ranger's Apprentice contest with prizes of all kinds. I filled in the questions they asked because I wanted something to do and thought nothing of winning. I had completely forgotten about it until now.
"Uh, sure!" I said.
I took the pen he offered me and scribbled my named into the blank square at the bottom of the column. The man watched me all the while making me feel uneasy as I gave him back the pen and accepted the package from him.
"Um, thanks, I guess," I told him.
"Don't thank me yet!" The man shot back with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. "You don't know what you're in for!"
With that, he turned around and left tucking the notebook under his arm and the pen in his ear muttering something about young people.
"What did he want?" My mom asked, sauntering back in the room with a bored expression.
"Nothing," I muttered.
I turned back to the street in front of our house one last time but the man had vanished. Feeling bewildered and uncertain for a reason I couldn't quite describe, I hiked up the steps back to my room to see what my prize was. All the while, the man's words played over and over again in my mind.
Once I arrived there, I shut the door behind me and locked it putting the 'do not disturb' sign outside. Holding the package in my hands I studied the name on the box to see if there were any hints about its contents. No such luck! Muttering under my breath, I sank into my armchair and began tearing away at the green and brown wrapping.
Finally, a cardboard box appeared from underneath its camouflage. Ignoring the pent-up frustration, I opened the box and stared down in disappointment. All the prize box contained was as stupid panpipe and something that looked like the handle of a flashlight but with a few extra buttons on it. There was a piece of paper in it too. Gritting my teeth, I picked up the flashlight handle and studied it.
The thing was five inches long and three inches across. In the middle of the front side there were several different buttons all with different letters on it in a strange language. They looked kind of like runes from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-Earth which I found very strange. I picked up the odd contraption and pressed a button experimentally. All of a sudden, a thin and piercing-sharp blade shot out from the top of it giving it the appearance of a Samurai sword. Yelping with fright, I dropped the thing and just sat there in shock and surprise. Naturally, my first feelings were of alarm but then of awe and wonder.
I snatched it up again and pressed all the other buttons. To my surprise, the thing changed as everyone was pressed to become a new and different weapon. One was a sword handle with two blades. Another was a claymore. Another was a typical long-sword. Another was a longbow often spoken of in Ranger's Apprentice and there were many more even a battle axe. I could not believe my eyes. Finally, I found the 'switch off' button and it returned to its normal shape and size.
Forcing myself to breath normally, I held the contraption in one hand and picked up the flute in the other. It looked like your typical, authentic panpipe made from teak wood with a row of flutes ranging from tallest to shortest in a downwards slant. If the flashlight thing could do so many wonders, I found myself wondering what the panpipe could do. Holding the panpipe with two hands while still holding the weird but cool contraption, I pressed the panpipe to my lips and began to play. Instantly, a soft melodious sound appeared
Oddly enough, it didn't seem to come from the panpipe itself but from somewhere else. Feeling slightly scared but nonetheless intrigued, I continued playing and closed my eyes to 'feel' the music. Strangely enough, a soft, warm glow began to creep over me and I cracked my eyelids open to see what was going on. I froze in astonishment but the flute kept on playing, for my surroundings were changing. The walls, floor, and ceiling of my messy room were fading away like old, dry skin peeling back and being cast aside. A foggy, eerie mist took its place blanketing the entire room in a soft, wintery feel.
No words could tell how surprised, shocked, scared, and excited I was when the mist parted to reveal a dark and stormy sky. Rain lashed the earth and lightning stabbed the grass bellow. Off in the distance thunder rumbled. The panpipe kept on playing heedless to the mass chaos going on bellow. My mind reeled as I realized what was going on – It was a battle scene!
There was a valley down bellow snuggled in between a thick forest of evergreens and backed behind me by grey, rugged mountains. In the valley I could see grey things moving about and clashes of colour mostly red. The figures, I realized, were people. At an agonizing slow pace, I began floating downwards to the rain-soaked valley. As I neared it, it became plainly obvious that a pitched battle more like a melee was taking place. Two main armies were fighting against each other like something out of a Braveheart movie. It was havoc that made my stomach turn upside down!
Gradually, I stopped floating from a distance far enough so that the people bellow couldn't see me but that I could see them. One army was made up of humans with a large number of them on horses. There were all sorts of soldiers but most were fighting with swords or pikes. Archers were too the back constantly cutting down wave after wave of opposition. Luckily for me, I was above the line of fire. After a time of deafening warfare, the fighting ground to a halt and the other army made up of sickening things that looked like Orcs or something ceased their charge from the grey mountains. The army began to divide in two halves and a path was formed. A group of human-looking soldiers made their way through the parting.
"Come face me Duncan!" A voice cried. "Or are you too cowardly to do so?"
The voice, I realized, came from a man in the middle of the group that had stepped forward. There was a short while of silence that left my mind racing. That name sounded so familiar! Where had I heard it? Duncan. Duncan. Duncan. Duncan? King Duncan? The King Duncan from Ranger's Apprentice? No! That couldn't be. There were no goblins in Araluen. There were Wargals and Karkara but those were different.
"I thought so, bastard!" The same voice bellowed. "You are too cowardly to even fight with your army let alone face your archenemy head on. You – "
A lone arrow shot out from somewhere in the front landing smack in between the man's legs. The human army burst into laughter and I chuckled a bit as I imagined the look of shock and arrogance on the man's face. He clearly wasn't a pleasant character.
"You have no right to demand my presence, Mortimer," A deep voice boomed across the battle field.
I found myself wondering how these guys could talk so loud. And who was Mortimer? I never heard of him in Ranger's Apprentice, if this was even the world of Araluen at all! What in the world was going on here?
"What are you talking about?" Mortimer growled. "I have every right..."
"You have no right at all!" The previous voice assumingly belonging to Duncan roared in anger. "You lost that right thirty years ago when you betrayed your king and country. Now the fate of Araluen hangs in the balance for your misdeeds. Why, Mortimer, why? Why did you betray me when I valued your advice more than anyone?"
My heart beat faster and faster. So this was the world of Ranger's Apprentice and I was in Araluen! But how could that be? I lived in Exeter in the UK and magic like this didn't exist. Was I dreaming? No. It was far too real to be a dream. I could feel the rain pounding on my skin and see the lightning lashing past me. Far too real indeed!
"Well you didn't value it enough!" Mortimer howled.
So saying, he charged catching Duncan off guard. The two fought like madmen for what seemed like an eternity as the two armies remained frozen, watching and waiting with bated breath. Time seemed to slow. All of a sudden, one of them slipped and the other gave a fierce cry of triumph. He planted his foot on the fallen man's chest and I could tell by his obvious proud bearing that it was this Mortimer person. He lifted something that was probably a sword into the air.
"You see Araluen?" He cried. "This is what happens when you rob Mortimer of what is rightfully his, of his inheritance."
The human army and myself watched in sheer horror as Mortimer slashed his sword downwards for the killing blow. He never finished it. Seconds later, a terrific bang rocked the valley causing many a soldier and creature to cry out in terror. All eyes turned upwards as a brilliant, white light lit up the sky. Everything that happened next flashed by so fast. It was unreal. One moment I was still hanging in limbo and the next I was zooming down faster than the speed of light. There was a noise like a thunder clap as I collided with Mortimer who stood above Duncan, mouth agape.
Something moved within me, propelling me into action and I clicked a random button on the flashlight contraption still in my hand. In a blinding flourish of speed and motion, I lashed out, and in one clean slice, lopped off Mortimer's head. Fresh blood splashed everywhere but I didn't care. I was too stunned to think! Somehow, I found myself holding the sword pointed outwards and a voice not of my own burst forth from my lungs.
"You see, Nightlings?" I bellowed. "You see? This is what happens to a traitor of Araluen! Surrender now or suffer the same fate!"
A few of the creatures who were supposedly Nightlings fell to their knees but most did the only natural thing an opposing army would do – they ran. They ran like the wind back to the grey mountains even as the last raindrop hit the earth. The last of the panpipe's music lingered in my ears as the cheering began. Yet none of that had any effect on me as surprise and culture shock kicked in. I promptly fainted but not before the words of that old delivery man sprung to mind.
"Don't thank me yet!" He had said with an almost crafty smile. "You don't know what you're in for!"
Then everything went black.