Middle Earth
Nico stumbled through the shadows, he hadn't done a lot of travel in the months since the Giant war, so he was a bit out of practise.
Which of course had to take him to the wrong place. Perfect. Nico had no idea where he was, Will was going to kill him. It looked a bit like New Zealand. Fortunately there seemed to be a kind of castle-fort thing in a mountain up ahead.
Nico trudged towards it, the fort was embedded in the mountain, with a very thick looking wall around it. He was about three hundred metres before the wall when Nico heard an alarmed yell and an arrow whizzed towards him. Nico yelped and jumped aside, the arrow piercing the ground beside him.
A voice called out from the wall "State your name and business stranger, and better do it quickly, we have warriors in here". Nico frowned and tilted his head "I mean you no harm" he yelled "I just want to know where I am".
An armoured man appeared on the wall, he looked confused "You're at Helms Deep of course?" Then he seemed to realise Nico's age "It's a boy" he called to his comrades "Can't be older than thirteen" He turned to Nico again "Are you a refugee?" He asked concerned.
Nico furrowed his brows "No?" he asked "Why?". The man looked at him incredulously "Why?" He scoffed "We're in a war boy! How did you not know that?" Nico bit his lip "I'm not from here" he explained. The man looked torn "I'll go talk to my superiors" he told him.
Nico waited for a few minutes, until the man came back. This time he was with another man, as well a tall fair blonde guy and a really hairy short dude with an axe. The second man frowned down at Nico "Who are you?" He asked. "Nico" Nico called. The dude with the axe snorted "What sort of name is Nico?" He laughed. The blonde touched him on the shoulder "There is no need for discourtesy Gimli!" Nico glared at the short dude "Who names their kid Gimli?" He shouted "Where I come from, Nico is a perfectly acceptable name!" The dude hefted his axe
"Don't test me little boy!" Nico scoffed "Not much you can do about it" The second man lifted his hands "Silence! I asked who you were...Nico. Your name doesn't help me"
Nico frowned "All you need to know is that I'm not from here...Wherever 'here' is. And that apparently you are in a war, I can help with that" The blonde guy leaned over the edge, looking at Nico curiously "How could you help us? You are naught but a boy" Nico glared at him "I may be young, but I have seen things you could never dare to imagine" The hairy dude scoffed "I doubt that"
Nico clenched his fingers, and the air around them dropped about twenty degrees "Have you ever looked the pit of Hell? Have you ever seen the fields of Punishment? Have you seen the dead come back? And fight for you? Have you seen myths and legends and gods and giants and titans in the world and know they are your ancestors, your family, and your enemies all at once? Have you looked the God of Death himself in the eye, and have him regard you, as not quite an equal, but as near to that that one could ever get? Have you seen much more than that, so much you cannot even say what it is that you have seen? So much that you get nightmares every single night? Have you seen more than anyone else? Know more than anyone else? But be unable to use that knowledge to save your friends? To still watch them be cut down in battle, knowing that you could have saved them? But still know it is better you are silent, for those you know of, must never know of each other?" He shook his head at the flabbergasted men on the wall "I don't think so. And I can win this war for you"
The second man looked completely bemused "I think you'd better come in"