"It's my birthday, and I'm the one getting coffee?" I teased over the phone installed in my car. I was driving over to a world meeting, with two Tim Hortons coffees in the cup holders, one for me, and my boyfriend Carlos. Gilbert also begged for me to get him one of those maple donuts, and he's as persistent in begging as Alfred, though I at least trust Gilbert to pay me back. Carlos laughed apologetically over the line.
"I know I know, though trust me, I'll make it up to you tonight, you'll forget all about this!"
"You've been awfully vague about this surprise," I said teasingly. "Should I be preparing myself for something special, or are you gonna handle that?~"
"Well," he said, and you could hear him blushing through the speaker, "that might just be the product of this surprise, but we'll see~" We laughed at our unprofessionalism in a work environment. "Anyways," he said, and I waited for him to finish. But I didn't hear anything.
What I felt though, was dizzy. I've had vertigo before, but this hit me heavier than a plane. My vision went from clear to blurry to growing spots of dark blue and purple and black, and I tried to break but I fumbled and just went faster. I flung the wheel to the right and turned into the meeting building's parking lot but my feet were off the pedals and I couldn't break and I saw the stone sign for the building right in front of me coming closer and-
And then my vision went black for a moment, and then I woke up. And I was on the ground. I was staring up, trees in a circle around me. I only remembered passing out and I think crashing my car? But the moment was a little fuzzy. I sat up carefully, not making any sudden movements, but learned quickly with relief that none of my bones were broken. Actually, it was a little bit worrying at how much pain I wasn't in. But the silence was rudely interrupted by a bolt of something hitting into the grass beside me.
"Aw shoot! Missed 'im!" I heard a very southern voice yell. Turning myself around startled, I saw a young man jump out of a very old-west styled wagon, followed by a crew of about 8 others. A grizzled man in his 60's sporting a very bushy, beard, and an equally grizzled and southern voice yelled at the young man.
"I told you no wild shootin, boy!"
"Whatever old man, you can't tell me how to use my own wand!"
"I gave you that wand! I made that very wand with my own old hands!"
"I wanna fight too!" Said a young boy, with ginger hair, and face covered in freckles, though he had some resembelence to the old man. Maybe a grandson. This southern accent seemed to be a reoccurring theme. He was also wearing a big floppy wizard's hat.
"No!" Both the young and old men yelled, and the young boy sunk backwards, pouting.
"Fine!" The young boy yelled back, and then started walking towards me.
"Lijal! You can't just walk to potential threats!" Yelled the young man.
"Oh, I say let him go," spoke up another older man, also sporting a bushy beard, with some kind of accent, though the closest thing I could really place it to was Russian, but only barely. "He's magically capable enough to defend himself,"
"Thank ya', Ervil!" Lijal said cheerfully, taking out a small wand, and when Lijal reached me, instead of pointing the wand at me, he reached out a hand, offering to help me up. "You don't look that nasty, what's yer name, stranger? I'm Lijal!"
"... Matthew," I said, taking his hand, and standing up. "So, you guys.. Travellers?"
"We're adventurers!" Lijal exclaimed, and then was pulled back by a kind looking older woman.
"Don't go pestering the handsome young man, Lijal," she said. She spoke calmly with no accent, but if voices had an aftertaste, then this woman's was flirty. "You know you're here because Yanmar is getting too old for adventuring."
"I know I know, but we never meet anyone but gerblin's and other nasty folks out here!" Lijal was very excited.
"Don't worry, I don't think I'm capable of hurting any of you," I said.
"Well sure you are!" Lijal exclaimed. "Look at yer fancy wand! That oughta do some damage!" Confused, I looked down at myself, and discovered something very, very strange.
Over an old-styled suit, I found myself wearing a large poncho, one I somehow hadn't noticed before. On my belt was a hostler, where I pulled out indeed, a very fancy looking wand. It was white oak, and at the tip it branched into a circle, and within was small glowing threads, all holding onto a blue jewel that was placed in the middle.
"What the ffffffff,,," I stopped myself in front of Lijal.
"It's alright there sir! I know lotsa swears thanks to gramps!"
"Swears you shouldn't be saying, Lijal," the older woman interrupted. She turned back to me. "Sorry for interrupting your meditation, sir Matthew, I've heard how you elvish folk like your quiet times."
"Elvish-what? I'm not-" I instinctively put my hands to my ears, and sure enough, felt some very, very, very long elvish ears, that were also kind of furry. And looking around, I realized that this was the same for a lot of these other people. Lijal's were covered by his big floppy wizard's hat, his grandfather was wearing a hood, as was the young man. The woman had slightly pointy ears, but the biggest feature about her was a tail, now no longer hiding behind her back. I sat down, a lot more than shocked, realizing I had woken up in some Lord Of The Rings world. "Oh my god," I mumbled. "I'm dead."
"No yer not!" Said Lijal, a but confused but keeping his enthusiasm. "Adail missed his shot!"
"No, no, no, you don't understand, Lijal. I'm not, I don't, I.. I don't belong here, I'm not from here, I should be here."
Adail, the young man, spoke up. "You mean like those scrolls about travelling to different worlds by dyin?"
"That's surprisingly accurate? But yeah, like that. I-I was driving, and I hit something and I woke up here. No one in my world has long ears or, or tails."
"Welp... That's weird!" Adail, and the rest of his team, was surprisingly okay with what I was saying. "You know what, I think we can help you out a bit!"
"You, you do? How?"
"Well, if there's anyone who's wise enough to deal with other-worldly folk, it's our pal the village immortal Panala! She's got lotsa knowledge in magic 'n stuff, and she's real old, so I think she can probably help you!"
"We're on our way back to the village anyways," said the older woman, "and it'd be inhospitable to not let a kind soul like you not tag along."
"And you kinda look like my daddy!" Exclaimed Lijal. That took me back a bit. But to be honest, I felt a little flattered.
"O-oh, thanks. You remind me of a kid I know too. A real talented little guy with a lot of unrecognized potential," I flattered Lijal. And I wasn't wrong. In fact, all of these people reminded me of other nations. Adail as Alfred, Ervil as Russia, the older woman as France, "Gramps" as England, even Lijal reminded me of Sealand.
Lijal's eyes widened with amazement. "Gramps, can Matthew stay with us forever?" I laughed.
"Only until he can figure out how to get back to his home," said Gramps. "I'm sure he's got his own boy waitin' for 'im."
"Unfortunately, I'm no father. But I do have a very dependant pet to look after. I love him, but bears can be such a pain to deal with." Lijal's eyes widened even more than I thought possible. He threw his hands into the air.
"Waaaahhhhh? You have a pet bear! That's so cool mister!" He ran to the wagon to share this information with the three other women hanging back. I could hear him just yelling in the distance, "He has! A pet bear!" And the three women were amused by Lijal, one of the three even going around jumping with Lijal at the news. Soon those two jumped back to me. "How d'ya take care of a pet bear? Does it eat lotsa fish?"
"Quite a lot, usually I buy it fresh from a nearby market, but sometimes I go fishing myself. Though a real meal for him are seals." Lijal looked a bit confused.
"What's'a seal?" He asked.
"Oh, they live in colder climates, on the ice and snow on the oceans. They're like if dogs were slick, had a tail, no ears, and fins for front paws."
"That's a lil weird but it sounds real neat!" Lijal said, happy again. "This is my best friend Sylvestre!"
The woman who jumped with Lijal, a middle aged human, spoke with cheer that reminded me of Venenziano. "Pleased to meet you, bear tamer!" She spoke with a slightly Irish accent. She was covered in freckles, like Lijal, except, these freckles were glowing. She must have caught me staring, as she said "Aw, these spots aren't much of a big deal, it's mostly a visualization of magic. Kinda like those threads on that pretty wand of yours!"
The older flirty woman spoke up again. "Ah! How rude of me, I haven't even introduced us all. My name is Lunin Peck, I'm Adail's biological mother, and Lijal's grandmother. My other son Maural is at home with his wife on parental leave with a new baby." Lijal interrupted with a "I'm a big brother! So cool!" And then Lunin continued. "My ex-husband, Varvial, is this grumpy old sag," she gestured to Gramps, who scoffed. "We had it going good for a while, but just eventually fell out of love. I do love my family very much though."
"We're the Vallance family!" Adail piped up. "Our family have been well-known adventurers for generations!"
"Yes, you're celebrities. Anyways, that's Ervil, Varvial's current husband, and these three are Slyvestre, Maribea, and Wiykai." Lunin gestured to the cheerful older woman, a calmer older woman in the back, and a more serious, but younger woman beside the former. "You said you're name was Matthew?"
"Oh! Yes, Matthew Williams, it's a pleasure to meet you all." I stuck out my hand to shake Lunin's, though realized I was still clutching onto my fancy wand. "Oh, whoops, forgot I was holding that," I said, putting it away. I shook Lunin's hand, as Lijal then shook mine very enthusiastically. "How old are you, Lijal? Didn't your dad say anything about being too young for adventuring?"
"I'm only 9! It's not that young! Plus I can do a good healing spell like my dad! Hey, can you do magic mister? You got a cool wand but you said you ain't supposed to be here!"
I chuckled, remembering the old days. "I used to do magic, a long, long time ago. But not anymore. I don't even think I can anymore."
"Well why dontcha try? Can't hurt!" Lijal was right, I couldn't deny it. I took back out the wand, and tried channeling magic how I used to as a child. I could see the glowing threads glow brighter, and the threads themselves started moving as if they were suddenly loose, and soon the jewel was glowing, and to make sure I didn't hit anyone with only God knows what I was doing, I flung myself around, aiming at a nearby tree, around 30 feet away.
And then the tree exploded from within. Blue flames that I could feel from the distance raged. But there was no heat. The flames burned cold, and sent a chill up my spine.
"What the fuck!" Adail exclaimed.
"What the fuck!" I yelled back.
"What the fuck!" Lijal yelled, for the fun of it. "Were you always doin that a long long time ago?"
"I-n-no! I don't know what that was! Oh, god, is anyone hurt?" My question was followed by a crowd of "no!" and "we're okay!"
Varvial put a hand on my shoulder, making me jump a little. "You've got a lot of magic built up in you. Does this non-elf, no-tails world of yours got more talent like you?"
"... I mean, probably? Magic was kind of outlawed when I was a kid. And my age, as you'll find out later, is a very tricky situation. But... it's nice to know I still have it in me."
Varvial smiled. "Magic is a good way to connect folks and family." He turned to the rest of his group. "We should head out now, the town's still nearly 3 days away, and we're only increasing the amount of time we gotta spend in these woods by being here." Lijal shivered.
"I had to fight off a bunch of crystal scorpions when I woke up, and I just wanted to use the hole!"
"Then let's move out! Matthew, yer with us."
"Oh! Right, thank you so much!" And with that, we set off.