My dreams were filled with the image of the young woman who had killed me. Her white frilly summer dress. Her long brown hair tied into a braid. Her cold dead eyes as her knife sliced through my neck. The blood splattering all around and how it shone on her knife. That red color filled my vision as I faded into nothingness. And then the scene repeated. This process repeated itself hundreds of times in my dreams until I finally awoke to the sound of a crash. My eyes snapped open and I shot up from where I was lying down at the sound of a second crash and I was greeted by one of the strangest scenes yet.

"Let go you jack*ss!"

"No you let go *sshole!"

Standing in front of me were two demi-humans fighting over a small piece of cloth. One looked like a mix between a sloth and man while the other had the scales of a lizard and even a tail to boot. They were both dressed in simple clothes that had been adapted to their unique… features. I looked around a bit and saw that I was in a pretty small bedroom with a single window which let early morning light through its light blue curtains. Other than the bed the room was completely empty except for a few chairs that were now on the floor because these guys had probably knocked them over. I returned my gaze to the two people in front of me only to notice something odd about that small piece of cloth. I knew that plaid pattern… Wait a minute!

"Let go of my underwear you freaks!"

I leapt forward from my bed and grabbed one of my pairs of underwear from the clutches of these two apparent perverts. It may just be a plain pair of boxers but it was still incredibly weird to see it being examined and fought over by two strange people I didn't know. They looked at me with a look of shock, before quickly turning around and then they began whispering to each other.

"…He's moving…"

"…He moved…"

"…Gotta tell the boss…"

"…think he'll notice…"

I could only hear little bits and pieces from their conversation but from what I heard it sounded like those people I had run into had left me somewhere after I passed out and had left some people in charge of me. I jumped a little when the sloth looking man got up and dashed out of the room. I looked over at the lizard-man and the look he gave me seemed to be his version of a nervous smile. I turned my look at him into a glare and I held out my hand.

"Please give me my bag and anything else you took from it back sir."

"…Uh, oh right. This."

He got up and walked over to the corner of the room nearest to the bed where I had looked over a small table with my backpack and the clothes I was wearing earlier on it. It was the that I realized I was wearing a very soft pair of white cotton pants and a matching shirt. They felt incredibly soft I quickly pulled them closer to myself so I could better appreciate their softness.

"Here you go."

I was snapped out of my daze by the lizardman holding my backpack out towards me with my clothes on top. I quickly grab it and set it down on my lap, where I precede to search through every pocket and make sure I had everything I should have. The lizardman looked at my bag with extreme interest as I used the zippers, something he had probably never seen before and probably didn't even exist in this world, and gave out small gasps at each new contraption that I pulled out.

"Hey Trazz. I'm back. The boss said he wanted to see the guy so we should help him get here… Trazz!"

Both the lizardman and my attention only noticed the sloth-man's return after he yelled the lizardman's name as I was absorbed in checking my gear and he was intent on looking at each and everything I pulled out. Trazz looked at the sloth and gave out an embarrassing chuckle as he scooted away from my bedside.

"Ha-ha… got you Nert… Let's get on that. So, uh…. What's your name?"

"Me? Oh. My name is Conor. Conor O'Donovan."

They both looked at each other in confusion upon hearing my name. When they saw, my inquiring look they both looked away nervously and we spent about a minute like that before Trazz finally spoke up.

"It's just that that's a really… odd name. It used to be pretty common but a certain… individual gave it a bad reputation and it hasn't been used much since. And before you ask we won't tell you about the person. It's not something nice to talk about."

"Um… alright."

Nert and Trazz both moved towards the door and I followed suit, stuffing all of my clothes into my bag before following them. I followed them out the door and into a large hallway. I hadn't been given any kind of footwear so I was following them barefoot as we headed down the hallway. On one side of hallway was a row of doors which I could only assume had similar rooms from the perfect similarity between all of the doors. On the other side was a row of either paintings, banners, or other more artistic decorations that seemed to be from all over this world from the sheer variety. Other than all the ornaments on the one side, the halls were pretty bare and was only lit by small lanterns in the center of the ceilings, casting quite the eerie light over the entire place.

"… um… mind telling me where we are?"

"Oh! That's right. You were passed out here when the boss brought you here. Well then…"

Before continuing, Trazz does a quick turn and does a jokingly gracious bow that just makes him look like a complete idiot.

"… Welcome to the Iron Fangs home base in the capital of Lugunica! Here we eat, sleep, train, and drink together in preparation for anything the highest bidder needs."

I take a step back at the sudden outburst, nearly tripping over my feet. Nert also looked back, seemingly as surprised by the short speech as I was. He stared for a few seconds before sighing.

"Come on Trazz. The boss will be mad if we're late. Especially with a person he himself brought in."

"Crap! You're right. Let's get moving."

At that Trazz grabbed my arm and pulled me along as we all broke into a jog. Meanwhile I was processing everything that I had picked up from my interactions with these two. "So this is some kind of military group, huh. "Iron Fang" they called it. Kind of generic. But in a good way. And by boss did they mean Madam Hoshin or… Please be Madam Hoshin! Please!"

We ran down the same hallway taking a number of turns at intersections but never going through any doors or going anywhere with a window. I was amazed that a building this big existed in a medieval world outside of places like palaces. It felt like we had been running for hours when we finally arrived at something different. We came to a T-intersection in the hallway with us being on the upper right part of the T. We then turned downwards and I found myself staring at a pair of large wrought iron doors being guarded by two large lizard-men in full metal armor holding heavy wooden shields and with their hands resting on the handles of axes on their waists. I could feel the blood drain from my face as they looked down. They must have been about 9 feet tall. Even Trazz and Nert were much more somber around them.

"We brought the human that Ricardo brought in a few days ago as requested."

"Wait DAYS! I had been asleep for days"

I was quickly grabbed by Nert and rushed into the room behind the doors as the guards pulled them apart. Nert and Trazz seemed to be trying to get in as soon as possible and I couldn't blame them. I didn't want to spend a single second more under the harsh and watchful eye of those guys. Although, the second I entered the room I began to have second thoughts about that.

"What the f- "

"Hello there! Good to see you up and running again."

As impressive as Ricardo looked with his great-sword resting on his back as he walked towards us with a wide grin on his face, I was more impressed by what he was walking to us from. The room seemed to be about the size of a football stadium and was filled (and I mean Filled) to the brim with either people training in a variety of ways or the tools or contraptions being used in such training. I saw people performing incredible feats of physical prowess and a good number of people practicing varying kinds of magic. I could see balancing platforms, practice dummies that fought back, and the highest climbing wall I had ever seen with absolutely no artificial handholds, all of the places to grip were natural. I stood agape as I absorbed the incredible scene in front of me and didn't even notice Ricardo coming up to me. I was only snapped out of my stupor when he smacked me on the head.

"You alright mate?!"

"Huh! Oh, yeah… yeah… I'm fine… totally fine."

"You sure?"

"Yes. I'm fine"

He took a step back, his worrying temporarily abated. Then he grinned as he swept his arm out in a smooth motion to sweep over the entire area. His face beamed with pride as he looked upon it.

"Impressive huh! This place took ages to build and I heard the paperwork that had to be done was insane. Completely worth it though. This place is the heart and soul of our organization here. We have a bigger place back in our hometown but this is special in its own way, especially since we hope to be staying here more permanently."

I hardly even heard what he said as I continued to take in the scene. The place was lit by a number of giant magical lights on the ceiling which mirrored small suns and gave the entire area a feeling of natural light. There were a number of small stations set up to serve a multitude of purposes such as rest areas, food, restrooms, and medical tents. As I surveyed the soldiers I noticed something which while probably perfectly normal for most people of this world, worried me a great deal. Humans were an absolutely tiny minority in this huge group. I'd say about 20:1from what I could see. I say a great variety of demi-humans and some honestly scared me a great deal. I saw people breathing fire, crushing boulders, and skin changing color to blend in so well that even when I wasn't too far away I couldn't tell where they were the second they transformed.

"Whelp. That's enough surveying what we've got. It's time for you to actually get involved."

"Wait! What?!"

Before I could get another word in edgewise I was grabbed by Nert and Trazz and dragged towards the center of the field where a larger than average building was set up. Whereas most of the small structures were made of wooden planks or just plain cloth, this one was made of stone and stood as a little bit of a waypoint in the center of the field. It was a two-story building with a large number of windows but it was relatively square and plain in shape and overall decoration. It kind of looked as if someone had dropped a stone brick into the center of the field. The soldiers around it seemed to give it a wide berth and as we followed Ricardo to its front door, we gained a number of suspicious glances.

"Stop it! Let go!"

I finally managed to break free of their grip as we neared the main door. Nert and Trazz looked at me with a kind of "what are you doing you idiot" look while Ricardo just turned and looked at me with mild curiosity, his usual smile replaced with a business-like blank expression. I realized that I was probably doing something stupid but things were getting too crazy too fast, I have to stop this and get some control over my own situation.

"Listen. I don't know what is going on. I don't know who you are, where this bloody country is, or what the hell I'm going to do. And apparently, I can go back in ti-!"

As I tried to finish my sentence my breathing stopped and I couldn't get the words out. I grabbed my throat and fell forward onto my knees as I gasped for breath, but no air came in. "What… the hell! Augh! I don't… want to die again." My hands were clawing at my heart and throat, trying to get rid of whatever oppressive force was causing this but to no avail. I looked up to the people around me as my vision started to go black only to see them standing stock still. They were looking at where I was standing as if they had been stopped in a moment of time. Before I could notice anything else I heard a clear and resounding sound clap. Then all of the air rushed back into my lungs and I fell onto my side gasping for air.

"Wow, you held on for longer than I thought. Impressive."

I heard a soft voice come from above me but thanks to my gasping for air I couldn't even see who, or what, had spoken. My lungs felt like they were on fire and I could hear my own heartbeat boom in my head as it started beating again.

"Listen, kid. I'm not going to explain everything right now, but for the moment just remember that you're not allowed to tell anyone about your little… how should I put it… time trick? Yeah. We'll go with that. Oh, and next time you do it without my permission, you're dead. Got it?"

I managed to crack one of my eyes open just in time to see a small flash of light envelop a humanoid body before disappearing. At that moment, time seemed to resume, the sounds of training came back at full volume and sounded like cannons to my ears which had been fed nothing but silence except for that voice, for the last few moments. Nert rushed over to my side as I was still gasping on the ground.

"Hey, you okay?! What the heck was that? You just fell over there after saying some stuff. Are you feeling alright?"

I couldn't speak yet but I gave him a nod to tell him that I was okay and despite my mind reeling from my short encounter with… something, I let him pull me up and pull me towards the building. Ricardo and Trazz followed closely behind ready to help. They opened the door, and while I couldn't pay much attention to the decorations on the inside, I could quickly tell that I was placed on a soft surface. I laid there for a few minutes, letting my breath fully return and letting my sense return to normal.

"You feeling better Conor?"

"Ugh., Yeah, I should be fine."

I pulled myself up from where I was sitting and finally got a good look at my surroundings. I was in a small room with a single bed which I was currently laying in. The room had no windows and only one door which stood ajar. Trazz was sitting in a short wooden chair next to me and was giving me quite the worried expression.

"Listen, if you're not feeling well, we should go back to the infirmary and we can do this later."

"No."

"A-Are you sure? You seemed pretty out of it ba- "

"I'm. Fine."

My answer was no for three reasons. 1). I didn't want to make the trek back right now because I currently felt like a punching bag that was recently used by a certain buff apple salesmen working off stress. 2). I had come this far and had heard about a lot of things and my curiosity was killing me. And 3). I was worried if I was put back into a hospital bed without anything else to focus on I would be left thinking of nothing except my recent run in with a time-controlling ghost… thing. And my expression apparently reflected my determination as Trazz shook his head and raised his hands in surrender.

"Fine, we'll go in a minute but I'm just warning you that you'll want to be in your best form for talking to that As-… I mean, that… guy. Yeah. Guy. We'll go with that.

"Right…"

I slowly stood up and paced around a bit to get my bearings back and snuck a few looks out of the door to look around. The door opened up into a short hallway that led straight into a central room that seemed to be the center of a number of other rooms as well. I could see Trazz talking to Nert and Ricardo in the central room and although I couldn't hear what they were saying, judging by all the glances they were shooting in my direction they were talking about me. Eventually Ricardo headed off to the right and out of my view. Nert and Trazz then came back over to me and entered the room as I was finishing stretching.

"Ready to go, Conor? You don't want to keep this guy waiting."

"Who is this guy anyway? You guys seem to be pretty harsh towards him."

Trazz gave me a bit of a "Shut up!" look before Nert stopped suddenly and whirled around, shoving his fluffy face towards mine, until there was only about an inch between them and proceeded to hiss out in a harsh and spiteful tone:

"That man is an absolute vile person. He seems to be doing his best to ruin the Iron Fang and has the audacity to say that he is trying to help us. Ha! As if we need his help…."

Nert eventually turned around and continued rambling as we continued towards a staircase that led upstairs. Trazz gave me a disappointed look and whispered:

"You just had to say that."

"Note to self: Don't bring up this guy in front of Nert unless absolutely necessary" was the thought that ran through my head as I heard a great number of expletives from Nert as we ascended the stairs.

When we got to the second floor I was quite surprised to see that it was actually one single room, no walls, no windows, no nothing. And I could see that Ricardo was looking at Nert with an incredibly exasperated look. And I could practically see the color drain from Nert's face, if I could see the skin from his face, as he realized that the person standing next to Ricardo, who was most likely the person who he was talking about, was able to hear every word he had said. There, standing next to Ricardo was a young man who appeared to be about my age. He was dressed in a pair of nice white pants and a grey button-up T-shirt. He had a sword on his hip and the calm and content expression on his face filled me with a terror that rivaled the most recent near-death experiment I had. He had bright purple hair and his golden eyes seemed to stare right into your soul.

"Quite the loud-mouthed subordinate you have their Ricardo."

Ricardo shot another angry glance at Nert before responding:

"Well, Julius, you know that you have a strained reputation with my men. And for good reason too."

"You have a bit of point. I still think that some of those words go beyond a "strained" reputation, but it doesn't really matter. As long as I can do my job and my duty then I have no complaints about what the lackeys say about me.

I could see Ricardo grow visibly irritated at that comment and it was quite the scary sight. Even this Julius guy seemed to slightly regret his choice of phrasing as he quickly uttered a short apology before walking forward. Ricardo calmed down a bit but the glare that followed Julius scared the crap out of me.

"Hello there, young man. My name is Julius. I am a holy knight under the service of Anastasia Hoshin. I have been told you were found under suspicious circumstances and Ricardo wants me to examine you."

"Wait a minute. I understand the suspicious circumstances but what the hell Ricardo! Examine me!"

I took a step back as Julius walked forward only causing him to narrow his eyes and walk faster.

"Um… listen Julius… sir? I don't think any examination is needed…"

"I understand your trepidation, but rest assured I will not violate you in any way"

"Wait. Violate! What the hell!"

"No I really must decline. You see I just want… answers! That's it! Answers!"

He stopped, pausing for a moment to give me look over. His look turned to that of confusion as he looked me over again. And again. And again. We spent about 3 whole minutes in silence with me hardly breathing as Julius continued to look me over.

"…Impressive… how could… unnatural…"

He appeared to be mumbling to himself about something, probably comments about my appearance and eventually straightened up abruptly and walked to another corner of the room where he began to look through a bookshelf, occasionally pulling out a book and skimming through it, before sighing and putting it back. Meanwhile, I was just thankful for the opportunity to breathe freely and for a moment Trazz looked as though he thought I was going to fall over again judging by his expression. I turned and dismissed his worry with a small wave of my hand before turning around and-O Sh*t! In front of me stood Julius with a very… excited look on his face. He held a small leather bound book that looked to be very old in front of my eyes and pointed to a single illustration that was drawn on the center of the page.

"Do you recognize this?"

I looked at the illustration and quickly notices something, whoever drew this sucked at drawing. And I mean sucked. For one they were clearly stick people. And badly drawn ones too. Secondly, hey apparently tried to draw a background to go with it but that just made things worse. Finally, and this may not be the person's fault, but there was a number of water stains that made some of the illustration very hard to read. However, despite all this I was quickly able to tell just what this was an illustration of. It was a horribly, horribly, redrawn version of the iconic movie poster for "Star Wars: A New Hope".

"Um… I recognize it but where the hell did you get this?"

"So you are…"

Julius seemed to go off into his world to think as he walked over to a chair that lay off to the side in the room and sat down. He crossed one of his legs over the other and put his chin on is knuckle and rested that hand's elbow on his crossed over knee. I nearly burst out laughing at the sight of him doing an almost perfect impression of "The Thinker". I entertained myself with that image for a few minutes but pretty soon I noticed that, yet again, an awkward silence was forming as Julius stayed in his little world. We all stood in silence for what seemed like hours before Ricardo finally broke the silence.

"Oi… Julius. Julius!"

He looked up as if he had completely forgotten that we were there and quickly cleared his throat before answering.

"Forgive me. It seems I had lost track of time. I need more time to process what I have found out. I would like you to return to your room Conor. Oh! But before you go, please rest assured that you are in the best of health and that you will not find a safer place in the capital… aside from maybe the palace itself, that is."

"Thanks… I guess."

"You are very welcome and I look forward to the next time we talk."

Before I could utter another word, I was grabbed on either side by Nert and Trazz and rushed out as quickly and as eloquently as possible, despite my words of protest. They dragged me all the way back to my room in a matter of minutes despite it having taken about half an hour to get there. When we got back to the room they tossed me into the bed, and slammed the door shut, but not before saying:

"Just stay in bed. We have to deal with the shit-storm that's about to happen so Stay Here!"

The sound of the slamming door rang in my ears and I was left sitting in the bed staring at the door with a dumbstruck expression on my face. Before I could get up and shout a retort or an excuse, all of the crazy experiences that had happened in the last few hours of my life here came rushing back and brought on a bout of nausea that caused me to fall back onto the bed and I lay there, staring at the ceiling.

"What the hell am I doing?"