Someone Reviewed my first Chap so I post another. If you notice any returning grammar mistakes please feel free to point them out, in a gentle way. This chap has more warcraft so I wont keep you waiting.
Year: unknown
Location: unknown
Chapter 2: Arriving At Location
Jack had a dream. It was a dream of endlessly falling down a cliff and hitting the ground. Time and time again he fell down. The way he landed was different every time. Then he landed on flat ground, then on some rocks, then on a slope rolling down and the one that felt most realistically was when he fell in the trees. He felt how he slammed into the branches and how one of the lower branches pierced his chest on the right side. He felt the sudden increase in pressure within his chest. He felt how his ribs broke and how pieces came loose.
But his dream did not end there. He hung there for a time, conscious. In excruciating pain. Then this dream repeated. To Jack it seemed endlessly.
Another dream began. This time he stood on the outcrop. He was looking out over the landscape with the trees again. The light changed slowly from dark to light. Then to dark again. The light changed faster and faster until he looked away. The light stopped during sunrise. The sun cast a reddish light over the rocks in front of him. It cast this light over the figure in front of as well.
It was a humanoid. It had skin that looked like bronze and across its chest it wore armor the colour of obsidian. Its hair and beard were made of flames and it had a long tail. It towered over Jack like he towered over others. He recognised its head. Or at least the shape. It was the same as skull he found. Complete with horns jutting from the top.
The macabre looking visage grinned at him. He wanted to say something to it. But although his mouth opened no sound came from it. He did not feel any fright for some reason, but still did not like the prospect of standing there any longer.
He turned to walk away. It said something in a strange language then raised its hand and hit him hard in the face.
He flew backwards from the sheer force of the blow and fell of the cliff. The cliff disappeared and he fell in the trees. A branch once again pierced his chest. He hung there for a while whishing for it to end.
Instead it got worse. The branch broke of and he fell down on the ground. He lay there a while with nothing but his pain in his mind.
Suddenly he felt a cool breeze along his face.
He woke up with a terrible head-ache but the breeze stayed. He opened his eyes and saw he was laying outside. There were some trees on his right and to the left he saw a cave. Next to the caves entrance there sat a man on a boulder, enjoying the sun with close eyes. He did not see that Jack was awake yet. His vision went blurry and he tried to adjust but his head-ache only worsened.
The man spotted his struggle and walked over to him, He knelt besides Jack and said something in a strange language but a different one then the one in his dream. Jack tried to say something back. "What? I don't understand." His increased and Jack let out a grunt from the pain.
The man seemed to understand his condition and waved a hand over his face. Jack immediately fell back asleep. This time however his sleep was dreamless.
Jack woke up again and this time his head-ache was almost gone.
It was daylight and he was laying outside in the same position. The man was sitting on the boulder again. This time however he could see what he looked like. He was a thin man, wearing a brown cape, brown pants and brown shirt. His clothes looked stitched together. But his cape had black coloured edges and the shirt had a black collar and His sleeves ended in black. The mans face engraved with wrinkles and a streak of white was in his hear. But besides that Jack thought he could not be older than forty five. His eyes were closed so he could not see those.
Jack looked away in to the jungle. It was a lush green jungle that did not seem to have suffered from lumber harvesting, something that was new to Jack.
He suddenly heard footsteps and the rustling of clothes. He turned back to the man and saw that the man was sitting next to him looking at him. He could see his eyes now. They were grey and seemed to hold knowledge far greater then his apparent age let on. "I see you are finally awake. How are you?" The man said in perfect English.
"Fine. Where am I?" Jack replied in a flat tone.
"Where do you think you are?"
"At the bottom of a cliff on planet 12Z-2R."
"12Z-2R? Well, where ever that is you are in a region called The Barrens on the continent of Kalimdor on the World of Azeroth."
jack's mouth dropped open in utter amazement. Had he been transported from one planet to this one? A planet he had never heard of. A planet inhabited by humans who named places like that?
He reconsidered the last thought because areas where he came were designated with a few numbers and letters. At least they came up with a name. "This doesn't look like a barren landscape." He said out loud.
"That's because this is merely an oasis." The man returned. "Beyond the oasis it is a barren wasteland, hence the name The Barrens."
"Aaah. Of course." Jack tried to look less confused then he really was. He then remembered something. "Wait a minute, last thing I remember before blacking out was that I was falling down. I landed in the trees. "He recalled the dream and touched the right side of his chest. He noticed a hole in his clothes. He looked to the man and raised an eyebrow, forming a question.
"Oh that. I found you among the trees, injured…"
"Injured? You healed me?" Jack asked in a slightly curious voice.
"Yes, yes I did." The man said looking at his hands. "I also did something else" He said giving Jack a mirror that was lying besides him. He didn't remember it being there.
It was just a mirror, no decorations. Jack took it from his hands and lifted it to his face. He was shocked by what he saw. His hair wasn't all grey anymore, instead it was its old colour black and only grey around the temples. A few streaks of grey went through his black hair. His wrinkles had receded until only a few remained around the eyes. He liked it but did not understand how. "How did you do that?" Jack asked to find out.
The man evaded the question by asking one of his own. "Don't you feel different as well?"
It was true, he did feel different. He stood up and moved a few paces in a circle. His bones did not grind along each other anymore. The man stood up as well and went to stand in front of him. "You know, I did not notice until now that you were this big." The man said looking upwards to Jack. His was at least two heads smaller than Jack. Jack only grinned at that. The man did not seem impressed by it, where normally everybody would try to get out of the way.
Jack knew he wasn't going to get anymore out of the man about the healing so he dropped it. "Many have said that." He said instead.
"What is your name?" The man asked neutrally.
"Jack Triment. And you?"
"You may call me Nell."
"Just Nell?"
"Just Nell."
"Ok… Nell. Where is my bag?"
"Right over there, just inside the cave." Nell said pointing his finger in the general direction of the cave.
Jack walked to his backpack and saw that Nell returned to sitting on the boulder by the entrance. Of the mirror there was no trace.
He opened the back to take inventory of what was still intact. His knife, a book about different kinds of guns and how they worked. Then he noticed a hole where the branch went through the bag. It had gone through the part where he stored his food. He pulled the few crumbled pieces of food out of the bag and let out a deep sigh. "No lovely army rations." He said softly.
The radio and digital binoculars looked like they had been cooked. The old fashion Binoculars still looked intact. The chair was still intact. He took it from the bag and set it aside to use later.
His body armor lay next to the bag. Although it showed a gap on the right side, it looked intact for the rest. His gun hang in its holster on the vest, untouched. He doubted Nell did not knew what it was, so he left it there and put the vest on, thus securing it I near him.
He stood back up and picked up the chair. While he walked back to Nell a new question formed in his brain. What language was Nell peaking earlier?
He folded the chair out and put it down solidly next to Nell. He sat down on it and turned to Nell, waiting for him to recognise his presence.
"Yes." Nell said without looking at him.
"What language were you speaking earlier?" He asked with a demanding tone.
"That was what humans call common. I thought that as a human you would know that language. Apparently not."
"Then where did the English come from?"
"I pulled the information I needed from your mind." Nell said without considering that that might be strange to Jack.
"You read my mind?" He said a bit irritated. Not really believing it. "Ok, lets say you can read minds… Where is your sense for privacy! Didn't you think I might not like it?" He said very irritated and harsh.
"I assure you that I did my best to not look at your private thoughts and memories." Nell responded, unimpressed by jack's outburst and now looking at Jack.
"Can you proof that you have some kind of magical ability?" Jack asked still irritated.
Nell put his hand in front jack's face palm up. He blinked his eyes and a ball of fire erupted above his hand. Nell blinked again and the fire vanished.
"There are tricks for that sort of thing." Jack said bluntly.
Nell created another ball of fire above his hand and this time he let it fly a distance around jack's head and then up. The ball soared to a height of twenty feet. Nell blinked his eyes again and the ball of fire exploded with a loud bang. He then created another above his hand and told Jack to stick his hand in it.
"Are you nuts!"
"Just do it. I promise you wont be harmed."
Jack pulled his sleeves back and then slowly stuck his hand in the fire. To his surprise he felt no heat, just a tingling sensation when the flames touched his hand. jack's eyes went wide open in surprise.
"Ok, that is odd. You proved that you can do some neat stuff with some kind of power."
"Where do you come from that you have never heard of magic." Nell said, for the first time with a bit of curiosity.
Jack only looked a bit lost at that. He did not quite understand what had happened. But he did know that nobody where he came from could create fire out of thin air. Maybe a different dimension then. Or maybe time. Or both. However a lot he wanted an explanation, he knew he wasn't going to get one without a whole army of scientists.
So he changed subject. "How long was I asleep?"
"Three days." Nell replied, again in an even and neutral tone.
"You healed a wound that would kill me… in three days?" He asked unbelieving.
"Yes." Nell said, like it was the most normal thing in the world.
Nell redirected the subject. "How did you get here?"
Jack was unsure as how to answer. "uhmm… Well… It was quite strange actually. Maybe what you call magic." He said the only thing that seemed probable after Nell's little show.
"Really? Tell me everything, from start to finish." Nell said strangely curious. Something glittered in Nell's eyes at the mention of big magic by Jack.
Jack told him everything from when the truck broke down, to the skull, to the appearance of the anomaly, to the jump from the cliff. The only thing he left out was his dream. For some reason he did not feel right to tell Nell that. Nell's eyes gave away that he had never heard of cars or trucks before.
"That seems like magic to me. Strong magic, if it is to reach in to your world and transport you all the way here. What was that world like? How did the landmasses line up?"
Jack described the barren red wastes and then described the position of landmasses and bigger islands.
Ever so briefly a hint of recognition passed through Nell eyes. Nell then pulled a cloth map from within his robes. Jack doubted he had it there the whole time. Nell unfolded the map in front of Jack on a rock.
Jack bent forward to see it better. He could see the outlining of two large continents on the left and right side of the map and another one at the top in the middle. The continents were coloured as to give a hint of the kind land or vegetation there was at those locations. There were, however, many blank spots indicating unexplored territory. There were several islands in the sea and a chain of islands slightly north-west of the right landmass.
Jack pointed at the chain of islands. "That's where I was when that thing grabbed me."
Another hint passed through Nell's eyes. This time of worry but it was gone just as fast.
"Where are we?" Jack asked, waving his hand at the map.
Nell pointed at the left landmass, A brown coloured area on the eastern shore in the middle.
"So that thing at least transported me from there to there." Jack said, tracing a line between the islands and what he remembered was The Barrens. "And it transported me trough… Time?"
jack's mind began to ached from the sheer thought of being so far away from the places he knew. So he took his gun from the holster and began polishing its surface so it shined. He hoped it would divert his thoughts from the subject.
Nell saw that Jack had a rough time with it and so tried to help. "What is that?" He said pointing at the gun.
"This? Let me just give you a demonstration."
Jack stood up, picked up a big rock. Placed on top of another. Took a few steps back. Took aim. And fired.
A flame erupted from the front of the gun and he felt the recoil thunder through his arm. The bullet hit the rock. The Rock cracked into many pieces, which were flung away from their original position.
"A gun." Nell simply stated, but still clearly impressed by the sheer fire power.
"You know its likes?"
"Off course! We're not stupid you know. But those are formed differently." Nell halted for a moment, thinking of something, then continued. "So where you come from there are guns as well?"
Jack thought of all the wars and battles he had fought. "You can say that." He returned to polishing the gun for a while. Nell did not try to begin another conversation.
He figured he would be spending some time with Nell so…" What do you do, Nell? As a profession. Or are you a hermit?"
Nell thought how to best explain it then said. "I study dragons."
"Dragons?" Jack said not quite believing it. "Dragons, as in big flying reptiles the breath fire and sort of things?"
"Yes. Seen one?"
"No, they are just stories where I come from."
"Maybe grounded in fact." Nell returned.
"Maybe grounded in someone's wild fantasy."
"Not here, I have seen them."
"ooh how big can they get?" Jack already held his fingers two inches away from each other.
"They can get very big. But most of them don't reach that length. But the aspects are extremely big." Nell said enthusiastically, clearly liking the subject.
"Aspects?" Jack said curiously.
"You could say they are the leaders of the different dragon flights. There are five different kinds of dragons." Nell said his voice becoming more and more enthusiastically.
"Each a different shade of green?" His voice full of sarcasm.
"There are black, red ,green, brown and blue dragons. And they all have their own aspect."
"Right." Nell seemed to Jack like he had taken some kind of drug. He was sure Nell was going to tell him who those aspects were, but he had enough for one day. So he stood up and went inside the cave, to just see what was in there.
The cave did not look entirely natural. The ceiling was so far away from him that light no longer had any effect and the walls were completely smooth, no crack whatsoever. He thought that maybe one of Nell's dragons lived here and that was the reason Nell was around to save him from death. He walked farther in to the cave until he could not see anything. It seemed to go on for some distance. "ECHO!" His voice bounced of the walls. He went back to get a torch or something similar.
"Nell, do you ha…" He halted. A branch was lying across his chair. "How did you… Never mind." He picked it up and the top suddenly lighted up. He walked back and this time walked farther. He saw it was more like a very big room, that was very deep as well. He continued walking a while wondering if it would end somewhere. "Definitely not natural." He looked over his shoulder to see how far he had gone. He could barely see the light in the distance. He then looked down at his shadow. Although he held only one torch he seemed to have a hundred shadows, all on a slightly different angle. Not a lot of difference. Just enough to notice.
He continued walking. Until his head suddenly struck a invisible barrier. It absorbed all of the light without giving it back. His head ached a bit. He ran his hand along the complete surface of the wall without finding anything that might be a way in or a way to lift the barrier. "Maybe some magical trick." He figured he couldn't do anything about it o he headed back.
By the time he got back it was getting darker. The sun began to sink behind the horizon, casting a reddish glow over the entrance and the cliff attached to it. He felt something tickle the back of his head again and his mind and his hand began to twitch. He forced both down. He took his book from his bag and sat down on his chair again.
"Found anything back there? Nell began
"A barrier of sorts."
"oh." Not a single bit of enthusiasm in his voice.
He didn't know when he fell asleep, but he was dreaming. A strange dream. He was conscious. Normally he felt more like an observer in his dreams. Now he did what he wanted. He was standing by the entrance of the cave. He pinched himself to see if he would awaken. He didn't. He looked around and then saw himself, sitting in his chair, head slightly sideways. He also saw Nell sitting on his rock. He thought he was more like a ghost then a dreamer.
He saw Nell stand up and walk over to his sleeping form. Nell waved his hand before his sleeping form's eyes. He then snapped his fingers before his eyes. When no response came he shrugged and sat back down. Jack walked over to Nell and tried to touch Nell on the shoulder. He had only partial success. His hand went right trough Nell's shoulder, but Nell seemed to notice and brought his hand up to his shoulder. He looked around to see if there was anything in sight, but saw nothing.
Jack brought his hand up to Nell's head. Nell reacted by raising his hand to his head and brushing the same spot that Jack touched. Nell looked over to Jack's sleeping form. He stood back up, made movements with his hand like he was writing words or signs in the air and spoke a few, to Jack unknown, words. A flash briefly illuminated the area and Nell looked immediately in Jack's ghost direction. Nell walked over to his sleeping form and shook him hard. Hard enough to wake him from a normal sleep. Nell said something that sounded like a curse.
Another form appeared. This one just besides Nell. The form took shape while Nell stood there, thinking of what to do next. Something stirred in Jack's mind. The form took the shape of the person that was with him in his last dream. The light coming from his burning beard and hair cast macabre shadows on the ground. "Hello, my little Jack." He tried to say something back but no sound came from his mouth. He closed his mouth again. "No here you will do what I allow you to do." The voice came again deep and sinister.
Indeed it was as if he lacked the will to say the words. He tried again and with major effort. "Who… are… you?" His opposition was surprised at his will power.
"Well it seems you wont be as easy to deal with after all. Ok, I am a demon." The demon seemed amused at the thought of mental challenge. "know this, every time you fall asleep I will b there, to haunt you. I will always be there. Until you will either lose control or you beg me to take over. And you wont tell anybody about it. Right?" He said in his deep voice.
"I think I will tell someone." Jack replied, surprised he no longer had to use all of his will to speak. But something in the back of his mind wanted to say otherwise. The demon was once again surprised.
"Indeed a challenge this will be. But know that in the end, even your mind will break." The demon turned to Nell who was still standing there. "Now, as for this creature," he began again, "I don't know what to make of him, but he seems a powerful mage to me. A bit to powerful for a human. He seems to suspect there is something on." He momentarily shifted his gaze to Jack, then back to Nell. "Why don't you just go sit back on your rock." He said to Nell. To Jack's surprise, Nell began to walk back and sit down.
The demon then turned back to Jack expecting him to be still standing there. But to his surprise he found Jack's fist against his cheek. Jack was unsure if he could actually touch him, but he tried anyway. The demon reeled back under the force of the blow and then looked at Jack. "Now that was stupid, what did you do that for?"
"Now we're even, you hit me on the outcrop." Jack said preparing for another swing. But before he could swing again the demon already took hold of his hand, then used his other hand to shove Jack back a few feet.
"You may wake up again. Let's see how long you last until you fall asleep again."
Jack woke up. He looked round to see if the demon was still around. "Maybe just a bad dream." He then looked around to see it was completely dark. He then heard a voice in his head again "Let's see how long you last." Followed by booming laughter.
He looked to Nell, wondering if he should tell him. He also wondered how he should tell him. Just say it or slowly steer a conversation to the subject. He looked over to Nell to see him sleeping while he was sitting straight up. Maybe tomorrow.
Warrick woke up. He didn't know how he was still alive but he was.