Darkness was all around him, just as calm as it always is. Suddenly a light began to brew, the light grew brighter and brighter and then morphed into fire. Screaming and shouting soon followed, with collapsing support beams falling all around him. Initially hard to see because of the fire but eventually he became visible in the chaos. He was wearing what looked to be a set of medieval style armor, had flowing black hair, and was wearing a crown on his head, with what looked like a flowing purple flame coming from his green colored eyes. Everyone else in the room had either been knocked to the ground, had escaped, died from smoke inhalation or falling debris, or were desperately searching for a way out, so none of them had seemed to notice this man at all but he seemed to not be affected by the heat and smoke. The man was on his knees just looking at him, his uniform scorched with small embers and soiled with soot just as it had been when he first woke up in the forest.
He went to stand up but felt something against his knees. He looked down and then saw her. Her dress was just as soiled with soot, her wonderful looking skin now badly bruised all around, and the ends of her beautiful blonde hair had been slightly burned off. But the most notable feature on her was the red spot on her neck where a dagger had pierced it. A dagger which had come from the man standing before him just after the fire had started.
Tears stained the man's face, he had not cried or even shed a tear in such a long time. Not even after seeing the destruction the war had brought. But seeing your fiancée get killed right in front of you would make anyone weep. Did that make him a bad person, was it morally questionable to not weep after looking at a battle's aftermath, seeing countless dead from both sides? Not important currently.
"W-who are you" the man said after a moment? He hadn't stumbled with his words like this for so long either. The other man just laughed, then spoke.
"Who I am is not important, not yet at least" he replied.
"Fine then, as President Of The United States Of America I order you to give me your name and intention, as well as why you just put a dagger in my wife's throat!" the man said as he stood up to face him with a fury in his eyes.
"Ahh you act just as the legend said you would" he said.
"What"? the man asked.
"Don't worry, all will be explained in due time" he stated.
"Listen you fucker. I really didn't care who you were at first, but since you just stabbed my fiancée and started this fire... you are not leaving here alive" the man said as he drew his personal Desert Eagle pistol.
"As bold as ever, even in the face of certain death you will not go down without a fight" he praised the man.
"Well when you fight a war for seven years you - yes yes I know exactly who you are Luke Blackwell" he interrupted. Luke looked surprised.
"...You know nothing about me" he replied.
"Oh but I do, you began your military career in 2021 when you went into the Navy's officer corps, you rose to prominence in the Iranian landings where you learned tactics you also used later in Korea. After that you we're given command of the sea landings in China and used Blitzkrieg tactics to force a Chinese surrender after only two months at war. You then fought a five year campaign to liberate Europe from Russian control and push them back into their "Motherland". All the while keeping the delicate political situation of this country in check and even beginning a peaceful transition of power back into a civilian government for the last two years. Quite impressive" he stated.
"Okay then so you do know me" Luke said as stared at them man maliciously.
"Yes I do, and you will serve me well" the mysterious man replied.
"What"? Luke said. By now everyone who had not gotten out of the building had died to smoke inhalation, yet Luke could not feel himself choking on smoke for some reason. He noticed a small, almost transparent bubble encompassing him, his fiancée, and the man but he didn't give it much thought as he had more pressing matters.
"You see it will not make much sense now but that shall change with time. Let's just say that I am the ruler of a kingdom, in a faraway land and I am in need of a competent commanding general to lead my army to fight in an impending war against two annoying little princesses. That is where you come in" he said.
"Forget it" Luke said instantly. "Based on tonight's events why in the hell would I ever even think of helping you" He added.
"I thought you might say that... nevermind then I guess we shall have to do this the hard way" the man said. He then raised his arms out infront of him and a green ball of flame appeared. It slowly grew bigger until it surpassed the height of both men. Then without warning he shot it right at Luke, who barely managed to duck in time but managed to avoid it. However the ball of flame slammed into the edge of the bubble and bounced right back at him. This time he was not so lucky as it hit him right in the chest and sent him flying. He was slammed into the other end of the bubble and fell to the ground.
"Ahh... what the fuck was that"? Luke said.
"A spell" the man answered with a smile.
"A wha-ahhh" Luke yelled out in pain. It felt like his body was being ripped apart from the inside out and he was then lifted into the air. A green fire soon began working its way out of his chest and around his entire body. However both men did not notice that a support beam which had caught fire directly above them was becoming more and more unstable, just before the man's spell was complete it fell. It crashed straight through the bubble and landed directly between both men. This surprised the man which made him shoot another beam of green flame directly at Luke. It hit him directly in the chest again and he could tell it was more powerful than before.
"Horse-apples!" he heard the man say.
"W-wh... what is t-the matter" Luke struggled to say.
"I've overcharged the spell, your not going with me now, and I do not know where you'll end up" he replied.
"What!" Luke shouted back.
"Relax, I'll give you some necessities for your survival" he replied with a bit of spite.
"What do you mean - ahh" Luke shouted in agony as pain once again consumed him. The green flames once again spewed from his stomach and all around his body and after about ten seconds the flames reached his face with darkness following.
"Ahh!" Luke yelled out as he awoke suddenly. He frantically looked around expecting to be under attack, however he was relieved but saddened when he realized he was in his new bedroom in the castle.
"...Well I guess that dream just confirmed what is happening right now is real then, and why I have all of this stuff" he thought. He really was alone in a whole new world, a dangerous and unexplored world that seemed like it could have every creature from human mythology living right in it. He was without his family or friends, without her, and without any knowledge of this world at all. But it also seemed like there we're no humans, or they were so few in number that he hadn't run into any yet, actually there could be some in that village he had found yesterday. He made a mental note to find out if there were any.
He then noticed that the sun was just beginning to appear over the horizon. Remembering that he had yet to locate a source of food yet in this new world he decided to use this opportunity to start the day extra early. He got out of bed and decided to see the condition of the bathroom. Suffice to say it looked just like your average bathroom except that the toilet and shower seemed a little big for a human, as well that medieval castles did not have plumbing. But he supposed there were weirder things in this world so he just let it go.
He took a good look at himself in the mirror, he could see that his dark brown hair was still slightly singed, to match his hair he had a pair of brown eyes. His skin, which once had a nice white color, was cut and slightly burned. Although none of his injuries we're too life threatening. However probably the most distinguishing feature about his face was the long but somewhat faded scar on his right cheek. The memory of how he got that still haunted his dreams to this very day. He noticed a small faucet but no water came out when he turned it on, although he honestly expected that to happen.
A few minutes later he was fully dressed and out the door walking into the forest once again. He had decided that he needed to find out whether or not humans were in that town, and if they could help him with his food situation since he figured he wouldn't find a reliable source of it in this forest. But as he got closer to the town he remembered something. Those four horses from yesterday, they could still be roaming around here. Plus if they were looking for a poacher then that could signify that they represented some sort of law enforcement around here, and if they deemed him a threat based off of yesterdays events... "shit". Suffice to say he would have to be very careful from here on out. He could not be found or even spotted, especially if the inhabitants of this town are not humans.
"There's a sentence I never thought that I would ever say in my life" Luke thought.
About 45 minutes later the town once again came into view. It looked about the same as yesterday, and this time the human noticed that there was a small patch of tall grass that he could use to get a good view of the town.
"Too bad I didn't notice this yesterday" he thought and got down on his stomach and began to crawl through the grass.
Another 7 minutes of crawling later and Luke finally had a good view of the town. It was only now that he was able to distinguish some pretty surprising features about the town. Through the scope of his rifle he saw that most of the roofs in the town we're covered with hay, as well as painted with bright colors. There were also what looked like medieval style tents on the southeastern part of the town next to a round center building. With a park just across a river from there and if you kept going you would end up at a small cottage just before entering another part of this forest. On the southwest end there was a big red barn which signified that there was a farm there that likely produced the majority of the towns food. To the towns west (where his current position was) a small little red building managed to distinguish itself from the rest of the houses around it. Closer to him was a massive field that was likely used to grow crops at some point with a railroad line going through the center of it. The track went from North to South with a train station at the towns Northwest end. To the North the track went towards a distant mountain range towards what looked like a castle that had been built into the side of said mountains.
"Weird" he thought.
The towns Northeast border didn't have anything really other than trees, and from the intel Luke could gather it seemed like he was in a massive valley surrounded by mountains with small passes in between them leading to who knows where. However one last thing he was able to spot was a massive oak tree near the center of town. It seemed though that someone was actually living in it. The tree actually had a front door, with what looked like windows that had been built into the bark, hell it even had two small balcony's on it with a telescope.
"Who the hell actually built into a tree, and how?" Luke thought.
Suddenly he noticed movement coming from the train station. A train was pulling in, but it was the strangest train he had ever seen before. The engine was colored pink, had a front window that was shaped like a heart, and as well as the coaches it was pulling almost resembled gingerbread houses, it also had a small little cart on the end as well.
"Probably for baggage or cargo or... something, everything has a purpose after all" he thought.
Then he saw something that almost made him faint, more of those horses we're getting on or off of the train. They had different, very brightly colored body's with their hair being a different color as well. He also saw those four horses from the previous night getting off the train too. Although this time they had a much taller horse with a snow white coat and long flowing green, blue, and pink hair. They seemed to be talking to one another until one of those ponies, Sword if he remembered right, seemed to almost be blinded by something and point in Luke's direction. The rest of the horses walked over to him and began conversing with him. After a few moments the big tall one seemed to also have been blinded by something and looked in Luke's direction as well.
"Why the hell are they looking over here, what would make them look over here? Into an empty field no less" he pondered.
Suddenly he realized something, he had just made a big mistake, a very big rookie mistake. He had forgot about the glint the scope for his rifle produced. A good sniper always took into account where the suns current position was during the day so they could counteract the glint that their scopes would produce. It was also why most snipers preferred to hunt at dawn or dusk. But the sun was currently in the east, and since the man was to the towns west the sun's light hitting the scope produced a glare that went right to the train station. Letting anyone on the platform know that someone was watching them... "shit".
Luke's fears we're quickly realized when the big white horse looked to be giving out orders and soon the four guards along with the big white horse and a few other guards began advancing towards him. He didn't know what to do, shooting them would be the safest option but it would also definitely make him an enemy of these horses and since he didn't know much about this world he decided that might not be the best idea. Although they didn't seem to be very dangerous based off of yesterdays events he didn't just go around taking innocent lives, he wasn't Jinping.
They we're about halfway across the field when he made a decision. He stood up so they could all see him and after a few seconds he fired a warning shot close to them. The bang of the rifle was very loud and he was pretty sure everyone in the town heard it. The shot went into the dirt about ten feet away from the horses but the noise alone made them freeze in their tracks with a few dropping to the ground in fear. They we're now close enough to where he could see their faces clearly in the scope of the rifle and they we're scared. But the tall white one didn't look scared, it just pressed on towards his position. He fired again with the bullet this time landing five feet from them. The other horses looked to be trying to convince the white horse to come back but it just kept walking towards him. Eventually Luke decided that he had overstayed his welcome and began to retreat back towards the forest. However the white horse began walking faster when it saw he was retreating. Whenever Luke increased his speed to try to gain some distance from it the horse increased it's speed as well. Soon Luke was full on sprinting across the field with the horses giving chase.