Joshua Turbin stared at the tree, ignoring the rain rhythmically striking his head. It seemed to him, as it had a few hours ago, perfect for a portal to another realm, someplace filled with woods and forests where the light of day could never be seen … a place which matched the mood he was currently in. He shook his head, no, not gonna think about it! and continued to stare at the tree. Man, this looks more like a portal to another world than any massive beam of light or hippopotamus… then again, this is the real world, not some fantasy of Paulsen or Mull.
He shook his head in consternation, but started to walk closer to the tree. _Fifteen feet away … then ten, then five… and suddenly he was standing next to it. He reached up and touched the tree, but then… he felt an enormous shock and saw a massive burst of light. It took a second and the explosive sound of thunder for him to realize the tree had been struck by lightning just as he reached out to touch it. Just my luck was the last thought to pass through his mind before he blacked out.
Joshua woke up with a start, and stared out at his surroundings. How much of that was a dream? And even if it was a dream, how did I get here? Where is here anyway? Suddenly a cool voice interrupted his musings “Ah, I see you’re awake.” He turned to look and saw a beautiful woman as the source of these words. She looked almost ageless, though not as much as an Aes Sedai, allowing him to guess that she was perhaps 15 years older than his 18. “Nope, still sleeping,” he couldn’t help but reply. And then, because he was a brainless idiot, “you know, this feels like a fantasy, but not like one of those fantasies.”
She burst out laughing. “And I suppose in one of those fantasies, I’d be undressing at this point. Sorry to disappoint, but it’s not going to happen.” Joshua felt his face turn bright red. He tried to cover his embarrassment, “where on earth are we, anyway?” The woman looked at him quizzically. “Earth?” Joshua started again.
“So I was right, that tree was some sort of portal to another realm… and when the lightning struck-”
“Yeah, that would do it,” said the woman, “A strong imagination, a decent force of will, and a lightning strike can do wonders to the space-time continuum.”
“And you speak the same language?”
“Yes, that’s generally how it works with other dimensions.”
“Oh, thank god! I doubt I could have figured out a new language from scratch, I’m no Bean. Oh sorry, that’s a reference to a book I’ve read.”
“So now that you’re stuck here, care to share your name?”
“Umm, will that give you any sort of power over me?”
“Clever of you, but not really. At this point, there’s nothing I could do with your name that I could do without it. That is - if you want to keep your birth-name - you could take advantage and start over.”
Joshua paused to consider for a moment. “Yeah, I think I’ll do that. What’s the word in the old tongue - there has to be some sort of old tongue, for magic, right?” The woman grinned. “It’s not strictly necessary, but most students use it to help focus. Of course, they could just speak english, but somehow saying “Fireball!” just doesn’t have the same effect.” Joshua laughed. “I’ll bet. So what’s the word in the old tongue for stranger?” This time it was the woman’s turn to laugh. “Oh, I like you. And the word is Erien.” “Erien,” said Erien. “I like that. So… would you be able to teach me anything about magic?”
The woman considered him for a moment which seemed to last forever. “Yes, I think you’ll do.” Erien grinned and followed her as she began to walk off.
Random words under post: Yeah, I like this header better than note, footnote, postscript or anything boring like that. I think I'll stick with it. Also - all pictures are my own. If you want to read a part 2 and/or a prologue, ask for it in the comments (yes, this is blackmail so that you have to comment... and thereby upvote, because it's rude to comment without upvoting.) All characters are figments of my imagination, as are the rest of you, because solipsism.
This makes me want to get intro photography
Thanks!
Wow, I've started to do the exclamation mark thing. I never thought it would get this far. Also, if I may quote myself
"(yes, this is blackmail so that you have to comment... and thereby upvote, because it's rude to comment without upvoting.)"
You may take the hint or ignore it, although it's just a hint because begging for upvotes is even ruder... not to mention it's so out of fashion! (read in faux accent.)
Wow, this makes me want to learn photography
hmm, something seems off here.
Are we having another cloning episode here? Does something need correction?
Well, something smells fishy, and I don't mean @berniesanders latest post (although that certainly does).
Congratulations @hyperbole! You have completed the following achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Click on the badge to view your Board of Honor.
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPYour post is drifting down the Resteem River! 🐠
This content has been shared by the BuddyUP team on our @resteemriver account because of the quality and value it provides to the Steem community. The post has also been shared in our discord channel, #curate-a-post, by one of our members.
Keep creating! We're looking forward to your next post.
If you don't appreciate this comment, reply to your post and tag @resteemriver so we can remove it.
Thank you for that, it seems to have helped quite a bit - I suppose I should get to work on either the sequel or the prequel. (I suppose nobody noticed that I gave absolutely no description of the woman - including not mentioning her name! - besides for describing her as beautiful.)