-1[RES] floated across his vision as he was marched from the tree line and forced to kneel down in front of the silver-haired woman. She had her back to him as she donned her armour, helped by another girl, the clang of metal on metal drowning out the gentle lapping of the stream. The other girl looked to be a little younger than himself, dressed in what seemed to be a blue silk gown that hugged her figure from neck to waist and flared out towards her ankles. The gown was adorned with gems of a variety of colours. Startlingly, she had a shaved head, highlighting her round face, and brown eyes that seemed lost in distant thought.

  He squirmed in discomfort, his leafy outfit providing absolutely no protection against the rocks biting into his knees, but he remained silent with the unseen woman behind him still holding whatever was pressed against his neck.

  He knew nothing of armour – wasn’t even sure he’d seen any before, but what the silver-haired woman wore looked expensive. Violet plates caught the last of the setting sun like the gleaming petals of an exotic metal flower as the young girl worked to secure the shoulders that flared like the wings of a mythical beast.

  Once done, the woman sat down on a rocky outcrop to face him, the ends of her silver hair resting on her thighs. The other girl placed a helm and gauntlets at the silver-haired woman’s feet, and took a place by her side, setting a sheathed sword against the rocks.

  The ornate scabbard hinted at the beautiful weapon hidden inside, with its foot-long grip, and a blade three times as long. Gold inscription was carved along the length of the sheathe that was twice as wide at the hilt than at its point. The golden hilt was curved at its ends, and inscribed with silver cursive lettering.

  Just as beautiful were the gems, in yellow, red or blue, each marked with a silver line or cross that were set into her violet armour. He glanced at the gems on the young girls simple dress and noticed they too had markings. Every piece of the silver-haired woman’s armour seemed to be adorned with at least one gem and some pieces had more, like her gloves and belt. Only her chest and helm didn’t seem to contain any.

  Seeing her up-close made him feel stupid for staring at her by the river, but he found it difficult to keep his eyes away now. She wasn’t as old as he’d first thought, and was shorter than she had looked from afar. An inch or so shorter than himself, yet tall for a woman, and imposing nonetheless. She was beautiful for sure, with captivating light-green pupils within impossibly large, rounded eyes, and a delicate, upturned nose that complemented her high cheekbones. She had berry-coloured lips that he could almost taste and flawless bronze skin, but he could feel the confidence in the way she sat with the quiet certainty of judge, jury and executioner. She was beautiful in the way her sword was beautiful. With an edge that could kill. And would.

  She looked into the air above his head and nodded, and he felt the pressure released on his neck. He wanted to turn his head but dared not. The young girl at her side stood still, eyes on him, a green pendant he hadn’t noticed earlier around her neck.

  “What’s your name?” the silver-haired woman asked, her soft voice at odds with the crushing pressure he felt.

  “Tyler.”

  “Where have you come from?”

  “You mean like what planet?”

  “I mean, where in the Kingdom are you from?”

  “Kingdom?”

  “Yes, Kingdom.”

  The old man had said he would be in the Kingdom of Aleria but he had no clue where. He could tell from the woman’s eyes that she was waiting for him to give her the wrong answer.

  “Honestly?” he said after a moment of silence, “I don’t know.”

  “You don’t know?” she said, leaning forward, looking at him as if she could see the answer in the very depths of his being.

  He shook his head. “I don’t. I’m from a planet called Earth but I can’t remember anything from my life. I woke up in some kind of weird waiting room, with this beautiful woman with big t-“ he stopped himself, looking at the beauty in front of him, recalling how he had looked at her when he first saw her emerge from the water. Probably best not to bring attention to that. Not to mention the other two women there. That knowledge he had from Earth tickled his mind that mentioning such things in front of women was not the same as if you mentioned it in a room of men. Especially when those women had shown themselves quite proficient at killing.

  “Anyway, I then found myself in another room, and some guy called the Gamesmaster gave me the option to come here to Cytheria and I said yes. I thought it’d be better than the alternative but so far, I’m being proved wrong.”

  She glanced to the darkening sky and he tilted his head to look up too before turning his eyes back to her. She gestured to the sky with her finger. “You’re from another world?”

  At first, it concerned him that she didn’t know that but then he realised that he was assuming everyone on this planet was from another world but it was just that – an assumption. He had no evidence to say that was the case and from the way she was talking, it was evident it wasn’t. Nevertheless, he had a feeling that his survival counted on convincing her that he was telling the truth. It would be an irony to avoid being killed by a monster, only to be killed by a human instead.

  “Yes, I’m from another world.”

  “How many is that now?” he heard the woman behind him say, her voice deep and slightly hoarse. “Three?”

  Alina looked to the woman he couldn’t see and affirmed what she had said with a brief tilt of her head. He assumed that meant there were at least two others like himself, but he found it hard to read Alina’s expression. He continued on. “When I got here, I found myself in the forest on my hands and knees, looking at that creature you killed, and it had just decapitated someone.

  “Do you know what that looks like? A body without its head?”

  She nodded.

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  “Right. Of course you do.”

  “How did you survive?”

  “You saved me,” he said, not wishing to recall how it was that he had survived.

  The silver-haired woman looked to the young lady to her left, who gently nodded to her. “It’s the truth but he’s hiding something.”

  “Interesting,” she said, turning back to him. He flashed his eyes at the young girl and noticed the pendant had a soft glow. “What is it that you’re hiding, I wonder?”

  “Nothing important.”

  “Let me be the judge of that,” she whispered softly. He almost had to check whether she was unsheathing her blade.

  “I covered myself in the blood of the decapitated person. It was enough to hide myself and then you did save me. The demon walked this way before it noticed me and I decided to follow it, hoping it would lead me to others who could help me understand what’s going on.”

  She looked at the young lady again, who nodded.

  “Very interesting. And the leaves?”

  “I used the blood to stick the leaves to myself. The creature seemed to sense with smell, so I hoped the leaves would camouflage the blood and my own scent.”

  She gave him a look as if impressed but he could tell she wasn’t entirely convinced his story was true.

  “It’s the truth,” he protested, as if his words could sway her.

  “I know,” she said, “unbelievable though it is.”

  +1[WIS]

  Another stat point, and he was sure now it meant wisdom. Four wisdom points he had, and he could guess why. It seemed to be linked to making the right decisions or trusting his gut when the stakes were high. One when he had decided to use the blood to camouflage his scent. One when he had moved away from the headless corpse. One when he had decided to camouflage with leaves. And another now for telling the truth. His life had been at stake in all four instances.

  “You’re not the first we’ve met claiming to be from another world and it’s a claim that you would do well to keep to yourself. Most people will think you’re mad but others? Others might believe there’s something you can offer them. Something important enough that they’d be willing to use excruciatingly painful means to extract it.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean there are people here who would be very interested in you for information that they think you might be hiding but that you most probably don’t have. They’ll skin you alive like they would skin an animal for its hide. Except it won’t be quick and they won’t care when they realise you had nothing to offer them. All because you were careless with your words.”

  “Should I have lied to you?”

  “Of course not. I have Mira here with me. She can tell when someone is lying and had you lied to me, I might have had to see another body without its head.” She raised an eyebrow at him with a wicked smile on her lips and a wink. Had he thought those lips reminded him of summer berries? Blood of innocents, more like.

  “So then,” he said, as he shifted his knees, “if I were to meet someone like that, and they also have a way to tell if I’m lying, what am I meant to do?” He shifted uncomfortably again. “And please could I get up before I need my knees replaced?”

  The woman’s laugh was rich, like honey mixed with sugar, and would as easily trap him as any ant.

  “You can get up now.” With a sigh of relief, he pushed himself off the ground and rubbed at his sore knees, a leaf or two falling away from his outfit. “Lucky for you, you’ve met us. I’ll arrange to have you taken care of but I was being serious. Do not mention it again until we’ve figured out what’s going on.” She turned to Mira, “I don’t know what it means but I imagine it has something to do with whatever’s going on in this forest.”

  “Can I ask who you are?”

  “My name is Alina,” she said, turning back to him. “Mira, you’ve already met and over there is Kiri”

  He turned to look, finally getting to glimpse his captor. His eyes narrowed and his mouth almost hit the floor. His ego fell through it. She can’t have been more than sixteen or seventeen, and barely five feet tall. She was dressed in faded brown leathers and similar to the other two, she had gems all over her clothes in various colours, and several knives slotted into her belt.

  It reminded him of a time when his younger sister, who had been no older than Kiri was now, had managed to sneak up on him during a round of paintball. She’d absolutely blasted him, as younger sisters would. He smiled as he recalled the memory.

  A memory? From his old life. Frantically, he searched for anything else that came to mind, tried to think deeper but there was nothing. Still, one memory meant there would be more. Maybe he just needed to find the right triggers. Looking at Kiri, he could see why she might have triggered him – she looked similar to his sister. Slim, with a narrow face and thin lips. She had small green eyes with short blonde hair, and the softest of dimples in her cheeks. From an angle, she could almost look the same.

  “She’s being modest,” Kiri said.

  “Don’t do it, Kiri,” Alina responded.

  Kiri stuck out a tongue at her. “Sitting before you is the magnificent, the beautiful, Princess Alina. Fourth Defender of the Realm. Commander of the Academy of Champions. Glorious Leader of the Seven Sisters of Retribution.”

  Alina looked down at the wet rocks scattered across the bank, shaking her head. “Ignore her,” she said, looking at him. “She’s lacking in charisma. We’re trying to teach her.”

  “I’m not lacking in charisma,” Kiri protested. “What is the point of having your titles if you don’t use them? Look at him. He doesn’t have a clue what’s going on but-, OW!” She started rubbing her head, frowning at Alina or maybe it was Mira. Mira hid her smile, the corners of her mouth turning up slightly but Alina made no attempt to hide her amusement, her mouth open wide with laughter.

  Tyler’s wariness and trepidation began to subside as he watched the playful interplay between the three. Alina, imposing as she was, seemed at ease with her status, not at all egotistical with the impressive titles, though he wondered what they meant. Fourth Defender of the Realm sounded important.

  “Excuse me,” he interjected into their levity and three sets of eyes immediately snapped to him. Wariness and trepidation were going to be his friends for a while, it seemed. “I just have a few questions, if I may?”

  Night had begun to fall, darkness settling on the land as thousands of stars twinkled across the sky. A floating sphere of light materialised between them. He couldn’t tell which of the three had made it appear, though Mira seemed the most likely.

  Alina nodded to him, still sat on the rocks, Mira at her side. Kiri squatted by the water’s edge, throwing small pebbles into the stream, breaking the reflection of the floating orb. Like Alina, he felt there was a practiced ease to her nonchalance. Nonetheless, for however dangerous they seemed, he was glad to have found them.

  “Is this Cytheria?”

  Alina nodded.

  “And is this the Kingdom of Aleria?”

  She nodded again.

  “Where are we?”

  “The Forest of Learning. We’re about a third of the way from the exit.” She pointed across the stream.

  “The Forest of Learning?”

  She looked at him the way a teacher would look at a teenage maths student, horrified they hadn’t learned their times tables, before her face softened as if she had recalled a particularly slow student, where the only option was to smile and nod and feed them morsels of encouragement.

  “I guess you wouldn’t know anything, would you?”

  He shook his head. She looked towards the forest that he had come from. “Kiri. Find the others. We may as well make camp here tonight.”

  “Oooooo,” Kiri said as she stood. “It looks like Alina’s made another friend. Alina and Tyler, sitting by a stream…”

  A rock went flying through the air, but Kira had already darted towards the forest, moving faster than seemed humanly possible. The rock whistled through the place she had been, crashing into the water a moment later with a large splash. That could have done some serious damage if it had hit its mark. Still, Tyler couldn’t stop himself from smiling at Kiri’s teasing, and neither could Mira.

  Alina wasn’t smiling. She looked at him, her eyes narrowed. He had a distinct feeling that he might need to sleep with one eye open tonight. Or find somewhere else to camp. Maybe the demon sprites would have a place for him.

  “My sisters are my companions. You, however, are not.”

  “Not yet?” he raised his eyebrows at her and put on his best hopeful face. Nope. She wasn’t amused. He stopped smiling.

  +1[CHR]

  “Now, I suggest you sit down.”