Holy. Shit.

  I sat at the foot of my bed, trying to absorb everything Arden told me. He filled my head with everything he could, and it was more than enough to get the gears in my brain grinding.

  So this world wasn't Earth. Or maybe it was. Time travel? Who the fuck knows. People who weren't from this place... what was it's name? Reial. That was it. They got sent here, and I was one of them. He said we couldn't go home either. He'd tried everything, and nothing stuck. That sucked pretty bad. It wasn't like my life was that great back home, but I had friends and stuff. I knew that would sink in eventually, but it really hadn't yet. It would suuuuuck when it hit, though.

  Apparently, the gods were also real, and I had been called by one. Well, there were many gods in the past, but the one everyone worshipped now was called the Goddess. Not the most original, but Christians called God, well, God, so it made sense. I asked if there was an afterlife, and Arden said yes, that's where monsters were believed to come from, but no one ever came back from it. It was a physical place under the ground, which they called the Depths, and it was kind of like Hades. He said that people's spirits stick around for a bit once they die, but if they aren't healed and sent back to their bodies fast enough, they go to the underworld, and that was that.

  "What the fuck." I looked out the window. A small bird fluttered onto the windowsill and chirped at me. It looked like a cross between a parrot and a hawk. Not from Earth.

  My thoughts kept going, spinning around and around. The people were different, the animals were different, and the plants were different. The moon was different. The sun was gone, but there was a big ass tower that made things work kind of the same. If I had enough energy to get outside, I'd check it out, but that little walk to Arden's room ruined me. The sky was almost the same. Slightly more blue, I decided. Kind of eerie, really.

  My family... not that I had much of one... Nope. We weren't going there, Alex. Not today.

  I limped over to my cot and lay down. After a few moments, I fell asleep.

  ***

  "Hey. Wake up." Someone shook my shoulder. "I need to heal you before my shift is over."

  "Ugh. Fuck off, dude." My head pounded, and my left arm was aching like crazy. Then I realized what he said. I shot up. A thin guy... girl... guy... in oversized brown robes was looking back at me. It was honestly hard to tell what they were, so I went with my gut. His black hair was shaggy and unkempt. "Wait, you speak English too?"

  "Yeah. Now move over. I need to get this done. I want to sleep." He walked to my nightstand and grabbed my glass of water. He gulped half of it down, then turned back to me.

  "What the hell, man?"

  "Sorry. I'm a healer. Need water."

  "Yeah, but still. Rude. I drink out of that."

  "Whatever. You won't die, you big baby. Now, can I heal you or not?" His voice was high-pitched for a guy and kind of soft. He wasn't particularly well-built either. Kind of thin and lanky.

  "Can I get the pretty one again?"

  "Ass."

  "Sorry."

  "Look, I'm on shift tonight, so suck it up, and let's get this over with. It's not like I wanna be rubbing all over you either. You fucking reek."

  I sniffed myself. I did, in fact, reek. "Yeah... sorry."

  "Move."

  "Okay, okay. I'm moving." I scooched over.

  Once I made enough room, and he pulled a small vial of some red liquid out of a belt pouch and rubbed it into his hands. A moment later, his hands were glowing.

  He started working my fingers and hand. He seemed a little less skilled than the others but after a few minutes, the tingling started. My headache faded away, and my muscles began to feel relaxed and loose. My scars, which were still red and swollen, softened. I could tell the kid was doing a decent job. "So what's your name?"

  "Doesn't matter."

  "Oh, don't be like that."

  His eyes met mine. They were the bluest eyes I'd ever seen. Like twin pools of sapphire. "Tristan."

  "Hi, Tristan. I'm Alex."

  "Don't care. It's not like you're gonna be here forever or anything. No use getting friendly with you."

  I hadn't thought about the future that much, but now that I could kick ass and do epic stuff, at least in theory, I knew I'd be out of here eventually. "How does this work, anyway? How long am I allowed to stay?"

  Tristan huffed. "I guess we're doing this." He sighed. "This temple is a place of healing and rest. You stay as long as you need."

  "Oh God...dess. I was worried about that and was too afraid to ask." I laughed, but he mostly scowled and kept at his work. The room got quiet. I felt him work my hands and wrist for a bit and listened to his breathing, but it started to feel awkward. I hated awkward silences. "So, how do I look? I'm starting to feel a bit better. Do you think it'll be much longer?"

  He cleared his throat. "Honestly? You're pretty messed up, and your wounds set in too long."

  Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

  "What do you mean?"

  "Na-Ya didn't find you right away. The longer wounds have to settle, the harder it is to heal them. You're going to be here for a bit."

  "How long do you think?"

  "I don't really know. Lady Varga thinks three months, but I'm not so sure. Feeling your wounds, I'd guess six.

  "What then?" Six months. Shit.

  "When you're healed up, you'll have the option of staying longer, but you'll be put to work. Honestly though, most people go on to the city or find work in the towns once they're healed. We don't see people back that much, unless they get themselves torn up."

  "Do you ever go out?"

  His hands froze, and I saw his head drop. Did he not understand me?

  "To the towns, I mean. Do you go out much?"

  "Not often."

  "Why not?"

  "Why would I leave?" His jaw clenched.

  "Because there's a big world out there. Don't you want to see it?"

  I watched as his scowl grew. "I go to Llyn every once in a while. That's enough, I guess."

  "Llyn?"

  "It's the biggest town nearby. That's about as far as I've gone." He sounded deflated.

  "So you're totally happy here? No regrets or anything? You're a young man stuck in a temple with stuffy priests and the sick, and you're sure you don't want to go anywhere?" He wanted out of here. I could feel it. He had the same demeanor I had when I had to move back home after I decked that douchebag for groping my friend. Broke his jaw and everything.

  "I'm not..." He huffed, then stood up and switched to my foot.

  "Not what?"

  He glared at me. "I'm not unhappy."

  I got the feeling that wasn't all of it. "You sure? From what Arden told me, it's pretty great out there."

  Well..." His words trailed off. "Why are you asking so many questions? I just wanna go to bed."

  "Sorry. Thanks for helping. You can stop."

  "Great." He stood up and brushed his robe off. "I'll get you more water." He shuffled out, nearly tripping on his shapeless brown robe as he did, then came back a minute later with a pitcher and poured me a glass. "Here you go."

  "Thanks." Our eye met as I took the glass. They really were the bluest. "Hey, if you ever want to talk, I'm here, okay?" Why not try to extend the olive branch? He seemed lonely, and I could use a friend. Plus, he knew English. That helped.

  He sighed. "Fine. Now go to sleep. You need it. Varga'll be here in the morning, and she won't be gentle."

  I groaned. Tomorrow was gonna suck.

  "I'll see you tomorrow night." With those final words, he left.

  I felt my heart rate spike. The big lady was coming in the morning.

  ***

  My heart wasn't wrong. All I could think of when she healed me was those old jokes about Russian massages and people screaming the whole time. That was me. Screaming. But man, when she was done, I felt so much better.

  "Bone. Restu nun, filo," she said with the same professionalism as always, but she had that twinkle in her eye that I hated. She was making fun of me in her head. I knew it.

  "Bonan matenon, patrino." I parroted the words I heard the day before. If I was gonna be stuck here, I would learn their language, and fast. I hated not knowing what they were saying.

  A huge smile spread across her face. "Bonan matenon, Alex! En la lumo." With those last words, she left my room.

  After a few minutes, I yawned. Healing really took it out of you. I leaned back and was out the second my head hit the pillow.

  ***

  I slept a ton over the next month. That walk around the temple grounds did a number on me. But, I was able to start putting food down, and I didn't look so gaunt.

  Every day, Tristan and I talked. He was a little sulky and kind of naive, but he was a good kid. I didn't like his visits as much as Na-ya's since he wasn't as pretty, but he was great company.

  We talked about anything and everything. He was curious about Earth and wanted to know as much as he could about life there, so that's mostly what we talked about. After eight or nine days of that routine, Tristan came in twice as sulky as usual.

  "What's up, Tristan? Get rejected by a baddie today or something?"

  The kid sighed. No, not kid. He'd told me he was twenty, almost twenty-one. He just looked younger due to reasons I didn't understand due to our language barrier but absolutely pretended like I did. "Can we just not?" His blue eyes met mine. "Not today, okay?" He sat down next to me. "Be nice. Just for today, okay?" His voice was soft and earnest. I let go of all the prods I'd readied for our treatment and nodded. What was today?

  "Of course."

  He worked my hand and arm for several minutes before sighing again. "Varga says you're doing a lot better. You're healing fast, which is good." His voice had that edge that people got when they were struggling with something.

  "That's cool. I'm looking forward to not having to be healed so much." I gave him space to talk. When he didn't, I asked, "What's the matter?"

  He ignored my question. "She thinks it'll be about two months before you're good again, but I'm still not so sure."

  "Awesome. What's wrong?"

  His face screwed up in that anger that only young, hot-headed teens can show. "It's just a little annoying. Okay?"

  "Why?"

  "It's not fair!" The kid yelled louder than he meant to based on his own look of surprise. "I'm tired of the same old thing, you know? I've been here since I was born, and there's nothing else. You guys come here, then you go."

  "And that's bad, I'm guessing?"

  "Of course, it is!" He looked so pouty. "I want to see more, you know? I don't want to be stuck here doing the same thing every day. You get to have adventures and stuff, then you get to come back, and everyone thinks you're awesome. I'm stuck here polishing statues and healing assholes like you."

  "I hear you, man. I'm definitely an asshole."

  A smile broke out across Tristan's face. I was winning, cutting through the layers of pout to the man beneath. "Yeah, I can tell."

  "So what about your parents?"

  His smile faded. "They're both dead."

  "Oh, shit. I'm sorry, man."

  "Whatever. It's fine."

  "If you say so. My sister's dead, so that's kind of the same."

  "Sorry, man."

  "It's fine."

  We sat for a minute in awkward silence. "I never asked, what with you being a giant baby and all. How's your English so good? Arden said he doesn't speak much these days."

  "Yeah, the old man doesn't. He's my teacher and decided when I was young that we'd focus on Common. There's a merchant in town that I'm friends with. We talk all the time, and I like English. It's... I dunno, it reminds me of my folks I guess. They were from Earth."

  The kid was starting to make a little sense. A thought came to me. I could connect with him and learn at the same time. It was hard to flirt with Naya when I couldn't speak to her. "That makes sense. Any chance you'd want to practice with me? I really can't get around if I don't understand anything anyone's saying."

  He looked at me for a moment. "Sure. You're the first human we've had in a while. I wouldn't mind."

  "Great. So what's up with Varga. Is she a giant or something?"

  Tristan laughed. "No. She's just really high-level. So is Rennard. People say they used to be adventurers together, but when she got older, they settled down and built the temple. That's the story at least, but no one really knows. They don't talk about it. They're good people, though. Everyone respects them."

  "Good to know."

  "Alright, you're all done." Tristan stood up. "Get some sleep. You're gonna be sore tomorrow." He smiled, then said, "Dormu bone. That mean's sleep well." He left the room, and I lay back, looking at the clouds outside.

  Tristan wasn't too bad. He was just a kid with big dreams.

  I started thinking about my own path forward. What was in store for me? Could I really be something awesome? Arden said it was like video games. Could I be a wizard or something? Or a badass ranger? Two scimitars, black cat, the whole thing? Or maybe a badass assassin, taking jobs and disappearing into the night. Maybe I'd be an archer, striking from the shadows and leaving my mark behind, changing the world one arrow at a time...