In Another Time

As they stood at the bottom of the mountain facing a strange town with lights almost everywhere even though it was night. They stood dumbfounded at the bottom of the mountain asking themselves where they were and how they got there.

They walked into the town, admiring the buildings, cars and other things they saw. Even how the people were dressed was different. Bryce being the oldest went over to lady nearby to ask where they were.

"You're in Beaconsdale, Boston, where else would you be", the lady replied.

The same town yet so different. Bryce thought to himself. Then a thought struck his mind. He ask the lady the date and time.

"It's 04:43, 20th August, 2020" she replied and then walked away.

Bryce was dumbfounded as he was shook to hear what the lady told him. The others rushed to his side, they walked over to a nearby bench to sit and Bryce told them what the lady told him.

"Are you saying that we were in that place for two centuries?", Daniel asked.

"I don't even know what 𝑰'𝒎 saying", Bryce said.

Daniel quickly opened the guide book flipping through some page. He stopped and started reading, "The forest of the Mandrake Realm is very tricky with time. Time spent in there is different from the time in the real world. For example, two hours spent in there could be two minutes or even a hundred years in the real world".

"We were in there for a little over two hours", Bryce stated.

"And now we're two centuries in the future", Kevin said.

"If we were in there for two centuries then what about Janet", Daniel asked.

The brothers went quiet. They knew that surely she wouldn't be alive in this time.

"Let's go to the mountain. Janet said wherever we end up, we should always head to the mountain", Bryce said.

"The house has been replaced with a fricking mansion", Kevin said.

They went to the mountain and walked up to find the mansion that was in place of their previous house. A few minutes later they were standing at the front gate of the mansion. They were wondering how they would get in when the gates suddenly opened. They walked in cautiously. A man who seemed to be in his early forties came out the front door and smiled at them.

"I've been waiting for you, come inside", the man said.

They went to mansion in to a dark foyer. The man said, "𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑖𝑒̀𝑟𝑒" and all the lights in the foyer lit up.

"You're a warlock", Bryce asked the man.

The man replied, "My name is Charles Clinton and I'm a descendant of your Janet, and as you can see I'm also a warlock just like you, and I'll be teaching and training you how to do magic to protect the gems".

"Wait, you know about the gems?", Bryce asked.

"No, I just guessed you would have three gems that had the power to destroy everything", Charles said sarcastically with a smile.

"I'll answer all your questions tomorrow. Right now it's too early and I'm still tired. Go upstairs, right wing, you'll find your designated bedrooms". He added.

Charles climbs the stair to go to his bedroom in the left wing but Kevin stoped him and asked, "Why should we trust you?".

Charles answers, "You don't have to. You can just leave. Now if you're going to stay, go to your rooms. It's already dawn".

The boys went upstairs to find their rooms. Bryce went into his room and his jaw dropped. The bed in the room was so big. He went into the big bathroom and look around then went into the closet. His jaw drop again when he opened the closet door. It was bigger than his old room and filled with so many modern clothes and accessories. After looking around, he laid on the bed and immediately fell asleep.

*****

It was almost noon when Bryce woke up. He went into the bathroom to freshen up but the modern items confused him a bit. He struggled a bit with what to do with what to do but eventually he was able to get it right. He brushed his teeth and showered. He went went into the closet and wore some casual clothes.

He went downstairs to join Charles for lunch.

"Do you live alone?", Kevin asked.

"No, everyone else is just invisible", Charles answered sarcastically. He usually answers with sarcasm whenever anyone asks anything obvious.

"So about the gems", Bryce said.

Charles answered, "Well the gems should amplifies the power of the of any supernatural creature it merges with. It doesn't merge with anyone yet it did with you. You three must be special. If you're able to tap into the power of the gems the effects of you spell at least quadruple, but there are other abilities that the gems have that we don't know about yet".

"And how are you going to teach us to tap into the power of the gems?" , Bryce asked.

"Well, all you had to do was hold it to tap into it's power, but since it merged with you, I don't really know. You're just gonna have to learn how to tap into it yourself", Charles replied.

"So you're saying we're the first to merge with the gems", Daniel asked.

Charles looked at Daniel trying to repress the urge to be sarcastic.

"Yes", Charles replied.

"What else do you know?", Kevin asked.

"I know so many things that you'd be surprised", Charles said.

Kevin rolls his eyes and continued with his food.

Charles finishes his food. "I'm heading out, I'll be back before dark. Incase any of you go to town, be back before dark", he said as he headed out.

*****

A few minutes later, Bryce decides to head out to have a look around the town and see how much it's changed.

"Can I come with you", Daniel asked.

"Of course", Bryce replied.

"Wait up! I'm coming too", Kevin said.

So the three went down to the town. Modern vehicles going about on the roads, people dressed and going about their lives.

"This is amazing", Daniel said.

Bryce couldn't help but nod.

They continued to explore whatever there came across. They came across a barber shop and they decided to get haircut.

While they were walking, they suddenly heard a voice calling for help. They followed the voice to an alley. They saw three middle aged men surrounding a girl around their age.

"Hey, let her go", Bryce shouted.

"Mind your own business", one of the men said.

"I'm saying this one more time let her go", Bryce shouted.

One of the men wearing a red beanie came over to Bryce and put his hand on his shoulder. He was about to speak when Kevin touched his hand.

"Get your hands off him", Kevin said.

Red beanie thought that with his height and size, he'd be able to take these three brats. Little did he know that these three brats were trained vigorously by their father who thought strength was everything.

"Or what?", Beanie said.

"Or this",

Beanie didn't know what happened but suddenly Kevin's foot was in his face. Bryce sent a punch right into Beanie's face breaking his nose. Daniel immediately swept Beanie's feet, making him fall to the ground.

Seeing this, the other two men; grey hoodie and leather jacket, immediately charge at the brothers. Bryce and Kevin also charged, leaving beanie to Daniel.

Leather jacket threw a punch but Bryce dodged it and punched the him in the stomach. Leather jacket bent down in pain and Bryce kicked him in the face letting him fall. Bryce kicked him again In the stomach until the man couldn't get up.

Grey hoodie came rushing at Kevin holding up a punch. Kevin dodged and punched him in the face breaking his nose. Kevin kicked him behind his knee making him kneel and then send his knee straight to grey hoodie's face.

Beanie came from behind and held Daniel firmly to himself squeezing him. Daniel hit him in the face with the back of his head making him let go of him. Daniel kick beanie in his "golden croach". Beanie fell to his knees gripping his balls in pain.

The three rushed over to the girl to see if she was okay.

"Thank you so much. I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't come", she thanked them sincerely.

"My name's Emily Rocco", she introduced herself.

The brother also introduced themselves.

"I haven't seen you in town before. You must be new", Emily said.

"You can say that", Bryce said. After all they were new in this century's Beaconsdale.

"If you don't mind I could show you around", Emily offered with a smile, particularly to Bryce.

"Yeah, I'd like that", Bryce said, smiling back at Emily.

"We'd like that", Kevin corrected.

Emily agreed and the four of them went around the town having fun. Bryce and Emily flirted with each other throughout. It was about to get dark when the brothers dicided to go home so they parted ways. Bryce, Kevin and Daniel went home.

The next week morning they woke up and freshened up. Charles called all three of them to the hall and asked them to sit. He pulled out three boxes and handed it to them. They opened and there were smart phones, but they didn't know what it was. Charles explained to them how to use it and soon they got a hang of it. They were excited after learning how to use them.

"Well be happy cause you'll be going to school next week", Charles said.

They were very excited to hear that. Bryce was more happy 'cause he'd probably see Emily in school.