A World of Mystery and Wonder

The last words he heard from his grandfather kept repeating through his head.

'What does he mean my true last name is Dragonlord? That sounds incredibly bizarre.'

Aris continued to ponder those words before remembering what had happened, the strange vortex, the army outside the hospital his grandfather had been spending his last days.

'Wait... The vortex!!!' Aris shot awake, sitting up and looking at his surroundings. 'This... Where am I?' The area surrounding him was such he'd never seen. The sky was a vibrant blue, almost the same as the vortex that had brought him here. The ground for as far as the eye could see was different shades of purples, blues, greens and yellows. Far off in the distance a mountain rose high into the sky, the mountain peak somewhere beyond the clouds.

'Just what is this place? The air feels almost as if it's alive, so warm and gentle like when mother would cup my face as a boy.' At the thought of his mother tears welled up in Aris' eyes, threatening to fall. 'Now isn't the time for that, I must figure out where I am and where I should go from here.'

With that Aris finally stood, not noticing the black mist releasing from under where he had been laying. He spun, slowly turning before noticing in the distance what appeared to be a group riding towards him on horseback.

'Odd, why do they ride horses instead of using a vehicle? Is it the terrain?' he pondered that for a while never coming up with a reasonable answer. Meanwhile, while he stood around, dumbfounded by the approaching horses, he finally noticed that where he had been laying was a small crater. 'That can't be a coincidence... Am I the cause of that?'

As soon as the thought was finished the group on horseback arrived at the edge, surrounding the crater with spears aimed toward Aris.

"It's in your best interest not to move," said the man Aris assumed to be the leader. He was the only one not pointing a spear at Aris. The man seemed young, appearing to be in his early twenties with bright blue hair, deep brown eyes and a slim build. The man continued on, "We're the Sapphire Knights of Lord Redmont, lord of Newash village and lands surrounding."

At the sight of Aris scratching his head and flapping his mouth open and shut without saying anything the leader got irritated, tapping his foot and clenching his jaw, making his teeth grind together. 'What's with this kid? Shouldn't he be horrified at this moment? Why can he only open and shut his mouth? By the gods it's irritating.' The man knelt down near the edge of the little crater the kid was in, waiting for him to spit it out.

"You're... the Sapphire Knights.... of Lord RED-mont..." Aris laughed at the ironic nature of the two names. However the knights holding their spears took offense to his laughter, mistaking it for him mocking their lordship and pressing their circle tighter. This caused Aris to raise his hands, hoping to calm the situation, at the same time exposing the dragon amulet still clutched in his hand that he had received from his grandfather.

Suddenly the knights all looked to their leader, shocked at this development. Their leader however was just as shocked as they were, standing up to his full height in an instant, eyes wide with shock.

"You, where did you get that amulet from?" he demanded an answer out of Aris.

Aris, now more confused than ever, noticed for the first time the amulet had a faint glow to it.

"I received it from my grandfather, it was the last thing he gave me before he shoved me through some strange portal and I arrived here." Aris noticed the change in reception to him once they noticed the amulet, now even more curious as to just what and who he was.

'This amulet, it glows, why does such a thing glow? Is it not just a simple amulet like I had thought?' Hundreds of questions began spinning through his mind, but he couldn't answer a single one.

"So, not only did you come plummeting out of the sky like an omen of death, but now you have one of the ancient noble relics?" The lead knight signaled for the others to lower their weapons, offering his hand and instead introducing himself. "I'm Roland, the captain of Lord Redmont's guards. Wha-" he began to continue but stopped, noticing the shocked look on the young kid's face.

"I'm sorry, did you just say that I came plummeting out of the SKY?!?!" Aris was beside himself.

'There's no way, I would've died. This must be some elaborate prank, they're just LARPing... Yeah that's all this is...' Aris couldn't bring himself to believe a word that had been said to him, to him it simply wasn't possible.

"What game are you guys playing? Maybe then I'll understand and be able to join in on it," Aris was genuinely curious, attempting to figure out what was going on but also admired the groups commitment to it. The armor they were wearing seemed incredibly authentic.

"Games?" Roland tilted his head to the side, looking at the kid confused. "Like... tag? Or do you mean that strange game the kids came up with, kicking that cow bladder around?"

'Cow bladder? Tag? They can't be serious... I meant games like video games, VR games, even those new games that fully immerse you into the game like a new world... They don't know of those???' Aris fell to his knees, finally starting to remember what his grandfather had told him, of various worlds, ones filled with magic and worlds unknown.

"Come along kid, Lord Redmont will most likely want to speak with you personally," Roland said with his hand outstretched. Aris took it, being pulled to his feet. "Climb on, it's a bit of a ride back to the mansion." Roland signaled for him to climb onto the horse behind him. Once he was on they took off, heading off through the colorful fields.

-----

Back on Earth, Tulongzhe and his allies were attempting to figure out where Aris had vanished to. Tulongzhe couldn't help but look at the body of his old friend.

'I truly wish you would've been more reasonable,' he mumbled inwardly. 'It shouldn't have been like this, it should have been the both of us, leading the charge, protecting those we love. Why did you steal the Amulet of Arawn? We were meant to guard it, so why?' He cursed himself for allowing things to come this far, for never noticing anything off with his friend.

Three days later he would be the only one at the funeral for his fallen friend, the hole from his sword invisible to those of this world, but weighing heavily on the heart of Tulongzhe.

----

After three hours riding, through the colorful fields, through a forest of blue trees with leaves that looked like they were made of water, they finally arrived to a clearing in the center of the forest, showing the largest house that Aris had ever seen. The house was made of stone, but not the usual type that Aris was used to on Earth, made of concrete and such, no, this was more like the house had been shaped out of a single piece of stone, completely smooth with red colored stone seamlessly integrated in it. The house itself was of a u-shape, with two wings and the main hall itself.

Upon approaching the main door Roland signaled that Aris should wait for a moment, leaving two of the group with him. A man in his mid to late thirties opened the door, prompting a salute by Roland, his arm going across his chest with him bowing.

"Lord Redmont, I had no idea you would come down yourself," Roland said to the man, prompting Aris to take a better look at the man. He had a faint scar that trailed from his left cheek down to his jawbone, red hair the color of a deep sunset and was dressed well. Along with a slim but muscular build he gave off an air of power, sensible even by Aris waiting where he was instructed to.

"But of course, when such an anomaly occurs I must investigate it with my own eyes, alas what you have brought with you is not what I had been expecting," Lord Redmont said, eyeing Aris curiously. "Tell me Roland, who is this child?"

"My lord, I have not asked his name, as something of great importance was brought to my attention." Turning around Roland spoke to Aris, "Kid, would you mind showing Lord Redmont what it is you have in your hand?"

At this Aris looked again at the faintly glowing amulet in his hand, raising it so that it was visible to Lord Redmont.

"My my, what have we here? Come forward child, let me have a closer look."

Feeling like there wasn't much choice in the matter Aris stepped forward, allowing Lord Redmont a closer look.

"Where did you get this? And aside from that, do you know which noble family this belongs to?" Lord Redmont asked of Aris, hoping to learn more about the curious trinket the boy had.

"It was given to me by my grandfather, he forced it into my hand before I was suddenly brought here, I know less of it than you I'm afraid," Aris answered honestly. He had no idea where or what it was, only that he must not lose it.

"Well well, that's quite alright. I welcome you in my home as an honored guest, please come in." Lord Redmont stepped aside, waving his arm towards the door for Aris to step in.

As he stepped in he couldn't help but feel like there was many secrets hidden within this world that he would soon learn of.