After another walk I reached the wall, it was tall and imposing wall of a dark grey hue almost becoming black. A lot of people were going back and forth, looking busy. The people were wearing interesting clothes; most of them were wearing plain colored clothes, and those that didn't, were wearing clothes decorated with simple patterns. The shoes specially caught my attention; they were crafted crudely from leather, whether they were leather boots or leather sandals. Some people were even walking barefoot on the dirt road.
From the crowd you could recognize some people that were uniformed. They were wearing better quality dark green dyed leather vest, with more plain colored clothes underneath it. Leather boots of the same color and a bright red ribbon on their shoulder complemented the attire. Swords, axes, daggers, maces and other melee weapons dangled from their hips or were attached firmly to their backs. The only reasonable scenario I could think of was a renaissance fair and they were role playing town's guard. Since they were most likely the ones in charge of security, I approached one of the uniformed guys.
Attempting to communicate with the uniformed guy yielded the same result as with the farmer, it was impossible to understand each other. Frustrated about the situation I decided to show the guard the leaf I had received earlier from the farmer, perhaps on written on there was an explanation of my situation. The guard took the note and read it; his face expression changed to one of contempt and called more guards. They discussed among themselves for a little bit, and then signaled me to follow them which I felt obliged to comply. I felt threatened and running away flashed through my mind, but even if I could escape successfully I still would be lost and now I would have armed people looking for me. Following them for now was safer.
I was lead to a dark and damp room on the back, the guard signaled me to go inside. Once I entered the room, he closed the door and bound my hands. Then sit me on a wooden chair and tie me firmly to it. I had been arrested.
Several hours later I heard some commotion outside, the sun was slowly setting. I had cramps on my arms and legs due to keeping the same position for so many hours. I was tired, confused and hungry. No explanation had been offered to me, I had just been left alone on that room. The commotion stopped as fast and unpredictable as it had started; the door slowly opened.
A single guy entered the room and the door closed once again behind him. He was considerable tall and his most noticeable features were his long black hair and tight clothes clinging to his body. He moved his hair around as he walked, I took a glance at his face and what surprised me the most was that on the center of his forehead, was a yellow gemstone embedded into his flesh. It was firmly implanted on his person, and you could see the scars left behind when the wounds have healed around the gemstone. He wasn't uniformed like the rest of the guards, but he was oozing with confidence that resulted from having deal with similar situations a milliard of times. Perhaps it is my lawyer I thought.
He pulled the close by table in front of me. He also pulled another wooden chair and sat facing me. He started pulling strange objects from his clothes and setting them on the table. First it was a stack of paper notes similar to memo pads. The paper was of much better quality than the leaf that I had received from the farmer; the pages were crudely sewn together to form a notebook. A dark small container filled with a liquid and a long bird feather followed the pad. They were invested on the renaissance fair theme, as they were going as far as forgoing the use of normal paper and pen. The last objet was a strange looking purple orb; it had one of its side cut so it would be able to sit on the table without rolling away. He placed his left hand on the orb, close his eye for a second and to my surprise the orb starting shining with a faint blue hue color.
Although the faint light was slightly better for reading and writing, it was so dim that it didn't improve the conditions much. The guy took the bird feather on his right hand, dip it on the small container and slowly place the tip of the feather on the paper. He lifted his face, stared at me directly and asked:
– Name?
– Where am I? Why I am tied up? I know my rights, this treatment is not acceptable – I replied
He softly sigh, slowly shake his head and repeated the same question one more time on the same monotonous tone:
– Name?
Perhaps I was too eager to finally find someone that spoke the same language as me that I forgot the type of situation I was in. Obviously they were not interested in answering my questions, considering that not answering their questions might worsen my situation I hesitantly answered.
– I am Sirius ¬– I replied ¬
– Sirus, what is your age? – He asked while writing on the notepad
– 22, where am I? – I asked
– This is Stonebell Keep, under what race are you registered as? – He again asked while writing my answers on the notepad.
– Caucasian, why was I arrested? - I replied slowly, it was such a weird question to ask when it could be seen at a glance that I was Caucasian
He lifted his face to take another look at me, softly sigh one more time. Put his pen down and slowly started speaking.
–My name is Renzo, you were arrested for suspicious behavior and illegal migration – He said.
– I apologize; I got lost and didn't realize I had crossed borders. I was trying to get directions but the language barrier impeded me, under that circumstances, it is normal that I would look suspicious. By the way I have noticed that everyone is wearing costumes, is there some kind of festival going on today? – I replied
– You did more than crossing a country border. You are in Cavan Kingdom, does that name ring any bell? – He asked.
– No, I don't know of it. In what continent is located? – I asked
I have never heard of such place on my life, I never considered myself knowledgeable on geography but most of countries have adopted other system of government besides a kingdom; I doubt any of them would keep referring to themselves as kingdoms, if they were I would recognize them.
– There is but a single continent. – He said
I stared at Renzo without understanding what he has just said. There was more than one continent. Perhaps sensing my confusion Renzo started talking again.
– You are not longer on your own world. You crossed a fracture and arrived here. – He calmly said
– My world? – I snorted – Are you pulling a prank on me; telling me that I have transported to some parallel universe. Do I look that gullible to you? – I sarcastically asked
– Although it sounds unbelievable or even ridiculous, that is what happened – he calmly replied
I stared at Renzo. I was waiting for the expected laugh or confirmation that it was nothing more than a prank; however that laugh never came. What is happening here?
– You must be confused and must have a lot of question lingering your mind at the moment, but this is hardly a comfortable place to take all this in. I will be back and answer your question once I sort out your situation – Renzo said
Renzo got up from his chair, pick up his utensils and left the room. I was once again left alone in the room. I layed my head down, maybe soon I will wake up from my nap a second time, this time on the correct time and place.