Alex regained consciousness to see that everything was burning.
The entire left side of his body still ached from whatever that spatial power had done to him. Struggling to his feet only earned him more pain as he realized his left arm was either broken or damaged to the point where it wouldn't make a difference.
Finally, reaching his feet only made him realize he had no idea where he was. It took him a few seconds to connect his situation to the portal, but when he did, it didn't make him feel better. The most likely spot he had been teleported would be wherever the Empire was trying to connect to.
Which might explain the destruction he now observed. The entire place looked like it had been hit by pyromaniac bandits, with fires raging around from the broken scrap they had looted.
But it didn't explain why this place looked like some sort of temple. As he limped towards what he hoped was the nearest exit, Alex found glass littering the floor from the massive windows that used to be part of the stone structure. There was even what looked like an altar further towards the back.
Alex grit his teeth and decided to worry about that later. Right now, he had to prepare for a fight. Whether it was the Empire or some roving bandits, this place had obviously seen combat recently. Judging by the barely identifiable human corpses all over the building.
It wasn't the first time Alex had seen death, so he was largely able to ignore it. He was more concerned with the fact that most of his gadgets had been destroyed by whatever effect that sent him here. The gloves were complicated technology, and he highly doubted his ability to get them working again. But maybe he could do something with the amps? They, at least, were mostly his own creation.
One of the massive wooden doors on the building had already been blown off the hinges, so getting outside was easy. Unfortunately, access to the outside world only further confounded his situation.
"Shit." It looked… Old timey? Though the destruction reminded him of home, nothing else did. Alex looked around at the cobbled streets strewn with blood and decided he didn't like what his mind told him.
"Gah?"
Alex spun around at the unusual sound behind him to see some sort of creature walking down the street. It was small, only coming up to Alex's chest, but gangly and misshapen. What really made him come up short, however, was that the creature had green skin.
"Gah!" It spotted Alex and started charging, brandishing a sword in its right hand. It was fast, covering more ground than something that short should be able to.
Still, Alex had faced armed attackers before; even without his amps, this would be nothing. Even if he was uncomfortably low on stored-up sound. He also didn't know what this thing was, so it was probably best to start with a disabling shot.
He took a deep breath. "Stop!" The force of his scream, boosted by a relatively small amount of stored sound, crashed into the charging figure. It went tumbling down, and Alex could see green blood leaking out of its ears.
He didn't like where his mind was going with this, but the creature looked concerningly like a goblin. All the facts were coming together, and the worst part was that it would make Cass right. Maybe the Empire really was trying to make an interdimensional portal.
"Guh." Snapping out of his thoughts, Alex realized his mistake. When fighting new enemies, always make sure they're really down before you lower your guard. It seemed this 'goblin' was just above a human's physical capability.
With an odd groan, the goblin picked himself up and continued attacking with wild slashes now that he had gotten closer. Calmly, Alex backpedaled before realizing his second mistake. He was still injured.
Tumbling to the ground hurt; he couldn't risk using his arms without injuring them further. Lying flat on his ass, it was all he could do to raise up one arm and let loose without trying to conserve power. He watched as the goblin's blade cut closer.
"Slash!" A feminine voice called out from behind him, and Alex watched a crescent of blue energy bisect the goblin from the waist up.
He sighed with relief as the two pieces fell to the floor before him and slowly stopped drawing on his power. The drive, the mission, the fight, and now this. Alex was exhausted and just wanted to take a break. But first, he had to deal with whoever helped him out.
Hearing the strangely metallic footsteps behind him, Alex looked up from his position on the ground. "Thanks for saving my a-" An armored figure slammed a gauntleted fist into his stomach without warning.
Alex gasped and could only focus on trying to regain his lost breath. Before he knew it, a gag was forced into his mouth, and whoever attacked him was manhandling his body, roughly tying his arms up with some sort of rope.
"Whawha?" Alex tried to vocalize through the gag, only just recovering from the shock.
He felt something sharp touch his throat. "Try and use any of your foul magic, and I'll cut you before you speak, sorcerer." Alex looked down to see some sort of arming dagger at his neck.
He panicked for a half second before relaxing in his attacker's arms. That at least seemed to mollify them, and they began leading him somewhere. Which meant he had time to plan, even though it would have to be through the stabbing pain in his left arm.
Alex quickly came to terms with the fact that he was in another world. If the area hadn't been enough of a clue, then the talk of magic cinched it. He could unpack the enormity of that realization later; right now, he had to figure out how to survive.
He should start with the problems.
The soldier behind him was obviously superpowered. Taking the time to analyze the armor using ambient sound told him it was ordinary steel. Which was good, but Alex couldn't discount the chance that they had some sort of enhanced endurance. Either that or enhanced reaction time would spell doom for any escape plan.
He was also injured. And while that didn't affect the strength of his powers, running away would be difficult. Especially because the enemy had already demonstrated ranged capabilities. Though… if this was magic, Alex made a note to try taking away the sound of their spell or attack the next time he got a chance. But he wasn't confident enough in that working to bet his life on it.
Now for the good parts.
They obviously thought he used some sort of magic and that not being able to talk would take this ability away. Which should give him the element of surprise if they got into a fight. They also intended to capture him alive for some purpose, which should mean he wouldn't be killed immediately wherever they were going.
Overall, staying captured while gathering information seemed to be his best bet. That was one of his specialties, after all. And who knows, maybe they had some sort of magical healing available wherever they were based?
…
They did. People were walking around the camp dressed in robes like a stereotypical cleric and magically healing whatever injuries the townsfolk suffered. Though apparently, the 'evil sorcerers' were not on their list of patients.
He still didn't get the distinction they had for what magic was allowed because what the soldiers did seemed pretty magical to him. But he did learn some other things.
Apparently, this town was named Pynthos and was attacked by what the people kept calling a monster hoard. The hoard had terrorized the village for minutes before these soldiers arrived, and the people kept calling them the Inquisition.
So apparently, Alex now had to deal with some religious zealots who didn't like certain forms of magic. They had thrown him into some kind of magic circle on the edges of the encampment. Along with two others, one who was already there and a young boy who came after.
Alex glanced at the vaguely Asian-looking girl tied up beside him. She didn't look like some sort of evil sorcerer, but she was dressed for combat. Some sort of light armor on the body and what must have once passed for a cloth mask covering her neck. Though she was now wearing a gag similar to himself. He couldn't imagine she was any older than him at 19, but Alex could admit he was terrible with ages.
From what he could tell from the villager gossip she was either the cause of the monster hoard or helped them fight it. But he heard the Inquisition trying to spread the latter. Alex was just going to guess they were trying to frame it that way.
Maybe she could be a good source of information?