Finding my Parents in Another World

Raorka always remembered the first time he saw Temuril.

He had been pestering Lucerne with questions about the Dragon throughout the journey there, trying to establish whether the being she was talking about was indeed the one he knew from legends on Earth.

"Yes he has a tail, yes he breathes fire and yes he flies. If you ask one more time I am going to call Gotuj here himself to eat you." Lucerne had remarked in frustration.

But this was a source of extreme excitement to Raorka. The first taste of the fact that he was indeed in a different world. A mythical being.

Trapped in a jungle?

Yes that did not make sense. Why would a Dragon be trapped in a jungle? For however high the trees are, the Dragon should be able to go higher still.

Lucerne had this to say on the matter:

"Old Gotuj was cursed. Many many many years ago he lusted after the then King's daughter, and thereafter the King commanded his court magician, the Wizard of Reknown to curse him such that he would never be able to leave the jungle."

"A Dragon lusted after a human woman?"

"He was not a Dragon at the time." Was all Lucerne had to say on the matter.

It was evident that there was a good bit of folklore mixed into the legend of the Dragon in the forest. Raorka determined that he would have to research more into the same independently.

And it was then as they were talking about Old Gotuj that Temuril finally came into view.

Temuril was a walled town. That was the first thing that Raorka noticed, the walls stretching high above the ground. After that he noticed the dome. The dome was completely transparent, only apparent because of the shine of the sun reflecting off it. The dome covered the entire town except for one area at the very edge of the town where a tower pierced through it. The tower was evidently part of a castle, most of which was obscured by the other buildings around it. Raorka had expected small houses, and in this atleast he was right. It seemed the town had several two storey houses, but built on different inclinations such as to appear taller than they actually were.

As Raorka and Lucerne approached the gate of the town, he noticed that there were long spikes extending outward from the gates.

"Are the gates closed at night?"

Lucerne shrugged.

"Sometimes they are. When we receive news of any bandit or robber gang passing through any of the neighboring towns, the mayor orders the gate to be closed."

"The mayor lives in that castle at the edge?"

Lucerne nodded, and then added, "We are lucky to have a mayor like Rokar. He cares for the citizens. You are lucky you are coming to Temuril and not to Odania and the domain of the tyrant."

"The tyrant?" Raorka asked confused.

However Lucerne probably realised that she had spoken too much and would not elaborate on this, no matter how much Raorka asked.

Finally they reached the gate, where Raorka saw two guards were chatting and lazing about. Seeing Lucerne and him approach, they immediately stood up and grinned.

"Hey Lucerne, I thought you went out to fill your pitcher, not to catch...." And the guard visibly snorted at Raorka's clothes, "....whoever this clown is."

"Haha very funny Hran, now do your job."

"Oh, can't even take a joke I see." The guard called Hran said with a smile. Raorka saw that he was a middle aged man, but his features were not too clear under the helmet he was wearing. Seeing the broadsword sheathed at his waist, Raorka gulped. He had no weapon to call his own, hopefully he would not need it in this town.

"Magik?" Hran asked matter of factly.

"Fire." Lucerne answered equally, and then to the utter amazement of Raorka, she held her finger up and a tiny column of flame burst up at the end of it.

Seeing Raorka's shock and horror at this, Hran laughed. "Looks like the visitor is not familiar with Magik."

Lucerne grunted something and then pulled Raorka along into the town of Temuril.

.XX.

"Don't tell me you have never heard of Magik?" Lucerne asked as soon as they had entered the city.

Raorka could only sheepishly grin and shake his head no. However at that time he remembered something the voice has told him.

I shall grant you the power of water.

Lucerne sighed, which brought him back out of his thoughts.

"I really don't have the patience to teach you, and I am not really cut out to be a teacher anyway. You should find someone to teach you magik as soon as you can, otherwise you are as helpless as a newborn babe in this world."

"How do you know I can even use magik?"

Again Lucerne stared at him strangely as if he had asked a question even children knew the answer to.

"Everyone on Anexia can use magik, it is a property of the soul. As soon as we are born we can use magik, we just need to figure out our affinity before puberty."

Aah but I was not born in Anexia.

Raorka kept this thought to himself.

"Where can I get someone to teach me magik?"

"Well anyone at the guild will do, though they may lose patience with you quickly given how you didn't even know about magik before I told you. And....." Here Lucerne seemed to hesitate a bit.

"And...?" Raorka tried to gently gauge out of her.

Lucerne bit her lip as if she was debating within herself as to whether to share this piece of information, but finally she relented.

"And there's the Witch of the Woods. People go to her sometimes to learn about magik, but I honestly can't recommend you do that."

"Why not?"

"Well....for one she is an outsider and therefore most people don't trust her, and for second she lives on the outskirts of the forest you were just in. It's just too close to Old Gotuj for comfort."

Raorka didn't think either of those two reasons were really a deal breaker but he kept his thoughts to himself. After all he didn't know how tightly knit the community of this town might be. Maybe they would treat all outsiders with suspicion.

Outsiders.....like me

But anyhow he needed to learn magik as soon as possible. Currently he didn't feel even an iota of magikal energy in his body. He tried to concentrate and control the water in the pitcher that Lucerne was carrying but nothing ever happened.

Finally after about fifteen minutes of walking from the gate, Lucerne stopped near a two storey homely house.

"Welcome to the Fritten Inn." She declared proudly.

As soon as she had said the same, as if on cue, the door to the inn burst open and a woman strode out.

"Come now Lucerne how did it take you an hour almost to fetch water from the lake?" She chided Lucerne, and Raorka immediately assumed that she must be her mother. He could see the similarities at once. The woman was quite homely and her face still showed some of the beauty that it must have had when she was younger.

It was not too much time later that she noticed him and gasped.

"And who is this young man in this....peculiar garb?" She asked suspiciously.

Raorka bowed deeply and said, "Excuse me ma'am, I am a traveller from a distant land. Unfortunately I got separated from my companions, who are also my parents, on landing here. I was hoping to rest at your inn for a few days until I get used to the ways of this world."

Lucerne's mother was evidently quite impressed by the respectful intonation, and perhaps also sympathized with a young boy separated from his parents in an unfamiliar land. She immediately seemed to let go of her suspicions and said, "Of course of course, you are most welcome here." And smiled brightly.

Raorka sighed inwardly. Finally a place to rest and recuperate after toiling through the jungle for the last hour. In fact he thought he was quite lucky to get a place to stay at so soon after coming to this world. He made sure to thank Lucerne profusely later on.

The girl in question had already gone in and started putting the pitcher into the water tank they had for drinking water.

"Lucerne is quite helpful in running the inn. I don't know what I would do without her." Her mother said, with kind of a sad smile.

Raorka was about to ask why she looked so sad when suddenly there was a tremendous sound all over the town, as if a huge gong was being beaten. Immediately there was a transformation over both Lucerne and her mother, and indeed it seemed on all girls in the town who rushed out of their homes and looked excitedly towards the castle at the edge of the town.

"Hey Lucerne what's happening?" Raorka asked confused.

Lucerne looked to him, excitement still shining in her green eyes.

" It's the selection!! The mayor will select one girl today."

"Select? Select for what?"

"For joining the Royal Guard." Lucerne's mother was the one who answered, and as Raorka watched her eyes seemed to turn into something more than sadness.