Chapter 1

I had left thinking that he was more than a little off. He had lived in that house for forty years as a recluse and he claimed to have lived a full life. I wondered how he knew he would die before my return next year. Still something about the way he held himself made the curiosity swirl.

It was on my mind for the rest of the week. I read and reread his file again. The past forty years it was always the same: one meeting a year for thirty minutes, period. He took the entire day asking me more questions than I had answered about myself before. They were about whom I was, what I had done and thought. He eased his way into them, and I just kept answering. Why had I done that?

Promptly, at 9:00 on Saturday morning I found myself ringing the bell. He answered the door. “Come in; glad to see you decided to come back John.” He took my hand and shook it. The door closed with a thud.

I started out. “I don’t know why I came today.”

“I do.”

“Why?”

“Curiosity.” He replied and turned to shuffle back into the house.

I followed taking time to look around the house. There were short steps leading to doors that looked to go nowhere. It was odd but then all of this was odd.

We arrived in what was his office. The walls were filled with bookcases; each case was completely filled with books. There were more in stacks all around the room. There was a large desk with some papers in binders on it. He pointed to a chair, and I sat down while he went behind the desk to take his seat.

“You are curious, aren’t you?”

“I admit that I am.”

“What I am about to tell you will be difficult for you to accept. You have the makings of a Hero.”

“What do you mean? I have the makings of a Hero?”

“I am a good judge of character, and I believe you could be a Hero with the right training and my help, of course.”

“I don’t understand what you mean about helping me be a Hero?”

“It’s a long story.”

“I’m here, ready to listen.”

“When I came back from...” With that story the journey to Hero began, of course I didn’t know it then. We talked right to lunch. He was right, it was hard to grasp Crossroads, Cassandra, Chaos, Portals, Heroes, Damsels, Caretakers, fifteen minutes of our time no matter how much time was spent there, rescues and the list went on and on. We talked until lunch again.

It was while we were eating that I asked him, “Could I be so forward as to call you Samuel?”

“No one has called me by that name in many years.”

“What do they call you?”

“General”

“Everyone?”

“Everyone I care about.”

“Who do you care about?”

“My extended family and friends on Chaos; Samantha Caretaker at Crossroads.”

“No one here?”

“Anyone I cared about here has died long ago.”

His file had told me there were no others here. No wife, children or relatives known of. It was a lot to come to grips with; a different plane of existence with different rules. Was it real or just the fantasies of an old man?

“I see the doubt on your face.”

“I’m sorry, but it is hard to digest it all.”

“Come with me.” He got up from the table in the kitchen, and we went into another room. We walked up a few steps to a door that looked out of place. He opened a door with a key he took from his pocket. The door groaned as he opened it and there was a bright shining wall behind it. “This is the Portal.”

“Can I enter it?”

“No, you are not ready, and you do not have the ring that will allow you to.”

“How do I get the ring?”

“You must accept my training to be given the ring.”

“How do I know that this is real?”

“You won’t until the day you step through.”

He pushed the door closed and locked it. I followed him back to his office. “I can tell you no more that would make you believe. These pages describe it all in greater detail than I could. Have a seat and read.”

I took my seat and opened the first one. It described Cassandra and all that it was. I knew the words did not do justice to the beauty of that planet, but I was sure they described the foolishness of those who tried to conquer it. What a near fatal twist it was: they destroyed the ability of the men to easily impregnate the women. That was why the women volunteered to be rescued by a Hero. To be impregnated just one time at the risk of their own life.

I picked up the next, and it described Chaos, the people who were good and those that were villains and how those who thought that might made right, in their eyes at least. There were the descriptions of the physical characters of the world, and what I would find there. The more I read the more I needed to. It was becoming an addiction, and I was being drawn in by it.

No sooner was I done than I picked up the next. Crossroads: it told of the Caretakers, the beauty of the women who did that and how they brought out the best in the men who had been chosen to live the life of a Hero. There were pages about what the Heroes had accomplished and about those that had died. It listed General Samuel Withers: his accomplishments were long, the time spent doing that was staggering. It didn’t add up: he had been on campaigns for years at a time, sometimes a decade. I added all the time up it was over five hundred years. I set the pages down, and he had returned and was seated across from me.

“How can that be?”

“I leave for only fifteen minutes here at a time.”

“But it was written that you were gone for ten years there.”

“I was and it was still only fifteen minutes here. I age there but when I return here that aging vanishes and I am only fifteen minutes older.”

“Why can’t the healing chambers restore you to full health so you can continue?”

“They do but they don’t turn back the hands of time here. A day is a day here, and we have only a limited number of them.”

“Will you return there?”

“No, I have made my choice to stay here. Earth is my home where I will be buried.”

“You can’t wear the ring to enter the portal and get it back to me?” I asked.

“No I can’t it would be lost and the portal closed forever.”

“Do you want me to take you back?”

“It would be a difficult journey.”

“With your help I am sure we would make it to the Citadel.” I had read that Heroes of Samuel’s statute had their own Citadels.

“You take for granted what we have here and try to apply it there. There are many steps we have to accomplish before you are going to be ready to go. However, I thank you for the offer.”

“Why are you so hesitant?”

“I made a mistake long ago.”

“A mistake?” I asked.

“Yes, I was arrogant and foolish. It cost me my wife and children here.”

“How?”

“I thought I could handle it all. I had hardly been challenged in my early adventures. The next one was to be more difficult. I had opened the door and the portal was there. I had forgotten to lock the door to this room. My wife and children came into the room. The kids came running to me and my wife tried to stop them. They pushed us into the portal and into Crossroads. I had to complete the mission with them along. The rules are set in that way.” A tear rolled down his cheek and his breathing slowed. “It was too much. They all died because of me. I would not place that same burden on you.”

“Can I take the pages with me? Those that I have not read: Rules for Hero Greeters, Rules for Caretakers, Rules for Heroes, Rules for Hero Companions, Rules for Damsels or Rules for Companion Greeters”

“No. Nevertheless, you can remain here the rest of the weekend reading and asking questions.”

“I didn’t bring an overnight bag or a change of clothes.”

“There are worst problems than not having fresh clothes.”

He was right of course. I read them and reread everything. We stopped and discussed it all in great detail over that weekend. I went into the office on Monday and quit that day. The thought of battle in the courtroom no longer appealed to me when compared with the adventure on Chaos.

He was a General. He poured centuries of knowledge into my head and in his basement he taught me to use the sword, dagger, bow, crossbow and pike. I learned how to identify a weakness in an opponent and exploit it to my advantage. My body and my mind ached for all that pushed in to or taken from it. He was always instructive but not gentle in his criticisms.

One day there were men in the house. He had arranged for them to come and test me. It was one thing to study and quite the other to do. I benefited from his knowledge and looked at them with a different set of eyes. But that did not stop me from having some tender ribs and large bruises when they left.

We were eating breakfast discussing what the day’s plans were when he stopped and handed me the ring. “Today you go to Crossroads and select your Caretaker. It is the only time you are allowed to not have a mission. Choose wisely for she is the one who prepares you for those missions and the one you return to after each one.” I got a wink from him.

The doubts were there. Was it what he had said it was? I thought I believed, but did I? I could walk into that portal but was it all just the fantasies of an old dying man? He handed me the key and the door groaned as I opened it.

I put the ring on and stepped into the portal. I was in a room, a parlor not unlike the one in his house. A lovely woman came out of a room she looked to be in her thirties. Raven hair and blue-green eyes that glimmered. Her body was incredible. “Welcome to Crossroads. I take it the General sent you?”

“Yes he did.”

“What is the sign?”

The old fox had worried that someone would find his possessions and the ring. He did not want anyone not worthy of entering this life to just stumble into it. So he gave them a code word. It was the last discussion we had before I left.

“Nuts” I said. It was from the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. Samuel has a sense of humor about it.

She looked at me and said. “I am Samantha Caretaker and only the one the General had chosen would know that.”

“Hello, Samantha Caretaker. I am John Smithers and the General has deemed me worthy to be a Hero.”

“If he has, then I will follow the instructions.”

“What are they if I might ask?”

“You have three folders in front of you. From those presented you must choose your Caretaker. My time here is over after you choose her.”

“I understand that from reading the pages.”

“Can I ask you some questions?” she said.

“Of course.” I answered.

“How is the General’s health?” Her eyes betrayed the quiet tone of the question.

“He was fine when I left but said he would not live until spring.”

“It is a shame to see such a fine man and Hero such as him pass on.” There was a tear in her eye.

“It is more a shame that he could not give you a child,” I said.

“I knew and agreed to that when I agreed to be a Caretaker. It was a difficult decision to be a Caretaker and not a Damsel to be rescued but the trade-off of loving him all of those times has more than made my life complete.”

“He still felt you were not rewarded sufficiently for your devotion to him.”

“I know, but it was the agreement that I entered.”

“Well now, Samuel and I might have found a small glitch in the agreement.”

“A glitch?”

“Yes. It seems that he could not impregnate you because you were his Caretaker.”

“Yes, that is correct.”

“But you are not my Caretaker. I do not know if I would be able to do that, but I am more than willing to try.”

Her smile said it all. “You would do that for me?”

“I would do it for you and for him.”

“He wants me to have a child?”

“In the worst way is how I would think he would phrase it.”

“But I agreed to—” I raised my hand to her.

“You made the agreement with the Powers that Be. That agreement was in the pages I read. When I pointed it out to Samuel, there was no explicit rule against the new Hero impregnating the old Hero’s caretaker; there was a gleam in his eye.”

She asked for the agreement and it appeared on the table. We sat next to each other and looked it over. As we reviewed it, she saw there was nothing that forbade the next hero from impregnating her.

She looked at me. “Would you?”

“With earnest, gusto and much pleasure on my part, I assure you.”

“I know that I am to help you choose the next Caretaker, but I’m smitten with desire to have a child now.”

“Only one way to make that happen, I understand.” I gave her a wink.

“I must help you choose first. The rules are clear what happens once a woman is impregnated here. I don’t know which rules will be in effect if you impregnate me. I might disappear back to Cassandra, or I might stay here until my replacement arrives.”

She brought the three folders that had arrived on the table a moment before and handed them to me. I had sat down and spent the next few hours reading them.

When I stopped to stretch, she asked, “How did you know to look for that glitch?”

“My job on earth is to look for glitches. I was a lawyer before the General recruited me to be a Hero.” I stopped to stretch. “It is going to be an interesting turn of events if I am successful in impregnating you when you return to Cassandra.”

“Some of the best women for this job refuse it and go on the waiting list to be damsels instead because they want a child more.”

“This is a win-win situation then.”

“It will upset the balance that they have had in place.”

“Yes it will, but life is about change. They can’t foretell everything.”

“I am torn right now. I want so badly to work on my child and see if it can happen, but I have this duty to help you choose.”

I patted her thigh. “I will not make a choice until you are sure that you are pregnant.”

She did her damnedest to continue to help me review the folders but her desires were high gear. Finally, I said. “I have looked through them and want to take them back with me to review with the General. I will choose her when I return.”

She looked sad when I said that. “But I thought you were—” I leaned over to kiss her before she said another word.

“I am not leaving now. I simply need more time and the General’s advice before I make a final decision. That is not against the rules, either. But I will not leave before I give it my best try to impregnate you.”

It took six weeks of trying; her desires were hot for me all the time. I had many restoratives over that time, so we could continue. There were times we were raw and used the healing chamber, so we could continue.

Finally, she said to me. “Your mission has been a success.” She told me that she felt a pull at her to be taken back to Cassandra but the contract for her being a Caretaker overrode that for now. I stepped back through the portal with the files of the three women I had to choose from. Samuel was sitting in the chair waiting for me. My smile told him all he needed to know.

“It went well, I take it.”.

“I think so and she was certainly happy with the outcome.

“I have the three folders. Once I make a choice she will be taken back to Cassandra.”

“You made your choice already, didn’t you?”

“In the first hours after I read them all.”

“So why didn’t you tell her who your choice is after she was pregnant?”

“I’ll tell you that when I get ready to return.”

We discussed my choice and reasons for it. He grilled me about her. She was 24, working on her Master’s Degree in history at one of the major universities on Cassandra. From her dossier she had focused on the history of Earth, Cassandra and Chaos. Her knowledge of weapons and tactics used on all three planets was extensive. Her mother had been a Damsel; she was the offspring of General Sid.

It was during breakfast the next morning when the General handed me an envelope. “That is my handwritten will. In this state that is all that is needed for me to name you as my beneficiary. I want you to have this house and all that I possessed here so you can be the Hero they need on Chaos.”

“I will do my best to live up to what you expect of me.”

“Live up to what you expect of yourself, and I will be more than satisfied.”

He handed me an amulet. “This will let the bank manager know that I sent you. All the books in my box will tell you what you need to know. Take everything from the box as you will be assigned a new one.”

I put the amulet around my neck. “Are you not feeling well?”

“Something is telling me it is my time. I don’t know what it is, but I feel it for some reason. Now you need to return and make your choice known. There are Damsels waiting to be rescued by you.”

We walked into the room. I placed the envelope on the desk there and opened the door to the portal. He shook my hand and was about to leave when I walked into the portal pulling him with me.

Samantha came out of the bedroom and saw us standing there. She ran to him and hugged him for dear life. “I thought I would never see you again, my beloved.”

“Well, I hadn’t planned on returning but someone brought me here.”

“You deserved to see her after your sacrifice for her.”

“What sacrifice?” he asked.

“You gave her what she wanted without jealousy stopping you. For that unselfish act, I decided to bring you here.”

“But now you have to complete your mission before I can be taken back to die.”

“I do not plan to take you back to Earth.”

“What?”

“There is nothing that you need to be there for anymore. Your life has been on Chaos and when you die, you should be buried with your family there. Given a funeral fit for a General and Hero but before that you need to be with Samantha one more time. The rules for Companions allow that “if the Caretaker is willing.” You are willing Samantha, correct?” I gave them a grin and a small laugh.

There were tears in his eyes as Samantha led him to the bedroom. Her cries were of passion and love for him. When they returned, they were holding each other tightly.

“Thank you for all you have done for me. We have had shared our love one last time, and it is time for you to choose your Caretaker,” she said.

“It was my pleasure but you are right; I must choose.” He kissed her farewell one last time and I said. “I choose Beth Stonemason as my Caretaker.” Samantha was gone from his grasp and Beth came out from the bedroom.

The tears streamed down his face as the realization set in that he would never see her again. It took a few moments for him to compose himself. Beth came to me. “Hello, Hero John Smithers. I am pleased that you have chosen me.”

“I am pleased to have chosen you also. May I introduce General Withers?”

There was a gasp from her. “I have studied your life as a hero but never thought I would have the privilege to meet you.”

“It wasn’t in my plans to be here, Beth Caretaker. But your Hero John likes to make his own plans without telling anyone.”

“Would you have come this last time if I had told you?”

“No. I have said my goodbyes to all I love and care for already.”

“But there was no reason to die alone and be forgotten on Earth was there?”

“No there wasn’t.”

“Well there is only one recourse then.”

“What?”

“Sue me.” He let out a huge laugh, and I followed suit. Beth looked perplexed which given the situation was understandable.

“You’re going to be one interesting Hero, John,” Samuel declared.

“Well, I have had a good teacher, and now I get to have some field training.”

Beth was lost still in awe of the General. “Come and sit down, Beth. We need to review my mission.”

She came back with a folder and opened it to explain it to me. I could read it but having her tell me about it was much more enjoyable. The General never said a word as she spoke. I asked questions and she answered them all.

When she had finished, he said, “Beth, I have not heard a better mission report in all of my years.”

The blush flashed across her cheeks and down her body. “Thank you, sir.”

“Beth I am simply Samuel now. John is your Hero to care for.”

“But you are still a General, sir.”

“I am retired now, Beth. If you care for John like Samantha cared for me, he is in good hands indeed.” The blush again arose from within her.

“I will do my best Si— Samuel.”

“That is all you need to do. The rest is up to him.”

“Hero John, you have your mission. Is there anything else you need from me?”

“Beth, what I would like from you needs to wait for now. I have a Damsel to rescue and a general to return to his Citadel.”

“I would ask that you rescue her first before you take the General back. Those she is with are vicious and will not stop at killing her when they are done with her.”

I went to Beth, pulled her tight and kissed her. “Then I had better be on my way. I cannot wait for my return to get to know you better.”

The portal to Chaos opened so Samuel and I stepped into it. We were in the bank vault. Samuel placed his finger into the opening and the box slipped out and opened. There inside were swords, pikes, daggers, leather armor and some moneybags and two small books. Samuel placed the armor on while I picked up a dagger, the pike, a sword and books.

“We need to get you armor before we leave this town. There was no way for me to know your size.”

“I understand, General.”

“Then we need to get on the trail of those kidnappers who have her.”

“Yes, sir.”

“One last adventure. You are full of surprises, John.”

“I try, sir.”

He laughed and I joined him as we walked out of the vault.

The bank was empty except for the manager and a teller in the cage. He looked up at me to say something and then the General appeared behind me.

“Sir, I thought you said—”

“Raymond, dear friend, It seems that my choice in Heroes had his own ideas about where I should spend my final days. Please meet the new Hero, John.”

“Hello, John sir.” He reached out and I took his hand to shake it.

“Raymond. John will do for now. I have much to do to earn the title Sir.”

“Yes Si— I mean John. It is good to meet you. If the General has chosen you then I know you will be worthy of the title Sir in short order.”

“Thank you and I will certainly try.”

“Raymond I need to get John some armor. Is Harold still in business?”

“I am sorry to say no, sir, he isn’t. We had a flu epidemic last year and he died. His son Jonas has taken up the business now.”

“I am sorry to hear of his death. He was a good and trusted friend to us all. We will go and see Jonas now then.”

“Goodbye Sir, John”

We walked to the door of the bank and the General looked out before we opened it. The General stopped me from opening the door. “There across the street: those two are bad news. If they are here, then Scotty can’t be far away.”

“Scotty?”

“He is a bank robber, thief and all around scum. You may well get to use your sword today. Best we wait in the vault until they decide to come in.”

“Wouldn’t it be better if we waited out here?”

“There are too many windows to see us from. I want them to come waltzing into vault and get the surprise of their life. Their short lives.”

The General told Raymond to get in the cage and stay there, that they were going to be robbed, but he wanted him to remain in the cage to protect his life.

It was not five minutes after we were back in the vault when they came into the bank. There were four of them, and they were not pleased that Raymond was in the cage but when they saw the vault was opened a crack, they just waltzed right up to it. They opened the door and walked right in past us. Rather than fight we stepped right back out and closed the vault door locking them inside. There was a lookout and he turned at the noise of the vault closing.

“There you are, Scotty!” the General exclaimed.

“Ah, Sammy, I see you have come back to die with the rest of your family. And you have brought me fresh meat to kill also.” He pointed at me.

Before I could draw my sword the General had his out. He was walking towards Scotty no doubt with a history that I did not know. The steel rang out as the swords clashed back and forth. I thought him old but the General moved with cat-like reflexes. They were evenly matched and the fight was a draw right until Raymond dropped something in the cage. Scotty glanced over in case it was a threat and the General took that moment to strike with an up stroke. It followed up Scotty’s arm and hit him in the neck his head coming off as it severed this spine.

Scotty’s body dropped and quivered with the nerve impulses lost from the brain. The General was covered in his sweat and blood from Scotty. We were looking at each other when we were brought back to the reality of the situation by the banging on the vault door.

“They will keep until the sheriff comes to get them,” the General said.

“Who was he?” I asked.

“That was Scotty, a common thief who found a ring and portal of a Hero that had died on earth. He exploited what he knew and has plagued this world for many centuries. It was why I had to choose the next Hero or destroy the ring.”

“He said something about killing your family.”

“He did that and ran when I tried to avenge them. I have hunted him and never had the chance to finish him.”

“Should we go and get the sheriff?”

“I know Scotty and he has at least three men posted outside. Someone heard the fight no doubt and will have the Sheriff here with some deputies before long. Scotty’s men will disappear when the Sheriff comes. No need to press our luck.”

Samuel reached down and took the ring from a finger on Scotty’s left hand. “Give this to Beth when you return. She will know what to do with it.” He handed it to me.

“That was the unresolved issue about leaving Chaos. I never thought I would have had the chance to finally avenge them.” I saw a tear roll down his cheek.

Just then the sheriff came in. He looked at us and then the body on the floor. “Hello, General. I hadn’t expected you back.”

“I hadn’t expected to come back, Harry. I’d like you to meet Hero John.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Sheriff.”

“If you’re the chosen Hero to replace the General, I would be pleased if you called me Harry.”

“Only if you agree to call me John.” I extended my hand and shook his.

“I see you ran into Scotty, General.”

“Yes, he seemed to have lost his head somewhere.” There was no small amount of glee in the General’s voice.

“That business is finished now.” Harry said.

“I am glad I got to finish it.” Just then there was banging on the vault door.

“There are three more in the vault, Harry” I said.

“We will hang them in the morning.”

“You’re not going to leave them in my vault until then are you, Harry?” Raymond asked.

“I’d like to, Raymond, but they would likely make a mess of it, so we had better get them out of there.”

We opened the vault and in the corner were the three men. They were all holding their swords ready for a fight. “Drop your weapons and walk out here. Otherwise I will lock the door and let you suffocate.”

They didn’t move so the sheriff began to close the door. That of course made them decide that it was time to rush to the door. I had a pike and they thought better of that when they got closer to the tip of it. There was the sound of dropping swords and then one by one they walked out, hands in the air. The deputies searched them and put them in irons before taking them to the jail.

We went out and there was a crowd in the street. When the General walked out of the bank there was a thunderous applause with many cheers. Many people came over to see him. It took us almost an hour to get to Jonas’s place with all the people coming to see the General.

Once we were inside, Jonas, who we had met on the street, went back behind the counter and got his measuring tape out. There was only one reason a man with no armor came into an armor shop. So I was measured and he started to put the pieces together to make my armor. The General spoke with him telling him about how sorry he was to hear of his father’s passing, and what a good man he was and a better friend.

We made small talk as he was finishing the sizing of the armor. It was snug but did not restrict in my movements. Passing the General’s and Jonas’s muster, the General went to pay for it.

“Your money is no good here General.”

“This armor is for John.”

“He is the new Hero, right?”

“Yes, he is.”

“The Hero never pays for his armor in my father’s or my shop.”

Rather than argue with him the General shook his hand and said, “Thank you.”

“No, thank you. You rescued us yet again today.”

We shook hands and the General marched us over to the bow maker. There we picked up some bows, crossbows, arrows and bolts. He tried to pay but Richard would not hear of it. We shook hands and were on the way to the stable when we passed a tavern. There was the smell of fresh bread baking. The General stopped in his tracks, turned and walked right inside.