Chapter 1

Nate heard voices, at least two of them. One sounded like it was female. The other voice was an older deeper voice, like an elder male. They were speaking a lan­guage that he did not understand. It sounded like nothing that he had heard before. Slowly he regained full consciousness and opened his eyes, only to no­tice that he was in a crude one-room hut, and that a fire was going not too far away from him.

Thinking that he was still dreaming or at least hallucinating, he thought nothing of it and passed out of consciousness once again. Several hours later, he woke again, but this time there was no sound and the fire was dying. There were two figures lying on the floor in front of the fireplace, obviously sleeping. One, the man, looked to be about 60 years old, and wore a grey robe that was held closed by a simple rope. His long grey hair was loose around his head. The other voice belonged to a gorgeous brunette girl of about 18. Her hair stopped at her waist, gathered in a tail. She was dressed like a noblewoman in a green dress with a yellow belt.

He tried to sit up, and groaned for his effort. The Old man stirred and looked over to Nate. Seeing that he was awake, the old man got up and walked over to him.

Panic must have been on Nate's face because the Old Man asked, "Ibay tonar dis prina?"

"Huh," replied Nate, not understanding the language that the man was speaking.

"Dis nora openza kabay?"

"I don't understand what you are saying," said Nate pointing to his ears and shaking no.

Finally, the man nodded his head in understanding. He closed his eyes, and started to chant in a low voice. Nate felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up and a warmth come over his face. The warmth settled on his ears and disappeared.

"Can you understand me now?" asked the old man

Surprised Nate could only nod.

"Well, first things first, my name is Dentris and this is my hut. The other figure that you see is Lady Coria. We found you unconscious about a mile away on the path back to the castle. Do you know how you got there?"

With a little panic in his voice, Nate replied, "No, I don't know. The last thing that I remember is I was walking home from school and I guess that this big storm came up. This is weird because the weatherman said that the skies would be clear all day. I saw a green light and felt a sort of static charge in the air. The next thing that I remember is hearing you and Lady Coria talking. I must have passed out again because I just woke up."

"Interesting. By the way, this should have been my first question, what is you name?"

"My manners are just as bad, I'm Nate."

"It's pleasure to meet you Nate. Now I imagine that you are still a little out of it, so lie back down, and get some more rest. We can talk more in the morning and you can officially meet Lady Coria."

Nate had a number of questions, but in his mind, he was still dreaming, the cause of all the history that he studied, so it took no effort for him to fall asleep again. He dreamed. He dreamed of a castle with an orange eagle as the crest. He dreamed of an orange stone on a gold setting, and of two swords becoming one, swords with a 4' blade, a long hilt, and a D shaped cross guard. The dream turned dark. The castle was being taken over by darkness and the scene changed to an overhead view of a huge land, darkness was slowly taking it over. Still Nate slept on; he would not remember this particular dream for some time.

Morning came to the hut. During the night, Lady Coria moved to one of the other cots in the hut, while Dentris remained near the fire. Nate woke to the sounds of people moving around and to his sleep infected mind, he thought he was at home in his own bed. Slowly he opened his eyes, thinking that he was going to see his all too familiar room at home, bit seeing the same hut that he saw the last time he opened his eyes.

Panic really started to set in for Nate. Before he thought that, he had just been having a realistic dream, one that came from too much reading and his overactive imagination. However, seeing it once again when his brain finally in working order, cemented it that he was not home but somewhere else.

Coria looked over at the boy sleeping on Dentris's cot. She saw that he was awake and walked over to see how he felt and to ask him if he was hungry.

Nate glanced over to the sound of someone coming closer. He saw a green dress and looked up to get his first look at what Lady Coria looked like. He saw the face of an angel. Her auburn hair was pulled back and hanging down her back and her eyes were the deepest blue he had ever seen.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, breaking him out of his trance.

"I feel fine, I am not dizzy any more and I feel rested," Nate, replied, "You must be Lady Coria. I am Nate."

With his feelings of panic and his inexperience with girls, Nate said this as a stutter.

"Nice to meet you Nate, yes I'm Lady Coria. You must have talked to Dentris some time last night. Are you hungry? Can I get you something to eat?"

"Yes please," Nate said quietly.

"Do you think that you'll be up to eat at the table or should I bring it over here?" she asked playfully.

"At the table," Nate replied smiling, while standing up and heading for the table.

The table was small, just enough room for the three of them. Dentris was nowhere in sight, and Nate asked Coria about him. She said that he was checking on the horses, and that he should be in at any moment.

Nate took an opportunity and took a good look at the hut in the daylight. It was rather large for a one-room hut. A fireplace at one end that kept the room warm, provided light at night, and provided the cooking fire. The table was not too far away from the fire, it was simple with three stools around it and three bowls on top. On the opposite wall from the fireplace was a workbench with all kinds of books, tools, and papers on it. The other two walls of the hut had a cot and a chest each. Overall, it was a simple hut, just with a lot of room for more than one person to move around.

Coria announced that breakfast was ready and Nate went over to eat. He didn't realize how hungry he was, and was part of the way through his bowl of oatmeal before Dentris came back in. Nate had some questions for Dentris and Coria but thought that he would be polite and let them eat first. Nate slowed down with his eating and got his first look at Dentris in the daylight. Nate now saw that Dentris also sported a beard and mustache that were grey, but his most noticeable feature was his eyes. Somehow, they conveyed more knowledge and wisdom then Nate would have thought for someone looking his age.

"Dentris," started Nate, "was it my imagination, or were you and Coria speaking another language yesterday?"

"No, it was not your imagination. Now, after hearing that you are probably wondering how you understand us now, am I right?"

Nate only nodded.

"Well, last night when we talk I cast a spell that allowed you to understand us. That chanting you heard was me casting the spell."

Nate was floored. Magic! That wasn't real; it only appeared in stories and video games. It didn't really exist. Nate knew by now that he wasn't dreaming and that this was real. Therefore, his mind started to go at light speed, trying to think of a logical explanation as to why there was magic, why the medieval clothing, and why there were no modern items. Two things came to his mind. One was that he had traveled back in time to the middle ages, which he dismissed immediately. The so-called magic of the middle ages was nothing but science that people didn't understand.