Chapter 5: Massewyn

By the time I want to go back, realize that this is way to rash, it is already too late. My desire for excitement had hacked away at my reasoning until it hid in a corner of my conscious, unable to jump out and stop me–

Mercaz gets right down to business the moment of my decision is made. She checks quickly to make sure no one is watching, and beckons me toward the tree. The noise from the fare seems to fade away, and the lights in my direct vision fade out of focus as I follow Mercaz to where she stands.

"So," I mutter, "this tree's a lot more important than I thought, huh?"

"Yeah," Mercaz chuckles. "Let's see if you get any memories back from this." She reaches out a hand to touch the part of the wood. I lean in to see. As her hand pulls away, I swear I can see a little symbol in the bark. It is the strange checkmark, the same one on Mercaz's face. But then it is gone, and although my eyes rake over the same spot again and again in those few short seconds, I can't seem to make anything out of the bumps and whirls.

"Ready?" Mercaz gives me a sly smirk, which unnerves me.

"Um...I...guess so..."I mutter nervously and slowly, my heart already beating quicker and my eyes still fooled by the symbol.

She makes a sudden movement with her hand, so fast that I wasn't prepared and didn't catch it. I focus on her hand, but then suddenly the same hand lunges toward my arm. Mercaz is leaping forward, right into the bark of the quite solid tree, and by a jerk on my arm, I am following her whether I like it or not. For a fraction of a second, my adrenaline spikes. My instincts kick in. I wince violently as the tree comes rushing toward me, filling in my vision with brown before I close my eyes in anticipation of a crash–

But it doesn't come. I stumble forward and then my feet come to a stop and I stand awkwardly, a bit off balance. I open my eyes, trembling–

And a gunshot goes off, so loud it feels like it's only feet from me.

My arm is yanked again. After I feel the ground steady beneath my feet, I open my eyes again, my ears ringing, my head pounding, and my hands and knees shaking.

I feel the bark against my skin–the tree. We had never hit it. Something had happened–I am still home, and the gunshot was probably just...well, I didn't know how to explain that, I think in a fraction of a second before my eyes fully open.

Then why is there bright sunlight streaming on my face? Why is the grass from the meadow yellowed and trampled-looking, as if too many feet and sun rays had beaten down on it? Why are there gunshots suddenly renting the air?

I feel Mercaz's hand clamp down on my mouth as she pulls me down to a squatting position. As another gunshot blasts through the air and I wince for the fifth time in ten seconds, I meet Mercaz's eyes, and my heart rate peaks–they are wide. Scared. Her face is white. I try to communicate my confusion but I think my expression also already says it clearly enough without me having to grab Mercaz's shoulders and shake them. I wince again with another gunshot, and a very human-sounding shout of pain. I shoot my head around and lean back to see what is happening, hyperventilating. Mercaz pulls me back, so the tree stands between me and my answer. I give her a confused look, and quickly she leans in and whispers, "we need to calm down. Don't make any noise. I need to think."

I push her hand off my mouth and hiss, "where in the hell are we?"

"I..." she looks furious for a fleeting moment. "I don't know."

"Don't–" I begin loudly, but she shushes me rudely with her hand again, shaking her head. It is at this moment, accompanied by the smell of smoke, the clang of metal, the loud crack of gunshots, and the frequent jolts of fear shooting up my spine that I realize how rash my decision was. It seemed like Mercaz's little trick had somehow landed us in the middle of a war.

I had only taken a couple stumbled steps forward. The tree–it was the same one, it must be, we hadn't even moved far enough forward to pass through the breadth of it. Yet suddenly the tree was here, but everything else had changed. And if Mercaz was afraid, I definitely should be too.

"We need to get out of here before we're noticed." Mercaz grumbles.

"Follow you? Yeah sure like I'd ever–" I start, but she grabs my arm again and I stumble after her. At least we don't have to worry about being heard. The gunshots are so close at times to each other they echo, and seem to magnify themselves. My ears would be feeling the ache later.

Mercaz, much more stealthily than me, leads me around the trunk of the tree. I never really realized how wide it is. I've seen trees wider, but for an ordinary oak, it is quite big. But then again, I have a strong feeling that this innocent, isolated oak tree isn't at all ordinary.

She peeks around the trunk, and takes a sharp inhale. I try to peek over her head but she holds me back.

"Hey, how come I can't see?" I snap, annoyed that she's treating me like a kid and not letting me do anything. I wasn't sure I really wanted to see what was going on, but I was interested. I was freaking out at the same time, but I still wanted to see if there really was a battle going on. "Can you at least tell me what's happening then?"

Mercaz looks at me, once again takes in my confused face, and chuckles. I frown. Apparently she finds this amusing...

"Sorry," she admits. "It's just, things have been going a little fast--"

"Ya think?!"

"–and I totally forgot to explain. I forgot you...wouldn't remember..."

"So this didn't happen last time? Or it did?"

"Well, this did, but it's just we weren't actually there." Mercaz says. "It's not actually the same battle, but it's still the same war, you see. This tree," she points to it, as if I didn't know which one she could possibly be talking about. "It's one of the few trees that happens to be a portal between your world, and this one."

"Portal. Different world. This one. Great." I grumble.

"This place, the whole world–it's called Massewyn. It's quite like Earth. Actually, it is Earth."

"But you just said–"

"–Yes, but the thing is, it's Earth with a little twist," Mercaz smirks, but my face remains sour. "I mean," she continues, "have you ever wondered what would have happened if evolution took a different course? If humans weren't the only ones who were uniquely intelligent?"

"Err, well, yeah..." I admit, and shrug, as another gunshot goes off. I realize I didn't wince. "What kind of species are we talking about?"

"Several."

"Oh."

"I guess you'll see for yourself what I mean."

"–Yeah, I guess you will," says a loud, deep, and unfamiliar voice.

Mercaz grabs my arm and shoves me behind her as four figures step out from around the tree trunk.

I can't help it. My jaw drops open.

None of them are fully human. But they act like it. They may have the looks of animals, or creatures from a video game, but they stand up straight, have opposable thumbs, and expressions on their faces that clearly point out that they don't like us being here.

Two of them have the heads of tigers. It's actually quite magnificent, but fact that they have armor on makes me still think that there is a human-like body under there. They both have tails though, and their legs are a bit misshapen, more like a tiger's than a human. Still powerful.

Their fur is classic tiger, but the second figures fur is a bit darker with less white.

The third figure is totally alien. It kind of looks like a frog really. Not even kidding. It has greenish skin, and its fingers are definitely frog-like. Its face is so humanoid though, that I couldn't help but stare.

The fourth guy would have been perfectly human if not for the wings sprouting out of his back, and the feathers around his wrists. He is bald, and carrying a bow and arrows–that I really only mention because they are the only weapons pointed at us.

Three are all wearing the same armor, but the frog-man is just wearing a tunic. The armor is silver of course, but on the front of the armor and tunic is a familiar symbol of two swords crossed, one a shiny red, the other a polished gold.

"Who are you humans?" Barks the first tiger-man in the deep voice that had interrupted us earlier. He bares his teeth, and I get goose bumps. Long. Razor sharp. Mercaz of course, doesn't flinch, but since she apparently came from this place, she must be more used to seeing beings like this.

"I am Mercaz, and this is the Earth-being, Dascha." Mercaz stands up straight from our squatting position and drags me up with her. Good thing she keeps holding me up or my knees would have collapsed, they were shaking so bad. More gunshots tear through the air, but they're like white noise now...almost.

The four figures look surprised. Then they smile. I breath a sigh of relief. Hopefully, these smiles are friendly. The tiger beings look like they could eat us.

"We're sorry," the tiger-man continues. "We didn't know. I think our general, Seikai, would like to speak with you."

"Seikai? He's here? Oh, yes, I haven't seen him in so long!" Mercaz nods cheerfully, letting go of the back of my shirt. I have to force my knees to stop wobbling. The four beings laugh, and they beckon Mercaz forward.

"We'll have to take the longer way back as we obviously can't cut through the battle. Would you be comfortable on our horses?" The human-bird being asks, and Mercaz immediately nods. I frown and tug on her sleeve inconspicuously. She gives me a sideways glance.

"I don't know how to ride a horse." I whisper quickly. "I don't even know how to get on one."

The tiger-beings ears twitch and they look confused. "I though Dascha had learned the last time she was here. That's what I heard," the first one points out.

"Um...yes, actually. I mean, well, some things have happened. It'll take too long to explain." Mercaz says subtly.

Actually, I think it's quite simple. I lost my memory. There you go. Bang. It's the fact that they'll be standing there stupefied that will take too long. I don't see why we're in such a rush anyway. Personally, I really just don't want to get on the horse. I'm already betting that I'm going to fall off and make a fool of myself. Maybe that's a little stupid, but I'm also kind of worried of all those bullets flying around. I didn't care how long it took to get to this Seikai person as long as we stayed away from the battle.

"Well, whatever. Can you take care of her?" The tiger-man asks, and Mercaz confidently nods. I raise my eyebrows. It's like I'm not actually here. They never asked me...

"It'll be okay. Just hold on to me as tight as you can," Mercaz whispers and beckons me forward as the four beings walk out from behind the tree trunk, looking around carefully, ears perked. I follow quickly, and immediately take a glance at the full blown battle still going strong.

My jaw drops open. Again.

I've seen battles in movies, read about them in books. Even battles with different beings than humans–no biggie for me. I'm addicted to fantasy, finding nearly everything else uninteresting. I've always figured with all I've been exposed to and how wild my imagination was, I'd be more prepared to face something like this, something from a daydream. I of course, never actually expected that to come true. I've got to have a little rationality on my side. But my imagination goes where I want it to. If I imagined my self in some sort of epic battle I'd try not to be too cocky and imagine myself out there slashing away at enemies because I know I really wouldn't and couldn't do that. So my imagination's somewhat controlled, but I've still made myself believe that if I ever got into a dangerous situation, I'd be better prepared for it because I'd seen and read actors and story characters do it. I've already semi-proved that my the fact that the gunshots and mixed up screams weren't affecting me that much, but I'd also disproved myself by looking back at how my legs were shaking the first few minutes here, despite that I wasn't actually involved in anything. The sounds didn't surprise me– human, non human, metal upon metal, gunshots, and the strange echo that was really just everything mixed together– far away and a bit like a movie. What I see doesn't surprise me either, but yet I can't help but stare, because the rational part of my mind, the part filled with manners and trig equations, just got a jolt of doubt.

It's almost too much to take in, but at the same time enough for me to handle. There are so many things going on, and yet it's really just the same things happening, but hundreds of times simultaneously, over and over. Slashes, screams, dodges, legs running, arms being jarred but protected by shields–

The battle is far away–a lot of the shapes are blurred, and my astigmatism doesn't help, nor did the fact that I hadn't worn my glasses or contacts this particular day. I'd say it must be about half a mile to a mile away. In a straight line across a low, level, and barren field. The smoke that drifts closer to me obscures nearly everything, but I can still see quite clearly because there aren't that many muskets being used. The soldiers' armor glares in the sunlight, becoming a mass of bright silver, red, gold, and blue.

"Rachel, hey, move!" A voice snaps through the white noise of the battle. "Staring at it's not gonna help," I turn to see MErcaz reaching over to grab my arm. "We have to move before some enemy soldiers come to check out what's happening over here. They can see us just like we can see them, despite the smoke. C'mon."

I breath heavily through my nose in an exasperated way, remembering that I have to ride the horse now. I'm not looking forward to it. I've daydreamed about it, but when it comes to reality, I really realize I'd have no idea what I'm doing. Mercaz is going to be facing a lot of future grumbling.

"Why are they fighting?" I ask innocently, as the big brown backside of the horse looms closer.

"It's complicated," Mercaz shrugs simply. I scowl, thinking how it's always complicated, and stand beside the horse as Mercaz prepares to try to teach me something I've always yearned to do, but aren't ready for; I love horses, but really just have only drawn them. I'm no expert at all.

"I still remember teaching you this the last time," Mercaz chuckles. I don't respond, my mind still getting over the fact that I couldn't remember any of this previous visit.

"Well, it's simple, really, all you have to do is--"

"–Mercaz, hurry! There's Selthoorians heading our way!" The tiger being shouts. I turn to look back at the battle, but Mercaz grabs my arm and jerks it up, surprising me.

She's already on the horse, and is pulling on my arm as I try to put my food in the stirrup and push myself up. I'm not totally ignorant, I get the jest of it. It's just that the horse's back seems really far away right now. With two hands, Mercaz reaches under my armpits and lifts me up off the ground so my other leg can scrabble for the horses back and my hands can support myself. The other two soldiers are waiting impatiently, clearly scowling at my incompetence. My legs finally end up straddling the saddle in a rather uncomfortable way behind Mercaz, and I nudge closer to her, hugging her torso in a way that clearly states to her I'm not letting my grip get any looser. I blink and see three horses charging toward us in the direction of the battle, slashes of blue mixed up with the coats and armor of the figures on top of them.

"Whatever you do, just hold on, and be calm. The horses can sense your fear, and they won't let you ride them," Mercaz instructed, as she snapped the reins and turned the horse. I suddenly felt myself leaning back, and gasped, feeling as if I was going to fall off, and then a rush of wind makes my eyes sting as the horses charge off. A cry of "oh my god!" leaves my throat barely started as a jolt of fear shoots through me, and, eyes wide open with terror, I press my legs as firmly as I could on the horses side as the animal gallops away, seeming determined to throw me off. Mercaz holds onto the reigns with one hand and shouts back to me to try to move with the horse, not be so stiff, and put more weight on my feet.

My throat dry and my heart pounding as the inevitable headache comes, but I find myself copying Mercaz as the horse charges on. I'm far from comfortable, but my breath comes back to me and I'm able to slightly calm down as I realize we've already covered nearly three quarters of the distance, and I can see a row of tents looming up. My peripheral vision of course blurred, and even everything in front of me is hard to focus on as my head is jerked around every time the horse's hooves hit the ground, which is several times a second.

Only seconds later though, the horse starts to slow down, and I breath a sigh of relief, my head pounding and a sound like a deep drum filling my ears.

"The Selthoorian soldiers won't dare to follow us near our camp. We're safe." Mercaz's voice seems to come from far away and I realize one of my ears is pressed against her back, my head turned sideways to try to see in front of me. I can see tents only a hundred years away, and dare to lift up my head a little to glance around Mercaz's body. Bile rises up in my throat and my neck gives a painful twinge. The horses slow to a trot and I try to slowly unstiffen myself.

"You okay?" Mercaz asks, and I can hear the chuckle behind her words.

"Fine," I mumble, and unclench my hands that are wrapped around opposite wrists and clutching Mercaz's waist.

What seemed like a painful eternity later, the horse stops, and Mercaz pulls away from my death grip to get off the horse. Bad move by her. Limply, I slump to the side and nearly fall off, but Mercaz catches me and lowers me safely to the ground.

I groan as my knees suddenly give way and my cheek hits bristly grass, a strand going up my nose. I manage to roll over and hoist myself up on my elbow, nauseous and feeling like I just ran over five miles. Funny thing was that the horse did all the work, I didn't.

I catch Mercaz's smile and glare at her. Her face is strained as she fights to not burst into laughter, and inevitably, her air of happiness overwhelms me and a strangled snort rips through me as a cliched, dramatic "HA!" flies out of my mouth. Mercaz helps me up, laughing as well, as the horse turns and gives us a blank looks, which only adds to my sudden mirth.

Suddenly–flick.

I see Mercaz's face stretched into a D shape, and soon after he laughter fills my ears. I almost don't realize the change from reality and the flick until I see the different background. An ornate carpet, red chairs around the corners, stone walls with red banners, bookshelves-and then flick fades as the blue sky separates from the grass, and the world seems to swirl for a second, as usual at the end of a flick of memory.

Mercaz definitely notices my sudden blank look, and slowly stops laughing. "What's...uh...what's wrong? You're going to throw up?"

"No, I...I just remembered something..." I mutter uncertainly, and Mercaz's face brightens up. "It was really nothing. Just a memory of you and I in this room laughing, with a red carpet and chairs, and grey walls and banners and...well..it only lasted for a couple of seconds..." It didn't really reveal anything to me, and it felt strange, almost like a regular memory, a little thing that I would expect to remember if it had happened recently.

"Oh, uh..." Mercaz shakes her head, not understanding. I sigh, feeling drained suddenly, the mental efforts of the horse ride settling in. Plus my whole body aches from being so tense. A gunshot cracks rather loudly, and I notice again the distant sounds of the battle. I don't focus on it. It has nothing to do with me and won't help me figure out what's going on, why I'm here, and what we're going to do.

"Okay," Mercaz beckons me forward and I see the two tiger beings, the frog guy, and the winged man standing a few feet away, leading their horses towards the tents and looking back to check we are following. My mind snaps ahead to what were supposedly going to do next...Mercaz mentioned something about meeting someone...I decided to just watch and follow inconspicuously.

"So," Mercaz grins at me. "Enjoying your second visit to Massewyn?"

"Yeah..." I mutter. "Second. Great. Geez." I scowl. "I guess, I'll remember eventually."

"We'll just try to explain everything to you without your brain exploding," Mercaz laughs. "Like last time, really."

"We?"

"Me," she nods, "and Seikai, the General of the Poisvyn Army.