I relaxed
on the porch of my small cabin, enjoying the relative calm and quiet. It was
night, and the forest, while normally cheerful during the day, had taken on the
appropriate mien, despite the influence of the Fairy Tale Realms.
I watched the
night sky, populated with more lights than all of Manhattan. Those stars never
seemed dim, another byproduct of this world. So different from home. There are times, not many, but there are times
when I don’t mind it here. It’d be easier with coffee, though.
A star moved
in the sky, streaking down like a comet with a red tail. It passed over the
castle. I jumped off the porch and scurried up the ladder to my room and
watched as it sailed over the forest to crash somewhere distant, sending a red
glow into the sky that faded.
“Shit. Now
some knight is going to want to go on a quest to find it, or some evil witch or
wizard will dig it up and use it to take over a kingdom.” No matter what that
would mean more work for me. The story demanded one or the other to happen,
probably both. It also meant a decent chance I would end up dead. I wasn’t a
fairy tale hero. The hero almost always triumphed, but no one ever took a count
on how many peasants, guards, or other people didn’t make it out alive.
“But maybe
there’s a way to cut things short. If I get it first, no quest, no evil plot.”
I shimmied
down the ladder and grabbed my gear. In twenty minutes I was on my horse Ranger
riding through the forest.