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A thunderous roar cut through the silence and my blissful slumber like a red hot knife. I had never heard anything like this, except maybe in documentaries about dinosaurs, or about dragons. Speaking about: fantasy movies or series were also not completely out of the picture…

I was awake in an instant - not being sure if I was dreaming or not - and listened intently. A second, similar roar sounded, and a third one. There was also a deep faint rumble in the distance, like a thunderstorm far far away, or from heavy artillery. What in the hell was going on?!

Slowly and as silently as possible I cracked the door open, peeked outside and promptly received the shock of my life: Instead of being on the foot of Mælifell, with Mýrdalsjökull and Katla in the vicinity, there was just the black, barren, twisted rock of a lava tunnel. From the left side came an ominous, weak red glow, from the right side shone brighter sunlight, although the entrance to the cave was hidden behind a bend. Slowly I closed the door and reflected carefully about what I had witnessed.

The surroundings were very different from before I went to sleep, and from the outside came noises like from a fantasy movie and maybe a war movie combined. I felt weak and heavy and the air was thick and tasted differently. Was I still sleeping or going crazy? I pinched myself and a jolt of pain shot through my arm. The surroundings didn’t change. I still wasn’t convinced, so I opened my e-book reader and carefully and consciously read the last page from where I’d left. Then I read it again and again and once again until I was sure that the content stayed the same. Now I was sure I wasn’t dreaming or hallucinating.

Of course I’d read stories from coming into other worlds, but those were just fantasy novels, right? But here I was, finding myself in a completely unfamiliar environment, breathing unfamiliar air and feeling unusually weak and heavy. The conclusion was obvious!

I needed to make a decision: Should I accept the impossible or should I deny it, sticking to the realm of the “possible”, to the known and familiar reality? That decision wasn’t so obvious as it always seems in the respective novellas. It was a decision about what reality I’d choose to accept.

In the end I chose the one my senses were telling me was real. They can of course be tricked, but when your surroundings look like another world, sound like another world, smell like another world, taste like another world and feel like another world, chances are pretty high you are in another world!

And step one, when you come into another world, is careful exploration of your surroundings.

So I cautiously opened the door again, and stepped outside as silently as possible. For the first time in this world I stood upright and felt again the heaviness of an unfamiliar high gravity. Clumsily I made my first steps. My head was swimming and my muscles had a hard time to adapt. Slowly I widened the circle of my exploration, going back and forth in the lava tunnel, learning how to move under these unfamiliar conditions. For the time being I didn’t dare to go to the caves entrance because of the shrieks, roars and distant roll of thunder coming from there, and went first to the side of the red glow.

I met what I expected: After a few dozen steps I reached a ledge behind another bend that opened into a huge volcanic crater with a boiling lava lake at the bottom.The molten rock radiated an unimaginable heat, but what I didn’t expect was the raven haired, red skinned girl with horns lying motionless near the edge. Her clothing was thick and sturdy like armor, but burnt and torn in some places. I couldn't see any obvious injuries on her, so I went back to my Munchie for my first aid kit and a water bottle. She moaned when I tried to pick her up and give her water, but for the time remained unconscious. I probed her for wounds and injuries but found nothing. Her clawed hands had a second thumb on the opposite side of her palm (next to the little finger that looked also much more like a second index finger), and of course her ears were pointed. Besides, she also sported a pair of horns and hooves instead of feet. The classic appearance of a demon!

There was some dried blood, but no open wounds. If she didn’t have received any internal injuries she probably got a concussion. A nasty bump at the back of her head confirmed that, so I gave her at least a thick bandage. Since I couldn’t pick her up (she was taller than me and I still felt weak from the higher gravity), I dragged her as carefully as I could toward my Munchie, laid her on a blanket, covered her with another one and left my water bottle with her. That's all I could do for her now. At that time I didn’t reflect if helping her could be a mistake. I also didn't spare a thought if she’d act hostile after waking up. I just did what felt right to me.

That side of the tunnel explored, I now had to risk a look at the tunnel entrance, despite the ongoing unfamiliar shrieks and roars and thundering noises. The path there was equally short like that to the lava lake. But the sight was truly one to behold!

The caves entrance sat high on the gentle slopes of a medium sized shield volcano, so I had a good look around. The panorama of a large caldera spread out before me, dozens of miles in diameter. Its edge, not more than a fine line on the horizon, was higher than my position, so I couldn’t see anything beyond it. Lush greenery covered the ground, also some lakes, rivers and streams, even dense forests.

It was an idyllic sight, but I certainly was not in Iceland anymore (Iceland sadly doesn’t have any extended forests anymore)!

In the far distance I spotted something very peculiar: A swarm of spots danced in the air around a small area on a ridge that extended from the rim towards the caldera floor, circling it, diving downwards and up again. Faint lighting shot up from the ridge, sometimes exploding in a small cloud. Distant thunder shook the air and the primal noises, now quite distant, seemed also to come from that area. Was there a battle going on? But it was too far away to see clearly.

So I went back to my Munchie and got my binoculars.

I shouldn’t have been surprised at what I saw when I put them on, but I was anyway: It’s not everyday that you see a god damn dragon! Or even a whole swarm of them!

They were so far away that the naked eye could see them only as small dots, but through the binoculars their shape was clear and unmistakable.

They didn’t look like I expected. They were sleek and aerodynamic and looked more like flying snakes or eels than flying lizards. They had four quite short legs, a pair of really enormous wings approximately in the middle of their slim bodies, and a really long tail. Their heads lacked the rugged horns I was familiar with from “Game of Thrones” and similar shows. In fact, their heads were surprisingly fishlike, probably also because of aerodynamics.

But they could breathe fire, and boy, did they cut loose! Their huge fire beams, much longer than their whole bodies, could put any flamethrower to shame.

The fire of the dragons was answered with lighting from the ground, targeted at them, causing explosions, and often severely injuring them. Not only once did I see a dragon that had been hit tumble in the air and fall heavily to the ground. I thought I also saw flying objects, probably boulders, logs, spears and the like assist the barrage. But the assault of the wild beasts was relentless and even more were flying in from the right, joining their brethren in the fight and strengthening their numbers.

The longer the battle raged, the clearer it became that the dragons were gradually gaining the upper hand.

Suddenly I felt a weirdly shaped hand on my temple and searing pain shot through my body, immediately paralyzing me! Pictures and scenes from my whole life began to dance before my eyes, pulled out from my memory, whether I wanted it or not. Some were most recent, some were from long ago, and some I even thought long forgotten. I tried to fight against the mysterious assault, but to no avail. I had no chance but to let it happen and endure the seemingly endless stream of images, scenes and memories, happy, tender, sad, euphoric or traumatic.

In the end I broke down, tears flowing, barely conscious, and only then the force released me from its grip. The involuntary reliving of my life ended, and a deep, somewhat rough and smokey, but not unpleasant female voice whispered into my ear: “I’m sorry, but I had to be sure. I didn’t know you and this is war. I have to go now and help my friends. Stay here and don’t move!”

I collapsed and could just see the red skinned demon girl I thought was still unconscious soar into the sky like a superheroine, barrel towards the increasingly dense tangle of dragon bodies in the air and explode into a thunderstorm of sparks and lightning bolts that took down the flying beasts by the dozens.

My sight grew hazy, my eyes heavy, and the lighting storm of flashes and explosions became increasingly blurry. Black sparks ate away at my vision and darkness swallowed me.

I slipped into unconsciousness.