An Approaching Swarm

The bright light still filled Dylan's eyes, but suddenly he felt a heat form on the skin of his face. He reached his hand out in front of him and blocked the light as it rain through the cracks in his fingers. It was then he realised he was staring up at the sun. He sat up slowly, his back feeling stiff and his head full of dizziness. As he sat up fully he looked out in front of him at the crystal blue ocean that stretched out infinitely in front of him until it hit the azure of the cloud lacking sky. He stood up and looked around. To his left and to his right, was a long curve of blonde sand dunes coming down to meet the water, and behind him a large bank of emerald green grass blades that stretched up far further than he could reach.

"Could this be the new world?"

He thought. He was utterly confused by his surroundings, but two things were abundantly clear to him. The first was that he couldn't convince himself this was a dream anymore. The beautiful cool feeling of the ocean's breeze combined with the salty smell were all too sharp for his imagination to muster. The second thing was that this was the most beautiful beach he had ever seen.

He Decided to climb up over the bank behind him, and when he reached the top and parted the long grass with his hands he could see a far off distant town of simple wooden cabins and streets full of market stalls. It was the only thing he could see that wasn't field or more sand, so he decided it was really the only place he could go. He walked about halfway there and then stopped suddenly. Standing up straight with his heels together, Dylan Meaney looked back up at the sky and asked himself

"What do I even say to them?"

It had only just occurred to him that the events leading up to him arriving at this village were unbelievable even to him, and telling the village folk of his trip from another world would surely not gain their trust. They would probably assume him mad, if they even understand English. Who knows what languages this world has. He had nothing but the clothes on his back, and a magic power he didn't even know how to user, or if it existed. He continued walking, thinking of excuses as he went, but nothing believable came to mind. He finally reached a path on the outer edge of the village, and followed it to the centre of the market. As he got closer to the centre, the streets got more clouded. The people wore old, pastel coloured tunics and overalls of various materials. The people of the village all looked towards Dylan with a fearful curiosity. The sun peaked through the gaps in the arches that overhung the path he walked on and bounced off his high vis vest. He looked like a repairman at a renaissance fair, only the looks of concern looked to genuine for the devotion of being in character. 

A group of kids ran up to him and started pulling on his vest.

"So cool!"

One exclaimed.

"It glows like it's made of gold!"

Another kid muttered, mesmerised by the material in her hands.

"How rich are you sir!? To have a jacket of gold!"

Another kid said looking up at Dylan starry-eyed.
A group of worried looking parents came and took their children by the hands, nervously glancing at Dylan as they pulled their kids away into their houses. One kid remained, still staring up at Dylan.

"Are you from the other world mister!"

Dylan's eyes widened. He didn't know what to say. It appeared this little boy knew the truth about how he got here, but was he supposed to? Before Dylan could ask the kid what he knew, a low and grumbly voice suddenly called out to the boy.

"Leave the poor stranger alone, and what did I tell you about making up lies?"

A broad shouldered bearded man walked forward and patted the boy on the head. He chuckled then looked up at Dylan. 

"Name's Isaa, hope my boy wasn't bothering you."

Dylan wanted to know more, but felt it wasn't the time or place to pry into such things.

"Not at all there. Sorry for causing trouble, I'm just a bit lost and-"

"Nonsense! You cause no trouble, friend!"

He said he a jolly look. Dylan looked around and couldn't help but notice everyone else was standing a considerable distance from him.

"Don't mind them friend. People of this village need a more open mind, You're just scary because you're new!"

He put both his hands on his belly, and leaned back into a hearty laugh. He wiped a tear from his eye and asked Dylan

"So, lost man... Where'd you get lost on the way too?"

Dylan thought for a second. He had no idea where he was, or where he was heading, or where... Well, he didn't really know anywhere in this new world. He thought for a second. What did he need the most? Well, learning how to use his new magic would certainly be a good call, and getting to know people could help him learn the way of this new land. He reached into his pockets and felt nothing but the bottoms of them. Money. That was another necessity. It seemed to be in every world.

"I was told of a place somewhere near here..."

He said, lying through his teeth.

"where magic users can get money?"

He threw out all his cards on the table. Something he certainly knew how to do. He hoped that the burly man would think he was simply a man of this world, and show him somewhere that would take the weight off his shoulders. The burly man rubbed his chin for a moment. Dylan winced, thinking he'd already blew it, but the burly man pulled through and exclaimed

"Ah HA! The guild hall!"

Dylan clicked his fingers, as if he knew exactly what a guild hall was.

"Yeah, that's the shot! You know the way?"

"I most certainly do! In fact, you arrived at the most opportune moment you could have! I was just about to set out to sell my fish at the capital!"

Dylan assumed the guild hall must be in he capital city he spoke of.

"Well, I don't suppose I could thumb a lift off ya?"

Isaa let out another hearty laugh.

"What a brilliant turn of phrase, friend. You seem a good man, I'll let you ride for free!"

Dylan took no hesitation in accepting his offer, and followed him to his old horse drawn wagon. Dylan hopped in the back among the barrels of fish. Years of working with bins had certainly toughened his sense of smell and hardened his stomach, and he had no problem dozing off surrounded by fish guts.

"We have arrived, friend!"

Dylan felt himself being shaken vigorously back and fourth. Isaa was trying to wake him. He sat up on the edge of the wagon, then stumbled to his feet. Isaa patted him on the back, nearly knocking him over. He chuckled, and said

"Well, this where we part ways! You ever need a thing, send a letter back to my village!"

Dylan steadied himself, gave him a thumbs up and went on his way. He looked up and saw that a tower loomed over the capital, taller than any rooftop around for miles. Dylan admittedly didn't know where in the capital the guild hall was, and didn't want to ask Isaa about it which would have raised suspicion. He entered the bottom of the tower, thinking this "guild hall" was bound to stick out like a sore thumb from an aerial view. As he opened the door he saw a gathering of knights in extravagant armour playing cards at a table. They all turned their heads to look at him with eyes widened in great disbeleif.

"You there! You dare enter the lair of the Knights of the High Realm?!"

Dylan looked at them deadpan for a second and asked

"Do I need a ticket to go up or what?"

The knights looked at him angrily. The lady of the group stood up and pointed at Dylan, screaming

"He dares mock our humble abode as some form of tourist attraction!!!"

The other three men of the knights stood up, holding thee hilts of their swords. The pranced around the table in some from of "battle formation" which Dylan decided to ignore.

"Here I'll pay yas when I get down, a'right?"

He began to climb the staircase, when suddenly a thunk hit him on the back of the head. Dylan rubbed his head, not in pain, as it didn't hurt all that much, but more in confusion. He turned around and saw the knights all swarmed around him, swords pointed towards him. Dylan looked at the odd looking swords, and realised they were wooden training swords. He pursed his lips together, trying not to laugh in their faces. The biggest of the knights stepped forward with his wooden sword drawn, the other knights followed close behind him. They approached Dylan as he stepped back up the stairs. As unthreatening as their wooden swords were, being beaten by all four at once would certainly hurt, and they were blocking the exit. Dylan began to panic, and as his panic grew a buzzing noise in his ear grew too. This was different to the itch he normally got, he couldn't explain it. The buzzing turned into a collection of fluttering, and he noticed the knights looking around in confusion. The noise wasn't in his head, it was coming from outside the tower.

Suddenly, the door burst open, and a sandstorm of grey, silken moths burst through to surround the knights.

"MOTHS!!!"

they shouted.

"A swarm of moths are eating us!"

Dylan's face lit up. He couldn't control his manic smile. 

"This is what the moth power was?"

he thought

"I can control a giant swarm of flesh eating moths!"

Maybe this power wasn't bad after all. If Dylan could learn to control this swarm, he could definitely make good use of it.

"Flesh eating moths. What a weird one. Don't moths usually only eat-"

"OUT CLOTHES!!!"

the knights shouted. The storm of moths began to dissipate as the spread out and landed on the furniture in the tower, and some returning to back outside. Dylan looked at group of knights. They stood completely unharmed, but naked.

"our uniforms!!! they're gone!!"

The knights covered up whatever they could with their hands, and leapt out the door skipping in single file down the path.

"We are good citizens! we must turn ourselves over for our indecent exposure!"

another cried out in tears.

Dylan stood stagnant in a mind-numbing confusion. He pinched the arch of his nose and shut his eyes.

"Man... I give up..."

He said, as he turned to walk up the tower again.