The First Night

Before departing the cave, the three girls searched it and the fallen goblins for anything of value and stuffed it into a pack they’d left by the cave entrance. To Jack’s relief, he finally found his axe laying in a pile of other weapons and equipment in a side chamber near the front entrance. He didn’t need every single one of his wishes ruined within the first twenty-four hours.

The majority of the pile was junk, things like spears with broken hafts, bent swords, chainmail rusted together into inflexible metal clumps, and pieces of leather armor that dried out and cracked from not being oiled. At the far end of the pile, however, he found a dark blue gambeson that looked none the worse for wear. The cloth armor was stained in a few places, but was still intact and otherwise undamaged. The torso was thickly padded and stiff to resist blows, but the arms were loose and thin to not restrict movement. He doubted it would keep him super safe by itself, but anything was better than what he currently had. He slid the gambeson over his head. With a little adjustment it fit well enough, though it was a bit snug around the midsection.

He looked for something better for his bottom half, but found nothing that wasn’t worthless. He was going to have to make do with his jeans for now. He did however find several pairs of leather boots, and was pleasantly surprised to find that one of the pairs fit comfortably. He considered ditching his sneakers, but thought better of it. His Chuck Taylors and him had gone everywhere together these last few years. It seemed wrong to get rid of them, considering they were one of the only things left from his old life. Finding a belt, he cinched it around his waist and slid the axe into it. The girls were waiting for him in the main chamber, the pack, not much fuller than before, now slung across Rose’s back. He put his sneakers in the pack.

“So, where to now?” He asked.

“Our home is a couple hours journey from here, on the other side of the forest. If we leave now, we won’t make it until after dark.” Rose replied, shifting the pack on her back.

“There’s a small clearing not far from here that we passed on the way. We can set up camp there for the night, and leave at first light.” Eleanor suggested.

“Do you think that’s safe, with it being so close to goblin territory?” Madeleine asked, putting words to the same thought Jack had.

Eleanor grinned.

“If they can even find the camp after I’m done with it, they deserve to catch us.” She said.

“Besides, we’ve got the ‘Hero of Legend’ here with us. What do we have to be afraid of?” She added, giving Jack a wink. He couldn’t tell if she was being sarcastic or serious. Madeleine looked at Jack and raised an eyebrow.

“I gotta be honest- I don’t want to seem like a coward, but after having just been through what I have, I’d rather just be out of the woods. I don’t mind traveling in the dark, as long as I’m not alone.” Jack said, scratching the back of his head.

Rose appraised him for a moment, then shook her head. “Things aren’t safe even for the four of us once it’s past sunset. There are worse things than goblins that come out at night.” She said.

“Rose is right. Besides, I need a reason to use some of my illusion magic. You don’t wanna deny a girl her little pleasures, do you?” Eleanor said, smirking at Jack and cocking an eyebrow.

The gesture was so cute and disarming that Jack felt the blood rush to his face. He cleared his throat and nodded.

“Alright, if you think it’s best to camp out, I trust you both. I, uh, don’t have a tent or sleeping bag or anything, though…”

“Don’t worry about that, Mister Hero. We’ve gotcha covered!” Eleanor said, patting the satchel on Rose’s back.

“Can we go now? I don’t want to be in this cave anymore. It gives me the creeps.” Madeleine said.

“Lead the way, Ellie.” Rose said, motioning towards the exit.

The four of them walked for nearly an hour, crossing several hills and valleys before Eleanor finally signalled for a halt on top of a low rise. The area was densely covered with underbrush, and the columns of countless ancient trees rose around them. They were by far the largest trees Jack has ever seen in person. The area reminded him a bit of the forest moon of Endor from Return of the Jedi. There, near the center of the rise was a small clearing, perhaps a couple dozen feet across, surrounded on all sides by bushes and ferns that served to completely obscure its presence unless you were right on top of it. The fact that Eleanor had not only somehow spotted it in passing on her way, but also easily found it again with it as well hidden as it was, impressed him to no end.

Once they were all inside the little clearing, Rose dropped the pack onto the grass and began pulling things out of it. First came some small bundles wrapped in fabric, then came one bedroll, then three more. By the time Rose began pulling a full-size canvas tent out of the little satchel, it was blatantly obvious that the pack was magical, probably something like a Bag of Holding that could store far more inside it than it normally could. While Rose pulled supplies out, Eleanor circled the small space around them, muttering incantations and drawing glowing sigils in the air. With a final flourish, there was a flash, and the air around the edges of the clearing seemed to shimmer faintly as Jack looked at it. Seeming satisfied with her work, Eleanor smiled to herself, stretched lazily, and walked over to join the rest of them.

“What did you do?” Jack asked, looking up from the tent runner he was tying.

“I made it look like the clearing was still empty, and put up a set of wards that will muffle any light, smell, or sound that would travel outside of the circle. You could scream at the top of your lungs and no one an inch outside of it could hear it. Oh, and I put a basic enchantment on the area around us to keep things from accidentally wandering in. Anything that gets close will suddenly get very bored and have a strong urge to be somewhere else.” She said, resting her staff against a nearby tree.

Within a few minutes, the clearing was transformed from a little patch of bare grass into a full-blown campsite, complete with a four person canvas tent, a roaring campfire, and a quartet of chairs Eleanor conjured. While Rose and Jack set up the tent and Eleanor prepared the wards around the campsite, Madeleine had disappeared into the woods without a sound. She returned by the time everyone else was finished with a trio of dead rabbits slung over her shoulder. She dropped them non-chalantly by the fire before disappearing inside the tent. Jack couldn’t help but notice she wasn’t carrying a weapon or anything to kill them with. Had she somehow snuck up on them and killed them with her bare hands?

Rose skinned and gutted the rabbits, before cutting the meat off the bones and into bite-size pieces. Eleanor produced a large pot out of the magic bag and filled it with conjured water and handfuls of savory herbs from a leather pouch, as well as a dozen potatoes that she diced in the air with a word and a flick of her wrist. Before long, the pot bubbled with a delicious-smelling stew, and Jack was reminded that his stomach was completely empty by a loud rumble in his gut. By the time the food was finally ready to eat, he felt like he was going to lose his mind from hunger. Madeleine handed each of them a bowl and a wooden spoon before plopping on the chair next to Rose. Eleanor took the seat beside Jack.

The soup tasted even better than it smelled, and Jack polished off four bowls worth of it before he finally felt full enough to stop. Good thing, too, because the pot was completely empty by the time he was finished.

“Have you not eaten in a while?” Eleanor asked.

Jack shook his head.

“Uh-uh. Apparently when Frumpkin brought me here, he didn’t bother to make sure my stomach was still full. It feels like I haven’t eaten in a week.”

“Well, that explains the appetite.” Rose said. “Feel better?”

“I do. Thank you.”

Jack leaned back in his chair and sighed contentedly. For such an inauspicious start as his new life had, things already felt like they were looking up. He still had his weapon, he was healthy, he managed to find a bit of armor, he wasn’t alone, and he had a full belly. Considering where he was not 12 hours before, that was great. He looked at the dirty pot and bowls.

“I’ll clean up the mess. It’s the least I can do for you guys helping me out.” He said, moving to stand up.

Eleanor nudged him playfully back into his seat.

“You sit and relax, Mister Hero. I’ve got the cleanup.”

“But…” Jack started to protest. Before he got any further, however, the pot and bowls were already suspended in the air. Eleanor wiggled a couple of her fingers, and he watched as the grease and leftover soup dissolved off the surfaces of everything. As soon as the spell ended, Eleanor gestured and the bowls and spoons stacked into neat little piles and settled inside the pot just before it disappeared back inside the magic pack. The whole thing took less than thirty seconds. Once that was done, another quick flourish produced a trio of cups and a jug of something that Jack soon discovered was beer. Madeleine didn’t take a cup. Probably because of her age, Jack thought.

He leaned back into his chair.

“Man, it must be nice growing up in a world with magic.”

“Was there not magic where you come from?” Eleanor asked, sitting back down beside him.

“No. At least, not like that. Though I suppose a lot of science and technology we have would probably seem like magic to you.” He said.

“Science?” Eleanor cocked her head, puzzled.

“The study of the fundamental laws of the world. How things work, and change, and react to other things in it according to these laws, and how these laws can be interacted with to produce specific results.”

“...That’s not called magic where you’re from?”

Jack shook his head.

“No, because where I am from, no one has the ability to control or influence these laws directly. All we can do is study them, and make devices that utilize these fundamental laws in order to make our lives easier.”

“So, like enchantments.” Rose said, leaning into the conversation.

Jack shrugged.

“I guess? I mean, I suppose with the way I describe it, it does probably sound the same. But trust me when I say it’s not.”

He tried for a long moment to give an example of what he meant, but the longer he tried, the harder it was to find one that would explain it in a way that made sense. Everything with electricity was literally using lightning to create everything from light to heat to displaying images of distant people in far away places doing things in real time on a black mirror. That last one was pretty much the textbook definition of scrying, as Eleanor was quick to point out. After that, he gave up and just conceded that science was just a different kind of magic.

“So, what brings you here, Jack? Why leave a world you’re familiar with, and everyone you know, to come here?” Rose asked as she refilled his cup.

Jack took a sip of his ale.

“You said Frumpkin told you who I was and that I was coming. He didn’t tell you why?” He asked.

“All he told us was that a hero from a faraway land was coming here, and that they’d specifically requested to work with us. He didn’t tell us any more.” She said, shifting in her chair.

“Besides you wanting us to be your harem.” Madeleine added, giving him the same pointed look as before.

Jack cleared his throat awkwardly, and scratched the back of his head.

“Well, I suppose you will find out soon enough anyways. I… didn’t plan on leaving my old home. In fact, I didn’t even know I was leaving it until I’d already left it.” He said.

“Were you teleported against your will?” Eleanor asked.

“Uh, no… I… well, died.”

“You died?”

“Yep. Horribly.” Jack said flatly.

All three of them looked at him like he would expect any rational person would if they heard what he’d just said.

“So you’re a creep AND a zombie.” Madeleine said.

“Maddy!” Eleanor said, shooting the girl a glare.

“What? He came back from the dead and requested a group of girls to be his sex slaves. How does that not make him a zombie creep?”

“It’s rude to call people names like that.” Eleanor chided.

Jack siged.

“Well, I mean, I suppose she isn’t wrong. I did wish for a harem. I didn’t even plan for that to be my last wish, but Frumpkin rushed me and I panicked. Where I come from, words sometimes have multiple meanings. A harem doesn’t only mean a group of slaves like Madeleine said, but can also mean a normal group of companions of the opposite sex, which is honestly how I meant it. Though, at the time, I did wish for you all to be beautiful. I suppose that does make me a bit of a creep. Only, I was an idiot that used another word with multiple meanings. Where I come from, ‘hot’ is used as another term for beautiful. So I used that instead and ended up with companions who are literally hot.”

Eleanor looked at him stone-faced for a long moment, before suddenly bursting into laughter. Within moments, Rose and Madeleine joined her. Taken off-guard by this unexpected reaction, Jack looked from one to the next for some clue as to what was so funny.

“Well, you certainly got what you asked for, huh?” Eleanor said, grinning.

“Yeah. I suppose it serves me right. Though, now that you know what I actually wished for and that I didn’t specifically request you all, I wouldn’t blame you if the three of you didn’t want to stick around after tonight.”

Eleanor leaned back and stretched lazily again.

“You can relax, Mister Hero. We’re not going anywhere. And you

are not in trouble.”

“Wait, really?”

“Yes, silly. If you’re telling the truth, then there’s no reason to be embarrassed. What’s done is done, you’re here now, and we’re here with you. So relax.” Eleanor said.

Rose nodded in agreement.

“You rushed in to save our sister, even though it almost killed you. And you’re forthright even when it’d be preferable to lie. Those two things are more than enough.” She said.

Jack looked over at Madeleine, who looked at him skeptically.

“I am grateful for you saving me. I’ll give you a chance. ...But I still think you’re a creep.” She said.

Jack snorted.

“Fair enough.”

Eleanor yawned.

“It’s been a long day, and I’ve used a lot of magic. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m ready for some sleep.” She said.

Much like the food had done earlier, being reminded of sleep brought to Jack’s attention just how tired he felt. It didn’t seem like he should be as tired as he was, but that was probably a byproduct of all of the new strains his body had been put under since he’d been here. It felt like he’d spent the entire day running up a hill with a backpack full of cement.

“I’ve got first dibs on bedrolls.” Madeleine said.

Before any of them could say a word in response, she’d already risen from her seat and disappeared into the tent.

“I suppose we’ll call it a night, then.” Rose said, standing. She looked over at Jack.

“We’ve got a bedroll and a pillow for you. Maddy mentioned that she didn’t see you with a pack, so I brought an extra just in case.”

“Oh, uh, thanks. I kinda just expected I’d sleep on the tent floor or something.” Jack said.

Rose cocked an eyebrow at him.

“You’re not accustomed to having people take care of you, are you?”

“Not really. At least, not since I was a kid. I’ve kinda had to make my own way of it since my teens.” He admitted.

“Well, get used to it. And stop being so self-deprecating. You’re a hero. It’s okay to feel like one.” She said, the corner of her mouth cocking into a smile.

Jack reddened.

“...Thanks, Rose.”

“Don’t mention it. Now, let’s get some sleep.”

She disappeared into the tent, leaving Jack standing outside. Eleanor finally stood up from the fire, and walked over to the entrance beside him.

“She’s right, Mister Hero. From this moment forward, you’re stuck with us, and we’re gonna do everything we can to help. So try to enjoy it, okay?” She said.

Without warning, she leaned forward and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. The contact wasn’t long enough to burn, but the heat of the kiss lingered on his skin for several seconds before it disappeared. Jack looked at her wide-eyed, but she just grinned mischievously and disappeared inside the tent, leaving him alone outside. Still reeling from the sudden display of affection, Jack gingerly lifted his fingers to where she’d kissed him.

Maybe being in this new world wasn’t going to be quite so bad after all.