One More Question

This was not at all how JZ intended his adventure to start. Not only was he still in manacles, but his caretaker had been grilling him for what felt like hours.

“A cheeseburger, you say? And it comes with fries? Fascinating...” Ozahl scribbled in his notebook. “Your world seems quite interesting. Similar to ours in some ways, but oh so different in others.”

“Can I please sleep?” JZ’s brow twitched. “It has to be midnight by now.”

“Mid... Night? On the contrary, it’s quite late into the night.”

JZ groaned. “That’s not... Never mind.” With a sigh, he looked around the room once more. In awkward situations, he often found his eyes wandering, looking for something interesting to focus on. He chose a shiny crystal on a desk behind the old man. Ozahl, the court wiseman, lived in one of the towers of the castle. The castle belonged to that nobleman, Duke Sigard III, and while he looked like a king, he was still just a provincial ruler. As for Ozahl himself, he was what you would call... A wizard.

“Let’s see, what else?” Ozahl muttered to himself. “Oh, I know! What kind of work did you do prior to being reborn in this world?”

JZ groaned again. “Retail.”

“Retail you say? What was that like?”

“A lot of fuss. I restocked fruits and vegetables, mopped up stains, and showed people where to find things in a store.”

“A marketplace assistant? Interesting... You don’t look like one at all. Then again, it could just be that body of yours.”

“I’m surprised you’re not asking me how I got here or how I died.”

“Eh,” Ozahl shrugged. “The important stuff will come in due time. This may be my only chance to learn about another realm.”

“Then if you’re going to ask me about all this mundane stuff, can you at least take these manacles off?”

“Oh heavens no, I don’t know what you’re like. For all I know, you’d probably try to choke me and run off into the night.”

I suppose there’s some truth to that... JZ thought.

“I guess they call you Ozahl the Wise for a reason.”

The old man smiled from beneath his mustache. “Quite so!”

Several more mundane questions followed, and it felt like the life was draining from JZ’s body. He was starting to understand what Gamugin meant about boredom. This was pure agony.

Beats sitting in a dungeon I guess.

“How about this,” JZ spoke up. “Why not trade? I’m new here and I’d like to know a thing or two about your world. Can I ask you a few questions too?”

“Hmm...” Ozahl rubbed his beard in thought. “Perhaps. You don’t have the makings of a spy. If you were our enemy, I doubt you’d be so foolish as to get captured like this. A good spy would have killed himself by now.”

“Right.”

“It doesn’t seem like you’re hostile to us either.”

“Exactly. I’m not your enemy, so can you cut me at least a little slack?”

“Hmmmmm. No.”

“Ah, come on!!”

“I have no reason to trust you,” shrugged Ozahl. “There’s no hard feelings, but how do you suppose this would go if I stumbled into your house?”

“I’d probably give you a cola and sit down with you in the dining room.”

“Cola? Oh yes, that thing you have with cheeseburgers and fries! I don’t suppose you know the recipe, do you? It sounds delightful.”

“Not really. I think there’s corn syrup in it?”

“Corn... Syrup? You can make syrup from corn?” Ozahl rubbed his beard. “I had heard of that crop from across the south sea, but they use it to make bread. How peculiar.”

“How long are we going to do this?”

“Until I get bored, which considering all the fun new things I’m learning, well, that’ll be a while!”

Maybe I should have gone to Hell after all.

“That being said,” Ozahl’s tone grew more serious. “You shouldn’t complain so much. You don’t seem to realize how lucky you are.”

“How so?”

“Duke Sigard isn’t typically so lenient with foreigners. He can’t afford to be. But he’s been... Preoccupied as of late. I imagine he’d rather just not think about this right now, even with your extraordinary presence to consider. Were things different, he’d probably have you executed just to be safe.”

The level of hostility was starting to irritate JZ. Even so, the old man made a good point. JZ had read stories about people appearing in other worlds before, and while they got to have fun and get treated fairly, it didn’t always make sense. What little JZ could gleam of this society was very reminiscent of old world European culture, and in those times, community meant everything. If you were a stranger, an outsider, a foreigner, you were pretty much seen as a threat until proven otherwise. In that regard, hanging out with a curious old wizard wasn’t so bad.

“What’s on Duke Sigard’s mind?” asked JZ.

“Politics. I wouldn’t concern yourself with it,” said Ozahl. “Although... Oh, I shouldn’t say.”

“What? Should I be worried?”

“I doubt it. It’s only the business of noblemen after all.”

“Right. Probably arguments about borders or succession of the throne or some stuffy nonsense.” Ozahl stopped writing, looking at JZ with a stern gaze. “Oh ho, that got your attention. How close was I?”

Ozahl sighed. He glanced at his windows for a moment then leaned in to whisper. “If you must know... He’s going to be married very soon.”

“Well congratulations,” JZ said in a not so serious tone.

“Watch your tongue, outsider. This is serious business. He’s been engaged to King Kojak II’s daughter, the princess Evaline. If that goes through, he’ll be next in line for the throne when...” Ozahl’s expression softened. “I mean if the king were to pass on.” Ozahl did a hand gesture across his head and heart that reminded JZ of a Christian prayer. “At any rate, I’ve said too much. If an outsider like yourself started talking about this without regard, you’d get tossed in a dungeon for sure, not to mention how this might affect me.”

“Is it really some big secret? I kind of assumed everyone would know about something that important.”

“It’s... Complicated.”

“Then I’ll keep things to myself. You watch my hide, and I’ll watch yours.”

At this, Ozahl grinned. “You’re not so bad, Jabez. A bit whiny, but it could be worse.”

“Hey, you try to be polite after getting tossed around by guards and put in shackles.”

“In any case, it’s getting late. I have a few more questions, but they can wait. For now, we should rest. We’ll both be needing it tomorrow.” Ozahl then made a gesture with his staff, shoving JZ off his chair and against the wall so he was sitting on the ground. “I wouldn’t bother trying to escape. You don’t seem to have much mana at all, so you won’t be breaking through my spell. Just rest while you can.”

“No mana, huh?” JZ tried to move his arms around, but the manacles remained unaffected. It was as if they were locked into their position in the air. “Fine. Good night, Ozahl.”

The old man softly smiled, putting a small blanket over JZ.

“Good night, Jabez.”

Holding a finger up to his lips, Ozahl blew out all the candles in the room without facing towards any of them. Soon after, he set his hat on his desk and crawled into bed. With the light of the candles gone, the room was nearly black, but soon JZ’s eyes adjusted, and a bit of light from the moon outside could be seen. The sky was dark and cloudy, but for the moment, the storm had calmed.

This old man... He’s not bad. Strict, yes, but he’s not malicious. He may be my only shot at getting out of here with my head still on my shoulders.

It wasn’t ideal, but JZ was feeling rather tired, so without much to do, he closed his eyes and let sleep take him.

The next morning, JZ was unceremoniously dragged out of the tower by Ozahl, and a private meeting between Duke Sigard and Ozahl took place, with JZ held nearby.

“So, what do you think?” asked Ozahl.

“It’s a rather curious situation. We’ve seen monsters appear from other realms before, but never people. This changes everything we knew about the beyond,” said Sigard. “Even so, the man seems entirely ordinary. It’s almost comical.”

“What should we do with him, then?”

Sigard stood by one of his windows, staring out at the vast expanse of homes and other buildings outside. “We keep this a secret, for one.”

“My liege?”

“The possibility of people being funneled into this world could cause a panic. Until we better understand our situation, it would be best to keep this under wraps. No one, not even the king or queen should know about this. Not until we understand the full situation.”

“Of course, my liege. I’ll ensure secrecy among your court.”

“That being said,” Sigard turned around, “if a stranger was kept in your tower for over long, it would draw unnecessary attention. We’ll monitor him... But from a distance. Make use of your birds. Show him the city. Find him a job. Anything will do. In fact...” Sigard stroked his hand across a fresh new length of raug fur. “We could hand him off to a free company.”

“Would that be wise, my liege?”

“If what my riders said is true, he was able to kill two raugs on his own. If nothing else, he can use a blade. That’s skill enough to earn coin. He may be an outsider, but I don’t want him to starve. Better to put his talents to use than let him become a serf.”

“I see...” Ozahl stroked his beard. “He’ll fend for himself and we simply make sure he doesn’t get into trouble. I’ll place a seal on him so he doesn’t reveal his origins to anyone else.”

“A seal?” JZ muttered. Soon enough, Ozahl placed a finger on JZ’s forehead.

“Speak not your truth. You are from this world and you are recovering from amnesia. Understood?”

“What are you-” JZ froze up, energy coursing through his body. He couldn’t say for sure, but it felt as if he... Forgot something. Or rather, like he couldn’t remember something if he tried. He could feel the information in his brain. It occupied space. It simply wasn’t accessible anymore. This was enough for JZ to understand what had transpired.

“So I’ve become a citizen of... This place.”

“Felstat, the capital of Norwyn, a province in the Kingdom of Ramtha. Don’t forget it,” said Sigard. “Now then, off with you.”

“Of course. Good day to you, my liege,” said Ozahl.

And just like that, JZ had become a citizen of Ramtha. What that truly meant for JZ, he did not know. But for now, he wasn’t next on the chopping block, and that was good enough. He’d be kept on a tight leash, but even if he couldn’t go far, at least he was “free.”

As JZ rubbed his wrists, finally relieved of his manacles, he was led outside by Ozahl.

“Come, Jabez! I think you’ll quite like Felstat. I suspect it’s not as comfortable as your old city, but you’ll get used to it soon enough. And what’s more, if you’re accepted into a free company, you won’t have to worry about starving. Ha ha!”

The old man was in good spirits, and it was rubbing off on JZ. He looked to the bright blue sky with a smile and walked forward when...

“Oh! I’m sorry. Here, let me help you-”

JZ paused, looking down at the woman he accidentally knocked over. She had a slender build and wore simple, drab clothing befitting a servant. Fine blonde hair was trimmed short, revealing long pointed ears, and deep blue eyes held little light left in them. But above all else, what got JZ’s attention was the faintly glowing metal collar around her neck, as well as the chainless shackles on her wrists and ankles.

“What are you doing?!” a man shouted, stepping out from the shade. He grabbed JZ by the head and slammed him into the ground. “You think you can just knock someone’s property over without consequence?! What if it broke something?! Apologize!!”

“I’m terribly sorry, head chef,” said Ozahl, stepping in. “This man is still recovering from a head injury. His sense of balance and direction is... Lacking.”

“I should say so!”

“Jabez, apologize to the chef this instant,” Ozahl whispered.

The situation had JZ’s head spinning. He was so caught off-guard, he almost forgot to speak.

“I’m... Sorry.”

“Good!” the chef said, spitting to the side. “Now be gone with you!”

Ozahl helped JZ back onto his feet, and as he stood up, he looked back at the woman still on the ground. She seemed on the verge of tears. JZ reached out his hand to help her up, to which Ozahl slapped JZ’s hand down.

“Enough. Let’s get going.”

“But...” JZ moved along for the moment, unable to comprehend what just happened. He glanced back at the woman, who was getting yelled at by the chef, and when the chef yanked the woman to her feet by her hair, JZ felt his blood boil.

“Don’t,” said Ozahl, freezing JZ in place with magic. Even with this compulsion, every fiber in JZ’s being was fighting against it. “Listen to me very closely. If you intervene, there’s nothing I can do to help you. Do you want to end up like her? If not, I suggest you look away.”

“Fffffffine.” The word felt like spitting out venom. After it was out of his system, the compulsion ended, and JZ could move again. He followed behind Ozahl, and despite everything in his heart telling him to turn around and beat the daylights out of that chef, he held back.

“What... Was that?” asked JZ.

“Do not concern yourself with them,” said Ozahl.

“But-”

“Do not concern yourself with them. Please.”

As JZ walked further towards the city of Felstat, a terrible, twisting sensation stirred in his gut. This was not a kind place.