That Would Have Been a Short Story

Or at least it would have been the end. But there are a number of chapters left and characters mentioned in the synopsis haven’t shown up yet.

Kyle jerked awake in a cold sweat. What a terrible dream! He’d imagined going into town on his eighteenth birthday, and there was a goddess. But he was back in what looked like his modest one-room cottage in a village full of his peers and alive instead of having been… stabbed…

He looked at himself. His midsection was heavily bandaged and covered with some kind of wrap. By his bed were used bandages, stained red with blood.

How’d he gotten back here? The only people around were the bandits and –

“I’m not professionally trained for healing.” Abagail was drinking from a small flask; Kyle could smell the alcohol from across the room. “But I did the best I could. Don’t get up,” she added as Kyle tried to get himself off the bed. “Your body is still catching up to the magic.”

Kyle moved to sit up on the bed to look at Abagail at least. “I should be dead.”

“You should be.” Abagail finished what was left of her flask. “But I owed you one since you didn’t leave me for dead. Now we’re even.”

“Thanks.”

“I never thought about your people having so little to work with.”

Peasants never had much in the way of furnishings. Kyle’s mattress was lumpy and stuffed with old straw from last year’s harvest. He had a table with three chairs but only two of them had all of their legs. A fireplace was lit with a pot of something stewing in it. Blooby was having fun sloshing around the outside of what few containers and glass bottles he owned.

“Somehow worse than my studio apartment,” Kyle admitted.

Abagail raised an eyebrow to that but didn’t ask after it. She scooted her chair to Kyle’s side and held up one of his hands. “You didn’t have these when you came in to my house. But after my crystal ball slammed into your face you did. Don’t tell me you were blessed by a god.”

Kyle corrected her. “Goddess.”

“Unbelievable. A peasant gets the attention of the divine.” She pulled the ringed hand towards her, trying to get a good look at the golden band. “Interesting.”

“The bandits said they thought only nobles had these,” he pointed out. “Why?”

“You’ve never seen one before today, right.” Abagail pulled the diamond ring off Kyle’s hand to get a closer look. “Lords and ladies spend their gold on all kinds of jewelry. But these are special. They’re called rings of power. Enchanters can empower rings embedded with gemstones to give a person’s the ability to use magic. It took me years to learn how to cast a proper spell, but if you gave that to another peasant they’ll cast chain lightning from across the room in seconds. Any rich family worth a damn has one.”

Kyle plucked the ring from her hand, looking over it. It reminded him of wedding rings from his word, though the size of the diamond put those to shame. “They sound useful.”

“And expensive. Entire houses have gone bankrupt trying to get their hands on these. They’re almost like status symbols, passed down from generation to generation. Shame these are nowhere near as useful for someone who learned it the hard way. I’m far more dangerous with a wand.”

Abagail pulled the amulet around Kyle’s neck towards her, yanking his head close. “That’s interesting. This isn’t a precious stone.”

“Why’s that important?” asked Kyle, blushing.

“Because most rings of power are based on having a precious stone – your diamonds, your rubies, emeralds, or sapphires. I thought this was a sapphire at first, but look closer.” She held the ring close enough to him to notice a few golden flecks forming a pattern almost like an eye. “This is lapis lazuli. It’s nowhere near as valuable, and you can’t enchant them to let you use magic.”

Kyle looked at the stone in the amulet. There must have been a reason why the goddess had given it to him.

His train of thought was broken by the sound of a grumbling stomach. Abagail released the amulet and went to check on the pot of stew in the hearth. “I used some of your spare vegetables with what stock I could find to make soup for us. Tell me you’ve got something else for food around here for later.”

“‘Us’? You were trying to kill me earlier!” Kyle exclaimed. “And you said it yourself, we’re even.”

Abagail stomped her foot. “I can’t exactly let you be running around with that ring unsupervised. How much do you even know about using magic, anyway?”

Kyle didn’t answer. His first instinct had been to name spells from role-playing games straight out of his favorite video games.

“Exactly! You might hurt yourself! Did you stop to think how it’s going to look when a peasant starts walking around wearing gold and gemstones like he’s a prince?”

He hadn’t.

“And if you think about it, you still owe me a looooooooot of gold for my house blowing up. I’m homeless thanks to you.”

He would argue the house exploding was a team effort between himself and the Prince. But being on the bad side of a witch sounded like a very bad idea, and he’d had enough bad ideas for one day.

“Then it’s settled.” Abagail snapped her fingers, a bag appearing out of thin air and dropping onto the floor. Blooby floated near it, helping open it as various objects started flying out into the air. “I’m staying here to keep an eye on you. Go make sure we’re not eating vegetable soup all week. I’ve got work to do.”

-----

Being a witch’s cook sounded like a step up from peasantry.

In a few ways, a peasant’s diet was healthier than the garbage Kyle ate in his past life. No processed food, less sodium, honey was the main sweetener instead of sugar, and a lot more vegetables – especially pickled vegetables. You could get your hands on milk and cheeses if merchants were coming through. And bread. They cooked lots of nutrient-rich bread.

Of course, the convenience of microwaving instant ramen and having a lot more food available were things Kyle sorely missed right now.

For example, Kyle had considered making bread for Abagail before remembering that making bread took a lot of time. And while Kyle didn’t have anything else to do than tend to the fields, he didn’t like the idea of constantly mixing, kneading, and proofing bread dough to satisfy his guest.

What he really needed was something to help knead the bread. He didn’t have any experience with stand mixers, but his old life’s apartment had a bread machine. Something that could handle most of the process so he could worry about other things. Like whatever that prince had been talking about with a new royal forest. Or getting bedrest so he could fully recover from the whole ‘I was stabbed’ thing. If only he could have a bread machine!

A surge of energy blossomed out from the amulet around Kyle’s neck, as knowledge poured into his mind unbidden.

…magically enchant a rotor to move for a period of time I command…looping fire spell to maintain a warm environment for the yeast…

His eyes nearly rolled into the back of his head as in a split-second, Kyle instantly understood how to build something that had never existed in this world. He pointed his ring at a pile of debris outside the cottage and pulled it toward him. It bent to his will, warping, breaking, and reforming to his design.

“What are you doing?”

That was Kyle’s voice, but it wasn’t coming out of his mouth. Just like Office Kyle had appeared before him when he’d considered abandoning Abagail to the bandits, a Peasant Kyle now appeared at his side. He was almost identical in appearance to the Real Kyle, except he didn’t have bandages wrapped around him.

“What kind of magic relic are you making?” asked Peasant Kyle.

“It isn’t magic. Well, we don’t have electricity so it is. But it was originally science.” Metal pieces interlocked and lengthened, as a box-like object began taking shape. “It’s weird. One moment I was thinking about the bread machine I used to have, and the next I suddenly knew how to make one.”

Peasant Kyle looked at the Real Kyle’s work, and frowned. “What’s wrong with making bread by hand?”

“Nothing. Your way’s great for making something with a rich flavor,” said Real Kyle. “But if I want this done faster, I can have a machine perform the initial mixing and kneading. Then I can either run the rest of it through the machine to make a loaf or I can shape it and bake it the way we’ve always done. It’ll be just as healthy either way.”

“Okay,” said Peasant Kyle. “But how did you know how to build something that’s never existed?”

That… was a really good question. And one Kyle didn’t know how to answer, except to look at the amulet hanging around his neck.