CHAPTER 124: WORLDS COLLIDING

"I said I am not crazy!" Marcus shouted, desperation making his voice crack.

A portal started opening, black and green, a monstrosity unlike Palwin's gentle magic. It tore through reality itself starting from Marcus's body, latching out from somewhere beyond normal space.

Tyler and Irene ran back toward the kitchen, stumbling over each other in their haste to get away from the impossible sight.

"Dude, what is going on?" Tyler yelled, his voice high with panic.

"Marcus?" Irene called out, her voice small and frightened.

Suddenly two people fell through the portal before it snapped shut with a sound like reality tearing. A giant seven foot blonde man was shrinking even as he fell, and underneath him Marcus recognized himself. Himself in Valdris clothes, carrying the crude rifle he had made.

They started talking in Valdris. "Brother, are we alive? They pushed us through their portal," the blonde man said.

"Tom, get off me," the Valdris Marcus replied.

Chicago Marcus was still in shock. He had no memory of this, no understanding of what was happening or why his other self and Tom were here. Tom shrank to his normal size and tried to get up, looking around the apartment in confusion.

"Marcus? Tom? What? How? Why are you here?" Chicago Marcus stammered.

Valdris Marcus looked equally confused. "What? Why are we here? Where is Aldric? Oh my god."

The two versions of Marcus stared at each other. Chicago Marcus saw himself as he could have been: confident, battle hardened, wearing clothes from another world and carrying weapons he made. Valdris Marcus saw himself as he had been: uncertain, overwhelmed, trapped between two lives he could barely manage.

Outside, he could hear the sound of a car pulling into the parking lot. Angry noises of Mr Pressley were emerging.

The battle for both worlds was just beginning, and Marcus was no longer sure which one he belonged to. But for the first time since this all started, he wasn't alone. He had his other self, his friends from both worlds, and the knowledge that impossible things could happen when people were willing to fight for them.

**THE END**

**To be continued in Book 3*