A Promise

I groggily opened my eyes to a figure cloaked in shadow, shaking me awake. My eyes flew open, and I instinctively grabbed the arm that was on my shoulder.

“Don?”

My vision slowly adjusted to the dim light of the alley, and I could see Martha looking down at me with a petrified expression. I looked to see my hand grasped tightly around her wrist.

“Oh. Sorry.” I loosened my fingers, letting my arm fall to the side. My throat felt like I hadn’t used it for days. “Old habit.”

“Don, what –” Martha quickly knelt down, placing her palm on the left side of my torso. It came away red as she drew it back. “Is this blood?”

“Yeah, but I’ll be better once my magic comes back.” I struggled to my feet, using the wall to stabilize myself.

“No, wait, don’t move!” She pressed me against the wall with her left arm. “You’ve lost too much blood. I’ll call an ambulance, or something –”

“Martha, I said I’ll be fine. I’ve been through worse.” Before she could protest, I began limping towards the exit.

“Don!” She grabbed my blood-stained hand, stopping me in my tracks. “I get that this might have been how you lived in your old world, but… right now, I can help you. Don’t rely on yourself for everything.”

With a sigh, she released my hand. “At least, let me bring you somewhere that can patch you up and get you out of critical condition. You’ll need new clothes, too.”

I turned back. “Fine. I’ll let you take me to this place, but only for getting bandages and new clothes, got it? I don’t need –”

Stopping, I felt the world shift a little. “I don’t…”

Oh damn, I overestimated my stamina.

I fell forwards, vision blurring into darkness once again.

###

When I opened my eyes this second time, I was looking up at an unfamiliar ceiling. The dim light of the alley was replaced with a much harsher, white light. Slowly, as my eyes adjusted, I could hear parts of a conversation becoming clearer.

“– but honestly, I don’t know how his body could be in such a stable condition after sustaining this much damage. His body’s healing factor appears to be much higher than the average person as well.”

The conversation broke off abruptly as I sat up, and I could see Martha and another woman turn their heads to look at me. Martha had changed her look a little since the last time I saw her, as she had released her oak brown ponytail into a few locks of hair that ran just above her shoulders, and was carrying a handbag that wrapped around her arm. Looking around, I could see several tubes attached to different parts of my body, hooked up to racks full of fluids. There were several machines around me that I assumed to be monitors, and a strange mask-like object was over my mouth. Peeling off the mask, I stretched my arms, letting out a deep breath. “Man, that feels so much better.”

“He’s awake already?” The older woman stared at me. “It’s only been thirty minutes!”

“Yeah, he’s… pretty spunky.” Martha answered, eyeing me down.

I looked down my shoulder, noticing that both it and my right hand were covered in white bandages. Using my left hand, I grabbed the tubes and pulled them off me. “Where are we?”

“A local clinic I usually visit.” Martha gestured towards the other woman. “This is Dr. Owens, by the way.”

“Well, we should get going now, shouldn’t we?” I lifted myself out of the little bed I was sitting in, looking around. “Do you have any clothes?”

“Hold on a second!” Dr. Owens hurried over as if in a daze. “I don’t understand how you can possibly be on your feet! Normally, someone with your injuries would be unconscious for days before waking up!”

“Well, I am up, so I can leave, right?” I rolled my left shoulder and flinched. “Oh. Still kind of stings.”

“You are awake, but…” The doctor anxiously ran a hand through her greying blond hair. “You still need time to rest, to recuperate.”

“Hey, lady.” I said, randomly pointing to one of the monitors. “You said that my body is in a stable condition, correct?”

“Yes, but –”

“As of now, is any specific part of my body in critical condition?”

“Well, not exactly…” Dr. Owens trailed off again, and rubbed her temples, exhaling. “It just doesn’t feel right to let you just walk off like this.”

Martha walked over, grasping Dr. Owens’ hand. “I’m sorry to bother you like this, Dr. Owens, but I’m sure he’ll be alright. He really is quite an anomaly.”

Then, she pointed in my direction. “On that note, could I have a moment alone with my friend?”

Dr. Owens cast a final worried look towards me, before nodding and slowly exiting the room. Martha closed the door behind her, which shut with a small click.

As she then turned back towards me, her polite façade had already faded. Martha stalked over to where I was sitting in my bed, crossing her arms. “You have got a whole lot of explaining to do, mister.”

“Why were you hurt? Who was that man? You said you were from another world, but you never mentioned anything about people coming to chase you!” She waved her arms around breathlessly. “Don, I know I promised to help you get back on your feet in this new world, but you also have to tell me everything I need to know.”

“Oh. Um, yeah.” I sighed, leaning back. “Sorry about that. I’ll fill you out on whatever I have.”

“Thank you.” Martha’s expression turned a little softer. Stepping to my side, she traced her fingers over the bandages on my shoulder. “Doesn’t that hurt? You don’t have to force yourself to act tough.”

“No, I’m seriously okay.” I prodded it, and found the pain had subsided to no more than a dull ache. “I think the Manalite magic that I use works to dampen a lot of the pain.”

“If you say so…” Martha slung her little purse in front of her, and dug out her little rectangular device. Showing me the screen, I saw a picture of the burning, smoke-filled battlefield where me and Eli had fought in front of the market. When she spoke again, her voice still carried a hint of worry. “Is this because of you?”

My brain translated the multiple titles on the screen for me. Local supermarket parking lot suddenly in flames. Potential terrorist attack on local supermarket. Several cars in disrepair after bombing near local supermarket, currently no casualties found. As I finished reading, I let out a loud groan. “Don’t blame me. The bounty hunter had some really flashy magic.”

“You destroyed five random cars, and somehow I feel partly responsible for your actions.” Martha began to turn away, cradling her device. But she froze mid-turn, and quickly looked back at me. “Wait, if you’re being chased by magic-wielding psychos, isn’t it super dangerous for me to stay near you?”

“Don’t worry.” I grinned, giving her a confident, hopefully reassuring thumbs-up. “I, Donnelius Conqaide, swear on my name that as long as I’m in this world, I will stay by your side and do everything in my power to make sure that no harm befalls you.”

Martha gave a little smile. “Well, I’ll take your word for it. But, I’m not sure how much better that promise makes me feel, considering it’s coming from a hospitalized guy wrapped in so many bandages that he looks like a mummy.”

“That sounds derogatory and I don’t like it.”

“In any case, you did also promise me to explain all the crazy magic stuff.” She pulled up a little plastic bag, probably supposed to be for more groceries, and rummaged around in it. “I mean, more action has happened to me in these last few hours than in the rest of my entire life.”

“Well, if I’m going to tell you, it would probably be best to do it in a relatively secluded location, with not many people.” I gestured to my bandaged hand and shoulder. “I probably won’t be attacked by more bounty hunters anytime soon after my fight with Eli, since he was one of the relatively stronger ones, but you can never be too sure. Less cautious bounty hunters, or ones more confident in their abilities, might actually try harder to do me in.”

“Hmm… I’m pretty sure I know a place. It might not be the absolute safest, but I’m hungry for dinner, and that carries utmost priority.” Martha thrust a bundle of cloth on me. “Also, get changed. I don’t have an infinite supply of my father’s clothes, so if you’re going to get your clothes burnt up every day, your clothes will start coming from the dollar store.”

As I sat up and began to pull the scratchy shirt over my head, Martha reached forward and stopped me with a hand. “And wait until I’m outside of the room this time.”

###

“The full-body checkup is complete. His breathing is steady, and his heart rate is normal. There is one minor injury on the left shoulder, and slight epidermal burning on the right hand.” Dr. Owens drew a long breath. “Martha, I don’t think I can accept payment for this.”

Martha had a small pouch held out in front of her, filled with little pieces of paper that were apparently the currency of this place. “Why not?”

“You bring your friend here, he sleeps for little more than half an hour, and then just gets up and asks to leave. And it may just be my age, but it almost seems like his wounds have already closed a little since he got here.” The woman tapped her pen against the piece of paper in her hand. “Frankly, the only thing I did was give him some bandages and an ice pack.”

“At least let me pay for those, then.”

As the pair discussed the fee, I rolled the little bag of ice around in my right hand, lying down on the cloth-covered table where the checkup had been conducted. I hadn’t quite realized the full implications in the heat of battle, but Eli’s presence here solidified the fact that the kingdoms were using their men to actively search for me, even going so far as to place a cash reward for bounty hunters. This meant that my objective wasn’t just limited to getting out of this place, but also to evade anyone who would try to come for me.

Not to mention… if they’re sent here with the knowledge that this planet is deprived of Manalite in its atmosphere, they’ll almost certainly bring their personal crystals, while I’m stuck with a limit to my magic. In short, they would be able to use magic as they pleased while I would be limited to a few low-tier spells a day, putting me at a severe disadvantage in a combat situation. I actually considered just giving myself up to soldiers of the kingdoms if I found any, because they would eventually have to bring me back to our old world. But I quickly realized that this would be a stupid idea, since the kingdoms would definitely take precautions to dull my magic usage before returning, and I still wouldn’t be able to successfully escape.

I guess if I looked optimistically, this was kind of a blessing in disguise. If I somehow managed to defeat a bounty hunter or soldier carrying a Manalite crystal, I would instantly be able to get back to my world. The chances of that happening were pretty slim, but I had to admit it was the closest I had to a plan for getting back. On the flipside, if anything goes wrong, I’ll instantly die. Which is… not so great.

I was in the middle of thinking about this, tossing the bag of ice up and down, when Martha elbowed my good shoulder. “Come on. You said you would give me answers.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I got up, rubbing my back. “Though I don’t really see the point in explaining this to you, since I don’t intend to stay here for long.”

“That’s a little harsh, isn’t it?” She walked up to me, slinging her bag over her shoulder. “Can’t this just count as a favor to a friend?”

“I wouldn’t know. Been a while since I had one,” I said, giving a little shrug. As my hand reached towards the doorknob, I turned back to face the elderly doctor. “Thanks for your help, lady.”

“No… problem.” Dr. Owens slowly lowered herself into her chair, massaging her head.

I opened the intricate metal door, and stepped outside the clinic. Martha gave a quick nod to Dr. Owens, before walking out as well. As the door shut behind us with a soft click, I took a glance at where we were.

The clinic itself seemed to be situated on the side of a small street, adjacent to many other small buildings, which appeared to be shops. Every few yards, a lone metal rod would stick up into the air with an artificial light attached to the end of it, illuminating the street. In the distance, over a few bramble-covered metal fences, I could hear sirens blaring, along with a thin stream of smoke spiraling into the air in the distance. We’re still pretty close to the market area where Eli appeared.

“We’re going this way,” Martha said, tugging on the sleeve of my uncomfortable blue shirt. Her thumb pointed towards a road that broke off from the main street, one that was even narrower and darker, as well as being squeezed in between two tall buildings.

We walked for a few minutes, taking several more twists and turns in the darkness. I came to realize that the layout of cities in this world seemed to be much more complex than in my world, in which the buildings would be evenly spaced out along roads, without many alleys. The roads here were basically all paved as well, in contrast to my old world, where stone-paved roads would only appear in very large, developed cities like the capitals of the five kingdoms. Here, it seemed like the technology was fairly advanced everywhere, even if certain places had less money than others. Perhaps this was because with the absence of magic, the humans here were forced to figure out better ways to live with the resources they had, leading to the more sophisticated technology here. Maybe, if you looked at it from this perspective, reliance on magic could actually be seen as a factor limiting the potential growth of humans.

Martha stopped abruptly, shaking me out of my stupor. It took me a while to register why exactly we had stopped walking, before I realized there was a pair of small green doors on the side of the wall. Three small stone steps led up to them, with a single artificial white light dangling on the end of a pipe. The light illuminated a small wooden board on the top of the doors, with words spelled out in white letters: The Lonely Oasis.

“So, this is your safe, secluded place?” I sniffed the air. It smelled vaguely of sewage, and I could see several moths flutter about in the harsh light. “Well, you’ve definitely got the secluded part down.”

Martha rapped her knuckles against the wooden doors. In some places, I could see the green paint flaking off, revealing the material’s original color underneath. “There are actually more people that come here than you think. It’s quite hard to find using normal means, but the restaurant is full of regulars that come to eat at the same place every night.”

She pointed inside, through the blurred dual panes of glass on the doors, and I could see it was brightly lit on its interior. If I concentrated, I could pick out bits and pieces of conversations. “It’s getting pretty late, so this place is actually nearing its peak customer hours.”

“You seem pretty knowledgeable about this place,” I noted. “Is this where you usually go to eat?”

“Well…” Slowly strolling up the stone steps, Martha rested her hand on the brass doorknob of the right door. “This is actually where I work most of the time. My money has to come from somewhere.”

“Work?” I tapped my chin. “As in, you act as a waitress here?”

“Not just that. Washing, cleaning, all that other stuff as well.” She answered. “I came to the Oasis a lot as a kid, so it seemed like a good place to apply for work after my graduation.”

Graduation? It seemed like this world also had forms of education, similar in some ways to those of my old world. There, schools were used to train students in the art of a certain thing, whether it was mastering spells to become a mage, religious magic for attaining jobs like clerics and priests, swordplay to become a knight of the kingdoms, or literacy in order to be able to write scrolls. If anything, the education in this world seemed to be more advanced, since so far every person I’d seen here had been able to both read and write.

As Martha tugged the door open, a gust of warm air greeted me, contrasting with the temperature outside. The fragments of sentences swelled into full-blown conversations, and I realized as I stepped in that the restaurant was much bigger than its gloomy exterior let on. Several different families sat together on long leather couches, while a few men and women clustered around what looked to be a bar in the back. Bright warm lights on a high ceiling gave the place a homey feel, more than I had initially gleaned from its appearance.

Making our way to the front of the restaurant, we were suddenly greeted by a tall man dressed in what looked like a green apron over a dark uniform, rolled up at the sleeves to reveal a set of toned muscular arms. With tan skin, dark eyes, and dark hair, he was a stocky man with a generally amiable feel to him. As I scanned over him, he began to stroll over to where Martha and I were waiting, using a large hand to brush back the dark brown hair that he had cropped short.

“Hey, Martha. What’re you doing back here?” The man tucked a few pamphlets under his arm. “Isn’t it your break day today?”

“Yeah, but I kind of wanted to show him around.” Martha tapped my shoulder. “This is Don, by the way.”

“Ah, so you finally managed to find a guy! Good on you!” He walked over, extending a hand, so I shook it politely. His hands were strong, ones of an experienced worker. “The name’s Chris. Nice to meet you.”

Then, he came over to my side, and pat my back. “She’s a kind girl, so take good care of her, eh?”

“Yes, that is my intention.” I raised a finger. “Though, I do feel like I should mention this, just to remove any potential possibilities for misunderstanding. We are not involved in any kind of intimate relationship, nor do I wish for Martha to bear my future offspring.”

At this, Martha let out an exasperated breath, while Chris just stared.

“Um… gotcha. Not a boyfriend, then.” He regained his composure and upbeat tone, standing up to full height. “In any case, can I help you two find your seats?”

“Over there would be fine.” Martha used her hand to direct him towards a less crowded part of the room, near the bar in the back.

Plopping down on the surprisingly soft leather sofa, Martha tossed her little bag and groceries over to the side of the table. “Man, I really need to teach you how to talk to people.”

I frowned, taking a seat opposite her. “What’s wrong with the way I talk right now?”

“We’ll discuss this later.” She tugged out one of the pamphlets the man Chris had brought over to our table, adjusted the position of the little glasses on the bridge of her nose, and began flipping through it.

“What’s that?”

“A menu. You didn’t have these in your world?” She turned it around, revealing a piece of paper with an assortment of words printed on it. “Here. You can pick out whatever you want.”

Just a moment later, Martha retracted that statement. “Correction. Pick whatever you want as long as the number you see next to it is less than ten. I’m not rich enough to spoil you like that.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You’re… kind of a cheapskate, aren’t you?”

Martha crossed her arms. “I’m not a cheapskate, I’m frugal.”

Looking back to the menu, I started to comprehend the fact that I had no idea what any of the food choices were. “Uh… do you guys have any alcohol here? Sun Mead, Dragon’s Blood, that sort of thing?”

“I don’t know enough about your world to readily understand whatever the heck Dragon’s Blood is supposed to be, but I assume it isn’t actually the blood of the giant flying reptile?”

“Of course not. Real dragon’s blood is far too rare an ingredient for commoners to drink. It’s usually sold off at high prices to potion makers,” I said, drumming the table with my fingers. “Dragon bile and saliva is merely used in the wine’s fermentation process.”

Martha gagged. “That’s disgusting!”

“On the contrary, it’s actually quite good. Really brings out the flavor.” I squinted at the bar in the distance. “Though, you still haven’t answered my question about the alcohol.”

“What, you want a beer? I can get you one of those.”

“Sure, that should do.” I slid the menu over to her side of the table. “But I still have no clue what to eat.”

“I got you covered.” Martha set down the menu, and waved towards Chris, who was idly standing around in the middle of the room. He might have been silently observing us, but I couldn’t be sure. “I’ll order a few meals that we can share, okay?”

“That’s fine, but it better be good. I want my first meal here to be a nice one.”

“Why does it matter? You’re not planning on staying here for a long time, right?”

“Yeah, but the food a place presents always leaves an impression on me. I did a lot of travelling around before I was sent here, and I liked to always try the regional food of each new area I went to.” I tapped the table with my index finger. “I’m counting this world as a new discovery in my travels, so it’s kind of a tradition to get a taste of the food here.”

“Really? I didn’t expect you to have that kind of hobby.” Martha smiled. “Seems a little too relaxed for a dimension-hopping wizard criminal.”

“Don’t judge me.”

Chris came to a stop in front of our table, and Martha quickly pointed out her selections, before sending him off. As he walked away with the menus tucked under his arm, Martha faced me. “Now then. I believe you can begin with your explanations.”

I leaned back in my seat, rubbing my temples. “Where am I supposed to even begin?”

Martha grinned; her light brown eyes gleaming through her glasses with almost childlike curiosity. “Tell me about the magic.”