Broken

Chapter 11

Heat was the very first thing to register in my brain once the initial disorientation of being transported began to fade. It was a deep and oppressive heat, that not only clung to my body, but even my lungs. I wasn't just the heat, but the quality of the air, itself, felt stale and toxic.

Stumbling slightly, I took my first look at the literal hell hole I had been sent to. And when I say "Hell hole" I meant it. I immediately saw that I was surrounded by lava, the red and yellow magma surrounding an island of obsidian like stone, maybe a hundred meters in diameter. This situated in a large cavern with horrifying stalactites overhead amongst a noxious smoke.

Great... More falling death stones.

Whether it was a good or bad thing, I could also say that I wasn't alone. As a matter of fact, there were quite a few other people situated on this island. Without counting, I would say between thirty and fifty. Most of them looked just as disoriented and confused as I felt, while a few were staring off into the lava in a horrified stupor. Yet, I could see that several others had awed, almost excited, looks on their faces that only served to confuse me more.

I was about to approach the man nearest me, hoping that he might have some answers despite the fact that he looked just as lost as I was. However, I was prevented from doing so when another hand landed on my own shoulder.

Already on edge, and my jumpy instincts being what they were, I instantly spun on my heel, fists raised and ready to lash out. In doing so, I realized two things. One: My gauntlets were gone. The precious tools my brother had made me, just vanished. Prompting me to take a swift glance down at the rest of my body and realizing that I had been somehow stripped of all my gear, wearing only my regular cloths.

Putting that on the back burner for a second, I turned my attention to the second thing I noticed: I was face to face with a man. A man holding up pale and shaky hands with a good bit of dark hair on the back of them and his arms, looking terrified that he was about to get a fist to the face. I lowered my hands and looked him over swiftly.

He was a good bit over six feet tall, pale and skinny, with messy dark hair, droopy eyes and a thick pair of glasses slipping down his rather large nose. "Whoa!" He said, his voice a little nasally. "I just wanted to ask if you know what's going on!"

I sighed and glared at the man. He may not have intended to scare me, but you had to be a moron to just sneak up on a person in a situation like this. It was a good way to get a black eye.

"I'd like to know that to." I said, heart still racing. The heat wasn't helping either. "I was in the middle of a boss raid, and now I am here."

The man nodded, his glasses sliding down his sweaty nose before he pushed them back up. "I was in the middle of Raider work too. Luckily not in any sort of dire situation." He glanced around the molten chamber. "Though I think this probably counts as one."

"I second that..." Not that I wasn't unaccustomed to absolute crap happening to me at any given situation. But this was new to me. "We weren't even in the same instance..."

"Instance?" The man asked, surprised. "I was in the Lakeholme tower."

This time I was surprised. I was almost positive that the Lakeholme Tower was someplace in Europe. "We need more information." I stated simply, making another visual pass of the others before my eyes landed on a small group of three men. People had started to group up, no doubt looking for information as well, and these particular men were of the excited variety. I assumed 'Excited' meant that they had, at least, an assumption about what was going on. I couldn't see why else they would be excited.

Not bothering to tell the man what I was doing, I made my way toward the group of men, who were now talking amongst themselves rather animatedly. Unlike someone, I made sure that at least one of the men saw me coming, bespeckled man in tow, so that I didn't startle them. All three men were quite buff, though one of them was only slightly taller than myself, and I doubted I would survive as shock induced head shot from either of them.