Descending from Ordinary

Chapter 2

"Dimension," Jacob repeated slowly, the word sounding unconvincing even from his own mouth.

"This is Arcanis, a separate world from Earth," Jace continued. "Right now, you're in the kingdom of Azarath., yeah well, you kinda fell through a portal that connects our worlds. I'm not really sure how, though, since only The Twelve have access to any of those."

Jacob raised an eyebrow. "The Twelve?"

"Mhm. There are four worlds and three carriers per world that get a portal vessel. They use it to get back and forth for whatever reason. I'm not really sure..."

Letting himself get absorbed in Jason's words, Jacob found himself going along with it all. Instead of insisting all of this was crazy and he was out of his mind, he continued asking his questions. "How come you know about Earth, but I didn't know about this place? Is this like a secret society or something?"

Jace simply shrugged. "Trust issues, I guess. Earth is more advanced, they say, so we have to be careful with who knows what."

Jacob nodded slowly, trying to understand. It made some sense. With the wide variety of bombs, guns and secret government weapons that exist all over Earth, it would make sense for others to be cautious not to put themselves out there and press the wrong buttons. Jacob could only imagine some government coming to this alternate universe and abduct innocent people as test subjects to see how different they are and why, or do whatever messed up things top secret science labs do. The thought somewhat disturbed Jacob.

"Okay...but why did I come here? Of all places? And how do I get back? And what if someone else falls through the mir—I mean, portal?"

Jace found Jacob's enthusiasm to be somehow entertaining. He leaned back in his seat with a small sigh. "As much as I wish I knew all this stuff, I don't actually know all the answers."

Jacob sunk down in his spot, not bothering to hide the disappointment on his face. Out of pure exhaustion from the past thirty minutes, he dropped his head on the table let himself close his eyes for a moment. What the hell was he supposed to do? And how was any of this even possible? Jacob was trying really hard to convince himself he wasn't going mental. Maybe he was dreaming?? He had to be, right? He'd learned about those 'lucid dreams' in one of his classes, so maybe that was it. A dream that feels completely real. A dream you know you're having. So, he was lucid dreaming...right?

"But," Jace said hopefully, interrupting Jacob's trail of thoughts. "The king would probably be willing to answer all your questions!"

"Really?" he sat up quickly, not hesitating to take in the bit of hope he'd put in the atmosphere. It only lasted for a moment as Jacob had time to think about the situation...him talking to royalty. He could barely do a five-minute presentation in front of his class, let alone speak to a King and Queen. He looked to Jace with his big eyes full of a mix of hope and uncertainty. "Would you be there, too?"

Jace scratched the back of his head as he shook it. "Uh-uh. I'm not really allowed in the castle."

Jacob raised his eyebrows. "Wait, what? Why not?"

"It's nothing bad, I promise!" he held his hands up, laughing innocently, yet nervously. He stood up suddenly, sliding out of the booth. "Uhh, but, hey, I'll be right back, okay? Stay here!"

"Wait!" Jacob called after Jace as he disappeared through the crowd of unknown faces. "Jason!"

Calling after him seemed pointless considering Jacob couldn't even see him through all the people anymore. He let out a sigh and slouched back in his seat. A sudden feeling of anxiety rushed over him and he couldn't help but run through a series of 'what if' scenarios. What if he didn't come back? What if he forgot what table he was at and couldn't find his way back to Jacob? How was he supposed to get home, then? A thousand thoughts ran through his head for the time span of about five minutes. By then, Jacob was tired of waiting and jolted out of his seat to go find Jacob.

He made his way back to the first floor, walking carefully through the wild mix of people, throwing out a few "sorry"'s and "excuse me"'s as he slipped between one person after the other. There were giant, tiny, unbelievably tall and short, buff, thin, obese and colourful people. If Jacob's eyes weren't playing tricks, he could've sworn he saw someone with orange skin and another with pointy ears. Honestly, this place, in general, gave him a weird feeling. The people crowded in the middle section in the hot and humid air that reeked of sweat and alcohol made him sick to his stomach. The music grew louder, making the drumming in his head pound harder as his vision grew blurry and he began seeing two of everything. He needed to get out of there.

Suddenly, something caught him off guard—someone had grabbed his arm and began tugging him to the other side of the pub. He still couldn't make out anything in front of him, but a giant weight lifted off Jacob's chest. "Ah, Jace, thank god—" Letting his eyes trail down to his wrist, he noticed leather gloves on the person's hand. Gloves that Jace wasn't wearing. Creasing his eyebrows, he blinked hard to clear his vision. As the doubles he saw merged into one, he realized he was being dragged by someone in thin leather armour with a few weapons at their side. As Jacob fully realized what was happening, he tried to yank his arm away, but the stranger's grip was painfully tight.

Reaching a near-empty corner in the large pub, the stranger finally released his grip and Jacob didn't waste a second to make his escape. He turns in a flash to bolt back to the middle section of the pub, but before he can take more than two steps, he's yanked by the hood of his sweatshirt, making him fall backwards and land straight on his ass with a hard thud.