Archibald, the Heroes Companion

Visitor

Archibald was still a little put-off by Maelstroms change in mood. He never talked so seriously, even with higher nobles, and asked to be referred to as "Strom" or for guests to drop his title. What could be so important about some lost boy that could make Maelstrom of all people serious.

Jason moved to one of the high backed chairs, and Archibald made to leave until Maelstrom spoke again, "Archibald, stay with us. You are a good man, and your assistance will be required I think. Who else knows about Jason?"

"Only Geoffrey, my Lord. He served Jason his breakfast."

Maelstrom let out a sigh of relief. "Good, we can trust him as well." He strode to the table and pointed to the map. It wasn't a map of the continent Archibald knew. Instead, the map had four main land masses, and a few smaller ones. On the left were two of the masses, barely connected at the tip, and on the right were the other two, one of them nearly as large as the other three combined. The groups were separated by an ocean, and had an ocean on both edges of the map. Perhaps the oddest thing about it was that it was dated for 1803, but the year in Runal was only 553 RH, since recorded history. "Jason, you said you were from America, correct? Where exactly in America, as I understand it is quite large."

"Thank god someone knows about America, I thought you people were crazy! I'm from California, over here." Jason pointed on the western coast of the top left continent.

Archibald was incredibly lost, but kept his voicing quiet. He did notice that Maelstrom was writing in one of the books. "Cali... for... nia..." he said under his breath. "Okay, and how did you get here?"

"Well, I was surfing and fell off my board. I got pulled under by a riptide and when I came up, I was in a lake in the middle of the forest. Crazy, right?"

Archibald thought it was absolutely ludicrous. What in God's name was surfing and a riptide? Apparently, Maelstrom had a similar question. "What is a riptide? It is important I fully understand how you got here.'

Jason looked confused, as if finding a "riptide" the strangest part of his story wasn't what he expected, and frankly, Archibald agreed. "Well, a riptide is a strong underwater current, crazy dangerous. The pull you under water and they're really hard to get out of. They're only in the oceans though, near the beach."

Maelstrom was writing this down as well, as if planning to make a book of the account. "Okay, this satisfies me for now. I should explain what exactly is going on now. Archibald, please sit. Shortly, this will be a large concern for you."

Archibald took the seat next to Jason, falling into the plush cushions. "If I may ask, what is this map? I have never seen it before and it is dated 1300 years into the future."

Jason looked astounded, again, as if Archibald had gotten dumber. "Uh, no. This thing is ancient. Like, from 200 years ago."

"You are both correct, technically. This is a map of Jason's world, made in 1803 there. Here, we are on a different timeline. Try not to think about it too much. Anyways, as I was saying, you should both wish to hear my explanation. Jason is from another world."

"Objection! That doesn't even make sense. But I guess it does. You guys don't even have electricity. Sorry, keep going." Jason apologized after Archibald glared him down for interrupting. Manner-less child.

"As I was saying, Jason got here through a magic gate. Visitors are incredibly rare now, as the current King of Runal destroyed as many portals as he could early in his reign, for reasons I do not know. One recent visitor was a cartographer from 1805, who gifted us the map. The King immediately hunted him down when he heard of his presence. That was about fifty years ago, and my father had been the one to find him. Since then, the Astaire's have worked to help Visitors survive."