Travelers

Chapter 13 - The Friends

Jacob dueled like he never had in his life. The blade felt awkward in his hand, and his shoulder throbbed from the blade tip that was imbedded in it. The adrenaline that rushed through his system dulled the pain and heightened his awareness. Still, he was fighting with his off hand, and Ryan was better than him in the first place. So, Jacob decided to make a little joke out of his defeat. He began fighting more defensively, and said, "I must say, you truly are a master." Ryan looked at him perplexed. He continued with his inside joke, saying, "because there is something I know that you do not." This simply perplexed Ryan more, but Vince began to laugh aloud. Jacob tossed his sword to his other hand and cried out in pain. "I am not left handed," He finished. Then a moment later he added only a few more words, stating his quote's origin, "The Princess Bride." He seemed to have befuddled Ryan with his seemingly nonsense talk and the tide turned to him, even though Ryan had already caught him in the face with his pommel and his nose had begun to bleed.

"What are talking about?" Ryan began, then he shut up and focused on the fight again after he had taken a fist to jaw. Jacob continued with random quotes from other books and movies, spewing lines from Monty Python, Star Wars, Firefly, Ready Player One, and several more obscure books that even Vince didn't catch. Finally, he caught his guard under Ryan's, and flung his sword into the air. He smiled through the pain as he caught Ryan's broken sword in his other hand.

Finishing his quotes off, he said, "Expelliarmus. Harry Potter." It was then that Ryan recover his wits and simply punched Jacob in his right should. He crumpled in pain and dropped his own sword. Ryan swung it and put a deep gash across the left side of his chest, then he turned to face his original foe. Vince seemed to have remembered himself at the sight of his friend dying on the ground. Ryan charged him, but this time it was Strider who stepped in to face him. Unfortunately, he was now not only facing Ryan, but also the hoard of orcs that now mobilized himself. Jacob opened his eyes to see the sight he knew he would sometime soon. He saw the girl's eyes tearing up at the sight of him. He had to admit, he probably would too, but he said what he knew none of them had been able to hear, "Vince, it's okay. Don't go back to being what you can become. Just help defeat the orcs. Win back Middle Earth for the free people." He looked to Mal, and said the same thing he had last time. "Thank you," he began, "You know what for." Finally, he looked to Cat and opened his mouth to say something, but he stopped and shut it again. He repeated this motion, then finally said, "I'll tell you if I live through this." He just smiled as she stood and wiped the tears from her face. Then she walked off to face what she had seen, and fulfill the vision.

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Cat walked across the field, deflecting stray arrows with her shield and slaying any orcs that decided to charge her. Her eyes locked with Ryan's as she pointed her blade at him and took the fight from him as he finished off the soldier he was currently dueling. She was certain that she shouldn't underestimate him, but she knew that she could defeat him. She easily parried and blocked all his attacks, and he seemed to be wearing himself down, just as he had done against Vince. It was then that out of the corner that she saw Mal and Elanor escaping the battle into Mordor with Jacob, Vince trailing behind them. He turned and saw her, then a look of physical pain seemed to wash over his face. He ran and caught up with the others. She turned her focus back to the battle at hand, and began to feel the familiar motion of her arms swinging and blocking as they had before. At least, as she had felt them do now, beforehand.

She readied herself to spare Ryan, and she would defy the prophecy and not allow herself to kill him. It was then that everything was just as she had seen it. Then the look of surprise washed over Ryan's face once more, and Cat looked down at her hands. She was still holding her sword and shield, far from Ryan. He toppled forward, and she watched him fall as blood dripped from his mouth. It was then that she saw what she hadn't in the vision. A blade in his upper back, or a part of one. A part of his own sword had killed him, and standing behind him now was Vince, clear of mind and killing him in defense of his friends. She realized that it had been the same shard that had been in Jacob's shoulder, and together they rushed to reach the others before they reached the eye mark.

They reached the burn just as the others did, halting their sprint. She looked up and then felt the one feeling that she was dreading feeling again. The dizziness and the third person flying that always stole her breath from her body. She felt herself rising and could see the effects of it on the others. Elanor shouted as all four of them fell and the vision began. She saw a scene she recognized. She was back home in her church. In front of her Jacob was clearly saying something, but she couldn't hear anything. Then she realized she didn't need to, because she could see his eyes. He was obviously nervous or even worried. Whatever he was saying, it had to be quite important, but the vision faded and she continued to fly towards Cirith Ungol. It was then that they all recognized where they had heard Shelob's voice before.

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Mal fell to her knees when the vision subsided. Her vision was blurred for a few moments, then she recovered and stood to her feet. Cat, as always was having the greatest blowback. Mal helped her to sit as the others continued onward with Jacob. Mal wasn't sure what the meaning of her vision was, because it seemed so odd. She saw herself sitting on her couch at home, reading a book. Suddenly, the vision blurred to her, now in a black robe lined with yellow, shooting through the air, her hair billowing in the wind. Then there was a bright red flash and the vision was gone. None of it made sense to her, until she realized what book she had been reading, and where they were now.

She looked up to see that they had finally reached the eye. They planned to all leave together this time. Vince had already proven that somebody other than the person intended could leave via these marks. It was just whether they could get multiple people out at once. They had to try, and if they failed, they would still have two more tries at leaving.

"Melon!" Elanor shouted. The flames began to rise and clear the burn from the grey stones around them. As they closed in, Mal began to feel a tug at herself, and she saw Jacob rise into the air. Suddenly, her world seemed to turn over on itself. It folded and flipped until everything around her was upside down. Gravity seemed to pull her slowly at first, then she began to fall faster and faster. Until she was turning head over heels in the air. Suddenly, she stumbled forward, opened her eyes and saw a familiar basement in front of her. She stepped to the side just as Cat confidently stepped out from the stairs into the basement. She did the same as Mal had done and stepped to the side as Vince seemed to leap down the stairs and land on his feet. They were home, and they had saved the free people of middle earth from their own adventures.

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Vince was glad to be back, but it didn't mean that he would ever forget what he had done. He realized that part of why he had been what he was might have been all the darkness and the evil in the games he had played. The four of them waited only a few moments there in the basement until the thing that all four of them knew was coming happened. The doorbell rang, and the door opened. Jacob still ascended the stairs and invited his guest in, because even an adventure in Middle Earth couldn't stop him from being a good host.

"Hey! Welcome in, it's great to see you." He could be heard saying. He returned only a moment later with Vince's sister trailing behind him. She glanced at Cat and Mal and didn't introduce herself, so Vince spoke up for her. He introduced Lyndsey, and they all began to talk like almost nothing had happened. Soon, other guest arrived and the party began. All of them acted as though they hadn't just had an adventure in a storybook world, but they did remain within sight of each other until the party ended. Vince was the first to leave, and he ran down the street with Lyndsey.

As soon as he walked through the door, he made for his desktop. He brought up his browser and entered several keywords for his search. People entering stories. The search results appeared only moments later, and he skimmed each headline and description, finding nothing like what he had just experienced. It was then that a word from his last vision in Middle Earth. He added that word to the end of his search bar and began to skim again. Only four results down he found what he was looking for. It was a page titled: Who are The Travelers? He opened it, and read story after story of people describing just what he had been through. People finding themselves in games, movies, books, popular shows, and even historical events described in songs. One woman had found herself as The Doctor's companion for a while. Another told a story about living in camp half-blood for a summer. Others told about reliving D&D scenarios they had played. He found what he had been looking for. He had found what they were. They could walk through a door and find themselves in pages of their favorite books, but he was sure he never would again. They could turn a corner and be fighting a battle for their lives, because they were travelers, but he never would. He would never travel to another world again, and he would tell his story to those who would listen to keep them from doing so as well. He would never let himself be the villain.