1843 - Altaris

8 - Strongholds

I woke up earlier than everyone else, and looks around. I felt a force pulling me outside the apartment, another feeling that I woke El'Nir up. I look at my back, and I see El'Nir looking at me with a flashlight in her hand.

"Sneaking out, I see?" She asks.

I think about it for a while, then I look at an direction and seems like the force that was pulling me to it.

"I was pulled by something..." I explained.

"Oh." She mumbles.

El'Nir follows me as I lead myself into a mysterious shaft and I blink, then we find ourselves back at the apartment.

Then I see the sun rise, and we spot Justin looking at me.

"You up early." He says.

I just nod.

I look at where the force pulled me too, and everyone notices it. Jane looks at me confused, Laura looks at me then goes back to sleep, Justin sits and looks at where I am looking and Jessie sleeps.

"I'm gonna... go for a walk." I say, then I quickly run to the location, leaving everyone.

I look at it closer. It seems like the building was submerged to the ground. I looked around for any doors, then I just see an sealed round window. I break in theough the window. What I saw shocked me a bit.

"It's bigger on the inside..." I say to myself.

Then, I find an old man looking at me, holding a staff, and seems to be surprised.

"Who are you?" The man asks.

I was scared, and I hesitated to talk for a while.

"I said, who are you lad?!" He asks again in an angrier tone.

I snapped myself and began to speak.

"Mark Eliar Johnson!" I shout, which surprises the man.

The lights suddenly turned on and I see everything clearly. I quickly recognize the man's face, and is outstounded in what I learned, and I quickly regret it.

"Mr. Crafters! Sorry for trespassing, my league!" I say, making the man laugh a bit.

"I never knew I still had faithful subjects. But, I know myself that my family are the ones who know me, not strangers nor Altarians..." He explains, "But, since you know me, you might have known where you are."

I look around. There are doors in each wall, all inches apart, there are science and alchemy equipment scattered, and the man stands in a carpet in the floor.

"Tower 001-A?" I answer, he seems surprised.

"Goody. Autumn Ravenshire has blessed me good fortune ever since I stepped into that blasted Fortress!" He says.

I was confused, then I walked closer.

"Wait!" He commanded.

I stopped. I looked at him.

"Your friends are waiting. Close your eyes. I have a gift for you after you opened it." He commands, and I do it.

3 seconds later, I feel a light breeze and I open my eyes. I am back at Altaris, the window seemingly repaired, and I have a watch with 3 buttons and a spin-able ring. I spin the ring and set the time to the correct position, then I felt someone tapping his or her hand on my shoulder.

"Sneaking out, I see?" The voice says, and my eyes grew big.

The dream did happen.

In my surprise, I fainted. El'Nir, the one who was near me, quickly brings me near to a chair and waits for me to wake up.

I do wake up, with lots of people watching. I also felt like one of the people watching me is Mark Johnson Crafters. He was in a cloak, and he throws me a quiver-like card-keeping device. I catch it. El'Nir looks at me.

"Did you know that guy?" She asks.

I just nod, and I placed all of my card magics in it. I had 30 magic cards, and it seemed like I needed a backpack for it. Then I saw Jane in a flying car.

"Mark, El'Nir, get in." She shouts to us, as we enter the car.

"What the..." El'Nir comments.

It seemed like Mark Johnson Crafters, or MJ for short, wasn't the only one with bigger-on-inside mechanisms on certain objects.

"Like it?" Laura asks, who was in the front seat.

El'Nir seems to be stunned, and I nod in behalf for her.

The car drived into the Outlands, and we are heaving to a mountain.

Then it all goes black.

We crashed.

Or so I think.