Blade West: Book 1

Chapter 3: The Stranger

Surprisingly, the portal didn't feel like a portal. It felt more like a door. You know how you watch shows and movies and there's this awkward floating through space stage of going through a portal? Well that didn't happen here. It was almost like walking through the door of someone's house. One second you're outside and the next you're inside. No awkward in between stages.

But anywho, I was here now but where was here. Where exactly was I? There were a couple of things I noticed immediately.

The first thing I noticed was the time zone difference. It was around 8am at the school meaning the sun was out and the skies were blue. Even if it was cloudy, there's a certain brightness that comes in the morning. You can tell when it's daytime and when it's nighttime even if it is cloudy outside.

With that being said, it seemed to be afternoon here. The sun had an afternoon glow to it. The sky seemed to have reached it's maximum brightness and would be waning soon. If I had to put a time stamp on the location I was in, approximately 2::30/3pm.

If that wasn't odd enough, there weren't any buildings around me. As I gazed across the field, all I saw were endless seas of grass. Plains even. On the outskirts I could see the outline of trees; that could've been a forest, I'm not sure.

Nearby, I could hear the sound of running water. It didn't sound minimal; the sound I was hearing sounded like a large body of water was moving. I've never been to a waterfall before but if I had to guess, a waterfall had to be nearby.

Just where was I? This was unfathomable. I mean sure the dream was one thing, the mark was another, and being attacked and this sword appearing put the cherry on top. But being in this unknown place was a great deal to process. What was I supposed to do now? That portal magically appeared and now I'm here, but what was I supposed to do? I'm pretty confident that my mark made this portal appear, but could it give me some directions too? Was I supposed to find those birds I saw in my dream?

I had too many questions and the only thing I could do was put one foot in front of the other and start my journey.

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I walked for what seemed like 1-2 hours. In my adventure, I did discover that there was indeed a waterfall here and it was massive. I'm not the best with measurements but this waterfall was almost like a crater. It took me nearly 30 minutes just to walk around the entire thing, but it wasn't deep. I mean it was deep but it wasn't like I couldn't see the bottom. I could see the bottom but it was still far away. Far away enough to the point that it would spell "THE END" for anyone that fell down it. You get the point. What I did find interesting about the waterfall is that there was border of boulders around the perimeter of it. The rocks were roughly the same size but they weren't identical. Some of them didn't even have smooth surfaces. If they were all identically the same, I would've assumed that this thing was man-made and that some sort of architect had been here. Who knows, that could still be true.

On another note, something else I realized is that entering this place by portal meant that you had no way of marking where you came in from. Needless to say....I kinda got lost. Everything basically looked the same outside of the giant waterfall here. I decided to make the waterfall my "center-zone", and that if I didn't find those birds by nightfall, I'd return here.

But as I previously stated, because I was in a sea of plains, I had no way of knowing which direction I had come from. After I walked around the waterfall, I couldn't remember from which angle I had approached it. Henceforth, I kinda just started walking. As long as I could hear the water running I figured I was good.

As I walked. I realized just how far away those trees were. The "closer" I got to them the farther away they seemed. I hesitated to walk all the way to them because I was already lost. I couldn't remember from which angle I approached the waterfall and the last thing I wanted to do was make it to the forest, be completely out of earshot it the waterfall, and then be even more lost than I was. Tough decisions I'm telling you.

To make matters worse, my stomach was rumbling. Technically it had only been maybe 3 hours since I last ate but you burn calories when you're fighting for your life. The only wildlife I'd seen out here were insects and a rabbit or two but what did I know about hunting? Killing Bugs Bunny seemed immoral; I couldn't bring myself to do it, yet alone actually catch one. I'm sure the forest would have berries and whatnot (maybe) but what would be safe to eat and what wouldn't be? Death by poisonous berries wasn't heroic either.

I gave up on walking to the forest and returned to the waterfall. When I made it there, I took a seat near one of the rocks and breathed. Walking was tiring; my inner thighs were hurting a little bit. I had been adventuring out here for what I assumed was a hour to 1.5 hours and I still didn't have answers to my questions: Where was I and What now?

For whatever reason though, my sword caught my attention.  I lay the sword across my lap and investigated the mysterious weapon. As I guided my fingers across the metal, I noticed that it was pretty dense. This thing was thick. No wonder that Mr. Johnson guy was knocked back when I swung it. There didn't appear to be any hidden designs, initials, or patterns anywhere. No blemishes, no scratches, nothing. I know this sword appeared out of thin air, but it seemed new. Understand me when I say this: I didn't have any preconceived notions when this thing appeared. I didn't think it was used nor did I think it was new. I didn't think anything. But there was something about it that seemed fresh as if it was just crafted. I don't know. Weird. Just a hunch I had.

After a moment of investigating this thing, I felt something strange. It was almost like it pulsed. I'm sure my mind was playing tricks on me but I could've sworn this pulsed. It was slight, not strong at all, but it was there. A slight beat. I placed both of my palms on the sword to see if I'd feel it again....but I didn't. Was my mind really playing tricks on me?

My investigation and pondering would have to wait. Because just then, yellow lightning arced across the sky.