When things go bad, they go bad fast. Oliver Claw learned this the hard way. One late evening, the streetlights of Park Lane went out. The residents didn’t care, it was late and sleep beckoned them to bed. Oliver in his room with his lights out stood by his window and resisted sleep. He loved the dark, and indulged his senses by staring into the dark street of Park Lane. Than it happened, something quite unexpected. To Oliver it started as a mere particle, from a singular point a bubble emerged. The bubble was colored in light blue but it was transparent. It was created in a split second and covered the front porch stopping mere inches from Oliver’s window that overlooked the garden, the bubble stretched till the neighbor’s own garden gnomes. It was a circle, from that split second Oliver knew something was up. The bubble appeared and vanished, no one would have noticed it, Oliver however had witnessed it expand out to his face and it vanished just before touching him. Odd thought Oliver, he than preceded to lean his body forward. It didn’t take much effort and Oliver’s head popped neatly into the invisible bubble.
This was Oliver’s first time witnessing a mage battle. There we’re two people at the centre of the bubble who seemed to be engaged in a furious melee of punches, dodges, and kicks. One of the fighters was clad in a black robe his features hidden by his hood. He was tall, at least six feet, he did little offensive fighting, mostly dodging the furious volley from his opponent. The latter was a woman, she was wearing white grey pants, with a woolen blue jacket that was laced with fur and buttoned with dark mahogany buttons, the attire was made for the cold mountains with the intention of hiking; it was dirty and worn out.
Oliver was dumbstruck, he just watched. The woman was beautiful she was shorter than the man by half a foot; she had black hair that was tied in a ponytail. The melee continued, the black robed man (nicknamed Blackie by Oliver) was gracefully dodging his relentless attacker. Finally, he jumped high into the air and landed softly ten meters away. The woman (nicknamed Ponytail) stopped, she was still in a fighting stance with her right fist by her jaw and her left fist on her hip. They didn’t seem tired. Oliver was too far to hear, but could sense that he was saying something through his body language. Blackie than pointed at Ponytail, she became more alert.
Blackie crouched down and literally pulled out from his own shadow, a blade. The sword looked light and slim it had a broad face, it was made to slash and lacked a sharp point it did not reflect light instead it seemed to be absorbing it. Blackie launched forward, sword in hand; Ponytail jumped and she stretched her hand out from it a fireball spewed out from its tip. Blackie dodged it by jumping over the fireball; in a somersault Blackie used his free hand to vault his entire weight into the air. This was all happening very fast; Blackie was already catching up to Ponytail’s slow but high jump. Blackie did an upper cut with his shadow blade, Ponytail managed to deflect it with a force that spewed from her hand that was outstretched. The force seemed to be a glass like shield; it shattered but led Ponytail unharmed from the blade. With the blunt force from the blade breaking the shield, Ponytail used it to spring herself further away. They than stopped, as if to have a stare off. Oliver was still dumbstruck he could not bring himself to move or even think.
Than the bubble started to wobble. Oliver could not sense the wobble physically; it was more of an instinct. Oliver than tried to pull his head out but before that could happen he was pulled in, or rather out of the window. The next few moments was a swirl of darkness mixed with the extreme sensation of riding the worst roller coaster in history, was what Oliver believed.
Oliver woke up in a room of pure white. There was a bald man in a white suit standing by him. He smiled and said, ‘Hello Oliver, I’ve been waiting for you.’ Oliver got up in a slow manner; he was wearing jeans with a plain green long sleeved shirt. He stood almost eye-to-eye to the bald man. He was slightly taller and his face was plastered with a grin that made Oliver uneasy.
Oliver said nothing his bearings were setting in, the battle, and his apparent teleportation and now his confusion in all this fictional matter was prodding his logic like a hot iron rod smashing into a watermelon. Than as sudden as these events had occurred his worries disappeared and Oliver became calm and in control.
‘Have you settled Ollie?’ asked the bald man.
‘Yes, its weird that I feel so calm I know shouldn’t be come but somehow I feel that I belong here’ said Oliver.
‘That’s because you were called here, by me.’
‘What do you mean? And how do you know my name?’ asked Oliver.
‘First of all, my name is Scopes and this place is Fell Ground. It is a world which is apart from your own, it is-‘
Oliver interrupted and said, ‘Different worlds?’ snidely.
‘Just hear me out for now, Ollie,’ said Scopes, he was enjoying himself.
‘This is Fell Ground one of three worlds. The first is yours, ground zero, the beginning but not the end. The third is man made “The Land of Shadows”.
‘The Land of Shadows?’ asked Oliver, who was stifling his laugh but failed to prevent a smile.
‘These lands were discovered thousands of years ago and the language they used was cryptic as well as eccentric. Would you care to know what these lands are?’ asked Scopes.
‘Oh, of course I’ve got nothing to lose and besides I’m curious. But wait, I’ve got questions of my own. Why am I here and how did I get here? And what was that fight I saw it was pretty wicked and-‘ Oliver stopped talking he noticed that his host had cease to listen.
Scopes wasn’t listening t because he was preoccupied; he kept looking around, searching.
‘What are you looking for?’ asked Oliver.
‘A good place for tea,’ replied Scopes.
He proceeded to point at the spot of his favor and with his index finger pull out from nothing it materialized two white garden chairs and in between them a slim tall round table and a tea set.
‘How did you do that?’ asked Oliver.
‘Magic,’ quipped Scopes.
‘Ha ha, very funny. Never mind I guess magic; science fiction, teleportation and all that nonsense exist. Should I be surprised if I see a pixie flying about?’ said Oliver in a humorous tone.
‘No and her name is Bella. Be nice,’ said Scopes.
‘This place,’ continued scopes, ‘is my realm. Anything I want will materialize it is a blank state and its power is derived from my very soul. It very much me as am I it, I’ve been living here for so long I cant leave,’ as Scopes finished talking an awkward silence came over them.
‘Come, sit. Would you like some green tea?’ asked Scopes whom was pouring himself a cup.
‘Yea sure,’ said Oliver trying to wrap his mind around what he just said as he took a seat.
With the warm cup in both hands Oliver sipped the tea. He was calm and it felt right to be there. Oliver knew all this, but didn’t know why.
