1 Part 1- A Strange New World

Around me all that could be heard was the scribbling of pencils filling in multiple choice bubbles. I wasn't too stressed about the test since the engineering course I wanted to enter wasn't particularly hard to get into, and I happened to be pretty decent at math. The class was ten minutes into the mid-year Math exam when, under me, a brightly illuminated circle patterned with lines and smaller circles appeared. Startled, I looked up, but no one seemed to notice. That's when everything went dark.

Like a slow blink, the world came back into view again. Except, my view was full of little royal-blue colored, and almost sparkling, bird nymphs staring up at me. I staggered back in surprise before I managed to regain my balance and look around the room. The roof was just above my head, but since these little nymph things were what this room was designed for… I guess it made sense. To them it probably looked more like an arena or a school gym. In fact, there were definitely some kind of gymnastics bars and other assorted climbable bars scattered around the room.

Turning my attention back to the nymphs, I noticed a couple among them seemed to be a little larger and duller colored, like a steel-blue, and decorated in gold lace that definitely made them look more…official. There was one standing in front of a crowd of, what seemed to me to be, younger nymphs. They were almost holding them back behind a kind of invisible line; while behind the crowd stood three taller ones who looked apprehensive.

My attention finally rested on one bright blue bird nymph facing me and standing in front of all the others. It looked like it was fidgeting, peering up at me with upturned eyes. It chirped, and as it did, I felt… encouragement, demand and….

I should tell them who I am, I guess they wouldn't know. I thought to myself. "Hey, I'm Jake." I said to the large crowd while waving my hand. The group of brightly colored nymphs exploded in a cacophony of shushed chirps. Their chirps and tweets strongly reminded me of the excited whispering when someone does something amazing in a library or some situation where you need to be quiet. The four who I was starting to suspect were teachers seemed to relax a little; their feathers flattened closer to their bodies, but their gazes stayed wary. The little light-blue one at the front seemed to gain a bit of confidence, holding its head higher and walking with a longer stride. It chirped once again, but this time I felt authority… submission and…

I should go to my master.…

Wait… master? I thought, seemingly at odds with my own mind.

I cannot keep her waiting.

What? Why can't I keep who waiting? In my mind, the back and forth raged. I would flip between desperation and a desire to serve, to confusion and clarity.

No, I just have to walk to her!

What the? Why am I thinking this?

GO TO HER!

Holy crap, is this mind control?

GO TO HER NOW!

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!" I screamed filled with frustration and unbridled rage. As I yelled, the crowd of birds shrank away, falling completely silent. Even the four teachers looked stunned, but they quickly recovered. In the silence, the light blue one nervously repeated her chirp.

I should…

"NO!" I yelled again. This time the crowd scattered, chirping desperately as they flapped their wings and flew over each other trying to get away. The three teachers at the back were prepared this time. Chirping in sync, they gestured towards what looked like a jagged rock sitting on a trolley between them and motioned towards me. This was followed by the rock flying towards me at the speed of a pegged handball. Out of pure instinct, my hand protected my face and caught the jagged rock, which was followed by my loudly screaming, "OW!" The mayhem instantly came to a stop as all their little feathered heads turned towards the source of the sound.

I dropped the rock out of my right hand and into my left and looked down at the broken remains of a pencil I must have been unknowingly holding the whole time. It had snapped and one of the broken halves was protruding a little into my palm. "That hurt!" I shouted, throwing the rock back in the general direction it came from. The stone flew and buried itself halfway into the floorboards right in front of one of the teacher nymphs, who staggered back and fell over with, what in hindsight must have been, utter horror judging from the puffed-up feathers. The fourth teacher was shaking the little blue nymph and chirping some things, while the rest of the students were stampeding out of the room. That's when I finally realized the gravity of what had probably happened. Crap…I thought.

I looked down at the little nymph who had begun chirping something again, but this time I didn't feel anything. Confused, I looked around the room and then down at myself… only to see my legs disappearing. "Holy crap!" I exclaimed as my stomach, hands then chest faded into nothing. The last thing I saw, before the world faded into darkness, was the little blue nymph staring at me in what looked like shock.

And then I was back... students writing, the supervisor staring daggers at me, everything exactly as I left it. Glancing at the clock it still said ten minutes past the start of the exam… the exact time I disappeared. I examined myself up and down, then saw my pencil…broken… with a little blood on it trickling down from my palm.

It had been almost a year since that strange encounter. Thankfully, I graduated high school without any issues. I didn't tell anyone about my experience that day, figuring I would either be laughed at or institutionalized. In spite of my greatest hopes and wishes, I didn't see any of my friends jumping out and saying, "It's just a prank bro!" or "Gotcha!" or even any cryptic lines which may be references to what happened, nor could I find anything strange in what I ate that day. There weren't any opportunities for anyone to have slipped me something in my drinks or food, so I simply kept my mouth shut. I ended up writing it off as a mystery, but it got me thinking; if I did get summoned to another world, and it happened like in some of the stories I read, would I be ready? Since my answer to that was a solid "no," I decided to do something about it. My mild obsession with science and engineering actually ended up helping my final semester at high school, even if the new archery, martial arts, fencing and firearm classes didn't…. I may have over prepared just a bit.

I was now well into my first semester at uni, studying a flexible first year engineering and science course, and had started to doubt that anything was going to come out of that strange experience. That was until one day at the firing range, as I was raising my rented Glock 34, that same patterned circle appeared, and everything went dark. Opening my eyes there was the same aqua-blue bird-nymph, leaning against a wooden wall behind it. This time I was determined to not do anything that might spook it, and risk losing my chance at a proper hello. So, I steeled myself to resist, but not overreact to, whatever would come next. It chirped weakly, and, like last time, I felt my mind trying to convince me to do something. But this time it wasn't a desire to serve or some compulsion to submit... it was fear, grief, and desperation. It wasn't trying to give an order… it was pleading. This time I understood it immediately, that chirp was a "Help me".

Setting my face in grim determination, I nodded to the poor creature and turned around to a scene of destruction. We were in what looked like a ball room, one whose roof was just tall enough for me to fit, but the tables lay on their side, broken and cracked, with more of the little bird-nymphs littering the floor; many in pools of red blood with sickening injuries. In the middle of them all, with its attention fully focused on me, was a massive monster. Massive for the nymphs that is, it really was about the size of a large dog, reaching about my thighs on all fours, and was best described as the mutant child of a dog, lion, and a porcupine. The monster tensed its muscles, opened its mouth, and let out a horrific screech.

I raised my gun and fired. Seemingly instantly, there was a hole in the front of the creature's forehead, and a spray of red behind its head; all of which was accompanied by the sounds of a metallic snap and the squelch of exploding brains. The monster's scream stopped; it stood still, as if frozen in time. Then slowly, it fell forward with a meaty thud onto its stomach. I wanted to help the other birds, but my brain was still processing what just happened.

Did I just mess up?. What if that was a person? I mean it does have blood all over its claws and around its mouth but what if this was a mistake? And all these nymph things! How can I… I wondered but was cut off halfway through my thought by a single chirp from behind me.

Turning around, the little nymph projected a feeling of amazement, relief, and mourning into my mind. I smiled, thinking that at least I had done something right this time. "Any time." I said. After hearing my words, the little nymph sunk back against the wall, closed its eyes and laid still.

Just then, I heard frantic chirps getting louder from the corridors. Turning around to find the source, I noticed I was fading again, my legs already gone… my hands… chest… and then I saw the origin of the chirps. Larger more professional looking Nymphs poured through one of the doors. That was my last sight before fading away.

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