There were a total of six weapons orbiting the crystal. The melee weapons were sword, ax, mace and spear. The two ranged weapons were the bow and crossbow. The young man knew that the ranged weapons weren’t for him. He had tried and failed spectacularly with a bow on the archery range in the past. He doubted that his aim would improve much with a crossbow. Among the melee weapons, he only had experience with the sword so he lacked confidence in himself wielding the other weapons. Therefore, he reached out and grabbed the sword. As soon as he took the weapon, the other weapons vanished along with the crystal.

  What the…

  Dreu turned around to see a portal appear behind him. The portal resembled the ones he had seen in the demon realm. Then, a velo came out of it to his horror. The portal vanished as soon as the velo came out, leaving just him and the creature in the room.

  Guess I should be relieved I only have to fight one of these creatures.

  To Dreu’s surprise, the velo was very cautious as soon as he entered his combat stance. The young man just hoped that the creature kept having the misconception that he was dangerous because he needed time to hack away at the creature’s armor. He couldn’t summon Zog to weaken the armor and he had no clue what to expect with his brand new weapon. When he took his first step, the velo leaped at him. He easily dodged the attack before he swung his sword down. Expecting a lot of resistance, he swung down with a lot of strength.

  How…what is this sword…

  His sword easily sliced through the velo into two halves. Following its defeat, the velo corpse vanished. In its place, a tiny clear crystal appeared. Dreu went and picked it up, unable to see what was special about it. Moments later, the crystal became ethereal and merged with him. Next, a portal opened and, without a choice, Dreu walked through it. He found himself ending up in a garden filled with unknown plants. They were all dark and gray in color, giving the place a rather gloomy appearance. A small pond was to his left and it had plenty of small creatures and insects around it like frogs and dragonflies. Recalling the warning regarding bodies of water in the demon realm, Dreu chose to avoid the pond unless he had to.

  I guess I should go down this path to see where it takes me.

  The young man walked cautiously down the path. He reached for his sword only to realize that it didn’t come through the portal with him. Following a curse, he took cautious steps until he reached a large doorway with its gate open. On the two sides of the doorway were tall gray walls that seemed to stretch out into the distance. If there weren't bushes barring his way, the young man probably would have checked to see where the walls ended. He stepped inside expecting the gate to close on him but nothing stirred.

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  What a big courtyard! And none of those buildings have lights coming out of them.

  Because the moon was so bright, he didn’t realize that it was nighttime until he stepped through the doorway. After leaving behind the pond and those creatures, he found only tranquility in the courtyard. Steeling himself, he walked up to the central building and pushed open the doors. As soon as the doors opened, the light came on, though he couldn't discern the light source. Inaide the building, he was greeted by two rooms. One was empty while the other one had a bed. The walls lacked any decorations and were of a light brown shade. He checked for any secret switches but there was nothing of the sort. With fatigue catching up, he went to the bed and slept in it.

  Will I return to my world when I wake up?

  The answer to Dreu’s question was a no. He woke up well rested but he was still on a bed as opposed to being on Olgron’s back. As he thought about what he would have for food, he found a plate of unknown objects on the ground in the adjacent empty room. There were half a dozen white ball-like objects that seemed to be made of flour. The objects were hot to the touch and, when he broke one apart, he found meat filling inside it. Comparing what was in his hand with the frog and insects he saw the night before, he carefully placed the object into his mouth. He fell in love immediately and wolfed them down. In the process, he learned that half of them had meat fillings and the other half had vegetarian fillings.

  I’m full so it’s time for me to figure out what to do next.

  Dreu spent the next hour checking the other four buildings in the courtyard but he couldn’t access any of them. Like the central one, they were made of stone with square holes acting as windows. Now that there was more light, he could see the sloped tiled roofs that were painted a dark red. With the other four buildings and the roofs all inaccessible, he had to retrace his steps back the path he took the night before. When he reached the end, he found himself transported to a forest. He took a deep breath, feeling stronger from the air itself. He unconsciously reached for his sword which had reappeared.

  If my sword is here, then there must be danger.

  With his sword drawn, he moved forward a step at a time, listening for any sound of something approaching him. Except for a few birds, nothing else made a noise. While there wasn’t an obvious path in the forest, he could still see where he should be heading with how the trees were situated. The young man eventually reached a large clearing where several unknown plants shone gently. No creature was there but he knew the portals could appear anywhere at anytime.

  “I see you are here! You arrived later than expected but better late than never. Time to get started!”