A Quest for Chumps (Departed Dimensions Book 1)

by G. M. Reinstra

  She decided to follow the road to the south to see what she could find.

  Unlike the bazaar in Laelynn, the stalls in this quaint marketplace were not quite as diverse in their offerings. Those with weapons and armor sold only very basic gear, no enchanted robes, no gemmed staves or wands, and certainly no carbon-reinforced blades. Most vendors were selling food, all of them huddled under cloaks and ponchos to avoid the relentless rain. Many sacrificed the meager cover of the stalls to shelter their cooking from the harsh elements. Here and there along the street, a few mages and clerics had conjured shields, like Rialta’s, to keep dry, but they were few and far between the other ordinary citizens.

  Amid all of her observations, Rialta still had not caught any sign of Remmy or John. She continued forward regardless, intrigued by the novelty of this strange world.

  Further down the road, Rialta spotted great heaps of steam escaping from under the little wooden awning of a kiosk. As she approached, she saw that the steam was issuing from what looked like a massive metal cauldron. The shopkeeper, a short, pudgy man with a large, bushy mustache caught her eye. He offered her a warm smile and a little wave, which she returned as she approached his kiosk.

  “Morning, miss!” said the vendor. “What can I do for you?”

  Rialta shrugged. “I am not sure, to be frank. What have you got here?”

  “Fisherman’s stew,” he said, proudly gesturing toward the cauldron. “Made with seafood caught fresh daily by my own sons. Comes with a bit of bread. Six amyth for a hearty helping.”

  Rialta took a moment to consider this. Seafood stew was certainly not typical breakfast fare, at least where she was from. But then again, she was in an unknown dimension separated from her true home by an infinite rift of time and space. Given the situation, she figured it was silly to impose any restrictions on what she considered to be ‘appropriate’ for breakfast. Plus, she could not help but notice the copious amounts of wine and butter on the preparation tables beside the cauldron. The little old chef clearly knew what he was doing, and the stew was bound to be delicious. Her stomach chose that exact moment to rumble once again, as though in agreement with her thoughts.

  “Sounds good to me,” Rialta said, handing over her money.

  “Excellent!” said the man behind the counter. He swept her money into a little wooden collection box and stowed it behind the counter. He grabbed a clean bowl and spoon from the table next to the cooking stew, gave the whole cauldron a good stir with a massive ladle, then poured her a bowl. When the bowl was full to the brim, the chef returned to his preparation station where he sliced off a chunk of bread and added it to the top of the stew.

  Rialta took the bowl with a word of thanks, then proceeded to the rear of the kiosk, where—much like the other nearby vendors—the stew chef had established a little seating area comprised of a series of wooden benches for his customers. The benches were completely empty, so Rialta took a seat.

  She scooped up a spoonful of the stew, being sure to collect a bit of something that looked like a plump, pearly white scallop. She took a bite. The taste was incredibly rich and flavorful, easily as good as her mother’s cooking. She could only conclude the chef had been entirely too modest when describing his dish. She savored every bite, taking her time to tear apart the bread and dip it into the rich broth. Good food, she noticed, was the most welcome and unexpected comfort that the Chasm had to offer. It engendered a sense of normalcy in a place where she had thought such a feeling would be nearly impossible. If nothing else, she was determined to enjoy this simple meal before confronting the reality of her current situation once more.

  “Er, excuse me,” a gruff voice called from behind her. Rialta was jolted from her contemplative thoughts. She turned to find Lorenza, the brown-haired musician from the canceled ceremony from the day before. Lorenza’s silver horn hung by her side, partially concealed by her heavy gray cloak, which was itself soaked and dripping with rain. Standing beside Lorenza was a young man, probably close to Rialta’s own age, give or take a few years. His build was a bit similar Remmy’s and Rialta’s—shorter and more athletic. Unlike Lorenza’s tidy locks, his hair was long and unkempt. He had a grizzly beard to match his untidy hair, and wore a navy blue cloak with a matching cowl. A long recurve bow was strung over his shoulder, and he carried a large quiver full of arrows on his back. Like Lorenza, his clothes were also soaked with rain.

  “Hello,” Rialta replied looking up at the pair. The young man’s gaze shifted away as she caught his eye. “Can I help you?”

  “Hi, uh, Miss Rialta. We were just wonderin’, um, if it ain’t too much trouble, of course, if we could maybe sit next to you and under your shield? All the covered seating areas are taken, you see,” Lorenza said.

  Rialta took a quick glance around the town square and found that, indeed, all the covered seating had been taken by the patrons of the local restaurants and vendors.

  “Oh! Definitely!” Rialta said, shifting aside on the bench. As the other two made to sit down, Rialta made a broad sweeping gesture with her free hand, and her shield expanded to cover all three of them.

  “Thank you,” Lorenza said as she sat down. “Can’t tell ya how much we both appreciate it.”

  “Of course,” Rialta replied. “I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to meet you at that little ceremony yesterday, and I don’t think I have met your friend before. Your name is Lorenza, right? What is your friend’s name?”

  “Yep, I’m Lorenza, and this here is Nivin,” she said, gesturing to the young man beside her.

  Nivin gave Rialta a little wave without looking at her.

  “Nivin ain’t being rude. He just doesn’t speak,” Lorenza said.

  “Oh,” said Rialta, confused. “I am sorry to hear that,” she said, sparing a glance at Nivin.

  Lorenza shook her head and smirked. “Don’t be. He’s physically capable of speakin’. It’s some kind of weirdo oath he made to the gods to become a better archer or—or something like that,” she said.

  Nivin sighed and shrugged his shoulders as if to say, Not quite, but close enough.

  “Well nice to meet you anyway,” Rialta said.

  She watched as Lorenza pulled a small, wrapped parcel from a pocket within her cloak, but she fumbled it, her hands shaking from the cold.

  “Oh!” Rialta said, setting her bowl of stew down on the bench beside her. “Here, let me help you.”

  Rialta held her hands open toward Nivin and Lorenza, and carefully focused her mana into her palms as a familiar warmth engulfed her stomach. She gritted her teeth in concentration as she imagined the energy leaving her body through her hands. In her mind’s eye, the mana formed a ribbon that flowed around her two new acquaintances. Within seconds, both of their cloaks began to let off billowing clouds of steam, their clothes drying out nearly instantly.

  Rialta relaxed and lowered her hands. “Better?” she asked.

  “Much!” said Lorenza. “Thank you.”

  Nivin nodded vigorously, clasped his hands together, and offered Rialta a little bow of thanks. Lorenza proceeded to unwrap the parcel in her hands, which turned out to be a tiny loaf of bread stuffed with what appeared to be cheese, herbs, and some kind of brown sauce Rialta could not identify. When Lorenza leaned over to take a bite from it, Nivin lightly slapped her on the shoulder.

  Lorenza flung her food back down upon its wrapper and glared at Nivin. “Damn it, Nivin, I swear to the gods, if you don’t let me eat in peace—”

  But Nivin shook his head fiercely, pointing at Rialta.

  Lorenza shot a glance at Rialta, then looked back at Nivin. “Really? Right this minute? Is that really necessary?” she asked. Rialta looked at the pair of them askance, thoroughly confused about whatever it was they were communicating about her.

  Nivin nodded enthusiastically in response to Lorenza’s question.

  “Ugh. All right, all right,” Lorenza said. “Look, Rialta. I’ll come clean with you, we had some ulterior motives in askin�
�� to sit here with you today. Or at least, Nivin certainly did,” she said with a nod toward Nivin.

  “You don’t say?” Rialta said, offering Nivin a coy smile. “And what exactly is it that motivated you to drop by?”

  “Well, Rialta,” Lorenza said as she leaned back in her seat, “I’ll be blunt as a drunk woodsman’s axe. Have you heard of a fella’ who just calls himself ‘H’?”

  Rialta suddenly sat up straighter, her eyes open wide. “Yes, yes of course! How did you know? Do you know of him? Or her? Who is this ‘H’ person?” she demanded. She’d blurted out the barrage of questions before she could stop herself.

  Nivin frantically waved his arms about, his eyes bugging out of his head as he glared at Lorenza.

  “All right, all right, calm yourself!” Lorenza said, shoving Nivin aside. She turned back to Rialta. “Well, Rialta, we know him, too. We know him on a very… personal… level,” she finished, her voice becoming very cold.

  “Here she is!” Remmy shouted.

  Rialta turned around to find Remmy and John approaching from the other end of the lane at a casual pace. Remmy was carrying a tightly wrapped package in his free hand. John, however, was clutching the roasted leg of some enormous, hitherto unknown animal, occasionally taking large bites of it as he approached.

  “We looked all over for you,” Remmy said. “Didn’t know where you’d run off to on us.” Rialta was surprised to find that Remmy seemed to be genuinely sincere.

  “Well I did not mean to cause you alarm,” Rialta said. “I could not find you when I left the inn, so I went off on my own to find something to eat. Mind you, I thought perhaps your friend Silby could have told you where I was, John,” she added with a tone of annoyance.

  John’s eyes lit up with excitement. “She followed through?” he asked. “I thought there was a pretty slim chance she’d actually sing to you for a single amyth. Bless that woman. Anyway, what’d you get to eat?” John asked, taking another bite out of the drumstick in his hand and tilting his head to inspect Rialta’s bowl.

  “Fisherman’s stew,” she began. “But never mind that. You are both being rude. Don’t you want to meet my two new acquaintances?” she asked, gesturing to Nivin and Lorenza beside her.

  “Not particularly,” John said, shrugging. “But I get the sense you’re going to introduce us anyway.”

  Lorenza let out a genuine laugh, but Rialta grimaced. “Don’t mind him,” she offered to Lorenza and Nivin.

  “Oh, we certainly don’t take offense,” Lorenza said, nudging Nivin’s shoulder with her elbow. “You’ll have to be meaner than that to upset us, big guy.”

  John smiled. “A girl after my own heart,” he said with a mock bow.

  “Girl?” Lorenza scoffed, looking John up and down. “I must be at least two decades older than you, son.”

  John grinned and opened his mouth to respond, but Remmy managed to jump into the conversation first. “I’m Remmy. I’m a cleric. And this is John, a thief. Who are you two?”

  Lorenza leaned forward in her seat to get a better look at Remmy. She pinned him with an appraising stare. “Hello, Remmy,” she replied. “I’m Lorenza, the bard who was supposed to be playing at that little welcoming ceremony for you three yesterday evening. And this is Nivin, he’s a ranger,” she said, jerking a thumb toward Nivin.

  Nivin offered Remmy and John a terse nod.

  “I already explained this to your friend Rialta over here,” Lorenza continued, “but Nivin doesn’t talk. It’s got something to do with an oath. Or maybe a curse or whatever.”

  There was a beat of silence.

  “Well okay then,” Remmy said awkwardly.

  “John, Remmy, these two know H,” Rialta said, leaning forward in her seat.

  “What?” John said at once, stepping forward toward the bench. “How? Who is he?” he asked Lorenza.

  “Aha! A bit more keen to talk to me now, are you?” Lorenza said with a grin.

  “Well yeah!” John said, completely unabashed. “That bastard set us up! He kidnapped us from our home dimension and threw us here with some vague, bullshit instructions to come find this Chasm place. We wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for H. So yeah, you’re damned right I’m interested in learning more about the guy.”

  “All right, all right, just settle down,” Lorenza said. “Have a seat,” she added, patting the bench beside her. “We have a lot to discuss.”

  Chapter14

  A Tour of The Chasm

  Remmy, Rialta, John, Nivin, and Lorenza all sat together on a single bench, huddled closely together to be under the protection of Rialta’s shield. Rialta sat in the center, awkwardly squeezed between John and Lorenza. The occasional passerby shot glances of amusement or curiosity at what must have looked like a very bizarre seating arrangement among the five of them.

  “I guess I’ll start by telling you our experience with H, as I reckon we know him a bit better than you folks,” Lorenza said.

  “Sounfs guf, John said with a mouthful of his breakfast.

  “John, if you’re going to sit this close to me, would you mind not speaking with your mouth full?” Rialta said with a frown.

  John swallowed hard. “My bad,” he said. “Go on, Lorenza.”

  Lorenza chuckled. “Well, Nivin and I come from Raorik, more specifically, the royal capital.”

  Remmy sat upright, staring at Nivin and Lorenza, his eyes open wide. “Uh, you know what? It’s getting late. John, Rialta, maybe we should head back to the inn and call it a night.”

  “Relax, kid,” Lorenza said, holding out a placating hand to Remmy. “I know you bunch are from Ro, okay? Nivin and I couldn’t care less about your dimension’s little rebellion against our so-called king. We ain’t here to cause you harm.”

  “And why would a couple of adventurers from Raorik be willing to talk to scum from Ro like us?” John said coldly.

  “You bunch don’t know a whole hell of a lot about Raorik, do you?” Lorenza said with a sad little smirk. “There’re really only three classes of people there: royalty, the societal elite, and basically everyone else. And me and Nivin? We fall squarely into the category of ‘everyone else,’ you see. We didn’t get treated all that well for it, so we ain’t exactly fans of the king.”

  “You aren’t?” John said, surprised.

  Lorenza let out a bemused little huff. “‘Course not. Our lowly status back on Raorik is exactly why we found ourselves here.”

  “What exactly is the deal with this place anyway?” John asked. “Is the Chasm considered a quaint little village in this world, or is it considered the height of metropolitan living?”

  Lorenza laughed. “The latter, I guess. This world ain’t exactly a bastion of modern technology. The Chasm is one of the larger settlements, and it was formed a very long time ago. Ain’t another place like it for hundreds of miles. The first founders from Raorik established this place to provide communal protection against the mysterious beasts, magic, and curses that plague this world. There’s still a lot that’s unknown about this dimension. Everyone’s best guess is that there was some kind of powerful civilization here that must have died out eons ago, given all the strange architecture and artifacts we’ve found around Tyntala.”

  “Tyntala?” Rialta asked.

  “That’s the name of this world, one of the many colonies of Raorik,” Lorenza said, gesturing around her.

  “Colonies?” Remmy asked.

  “Oh really, Remmy, you ought to know better,” Rialta said. “You can’t possibly think that Ro is the only dimension that the king of Raorik ever attempted to colonize.”

  Remmy shrugged. “I never really studied much history or politics. I know about the Ro rebellion from a few hundred years ago, of course, but that’s about it.”

  “Well consider yourself lucky,” Lorenza said with a scowl. “I’d think it a luxury not to have to concern myself with the king’s agenda. You see, Nivin and I, along with a dear friend of ours…” She trailed off, and Nivin p
ut his hand on her shoulder. Lorenza gave a great, heaving sigh before she continued: “Her name was Sera, she was a mage. The king conscripted the three of us, ya see, and we were given a choice—use the king’s resources to teleport here and assist this ‘H’ person and become nobles upon our return, or we could be sent off through one of the experimental rifts to seek our fortune by assisting with the colonization of some unknown world. They made it abundantly clear that there was no third choice.”

  “So you were coerced,” Rialta said with a scowl. “‘I am the king. Do what I say, and if you refuse, I cast you into the unknown abyss.’”

  “Essentially, yes,” said Lorenza. “And so naturally, the three of us came here, as it was our only hope of returning to our home world alive. When we arrived, we were utterly alone. We were scared and confused, and we never even met H in person. He just left us a pile of supplies, then gave us some directives through a series of notes and messages from the locals.”

  “Wayf a minuf,” John said between monstrous bites of food.

  “John!” Rialta snapped.

  For a moment, John looked as though he would choke. He shook his head, apparently willing his food down into his stomach. “I know!” he growled back to Rialta as he finally recovered. “I’m sorry, I just happened to be in the middle of eating when you reached a point that I needed clarification on, okay? I need to understand what the hell is going on here. Lorenza, you’re telling me this—this king of yours just flings his subjects throughout all space and time, sending them all to other planes of existence… Why? To what end?”

  “Same reason all the leaders of Raorik established their colony on Ro way back before it became independent,” Lorenza said. “The king wants to explore any and every world he has access to. He wants to collect more resources, establish more colonies, advance his technologies and magical research to ensure that his reign remains supreme, that his dimension alone remains all-powerful and untouchable.”