By Yaasha Moriah
Kevin had only been in this new, magical land for five minutes, and already something was trying to kill him.
The life of a world-hopping hero must be a short one.
“What is that thing?” Kevin shouted, ducking behind a crumbling, ivy-covered wall. An iron spike embedded in a crack in the wall, quivering with the force of its flight.
“It is a manticore,” replied Rhiallyn, the fair-haired sorceress who had activated the portal to pull him in this new world. “They impale their prey with spikes they cast from their tails. Surely you have encountered such things before?”
Kevin cringed as another hail of iron spikes clanged off the stone wall.
“You know,” Kevin said, “I think you have the wrong impression of my life experience. Traveling through portals into other worlds might be a family business, but I’m a little new to all this.”
“You are more capable than you think,” Rhiallyn said. “Our world needs a hero. When I called out to the portal stone,” she indicated the rough crystal pendant that Kevin wore, “you came through the portal. The choosing of a new hero is never wrong.”
“Huh? What do you mean, chosen?”
“You have the stone, do you not? The stone’s previous owner believed you capable of heroic deeds. Was she wrong to select you to inherit the portal stone?”
Gram. She had specifically left the portal stone to him in her will. Had his grandmother been mistaken?
Kevin risked a quick peek over the protective wall.
The manticore prowled amidst the ruins like a great scaly lion with black bat-like wings spreading from the shoulders.
“Well,” said the sorceress. “We cannot linger. We must kill it.”
She murmured a spell, equipping herself with a sword and shield, each partially transparent but glimmering at the edges with blue light.
“How hard is it to kill a manticore?” Kevin asked Rhiallyn.
“I think if you know a good spell, now would be a good time to use it. Manticores are legendary creatures. They were bred as guardians for a reason.”
“I thought you were the sorceress,” Kevin growled in exasperation. “I don’t know any spells. I’m just in IT.”
“Ai ti.” She tested the words on her tongue. “I am not familiar with this fighting art. Does ai ti teach you how to defend yourself?”
“It’s not a… Look, IT is valuable against cyberattacks maybe. But that’s not my specialty. I work in—”
“So, a warrior adapts. Modify your defenses against cybers to fight the manticore.”
“You can’t fight a manticore with a phone!” Kevin held up the out-of-place object, adding, “Even if it does seem different since I came through the portal. It turned my beer into an ‘unknown potion’ in inventory when I was transported. Look, the icon is right there.”
Aside from his camera app, no other icons looked familiar. The prominent “Inventory” app resembled a brown drawstring bag and Kevin tapped on it to reveal a brown bottle—his beer from home. The home screen’s display was disheartening: No signal. Time unknown. Date unknown.
“It is time to be the hero that your forebearer believed you to be. And you shall not be alone. I am with you, hero!” Rhiallyn’s tone commanded courage.
The sorceress thrust Kevin ahead of her and leaped toward the manticore. Her belief in him was inspiring, but it might get them killed.
The beast roared, rising onto its hind legs. Its great wings buffeted its assailants with a wind that smelled of carrion and stung with sand. When Kevin could see again, the manticore was circling the ruins about thirty feet in the air.
“Run!” shouted Rhiallyn. She and Kevin sprinted away from the ruins, and the manticore hissed. The sorceress lifted her shield over Kevin’s head just as an iron spike whistled down from the sky. Kevin heard a heavy metallic impact, and the tip of the spike protruded from the underside of the shield, inches from Kevin’s eye. Then the magic of the shield dissolved the spike with a faint hiss.
“What is your plan, O warrior of worlds?” Rhiallyn asked.
“Plan?” Kevin sputtered, scrambling to his feet while remaining carefully in the shadow of the protecting shield. “My plan is to not die!”
The manticore dove for its prey, who ducked just in time to avoid the vicious claws. The creature lifted back into the air, shrieking.
Well, IT did require creative problem-solving sometimes. How would Kevin defend against a cyberattack? With cyber-equipment. You can’t fight a manticore with a phone.
Or can you?
If this world had converted his beer to a potion, could it have converted his phone to something… extraordinary?
Quickly, Kevin unlocked the device with a press of his thumb.
“Ah!” said Rhiallyn. “Do you have spells in your box?”
“My phone. Uh… I don’t appear to have a spells app.”
“Spell zap?” Rhiallyn shook her head. “Zaps are ineffective. Manticores are immune to elemental damage, but may be more vulnerable to music, sleep, or some other means of capture or subdual.”
“Oh, sure!” snorted Kevin. “I’ll just subdue the manticore with my music playlist. Let me get right on that before it spikes us to death.”
Wait a minute. A wild idea kindled in Kevin’s mind.
No. It was insane!
On second thought, if it didn’t work, he’d at least get a once-in-a-lifetime photo before he had to run for his life again.
Kevin opened the camera app, aimed, and pressed the button.
For a moment, everything froze. Then Rhiallyn straightened and gazed up at the sky. “Where did the beast go? It was in the sky just a second ago.”
Kevin’s phone buzzed in his hand. He glanced at the screen, hardly daring to hope.
New inventory added: One live manticore.
He had captured a manticore on camera.
Kevin began to laugh.
This IT guy and his enchanted box had magical powers after all. Gram would be proud.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Yaaay, Kevin!!
Not a bad plan, for on-the-fly. X)
Oh I love this! What a fun concept!
Kevin is skilled in the arts of Ai Ti after all! lol
This is fantastic. I love it :D
This was so fun and creative! I love when the fantasy character misunderstands modern jargon. And that cell phone is one powerful magical device!