Forlorn Dimension Read online

  Where was her guardian and his friends now? Not a single day went by where she didn't fret over their safety. They'd been hunting monsters for longer than she'd been alive, but the one that had attacked their cave hideout was the largest she'd ever seen.

  "They're still alive," she mumbled. She might even run into them inside the fortress. Her guardian had to know it existed, or else he wouldn't have sent her off on her own to find it. It might be awhile before they arrived, however. They wouldn't slink around monsters like she did. No, they'd fight every single monster they came across. That was their duty, or so her guardian often told her.

  Ellen neared the fortress after an hour of walking. The stone walls towered a hundred feet into the air. The entrance was wide open; there were no doors, only a massive passageway with broken hinges on each side near the front.

  At first she felt weary, leaving the fortress wide open had to be dangerous, but then she perked up. Maybe the dimension was truly so safe that they didn't have to worry about monsters slipping in through the front entrance. Maybe they didn't have to worry about monsters at all.

  She was wrong.

  A monster stepped out from behind a tower far to her right and charged towards the entrance to the fortress. It was a muscular gray and black beast with a long snout and a yellow mane. It moved on all fours, snorting as it ran. It had two powerful forearms, one of which wielded a red glaive, and two strong hind legs that tore up the ground behind them.

  Ellen whimpered quietly. It was one single monster, but its existence tainted the vision she had of a safe and peaceful dimension.

  She drew her knife and waited. It wouldn't stop that monstrous glaive from cutting her in half should it close in on her, and the monster's forearms could break every bone inside her with one swing, but so few of her battles ended with her and her opponent trading melee swings that she didn't worry.

  A dozen soldiers charged out of the fortress and quickly formed a line in front of the entrance. Ellen watched them in awe. It had been years since she'd seen such a large group of real soldiers. They all wore the same sleek black uniforms, except for their leader, who wore a suit of thick, green armor.

  The monster skid to a stop in between her and the soldiers.

  The soldiers' leader aimed his great axe at the monster then gave his followers a command too quiet for Ellen to hear, but she had to assume he told them to attack, because they immediately raised their axes and swords and halberds. Sparks and flickers and waves of violet energy erupted into the air. Dozens of magic weapons, replica weapons resembling the weapons the soldiers wielded, appeared in the air above their heads.

  The magic blades turned towards the monster, then shot forward.

  The monster aimed its weapon at the group. More violet energy erupted into the air, then two dozen whirling glaives appeared around its body and immediately rocketed towards the soldiers.

  Ellen stayed back and watched as the two masses of magic weapons collided with each other then exploded into debris that rained down around the plains. This fight was no different than any other. People and monsters usually cast magic weapons at each other until one side was reduced to a bloody smear. Sometimes the sides traded melee blows, but only when one snuck up on the other or when creating magic weapons proved ineffective. She had no such talent for creating magic weapons herself, but she had something else that more than made up for it.

  "Again!" the soldiers' leader called out. Then he glanced at Ellen. He looked surprised, as if he'd only just now noticed her. "Wait!"

  It was too late. The soldiers already had their magic weapons ready. They shot forward before the monster could attack, butchered it into a dozen pieces then kept going, straight at Ellen.

  Ellen stood still and watched as the swirling mass of weapons approached. She didn't need to fear any magic weapon so long as she had her shield. It appeared whenever she needed it, which was now.

  A translucent blue barrier sprung into existence and surrounded her whole body. The slew of weapons crashed into it and bounced away. Some went straight into the ground, tearing apart the dirt and grass where they hit, while others flew a hundred feet into the air and landed far from the battle.

  She had no control over where her shield sent the weapons it repelled, which was something she often dreamed about changing since even the most powerful of monsters ended up butchered whenever she managed to send their weapons back at them, but her practices never led to any improvements, and she'd long since written it off as impossible. Her shield also prevented her from moving; an inconvenient aspect, but seldom an issue.

  She stopped concentrating on her shield once the last weapon hit the ground, and the blue barrier vanished without a trace.

  "This is an even worse welcoming," she grumbled. But she couldn't be mad. It was an accident and nobody had been hurt.

  For a moment, she forgot all about the soldiers and the fortress. Something far off in the distance caught her attention: a dark patch in the sky. It wasn't a cloud, the sky itself had turned black. While it was only a small spec, she'd seen the exact same thing enough times to know what it meant: this dimension was starting to decay.

  Ellen lowered her head and whimpered quietly to herself. It might take months or even years, but the dimension was going to die and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it. It was only a matter of time before the sky became dark forever, the land started to collapse, and monsters just like the one that had separated her from her family started appearing.

  Maybe she'd meet her family again before that happened, or maybe she'd make new friends inside the fortress. She had to do something, because if she didn't, she was going to end up completely alone in a world full of monsters.

  A loud stomping of feet took her mind off the dark patch. The soldiers were charging towards her, their weapons still drawn and ready. She saw them coming and froze with fright. Her guardian usually stuck her in the back of the group whenever they met someone new, but now she was alone in a strange dimension full of strange people that she had nothing in common with. She hoped they were friendly, because if they weren't, her journey was going to come to a sudden end.

  She stood still while the soldiers formed a loose circle around her. She wanted to put her knife away, brandishing a weapon at them wouldn't help her make friends, but her body was paralyzed with fear. Were they friendly? There was no way she could defend herself if they weren't. And it was too late to escape. They already had her surrounded.

  But none of the soldiers attacked. Several put their weapons away.

  The man she'd assumed was their leader, the man with heavy green armor and a beard so long and thick she couldn't see his mouth, slipped through the circle and moved towards her. She had to look up to him; he was almost two heads taller than her. He carried a great axe with a blade almost twice as wide as her.

  He looked down at her and muttered a cautious "Um." His voice was deep and gruff.

  Something about him made Ellen feel relieved. At least she wasn't the only one nervous. She put her knife away.

  "My name is Brendon." He slid his axe into a harness on his back. "Come with me," he said quietly. "I'll show you our fortress."

  "Okay," Ellen agreed. "My name is Ellen," she added.

  She followed Brendon to a lumpy dirt road that led towards the fortress. The soldiers trailed some distance behind.

  "You are here to move into the fortress, right?" Brendon asked.

  "Yeah," Ellen said. "Is that... something I can do?"

  Brendon nodded, and Ellen felt a jolt of relief. She had had more than enough nightmares that involved her finding the fortress then being immediately sent away.

  She had dozens of questions about the fortress and the people living inside it. She started with the most pressing issue. "Do you see that dark spot in the sky over there? Is this dimension really dying?"

  "Yeah, it is," Brendon said quietly. "But you might want to keep that to yourself. You're not going to be living here very long if you
start telling everyone how the dimension is dying."

  Ellen swallowed her gasp. Had she heard him right? They'd kick her out of the fortress if she told anyone about the dark patch in the sky? She looked up at Brendon in confusion.

  "You might know what that spot means, but most of the population here doesn't have any idea." Brendon shrugged. "It was Galvin's decision, not mine." Before she could ask, Brendon added, "Galvin founded this fortress, and still runs everything today. I'm sure you'll run into him sooner or later, unless you get yourself kicked out."

  That phrase kicked out made her uneasy. Why would anyone hide the fact that the dimension was decaying? The monster that had separated her from her family had appeared inside a fully decayed dimension. That same type of monster would eventually appear in this one as well. If everyone knew what was coming, they might be able to prepare themselves.

  But spreading the news would get her kicked out, and if she couldn't make the fortress her home then she had nowhere else to go. The thought of being alone in the wilderness again made her shudder. The dark patch in the sky would have to be her secret.

  Besides, she hadn't the faintest idea how long it took for a dimension to completely decay. It might be years or decades or even longer before everyone had to leave. That's what she hoped.

  "What was that blue flicker earlier?" Brendon asked. "We all saw our weapons almost hit you, then they just sort of... bounced away."

  "It was my shield," Ellen said.

  Brendon eyed her. "What shield?"

  "I can't create magic weapons like everyone else, but I can summon a shield. It'll repel any magic weapon that comes near me."

  Brendon continued to study her. Her explanation didn't seem to be reaching him. Eventually he said: "You're a strange one."

  Ellen smiled. Strange as she might be, her shield kept her safer than any magic weapon could ever hope to, and she wouldn't trade it for anything.

  She still had questions, but she quieted down. The giant passageway that led inside the fortress was just ahead, and once she'd passed through it, Ellen froze up in awe. The city that lay sprawled out before her was nothing like she'd ever seen before.

  In the center was a courtyard covered with the most well-maintained grass she'd ever come across. It was surrounded on all sides by miles of houses and dormitories and armories and training halls and other strange buildings whose purposes she couldn't fathom, not ever having visited a place like this before. Tens of dozens, or maybe tens of hundreds of people, more than she'd ever seen in one place, more than she'd ever imagined existed in the world, roamed the area. Some lingered around the courtyard while others wandered along the messy spiderweb of roads that led between buildings.

  Cities like this were something her family told rumors about. She'd never imagined they actually existed, nor had she ever predicted she would see one herself.

  "That's everyone's reaction when they get here," Brendon said, his voice so distant she barely heard him.

  The sights before her had sent Ellen into a daze, but a cold gauntlet slapped her on the back and snapped her out of it.

  It also stung. She winced at Brendon and started caressing the sore spot on her back.

  "Sorry," Brendon said. "Most of our new guests are better armored than you. I guess you're not the fighting type."

  All she did was fight, but Ellen was too enthralled by the fortress to argue. Why did her family choose to live out in the wilderness when a place like this existed? She planned to ask them as soon as they found their way here.

  "Keep an eye on the entrance," Brendon told the soldiers trailing behind him. "I have a... strange new duty to take care of right now."

  That strange duty was her. Ellen lowered her head. "If you don't want to help me, I can probably find my way around on my own."

  "You'll be lucky if you can find a gutter to sleep in by yourself," Brendon said with a chuckle. He gave her a gentle pat on the back and urged her forward.

  Ellen followed him across the courtyard then right onto a long stone road that snaked between rows of wooden buildings. They were very well kept buildings, completely unlike all the abandoned ruins her and her family used to stumble upon in the wilderness.

  Groups of children were playing all over, especially in the courtyard. She watched them curiously. They didn't have a care in the world, which was strange, considering how close that monster had come to the entrance.

  "Do monsters ever make it inside the walls?" she asked.

  "They never get inside the walls because they usually never make it to the walls," Brendon said. "We have teams that are supposed to keep them back, but that one slipped through somehow. I'm not sure how it happened, but it's not good news."

  Ellen felt uneasy. Had that monster simply popped up at an inopportune time, as they often did, or was the decay already taking its toll?

  The snaking road led to a two-story building made of gray bricks. Two guards who looked like they might attack anyone who came too close were watching over the entrance, until Brendon waved them away.

  The walls inside were lined with bookshelves which were filled with more thick tomes than Ellen had ever seen in one place. It looked quite a bit like how she imagined the libraries her and her family sometimes found out in the wilderness would look if they hadn't been abandoned and left to rot for decades.

  "Keep that monster a secret as well," Brendon said quietly. "It's okay for me to know, I'm a part of Galvin's special forces, but you're just a kid. A kid who has no business fighting monsters or talking about how the dimension is decaying."

  "But fighting monsters is all I did before I came here," Ellen said. "How do you think I survived long enough to make it here?"

  Brendon chuckled as if she was telling him a joke. "You're a strange one."

  He was the strange one, or maybe he'd lived in this fortress for so long he didn't remember what the wilderness was like, but Ellen didn't say anything. She still had trouble believing that a dimension where people didn't live in perpetual fear could exist. It was almost too good to be true.

  "If you're as experienced as you say you are," Brendon said, "maybe you can join the Fortress Brigade and teach them a few things. Of course, you'll have to pass your trial first."

  A bolt of fear struck Ellen's body. It would've paralyzed her in place if Brendon didn't put his hand on her back and urge her forward. What was this trial? A test of strength? A test of knowledge? A test of history? Outside of what her guardian taught her about survival, she didn't know much of anything, and the only things she excelled at was sticking things with her knife and running away.

  There was no time to worry. Brendon shoved her into the next room, where a panel of three judges was already gathered and waiting.

  Chapter 3

  Ellen stood frozen in place, the three judges studying her from behind their desks. None of them looked pleased to see her. They all had long, wrinkled faces and even longer frowns.

  "She's new here," Brendon said from the back of the room.

  "Oh, a newcomer," the middle judge said. His voice was surprisingly warm despite his serious look. "It's a good thing she made it here in one piece."

  Brendon reached for his axe.

  "My mistake, I didn't see anything!" the judge said in a hurry.

  Ellen trembled in place. She still hadn't the faintest idea what this trial was about. She certainly didn't expect to have three strangers examining her like this. What if she didn't pass? Would she be out on her own again?

  All three judges pulled out a set of paperwork, dabbed their quill pins in their vials of ink then set their gazes on her.

  "Alright," the middle judge said. "Tell us your name."

  "It's Ellen," Ellen said cautiously.

  "And your last name."

  "Um." She did have a last name, one nobody had spoken since before she was too small to walk on her own. Having the three judges and Brendon study her every movement didn't make it easy to remember.

  "That's okay,"
the judge said, "we'll put an X there for now. Do you know either of your parents' names?"

  "Um." Ellen knew her family members' names quite well, even their last names, but none of them were her parents. Neither was her guardian.

  "How about your age? Do you at least know how old you are?"

  "Um-"

  The judges all chuckled, and Ellen turned red. If this was her trial, she'd failed without a doubt. Maybe they'd tell their families stories about how badly she had bumbled everything after they threw her back out into the wilderness.

  "What would you like to do here in our fortress?" the middle judge asked.

  What did anyone do in the fortress? Ellen didn't have the faintest clue. The only idea she had came from Brendon's comment earlier: the Fortress Brigade.

  "Can I join the Fortress Brigade?" she asked.

  The judges all eyed her as if it was the first time anyone had said such a thing.

  "There's no reason you can't try," the middle judge said, "but not only is the majority of the Fortress Brigade male, they've also been practicing with their magic weapons for years now. Do you have experience in that field?"

  Ellen could see them eyeing her knife. They'd likely be disappointed when they found out she'd never been able to create a magic replica, but her shield would certainly make up for it, or so she hoped. "I've been practicing with my knife for most of my life," she said cautiously. That much was true, just not in the sense they were thinking.

  "I can't sign you up myself, but I'll send the word over to someone in that department," the judge said. He made one more note on his paperwork then tucked everything away in a folder. The other two judges did the same. "That's all we needed. You're now officially a part of the Monad Fortress, Ellen. I assume Brendon will-"

  "I'll take care of her," Brendon grumbled. "I'll see if the dormitory in the south has space for her."