When they said turbulence they didn't know the half of it. Calvin couldn't remember what had happened exactly, suffice to say he woke up upside down in part of an airplane. Great way to start a vacation. The next two days wouldn't really help matters much, either. The other survivors were an interesting lot. Billy Jo was a construction worker by trade, and a Southern Gent by habit. Also, he had to be the largest redneck Calvin had ever seen. Cyan, the hot chick he had made note of earlier, had also made it off the plane. She seemed to have some kind of medical background. Next was the kid. Marcus was a scrawny lad and some kind of certified smart guy. The last member of the group was the guy in the trench-coat reading the manga. Edward was what he called himself.
At the end of the day, there was little food and no idea where they had landed. The boy genius, Marcus, had tried to explain how he'd figured out they were lost, but Cal had a hard time keeping up with all his techno-babble. Wish he'd use smaller words, Cal had thought. The morning hippo-croc had made for an interesting distraction. The big guy, Billy Jo, had wanted to eat it, but the rest of the group had stopped him. Sketching it out as fast he could, Cal had found something that might stymie his chronic disinterest for once.Well at least the wildlife here looks cool. Can't wait to meet the locals. Bet they're a hoot!
A couple hours of marching and a Lord of the Rings walking montage later, the group came across some weird vehicle. Edward, anime fan extraordinaire, pointed out it's resemblance to something in an anime he'd seen. Hmm... must not have seen that one, but yeah, it does look like something from an anime. Just then a wild Donovan appeared! Donovan Knight, the erstwhile pilot that was on the flight had emerged from the bushes. Apparently, he was with the tail end of the plane and had only been conscious a little while. That seems a little off. Meh. So he was out for a whole day. I've had roommates do that after really good parties. After everyone got up to date and all chummy, there was one more detail to figure out; What to do with the body in the front seat. Whoever was driving the thing had been dead for quite some time. Long enough that all that remained was his bones and his surprisingly durable jacket. The ID in the pocket was no help as it was dated about a hundred years into the future. Someone got gypped on a fake ID, Cal thought with a laugh. They buried the body with little ceremony and gifted Marcus with the jacket, before moving on.
They spent the night in the first man-made structure they had seen in two days. A large plaza adorned with pillars and obelisks, one of which had a room carved out of it. It was revealed the next morning that there had been a lightning storm, and Cal had been the only one to sleep through it.
The next day was where things really got weird. As they made their way past a thick patch of woods, a woman's scream tore through the air. Something darted out of the brush and into Edward, before running off again. Calvin could have sworn he heard someone yell something about a giant person when, lo and behold, ten feet of muscle hate and hair stepped into the clearing. Not hesitating in the slightest, Otaku Supreme let loose with the flare gun he picked up at the crash site. The giant ran off, completely engulfed in flames. Bet he's never had a closer shave, eh?
When all was clear, the darting thing had returned. Turned out it was a girl. A girl, Calvin noted, who was as blue as a Smurf. Guthny was what she called herself, and thanked us for helping her in the most bubbly manner imaginable. She soon called her companions from hiding. Dalla and Vilgerthr. By all accounts they appeared as a real life cat-girl and a humanoid rat/ferret type person, respectively. This can't be right. I'm looking at a cat-girl, a... rat... thing, and a Smurf. Oh my god. I've died in a plane wreck and ended up in a video game or an anime or something. This... is frikkin' sweet.
Things were starting to look up. They had a village, which means they had food. And shelter. And if they had beer, all was right in the world. Regardless of the strangeness they had encountered thus far, that one item would smooth things over somehow. After all, all civilized peoples developed spirits, right?
Fyrkat village looked like one of those Hollywood movie sets for some Viking epic or generic medieval piece. These people were in phenomenal shape. What's more, there were people in technicolor. There were more cat-girls and rat people, but the 'normal' looking ones came in different colors. There were reds and greens as well as Smurf blue. Not long after entering the village, Guthny introduced Mister Grimm, a graying 'leaping person' as the rat people were called. Aged like fine wine and gray as the rainclouds, Mister Grimm spoke slowly and deliberately smoking his pipe all the while, like some kind of sage. Calvin tried hard not to let his attention wander. It was decided there would be a meeting of the Elders so we could plead our case. Even better, there would be food.
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