Here We Go Again

[matthewrramon]

Closed to Tylerhoyt

IMPORTANT NOTE: The following content is fictional material. Resemblance between characters and any real persons living or dead is completely coincidental.

Matthew lay on his side, the carpet underneath him saturated with his body heat. This was one of the softest and most comfortable pieces of furnishing fabric he had ever felt, and yet he could not help but wonder if it were real or not. Several months ago he had been exploring in a cave that he and his best friend Tyler loved to hang out in, and clumsily fell into a seemingly bottomless pit. The fall seemed to go on forever, but he landed in a body of salt water that happened to be right outside of the city of Beinost.

At first Matthew could not believe it; he had written on Althanas so many times before but never in his wildest dreams did he imagine that he would actually walk in the world itself. Althanas was a fictional realm, so it was impossible that one could find themselves in it as an actual dimension- or so it was thought. Shortly after arriving, to Matthew's surprise, he had run into his own character Gavner Nahs. Rashly he explained the situation and was very lucky that Gavner did not kill him. Gavner was going to kill him as a matter of fact, but Matthew uttered the vampire's middle name at the very last moment and made the character doubt himself. Matthew had almost died in a fantasy world at the hand of his own creation, but that was not the strangest thing that happened.

As he spent time with Gavner, they began to develop a bond unlike anything else. At first, it was a simple bond between the writer and the character- Gavner felt extremely potent emotions that Matthew felt, but it did not work the other way around. Then Gavner started to feel physical pain when Matthew felt it. It then grew as Gavner could feel little emotions and small aspects of daily life that Matthew felt. After that it became extreme; if Matthew concentrated on a single thought with all of his mind, it would pop into Gavner's mind as a completely random thought.

Up to this point, Matthew had yet to feel something Gavner felt. Maybe the character was linked to the writer because it was the creation rather than the creator, or maybe an even stronger bond would come in time. All these things left Matthew wondering in awe as he lay on the ground with his face on the rug. That was another thing about Althanas; it felt so real.

Matthew would have though that, being in a fantasy world, the experiences would be less than real. In actual reality the experiences felt even realer than back on Earth. Everything here was so much brighter and vivid. It was almost as if everything was much more potent and vibrant. The smells were highly concentrated, the tastes were robust, and sounds had a palpable stereo effect that made everything seem as if it were just bursting with life. Matthew's favorite part, however, were the colors. Every color was radiant and bursting with all kinds of energy. It was almost as if the objects had another atomic component that gave them tangible radiance of energy and power.

All of these had their downsides of course. Seeing as many parts of Althanas were chaotic and sinful, teeming to the brim with violence and deceit, there was a lot of negative energy floating around. There were mere cities or areas that would make Matthew depressed or scared senseless simply from walking near them. For this reason Matthew never left Gavner's side when traveling. He now lay on the floor of the best inn in Beinost. Gavner and he were traveling to meet Black Shadow, the vampire's best friend. Black Shadow, in fact, happened to be the character of Matthew's best friend Tyler. Back on Earth in the days of yore they would write threads with them all the time.

"Hey Gavner," Matthew said. It was day time and he was just itching to do something. Just lazing around thinking was killing him. "Can I go outside and look around?"

Gavner lifted the hat from his eyes and glanced over at Matthew with weary eyes. The nightwalker had been up all night prowling around while Matthew was fast asleep in the room. Gavner could not venture outside during the day because he was a vampire. If he was in the sun for a half hour he would become badly burned, and after 4 hours he would be a pile of ash.

"If that is what you wish," Gavner said sleepily. "But do not drain too much of your energy for tonight, we will be traveling by nightfall."

"Thanks Gav. I will be back by dinner time," Matthew said excitedly.

"Try not to get yourself killed. And be careful, remember when you get hurt it is not only you who feels the pain."

"All right I will be careful," Matthew said walking out the door. "I love you!" He called out hopefully.

When nothing came back Matthew quietly shut the door and walked down the hall. Soft light emanated throughout the corridors, highlighting the elegance of the inn. White and golden thread enriched impressive and calming tapestries on the light colored wooden walls. Marble tiles lined the floor underneath a rich red carpet that ran down the middle of the passageway. Reaching the end of the stretch Matthew descended a winding staircase and passed through the luxurious entryway. The foyer was as fancy as it got, for Beinost that is.

Although this entryway would be considered a backwoods and barbaric excuse for a structure in twenty-first century America, it was bursting with energy from the colors and decorations. Wooden benches and tables filled the lobby, along with mounts of big-game animals that Matthew had never seen before. Pictures of High Elves and heroes were on the walls and lanterns hung from the ceilings and burned brightly even though it was mid-day. This was presumably the safest place that Matthew could be in the city of Beinost.


After exiting the city Matthew began to look around. The greenery and vegetation radiated a deep green and with content energy, happy to soak up the sun. A forest was not far from the wall, and Matthew soon found himself running through the forest. The trees made him happy, watching over the surrounding area and keeping him safe. After awhile he came across the mouth of a cave. There was something mystical and mysterious about this entrance. It seemed as if there was just something inside, waiting to be discovered. Something that would cause him even greater joy than he took in the forest...

[TylerHoyt]

I hit my head hard and DANG did it hurt! I fell into a hole, in a cave, thought I was going to die you know, but uh... i didn't. I stood, clenching the back of my head now throbbing in pain. Where was I? I honestly had no idea, it was weird. I should have died, I fell way to far not to. I took a deep breath, no point in getting worked up over this. I instead just looked around me, taking in the surroundings. I was in a cave, a pool of water below my feet. It was dark, sun must have been coming through somewhere because there was a little bit of light.

"Hoyt?" I heard my name from behind me.

"AHH!!" I screamed as I spun and shot three times. I noticed it was a friend. "Matt? I found you! Where have you been?"

"Agh," he said in pain, hand on his chest. "Nice to see you too."

"Seriously man, where have you been? I've been looking everywhere for you, it's been three day!" I said, knowing he would most likely tell me the whole story.

[matthewrramon]

"Well I was in the cave..."

Matthew began to focus on everything but his friend. He began to notice little things that he had not noticed before, like the pool of water behind Tyler. The cave was dark except for the light that came in from the entrance and some glowing in the pool of water behind Tyler. Matthew peeked around his friend and observed thousands of glowing blue specs in the pool which were casting small amounts of blue light from the liquid.

The disturbed liquid sloshed about, making the specs swish around in circles. Some clusters slowly migrated around the pool with the waves, humbly emanating their beautiful bioluminescense like a delicate treasure. They cast an ever moving blue light upon the ceiling of the cave, gentle and soft yet so alluring and divine. The water gave a quiet splashing sound as it collided with the stone containing it. The cave seemed to be made of some ancient rock that was smooth from the water overflowing and reseeding.

"Kuch?" Tyler said.

"Oh yeah, I'm sorry what?"

"You were explaining to me where we are."

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Matthew said. It was true. Tyler would not believe a word Matthew said. "We are no longer on Earth. We are in Althanas."

Tyler stared at Matthew for a few seconds, then began to laugh hysterically [OOC ha, Hysterically XD]. "Oh that's a good one man!"

Matthew laughed with Tyler. Not because he shared his humor, but because he was serious and Tyler thought it was a joke. "Yeah, yeah I know." Matthew said not bothering to try and convince his friend. "There's woods outside lets go look around."

Tyler and Matthew began to walk around the woods outside of the cave, but Matthew made sure not to bring Tyler too close to the city. They resorted to grabbing sticks and beating surrounding vegetation while pretending the plants were enemies. This was often a passtime that Matthew had enjoyed when he was younger. They did this for a few hours and they both began to tire.

"Hey Kuch, where are we in Althanas?" Tyler said jokingly.

"Raiera," Matthew said seriously. "Just outside the city of Beinost."

"Well I brought some Mac and Cheese in case we got hungry, but right now I could really go for some Beinost food."

[TylerHoyt]

I couldn't believe it no matter how hard i tried. Raiaera, Beinost? There was just no way! I mean like how could I have possibly gotten there? A portal that just so happened to teleport me into this world? ha! That's hilarious!

"Okay Matt, lead the way, what have you had here that's worth going to?" I said sarcastically.

"Well, we could go to The Sailor's Cove. They have a whole bunch of fancy imports from all over the place." Matt replied.

"Okay, Let's go then"

Matt lead me through the forest while we talked about how he came to this strange place. He told me about how he fell into the same hole that I did and ended up where he did. After a few minutes the city was in sight and I took a step back. Everything about the city was exactly, EXACTLY as I had imagined it! Maybe Matt was right, but how?

[matthewrramon]

Matthew and Tyler made their way through the vivid woods, the wonderful trees keeping watch over them, protecting them from danger. Occasionally there would be clearings where the sky was visible, the rich blue color contently floating above them like clouds, giving them soft energy and happiness as they went on their way. Soon, Matthew felt a different energy than the surrounding trees, and he proceeded to see the familiar brown, worn dirt path that he had taken out of the city. It was about a ten foot path that widened out towards the city and narrowed towards the woods.

“This way,” Matthew said to Tyler, going East on the path, towards the city. Tyler Began to follow him, and it wasn’t until about ten feet down the path that he looked up and saw the trademark of Beinost.

They had walked into a clearing from the trees and vegetation to find the eighty foot wall that made up the perimeter of the city. It towered over them, releasing a triumphant energy that made all oppression seem fruitless. The creators deemed it the city’s chief protector, bringing it into existence at with intentions of its being supreme over all other defensive structures in Althanas. An eighty foot wide barred gate with spiked tips at the bottom was drawn up half way, as the city lowered it every night a half an hour before sundown, and raised it every morning. The last siege was a while ago, Matthew was not up to date on Althanas lore, but he did know that when the city was under siege the gate was closed and a naval blockade was formed on the back flank. The city could receive supplies from imports, and virtually never be starved out unless the flank was breached.

Tyler stopped and gave me a sideways glance. “Woah man,” he said with a smile, “I can see why you think this place looks like Beinost! Where are we actually at right now, do you know? India? Netherlands?”

Matthew shrugged his shoulders. “Beats me,” he said. “I’m not fond of talking to strangers so I never ask anybody, trust me, everybody here is so creepy that you don’t want to mess with any of them.”

“Fair enough,” Tyler said. “Lead the way.”

Matthew had already decided that he was not going to try and convince Tyler of their actual location until the end of the day- right now Matthew just wanted his friend to enjoy his last bit of ignorance before he had to start worrying. Matthew knew that Tyler may find similarities in the city, but he would never believe that he was in Althanas until he saw Gavner…

As they began to walk towards the gate, Tyler began to talk about a new thread that he had been writing on Althanas before he fell down the hole, he had named it Tower of Jalmadar.

“Black Shadow was kidnapped and tied to a chair,” Tyler said, “And-“

The strangest thing happened to Matthew as his friend was explaining his story. An extremely vivid image of what he was saying was playing in Matthew’s head, and words popped into his head.

“"So you are the famous Black Shadow? The one who has 'evaded capture for years'." The man's deep voice said. "You don't seem too bad."

The fear in my eyes turned to anger, and that anger grew with every passing second.

"Let's see what you are hiding beneath that mask of yours."

The man reached towards my face…”

“The man gloated at capturing Black Shadow and tried to take off his mask, but Shadow fought back and a woman came in. Black Shadow had to fight her to get out of the room and move on to the next deadly match,” Matthew said cutting his friend off.

“Well, yeah,” Tyler said confusedly, “How did you know that?”

“Um,” Matthew said trying to find an excuse, “Just a lucky guess I suppose.”

“Am I really that predictable?” Tyler said disappointedly.

“No!” Matthew said with a smile, “Of course you’re not! I was just making a wild guess, I didn’t expect to even be close.”

By this time they had already walked through the larger-than-life gate in the wall. The dirt path had widened out to about eighty feet and now turned into a road, paved with old grey cobblestones that gave an ancient yet sturdy energy. Matthew felt safe walking on these stones. Large abandoned buildings made of stone and wood were tightly scrunched together with other structures on each side of the road. Alleyways and narrow passages led between the uninhabited dwellings and boarded up windows, as well as broken down doors ominously stared at the two teenagers as they made their way down the main street. The road continued at an upward angle, and Matthew could still see the top of the incline.

When they reached the top, shops began to appear on either side of the street, but the rest of the main road was now downhill, and a beautiful view of downtown Beinost was visible. From the top of the incline, looking down the street it was about half a mile long. From here, The broken down residences turned into a line of brilliant shops and restaurants, their business signs and tables outside their stores. Beautiful old doors leading into ancient buildings that seemed to be in their prime were propped open, beckoning customers and curious passerbys to stop in and take a look at the offered wares. After the main line of shops, they could see the mansions of the rich merchants on the sides of the road- the upper class residency. Beautiful houses towering up to five stories high, made of elegant white or brilliant stone inhabited the blocks. After the upper-class residency district were the warehouses, all at least 100 feet tall. The warehouse division subdivided the upper-class district from the sailors’ district. Taverns and pubs were visible as the farthest down the road, as well as some shanty shacks and huts that were rented out to sailors who would stay in the city for several nights. Each district was divided by a road that ran horizontally- not nearly as big as the main street, but about half the size of it. At the end of the main road, a road of equal size ran horizontally along the docks that led directly to loading bays and shipyards. The water line almost came directly up to this road.

All of the districts were bustling with people and merchants, all shouting and busily going about their day. At the end of the road, a beautiful view of the ocean was visible and the sun was over the water. Down at the end of the main street, a large building sat on the docks. The sign was not visible, but Matthew knew that it was The Sailor’s Cove.

“That’s where we are going,” Matthew said to Tyler pointing down at the restaurant.

Tyler paused, and brought his hand up to his face and stared at the view deep in thought.
“I think I know where we are,” Tyler said. “Europe.”

[TylerHoyt]

"Europe?" Matt said in a surprised voice. "Why Europe?"

"Well... You know... There's these walls, and stone things." I answered back, not really sure what to say. "Little shops, and.. Oh and the main street! You know, only Europe has a mainstreet!"

"True, true." Matt answered.

We began to walk down the street, looking at the shops. I looked over at one shop and noticed weapons. "OOOOO!!! WE GOTTA GO!!" I shouted, grabbing Matt and making him practically fall over.

"Be careful, the people here can be a little... aggressive." Matt said, following me to the shop.

"How much? I want it." I asked the shopkeeper (Whose back was facing me).

"two-hundred gold," The Shopkeeper said, turning towards me.

I passed out, no joke, I didn't wake up again until I was in a bed. I don't know what that... That thing was, but it was not human.

"AAAHHHHHH!!!!" I said, my head shooting up from the pillow, butting heads with matt who was sitting over me. "Matt... W... W.. Where are we?"

[matthewrramon]

After Tyler passed out, Matthew had to explain to the angry shopkeeper that his mentally unstable friend fainted at random points in time, and that his sudden lapse in consciousness had no correlation to the clerk’s appearance. He was a half-orc who was short, stout, and balding. Matthew and Tyler made it out of the shop alive, but they were banned for life. The teenager then managed to get his friend to the hotel where the friendly personnel helped him carry Tyler to their room.

The room was very nice, as they were in one of Beinost's finest hotels-Gavner had received a housing allowance from the Ixian Knights so he could afford it- as everything was made of fine material and all of the personnel were very friendly, and he could never afford something like that without supplementary funds unless he stole. It was comfortably lit with oil lanterns that emitted no odor, and the carpets had unique, hand crafted designs of many colors. The walls were painted an elegant cream color and the trim at the top of the walls was hand carved mahogany. Crafted from oak and maple, the table and chairs subtly stood towards the kitchen portion of the common room. A countertop, lining the East wall, was made of cold, smooth, beautiful marble as was the sink that brought running water. Matthew was also accommodated with an icebox with ample space to refrigerate a half a pig. The common room also had two very fluffy, comfortable arm chairs and a couch of the same nature, most likely furs taken from the beasts in Salvar.

In Matthew's room, a window had elegant curtains drawn over it, as Gavner insisted that all the windows be blocked to avoid his being burned by the sunlight, and another lantern burning in the corner. A night stand with a pitcher of water patiently stood in the corner, waiting to be of some use to somebody, as a large queen sized comfortable bed was in the middle of the room. It was comforted by the same cream color blankets and sheets to match the walls, and huge pillows stuffed with swan feathers were at the head.

Now carrying Tyler over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes while grunting from the weight of his friend, Matthew snuck the other teenager through the common room and into his bedroom before laid his load down on the bed. Waiting for Tyler to come to was like waiting for a new episode of "Lost" to air in season. Matthew worried and couldn't stop thinking about what he was going to tell his friend when he woke up, so he began pacing around. The beautiful brown door mysteriously stared at the teenager. Matthew noted it's unique designs-patterns and series of lines and dots- etched in the plane. The teenager couldn't make out anything from it, but it was interesting and entertaining to look at. Restless, Matthew went out into the kitchen and boiled water using a magic flame that was installed into the countertop, turning on and off with the click of a button. Bringing the tea back into his room in case Tyler woke, Matthew peeked out the window in his room and noticed that the sun was now setting.

"Ugh," he mumbled, "Gavner will be up soon."

Matthew sat on the edge of the bed and anxiously stared down at his friend.

"Come on come on," Matthew muttered to himself, "wake up."

Matthew waited a few seconds and then began to think of the world that he had left behind. Earth was his home... Everything about Althanas was so amazing and wonderful; however, it was a fantasy land. It was true that earth was rather dull compared to this place, but Earth was his place of origin, and Matthew missed it dearly.

"AHH!!" Tyler shouted and sat bolt upright, head butting Matthew in the forehead.

"Ow!" Matthew exclaimed, rubbing his head.

"Matt, wh-where are we?" He asked shakily.

"Calm down man," Matthew said in a softer, more comforting voice, "you're safe."

"No," he exclaimed, "where are we?"

"Right now," Matthew said, "We are in a hotel room out of immediate danger, able to relax and just chill out. The town that we are in right now is a little odd, and the people here are a bit different- they're not that nice either- but right now you don't have to worry. Now just breathe, man."

"Oh," Tyler said, taking a deep breath, and relaxing, "I thought for a second that you might have been serious when you said we were in Beinost."

Matthew's face flushed red and he couldn't make eye contact with his friend. "Yeah.... Um, about that..."

"Wait," Tyler said, his eyes growing wide, "How could you afford a room like this?"

"Well-" Matthew began, but he was cut off by a loud thud and the clattering of a wooden chair on the floor.

Tyler froze. "What was-"

"Matthew," a deeper, angry male voice called from the common area, "I thought I told you to keep the curtains drawn!"

Tyler began to look frightened at this point, "Matt," he whispered, "who is that? Where are we??"

"There's no use in whispering," Matthew said, "he can hear-"

"Why are you whispering?" The voice called.

"-through walls."

Suddenly the door to the room opened and a tall figure in black slacks and a white button down shirt appeared in the entrance. He was muscular, but not overly bulky, as his toned and clearly define muscles popped against his tight shirt. His skin was ghostly pale, and at the end of his slender fingers were medium length, sharp, jet black fingernails. Very short stubble grew from his somewhat flat chin and on the fleshy underside of his box-cut jaw. Short, trim sideburns complemented the flat sides of his head and high, prominent cheekbones stood out by his small nose. Glowing red eyes glared at the two boys beneath thin, blonde eyebrows. A crop of short bright orange hair grew from his head, finishing the handsome entity's features.

Everybody froze. Tyler stared at Gavner. Gavner glared at Matthew. Matthew looked at Tyler, then Gavner.

“Okay,” Matthew said to Gavner and Tyler, “Just don’t freak out…”

[TylerHoyt]

"Okay, no no no, wait, hold up... That's Gavner Matt... That is Gavner! Literally, one hundred percent how I imagined him, that's him!" I said because I was kinda in shock and didn't really know what to do. You know when something terrible happens and you're in so much shock that nothing seems real? Yea that was me at this point.

I decided that there was no way I was actually awake, I must have been dreaming this entire time, soooooo I uh... I, ya know... Walked up to Gavner and uh... I poked him, he pushed me, no big deal. But I did know I wasn't dreaming.

"Matt, how? How did we get here?" I asked.

"Did you fall into the hole in the cave too?" He asked me, sarcastically. I answered yes. "Then I don't know, it's that hole's fault."

Great, just great.