• Luke was tired. He hadn't slept all night, as he had been talking to his best friend over the phone. The story playing on the CD player in English seemed to lull him to sleep, as he was too tired to stare at the book and even pretend to read. Eventually his eyes drooped down so far to close themselves, and his head laid softly on the desk.

    The room faded around him, just as he faded into sleep; into his dream world. The ceiling darkened along with the walls and floor. The table he rested on disappeared, and Luke's body floated lightly to the ground. His eyes began to flutter open; he was woken by a new feeling, almost like dirt...

    Lights dotted the 'ceiling' above him, grass grew around and below Luke's body and other dark objects rose around him. After most of the unidentified objects rose, a statue rose below him. When it pushed him in the chest, his eyes shot open with the sudden pain of the statue's spear being pushed at him. He yelled, and tried to jump backward. The spear still cut him up the chest, and to about his mid-neck.

    When Luke's butt hit the ground, the surface was hard; but not dirt at all. He was sitting on cobblestone on what seemed to be a pathway outside high stone walls that lead to a gate. Where was he? There wasn't anywhere around Richard's Valley like this...

    "What in the... Who is that? Who is there?" A voice from nearby called to Luke, who was now bleeding slightly from his fresh spear-wound. He winced with pain, but was able to get out a few words, "Ouch... I could.. ask the same thing..." A figure with a horse cart behind it began to approach Luke from the direction opposite the stone walls. "Hello? I heard a scream." Luke struggled to stand, as the figure came closer, becoming more defined. "I'm... That was me... Could you help? I think I'm bleeding.." Luke limped closer to the figure, clutching his injury. "Of course, just stay where you are, you will lose too much blood if you move around." He stopped dead, he hadn't thought about that. The figure moved closer and close until Luke could see it perfectly.

    It was a girl, which Luke hadn't expected; not that she sounded like a guy, he just wasn't expecting it. "Here, take my hand, I'll put you on the horse." She was surprisingly beautiful; her hair was a long, silky, and light brown in color; her eyes a turquoise blue, fading into a greener color nearer to the iris; she was wearing an ornate green shirt that had strange patterns on it, a large steel a gauntlet that was trimmed with gold leaf.

    Luke couldn't help but stare at her, everything about her was absolutely stunning. Even the way she spoke was amazing, the way she enunciated every word, like it was medieval times or something... "Hello? You want to die or something? What are you staring at?" Luke blinked, coming back to reality, or... whatever this was. Luke reached out his hand, grabbing hers. She flung his weak body like a rag doll onto the back of her horse. "Ow... thanks." He uttered, still in pain. "You are welcome." The girl said, smiling and turning back to the road and leading the horse along the way again.

    Luke stared and smiled at the girl leading the horse, and he finally decided to say something, "So, whats your name?" She didn't turn her head, and kept the horse walking, but she did respond, "My name is Emma, whats yours?" He grinned and answered politely, "I'm Luke, and... where are we?" Emma was puzzled, "How could you be here and not know? You aren't from around here, are you?"

    Luke scratched his head, "Uh, yeah. I mean, I think so..." Emma stopped the horse and cart and turned around, "How can you not know?" Luke closed his eyes, laying back on the horse, Well, considering I just kinda appeared here... I don't know. Emma blinked at him; he was completely ignoring her. So, she proceeded, the horse and cart close behind her. They began to get much closer to the gate in the stone walls. As they got closer, Emma saw three people standing at the gate along with two horses. Luke remained on his back.

    Emma was obviously deterred by the figures at the gate, as she pulled the horse off the road. "Whats up? Where are we...?" Luke questioned why they had left the safety of the road to walk through the trees. She had pulled the horse and its cart into the woods, out of sight, and Emma moved to a spot to watch the people at the gate. While it was impossible to hear them, Emma watched as they finished their apparent conversation. Two of the three climbed on the horses and galloped off down the trail, passing by the spot where they hid.

    The armor they wore was mainly dark black, trimmed with a crimson red color, and it looked demonic, almost like they wore it to intimidate people. One of the passers wore a sword on his waist, while the other was holding a lance in his left hand, holding the reigns with his right. The third one remained at the gate, guarding it, and what he wore was most likely the same, but his weapon couldn't be seen.

    Emma gritted her teeth, muttering, "Damn, looks like we have no choice but to fight." Luke could only hear her utter the word 'fight' and his eyes widened, What the hell is going on here? Emma grabbed the horse's reigns again and led him out of the trees. She produced a knife that had a green-colored indentation over the length of it, whereas the knife itself was shaped like the fang of a snake.

    "Emma, w-what the hell are y-you t-thinking?" Luke stuttered, he was scared and nervous about what Emma might do. "Don't worry, just hide in the back, keep your wound from bleeding, and don't peek out till I come for you," Emma ordered. Luke did as he was told and hid himself away in the cart of barrels.

    He jumped as the cart began to roll forward and a barrel fell over, the top falling open. Luke rushed to re-cap the barrel when he saw several strings tied together. Pulling on the strings, he discovered they were fuses, all connected to red sticks of dynamite! Why would Emma have these? Luke wondered. Quickly, he returned the explosives and top to the barrel. He sat against the cart side, trying to relax.

    Eventually, the cart stopped rolling along and Luke could hear words being exchanged outside the cart, but he couldn't understand them, it wasn't loud enough. There was the sound of something on fire, rushing water, wind, and ground breaking. At last, something clanked to the floor, there was a thud, then a scream, and then there was silence.

    After about a minute, the cover of the cart was pulled away, and Luke looked up into the helmet of one of the demon-looking knights. Luke's eyes widened, his whole body went numb; he couldn't move. After a minute of starring, there was a giggling that came from the helmet. The visor was flipped open and Emma's head was in it, smiling. "Haha, clam down, Luke." Luke forced a smile, the armor made the knights look evil, and he was scared of them. Emma grabbed Luke's hand and pulled him back onto the horse.

    The guard was gone, and Emma was wearing his armor. The Ground was broken in two in front of the cart. What were they doing? Luke followed Emma into the gate on the horse. It was still dark, but there were many light posts on the inside of the gates. It looked like they were in a village, most likely the rich district, by the look of the houses.

    They walked lazily through town, the cart still behind them. After a few minutes, they reached a hospital where Luke was bandaged and sent on his way with Emma. They had no place to stay, so Emma took them to the local inn, leaving the horse at a stable and cart hidden behind the inn.

    Luke laid down on the one bed in the room, it was a double-bed. Emma blushed under the helmet when she entered the room, "There is... Only one bed." Luke looked away and muttered, "Uh, yeah, I guess..." After a quick silence, he turned back and said, "Well, you can have it if you want." He stood up, offering the bed to Emma. She smiled and declined, "You're injured, you need it." Emma quickly stripped off the heavy armor, laying against the wall facing the door. Luke was too tired to object, so he laid in the bed. He quickly drifted to sleep; hoping that he wouldn't 'wake up'.