Chapter One Modern to Magic
I rushed to the hangar as the ship entered the outer atmosphere, hoping to get into the escape pods in time. I was nearly there, but the moment I jumped across the gap which was separating the hangar from my ship I felt a huge wave of heat, staggered and blacked out.
"I wish to study at the plinth", I said calmly, the five mages standing before me and my pet dragon which was squawking rather loudly on my shoulder.
Master Inferno answered, "We shall give you permission to study at the plinth but you must pass a test first." He handed me a white sheet of paper with some runes on it. Master Inferno ordered, "Translate"
"It means permission granted.", I said delightedly.
I woke up in a pool of warm sweat with spaceship parts piercing the cheerful green grass around me. I managed to build a shelter out of rocks, long grass and some small spaceship parts. I lit a fire fro the night and managed to salvage some clothes out of the wreckage and stored them.
I felt like sorrow had been poured into me, "Why had I survived? Why couldn't I have just perished with the rest of the crew?" Later I would know, it was my Destiny.
The night was beautiful with purple stars, green stars and a suspicious cheese yellow moon. I drifted asleep at the sight of the magical night sky.
I woke up to the sound of a warm snort and flapping wings and opened my eyes to behold a dragon the size of a parrot. I held out a piece of raw meat and the dragon started eating happily. The dragon took about an hour to eat all of the beef but after it had its fill the dragon sat on my shoulder. The dragon was red and yellow with bright green eyes and hard scaly skin.
The dragon was very cute and i had luck on my side because it stayed with me squawking on my shoulder.
After five hours searching my spaceship I found what I was looking for, a speeder which worked. I decided to scavenge for a blanket, a wrench and an emergency supply pack before sundown. I packed up all my stuff and sped off into the night.
Chapter Two Night Trip
My only sources of light were my dragon and my headlights, no special infinitely powered glowsticks. I heard strange howls and chirps. The moon was out again and it was full!
I thought about werewolves, they were supposed to be myths, but then again so were dragons and I was probably late for feeding one. I heard the howls getting louder and louder until I spotted some faint yellow lights not further than a kilometre away.
A month ago I would have thought they were dingos but crashlanding on a magical planet with dragons, multi-coloured stars and a cheese moon really opens up your mind. The werewolves were 50 metres away coming closer and closer.
Then I realised how stupid I was being. The lights were campfires and they looked like eyes because lots of people were standing around them blocking most of the fires from my view.
I arrived at the campsite and the surprised villagers welcomed me and over time helped me build a hut to live in. Only one problem, I stood out.The villagers looked poor and I thought that they were just the hunters of their tribe. My hut took a day to build and it was cosy and warm.
I had a speeder, a first emergency kit and a long dirk which the tribe had given to me. And I felt bad - I had added another person to their group. They were already starving by themselves. The dirk they had given me had a yellow handle and a mythril blade with green glowing runes.
I stayed with the tribe for exactly 2 days, 12 hours and 11 minutes. I wanted them to be able to live with me in their group. I would get half the rations and they would have to share the other half between themselves. I knew that the tribe would die with me in their group. So I decided to go away and let them live.
Think of it, I had one sack of all my belongings and had no destination, no support, and of course, no home Before I had left I had asked one of the tribe members about the howling. She told me that the howling was the moon. It emitted lupal waves which made you think that howls were there.
I tossed a dry piece of meat to my dragon who gobbled it up greedily, glad to have a tasty meal. I turned on the turbo boost on my speeder, the whafty smell of salted meat disappearing behind me.
I began seeing grey on the horizon. Thinking it was just bad weather. I unpacked my umbrella - forcefield and put it in a slot on the speeder.
Chapter 3 - A city?
I continued to speed along in the dull morning light trying to get further away from the tribe as soon as possible.
I touched the mythril dirk, which still hung from my side. I knew that I would need it yet it was shining and new. I continued to fire up my speeder hoping to go faster.
Something on the horizon suddenly caught my attention, there were shapes, buildings and fireworks. When I say city, you'll think of Cairo, Sydney or New York but this was bigger, a thousand times bigger.
The chimneys went so high that you could not see the top. There was a building in the middle with a huge sign saying "THE PLINTH".
Chapter 4 A road to failure
I came to the city and asked around about THE PLINTH, and I was told that it was a place where people studied magic. Magic! If I was going to survive this world I would need to learn magic. But I was also aware that you needed to have 10 crashers every year (the local currency, apparently). You could get off free if you were clever enough, but I knew wasn't clever, all I really knew was how to pilot a spaceship.
I knew I wouldn't be able to afford housing or food so I searched for a suitable alley or rooftop for me to live in. I found an alley with another tiny alley sprouting off it. At the end of this alley there was a room of golden crashers! the only reason I could tell that they were crashers because it was written on them. I filled up my pockets and bought an expensive handbag. I went back to the treasury and filled up my pockets and my handbag this time, I bought a map and a suitcase using a golden crasher. I got the suitcase open and filled it with gold. Again I filled up all my stuff with golden crashers. I made my way to the Inn that was nearest to the plinth which it showed on the map. That was when I began to wonder why the pile of gold had been there, but I dismissed it as an unanswerable question. I got a room in the Unicorn and Four. I found out that I would have to wait half a year to go up to the plinth.
On the map I found a pet store and rushed over to it. I probably hadn't fed my dragon for two days. I bought 3 kilograms of juicy fresh meat. I also bought clothes, paper, quills, ink...all the things I needed. I went back to the stash of gold and filled up my handbag, my new purse, my suitcase and my pockets.
I had enough money so I wandered around looking for a cheap house to buy. I finally settled for a big two story house. I paid 12 crashers. I paid another five crashers for furniture.
I paid for food and water. I learned about the plinth and bought a wand, a staff, and a couple of decent plinth robes.
I spent my half year preparing, waiting and growing nervous.
Glossary
mythril: a mythical mineral which is stronger than diamond
spaceship: a rocket or space shuttle
emergency kit:a kit which is handy in emergencies
dragon: a firebreathing scaly monster with wings
