Magical Engineering

“Come on, you gotta get up. If one of the guards catches you on the ground, they’ll make you start the line all over.” I barely managed to process the words. They were the first I’d heard since my brain had settled back into my skull. Or at least they were the first I had managed to comprehend. I was fighting through waves of nausea as well as the pain of what I was sure were several broken bones.

“Just leave him. We don’t have time for this,” a voice different from the first said.

“Can you help me? Everything hurts. Something, maybe orcs attacked me, don’t even know where I am,” I groaned as I forced down another attempt at vomiting and finally managed the herculean effort needed to open my eyes. I needed to see where I had been sent. Instead, my vision was blocked by the person who had been speaking to me.

I blinked, trying to clear any fuzziness from my eyes as the man, assuming that was what he was, stood before me and reached one of his four hands down, offering help. I reached out with my good arm and was quickly pulled to my feet. The pain briefly jarred me again from focusing on what I was looking at.

“Thank you,” I said, finally looking up at his faces… He had two heads. Both the voices I had heard earlier in my daze had belonged to him or maybe them. I had no idea.

“No problem. Name’s Cecile and the grouch is my brother Elicec,” the left head said.

“Thanks, I’m Dave. Where am I? And what do you mean by going to the end of the line?” I asked, somehow managing to keep the panic out of my voice. I was still working on getting my bearings. Now, on my feet, I was better able to get a good look around. Everywhere I looked were lines of creatures, some human, some so alien, I couldn’t easily compare them to any fantastical creature I knew of, and everything in between.

What I didn’t understand, though, is why I could understand the multitude of signs I could see. Each one seemed to be written in plain English, but that was the least pressing question of the many in my mind. For now, it was probably best that I just accept the small blessing that it was. My anxiety was threatening to shut me down at any moment, and with the fight just to stay on my feet, I couldn’t let my mind be overwhelmed with questions.

“This is the Spire, specifically the line for new Arena fighters, but you should know that. You’re already on the third floor of the line,” Cecile said. He looked down at me with a raised eyebrow. Both of their heads looked human enough, which led me to the feeling that he was growing suspicious of my presence. The glare on his brother’s face made me decide to go with the truth as far as I knew it. I desperately needed help, and all the other races seemed to be pointedly ignoring me.

“My planet was attacked by a faction of orcs, and as I was about to die, a bird froze time and sent me here, saying it was the only chance I’d have to save the world. He said he was going to mark me with his insignia, but I have no idea where that is, or I’d show you,” I said, knowing how insane every word that had left my mouth sounded. I was leaning onto my right leg. It was getting harder to stand on my left at all.

“Oh, that explains it. You’re a newbie. We’ve never met one before. So, if you have an insignia, that explains how you cut the line. Most of us just have to buy our way in…” Cecile was cut off by his brother.

“Some of us have to work for our chance,” Elicec grumbled.

“Hey, don’t be mean. Would you rather our whole family be dead to some asshole orcs as the reason we are here? Do you think Dave wanted any of this to happen?” Cecile asked his brother.

Elicec’s glare finally lessened as he answered. “No, you’re right, I’m sorry, Dave. You didn’t deserve that. It’s just that there are a lot of shady people around, and we have to be careful. It took a long time for our families to get the funds to send us here.”

“It’s alright, I get it. Everything I said sounded completely insane to me, too. But I’m so far out of my concept of sanity that I have no idea what to do. Is the insignia important?” I asked, wincing in pain several times. The bird had said something about using it to gain access, but I had no idea what he meant or even how to see it.

“Maybe, not really sure. We’re pretty new here, too,” Cecile answered.

“Open your right hand and concentrate on who you are,” Elicec answered immediately afterward, looking back to his brother after he spoke and shaking his head. He had a look of disappointment on his face.

Ignoring the pain, I held out my arm and stretched out my fingers. Then, I focused my thoughts on who I was: Dave Imogen. I felt something in my hand, almost like a thought on the tip of your tongue that you can’t fully grasp but somehow centered in my hand. I considered who I was beyond just a name, everything about myself: I was a father. I was once a husband. I’d spent years of my life as an engineer. I was a hermit, and now I was a refugee of planet Earth, and somehow the only hope to save my kids.

The sensation on my hand changed; it grew warm for a second. And then words appeared written on my palm. There was a symbol that just looked like a bunch of meaningless scribbles. Below the symbol seemed to be my address of sorts.