Jack: What the hell did Myra do?

  Strength: She did sometin!

  Mark: To the dinosaur? I can’t believe there was a dinosaur!

  Jack: Me neither, bro! Except this one wanted our soul! I could feel the pull.

  Maryanne: We all could, Jack!

  Mark: Where in tarnation are we?

  Maryanne: I don’t know, but I’d like to wring that boy’s neck! We’ve saved him twice, and all we’ve gotten are sarcastic thanks!

  Strength: Egoists are never wrong!

  Maryanne: You mean narcissist! He left us to die!

  Jack: He’s a bully. What did you expect? A hero? He can’t play nice.

  Mark: Myra is still in a daze.

  All: Myra!

  I blinked and noticed the four golden-armored people around us. Moreover, I saw their weapons and unfriendly eyes. I glanced at Jonah, who seemed worse than a limp noodle. It was up to me to play diplomat with the strangers provided they spoke our language. I tried to stand, but one of the warriors pointed an arrow tip at me, and I sat back down.

  Jonah tried getting to his knees but slipped and fell to his stomach.

  He wasn’t well.

  Whatever the pterodactyl had done to him was far worse than what I had gone through. I raised my hands in surrender.

  “W-we come in peace and are a bit lost. Can you tell us where we are?” I asked as Jonah made it to his knees, his arms shaking with the force of holding himself up. I didn’t care about our audience then. I crawled over and helped him sustain his body by leaning into him. He looked at me with a mix of emotions. Was that a bit of gratitude or was it remorse?

  I smiled and stood, hauling his body with me until we were standing. He leaned on me, breathing heavily. I held him beneath his shoulders near his ribs. He was broader than me and I couldn’t grip his shoulders. Dang me for being small!

  Maryanne: You are not small! He is tall!

  Strength: You should let him fall!

  Mark: I concur with Strength. Where was he when we needed him?

  Jack: Yeah! The guy is a real douchebag!

  Maryanne: He is a piece of work, but you should always help those in need!

  Strength: Drop him!

  Mark: Agreed, Strength

  Jack: Yeah, drop the son of a dog!

  Maryanne: Don’t listen! You are doing a noble thing, and he will repay you one day. Even if he doesn’t, you are still a good person.

  Strength: Drop the SOB!

  Mark: Drop him.

  Jack: Leave him to rot!

  I didn’t listen even though they were hollering for blood. Maryanne was right.

  It was the right thing to do whether he deserved it or not. The look he gave me made me feel better. Had he never had someone to stand up for him or help him? That was sad, and why I couldn’t hate him despite his discrepancies toward me. He was an awful person, but I guess I felt sorry for him. I turned and faced the smallest of the armored people.

  “We didn’t come to cause harm,” I told them. “You can search us for weapons. We won’t fight you.”

  Making a hand sign to the others, the armored person searched us for weapons. At least they understood me somewhat. They found nothing on me and a pocket knife on Jonah. I had to explain that the knife was a safety precaution where we came from, although I’m pretty sure that’s not why he had it.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  Was he capable of cutting someone up?

  I glanced at Jonah. He looked ten seconds from puking on the small figure searching him.

  “Um, you might want to step back,” I said, “he’s about to blow.” But the figure kept touching Jonah rather inappropriately. Jonah puked all over them a few seconds later, and a high-pitched cry left their lips—a woman’s shriek. The other three laughed, and I held Jonah as he puked.

  The smell was revolting, and I almost joined him.

  Maryanne held a hand to her face: Ewww!

  Jack: Still think we should help, Maryanne?

  Mark: Hmm.

  Strength!: Yuck!

  I managed to hold my gorge in and helped Jonah sit against a tree root that was low enough so he could lean on the tree. I was tired of supporting his bulk and could only do so much. The now-recognized woman lifted her hand to the sky and twirled it. I saw a string of gold and blue energy latch onto lighter blue energy from the atmosphere and combine, and I gasped as water materialized from the air. She washed the vomit off, enraged as the others laughed.

  “I-I did warn you,” I muttered. The woman took off her helmet. Her hair was as red as autumn leaves, and her eyes as blue as the trees around her.

  “Thank Oppolemei, my helmet protected my hair,” she muttered, shaking her head and spilling her hair about her shoulders.

  The other three removed their helmets, revealing white, brown, and green hair. They were all males. The broadest had green hair and spring-green eyes. The tallest had brown hair and eyes. The skinny one looked about Jonah’s width and height, white-haired and grey-eyed, and somewhat feminine. But there was a sharp edge to his eyes, a glint that spelled death.

  Maryanne: It’s not nice to presume things of others

  Strength: He’s kinda transparent.

  Mark: They are all weird

  Jack started pointing: One looks like a ghost. The other is the jolly green giant, and who the heck likes imitating a rock? And a female who likes puke? I’m calling them the goon squad.

  I tried ignoring their comments but Jack’s hit the spot. I chuckled, gaining the attention of the group. The female raised her bow and pointed it at me.

  “Do you think my situation funny, human?”

  “N-no, but my situation is. I was swimming with sharks and now I’m in a world with dinosaurs. Is there a Tyrannosaurus or a Velociraptor?” I was giggling, about to lose it. As put together as I seemed, I was a jumble of nerves, and that bow and arrow were not helping!

  “What is a shark?” asked the ghost.

  “What is a dinosaur?” asked the weed.

  The last guy, the rock, was standing with a goofy smile. It didn’t suit the rest of his demeanor.

  Maryanne: You never know a person at first glance

  Strength: Yeah, first impressions are misleading

  Mark: I agree. Look at Jonah.

  Jack laughed: Yeah. The world’s greatest douche is about to keel over.

  I glanced at Jonah and noticed his tittering on the root. I walked over to him and had him lean against me again. God, I hope he doesn’t puke on me.

  The redhead raised her bow and centered the arrow on me. “Get away from him, human.”

  I glared at her. “Jonah is also human, and he’s not feeling well. He needs to lie down. At least until this, whatever it is, is over.”

  The female scowled. “He’s human?”

  “Y-Yes, he came with me. We come from Earth.” I ran my hand through Jonah’s hair and noticed his scalp was hot.

  “Earth? You mean you come from a different realm! Impossible!”

  “Look! Jonah is sick. Can we at least make haste to your camp or something? Right now, all I care about is Jonah’s health.”

  The ghost guy rubbed his chin. “Another realm?? It is the job of the High Council to decide what to do with you, and it is up to them to believe your story.” He glanced at the female who was glaring at me.

  “Your Highness, what shall we do?” the rock asked.

  Maryanne: Great, Royalty, and she is as annoying as I thought they would be.

  Strength: We ain’t on Earth no more, Maryanne.

  Mark: What epic sci-fi adventure have we fallen into?

  Jack: Dude, it’s fantasy! And I still say drop the SOB!

  Her brows knitted, then relaxed. “Boulder, use your earth spears and fashion a carrying bed for the boy. We’ll take them to the camp.”

  Maryanne: He’s named after a rock!

  Strength: That is cruel and unusual punishment.

  Mark: Yes, it is.

  Jack: Who the heck names their kid after a rock? No wonder he looks like one!

  I tried not to chuckle and pressed my hand to my mouth, faking a yawn. The princess scoffed and flipped her hair, reminiscent of Katilia.

  “Humans are so fragile. We the Kin, are the better species. Boulder! You may begin.”

  I watched as brown tentacles of light, swirled with blue, engulfed the male. Then golden light around the tree was pulled into him, mixing with the other two swabs of light.

  Then Boulder created a spear of wood. And another and another from this pool of light!

  The others tied these in the form of a bed, and I saw the ghost use grey light mixed with blue and gold to cut the string on the makeshift emergency bed.

  What are these people? She called herself a Kin, but what was that?

  “H-how did you do that,” I asked, stunned.

  The female smirked. “That’s why we the Kin are so much better than you humans. We can use the elemental forces, and you–can’t,” she said, pointing a manicured nail toward me.

  Maryanne: At least we have a heart!

  Strength: Heartless!

  Mark: Mhmm.

  Jack: What a bitch! What! Everyone wants to say it, so I’ll say it first.

  I agreed with them that she was a heartless bitch. I helped Jonah lay down on the makeshift bed. He was too delirious to notice anything and I prayed for his survival. He may have been mean to me, but scratch that, he was horrible to me. I should have let him suffer, but as much as he made me suffer, I couldn’t do it. It wasn’t in me.

  I noticed that each guy had grabbed a side of the bed and was lifting him. I glanced at her Highness who was smirking at me.

  “Well, slave? That’s what humans are. Get to work and lift the palanquin.”

  I glared but went to the last spot and along with the others, I lifted Jonah. I struggled with the weight but gritted my teeth and started moving. Jonah opened his eyes for a second and glanced at me before they shut again. Those eyes were in turmoil. I had to get him better and if becoming a slave to a couple of Kin was what I had to do, then I’d do it. I wouldn’t abandon him.

  We traveled through the woods at a pace I could barely keep, but somehow I kept up. We entered a glade where there were leather skin tents set up. Several figures in gold armor were milling around and having fun.

  One of them was floating in the air upside down while conversing with another who was juggling fireballs. The closest one to us wasn’t wearing gold armor but instead wore a lot of silken cloth tied to his waist and arms. The last seemed to be quietly staring into the fire and it was he that noticed us.

  “Arianna’s back,” he said to the others. The one floating upside down flipped upright and landed on his feet.

  “Yo, Princess what’s with the baggage?”

  “This boy is sick and this..girl,” she pointed to me. “Is our new slave and will tend him.”

  “I would have tended to him otherwise,” I said. The she-Kin struck me across the face and I almost dropped Jonah.

  Mark: What in hell!

  Strength: Hell no!

  Maryanne: She did not just hit us!

  Jack: Oh, she did! That bitch!

  I regained my footing and glared at the female.

  “I didn’t give you permission to talk, slave,” she said, smirking.

  I growled but swallowed my anger and gripped the palanquin, hard. My nails chipped. If that was the way she was going to play, she was going to find me a very difficult slave!

  “Put him in the nearest tent and slave? Care for him.”

  “I said I would,” I said ready for another hit.