"Waaaugh–!" With a pop in the air, Peter fell and landed on hard ground. He let his fingers run through the dry dirt his cheek was now in contact with. It was courser than the soft earth in the woods around town he was used to. And of a lighter color, too, but he wasn't so sure with only the two moons lighting the night.
Wait, two moons?! Peter sat up and stared at the blue-purple sky with two coin-like orbs in them.
"It worked," he exclaimed in disbelief. "This is another world! It actually worked!"
"Yes, this is a different world from yours." Peter was startled when he heard a woman's voice behind him. "One you're not supposed to be in."
The woman was wearing an embroidered black vest, fitted breeches and knee-high boots. She looked to be in her late twenties. Her hair was up in a simple braided knot, and her expression was cold. But her severe attire and demeanor contrasted her pretty face, one with long-lashed round eyes that shone against the moonlight. Peter couldn't help but just sit there and stare.
The woman blinked. Her cold expression softened when she realized what Peter was under the cloak he wore. "You're a child."
This time, it was Peter who blinked. At the base of her neck was an insignia of a bar with a small filled out circle on the left and a larger hollow circle on the right. He had read about this in the same scrap of paper that had the spell to travel to different worlds. They were the sentinels of the different worlds. "You're a gatekeeper."
Before the woman could come nearer, Peter turned around and broke into a run.
"Wait!" To his dismay, the woman ran after him.
"Patakah!" He cursed under his breath. He didn't know this forest, and the woman seemed very athletic, dodging branches and tree roots like they were nothing.
"Stop!" She shouted. "You know you're not supposed to be here."
A root caught Peter's foot and he tripped, sending him nose-diving into the ground before him. When he turned around, the gatekeeper was looming over him. No! He wasn't going to get caught now. He quickly drew the runes in front of him as he spoke arcane words to open another world. As to the destination, he wrote something random. It was not like he knew what the names of the different worlds were. He saw the woman's eyes grow wider. She reached out to grab him, but Peter just smirked. She was too late.
With a pop, Peter disappeared and what he saw next was a chandelier. He fell with a clatter on a table filled with food, the family having dinner yelping in surprise at his sudden appearance. The people in that world looked weird. They looked human enough, but their upper torsos looked double the size of a normal one, and the sides of their necks had something that looked like gills.
He thought the burning in his chest since he entered this world was simply because of all the running he had been doing. But by this time, he was sure it had something to do with the air of this world. He coughed as the burning intensified. It was becoming hard to breathe.
He heard a pop. The woman appeared in the room, but with a more dignified landing by the edge of the table and with a metal mask that covered her nose and mouth. She made a respectful half-bow towards the terrified family and turned to Peter. "Come with me. The air in this world is poisonous for your kind."
Peter was wheezing by this time. It felt like his eyes were going to pop. But there was no way he was going back to his godsforsaken world. With his eyes stinging and his lungs on fire, he quickly drew the runes again and another random location. He found himself in a lonely foggy street. At least, the air here didn't burn anymore. But it was stuffy. Like it was filled with cotton. He sneezed, and suddenly, green dots lit up from within the fog. And then he saw them: small furry creatures with fangs like daggers. With a speed that defied their size, one jumped and sank its teeth into Peter's arm. He screamed, which then made more green eyes appear. With another painful scream, Peter pried the creature from his arm and ran. Without looking back at the hissing stampede behind him, he cast the spell again. This time, he appeared under water! He looked up and down but there was no sign of land. He was losing air. He was drowning. But just as he was thinking that this was how he would die, he felt strong arms grab him. He didn't think he would be so happy to see the gatekeeper again. He saw her write out the spell to teleport. But the defiant part of him still refused to just allow himself to be banished back into the world he had left. With what remained of his strength, he added an extra stroke onto the last rune just as she was finishing it. With another pop, he found himself falling onto hard stone floor. With a wheeze, he finally was able to breathe normal air. Or, normal for him, rather. The burning air was pretty normal for the family at the dinner table. The thought that there were worlds where normal was different was rather exciting for Peter, despite almost dying several times.
He sat up, breathing in deep to rid his lungs of the poisonous air. He was in what looked like an old castle. A rather sparse one, though. He was in a wide corridor with windows on one side and closed doors on the other. Weirdly, the view in each of the window was different from each other. The floor and walls were of rough black stone. He expected there to be armors, maybe. Or paintings, or some sort of decoration. But there was nothing in the corridor save for the sole carpet, which was old but clean enough. For some reason, he felt comfortable here.
A groan brought his attention back to the fact that the gatekeeper was with him. "Where did you even take us now? This is definitely outside of the known worlds." She didn't have her mask anymore, which thankfully meant the air was fine here. Then again, she wasn't from his world, either.
"I didn't ask you to follow me."
The gatekeeper just looked at him disapprovingly. But she looked around the corridor as well. "We're in a pocket dimension. This feels like a magic-user's house. I think it's best we leave before we are noticed."
"Leave then."
With a sigh, the woman rested one hand on her hip. "Come now, this is somebody's home. We shouldn't be in here. It's trespassing."
"I'm not going back."
"Well, you can't stay here. This isn't your world. Come with me, we'll speak to the council together and–"
But Peter cast a wind spell to hit her then dashed off again. She had to think again if she thought he was going to follow her just because she had a pretty face. He had met too many noblewomen with pretty faces and rotten hearts. He turned the corridor. It opened up to another long corridor. When he looked back, to his dismay, the woman was just steps behind him.
"Please, stop running," she said. "I just want to talk."
"That's what they all say!"
"Who are 'they,' even?"
Peter didn't bother to answer. He continued running. But when he turned the corner, the corridor opened up to a round room where a man sat lounging on an armchair. Though the man was just sitting, the presence he exuded was enough to make Peter stop. He turned, but found the gatekeeper right behind him.
The gatekeeper made her half-bow greeting towards the man. "Forgive me for trespassing. I was pursuing this child."
"You're a gatekeeper," the man observed. He stood up with a cane in hand to face her more politely then. Peter couldn't help but scoff. For all his oppressing presence, the man wasn't immune to a pretty face.
"Of Kirlazen, yes," she replied. "I'll just take him and be on my way."
Taking advantage of the fact that they were distracted, Peter quickly moved away from them and pointed his finger at the man. "Don't come near me or I'll fire."
But the man just rolled his eyes. He waved a hand, and to Peter's alarm, all the doors and windows closed shut. "I have sealed all openings within this house. No one can open them but me. And you cannot teleport out of here, either. If you kill me, then you will die here with me. Not that you could actually kill me with such poor casting skills."
"When have you seen me cast a spell?"
"In my corridor. When you were trying to run away from the gatekeeper."
"You were watching me?!"
"I think I should be the one who should be more offended, seeing as you've come into my house without even asking."
Peter's eyes darted between the man and the gatekeeper. They stood where they were, but their postures were alert, ready to suddenly pounce on him.
He made a run for it and into another corridor. He knew the gatekeeper was still not far behind. When he had run some distance, he quickly pulled out pieces of paper from his pocket. His eyes darted over the scribbled notes he had made until he found the spell he was looking for. He reached out his hand just as the man and the gatekeeper came into view. He uttered the spell that would bind them. "Ligare!" And he knew immediately that something was wrong based on the slightly confused expression on the man and the amused one on the gatekeeper. White light like long bandages burst from Peter's palm. But instead of restraining them, the strips of light snapped around him, sending him falling to the ground wrapped like a mummified corpse.
"Did he just…?" The man looked at him in disbelief.
But the gatekeeper was laughing beside him. Peter squirmed and would have given them a few choice words, but the binding covered his mouth as well.
"What has this boy done? Is he wanted for something?" The man asked.
"Nothing as dire as that. It's just that he's been using magic with no proper training, and entering worlds without authorization."
"I see."
She studied him. "You are a mage, good sir?"
"Retired now. Please call me Marquelle."
"And you may call me Iria. As you have mentioned earlier, I am a gatekeeper."
Peter rolled his eyes. Were they really going to flirt with each other while he lay there?
"Don't gatekeepers come in two?" The mage continued. "Where is your partner?"
"I'm a solitaire. Haven't had a partner in—"
Growl~
The gatekeeper and the mage turned their heads to look at Peter. And Peter could only glare back, cheeks red as his stomach continued to growl.