Ruby Mage Read online

  You got this Trevor. You’ve hiked past bears, seen wild cats, and always stayed calm. What was a plain room? Maybe this was a kinda magical staging area?

  My sister would nudge me forward, telling me to grab life by the balls and conquer my fears. However, I was not my sister. I was Trevor Berns who happened to be a planner, no one could say otherwise.

  When I caught a bit of my reflection from a side window I walked closer to inspect myself. My dark brown eyes were wide, alert, almost scared although I never would have admitted it, my hair was dusty and a few inches longer since I’d let my buzz grow out, and my face had just a smattering of shade where I hadn’t shaved for a couple days.

  I still wore loose clothes meant for the desert. A small pickaxe rested on my tool belt, and I had the gem. I could feel my phone still in my pocket.

  When I retrieved the device from a cargo pocket the Gphone 17 was a slat of wood.

  Um… okay. What the shit? Everything was the same besides my phone… How odd. Then again where was the deity? The one in all the movies who would tell me what the hell was going on?

  I poured emotion into the ruby, trying to mimic what had happened in Montana. There was a tendril of power leaving the stones vortex to the core of my being. Not my heart, but close to it, and at best guess maybe my soul was giving the stone feelings.

  Or magic. It was linked to my emotions. There was a lot of uncertainty here.

  This left me questioning what in the hell I was doing. I could sense the stone pulling for more so I increased the emotions until they were unbridled with raw power. If there was magic, this was it. A blast of light caused me to flinch, resulting in a sudden out of body experience.

  There was a brief period of disorientation as a gush of air washed over me.

  I spun to see I was back to where I had started inside the portal hallway. My walk to see my reflection had been erased with… A spell?

  A loud and long hmm escaped my lips.

  When I was nervous like this, I bit my nail… super bad habit to have. The girls I dated, and even my mom always hated the habit. It was something I was working on, sorta like talking to myself… the progress was lacking.

  My study of the ruby showed less vibrancy to the stone.

  Maybe I burned two jumps moving from Montana to here, then from the window to here? That was the best guess I had. Two jumps of what though? What was this place?

  A single thought repeated itself in my mind.

  I was brought here for a reason.

  I’d never been afraid of seeing what was around the next bend. Swallowing my concerns, and with no other option than to move forward, trusting it was the right direction, I headed into the unknown. The smaller door at the end of the hall opened for me, pulling me through.

  ∞∞∞

  A fall from only half a foot was enough to send me into a stumble. I skidded to a halt, and a cooling sensation assaulted my feet as they buried under piles of frozen leaves.

  The rich aroma of a forest floor hit my nose. Permafrost crackled underfoot with each step. I spun, taking in my new surroundings.

  There were thick aspen trees as far as I could see with minimal undergrowth. I saw a few small birds, no squirrels, and besides the whispering wind - the forest was eerily silent.

  The gray overcast with melting snow piles told me I was in upper Canada, maybe. Except there shouldn’t be aspens. Were aspens in Russia? My desire to pull up the information on my Gphone brought back the memory that it was now a useless wooden brick.

  Oh hell, I had no idea where I’d arrived. And guessing would only get me so far. Calm yourself, you're a man of science. Get some samples before you go home and find the answers through research. If I can get home!

  The stone thrummed in my clenched fist, drawing my attention.

  There was a tugging pull of desire from the stone. I let my eyes sink into the central spinning void. Confused by what I felt radiating from the ruby, I tried to understand its desires.

  A large welling of energy from the vortex gave me an impression of hunger that troubled me. I stuffed the palm-sized stone into a cargo pocket to let it simmer down.

  Inside, I was freaking out a bit. Deep down, I felt like I should be shouting like they do in the horror movies, but I was staying calm somehow.

  Becoming a statue, I stood in place, waiting, simply letting nature move around me. The time was used to reflect and understand what I knew so far.

  I wasn’t crazy. The magical gems that had vexed me for a year were real and led to a portal waystation of sorts. I was able to go forward or back. An assumption here, but the way back would always be Montana. The way forward might always change.

  There was magic involved but no guide, god, or half naked babe. My shitty dating life could really use a Hail Mary. Now that I had finished school, I was definitely on the hunt for some pretty pink. Maybe a goddess would swoop down and explain this magic. The kind in a revealing toga with bountiful breasts would be nice. Oh, and she would explain everything.

  And yet… there was silence.

  Feeling I should at least explore a bit before heading home I picked a random direction.

  I pulled my pickaxe from my belt, gripping it like a weapon. It was the only tool I had, so I had to make do.

  I twirled the device, instinctively wanting to whistle as I explored. My dad was my adventuring partner growing up and he always liked to talk while hiking, it gave the odd bear you might cross a little warning.

  Since there was magic involved and that bear might be a hundred feet tall, I stuck to stealth.

  The aspens never thinned, the setting never changed, and the wind briefly howled with gusts.

  I was alone. So very alone and not properly geared for winter. The biting chill was causing goosebumps to rise.

  No way would I stay too long.

  When I stubbed my toe on a rock I knelt down.

  You know… This might be a good time to grab a souvenir.

  I brushed aside some leaves and found a craggy rock. After a quick inspection, I jammed the rock into a pocket. Hopefully, it would make me rich.

  I was chuckling at the fact I had a pet rock when I noticed an oddity.

  An outline in the leaves in front of me indicated something was buried here. Staying crouched I moved forward. There was a hilt, to a… sword. When I tugged on the buried weapon it came free. Sort of.

  There was a handle holder spot, but the rest of the weapon went to a square hammer that weighed more than I did. Suddenly the thought hit my mind.

  Is this an orc’s warhammer?

  My eyes shot around, eager to find anyone around in case I was in trouble. After a few minutes on edge, I returned to studying the ground.

  There were bones sticking out from under the leaves nearby.

  Well, bones were my thing, so I brushed the leaves off, eager to learn what befell this person.

  What I uncovered was startling on many levels. There were two sets of bones. Their entwined nature told an old tale that was forgotten with time.

  This right here, this is why I loved digging.

  The first set had a humanoid head that was wider than any human skeleton I’d ever seen. When I stood to get a better outside perspective, the entire body was wider; thicker bones too.

  I picked up the skull and there was a clattering of metal. The mouth had dropped golden stubs for teeth. I pocketed those quickly to continue my study.

  The skeletal remains told me this man was short. Maybe five feet or less. But twice as wide.

  The warhammer, the golden teeth, the thick bones, but compared to the other corpse, this… was a dwarf.

  The other corpse would be a werewolf given its strange features. Nine feet tall, odd joints, a partial human skull, a long snout of canines, and claws for fingers.

  My guess was they slew each other. The claws rested in where the dwarf’s guts would have been, and a dagger was lodged into the neck bones of the werewolf.

  With a few wiggles the te
n inch blade came free.

  I removed an undershirt from my garments to wrap the blade before sticking it in with my phone. The wintery chill was further telling me to head home with continual gusts.

  I learned the dwarf was without armor, which made me sad.

  Hmm… Dwarves - if the stories from Earth held true - never left without… Yes!

  I found a pile of gold that had rested against the ground for so long the cloth disintegrated.

  A quick inspection revealed metallic tin coins that were small, medium silver coins, and only a single big gold coin.

  When I saw a bright sapphire fall from the stack I grinned. I was so starting a collection when I got home.

  Speaking of home, it was time to go. I was somewhere enchanted, and death was very real here. My adventure would bring back oodles of things to research and try to understand.

  A roar erupted from off in the distance. When my eyes shot over to the noise, a massive green dragon flew from right to left.

  Behind it, a blue smaller dragon pestered the green dragon with yellowish spells that trailed tendrils of blue like a comet. The magic flared wide, almost all of them missing.

  I did see a yellow bolt burst over the green scales, causing the angry dragon to snake its head around and unleash a gout of expanding orange flames.

  As quick as they arrived, they passed out of sight. Or I had transfixed and lost track of time.

  My heart beat inside my chest like a humming bird, bringing me into a slight panic attack. I calmed, retrieving the stone.

  When I filled the gem with raw emotion I felt a sick rejection.

  No! NO!

  Instead of shouting I knew I had to remain calm or try to. Panicking rarely was the right answer in any situation.

  I used meditation to let the anxiety, fear, and worry fade. It was something I’d done when my introvert nature had left me in my room alone on so many dark nights.

  My mind was telling me there was a key to these gems.

  I used bliss to teleport myself the first time. I used raw emotions the second. Both times, there was no negativity.

  Maybe I couldn’t magically jump to the hallway if I was under threat or duress. While that would suck, at least I could fathom the logic. Get somewhere safe, calm yourself, and then will the power of the stone through emotions.

  Finding a zen of sorts, I sat down next to the two long dead warriors. When I had control of my emotions, I filled the stone. There was no rejection this time.

  I used the stone just as I had done in the hallway.

  My inner being increased the outflow of emotions until raw power filled the stone. When the blast of light arrived, I flinched again.

  The magic completed, resulting in another sudden out of body experience.

  I found myself in the hallway at the center point when I opened my eyes. The stone in my palm was slightly dimmer than before. With my pockets loaded down with trinkets I went for the big doors that should go home.

  When I stepped through, I winced hoping I wasn’t miles away from where I’d started.

  I arrived in the badlands right where I left. The sun’s spot in the horizon told me that for every minute I spent in the land of dragons, there was a minute here. I quickly checked my phone.

  Yup, same day. Phew.

  The stone I had used was small and now almost empty. I could rush home, or I could collect all these gems, while trying to rig up a backpack or something.

  My hands shot down to my hips while I bit my lip in frustration. I was a planner; that was kinda my thing and visiting a world of magic, monsters, and dragons required planning. A lot of planning and every bit of knowledge I could get.

  I sure bet I was going to really trip the FBI search sensors this time.

  CHAPTER 4

  West Glendive Montana - November 2022

  I moved from the Crossroads Bar to the local La Quinta, plotting another journey while in Montana’s finest luxury. There also may have been a bar below me that actually had expensive whiskey.

  My current digs did nothing to deter me in my research. I also sold the dagger for $49,999 and I could have raised the price. To me, that was bonkers.

  The dagger was weaponsmith validated by a local metal geek.

  He did a write-up indicating the weapons as a rare work with ancient materials and methods. The buyer offered more for future pieces. The shock of my windfall was telling me my snowy winter was going to be incredibly interesting.

  Over the past few months I conducted new tests, desperate to unlock a few mysteries. When the stones were kept together they drained faster. It was almost as if there was an invisible battle of the gems, their cores combatting for dominance to steal each other's magic.

  If the gems were isolated, and completely encased in dirt; then they lost none of their magic. I know it wasn’t magic, but, with the fact of science gone, magic was all that was left to describe the power they contained.

  While that was great to learn, I was still eager to hear back from Professor Ming. She was the teacher of my class before Professor Kilson and would pop in to mingle with students from time to time.

  Since she was semi-retired, I mailed her the rock with an interesting tag that it might be from an unknown place, and included the crazy details she would likely think were fiction. Was kinda shocked when she never sent any news besides she’d look into it.

  Time flew by as I waited. While I was expecting FBI agents to come knocking because of my weird internet searches, it never happened.

  Over the next few months I bought medieval replica clothing, gear, and silver. My thought process was, if that dead dwarf only had a single gold, then I shouldn’t have a hundred on me when I went back.

  Then there was the dilemma if I even wanted to go back. Was buying daggers from a magical land to sell to collectors on Earth going to be worth my time? Yes, yes it was.

  Exploring a fantasy world gave me the hardest boner of my life. Except for the one I had right now and I promise to get to that.

  The park closed when the snows rolled in. Mom and Dad said I should winter with them, but I had plenty of cash while preparing for my next mission. The problem was, I underestimated the amount of snow that fell here.

  Heck, I couldn’t easily trek to my dig site unless I was desperate and even then I needed a guide. Finding a guide had proved fruitful.

  Imagine my surprise when I put an ad out for:

  Archeologist a platonic athletic adventuring partner, $200 a day, NDA required, and must be capable of carrying on a decent conversation. Backpacking experience a plus.

  Umm… I thought this would bring nothing but dudes or ladies with pepper spray at the ready. I had to wonder if it was the fact the pay was great, or that the archeologist was soothing because I had a lot of interest from the fit local babes.

  Which led to this moment.

  Monica, the third or fourth interviewee for the position was straddling me. Our first coffee had converted into a second, and a third. That third coffee though, it turned into a drink, then another, and then finally led to my room.

  Unusual for me, but she was gorgeous with her dark eyes, sleek black hair, dimples, big boobs, and a gym-fit body.

  She was a botany grad with a love for trees, clearly evident by the pleasure she took from the large wood in my pants she rubbed over. When our lips parted from a long lusty kiss, I bit my lip. Letting her know that I desired more.

  I wanted to strip Monica naked to revel in her sexy figure. She smirked at my cue, and at me grabbing her juicy ass hard enough that the squeeze felt delightful for both of us.

  I was so eager I almost got caught in my shirt as I tried to scramble out of it too fast. Her hot lips landed on my chest, then worked their way around. Completely content with the tease, I decided to let my temporary shirt prison continue.

  I ripped off my shirt, and she returned the favor. Trapping her head in her shirt, and exposing her cleavage the way only a push up bra could. She giggled as my unshaven w
hiskers tickled her fleshy bosom. My lips traced towards her already erect but sadly still covered nipples. My hips sent my growing erection right over the perfect parts to tease us both. I went to undo her bra, fumbling with the clasp.

  A light chuckle from me had her chuckling too. She was okay that I wasn’t a pro with deft bra fingers. I unclasped the hinges, hands stroking up her exposed back

  A knock at the door pulled us out of the pleasure.

  “It's Professor Ming, and this is urgent. I was told you were up here!” Ming hissed, winning the world's worst timing award. That and who the hell didn’t use a phone to have a conversation.

  I cursed her ill-timed intrusion. At this point, I even would have told my dad to wait downstairs.

  Monica was hot, charming, and my dick was so close to being her next ride. She redid her bra, bending over to kiss my cheek.

  “I got business to do, keep your phone on,” I said, nibbling her ear lobe.

  “They don’t clear the roads during the night, and even Sally struggles in deep snow,” Monica said.

  I rolled my eyes at her truck’s name. Montana women were interesting to say the least.

  “One moment,” I hollered to Ming.

  A quick bite of my lip resulted in another kiss with her hand tracing the tent in my jeans. I ran a finger over her yoga pants to tease her slit, pausing to give her button a brief twirl. She responded by pushing down on my fingers until I could feel her yearning. Yeah, I could work with that for hours.

  I felt bad to kick her out, especially as I had blue balls, but she understood the intrusion wasn’t a rejection, and that seemed to keep her happy.

  With my shirt back on, I opened the door.

  Professor Ming barged in, thumbing Monica out.

  I snickered; she never was subtle. Monica kissed my neck and I let out a long sigh as she closed the door behind herself. My sex life vexed me, and just as it was about to get heated... fate knocked on my door.

  In this case, fate was a short older Asian woman with flawless skin, perfect hair, and dressed in a power suit. She’d stick out around here, but Ming was always more practical.