The Xalinor Chronicles

Up in flames

The figures in the crowd watched silently as Malkoth plunged the burning torch into the pile of firewood beneath Jake’s feet. Jake cried in terror as the flames engulfed the dry twigs and singed the underside of his bleeding feet. The pain was so excruciating that he kept screaming like a crazed banshee.

“You are next, you conniving trickster!” said Malkoth, pointing towards the dwarfish creature tied beside Jake.

“Please, spare my life. I will do anything for you,” cried the frightened little thief.

Malkoth was about to set the second stake on fire when a voice cried in the background, “Please stop this. I want these two alive”.

Malkoth turned around and looked at a creature dressed in silk robes, with a peach white face and long pointy ears. The meretricious ornamentation on his cloak revealed that he was from a high-born family.

“This is none of your business, elf,” snapped Malkoth.

“Watch your tongue Malkoth. I am here to take these two off your hands. Now put out the fire and hand them over to me”.

“What makes you think, you can command me?”

“I have the Grand Warlock’s permission”, saying this, the elf handed him a parchment with an imperial seal.

After reading the document thoroughly, a change came over his face. He flung the torch away and turned towards Jake whose feet had been completely charred by the flames. Jake was still writhing in pain, with tears streaming down his anguished face.

Malkoth unsheathed his sword once more and slashed the air from left to right. Instantly, the flames under Jake’s feet were extinguished.

He ordered his soldiers to untie the criminals and clear the mess. A couple of brown bearded figures cut the vines around Jake and his companion and brought them down from the stake. Though Jake had escaped death, his feet had been completely singed by the flames.

After the crowd dispersed, the elf walked up to Jake and tossed a bottle of red liquid at him. “Drink this; it will heal your wounds.”

Jake removed the glass stopper and gently poured the contents of the bottle down his throat. The liquid tasted rather strange but it healed his charred flesh in just a few seconds.

A few more minutes later, even the pain subsided. He looked up at the elf with grateful eyes and thanked him for saving his life. Instead of comforting him, the elf cast a condescending sideways glance at him and ordered his servants to bring the two convicts along.

The elf’s servants were also elves but from a lower birth. They tied Jake and the other wretch in iron chains and loaded them onto a small cart. Jake was too scared to resist so he accepted his humiliating new position as a slave.

“I have never heard of humans trespassing into imperial territory. What did you want to steal?” squeaked the dwarfish creature seated beside him.

Jake had been too stressed by the preceding events to even take note of his little companion till now. Upon hearing the squeaking voice, he finally looked at the creature to try and understand what it was. It was extremely short and had saggy brown skin, covered in mud. Its eyes were round and without any eyelashes. Two leaf-shaped ears protruded from each side of the creature’s face, making it look like a strange alien.

After gazing at it for a while, Jake finally asked, “What are you?”

“Why, I am a gnome of course, a Sneaker to be precise. My name is Zill. What’s your name, little human?”

Jake was rather amused at being referred to as a ‘little human’ by such a tiny creature. He smiled and answered, “My name is Jake Riley.”

“Oh, that’s a very strange name. You are not from Valenwood are you?”

“What’s Valenwood?”

“You don’t know the kingdom of Valenwood? That’s the kingdom of the humans, silly”.

Myriads of questions flooded Jake’s mind. He still couldn’t understand what was going on and what this strange new place was. In all this time he hadn’t seen a single human face. Learning about this human kingdom offered him some degree of comfort. He knew he had to find out more about the creatures he had just encountered, so he fired a fresh volley of questions at the gnome named Zill.

“Who were those guys who wanted to burn us alive? Why did this long-eared creature rescue us? What place is this?”

“You really sound like you have lost your memory. The guys who were trying to burn us are warlocks and the person who rescued us is an elf. This elf is a very powerful and wealthy one, his name is Illanor Saville.”

Jake realized that he was no longer in his own world but had been teleported to some other land. It was just like one of those Isekai anime shows that he was so fond of. He had always secretly wished to visit a fantasy realm but this world wasn’t what he had in mind. It was simply too dangerous. He peeped outside the moving cart and asked, “What do you call this land?”

“This is the continent of Xalinor”, replied the gnome.

‘Xalinor’, that was the same name he had seen on that strange map. It all made sense to him now. That was a map of the continent of Xalinor and reading that ancient incantation on its flip-side must have magically teleported him to the continent of Xalinor.

He had always wanted to meet goblins and elves and gnomes inside a magical world, but Xalinor was proving to be a very hostile land. Just a few moments ago he was about to be burned alive by some crazy warlocks, and now he was being carted off by an elf to serve as his slave. This was nothing like those Isekai anime shows that he used to love.

Jake turned towards Zill and whispered, “I am not from this world. I am from earth. Do you know what that means? It means that I have been Isekaid!”

Zill stared at him with a confused expression on his face. “I think you are still in shock, Jake Wiley”.

“It’s Jake Riley and I am not in shock. I mean it’s a bit overwhelming but I am in full possession of my mental faculties. You have to trust me, Zill. I am from another world.”

“Well, perhaps what you are saying is true. I heard rumors about two other crazy humans claiming that they were also from another world.”

Jake’s eyes lit up with an eager glow, “They must be from my world! Where are they now?”

“One of them was killed by the trolls and the other was probably captured by the elves.”

“I have to find—“

“Halt! What do you have here?” shouted a grim voice outside the cart.

As the wheels rolled to a sudden stop, a couple of elves dressed in chain-mail and armed with crossbows peered into the cart. They whispered among themselves for a while and then ordered Jake and his companion to step outside.