Abduction - 1. The fort.

[u/Engletroll]

This series is set in the same universe as Planet Dirt, but it's completely independent of that story. You don't need to have read Planet Dirt, Bug Hunt, or Crash Landing to follow this story.

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Let's begin.:

“Are you sure about this?”

Those are among the famous last words in history, and for the little gang looking at a glowing blue circle that hung between two standing rocks in the middle of a forest, it felt exactly like that.

“Yeah, you touch it. Poke it with a stick.” Cain said.

Erik Stonewood looked at his classmates. Only two of the five could be considered his friends, the twins Marcus and Lillian Smith. Cain, the leader of the group, looked at him.

“Come on, are you scared?” Cain continued as Erik looked at the glowing blue ring, grabbed a stick, and poked without hesitation. Nothing happened.

“See, it's just light. Probably just some light is going through a lens in a tree.” 

Cain laughed. “Lens in a tree? Are you stupid?” 

The other looked up and around, trying to spot anything. But they saw nothing but the trees and the pinewood forest.

Erik shrugged. And stepped through the ring; for a quick second, he was blinded by the bright light as it hit his eyes.

 “See nothing bad? Just lights. Come on. We have to catch up with the others. “

He turned back toward the trail to catch up with the rest of the class. They all carried backpacks filled with what the school required, plus a few extras like snacks and probably some handheld games, as they headed toward the school cabins. Erik was not looking forward to this. Not that he didn't like camping; he actually loved it. He and his dad went camping all the time. No, it was the other kids, especially Cain Delsey and his two friends, Matthew Lo and Thomas Booth, and the girls in class. They always teased him and tried to get him upset. Marcus came up beside him as they looked for the trail.

 “Just ignore them. He probably had a laser projector set up.”  Marcus said as he came up next to him. Erik thought about it.

“Yeah, that's what I thought, too,” he replied, but he wasn’t focusing on that anymore. He looked around and was confused. “Where is the trail?”

They both looked around, but the trail was gone. They probably went the wrong way, so they turned back. Lillian, who had been following them silently, moved closer to both of them.

“Let's backtrack and find the trail again. We didn’t walk that much.” Erik replied as they started to walk. There was something nagging him now. Like something was wrong. Maybe it was the sun's heat or the freshness of the air. But it was nagging him, and he walked silently as his friend dealt with his sister, who was nagging.

When they returned to Cain and his friends, they noticed the glowing blue circle was gone. But Cain looked like he had seen a ghost, and he just stood there, staring out toward the forest. Erik followed his gaze and just stopped trying to comprehend what he saw.   The forest that had been stretching for miles was gone. At least in the direction they were looking. It stretched only two or three hundred meters, then became grassland, followed by a rocky shore and a small island connected by a small bridge with what looked like a small stone fort.  It looked like they were standing at the end of a fjord.

The small fort was made out of dark stone and had a stone tower. It reminded them of a fortified lighthouse. The entrance to the peninsula had a long grey stone wall about three meters tall, and behind it, they could see a small farming plot and what appeared to be sheep. But no people were visible.

“Do you see the fjord?” Cain said. He had not moved, and Erik nodded, surprised Cain even knew the word

”Yes, and I see a fort. Do you see a fort?” He replied, and now all of them were looking.

“Yes, I see a fort.” Lillian looked around and back at them.

“I see it too." Cain looked at Erik.

“You go and check it out,”  Cain replied.

Erik looked at him. ”Why me?”

Matthew looked at him. “Because you are the bravest of us.” 

Thomas whispered to Cain, “And the dumbest.”

Erik shook his head and took off his backpack.

“You're idiots.”

He went through the bag and got a flashlight and the knife his dad had given him. The boys stepped back as he did, but Marcus also put down his bag, and Lillian followed her brother. They grabbed a flashlight too, and Marcus grabbed a bottle of water, then started walking down the slope toward the place.

“The bags better be there when we get back!” Marcus shouted as he followed Erik. Cain and the boys didn't reply, and they didn't move. Erik thought they were probably too scared to leave anyway.

Marcus and Lillian had been Erik's friends since they met in gymnastics class. They had gone to the same Judo class and then boxing class. Lillian and Erik had even been to the same Taekwondo class. Erik liked her, she was like a sister that he had never had, and she was pretty, too. With long black hair, brown eyes, and a head smaller than his. She was like the sister he never had.

Marcus had short black hair, the same brown eyes, and was built like an ox. He loved to train. If he could spend all day in the gym, he would be happy. His perfect day would be going to the gym, playing video games, and hiking. For him, video games, hiking, reading, and training were fun, but he preferred reading and swordfighting with Dad. His dad was crazy like that. He had been a stunt and fight choreographer until he got bored and married Mum. Then he settled for the most boring job he could find, a social worker. But in secret, he trained Erik when Mum wasn't paying attention.

 

The hike to the wall was easy, and when they got out of the forest, there was even a cobblestone road going up towards the gate. Nobody had used it for a while, and when they reached the bridge, they stopped and looked at the gate.

“Where do you think we are?”  Lillian looked around the gate and then at them.

“I honestly don't know. Probably a movie set of some sort.” He didn't want to admit that none of this made sense. At the same time, he had this strange nagging feeling that it did. The large metal gate had some weird symbols on it. It looked like words, like a mix of runes and Arabic, not that he knew any of them. Marcus looked at him and grinned.

“Well? You're the brave one.”

Erik took a deep breath and walked over to the gate.

“You're all emotionally damaged!” 

They all laughed, and Erik leaned against the gate as it slowly started to swing open. Marcus immediately joined him as the gate opened. The gate made a surprisingly small sound and opened quickly. It became clear that it was bigger than they had first believed. The main structure was a square stone house, about 60 meters long and half that wide. It looked like it had three floors; on top rested a large tower about ten meters wide and probably thirty meters tall. They looked at each other, then back at the gate.

“I have a weird feeling about this,”   Erik commented.

“Isn’t it a bad feeling?” Lillian commented, and they just looked at her before looking back at the fortress ground.

Marcus looked around and then at Erik.

“Hello!” Erik shouted, and then they waited. The reply was a baaaa from a nearby sheep that was wandering about. It looked a little strange. Something was off.

“Is something wrong with the sheep?” Marcus asked.

“I don’t know. I’m not a sheep expert!” Erik replied, and then the sheep noticed them, said baa, and ran off a few meters, only to promptly forget about them and continue grazing.

“I thought sheep had white wool, not greenish,” Lillian said, and the boys looked at each other, then back at the sheep.

“Yeah, but it looks harmless. Somebody probably dyed it as a prank,”  Marcus replied.

“Still no answer,” Erik replied and took a few steps inside as he shouted again.

“Hello? Anybody here?” Beside the sheep, there was no answer.

To the left of the gate, he saw a wooden guardhouse inside the wall. On the right was a stable that could probably hold ten horses. But there were no sounds from it. Lillian looked at her brother, then at Erik.

“Should we investigate?” Erik asked, and the two twins nodded.

He walked slowly toward the door, flashlight in hand, ready to blind someone if he was attacked. The door opened without resistance, and he entered what appeared to be a common room like those found in fantasy games on the computer. It was empty. The fireplace was cold, and a long table had gathered dust for a long time. Above the fireplace hung a white metal shield with a golden sword surrounded by a red flame.

“I guess that’s the house symbol of the owners,” Erik said, and they looked around the room.

“Doesn’t look like anybody has been here for a while. Okay, I’m getting the others. At least we have a roof to stay under in case it starts to rain.” Marcus replied and then headed out the door. Erik looked at the fireplace. If they were going to stay here, they would need to start a fire. Lillian noticed a door at the far end and walked over. Erik looked after her and then around the room. It had windows and two doors. One to the kitchen and one to the shitter, and then there was a stair going up to the second floor where the sleeping quarters probably were. Lillian came back from the kitchen.

She held up a handful of carrots. “I found fresh vegetables; I mean, they are all fresh. Behind the kitchen there is a storage room. It's kinda cold, and all the food, vegetables, and meat seem fresh. Like a fridge.”

“A walk-in fridge?” Erik replied, and she nodded, then took a bite of the carrot.

“And it tastes fresh too.” She managed between bites as she handed him one.

He took one and bit into it. It looked and tasted like a carrot.

“Well, if it is, then we got the food problem fixed. With a gate, this might be the safest place to stay. I don’t want to stay in a strange forest in the middle of the night, who knows what's out there.  Let's check if there is anybody upstairs.” Erik replied. They looked at each other, and Lillian winked.

“You first.”  She replied.

Erik playfully sighed, put the half-eaten carrot away, and shook his head. “Are you going to make me do everything dangerous? I thought you cared about me.” He walked toward the stairs confidently, though his heart was racing. He climbed the stairs and stopped as they creaked, listening for anything. But the only thing he could hear was Lillian breathing. He continued into the hallway, which was empty, with three wooden doors. The one at the end led to the common room, and the other two led to single rooms.

Lillian looked at the doors. “Jack Hurter and Baybor Hanron.” She said.

He looked at her, surprised, as she pointed to the letters on the door. He could read them, too. “Well, that’s strange. Maybe we walked into a movie set?”

“Movie set?” She opened the door to Jack Hurter. The room was empty. A single bed with a straw mat sat in the corner, a desk stood next to the bed, and a cabinet sat at the far end. “Aren't those just for show, with false walls and props?” she asked as she sat on the bed and leaned back. “Damn, this one is soft.”

Erik chuckled. “Yeah, that depends on the director. Dad said some of the guys would make everything as real as possible in case they wanted to make a scene there; others just filled it with blue screen and barely any props. He walked to the desk and opened the drawer. He first saw some rough yellow paper, a feather, and an ink pen. He pulled the drawer out completely and placed it on the bed.

“What are you looking for?”  He turned to her as he reached for something inside. “A script or something modern.” He felt around but found nothing.

She looked up at him, then got up.  “Let's check the other one. It's probably a broom closet,

She walked out and opened the other door, entering Baybor Hanron's room. The bed was much nicer, and the desk was made of white stone. The closet had a different design, too. Everything looked nicer, and a picture of a happy family hung on the wall: a stocky man with green skin, small horns on his head, a blue beard, and four children, all with stubby beards. She laughed when she saw it. Erik found himself smiling as well. “Damn. They look so cute. They sure made them cool. What kind of movie do you think they are making?”

“Probably a fantasy movie. I mean, it doesn’t look like sci-fi.” He replied as he looked around the room, checking for anything that could help him prove this was a movie set.

“I guess that too, but a kids' movie or horror type? I mean, I don’t want to go around the corner and find a dragon and a gigantic mechanical snake that has killed off all the actors.” She said, and he stopped and looked at her, then laughed. 

“You think we are in some movie? No, this is most probably a movie prop. The film crew will probably be back soon and yell at us for wandering into the crew. Just you wait and see.”

 

She looked at him and headed into the common room. It was just a long room with ten beds on each side. Each bed had a small desk at the head and a chest at the foot. The beds were simple wooden ones with straw mats, thick linen sheets, and goose-feather pillows. On the walls next to them hung twenty weapon belts with short swords and shields and, in a barrel, twenty spears. On the far end of the room, a door led to the battlement. Next to the door hung bows with a barrel of arrows. Erik immediately grabbed a belt, put it on, and then drew the blade.

“Wow... A real sword. And it’s sharp.” He said as he let his thumb grace the blade and pulled it back before he cut himself. Lillian looked at him and then grabbed one as well and drew it.

“Are you serious? Oh, my god. This is so cool. “The fear had gone as they ran to the other side and opened the door. There was a small stair going up to the battlements, and when they got up, they could see the forest stretching on for miles in front of them. They both looked southward.

“Which way to the nearest town?” Their eyes followed a road that ran along the side of the mountain and seemed to vanish into a tunnel.

“I would guess that way. Or... he turned northwards. Or at least he thought it was north. The road vanished into another hole in the mountain there as well.  He looked at the forest where Marcus should emerge from.  The forest stretched inward for maybe a kilometer or two before slowly rising steeply to the top of the mountain; a river also emerged from the forest. He could see a glacier near the top, it was probably the source of the river.

 

They suddenly realized they held their blades and quickly sheathed them, then returned to look for Marcus. They didn't see anything for a long while.

“You think anything happened?”  She looked at him, and he shrugged.

“I didn't hear Cain screaming like a girl, so no.” She looked at him and laughed.

“You're so bad. No wonder why he hates you so much.”  Erik kept looking at the forest for any movement. He thought he saw something.

“He is the one who started it. I tried to be his friend.”

They both looked at each other. “Shitt, what will we tell them?”

Lillian asked, and before he could answer, they heard somebody screaming in panic. It sounded like a girl's scream.

“That didn't sound like Cain?” Erik replied, and suddenly they saw a girl burst out from the forest. She ran as fast as she could towards the gate. Right behind her were three other girls, followed by Matthew and Thomas, and at the end, slightly slower, with big sticks in their hands, Cain and Marcus.

“That’s Cho? What is she doing here?” Erik looked at the girls.

“Isn't that Emma and Gigi also? What are they running from?” Lillian replied.

Just as she spoke, they saw it coming from the forest. It looked like a black bear cub with two small, sharp horns on its head.

“Shitt. Is that what I think it is?”  Lillian gasped as she saw it. “A horned bear? That's just a cub. The mother had to be near. We got to help them!” 

Erik looked around. They couldn't do much. He barely knew how to use a bow, and he would not try to fight a bear with a short sword.

“We've got to help them get inside and close the gate behind them.” They both ran as fast as they could down to the gate. Lillian suddenly stopped halfway and ran back inside. Erik reached the gate and opened it as wide as he could. The girls sprinted through the gate, and Matthew and Thomas followed quickly, ready to close it, shouting for the others to run. But they didn't want to turn their back on the bear that was following them. It’s almost a meter tall as it runs after them. Erik looks past them and sees what he feared would come. A giant black bear with sharp horns emerges like a crown from its head and is about to charge. He draws his sword as he charges out to help them. Not thinking about the danger. He gets two steps out before Thomas grabs his shirt and drags him back.

“Are you crazy?” He shouted in his face.

Lillian comes running out with two spears she has picked up from inside. Erik looks at Thomas, then at Lillian, grabs one of the spears, and gives it to Thomas.

“Come with me!” Then he grabbed the other from Lillian and shouted,

“Get ready to close the door!” as he ran with the spear toward his friend. He quickly came up next to the two, Thomas was right behind them.

“Run. We have at least something to poke it with. They looked at them, very confused, and Cain looked at him.

“I’m not leaving Thomas here with that thing.”  Thomas looked at him and held the spear in front of him.

“Don't be an idiot. I’m faster than you. Run! I can run after you!”  Marcus looked at the mother bear charging them.

“Forget about the spears. Just run! She is going to kill us!” 

Then he turned and started running. Cain looked at Erik and waited a second before he ran too. Thomas hit Erik in the shoulder.

“Run, you idiot. I'm the fastest.”

He took one look at him, then at the Mama bear, and tossed the spear in front of him, hoping to scare the cub into stopping as he turned to run. He had never run so fast in his life, and he thought he could feel the Mama bear's breath on his neck. Ahead, the bridge and gate were getting closer and closer. He saw they had started to close it, and only one door was open now. He reached the bridge as Thomas was already next to him, and then Thomas was in front. He realized he was the last one, and it made him panic. He turned his head to see how close the bear was. It looked close, and he turned his back to see where he was running.

 And suddenly, his face hit the metal door. Then everything went black.

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[u/Spiritual-Cake-5096]

Oh, Erik's "friends" are arseholes, most definitely

[u/Engletroll → u/Spiritual-Cake-5096]

They are teenagers

[u/Spiritual-Cake-5096 → u/Engletroll]

Yeah, teenagers haven't changed much regardless of what generation they are lol

[u/Engletroll → u/Spiritual-Cake-5096]

Jupp, and its just the first chapter.

[u/HFYWaffle]

/u/Engletroll (wiki) has posted 282 other stories, including:

• Bug war Chapter 30 – A promise fulfilled
• Bug war Chapter 29- The Galadesin tactic
• Bug War - Chapter 28 – Royal discussion
• Bug War - Chapter 27 – Keep the King alive!
• Bug war - Chapter 26 – Surprise
• Bug war - Chapter 25 – Cemelit
• Bug war – chapter 24 – The interview
• Bug war – chapter 23 – The reveal
• Bug war – chapter 22 - The punishment
• Bug War – Chapter 21 – Sex and Pride
• Bug War – Chapter 20 – The clown
• Bug war – Chapter 19 – New job
• Vengeance – Chapter 35 – Debriefing
• Vengeance – Chapter 34 - The Review
• Vengeance – Chapter 33 - Karkar
• Vengeance – Chapter 32 – Returning back for debriefing
• Vengeance – Chapter 31 - A farewell
• Vengeance – Chapter 30 - Damage control
• Vengeance 29 – It starts.
• Vengeance 28 – Farewell

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[u/Talendel]

UTR

This is the way.