While this man seems to mean well, you're still hesitant to just go wandering off with a stranger. Not that you aren't with some already, but you know the Captain and Lyssia a lot better than this Adventurer. Also you still feel safer with more people defending you, so you decline.

"Very well, I hope you manage to make it home safely." The Adventurer remarks and takes his leave.

You begin to wander around the camp looking at all the neat things. If you weren't in so much danger and worried about getting home, you'd probably want to stay here. Still wishing to be around a familiar face, you go looking for Lyssia and hope she isn't too busy.

You end up finding her tent, but she's not there. You do see a sleeping black dog though, a big one, bigger than you've ever seen. Scary actually, in fact it's even scarier when it suddenly wakes up and leaps on top of you!

"Grrrrr! What have we here? A little thief? Maybe eating your hands would teach you a lesson and I'm pretty hungry!"

You're so surprised by it talking; you temporarily forget that you're in danger.

"Y…you can talk!" you sputter.
"Of course I can talk!" it snarls before sniffing you a bit. "Snnnn…you don't smell like you're from around here."
"I'm not, where I come from dogs don't talk."
"DOG?!" it growls gnashing its fangs. "I'm a WOLF and maybe you need to learn that lesson too!"

Thankfully Lyssia enters at this point.

"Black Fang, you leave him alone! He's a guest!" she scolds. Black Fang gives you a dirty look, but backs off to his original position where he closes his eyes again

"Thanks…he nearly ate me."
"Oh I doubt that, I know he doesn't seem like it, but he's really a softy."

One of Black Fang's eyes open and he makes a growl, but goes back to sleep. You begin to talk to Lyssia and ask her more about where you're going.

"It's an old ruin of an ancient civilization called Zodan. I know because I found it myself while scouting, of course I didn't explore it in great detail since I figured it would be better to have extra help, but the markings are Zodan. The Zodan are no longer around due to an ancient forgotten war that lead to their downfall, but it's possible that remnants of their power still exists, possibly something we can use against the Nightmare Tyrant."
"Like what?"
"Well we don't know. It's a chance we're taking, but anything that might help against the Nightmare Tyrant will be a welcome relief. Many people believe his powers to be magical in nature, but they aren't. A majority of it is purely mental hence why he is anxious to always absorb the fertile imaginations of children. The Zodan also dabbled in similar psionic activity, so maybe…"

Suddenly a soldier comes running into the tent and you've just noticed how dark its gotten outside.

"Lyssia, we're being attacked by Shadows! They're everywhere!"

She instantly draws her sword and says a few words before leaving.

"You stay in the tent! And Black Fang, wake up, you protect him!"
"Huh? Wha…grah! I have to look after this whelp?"
"DO IT!"

Black Fang gets up and lopes over to the tent entrance and you hear the sounds of battle close by. Soon those sounds are nearly within the tent as a couple of Shadows find your location.

"HERE! HE'S HERE!" one of them hisses before Black Fang attacks them with his teeth and claws. You wonder if he's magical in nature since they fall and dissipate from his attacks. However, it looks as if the Shadows are determined to get you as they begin to overwhelm him as well as some of them on the top of the tent attempting to tear it open.

You look for a weapon

You would think Lyssia would have extra weapons in here tent, but if she does she's currently using them all, because you can't find anything! Meanwhile Black Fang is being overwhelmed by Shadows and some of them are successfully ripping open the tent.

You wish you just had a weapon of some sort to fight them with…

Suddenly a glowing short sword appears in your hand. You're surprised at first, but when a Shadow comes at you from above, you waste you time in swinging your new acquired weapon at it. The moment the sword touches the shadow, it dissolves and screeches before your eyes.

"HEY, you got a sword how about helping me out over here!" Black Fang shouts out seeing noticing your actions while still fighting off the Shadows.

Without hesitation you help him, oddly you no longer feel any kind of fear as you strike down the Shadows. Soon you and Black Fang destroy all the Shadows around the tent, but the rest of the camp is still locked in battle and when you look up MORE Shadows start pouring from the sky. Lyssia comes running towards the both of you.

"Quickly! We have to get out of here and head towards the Zodan ruins! The Captain says he's going to stay behind to hold off the rest of the Shadows!"
"But…"
"Move!"

You, Lyssia and Black Fang take off into the woods, as the sounds of battle get further behind. There are still a few Shadows in pursuit, but you manage to dispatch them. Eventually you reach an abandoned cottage where you all take refuge in for the night.

"Okay I'm pretty sure we lost the Shadows, we'll rest here for the night and set off for the ruins in the morning. A question for you though, how did you come across that sword?"
"I dunno, I just wished for something to fight the Shadows with and it appeared in my hand."
"Oh yeah? You think you could think up something to get rid of ALL the Shadows? That would really help out a lot." Black Fang says.
"Maybe I could wish myself back home…" you say before Lyssia stops you.
"No wait, don't do that. Your abilities while obviously powerful are probably not stable. For all you know you might end up in the middle of an ocean! The power of the mind can be very dangerous. The Zodan experimented with it and they're no longer around anymore. The Nightmare Tyrant wields mind power for evil purposes in his pursuit to conquer everything in his path. I suggest you don't over abuse your gift. Don't worry we will get you home eventually though."

You sure hope so, while you trust Lyssia, you really do want to get home. You can only imagine how worried your Mom is going to be and you really won't know what to tell her when you get back!

In the meantime you settle down to sleep. Lyssia does as well while Black Fang takes watch since Lyssia points out that he was sleeping all day. Fortunately the night is uneventful and when the morning comes you're on your way. Black Fang doesn't travel with you though; in fact he pads off into different direction.

"Why isn't Black Fang coming with us?"
"He's not my pet if that's what you think. He's a free being allowed to come and go as he pleases, but he'll be around. He just prefers his own company for the most part. If we get into overwhelming trouble I have complete faith he'll be around to help. Anyway the Zodan ruins won't take as long to get to with just us traveling there. We'll be able to cover more ground and take paths that an army couldn't travel through."

As you and Lyssia travel, you and her exchange a bit of information about each others' respective worlds which you both find very interesting. You make a lot of progress in one day. So much that Lyssia mentions that you should reach the ruins by the next day. She says that she has orders to search the place as much as she can, and then return back to the Empire where you can get help from the wizards to send you back home. She hopes that the Captain and the rest of his soldiers are alright and will eventually reach the ruins themselves before she returns to the Empire. When night comes Black Fang makes his presence known again as you settle down to camp again.

"I feel I should warn the both of you that we aren't completely alone in these woods. There's something, possibly several things running around out there. Caught a glimpse of them a couple times, but they seem unnaturally quick."
"Shadows?" you ask.
"No, they would've attacked already. Plus I can smell these things when they're close by. They might be able to stay out of sight, but they can't hide their scent. Smells rotten."
"I had a feeling that we were being watched, I never saw anything though." Lyssia replies.
"They've been staying further away from you two. I think they've been watching me a lot more. They probably think I'm a greater threat…and they're right."
"Glad to see that you're…" Lyssia suddenly stops. "Okay I heard that."

You heard it too and all three of you prepare yourselves. You also start to smell something bad like what Black Fang was talking about. Two demonic looking creatures come jumping down from the trees. One of them is much fatter than the other.

"Well there doesn't seem to be anymore point in hiding, I'm pretty sure we can take them anyway." The thinner one says.
"Uh huh, yeah. Um, Jarac which one are we supposed to take back to the Nightmare Tyrant?" the fat one asks.
"Hago, you really are an idiot, sometimes I wonder how we're even related. The boy you moron!"
"I thought the Nightmare Tyrant only had Shadows working for him." You say out loud to Lyssia.
"Oh the Nightmare Tyrant has many working for him, boy. However it seems that a new battle front has recently opened up and he has great need of them elsewhere, but fortunately we happened to be in the area… so here we are."
"So the Nightmare Tyrant relies on half witted demons to do his work now?" Black Fang growls.
"Hey! Only my brother is half-witted! And for what he's going to do to you, he doesn't need to be very smart. Enough of this talk, let's get to it. Are you ready brother?"

Hago doesn't even reply he just smiles with a toothy grin and advances towards Black Fang. Jarak focuses his attention on you, but naturally Lyssia stands in front of you.

"Run away pretty one if you value your existence, though I'd prefer if you didn't." Jarak says and attacks. He's incredibly quick and manages to hit Lyssia and knock her to the ground. A quick glace sees that Black Fang is struggling with Hago.

You need to act now, you can't possibly fight either of the demons with just your weapon given how quick they are, but even they wouldn't be quick enough to fight the power of your mind…

You think of something to help your companions

You wish for something that could help Lyssia and Black Fang, and at first nothing seems to happen, but Jarek then notices something when he tries to grab you and you dodge out of the way.

"WHAT? I should've caught you! No human can move that quickly, especially not a boy!"
"Jarek, I feel like something just sapped my…UGH!" Hago grunts as Black Fang claws him across the face. Lyssia also gets back up to strike Jarek across the chest. He reels backward and realizes he no longer has an advantage.

"Our powers are gone! RUN!" Jarek shouts and runs off with Hago following behind. Black Fang pursues them.

"Black Fang wait!" Lyssia shouts and runs after him. Not wishing to be left alone, you follow Lyssia. You have a hard time keeping up, but after a short distance she stops when she sees Black Fang sniffing around a strange gray building. There are no windows, just a single door. It's actually quite tall; you can't believe you never saw it before even in this forest.

"What is this?" Lyssia asks.
"Don't know, but the two demons ran in there. I was tempted to go in, but considering this thing just materialized out of nowhere I thought discretion might be the better idea for once. It's completely featureless except for this small weird symbol on the door."

Lyssia tells you to stand back as she examines it.

"This is Zodan! I saw these symbols in the ruins I briefly explored. We have to go in explore it If the Nightmare Tyrant's minions are in there, who knows what secrets the Nightmare Tyrant might gain? We certainly don't want him to get anymore powerful than he is!"

At this point the thought of getting home is still in the back of your mind, but with all that has happened you can't help, but be caught up in this excitement even if a lot of it has been scary.

You all enter the building, which apparently is a lot bigger on the inside. All the rooms are lit and furnished, but again everything is a dull gray color, the furniture (Most of which looks like it comes from various time periods), the floors, the walls, all of it. Someone must've really liked that color.

Black Fang easily tracks the demons by their smell; however you all can hear their voices anyway. They sound like they're arguing with someone. When you arrive in the room where they're located, you see strange machines and the two demons arguing with a ghostly figure.

"What do you mean?! Teleport this place! We gotta get out of here!" Jarek shouts.
"This place isn't your personal transportation system! I told you that this place uses up a lot of power and needs to recharge when it teleports. Not to mention you insisted on keeping this place invisible the whole time, didn't you think that was going to use up power? You two are just going to have to wait awhile, there's nothing I can do." the ghost replies.
"Argh! If you weren't a ghost already, I'd make you one! Okay Hago, check…"

Before Jarek can give whatever order he was going to give, Black Fang and Lyssia attack. The two demons stand no chance without their enhanced speed. A couple of quick blows and both give other worldly shrieks before they burst into puffs of smoke and disappear. The ghost on the other hand just floats there observing it all.

"Well, I'm glad they're gone, they were really getting on my nerves. Never did like demons. Now what can I do for you?"
"What is this place exactly?" you ask.
"Oh just a relic of the past or the future depending on your outlook on life. It once was a mobile military base if you were looking for something a little more precise. Used for conquest and that sort of thing."
"This is Zodan in nature isn't it?" Lyssia says.
"Yes, but a fat lot good it did them, considering they aren't around anymore, well not in the traditional sense anyway. I take it you're not minions of the Nightmare Tyrant then?"
"Do we look like we are?" Black Fang snarls.
"Well you might, furball especially with that attitude! But the other two certainly don't look the part, besides I know the Nightmare Tyrant turns children into Shadows. Nasty fellow. No redeeming qualities whatsoever."
"So who are you and why are you working for the Nightmare Tyrant?" you ask.
"I'm not. I'm just a caretaker of this place and as such I'm tied to it. I can't prevent someone from using it however they want, I'm just here to make sure it doesn't fall into decay or get destroyed like so many of the other Zodan inventions. When the Nightmare Tyrant found this place he decided to use it to find other possible Zodan weaponry since this place can easily home in on other Zodan ruins. So far with little success as I said most Zodan equipment has lost all its power. Normally he has those mean little Shadows running around in this place chattering incessantly, but for whatever reason he put those two demons in charge. Guess he needed to reassign troops or something."
"Hey I found a Zodan ruin not far from this forest, is that why those demons were here?"
"Yes, there was one located by me recently, but those demons aren't like the Shadows and their minds weren't as shall we say as sharp hence why we're here in the middle of the forest instead of closer to the desired location. While this place is magical in nature, it was primarily designed to run on the power of the mind. The Nightmare Tyrant's Shadows are all psionically linked to him so teleportation isn't a problem. Those demons couldn't focus on anything! Now you boy, I sense a great deal of mental focus in you. Your sword was created from your mind was it not?"
"Yes, it was."
"Ah yes, I can see why the Nightmare Tyrant would want someone like you to add to his power."
"Can this place take me home?" you ask.
"This place needs time to recharge as those demons used up much of its energy with their bumbling. However, you could probably take yourself home. This place enhances the powers of the mind. Normally I wouldn't advise it since as I said it requires discipline, but you seem to have a natural gift at it and would probably be successful. Just visualize your home and concentrate."

It seems so simple! You wonder if you could've done it all along, but that hardly matters, since you can do it now. Lyssia puts her hand on your shoulder.

"Well, it looks like you'll get home quicker after all."
"Thanks for protecting me from the Shadows and demons." You tell her.
"Hey you helped in both battles." She says.
"Oh and what did I do, sit around and watch?" Black Fang remarks to the both of you.

You nearly laugh and thank Black Fang too. The Caretaker then speaks.

"Okay, now I advise complete quiet when you attempt this. It's better for concentration and noise won't distract you. So your friends will have to remain quiet. I'd advise that they leave altogether, as even their random thoughts could interfere. As I said, the chaos of the mind is one of the reasons for the downfall of the Zodan. I'm a ghost so you need not worry about me."
"Fine! Fine! I know when I'm not wanted I'll go wait outside!" Black Fang says and lopes off. Lyssia is about to leave too, but you insist that she stay because you feel safer with her around. After seeing that you really want her to stay she does and says she'll wish for you to get home as well.

You sit in the middle of the room and close your eyes and concentrate. You visualize your home. You see it. You can almost feel it. You're there, until…

"LYSSIA!" Black Fang roars as he runs into the room.
"I told you the boy needs to concentrate and silence!" the Caretaker snaps.
"Shut up ghost! Shadows are outside! A whole mess of them!"

Lyssia and Black Fang quickly run out of the room. Lyssia shouts at you to continue to your concentration.

You continue to concentrate for home

You were close last time to getting home, you can't stop now. Besides you have to do it quickly before the Shadows get inside!

You attempt to drown out the sounds of battle outside and your concern for Lyssia and Black Fang. Its very difficult and you're having a difficult time concentrating. You see your house, then various people you've encountered, then this place, then total blackness…

"HE'S HERE! GET HIM GET HIM SSSSSS!" you hear a Shadow hiss before you are transported, but it isn't to where you wanted…

When you open your eyes and see nothing but darkness and you are being held down on some sort of smooth cold surface by Shadows and you no longer have your sword. A sinister voice emanates from the darkness and you're completely paralyzed with fear.

"Welcome to your new home and family."