Urasmian cocked his head slightly to the left while he considered this information and possibly Jason’s request. He didn’t really believe this shit, did he?

“No magic. Hmm.” He stared off into the distance for a moment, then his eyes re-focused, and he became alert again. “No. It is too strange here. I will return to Shcathor and deal with my enemies!”

He paused and smiled at Jason. It was the smile of a shark or perhaps a crocodile.

Chapter 2

Tales of elsewhere

“There are three of them. Garnios, his cousin Klimnos and that idiot Drexos. The three of them thought that by acting together, they would be strong enough to take me, and in truth, they were right, just. Mostly because I wasn’t expecting the attack, and they managed to get a spell through that sort of stunned me.” He paused and shook his head, looking more rueful than angry.

“Then my stupid sort of nephew mucked up the spell they used to transport me here. Because he was bound to me magically, he couldn’t kill me outright nor could he consciously help someone else do it. But they came up with this clever idea to transport me fifty klidak or herakios out over the ocean while I was stunned. Because the world is curved, I would have then fallen into the ocean from a great height, and if that didn’t kill me outright, then the stun spell would stop me from using magic to save myself, and I would consequently drown unless someone came to my assistance, which would be unlikely that far from shore. The whole plan was pushing the limits of the magical bond, and it may still have resulted in harm coming to him if I had actually died. I am not sure.”

He stared off into the distance for a moment, obviously considering the matter.

 “Be that as it may. Their stun spell didn’t quite work as they had planned, although it rendered me insensible for a sufficiently long enough time for my sort of nephew to work through the transport spell and send me away. Stupid klutz. The Keftu word for a klidak is very similar to their word for the whole world, and he got confused. Probably panicking, trying to get the spell off before I regained my power when he saw the stun spell hadn’t worked properly. Your people know the world is round?” Jason nodded, not wanting to interrupt the old fellow. “So, once I sort of got my senses back, I ran through the spell dopey Garnios used and realized he had used the word for the whole world, Herakias, instead of the word for the distance herakios, and so I came here, fifty Herakias to the west instead of fifty herakios. And then one of those metal chariots hit me, which knocked me senseless besides throwing me into that spot where you found me.”

It took Jason a moment to understand what the old man was describing, and then he started when it sank in what the old fellow meant. Fifty worlds, Earths, whatever. Seriously? He’d read lots of stories about there being a Multiverse, with alternate Earths, but like, they were stories, you know. If it weren’t for his suddenly acquired understanding of the Greekish language, he wouldn’t have believed a word of the tale. As it was, he had to consider the truth of the man’s claims, even if they did involve magic and multiple Earths.