“What do I do, what do I do?” Andrew chanted to himself, trying to shake the stiffness from his limbs. Fighting sounded like a lot of work, and it wasn’t like he knew how to anyway. He was pretty sure if he threw a punch, he’d hurt his hand. And what was there to punch? The cloud?

Andrew shook his head. Part of him still didn’t want to think any of it was real, and that there was no reason to worry. Would he be interrupting the elaborate performance Elias was putting on, or would he actually be helping the other? Seeing him turn into a dragon couldn’t be explained away easily, but what else was he supposed to think? That he had for real been somehow thrown into some other world? That only happened in movies and shows, ones that he never even cared to watch.

A massive burst of fire rose from the smoke, creating a wave of heat that nearly knocked Andrew down. He flinched back and waited for it to pass before opening his eyes again, only to see that Elias had emerged from the flames.

The prince roared and clawed at the cloud, but it only brought laughter from the strange, loud voice.

“I told you, Elias, you can’t hit me! I’m superior in this place and there’s nothing you can do about it!”

“You're a coward!” Elias' voice had become much deeper and echoed as the mystery being’s did. “These people had no defense, and they did nothing to you! Only a coward would do something like this!”

The dark cloud solidified and again the glowing eyes appeared. No pupils could be seen, but there were black cracks around the edges that allowed Andrew to get an idea of where they were looking.

“You dare call me a coward? Looks like the pot is calling the kettle black. When's the last time you acted like an actual prince, huh? You've been too scared to do a damn thing in this place since I showed up because you're nothing but a sad, weak, coward-”

Elias opened his mouth and even more fire came pouring out of it, silencing whatever was hiding in the smoke.

“Holy shit, he blows fire,” Andrew said with a shaky laugh. “And this cloud of fire and eyeballs is talking, and- Oh, man. I don't- I don't like this.” He covered his face with his hands and took in a slow breath. Freaking out wasn't going to help anything. Standing there wasn't going to either.

Elias and whatever was speaking to him had started fighting again, though that time Andrew could see the sluggish way the prince's wings flapped. Fighting had to be exhausting, and the angry cloud looked to be hitting him with some strange red smoke. Elias took every hit as if it were nothing, however, even from where Andrew stood, he could tell that they were anything but.

Andrew looked around for something he could use to distract the eyes. Rocks, dirt, and ash were the only things he could grab in a hurry. Those wouldn't do, though. Maybe a rock could be thrown, but he doubted the massive fog monster would care about something so small passing through it.

Another pained roar came from Elias, and that time the prince crashed into the ground after taking a hit. Dirt and rocks flew up around him, filling the already hard-to-breathe air with even more debris. Elias laid motionless, silence falling over the area.

“I… I can’t help,” Andrew sighed. “I wish I could help, but I can’t. This is so- Fuck, it’s so over my head.” He stepped back, ready to turn and run behind the trees and hide like the others. The sound of heavy breathing and grunting stopped Andrew from turning away just yet. Elias was getting up.

Blood poured from his side, coating the ashen ground in a thick pool of crimson. The prince stumbled and flapped his wings in an attempt to fly again, only to fall again.

“You can’t win, Elias. I’m going to take what I can from this world and make it back to mine, whether you like it or not.” The mass of smoke crawled closer to Elias as it spoke. “I’ll rip this place to shreds if that’s what it takes to get the magic I need to get home.”

“Magic,” Andrew gasped. Right. He could use that. It had helped before each time he asked, surely it would help again. As if on queue, blue sparkles began to pop out of the ground around his feet. Andrew looked down at them, then back up at the cloud that had nearly swallowed Elias. “Alright, blue glitter… Stuff. I wish I had the ability to help Elias!”

A rush of blue light burst from the ground, enveloping Andrew and turning the world around him white. He began to float off the ground, and rather than getting some sort of cool weapon or suddenly gaining a bunch of muscle, his clothes disappeared.

Andrew swore and scrambled to cover himself, though it wasn’t long before a new outfit began to form. Armor, much like sets he had seen in video games or a museum, covered him piece by piece until Andrew was fully covered.

The light vanished, and he dropped to the ground, landing with more grace than he had ever had before.

Andrew took a moment to assess the makeover. Every piece of the armor seemed solid enough, and it covered all of him, so it would probably be fine in a fight. On his hip sat a sword, one that when unsheathed was a lot lighter than he expected it to be. “Okay, well, that light show was super unnecessary, but whatever, it works.” He lifted the sword above his head, looking at the dark cloud through his new helmet. “Hey… You! Leave him alone!”

He would have to work on his quips and name-calling if he was going to go into battle ever again.

The being had paused and hadn’t made it to Elias yet, which was great, but that gave it all the more room to turn around and head over to Andrew at a break-neck speed.

“W-wait! Don’t- Don’t hurt him, Sebastian!” Elias weakly called out and tried to get up again, still to no avail. “Andrew, run!”

“Oh, that’s cute! Pretending to care all over again, Elias?” The eyes were suddenly towering over Andrew, surrounding him in thick fog. “You’re not from here, just like me. Has he told you about me? Probably not, because he’s scared. Scared of what we can do here. And he’s done nothing to send us home even still. Do you really intend to pick his side?”

“I’d rather pick his than yours, freak!” Andrew grabbed the sword with both hands, ready to swing it the second the eyes got too close.

Putting so much trust into the magic that still didn’t seem real was stupid, Andrew knew it was, but there wasn’t much choice. Whatever was going on, whatever beef Elias had with this evil cloud guy, it didn’t matter. People were being hurt—Elias was hurt—and for once in his life, Andrew could do something other than just write an article.

“You would rather fight me than learn the truth of this place? He’s been lying to you! Don’t you want to get home?” The voice strained at the end of his sentence, and the eyes inched closer to Andrew. “We’re both from Earth, right? We both know what cell phones, planes, technology, and civilization are. Don’t you want to get back to all of that? Or has he made you think this place is some sort of paradise? Because it’s not! It’s horrible, and boring, and there’s no! Way! Out!” The last few words were punctuated with a rumbling in the ground.

All the trees and whatever was left of the buildings shook, but Andrew managed to stand firm, thanks to the armor.

“Listen, I’m not going to pretend I’m a saint because I’m pretty far from it, and I do want to leave this weird, make-believe place, but I’m not going to kill people over it. You seem like some nut job that’s justifying your depraved agenda with a sob story. And sob stories coming from people in power make me sick. So, even though I don’t know how to use this sword, I’m going to try to hit you with it, because I don’t want to listen to your weird ass voice anymore.” Andrew lifted the sword again, reeling it back as if it were a baseball bat. “Also, your eyes freak me out, so close them or go away!”

With every ounce of strength he had, Andrew swung the sword.

Blinding streaks of light followed behind it, slashing up into the cloud with a resounding crack. It split the mass right in half, the eyes disappearing as it dispersed into the surrounding trees.

Andrew somehow managed not to fall over from the force of his swing and was even able to lift it again in case he needed to keep the fight going.

“You’re a damn fool for this, Andrew! You’ll regret picking his side, I promise you that!” The voice faded away as the smoke did, clearing the field and leaving nothing but ash and smoldering ruins behind.

“Whatever, I do what I want,” Andrew grunted. He let out a large sigh of relief and sheathed the sword again before running over to Elias. The prince had shrunken down to his human form again, making it much easier for Andrew to see the large gash on his side. “Shit, that looks bad.”

“You… You fought him. You could have picked his side, but you’re… Here with me?” Elias pressed his hand against the wound, not doing much to stop the bleeding. “Thank you, Andrew.”

“We’ll talk about that later, for now, we need to get you and all of these people out of here. I’m no leader, though, that’s your job, so tell us what to do. And tell me how I can maybe help with that because I don’t want to deal with you bleeding out.” Andrew looked at his arm, the light of the setting sun shining off of the metal covering it. “I can use the magic to help. Probably. I’m not sure yet.”

Elias laughed and managed to stand, albeit slowly and with a few pained grunts. “We’ll get everything here sorted quickly, in case Sebastian decides to come back. Then, once we’re settled, I believe we need to speak about what just happened. I… Haven’t been entirely honest with you, Andrew.”

Andrew rolled his eyes. “I figured that much from the moment we met. But I can’t be mad about that right now. I’m still reeling from seeing all of this being… Probably real. I don’t know, it could still be a dream. Or a coma.”

Another laugh came from the prince, though that time he had to stop and grimace. “Right. Recovery and rescue first, then we can talk.”