Chapter Fifteen
by LordCoake

A light breeze blew dust over the rolling hills of Wormwood. In the distance, tall spires of unnatural stone formations jutted high into the sky, silhouetted against the horizon. The red star slowly set, casting long shadows and a bright red light across the landscape. Just miles away from the city of Worldgate, stood three adventurers.

"Let me guess," said Corinna, more than a little sarcastically. "This isn't Lazlo, right?"

Finally regaining consciousness, Frank sat up, his head hanging wearily between his legs. The amount of energy it took to open a dimensional portal was incredible, exhausting Frank's psychic energy, as well as his physical energy. He had blacked out for several minutes, and had finally awoken to find that the portal was successful, and Corinna, himself, and Gaal had made it through. Though Gaal was not in quite the same shape as he was before Frank had left.

Alex Dugan stood up after checking Gaal's' vital signs. "Your friend is dead," he said matter-of-factly.

Corinna looked at Alex, astonished and irritated. "Oh, really?" she said, "and, what was your first clue? The gaping hole in his chest, or his lack of breathing?"

Alex shook his head in amusement. He had only met this feisty young lady several minutes ago and already liked her.

Frank struggled to his feet, and walked over to where Gaal lay still and unmoving, his eyes open and staring upward. Frank knelt down beside him, said a few words of blessing in an ancient tongue, and gently closed his friends eyes. He slowly stood to his feet, brushing off his pants and exhaling his exhaustion loudly. Looking off in the distance thought of how long it had been since he was last here. Years, he thought. How little it had changed.

Corinna approached Frank, her posture aggressive, as well as her tone. "Well," she said, "it looks like you have a lot of explaining to do magic man! Your little parlor trick dropped us in the middle of who-the-hell-knows-where, and got Gaal killed!"

Frank looked at Corinna, anger welling up within him. "Don't you think I know that, you ungrateful little witch? Maybe you'd like it better back there with that repo-bot! Hmmm?"

As the both of them exchanged angry looks and vicious retorts, Alex Dugan began to step between the two of them, placing his hand gently on their chests and separating them.

"Welcome to Wormwood," he said in as formal a tone as he could. Corinna and Frank stopped the argument and looked at Alex Dugan, saying simultaneously, as if on cue, "Who the hell are you?"