He took a deep breath as he returned to his seat. Here is what I know, this place clearly isn’t home, it has too much of a medieval vibe to it even if I forget the large planet outside the window. This fort seems to have been recently ransacked, judging from the state of the things here. Hopefully those who ransacked this place are long gone, I should still be cautious.

I know what is in this room, because I felt everything in here earlier. There are some larger boots in the closet, the broken sword on the floor and the gold coin under the bed, nothing else of value in here. Kaden starring at himself in what remained of the only mirror in the room, “I am a funny sight, PJs, a broken sword and oversized boots.” Time to search the rest of this place, although I have a feeling most everything would have been looted.

He pushed the large creaking door open, revealing a long stone hallway with several adjoining rooms connected to it. Wandering towards the first room, he noted several nicks and cuts along the wall, chipped and broken pieces of stone from where they had been struck and several stains of dried blood.

Kaden took a deep breath before looking into the closest room. Thinking to himself, please I hope there are no dead bodies there or around here. The room was empty much to his relief, all that greeted him was two beds, two closets and two chests. Looks like this must be some sort of barracks.

He stood in an enclosed courtyard, after searching the entire fort. The fort consisting of two floors with ten room’s total, not counting the outhouse. Kaden was able to find a couple of torn tattered books, some scraps of leather from what may be former pants and a jacket, a blanket, metal mug and a pillow case he planned to use as a make shift bag.

Thinking to himself, this place was obviously a small fort on the road to somewhere, it housed ten men and a commander. Now that I have gathered everything I think that will help or could be useful I guess I should pick a direction. I just hope civilization isn’t too far away as I have no idea what I am going to do for food or water.

The fort had two open gates leading in opposite directions, Kaden picked one at random and started walking.

“AaAaAaAaAa Awaaa”, so that is what you look like. He spotted the bird he had heard earlier. Its face looked like a mix between a falcon and a wolf. It had black feathers with the exception of the very tips of its long wings which were a mixture of green and red. Its tail was almost twice as long as the creature’s body. He had never seen anything like it. “AaAaAaAaAa Awaaa, AaAaAaAaAa Awaaa” it sang, as it dove towards something outside his vision.

“That a terrifying battle cry there buddy”, he mused to himself. “Good luck with your hunt”.

Kaden followed the road for must have felt like hours before finally sitting down to take a rest. I really need to get in shape. Leaning against a tree he pulled out the parchment from earlier, “ok pretty lady, you going to let me in? …No?”...sighing, he put it back in to his pocket. He then grabbed the first of the tattered books and opened it.

Well I don’t understand a word of this language but the illustrations are beautiful. Clearly hand drawn, if it’s similar to medieval earth, books must be worth a fortune. If only I could…

Without warning, Kaden found himself in the endless white space again.

“Hello, thanks for letting me back in. Are you there?” Kaden said aloud.

“I am here”, the familiar voice came from behind him again.

“Hi again, thanks for letting me back in. I have a few more questions I wanted to ask you, well a lot of questions”. Looking at her.

“I didn’t let you back in, you entered by yourself. Also we are not back in the same place as before, this is a different world.” She said staring at him.

“Um... what?”

Still glaring at him, “It seems you have the ability to enter parchment, you entered what remains of this book.”

“WHAT?” Kaden said in surprise. “I can enter paper, what else can I do?”

Shrugging her shoulders, “Other than behave like an idiot, I really don’t know”.

“Hey… That is mean. I am allowed to be surprised here; magic isn’t exactly common place outside of fairy tales where I come from. And shouldn’t you know? I mean you knew I was able to enter and leave paper.”

“I only know what I saw and I figured if you could enter you would be able to exit. Also before you ask, I am only here because you brought me in here too. You kept me in your pocket when you entered this book. As far as I can tell you create a space when you touch parchment and are able to freely enter or exit it. Since I am here along with the rest of the junk (indicating the pillow case) you brought along, it seems you can bring things from outside here as well.” She responded.

“Hmm... What about the knowledge contained within this book? Is there another like you in here? Also what do you know of the outside world? Perhaps a way I can get home?” Kaden started to bombard her with question after question.

“From my understanding so far, you can access the knowledge contained within this book. I am only here because you somehow created me when you entered. If you want I am sure you can create any amount of people to pester as long as you are in a space like this. I have no idea of the outside world, I only have memory of what was contained on this page of the book I was part off before it was damaged, as for my other memories you first arrived a month ago and have been asleep in the parchment since then. So my memories begin from there. So no, I don’t know how to get you home.” She sat down while answering him.

Kaden took a moment to digest the information and began to formulate a plan. “What information is contained within the two books I have?”

“As both books are damaged they seem to be missing a lot of information. This first one seems to be a basic to intermediate combat manual for various weapons and magic, and the second seems to be an encyclopedia of herbs, spices, plants and is either basic cooking or medicine from various regions.”

Kaden stared at her wide eyed, “Is there a way I can learn or access this information, also I can’t read the language will that be a problem? Also what type of book were you”

Rolling her eyes, “You won’t have an issue learning the information unless you try to read what is left of the manuals with your current lack of knowledge. You can access the information; or what’s left of it, just reach out with your feelings and let it flow into you. You should also be able to get a basic grasp of the written language as both books contain enough information for you to gain enough of an understanding. As for me I was originally created to be a spell book but for some reason it seems I got repurposed and turned into a work of fiction.” She sighed, “What a waste”.

Kaden looked at her curiously, “Why would that be a waste?”

“Because spell books are special and used to store an unlimited amount of spells. If you keep adding spells to a regular book it will eventually fill up, so you will need another and another. Or if you use a binder, it will become too big, heave and impossible to find the spell you want on a moment’s notice. Spell books don’t increase in size beyond a certain point making them easy to carry, we also have an inbuilt indexing feature so all you really need to do is say or think of the spell you want and the book will open to the page you need. That is why it is a waste.” She kept looking at him like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“So can you combine the knowledge from both of these books and create a quick access encyclopedia.” In case I need quick access, to this information this may be useful he thought to himself.

Sighing again, “Why? What would be the point? You are here so you should be able to remember what you learn without it. But if you want sure, I can copy the information directly and leave the books intact. Or I can cannibalize them and try to restore some of myself while retaining their knowledge.

Kaden closed his eyes, ok let’s see. Pull the information to myself. Slowly Kaden’s mind begun to expand as knowledge he didn’t know before slowly poured into it. “I understand now.”

Kaden, pulled out the broken sword and assumed a high guard stance. It was a perfect textbook version as was in the manual. “I have never used a sword or any weapon before, I can see some of the gaps in my knowledge... Well a lot of the gaps in my knowledge. I feel what I have managed to learn I know well.”

Concentrating on his stance, he spoke without looking at her, “Go ahead and cannibalize the books, I know what’s in them and have no use for them now. It is a little late for introductions but I am Kaden, Kaden Vos”

The tattered books slowly dissolved into sparkling mist falling downwards and blinking out of existence, as she looked at him and replied, “Sofia Alessandra”.