Niall flinched. “What?”

Devon grinned. “Easy. Nothing to worry about. It’s a good thing. This world is different, but there’s still dull stuff that people like us have to do. Think of it like admin. Just rest up for now.”

With a nod, Devon shouted into the house before he walked off down the hill towards the village. Niall watched until he disappeared from sight and then poured himself another cup of coffee.

He sat looking out over the fields and the village as the sun started to dip behind the hills. Although he expected his mind to be racing, he was more surprised to find his thoughts were strangely calm. He started to go over everything that had happened

This whole thing made no sense. Two moons. He did not know what to believe. Was his family really in danger like the voice said? What did Devon call him? The Deathless One? Who came up with a stupid name like that? Whatever was going on, the best thing he could do was to get home. But everything that was happening was impossible. He had no idea how he even arrived here. How would he get back? Nothing made sense.

And so, his thoughts ran around in circles. Whenever he thought about his parents or his sister, his heart would start to race. He should do something. But what? Then he would calm down. There was nothing he could do. Until he woke up, or whatever, he may as well just play along.

But this was not a dream. The memory from earlier nudged at him again. It was an article about dreams. If this was a dream, he should not be able to run, or eat, or even meet strangers. All of those things had happened. Whatever was going on, he could not rely on waking up.

There were moments when he thought Devon must be lying but then he would look up and see the two moons. In fact, there was also the third, smaller, faster moving one that appeared. It raced across the sky as he gazed upwards. Devon may have been lying about some things, but whatever was going on, he was not on Earth any more.

A couple of hours later, Niall saw the door of the building Devon had entered opening. Devon walked out smudged with ash and covered in sweat. He must have returned from the town at some point without him noticing. Niall realised that the clanging noise had restarted a while back but he had not paid it any attention.

As Niall watched, Devon walked over to a barrel of water. He stripped off his shirt and poured a jug of water over his head. Niall realised that his impression of strength had been correct. Without his shirt Devon’s muscles were clearly on show. There were a lot of them. Not that Niall was looking. Devon slung his shirt over his shoulder and walked over to Niall, seemingly unaffected by the autumn chill. Niall sucked in his stomach as he approached.

“How are you doing?”

Niall shook his head. “I’m not sure. I’ve sat here for most of the afternoon and I don’t know what to think. None of this makes sense, but it’s not as if there’s a logical alternative that I can come up with.”

“Honestly, the only thing I can advise is for you take things one day at a time. It took me months to come to some kind of peace with it. Even now I have flashbacks and can’t quite believe what's going on with my life, but you get used to it. Because,” he shrugged “what else can you do? Anyway, time for dinner.”

Devon pulled his shirt back on and Niall followed as he led him back inside. Niall had not paid too much attention to the kitchen when he had rushed through it before. The room was light and airy with a high, beamed ceiling. Bunches of vegetables and fresh herbs, as well as a couple of hams, and strings of dried sausages, hung from the rafters. A long table dominated the centre of the room. Along one wall a large metal oven and stove warmed the whole room while a large pot bubbled on top. Presiding over it all was the woman who had brought the coffee out earlier. She gave the two men a smile and said something to Devon as she bustled around.

As they stood there, the back door opened and the boy who Niall had first met ran in shouting, closely followed by a young dog. The two of them raced around the kitchen, it being unclear who was chasing whom. The whole affair was further confused when Devon jumped up and started to chase after both the dog and the boy. Niall could not help cracking a smile as both the dog and the children, both old and young, were ineffectually yelled at by the laughing woman. Peace finally reigned when the boy was picked up and held upside down by his father, while the dog licked his face.

Devon turned to Niall. “I’m sorry you had to see that, Niall. This is my family. No respect for me in any form. This is Kiran.” the boy waved to Niall as he heard his name while still being held upside down. “My elder daughter Alyce has just left to craft her master piece. I don’t know when she will be back, but it won’t be this year. Finally,” he pointed to the dog flopped in front of the hearth, “the pooch is called Silas. So, with introductions out of the way, let’s eat.”

Niall was ushered into a chair and watched as the food appeared on the table and everyone tucked in. The stew from the stove was rich with generous chunks of gamey meat. It was accompanied by buttery mash, and a large bowl of green beans. The meal was completed for the adults by a frothy jug of ale that Devon drew from a barrel in the corner.

It was all delicious and Niall sat and ate while taking in the family scene. Even though he couldn’t understand much of what was being said, the love and respect struck a deep note of homesickness in him. He had not been home to see his parents since Christmas, but the obvious affection around the table reminded him of his visit. Now he may never see them again.

He was lost in thought looking at his plate before he realised that the noise around the table had stopped. He looked up to see that Alana and Kiran had left the table with just Devon still sat there looking at him sympathetically.

Devon stood and clasped Niall’s shoulder “It’s alright son, you take the time you need. You can stay here for however long it takes. For now, though, let’s head off to get that bit of admin done. It’ll help, well it did for me anyway.”

Devon put on a coat and then a cloak that were hanging on pegs by the door as well as strapping on a leather belt that held a long knife. He looked at Niall. “You’re going to need more than that.” He rummaged through the clothes on the pegs and then called out.

Alana came over clearly scolding him, albeit affectionately. She opened one of the chests that lined the room and after rummaging around for a moment stood back up holding a coat and cloak. While clean and serviceable, Niall could see from the multiple, neat darns they were no longer at their best. She handed them over to him and watched critically as he put them on. It was clear from the loose way they hung on his shoulders that they had been made for Devon, but they would certainly keep him warm.

Devon waited calmly while this was all going on but, as soon as Niall was ready, he opened the door. He kissed his wife and said a few words to her before looking over at Niall. “Come on, let’s go.”

The sun just finished dropping under the horizon when Niall followed Devon out of the door. Without the sun, he was glad of the extra clothes that he had been given. He looked around and saw Devon walking towards the woods.

“Hold on.”

Devon turned around. “What?”

“I thought you said we had to do some admin. Shouldn’t we be heading towards the town?”

“Not all admin requires paperwork. This doesn’t even involve people. Now come on, we have just about enough time, but we need to be on our way.”

“But this is the forest. What if there are more of those minotaurs out there?”

“Bulvine. And there aren’t. It was just the one. Very skilled, very dangerous, but only one. There's no way that a group of them would be able to get this far into the kingdom without being noticed. To be honest, not even one should be able to, but it was special.”

Devon turned and continued to walk. Niall watched his retreating back. He could leave now if he wanted. He was pretty sure if he ran he would be able to get away from Devon. That body looked to be made for power, not speed. Then again, he had run him down in the forest after a fight and with an injured leg. Niall shrugged and followed. If Devon wanted to do something to him, then he had had plenty of easier opportunities while Niall was incapacitated.

The dark fell thickly as the two men entered the forest. Niall walked in silence focused, with only partial success, on avoiding the forest debris and tree roots. There was a rustle in the undergrowth next to them. Niall let out a yelp and jumped backwards, stumbling over a fallen tree behind him. His only saving grace was, this time, he did not knock himself out. Devon snorted as he helped pull him up. “It’s fine, just a rabbit, or a bird, or a drake probably. City guy, right?”

Niall did not answer, but just carried on walking. He could not think of a time when he had ever been in the woods at night. In fact, he could not remember the last time he had been in any woods at all. The closest had been a picnic in the grounds of a nearby botanical gardens with some friends last summer. To be honest, he hadn’t really enjoyed it very much. A barbecue at a friend’s house was as much outdoors as he really liked.

“So where are we heading to? Did you say that this didn’t involve people? Is it some kind of automated process? Does that mean that there are computers here?”

“Niall, if you are going to get by here, the hardest adaptations you’re going to have to make aren’t physical. Forget computers, forget machines. A lot of what you thought you knew is going to be turned on its head.” Devon paused then shook his head. “We don’t really have the time, but to be honest, a demonstration is going to be more effective here.”

Devon stopped walking and turned to face Niall. He pushed back his cloak and pulled out the knife he had put on earlier. Niall looked at it. In the dark of the forest the blade did not glint, instead lying black and deadly in Devon’s hand. Devon himself looked different. Even though the hood of his cloak was down, his face was still shrouded in shadow. His dark brown eyes looked as black as the blade.

Niall started to back away and then stopped. Devon reversed his grip and held the blade out to Niall. “Go on, take it.”

Niall looked at the blade Devon held out to him. “Take it,” Devon repeated.

Niall still did not move. Devon took Niall’s hand and wrapped his fingers around the leather wrapped handle. The largest knife Niall had ever held before was a bread knife. This was definitely not for use in the kitchen. The blade was almost the length of his forearm and, while, it was heavy, it felt balanced in his hand. More to the point, this looked sharper than anything Niall had used before.

Devon held out the palm of his hand. “Right, now cut my palm open.”

Niall looked at him. “What?”

“Cut my palm open. Don’t hold back. Give it everything you’ve got.”

“No. I’m not going to do that. Are you actually mad?”

Devon looked at him, then grabbed Niall’s hand again and slammed the knife into his own palm.