"So after hearing about tensions military wise, I had to ask someone about the whole thing between Vorstradt and Straskey. I didn't expect a history lesson, but I better note this down in case I get chased about this in future.

According to Advocatus Mercui, Straskey is one of five splinter kingdoms that arose in the wake of the collapse of the Orthodox Realm of Strovia around 70 findrielpulz (local equivalent of years) ago. If I'm reading the stuff right (hopefully considering that I'm barely only understanding Strovian at the time of writing), Strovia was basically organized in a way similar to our own world's Holy Roman Empire (closest comparison I found online, maybe a better historian has a better comparison) and thus the collapse happened due to internal squabbling, not helped by the concurrent Strovian-Srijavat Confrontation (some sort of naval war over an island outpost/colony? records aren't clear), with King Aigulf being the grandson of the last Ducal-Regium of Straskey, who broke off during the collapse.

One of the thorny issues about this is that four of the five splinter kingdoms - Straskey, Vorstradt, Berlismo, Degrisma - all have claimed to be the 'true' successor of Strovia (why do they do this?) and the 'blessed by Findriel', and have repeatedly laid claim to the Velvet Seat of Envirost - the Old Strovian capital. Though in practice, currently the only true 'contendents' for Envirost is Straskey and Vorstradt, and Envirost currently is under the control of Vorstradt, with the other two kingdoms generally acting as bystanders due to simply being weaker militarily. Complicating things is Plimsveri, which are actually Elzen, so they aren't bound by the religious claims of the rest, so they've been generally isolationist.

I did ask Madeline whether all this would affect me - us - and she was pretty ambiavlent, though she said that in any case, they would not ask me to ride out to fight for them. Wouldn't that be a hilarious sight though, bringing my army kit to Hristomver. The camo pattern alone would probably confuse them."

- Personal notes of Roland

As soon as he stepped on the concrete walkway, Roland immediately felt the humid warm equatorial air swarm him, a stark contrast to the cool and dry atmosphere of the Crystal Castle’s chambers. Trying to reorient himself to his surroundings, he drew his arms back, stretching his back, under white fluorescent light.

Just as he did so, his bag rumbled, many times in a row. Sticking his hand into it, Roland drew out his phone, its screen lit up with a scroll of incoming notifications as it reconnected itself with the reality it had come from. At the very top contained messages from someone - most importantly, messages from a concerned mother about his location.

Roland took a peek at the time. Sure enough, it was already ten minutes past eleven, reflected by the many windows of the apartment blocks around his own all had darkened windows, and the sheer lack of sounds or noise from the streets below.

Making his way to the front door of his home - a wooden door barred by a decorated metal gate - Roland closed his eyes and soaked in the moment, the sudden transition from the wild experiences far off land to the familiarity and safety of home.

It won’t stop feeling strange, being able to go to a strange fantasy kingdom and back like I’m just some executive on a business trip, Roland thought while placing his fingerprint on a scanner, The gate unlocked itself with a beep, and he repeated the motion for the door, taking off his shoes at the same time.

As expected, the interior of the flat was completely dark, everyone already having gone to sleep at this hour. Tiptoeing through and gently closing the door and gate behind him, Roland turned on his torch, quietly making a beeline for his own room.

Inside, he flicked a switch, causing a ceiling fan to emit a warm orange light. As he took something out of his bag, he turned to a wooden glass cabinet. Aside from various books and plastic models, a few other things stood out - a pixelated rank insignia with two chevrons and two ‘hats’ atop them with ‘SINGAPURA’ detailed at the bottom, a circular bracelet with a gem set into it, and lastly, an odd-looking contraption with a few gears attached to a crude piston system.

Smiling, Roland open the cabinet, reaching for the contraption. At his touch, a crystal embedded in the contraption’s stand lit up, and the whole piston system began to pump, mimicking a steam engine.

I wonder how the Drzerni are coping with that project, he thought, as he placed another object - the prototype spyglass - next to the engine model. But I’m just too tired…

Without hesitation, he closed his cabinet, turning off the lights at the same time. And with nary a second thought, he dumped himself onto his bed, his all too exhausted body falling asleep almost immediately.

==|==

“Dude, why is it every time we meet up you are busy working on your homework one?”

At a wooden table. Roland’s drooping eyes peered over a laptop cover to stare at his friend, a chubby, bespectacled, Chinese guy with a french fry pinched in his fingers.

“Maths hard. Need extra time to finish,” Roland made a sigh, before dropping back into the virtual purgatory of university-level mathematics, a worksheet of complex differentials and wave equations printed on the screen of his computer. “‘Explain how the procedure in (b) yields a valid general solution for the real critically damped oscillator…’” he read out as if in a trance, the words somehow failing to comprehend despite years of practice and training.

“Hallo?” A hand appeared over the computer screen, waving frantically. “Earth to Roland Toh? Can hear me or not?”

“I…oh fuck this.” In utter exasperation, the beleaguered student of physics threw up his hands with exaggerated aplomb, before slumping over onto the table with a loud thump. “Screw complex calculus, it is so hard…”

“Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah, come eat first lah,” Roland’s friend tapped his shoulder repeatedly, while pointing at the few bags worth of fried chicken, burger, fries and soft drinks placed in between them. “Just take a break and eat, you can probably work faster afterwards.”

“I can’t, Vernon,” Roland made another frustrated sigh, before banging his head against the table again. “I need to finish this by tomorrow, before going back -”

“Shaddup, who ask you to not do your homework until the last minute??” Roland winced as Vernon delivered one tight slap to his forearm. “You think you can solve the problem if you stare at your computer for thirty minutes more? Makes no difference right?”

“Yes, mum.” With a none too sarcastic tone, Roland pushed himself up and looking at the food. A paper plate of fries slathered in white and yellow cheese sauce stared back, the ambrosia of many an overworked college student. Without any hesitation, he grabbed two and plopped them into his mouth

Meanwhile, a large cup of soft drink slid over to Roland. “Actually, where is that Ishraaq huh?” Vernon said as he passed Roland his drink. “Taking his sweet time to come over h-”

“Sorry, I’m here.” A tall Malay rounded the corner behind them, dressed in a nice white shirt and carrying a suit bag and a suitcase. “Presentation QnA went on a bit longer than it should have.”

Quickly, Roland shifted to make space as Ishraaq sat beside him. “How was it?” He asked, as Vernon pushed Ishraaq’s share of the food towards him.

“Ah...hard to say,” Ishaarq said with a firm smile. “Hopefully it went well, but I think the lecturer wasn’t too impressed. But in any case, I think I should be able to pass this module, at least.”

“Just pass?”

“I mean, it’s a Pass/Fail course, even if the lecturers take it way too seriously.”

“Driving you harder than the CSM?”

“Ok, disclaimer, I rather have these lecturers than our encik. Who the heck even prefers the army to civvie life? Still, these people really need to take a chill-pill.” Ishraaq threw his hands up in exasperation.

Roland chuckled at the gesture, attracting the other two’s attention “Hey, its your turn, Roland.” Ishraaq turned to him with an eager glint. “How did it go?”

“How did what go?” Roland narrowed his eyes, closing his laptop and pushing it off to the side. “Do you mean that or-”

“What else, bodoh.” Vernon threw in. “Or you kena thrown out of court issit? Did it fail?”

“Ok, pipe down, dammit,” Roland jabbed one finger to his lips. “I will tell you but don’t spread it around the goddamn world, holy shit.”

With a shared snicker, all three friends leaned in to hear Roland speak.

“So, yes, that princess aside, we managed to complete and make ready that telescope prototype in time for the presentation.” Roland took a deep breath, massaging his head. “And...well for the record...I guessed they liked it? At least, the King was pretty okay with it.”

Roland sat back, while his friends gaped at him.

“...that’s it? Really?” Vernon’s eyes narrowed in disappointment. “You just show the thing and...they liked it?”

“I mean...yeah?” Roland laughed nervously. “It is just a telescope, after all.”

“To you, it's just a telescope, but to them, it is something alien.” Ishraaq pointed out, pointing a drumstick at Roland. “...maybe something like magic - although you’ve said before that they have magic, but still, surely they didn’t just ‘like’ it.”

“Yah lor,” Vernon piped in. “Or either that your story-telling skills suck.”

Ishraaq snorted at Vernon’s jibe, while Roland unconsciously began sipping from his tall cup of soft drink, thinking. “I mean, they definitely knew a little about optics and such - I mean the Book of Optics was published during the Early Middle Ages in our world, it’s not that much different in that world either -...but pretty much everything I said was completely new to them, seeing those theories haven’t been developed there yet. But they are basically like...you know, medieval...that’s to be expected.”

“But that’s actually kind of interesting though, isn’t it?” Vernon commenting. “Like, how big is the difference in knowledge between ours and theirs? And then there’s stuff like, you know, like how our modern society is shaped by this -” Vernon picked up his smartphone and shook it, “- while their’s is medieval but with magic and shit.” He paused for a moment. “Are there dragons there or something?”

“I...think there might be?” Roland replied, racking his mind. “Actually no, Madeline was talking about it, there’s actually a Rhaesvestian Skyfront of elvish settlers with dragons somewhere near the Nictorian Empire...and the way she was talking about it sounded pretty sure.”

“Wow, you really did end up in some fantasy novel,” Ishraaq noted. “Next thing we know, is that you’ve been gone on some mad quest to toss a magic ring down a volcano - or to save a princess.”

“Roland, help!” Vernon chimed in with an awful attempt at mimicking a girl. “Save me and I will marry y-” He stopped and ducked as Roland swiped a rolled-up notebook at him, before popping back up, laughing.

“Realistically speaking,” Roland grumbled as he tossed his notebook back onto the table, “You won’t ever see that happen. Its medieval times, transportation is completely non-existent so I’m pretty much constrained to Orismuth. Even if I managed to learn how to ride a horse, I doubt I would get far other than the outlying villages around.”

“That’s kinda unfortunate,” Ishraaq noted, rubbing his stubble. “Even if you took a week off, like during recess week...no, you could only spend three days on the road, and then you have to turn back or else you wouldn’t be back here in time. There’s no time...what-you-call-it going on, right?”

“Nope.” Roland shook his head, pointing at his watch. “I did the measurement, time passes at the same rate over there.”

“So I guess you are stuck as a ‘scientific advisor’. And you can’t even put it on your resume, lol.”

“Yeah.” Roland picked up a fry and chomped on its end. “An internship except without the benefits and I get paid in gold that’s really hard to convert into hard currency back here.”

“But have you actually managed to sell it?” Vernon made a side-eye at Roland. “That chunk of gold that you got?

“Had to go through some...weird hidden selling site and whatnot...but yeah, it worked.” Roland grimaced at his encounter with the dark web. “Honestly, I think I did it too weirdly, I could have just asked the local pawn shop…”

“...but you didn’t want to get traced.” Ishraaq finished. “But hey, at least it's nice you got money out of it.”

“Mmm hmmm.” Roland finished the rest of the fry, before taking another sip of his drink. Despite a fan rotating right above them, Roland could still feel the humid equatorial heat wrapping around him like an uncomfortable blanket, causing no small amount of thirst.

“Now that I think about it…” Vernon reached up and stretched himself on the bench, “Anything interesting, other than your scientific work?”

“Well, like I said, that Princess.” Roland muttered, annoyance rising to his mind again as he thought of Livia. “If rumours are true, she’s trying to exert more of her authority now that the King is...well, I say getting old, but he’s already old.”

“So basically he’s like an old fart that’s about to die right, so his daughter is just taking over?”

“Wouldn’t say it like that, but that’s not wrong,” Roland noted. “My ‘group’ thinks that the reason why she forced us to speed up the spyglass demonstration is part of that. Not to mention how much she’s been swooping around lately…”

“Oh no, Roland’s stuck in politics now.” Ishraaq made a knowing smirk. “Just can’t keep yourself out of trouble, can you?”

Roland snorted. “I think it's more like I just can’t escape notice there. I am the ‘outsider from another world’, after all.”

“Yer a wizard, Harry.” Vernon attempted to mimick a gruff giant. "Yer the chosen one."

“Oh shush.”

Their banter continued unabated, in the end shifting back to more mundane topics, before they all left for their respective classes.

==|==

“Boy.”

Roland stopped at the door, freezing as he was about to slip a shoe onto his foot. Turning around at the rustling of newspaper, he watched his father, sitting on the sofa, put it down as he looked at him.

“Staying over the night again with your friend?” The elder Toh asked, pushing up his glasses as he looked at his son.

“Yes, pa.” Roland answered, finally slipping the shoe onto his foot.”

“Are your studies still doing well?” His father inclined back into the sofa, resting against the sofa even as he did. “Seeing how you are going out at these times and staying out late…”

“Don’t worry, Pa.” Roland answered, putting on a smile. “I’m...keeping up well. Besides, staying out with friends is what helps me keep up with the syllabus.”

His father nodded knowingly. “The holidays are coming, so that’s a good time to see if you can angle for an internship, if you don’t want to work at my place.”

“I know, Pa.” Roland turned around, reaching around. “Just let me focus on my schoolwork first, then I can think about work.”

“

“Its nice to hear that.” Roland’s father picked up his newspaper again. “Well, I won’t keep you any longer. Have a good night, Yiwen.”

Roland nodded. “Good night, Pa,” he said as he opened the door and exited.

Closing the gate, he stared at the gate, internally processing what he had just said. “Lord forgive me for my lies to my parents.” Roland murmured, closing his eyes in a silent prayer.

Resting against the concrete barrier, he took a look at his watch. It was 2 mins to 3pm. Heart beating hard, Roland simply waited.

At exactly 3 seconds past three, the portal appeared. The tear in spacetime manifested with a white blink in the air, followed with the sudden eruption of bluish aetherial currents through it, which then slowly formed a coherent circular aperture.

With a quiet roar, its diameter expanded to Roland’s height, the gaping maw seemingly about to swallow him whole. But there was a small groan, like the cosmos settling into place, and the aetherial current whirled into an image of familiar crystal walls.

Still deep in thought, Roland stepped through the boundary between worlds.

“Is something wrong?”

As the runic device settled down with a fading sigh, Roland spotted Madeline looking at him with concern.

“Er, what?” Jolted out of his troubled thoughts, Roland forgot to switch back to Straskian. “My apologies, I mean...some difficult thoughts.”

“And what would they be?” Masaru asked from a corner, holding the silvery rod. “Your concerns are ours as well.”

“It’s personal, but…” Roland sighed. “As I mentioned, having to keep my travels here secret...means saying one too many falsehoods to parents...which is something I’m not...happy with.”

“Oh, I see,” Madeline spoke, and Roland could see a twinge of pain appear - briefly - on her face.

“Still…” Roland adjusted his collar, feeling the weirdness of his clothing clashing against his hosts’. “I chose this, so I guess that guilt is mine to bear...right?”

“Perhaps one day you can let them know the truth.” Masaru piped up with a thin smile. “Afterall, to confess your desires, your wishes to those who have borne you, to those who have graciously taken care of you since your birth…” The warrior looked away, sniffing. “Hopefully, that blessed day might come where you can reveal yourself to your ryoshiri.”

Madeline smiled as well, "I...too have been long seperated from what you might call family for a long time. One day, however, my work will be...what's that word in your English? That's right, 'vindicated'. Hopefully."

“Hopefully,” Roland repeated, as though trying to find faith in those words, as he picked up a set of robes on a shelf. “...sorry for bringing this up.”

“Its fine,” Masaru noted, stowing away the rod. “We may have been from worlds aeons apart, but we’ve known each other long enough nonetheless. Spill your woes as much as wine from a pot, and I will drink it with you.”

As Madeline nodded in support, Roland felt a rush of relief. “Thank you.”

Masaru walked and opened the great doors, showing the cavern beyond. As he looked into the basement of the Crystal Castle, a young man from a different world took a deep breath and prepared to bring a wonder from another world to this one.

==|PRIMER - END|==