October 11, 2021 - NYU Langone Hospital, New York City, United States

Ella awoke from vivid dreams of strange snake-like creatures with glowing crystalline eyes crawling up her body while she lay trapped under a giant slice of pizza.

She attributed this to the pain meds and being hungry rather than prophecy. How strange her life had become that this was the first thing that came to her.

When she looked up, she almost screamed when she saw a tall thin cadaverous looking man with pale skin, sunken dark eyes, and stringy hair sitting in the hospital room chair. He was wearing rags and the stink was nauseating.

“What do you want? I don’t have any money on me. Just leave or I’ll scream.”

The man looked at her quizzically and then looked down and reached to his finger pulling off a ring. And there was Kothin in all his rough hewn glory. His much shorter glory. And much less fragrant as well.

“Sorry about that. That disguise is meant to ward off curiosity.” He eyed her. “Your naïveté will end up killing you.”

“Well, then someone tell me what is going on!” she said crossly.

“Come sit down, and we shall talk.” Ella looked to the side and saw a small rug of fractal design next to her bed by the window. A small gold table sat in the middle with a few cups, what looked like a teapot, and a decanter.

Kothin sat down on the floor on one side and motioned her to the other. His legs folded under him in ways she could not even begin to follow.

Ella fumbled with her IV pole and then sat across from him. He began dicing strange, multi-colored mushrooms, with that same vivid realness that Ella had come to associate with whatever was going on. He then put them in a mesh strainer in a pot before pouring water from a pitcher over them. Each movement was florid and expansive, lacking the economy of movement one would see in a East Asian tea ceremony, but still ritualized, reaffirmed when he closed his eyes, put his hands wide, and said something under his breath.

He poured a cup and took a sip. He whispered to her, “Our people are not trusting, so it is polite to show the drink is not poisoned by taking the first cup for yourself.”

He poured another cup and handed it to her with both hands gently. She accepted it with equal solemnity.

“Take your time and examine it and smell it and then merely dip your tongue in it and set it down for about fifteen minutes. To show you are no fool, and that trust must be earned.”

Ella did as he asked. Feeling ridiculous since he undoubtedly had her trapped here and she was hardly capable of fighting him off. The mushroom tea was surprisingly sweet and surprisingly alcoholic. It wasn’t water that had been poured over it.

Her surprise must have shown through. He smiled easily and leaned back. “We love our ceremonies, our betrayals, our drama. Your legends paint us as stoic and unyielding, lacking humor and only possessing avarice. The truth is we are maybe slightly less greedy than your people, our humor is all in tricks, and our stoicism is a glorified version of seeing who will laugh first. Or die from being poisoned. Either way works.”

And without further preamble he began.

“Once the world was magical and very different. Wondrous people roamed the land, humans were primitive savages that lived on the outskirts, and the Glorious Orc-Emperor Akrri conquered all seen and unseen.”

“Akrri was unmatched at winning, but even winning costs you, although losing is far worse, and Akkri won many battles.” He waited a moment as if he would go on, but a change of his seated position seemed to indicate returning to the story.

“During his reign it became clear that our time was ending. Magic became scarce and harder to use. Some species that heavily relied on it starved or hibernated.”

“And instead of railing against it. Akrri broke his realm into fragments and separated them from the world. In each fragment, different peoples lived, and died, and slept and changed. Some still touched the world, now your world, and others were completely isolated. But, now, those walls are falling and the People awaken.”

Ella, absorbing this story, nodded her head and put it in terms she was comfortable with, “Entropy will have its due.”

“Yes. Exactly. My people slept until some twenty years ago. We began to venture out cautiously and carefully using small magics like these rings to discover that you, humans, who were once considered mere animals, now ruled, now, in fact, thrived, in a world without magic. We ran into others occasionally, such as your friend, but more and more we see the People. And we fear that conflict is coming.”

Ella focused on the first part. “Must it be conflict?”

Kothin paused for a moment and smiled, “The right question. I suppose that depends on you. Akrri must have been desperate to crown you as his heir, the first to find him in his solitude of millenia. But also cunning for you are certainly a child of our successors. Ignorant and to be hated by some. But vested in a more peaceful outcome.”

Ella, sitting cross legged on the warm floor, her legs asleep from the position she was in shifted a bit. She smiled wanly, “Hooray?”

Kothin matched her smile. “Hooray indeed. There is an apocryphal curse I have heard since waking - May you live in interesting times. It fits. You must prepare.”

“How?” Ella could feel the fear in her voice.

He nodded, “How indeed? Much has changed and how can you be prepared for the unknown? I suppose not getting stabbed would be a good start.”

Ella ignored the humor and thought about what he said. “So should I arm myself? I could learn how to use a gun.”

“Perhaps. I was thinking on this and, to be honest, following you, until I knew what to do. And yet, I don’t think I will know anytime soon. I shall call you after you have thought about it.” He pulled out a smartphone and rattled off her phone number which definitely freaked Ella out a bit.

Then he handed her a small vial, “drink it to neutralize the poison in the tea.” He smiled as she scrambled for it and then said, “or is this the poison and I am bluffing?”

While she stared at him in horror, he got up, put back on the ring, and walked out the door.

She turned the small vial in her hand, filled with an orange liquid. Trying not to hyperventilate. She popped the cap and took the contents in one swig.

“Tang?”