This Isn't A Game Anymore (VenturianTale fan fiction)

Chapter 23- Off to Kill the Dragon

Bethany staggered back at the barrage of questions, trying in vain to answer them all but finding that most of them she didn't know the answer to.

"How did you get here?" Demanded Steve.

"Where did you come from?" Inquired Bry.

"What was the vortex?"

"Did you create it?"

"Who are you?"

Bethany held up her hands to silence them. "I don't know, okay?" She shouted.

Steve coughed and nodded, backing up. Bry opened his mouth, but his brother's hand clapped over it to prevent any noises from being produced. He received a glare.

"I'm really sorry," Bethany said honestly. "I can't explain most of it, but I can tell you what I know."

A nod came from Steve. "I'm listening."

She took a breath. "My siblings and I are... Lost. We're not from around here and I have to get back to them. My brother Isaac is probably in trouble and I don't know about everyone else. They need my help and we need to get back to our own Realm to help a friend with..." She paused, searching for the right word. "Something." Better they know less.

Steve's eyes softened, and he appeared to understand to some limited degree. "O-okay. I'm having trouble wrapping my head around this."

"It's best not to think too hard about it," Bethany sighed. "Even I'm not sure of it all."

He nodded in response. "From what I've picked up, this doesn't seem to be your home."

She shook her head.

"It also doesn't seem to be your realm."

She shook her head once more.

Bry looked from Bethany to Steve and then back to Bethany. "Wait wait wait wait... You're an Outworlder?"

Steve facepalmed. "Don't call them that."

Bry stuck his hands on his hips indignantly. "It's a good name!"

"Don't mind him," Steve told Bethany. "He likes to make things complicated."

"I know the feeling," Bethany replied, thinking back to her siblings when they were younger.

Bry huffed, folding his arms.

Steve's expression twisted into determination. "Well... If what you're saying is true, then there's only one way to get you home."

Bethany's mood improved instantly. "Really?! How?"

His expression was grim. "Have you... Ever heard of the End Dimension?"

The world seemed to stand still for a moment as the painfully obvious yet insanely dangerous solution was left hanging in the air. She'd played the game before. She'd fought the dragon before.

She knew how it had to end.

Bethany looked down, shaking slightly. "Y-yeah. I know what it is."

"You can get home if you kill the dragon," Said Bry. "But so far no one's done it. A couple people tried to go once, but they d-"

"Didn't come back," Steve cut in, sending a look Bry's way. "We've recently uncovered the journals of an unknown adventurer who was known as simply the Storyteller of Myth, but whose journals refer to the author as The Scythian. We may find some information in the documents."

"I scanned it once," Bry said. "The End was mentioned."

"Well, then we should head back to the library," Steve told them decisively. "Let's take a look."