A Foreign Realm (Mianite One-Shots)

Desperate Measures (Syndisparklez)

((Two heroes and the ghost of a god take an unprecedented trip back to the original realm and come across an old enemy. In order to survive, they must go to lengths that they had never gone before.))

"Tom, I can't just go run off and do whatever you want me to do right now. I'm busy." Jordan patiently explained, but half a second later, Tom dropped out of the sky beside him.

"Don't be like that, this'll be fun!" Tom replied with a grin, poking Jordan's shoulder playfully. "We're going on an adventure!" He brandished his sword with a flourish, spearing the air with the tip before turning his attention back to Jordan. "C'mon dude, it's just the twilight forest. No biggie."

"Tom, I'm busy, I can't just drop this."

"What are you even building?" Tom asked, tilting his head curiously as he studied the partially-constructed pile of blocks that Jordan was in the middle of assembling.

"A portal." Jordan replied absent-mindedly, attempting to dial the portal to the correct frequency.

"Another?" Tom whined. "Can't it wait? You already have a bunch, and Dianite isn't a patient guy."

"Dianite told you to ask me to go on a trip with you?" Jordan replied skeptically.

"I did." Both men flinched slightly as the spirit of Dianite materialized nearby and entered their conversation abruptly. "It's just a small mission, nothing huge."

"I'm working on a portal, I can't deal with this right now. This is really delicate-"

"Aw come on!" Tom said, clapping a hand on his shoulder roughly. Jordan flinched, and the wire he was carefully inserting into the portal controller jammed all the way in.

"What the hell Tom that was-" Jordan began to shout angrily but he was soon drowned out by a sudden noise so loud nothing could be heard over it. The partial portal disappeared in a flash of blinding light. The world around Jordan and Tom disappeared as they became weightless, floating through the sudden oblivion.

"AAH!" Tom screamed, crying out as he landed painfully on familiar, hard-packed dry dirt.

"Oomph!" Jordan's breath was crushed out of him as he dropped directly on top of Tom, his fall cushioned slightly by the man beneath him. "Ah, sorry." He groaned, rolling off of Tom and sprawling out beside him. He stared up at the bright blue sky and the clouds drifting by, trying to catch his breath.

"What the hell was that?" Tom breathed, jumping to his feet and crying out in pain as he realized that he probably broke a rib or two in the impact.

"Where are we?" Jordan asked, studying the world around them with wide eyes.

"I think... I think we're home." Tom half-whispered.

"Indeed." Both Tom and Jordan flinched again as Spirit Dianite spoke again, and they both stared with wide eyes at the sudden apparition.

"Um... you have a body?" Tom asked, staring at Spirit Dianite with raised eyebrows.

"No, not really. This is just a ghost of my spirit. In Ruxomar my body was present, allowing me to tether back to there instead of spending energy on maintaining a visible form. Here, on the other hand, I've got no physical tie so in order to not disappear I need to maintain some form of a visible or tangible form."

Jordan studied Spirit Dianite for the first time, noting his differences from the Dianite they knew- Spirit Dianite was taller by far, and was built less like a boulder than the Dianite from their old word. Plus, there was the obvious fact that Spirit Dianite was... well, a spirit. He was semi-transparent and slightly translucent, though it was hard to tell in the bright sunlight.