Tom sat despairingly on the small pier, watching the red and white bobber til he became cross-eyed. He held his head in his hand, his fishing rod stuck inbetween the planks of the old walkway.

He was bored, like really bored.

Tucker and Sonja were off somewhere and hs hadn't seen Nade in weeks. The Modesteps had disappeared a long time ago after building their "secret base", Champwan was always building or farming, and Declan was no fun.

It was peaceful and Tom hated it.

He leaned back, looking away from the annoying plastic ball as he rested against his pile of armor, listening to the clink of the sword strapped across his back as it hit the worn medal of his chest plate.

He began smoothing the wrinkles in his suit absentmindedly as he began to drift off as a crackle of thunder jerked him into awareness. He looked around and was about to lay back again when he saw something red in the water.

Curious, he watched it scrape against the sand of the shore.

He lept up and walked over cautiously to see the odd object, thankful for the relief of boredom.

"Sunglasses?" He muttered curiously, his British accent flaring.

He looked out over the water, searching for the source. When he found it, he lept in the water, his attempt to fish abandoned.

As he reached the weird floating lump, he became cautious again.

He poked it, and when it didn't bite, he flipped it over.

"Bloody Dianite!" Tom cursed in shock as he looked down at the person before him.

A person he didn't know.

This had never happened, not that he could remember.

The stranger was pale, with dark hair plastered to his face, partially obscuring it. He wore a black jacket over a white button-up shirt and matching black pants. However, his shoes seemed to have been swept away in the current, and only one foot still held a muddy sock.

He looked like a drowned Usher.

After overcoming his initial shock, he reached for the guy's wrist, searching for a pulse.

He grinned as he felt the soft rhythm and began dragging the guy to shore, a trail of blood drifted in the water.

Forget fishing this was interesting.

As Tom heaved the guy up on land, he noticed that the dude looked like he had been in a fight. Bruises and cuts covered his body and his clothes were in tatters. His dark brown, almost black, hair fell over his closed eyes and stubbly beard.

And he wasn't waking up.

"Oh, I am not giving you mouth to mouth." He muttered under his breath before he began giving him chest compressions.

He sighed in relief as the guy began gagging and coughing up water.

The guy's eyes popped open, and he lept up, or, at least, he tried to. He cried out in pain as he fell back. He looked around frantically, until his gaze landed on the expectant Tom... and the sword in his hand.

For a moment, they just stared, eyes locked as they both tried to register what was happening. Then, as if a spell had broken, the stranger began crawling back, his eyes wide with fear and determination.  His eyes were darting around wildly as he searched for something to defend himself.

"Calm your tits, bro! I saved ya!" Tom sighed despairingly. While he enjoyed people fearing him, sometimes it was annoying.

For a moment, the dude just stared at him, then, finally he sat still.

"Where am I?" He choked out, his voice raspy and deep.

Tom was surprised by his turnaround, but couldn't help but grin.

"Welcome your face, to the World of Mianite!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tom watched amazed as the guy gorged greedily upon his food. Man, this guy could pack it in.

Tom had half carried the guy back to his house, which wasn't hard considering how light he was. He drummed his fingers impatiently on the table as he watched him.

"Who are you?

"Jordan." He extended his hand to Tom.

"Tom" Tom replied, grabbing Jordan's hand, surprised by its roughness.

There was no way anyone could enter the Realm. No one could even get out.

Unless...

"Did the gods send you?"

The stranger looked up at him curiously.

"There are gods?"

Tom looked at him in disbelief.

"Then how on Earth did you get here?"

For a moment, he just looked at Tom blankly, then suddenly, his eyes became huge and horrified, the fork in his hand clattered to the floor.

"The TREE!" He yelped, his voice full of pain and horror as he lept up.

"Woah, wait what?" Tom cried in confusion as the guy began to run.

"Come back!"

But the man didn't stop running, and for a guy who had almost drowned, he could sprint.

Tom ran after him, following the sound of Jordan's heavy panting.

"Where on Mianite is he even going?" Tom muttered under his breath.

However, the chase ended early when Jordan's whole body spasmed and he fell face first to the ground.

Tom's eyes widened as he ran to where the guy lay, not moving.

He kneeled next to him, and hissed at the sight before him.

As he had fallen, Jordan's jacket had flapped up, revealing his back where a stake of wood small enough to not be noticed, yet big enough to hurt, protruded through his once white shirt and blood seeped from the freshly opened wound.

Tom cursed, why hadn't the guy said anything?

He touched it gently and Jordan cried out in pain.

"Idiot." Tom muttered, his accent causing him to pronounce it "id-yut".

Standing up, he swiped his hand in front of him, waiting impatiently as the message board loaded.

"Dec, I need your help, now!" He called frantically, not caring that he was speaking in open chat.

He swiped again, watching the board fizzle out as he knelt next to the limp form next to him.

The wood protruding from his back looked extremely painful, but Tom knew that to remove it would cause Jordan to bleed out. So instead, he began removing the small splinters around it, wincing as he pulled each one out.

Gently, he began to lift Jordan, wincing as he felt the warm blood soaking through his jacket.

Realizing it futile to move him, he set him back down and leaned against the tree behind him.

As he looked down at the limp form, he had a sudden thought.

As gently as he could, he removed Jordan's jacket and rolled up the once white sleeve that stuck to his right arm.

Tom's eyes widened, and in that moment, he knew that he couldn't let Jordan die, for he was way too important to the story now.

For Jordan was unmarked.

A/N
If ya haven't noticed already, I did base Sparklez origin off of the animation in the vid linked in this part. If ya haven't watched it yet, DO IT!! XD

~Turtle Knight