He hurt beautifully like the ache from a cracked star. Thin tendrils of vapor rose from his mouth as he stopped to pray. The villagers told him no one survives the cold out on the tundra. He let out a choked sob. He should have listened.

In the distance he could see a bright moon hanging over the land in the daylight.

Just like him, it didn’t belong.

He had heard of a village in the deep north that lived near a portal to another world. Chauncey hadn’t believed a word of it. He was a scientist— and would conduct a thorough expedition to confirm it was all a ballyhoo.

Forty yards in front of him stood a rippling, azure doorway. Energy swirled like errant snowflakes. He had been wrong. About the portal. About many things.

The air seemed to crackle around it as he drew near. His steps still stiff with pain as the cold nestled inside him. If death courted him now— it must chase him to the other side of that portal for capture.

Hopefully he wouldn’t be walking straight up to the gates.

He took a step into the portal— it’s viscous matter inviting him in like a warm bath. He stretched back, but with a sudden lurch it pulled him all the way through.

His thoughts fell away as energy pulled him through the backside of the universe.

He woke up to the roar of a river. A massive delta that led into an ocean lay before him. Sheets of ice rode on top of the river like rafts. They must have been the size of elephants, but the river would have made the Nile jealous.

And then he saw it. Perched on a rock at the mouth of the river. So large it made his mind stutter. A dragon. It stared at him with unblinking eyes. Not a twitch outside of the rise and fall of its chest.

“Come.” A voice called inaudible, but understood. Chauncey walked to the edge of the river. Peering up at the masses coils of dark green scales and muscle.

“You are not from this world.” Chauncey let the shock roll through him. “You will find it much more dangerous than your own. This world is three times the size of where you came from.” A wry glint appeared in the dragon’s eye. “I wish you luck, young traveler.”

The spell broke like brittle bones “I can go?” He looked at the torrent of the ocean and listened to the roar of the river.

“If you can survive. Come back and tell me your stories if you do.”

Chauncey backed away from the dragon. His steps slow and measured. A primal fear kept his heart beating as he edged closer to safety. He felt small. The world loomed with a primal energy. He heard a thin pop and saw the azure of the portal squeeze into a ball of empty air.

“Survive to tell the stories. Proper adventure.” Chauncey thought of Gulliver’s travels. How he had laughed while reading them. No laughs now.