Drake sat on his bed in his room in the inn. His friends were sitting on a small, tattered sofa in front of him. There was a small box in his hand. It was the box that was left for him by the unknown Dimension Master. He caressed the soft leather, wondering how something so small could help him.
As if Mike was reading his thoughts, he leaned forward, eyeing Drake. "How can there be something in that box to help you?" Mike asked. "It's too small to hold anything."
Chad was twirling his dimensional storage ring around his finger. His thought was perhaps that the small box was something similar to his ring. Although he thought it, he didn't say anything. He was waiting to see what the small box was after Drake opened it.
Drake shrugged. "I don't know… Hey, I want to see if it's true that only I can open it," Drake said, handing the box to Mike.
Mike took the box and tried to open it. His large hands were gripping the box tightly. Nothing happened. Using all his strength, he tried again to pull the small lid open, but still, nothing happened. Frowning, he handed the box to Chad, letting him try.
Chad tried to open the box. His slim fingers cradled the box as he attempted to pull it open. It was as if the lid was glued on with a strong adhesive. Shrugging, he handed the box back to Drake.
Drake took the box and easily opened the lid, making Chad and Mike frown. Inside the box was a wrist cuff sitting on electric green velvet; the same color as his energy beam and plasma balls. It looked like a wide, thick bracelet.
Drake looked between his two friends. How can this help?" he asked, baffled. The cuff was four inches wide and made of a slick, dark metal. If placed on his wrist, it would stretch from his wrist and cover a wide portion of his forearm.
"Maybe it's some sort of armer to protect your forearm?" Chad offered.
Sighing, Drake put the cuff on his left wrist. His dominant hand was his right, so it was instinct to put it on the opposite side. As soon as he did, the cuff magically adjusted to the correct size, and a soft voice floated through his head.
{You have received a Dimension Master Storage cuff}
{You have received a skill}
{You have received sweep storage}
Drake smiled, then studied the cuff after receiving the messages. He noticed an ink etching of a book inside the top of the cuff. Using his instinct, he swept his hand with the intention of taking out the book. The book inside the cuff materialized in his hand. The etching was no longer in the cuff. Drake's grin widened, then he looked up at his friends. "I think I can use this."
When he opened the book, he found it had several pages filled with items. He didn't just get a magical cuff and skill. It's just that the other items were stored in the book. Sweeping his hand again, he took out the first item in the book. It was a little leather pouch that matched the belt of his robes. Loops in the back were present. He could easily slide it on his belt if he wanted to. Opening the pouch, he found it was filled with gold, silver, and brass coins. None of them were from the real world. This told him that they now had coins to use in this dimension.
Drake set the book on the bed and used his hand to sweep the pouch back into the book. Disappearing, the pouch materialized back in the book.
Chad and Mike just watched, their eyes wide as they saw what their friend was doing. Neither could believe what they were witnessing.
Drake took the book out again, then swept the small box into the book, storing it. He didn't want to lose it.
"I figured it out," Drake told his friends. "It's called a Dimension Master storage cuff, and as soon as I put it on, I received a skill. The skill is called sweep storage. Just from the little experiment I did, I can store things in the book and the book in the cuff," he explained. "The first few pages already have items in them. The first thing I pulled out: the pouch. It was filled with coins. At least one of our problems has been solved. We don't have to sell anything. I don't want to use the coins unless we have to, until we figure out how to earn more. Basically, I don't want to waste them."
"That is so cool!" Mike grinned. "I never thought I would see magic…real magic."
Chad nodded, agreeing. "So what's the plan for tomorrow?" he asked changing the subject. He knew they would need to be up early.
Drake thought about it for a second. "Well, we need to head to that mountain as soon as possible. If it's as dangerous at night as Ivan said it is, we need to get there as soon as we can and find a safe place to camp in case we have to sleep out there for the night. I'm hoping we can find that cave and finish the quest and be back here before it gets dark, though. Did you notice how nervous everyone was when it started getting dark?"
Both boys nodded. They, too, had noticed the villagers' reactions. They kept looking up at the sky while they rushed to get inside.
"It's getting really late, and the innkeeper, Mary, said that breakfast is early. If breakfast is as good as dinner, then I don't want to miss it," Mike stated, as he got up, yawning loudly. "Besides, the faster we get out of here in the morning, the faster we can finish this quest and get home."
Chad stood up and stretched. "Mike and I found sets of clothes in our rooms laid out for us. There was regular clothes and a long nightshirt to sleep in. She said we could take them with us when we leave. Mary told us that the Dimension Master left them for us and that they should fit us. It's late, I'm going to wash up and go to bed."
Mike nodded in agreement. "Yeah, me too. I have a feeling it's going to be a long day tomorrow."
Drake watched his friends disappear from his room. Each boy was given a separate room that was next to the other. He knew they all needed sleep, but he couldn't. He wanted to check out what else was stored in the book.
He didn't tell his friends, but there was a set of clothes on the bed for him, too; it was meant to go under his robes or in place of them. The reaction he received when they came into town made him believe that it was possibly a better idea to keep his robes visible.
After washing up and changing into the nightshirt he was given, he took the book out of the cuff and started to study each page.
The first page had the coin pouch. He decided to keep it inside the page. Highway robbers couldn't get to it if it were stored in the book. The second had a bow similar to Chad's. Pulling it out, he gently pulled the string. The bow worked the same way, only the color of the energy arrows was different. Chad's bow produced white energy, Drake's produced green. Aside from his fireball skill, all his skills produced something green.
After putting the magic bow back, he inspected each page one by one. The pages contained sets of leather armor for each of them. The intricate carved patterns on the breastplate of each set of armor easily identified who owned them. Chad's had arrows and beautiful vines while Mike's had lightning bolts, swirling patterns, and claw marks. Drakes had the same vines and runes as his robes.
As Drake studied each page, his smile grew. There were indeed plenty of items to help them on their quest. What shocked him the most was the cabin on the last page. After the cabin was a green ribbon that was placed where the first empty page was located. He couldn't take the cabin out to check it out, but he saw an entire cabin nestled inside the page. There was even a large woodpile, stacked up, covering one entire outer wall.
Drake smiled. "It looks like we have a safe place to rest each night." He knew he needed to start thinking outside the box. The rules in this dimension did not apply to the real world. Magic here was real, and he was able to use it. He needed to remember that.
After putting the book back in his cuff, he yawned again and got ready for bed. He fell asleep quickly. His last thoughts were that yes, everything they needed was indeed inside the book.