Free Bakkian Chronicles, Book I - The Prophecy by Jeffrey Poole

Sarah, do ye not have pontal where the two of ye are from?”
    “ Yes, we do. It’s just that there isn’t anyone that can take the function of a plant such as this and modify it to perform some other function. And your joarrun was able to do this?”
    “ Aye. My jhorun is minor, but I have found ways to make it useful around our home.”
    Sarah turned to Steve. “Honey, I think they are talking about magic. They have to be.”
    “ Magic? Why do you say that?”
    “ She’s saying she took these basic flowers and modified them into something else.”
    “ They still look like flowers, sweetie.”
    Sarah sighed and faced Kornal and Nilhanu. “Let me see if I understand you properly. When you refer to joarrun…”
    “ Jho-run,” Nilhanu said slowly, putting stress on the first syllable.
    “ Jho-run. Jhorun. Got it. Thanks.” Sarah took a deep breath. “Okay, when you talk about jhorun, you’re referring to an ability that each person has to do something that typically they wouldn’t have been able to do without their jhorun, correct?”
    Nilhanu smiled. “Aye, that is correct. Without my jhorun, these pontal would be just average pontal and serve no useful purpose.”
    Sarah gave Steve her victory smile. Steve, however, was wearing a frown and thinking deeply. Sarah decided to move in for the kill, so she faced Kornal.
    “ If you don’t mind me asking, Kornal, what is the nature of your jhorun?”
    “ It is no important ability. My jhorun lets me predict where rypos will be the following morning.” He smiled at his wife and took her hand. “Makes catching breakfast easier!”
    Nilhanu smiled back. “It is very fortunate that rypo taste delicious and we live near a river.”
    Steve was still mulling over the existence of magic in this reality and therefore didn’t say anything. Yet. Sarah stepped forward and met Kornal’s gaze.
    “ Kornal, that is a very important ability. You can locate food to help support your family. I can’t think of a more noble jhorun.”
    Kornal was all but glowing at this remark.
    Nilhanu looked at Steve, then to Sarah. “If ye don’ mind me asking, what is the nature of yer jhorun, Sarah?”
    Sarah let out a breath. She knew they were going to ask that. Damn, what should she tell them? She looked to her husband for help. She didn’t want it known that they were from another world/reality. No sense in scaring the hell out of their newfound friends.
    Steve caught the ‘request for help look’ from his wife. They gazed at each other for a few seconds, an unspoken argument raging full-on. Steve finally stepped forward. “We come from a group of people that don’t have jhorun. Nothing to be alarmed about. Quite truthfully, I wish we had some.”
    Kornal shook his head. “I did not know that there were humans who did not possess jhorun. Amazing! Perhaps the castle wizard could grant ye jhorun.”
    Steve raised an eyebrow and looked at Kornal with disbelief. “Really? Can a wizard actually do that?”
    “ Aye, friend, wizards are very powerful. If they wished it, or if their majesties ordered them to, they can give ye jhorun.”
    “ Have the wizards given jhorun to people that haven’t had it before?”
    Kornal scratched his head. “Come to think of it, I do not recall ever hearing of a wizard that granted that gift because I have never heard of anyone that did not have jhorun.”
    Now Sarah was frowning. What are you doing? Are you trying to provoke an argument? Let’s not upset the locals, dear.
    “ I have yet to meet another human that did not have jhorun of some type.” Nilhanu said. “Ye may yet have jhorun in ye that ye aren’t aware of or have not yet discovered how to invoke it yet.”
    Steve kept his best poker face on. “You may be right. We haven’t ever tried to use our jhorun, so it may be lying dormant.” Steve mentally rolled his eyes. Yeah, right. I have some type of magic ability that I’ve never discovered until now? What was in these