ã€ŠDoor to Nowhere (On hold for a remake)ã€‹


 Chapter 1

    Everything around me was bathed in crimson light, buildings twisted into impossible shapes, streets hummed in rage bodies indiscriminately covering them as if having died in place without any warning. It was too quiet, an overwhelming quiet that threatened to engulf all who experienced it; the silence of a city gone dead. And here I was, how had this happened? I stepped out of the protection of my front door unsure how I had gotten there in the first place.

    ¡°What the hell is going on?¡± I mumbled to myself as I fought the dizzying sensation that accompanied the rank scent of the rotting dead. I was back home again, but this wasn¡¯t the Hillcrest Circle Street that I had grown up in. A sense of foreboding came over me, I turned around feeling as if someone was watching me, or something; I was right.

    A dark figure watched me from the top steps of my mother¡¯s duplex, it¡¯s face shrouded in darkness, body like a woman¡¯s but with limbs far too thin; its only defining feature was its eyes, scarlet blood colored eyes, no pupils, it stared at me from those steps watching me.

    Cold dread filled my stomach, an icy spiked ball tearing into it ripping me from the inside. I backed up still keeping my eyes glued to the figure unsure of what to think of it. I stumbled, my feet running into something, I fell backward, the world flipping over, my head slamming into the ground, the sight of a blood red moon filling my vision, its size far too large to be normal.

    A body lay next to me, the object of what I had stumbled over. ¡°Fuck!¡± I yelped, more in fear then pain, standing up trying to put distance between myself and the corpse, my eyes searched for that strange watcher, a futile attempt as it seemed to have disappeared. With my stomach lurching, and my heart pounding I went out to explore this deadly world.

    ¡°Daniel.¡± A voice whispered, it seemed to have said more, but my name was the only thing I could understand as if something was trying to interfere with me hearing it, afraid of the implications.

    ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± I yelled out. A pounding sensation threatened to rip my head apart as if trying desperately to stop me from talking to whatever it was. In response, creatures started to come out of the shadows, like a hive of angry wasps they surrounded me, their dark forms as twisted as the buildings around me, I found myself surrounded by what could only be fairies.

    Those were only the quickest to respond. All manner of creature, twisted and demented but still recognizable came out. All were impossible, creatures of the night, told about in fairy tales, told to explain before we knew better, but long ago abandoned to the realm of myth.

    ¡°It¡¯s your fault!¡± screamed one of the creatures.

    ¡°Betrayer!¡± Another clamored.

    The creature¡¯s forms twisted, many seemed to be wrung out, their limbs stuck out at impossible angles. They crowded me, hands grabbing me, the buzzing of wings in my ears, the growling of a beast at my feet. So, intent to kill as if in the most horrific of ways. They raked at my flesh, pain so blinding, my body ripped and tore.

    ¡°Embrace me, Daniel.¡± The voice whispered, this time louder, clearer, a sweet, tender whisper begging for intimacy. I felt as if my blood were going to boil over.

    ¡°Please save me, someone, anyone.¡± I begged. Everything stopped, frozen in time, the light of the moon rained down on us all, its scarlet rays drowning everything in its light, a light far too bright.

    I awoke, my body plastered in sweet my bedside a mess of tossed about pillows, blankets, and sheets. At the foot of the bed, a black cat stared at me unblinking, tail twitching angry.

    ¡°Mrow.¡± The cat complained before jumping off the bed. Swaggering his way to the food bowl in the kitchen, his steps reminding me of a man stepping into mud. He turned to me and meowed again.

    I sighed, ¡°I¡¯ll be right there Rocky.¡± Forcing myself up was the hard part, I felt like I hadn¡¯t slept at all that nightmare ruining what little sleep. Making my way through the apartment was a bit troublesome for this sleep-deprived brain. Pens, pencils, paint bottles and all kinds of other art supplies seemed to pop up at every opportunity to impede any hope of progress.

    After feeding the cat and myself, I checked my phone, only then realizing my mistake; 9:55. Accompanied by that was a message from Emma. ¡°Where are you?¡± It read.

    ¡°Fuck! I¡¯m going to be late.¡± How had I overslept? I texted her back, ¡°I¡¯m on my way.¡± Then got myself ready.

    By the time I made it, the class seemed to be in its last hour, and my head pounded. Sneaking in through one of the back entrances I made my way down, searching for Emma. My phone vibrated, pulling it out a message read. ¡°You missed me, I¡¯m in the back.¡±

    I searched the back tables the pounding in my head making it harder than usual to focus. There she was, a brunette girl waved from one of the back-most tables.

    ¡°Emma, did you need something?¡± The professor asked from the front.

    ¡°Oh no, sorry Mr. Grey, I was just stretching my arm out is all.¡± She said trying to hide her embarrassment.

    ¡°I see,¡± He looked towards me, ¡°Mister Daniel, please make your way to your seat so you can quit disrupting class.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir,¡± I said, looking down avoiding the looks of the other students, feeling their stares as I made my way to Emma.

    ¡°What took you so long?¡± Emma asked, whispering in the hopes that Grey wouldn¡¯t call us out again.

    ¡°I overslept I guess, didn¡¯t even hear my alarm. Fucking crazy ass nightmare.¡±

    Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.¡°What was it about?¡± One of the other people on the table asked, a guy named Jenna I think. ¡°Not really certain anymore, all I remember is a voice, some womans voice, and light. Whatever it was it sure as hell creeped me the hell out.¡±

    ¡°Ha, maybe you¡¯re having nightmares of Emma nagging on you.¡± Another classmate responded.

    ¡°I have my reasons Tod,¡± Emma snarled. Emma glared at me with those stormy emerald green eyes, I could feel a fluttering in my chest even as I mentally prepared for a lecture.

    She scooted closer, ¡°You need to hold yourself more accountable Daniel, I know you haven¡¯t been feeling well since Theresa left but you need to get your act together, you¡¯re falling behind.¡± She whispered.

    She was so close, my heart pounded like a caged animal, I was afraid she would hear it, we¡¯d been friends for years now, and yet she still made me feel this way.

    ¡°Yeah, yeah I get it,¡± I said before pushing her away. ¡°You¡¯re too close,¡± I tried to sound irritated, though inside I felt a twisted pleasure.

    ¡°Shush, stop trying to act so tough all the time.¡± She said with a grin her glare gone.

    Class droned on, ending finally at 11. I think Emma may have said something about eating together at the cafe before class, I¡¯m not sure though my head hurt so much. It was beyond a headache, I couldn¡¯t handle it, it was as if something were trying to rake its way out.

    ¡°I¡¯m not feeling so well; I¡¯m going to go get a painkiller or something. I¡¯ll meet you in class.¡± I mumbled to a worried Emma before stumbling my way back to my dorm.

    ~Click~

    Painful light revealed my one-room apartment. Rocky; my cat started moving as soon as I turned the light on, weaving his way around my legs. ¡°Mrow,¡± he whined. Then Rocky stared at me expectantly as if saying, ¡°Give me attention!¡±

    ¡°One second Rocky,¡± I responded lovingly and tossed my shoes aside. I went to the cabinet with my meds, many of which I¡¯d stopped taking. ¡°Tylenol, Aleve, come one there¡¯s got to be something.¡± Finding something finally, I dry swallowed it, wanting to get rid of this pain as soon as possible. I even took one pill over the recommended dose hoping that it would do the trick.

    I went over to Rocky, scratching him; his purr a reward for the minor show of affection. In the middle of the room, was my canvas, a strange feeling welled up inside me upon seeing it, the pounding in my head becoming far sharper, so painful that I thought I was going to heave. Then the pounding stopped.

    ¡°Daniel,¡±

    A mysterious feminine voice called out to me, strangely familiar; am I going crazy? The pounding stopped, a welcome change, I found myself being drawn to that blank canvas. The urge to pain hit me like a rock, I needed to paint, needed to create. A strange feeling though a welcome change as lately I had found it too hard to do much of anything outside of the expected. I stopped thinking about the voice, as the urge to draw overcome me.

    I went to work; I didn¡¯t even know what it was that I was drawing. I went into a trance, like the one that many who call themselves artists go into. The world moved at a near standstill. My body was on automatic; the color seemed to come out of nowhere filling the canvas. It wasn¡¯t a grand scene; a large stone doorway surrounded by vegetation, water dribbling from its side; droplets pooling up into a puddle that disappeared along with the border of the painting. My hand stopped, I sat their amazed at what I had created.

    ¡°Find me¡­¡± A voice whispered.

    ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± I asked in futility only half caring to know, my eyes glued to the painting in front of, it was so realistic, as if a photo, no not even that, it was almost as if It was a window rather than a painting. When had I gotten this good at art? Why did it seem so alive?

    A buzzing filled my head, the itching reaching a crescendo, my hand touched the painting, I could feel the cold stone, the cold of the water, the stiff breeze. I felt myself lurching forward, my hand going into the painting, colors seeming to swirl around me until I could no longer see anything.

    When my vision cleared, I found that I was no longer in my apartment. All around me the surroundings had changed; my apartment had given way to stone and greenery. The cold sensation of dripping water made me suddenly aware that this seemed to be real. Then I noticed something. I looked over to where the light came from and came across a doorway. The doorway stood there in the cave both in contrast and in harmony, its shape seemed so smooth that it almost looked like it had naturally formed. The inner part of the doorway was covered in beautiful vegetation. Vines covered it, scarlet flowers blooming from them. The flowers seeming to shimmer from some unknown source; a scene fit for a painting; my painting.

    ¡°Where am I?¡± I asked out loud both hoping for someone to answer and dreading to hear it. Of course, nothing replied. I neared the doorway, my skin running a marathon of goosebumps on my way under. I checked my phone, hoping that it had service, a hope dispelled in moments, the phone had no service.

    It took me a bit to calm down after the realization came over me, I pocketed my phone, turning it off. I slunk around trying to avoid stepping on the greenery, a futile attempt as the floor was covered in it. Climbing over flowers and vine, I made my way past the doorway.

    Past the door, a shimmering pool of water lit up the chamber. The ambient blue light of the water glowed unnaturally almost as if I were staring at a lava lamp. Vegetation seemed to be everywhere, long trellises of vine appeared to cover the otherwise black stone of the cave. Life was so abundant here, something that should have been impossible, the only light coming from the pool and the flowers. Kneeling; my throat parched I caught sight of my reflection staring back, my short brunette hair wild, an untamed mass, my blue eyes almost matching the blue of the water.

    It seemed clean enough, cupping my hands; I sipped the water, my throat thirsty. A feeling of electric energy zipped through my body, the sense of drowsiness that had followed me since this morning disappeared. I took another drink, but stopped, the reflection of the water showed something with me.

    ¡°Shit!¡± I jumped backward, stumbling into the flowers and vines that I had so carefully tried to avoid before, anxious to see what was with me, only to find out I was alone. The chamber now felt far more ominous, the sensation of something else here overshadowing the peaceful atmosphere leaving me wary of every shadow. Looking down and seeing the crushed vegetation I felt a slight pang of regret but then made my way onward.

    Following the sound of running water it wasn¡¯t long before I found my way out. Light shined from above burning my sockets which only moments ago had dealt with nearly pitch-dark blackness. I stood now on a mountain pathway, feeling blessed to be out, afraid I would forever be lost in those caves. But that feeling of blessing flipped as I realized that nothing around me looked anything like human civilization. A temperate forest lay before me. To the left was a patch of white that seemed to border the forest. And much farther ahead the forest seemed to clear, and with it the first signs of human civilization I could see; a huge road.

 Chapter 2

    The sun beat angrily against my skin, a massive contrast to the cold of the cave. Forest in front and to my right, a vast lake with a waterfall to my left. ¡°Where am I?¡± I ask myself again out loud. This isn¡¯t Seattle. The air was hot and moist, and I couldn¡¯t see any large buildings nearby.

    ~Errrrrrrrr~

    My stomach was starting to feel sick from the lack of food. I did the only thing I could think of; I started walking, my eyes scanning for anything whether it be food or a clue to my current predicament.

    ¡°Daniel¡­¡±

    That voice again.

    ¡°Run Daniel,¡±

    It was louder and clearer than before. ¡°Who are you!¡± I could feel cold sweat on my naked body even with the heat of the outside. Something was starting to feel wrong. As if on cue, the woods around seemed to close in. Around me, the light started to dim, and the wood seemed to take on an almost evil guise.

    ~Crack~

    Turning to the sound, a black shadowlike creature emerged from the underbrush. Eyes red like blood stared at me, it writhed and changed reminding me almost like a squid but keeping an almost wolf-like shape to it. ¡°What the fuck is that?¡± My heart involuntarily started beating, painfully, as if any moment it would explode. ¡°Seriously? I¡¯m fucking naked!¡± The (wolf-like?) monster started to split open rows of teeth and tentacles coming out rushing towards me. Run, I have to run!

    My bare feet, not used to running ached and ripped, on every stone, and stick. The presence of the creature could be felt without even looking, and it was getting closer.

    ~Whoosh~

    A tentacle slashed near me, attempting to skewer me probably, instead of burrowing itself into the trunk of a thick old tree. ¡°Shit shit shit shit.¡± That was too fucking close.

    ¡°So HuNgrY¡±

    The voice came from behind if anything could sound like an evil frenzied beast it was that thing. My vision was starting to blur; I had never been an overly athletic type. The forest was getting thicker here, ducking, weaving, and jumping. I couldn¡¯t even tell where I was going.

    A huge branch, I couldn¡¯t see what was in front. Heaving myself over I jump over the branch realizing too late that ahead of that branch was a cliff. ¡°I¡¯m going to die; I¡¯m going to die, FUCK!¡± I scream as I tumble down rolling like the lumpy sack of skin that I was.

    The fall was over after an agonizing minute, or so, thankfully I didn¡¯t seem to be injured. The steep decline above me seemed to have somehow not killed me.

    ~Uuuuuuughhhhhh~

    What had been left in my stomach decidedjust thento vacate. I lay next to it, superficial wounds covering me all over. Maybe I should have just let that thing eat me, or whatever it was planning to do to me. It didn¡¯t seem to have followed me thankfully, dumb luck, I guess. Instead of whining over this pain I should thank god I got away.

    Looking up, I could tell that night was approaching, pulling up on a nearby rock I begrudgingly get my body to work.

    ~Mmmm~

    I groan out involuntarily; my feet are a painful mess. Taking steps felt pretty difficult.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    ~Errrrrr~

    And I still haven¡¯t eaten anything. I swear it¡¯s going to be so embarrassing, I¡¯m going to die from hunger in god knows where, after surviving some nightmare encounter with god knows what. I almost miss home.

    ¡°Human. Hey human.¡±

    A chorus of small voices started to whisper from seemingly nowhere. Looking towards where the voices came from, I could see a couple of dim lights, a good number of small creatures seemed to be approaching.

    ¡°Yes, over here human.¡±

    ¡°What do you want with me?¡± I asked with apprehension, I could see them now, they were tiny so small that an individual one could fit in your hand, they looked kind of like fairies but had bird wings for arms, and legs covered in what looked like feathers. Some looked like men, some like women. So, I guess you could also describe them like little harpies. One, seemingly the leader of the small group flapped itself near my face.

    ¡°You seem hungry human,¡± the seeming leader of the group chimed, her voice terse and low in itself, her pretty little face smiling in a kindly manner. ¡°Yeah. Where am I? This isn¡¯t Seattle is it?¡±

    ¡°Hahahaha,¡±

    A chorus of tiny giggling (faeries?) could be heard from the group. Though one of them seemed a little confused and had distanced herself from the group, for some reason, my eyes drew themselves to her tiny almost lonely figure. If the leader of the group could be called pretty, then this one could be called beautiful. How strange that she seemed so separate and different from the group. The leader seemed to sigh in exasperation, her almond like colored hair flowed downwards seemingly emphasizing the tiny woman¡¯s well-endowed bust. ¡°I apologize human; we don¡¯t see many of your kind around, especially ones who seem to be so lost?¡± She explained. She seemed to be fidgeting somewhat nervously at that explanation, though my eyes seemed to be more attracted by her lovely breasts that appeared to be swaying enticingly.

    ¡°Oh my,¡± The woman suddenly said, her face taking on an interesting look. ¡°Huh?¡± I looked down to where she seemed to be looking ¡­

    Shit shit shit shit, I completely forgot I was naked. I had taken too much of an interest in her as I now found myself hiding my lower section.

    ¡°Hahahahahahahahaha,¡±

    The chorus of fairies burst out even harder in laughter, some of them laughing so hard that they dropped to the ground. ¡°The human seems to have a thing for you Dearay,¡± one of the laughing faeries that had dropped to the ground said in between hearty laughs. Though the solitary fairy seemed to be blushing a pitch red, her face almost matching the pretty red that covered most of her body and head.

    ¡°I um, am sooo sorry,¡± I struggled to say as one hand covered my crotch and the other covered my quickly blossoming face. If this is a delusion, then shit am I in trouble.

    Deray smiled, her face barely showing a hint of embarrassment. ¡°Let us show you where the food is, and afterward, I¡¯ll answer any questions you have to the best of my abilities.

    With that, she turned away, ¡°Follow us human.¡± Off she went, giving me a sneak peek of her tight tiny ass¡­ God damn it, she¡¯s fucking tiny stop staring at her Daniel. I groan inwardly as I start to follow behind, a little piece of me wondering just how much I should be trusting them.

    Most of the crowd of fae followed closely behind Deray, but the redheaded one took this opportunity to close the distance.

    She peeked at me inquisitively, as if wanting to speak but unsure how to go about it. I still had a lot of questions, so I took this opportunity to talk. ¡°So, I never got the chance to introduce myself; I¡¯m Daniel.¡± The red-headed fae¡¯s face turned scarlet. She must be pretty timid.

    ¡°Oh um hello Daniel, my name is Rosary,¡± She fidgeted, a little, something that seemed quite a feat in itself as we were still moving. ¡°But you can call me Rosy if you like.¡±

    I could feel the hints of a smile forming, along with anxiety. If this is a delusion, it¡¯s a really good one. The chime of this girl reminded me of a lullaby, sneaking a look at her, I quickly looked away as the sight of her reminded me of my earlier incident. ¡°So, um, where are we?¡± the question came out hesitantly, I wasn¡¯t even sure I wanted to know. The very aspect of the subject was making me question my sanity.

    Rosy, tilted her head cutely, ¡°We are in the Forest of Lord Beelzebub.¡± The girl responded as if it was common knowledge. The name somewhat rang a bell, ¡°Wait, by Beelzebub do you mean as in the devil Beelzebub?¡±

    ¡°Well, of course, Daniel, Beelzebub is the lord of this land.¡± Suddenly I felt queasy, and it wasn¡¯t just from hunger. A demon lord was the leader of this place? ¡°Wait are we in hell?¡± The question didn¡¯t seem to go very well with Rosy. Suddenly she shivered, wait it wasn¡¯t just her, the whole forest seemed to shiver as if in fear. ¡°Please do not say such a thing, Daniel.¡± This isn¡¯t that place, and please don¡¯t say that again.¡± The pretty girl seemed visibly shaken, her pretty Azure eyes had a look of terror to them. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± I meekly responded unsure of what was going on anymore.

 Chapter 3

    What does it even matter? Rosy seemed to have calmed herself, but I still felt a little in shock at the revelation. Demons are real? It felt strangely nostalgic, but then again, I¡¯ve been chased by demons for most of my life, even if not quite the same. The forest seemed to take on an even more unearthly tone, the darkness of the woods seemed to have grown, its shadows feeling as if they were going to come out and strangle me. A shudder came across my body. God, why am I such a coward? None of this is even real.

    Badump

    It hurts, my heart feels like it¡¯s going to explode. Those shadows are going to consume me. In my eyes, all I could see was those shadows twisting ever closer. Cold sweat, almost as severe as that droplet of water from the cave started to cover my body. I could feel myself breathing harder. God damn it Daniel get ahold of yourself. You can¡¯t be having a panic attack now.¡±

    The feel of gentle warmth, strangely comforting and somehow familiar; The world seemed to brighten up a little; the shadows retracted as if repelled. ¡°What?¡± I could feel the warmth on my neck. ¡°Be calm little Daniel.¡± That voice so calm and comforting could only be Rosaries. ¡°You¡¯re safe now.¡± It felt so familiar as if this situation had happened before, but that¡¯s impossible?

    ¡°Why?¡± I asked, feeling confused that someone I had just met could be comforting me right now. It felt ridiculous and oddly nostalgic.

    The little fae seemingly satisfied that I was in control of myself went back into the air, her face having a gentle, apologetic smile. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sure that being comforted by some lark like me didn¡¯t help, but I couldn¡¯t help and try.¡±

    I didn¡¯t exactly know what to say to the young woman; she seemed so gentle and yet so lonely her eyes seemingly holding back some inner thoughts or memories. ¡°Thank you,¡± I responded to the girl.

    ¡°We¡¯re here.¡±

    The other fae had turned around at this point interrupting any more conversation that I could have with Rosary. They flapped around me, their eyes seeming to hold something more then they were willing to tell. But I shouldn¡¯t be so suspicious; if they are all like Dearay and Rosary, then they can¡¯t be all that bad. Some of them seemed to be flapping around near a bush, an incredibly large one in fact. Red fruits and black the size of an infant¡¯s head hung from its stiff branches.

    Dearay flapped herself over her face in a calm smile, ¡°Please eat; I¡¯m sure you¡¯re starving.¡±

    Errrrrrr

    Before I could say anything, the sharp pang of hunger stuck in my gullet forcing me to eat. My hand grabbed for one of the black fruits. Its sweet smell is reminding me of highly aromatic raspberries. ¡°Wait!¡± My hand stopped, all eyes stared at the Rosary, the air grew suddenly tense. ¡°That¡¯s a Lupin Bush; the fruits are dangerous at night, they all turn black at night and become poisonous.¡± The darkness at this point had become almost complete.

    ¡°She¡¯s lying human.¡±

    The chorus seemed to have grown irritated, their eyes all bearing down into the now frightened Fae. Some of the faestarted to glow again. ¡°None of the fruit here are black human,¡± One fae responded.

    ¡°Why are you trying to poison him?¡± Rosary responded, her voice meekly responding as if pushed back by the glare of her fellows. ¡°Why are you lying to the human? Do you like watching him suffer?¡± Some of them laughed as if the idea of watching me suffer appealed to them. ¡°Human don''t listen to the Red one. She is only an outcast, a pitiful half-being whom we allowed into our tribe out of the kindness of our leaders hurt. Look, no black fruits are even hanging on the tree.¡± My eyes looked back at the fruit that I was just about to grab. It was red, strange, ¡°I swear it was black a moment ago.¡±

    Dearay sighed as if exasperated by the situation. ¡°Maybe the light was playing tricks on you.¡± Something felt so wrong with this situation; my eyes darted back to Rosary, she looked frightened, but not of me. The fae around her had all taken on darker forms, their eyes growing more crimson. I swear I¡¯m seeing strange black things coming out of them. A couple more lights appeared, slightly blinding me for a moment. After my eyes adjusted though they all seemed normal. Maybe the hunger was playing tricks on me, but Rosary isn¡¯t there. I could feel that itching in my head again.

    ¡°No!¡±

    That scream, was that Rosary? I started looking all over the crowds of Fae. A chill ran down my back, They ALL were staring at me, their faces giving me a creepy almost sadistic grin.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    ¡°EaT HUmaN, EAT!¡±

    They started laughing maniacally, their bodies and faces contorting into sickly monsters, a lot like the wolf-like beast.

    ¡°EaT HumAN! We¡¯Re HuNGrY!¡±

    My heart was pounding like a mad beast; this feels so wrong. The scent of death filled the air now. As if it had always been there. It reeked, how could I not have smelled it before. The bush was covered, not only were all the fruits of the bush black but dead bodies, littered around it in various forms of deformity. Hands hung from branches like macabre Christmas decorations. Was this a nightmare? The itch felt just like before burning in the back of my mind, not quite distracting me from this horror

    ¡°Leave me ALONE!¡± It was Rosary, my eyes found her. A multitude of misshapen fae tried to cover her, their erect dicks and tentacle-like things slithering around obscenely. She was losing her fight as some of the bigger fae now had her almost pinned.

    ¡°How dare you defy our leaders¡¯ will! For that, we shall punish you and force you to be our toy!¡±

    Rage, like hot steam, seemed to fill my still frightened body forcing it into action. Without thinking, I grabbed fruit from the tree and threw it at the mob. ¡°Leave her alone!¡±

    Some of them escaped, but others too slow to avoid it got crushed by the dense black fruit. Taking that moment of confusion, I grabbed Rosary and started running I didn¡¯t have time to think, no clothes, no weapons, only a lone, frightened red fairy in my hands. What the hell was I going to do?

    I ran, the forest seemed to be coming alive, lights blinked here and there. ¡°Gehehehehe,¡± Wild screams of exhilaration came through the air, warping the very air. Fae came from everywhere it seemed, tiny tentacles blasting out piercing and ripping my skin. ¡°God damn this hurts!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± The little voice asked from my hands. I didn¡¯t even have time to process what Rosary had said; my aching feet were on fire, the forest seemed to be attacking me on its own as branches suddenly seemed to be right in front of me. The first time that I was running here, I had a hard enough time just protecting myself, and now I had to try to make sure that I didn¡¯t crush rosary.

    ¡°Fuck fuck fuck fuck! Blood sprang out from both old and new wounds as I ran. The pain was hard enough to deal with, but then there was that damn itching. ¡°What the hell!¡± I exclaimed in frustration and pain, ¡°Shit branch!¡± I ducked right in the nick of time as yet another branch narrowly missed clotheslining me.

    ¡°Watch out!¡± Rosary exclaimed

    ¡°Huh?¡± Another branch was in front of me just as I had finished straightening up from ducking

    Crack

    ¡°Uuuggaaa!¡±

    Right in the windpipe, I flew backward, the tree branch having succeeded in clotheslining me in the neck. I let go of Rosary, as I clutched at my neck choking. I almost blacked out, the only thing that kept me from it was that constant itch in my head.

    I lay on my back, just barely keeping my consciousness afloat. ¡°G__ up __niel!¡± I was having a hard time hearing. My head throbbed, my body ached, am I going to die? Would dying be so bad?

    It¡¯s not like life has been very pleasant. A warm feeling enveloped me, ¡°Daniel! You need to get up.¡± It was Rosary, her little voice frantic and frightened. Why hadn¡¯t she just left me behind?

    ¡°Paint Daniel.¡±

    It was the mysterious voice again, but what the hell kind of advice was that?

    ¡°Gehehehehe.¡±

    The swarm of fae like beings had caught up. I pushed myself up frantically. ¡°This way Daniel.¡± Rosary had started flying on her own I followed her even as each step seemed to be growing harder and harder. Blood oozed from all over.

    ¡°Awooooooo¡±

    The sound of a baying filled my veins with ice. The wolf-like creature stood there far too my right. It looks like it had found me.

    ¡°NooOO hE¡¯s OuR PreY!!¡±

    Some of the swarm started after the wolf-like being, enraged by its appearance.

    ¡°HuNGRy¡±

    I couldn¡¯t even tell what was saying what. I ran, as fast as I could, following after Rosary my life possibly depending upon it.

    ¡°Impose your will,¡±

    The voice in my head spoke again, damn if that doesn¡¯t sound crazy, I don¡¯t know what would. ¡°Oww!¡± Fresh blood sprayed from my right hand as black tentacles pierced my skin. ¡°Where are we going Rosary?¡±

    ¡°Soon! Just run.¡± I didn¡¯t know how much farther I could run. My knee buckled and I just barely was able to stop myself. Then I realized that the forest was thinning. ¡°Up there, Daniel!¡± The forest cleared to snowy plains? It didn¡¯t make any sense. There was a clear boundary of the forest with absolutely no snow and plains covered in deep snow. But I didn¡¯t have time to think instead I pumped forward until I jumped into the cold. Immediately the cold shriveled me up in more than one way. ¡°Why here?¡±

    ¡°Turn around,¡± Rosary said. Doing as she said I turn around. Fae crowded the line between the two places. It was so bizarre watching the hoard be repelled. ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Because crossing the border would mean war with the Faceless One.¡±

    Before I could ask what she meant by the Faceless One the sound of howling filled the air, the Great black beast had arrived, its eye staring intently at me. ¡°He MuST DiE!¡±

    But it hesitated at the border, as if unsure how to proceed.

    ¡°Impose your will, give in to the urge.¡±

    The voice again, and with it, the itching felt like it would take over, an urge more potent than even the hunger.

    ¡°Permission is granted, my children.¡±

    The voice, seductive and yet cold came from the forest itself, and like a broken dam, the black beings surged forward. Rosary went white in fear as her only plan for safety was dashed

    ¡°IMPOSE YOUR WILL!¡±

    The voice urged, as if frantic. The urge took over, even eclipsing the depths of despair and fear that I was now feeling. Like with the painting the world grew slow. The blood that oozed out of me soon became my paint I was now just a receptacle all feelings going into the bloody picture in the snow. The world distorted, and darkness came back to my consciousness.

 Chapter 4

    The world slowly fades back into view; I can¡¯t tell if I¡¯m waking up or if instead, I¡¯ve just been thrust into consciousness. I find myself in bed, my cat at the foot curled up without a care in the world. Was it all a dream? I looked over my body, strange no wounds, no blood, nothing. I still felt in pain ¡ª the ache of my body impossible to hide. But something seemed off about this. Maybe it was all a dream, but I don¡¯t remember ever going back to bed.

    I try to move out of bed, but find myself unable to move, as if paralyzed from the neck down all I seem able to do is move my head. I try to scream, but nothing comes out. That¡¯s when I notice what seemed off. The painting that I made isn¡¯t there.

    I could feel something watching me, I look back at my cat, and notice that he¡¯s changing, it turns to me, eyes sprouting from all over his body. My heart flutters, I could feel myself getting ready to have a panic attack. Shit shit shit shit, why can¡¯t I move? The cat-like creature stares over at me, its mouth opening far too much, and it starts laughing. Its evil chuckle is chilling me down to the core. My skin is going into a cold sweat even with the warmth of the blanket strangling me.

    ¡°LoOk,¡±

    The creature pointed with its deformed claw, the lone window to the apartment the blinds were completely open and what stared at me was far more gruesome than anything else that I had ever seen. More eyes stared back, literally, all I could see were eyes, hundreds of them. The windows shuttered, shaking angrily as if they were attempting to break in.

    ¡°Soo HunGRy.¡±

    The mass seemed to be moaning it over and over, the window shaking ever more violently.

    ¡°MRahahahahaha.¡±

    The cat monster thing laughed, and slowly sauntered its way towards the window.

    ¡°No¡­ Please don¡¯t,¡± my voice seemed to have come back, ¡°Don¡¯t let them in!¡±

    The creature just laughed evilly prancing towards the window as if it owned the place. Its malformed paw is touching the window. Then darkness came over the room. I couldn¡¯t see anything for a moment. A red light slowly started to fill the room, revealing a world that only vaguely looked like my room. A black wriggling sludge covered the floors. The walls oozed with a red substance that very well could be blood. The ceiling stared at me, yes, I said that right it stared at me, thousands of wriggling eyes stared at me.

    In the middle of the room a woman clad in writhing crimson and silver her garb seemingly alive, eyes black like the deepest pits threatened to suck me into unending despair. Her hair is so dark that it almost looked like the color of dried blood. Her beauty was almost sinful, her hips and breast seemingly created to cause Saints to fall into corruption. Her wings looked as if they were made by the hands of the hundreds of fallen men and women. They writhed as if having a mind of their own.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    I knew that to displease this woman was tantamount to suicide. She smiled as if amused by the sheer terror that she had evoked onto me. She casually walked to me, her pupils showing just a glimmer of steel blue. Human, you have no idea how much trouble you have caused for me, her hand casually touched me where my heart would be hiding, her very touch caused extreme searing pain leaving a print where her hand was.

    ¡°Children, do as you please.¡±She turned and walked away, and as if she had told the world to devour me it all moved, blood, eyes, black matter, all of it covered me, and I became lost in the sea of darkness.

    ¡°Ahhhhhhh!!¡± I awoke screaming, the sight of what could only be a Demon seemed especially burned into my mind, her cold, terrifying beauty unforgettable. The world was so fuzzy, and I could barely breathe. My heart struggled to punch itself out of my chest.

    ¡°Daniel! Calm down, Daniel!¡± A small woman came into view, her face visible concerned. Was it Rosary? Is Rosary even real? Am I going insane? I need to calm as she said. A couple of slow breaths seems to be enough, for now, to get myself at least in control.

    First thing I realize is that I¡¯m on the floor, second is that I¡¯m covered in blood and wounds, my feet and hands especially seemed to be in rough shape. Looking around I realize that I¡¯m back in my apartment, looking over at the woman next to me I know that it¡¯s not Rosary. ¡°Daniel, hey are you ok? I called the ambulance.¡± Eyes that reminded me of a tornado of greens stared, I couldn¡¯t help but look away blushing slightly it was Emma.

    ¡°Why are you here?¡± I asked, looking away.

    ¡°We were supposed to hang out you know?¡± She said almost irately,

    ¡°Huh?¡± I blinked for a moment trying to remember. Wait that means it¡¯s Saturday?

    ¡°I got concerned when you stopped messaging me. So, I came over.¡± She says that matter of factly as if it were normal for a friend to just barge in. This isn¡¯t the first time she¡¯s barged in when I haven¡¯t messaged her back.

    Then I realized something; I¡¯m naked. Covering myself I groan, at one point I used to have a crazy crush on her, so her seeing me like this was not on the top of my list of priorities.

    ¡°What happened to you?¡± Emma asked, her stormy eyes staring at what skin was left visible. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t believe me, I don¡¯t even believe me,¡± I responded almost irately, I didn¡¯t want to tell her about whatever it was that happened.

    She poked me lightly in the chest, ¡°Fuck what the hell Emma?¡± I screamed as it flared painfully.

    ¡°Can you at least tell me what that is?¡±

    I looked down, and to my surprise branded to my skin was the print of a hand, surrounded by little flailing lines. ¡°What?¡± My skin ran cold as if a bucket of ice filled water had just been dumped over me. But that was a dream, wasn¡¯t it?

    ¡°Hello, we¡¯re here because of a call, can we come in?

    That must be the ambulance, ¡°Emma I need some time to myself, I¡¯m fine though. Can you tell them to leave?¡± She looked over at me unsure; I could tell she was concerned. ¡°Fine but I¡¯m coming over tomorrow.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± I respond, not wanting to argue.

    She walks out of the room and after talking a bit to the EMTs I hear her leave.

 Chapter 5

    The apartment got eerily quiet after Emma left, strangely enough, I felt myself wishing that she hadn''t left. As if reading the tension in the air Rocky waltzed into my lap and started purring. What the hell is going on? First I find myself in a cave, get chased around by Fairy-like creatures.

    What did I do to deserve this, before I could think any further on the matter the phone that I had forgotten for so long started ringing? Tentatively I reach for the phone doing the best I could to try not to disturb Rocky. Momentarily blinded by its light I could see that the message icon had popped up with Emma¡¯s name, "Don¡¯t you forget that we¡¯re hanging out tomorrow." It said.

    God, she¡¯s so nosy.

    "Are you talking about that girl that was just here?" A melodic voice asked from seemingly nowhere. ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡±

    A beautiful red-haired woman showed up in front of me, her face giving me a perplexed look, though she was much too small to be a normal human it was Rosary. I couldn¡¯t help but be surprised what was she doing here? ¡°It¡¯s me Rosary.¡±

    ¡°Where are we?¡±

    At this point Rocky had taken notice of the little girl, his eyes stared intently as if planning his next meal, Rosary definitely seemed out of place and still a little frightened. But then again, I couldn¡¯t blame her. I¡¯m honestly surprised that we made it out of that. ¡°We¡¯re in Seattle,¡±

    ¡°Seattle?¡± She tilted her head as if unsure of what I meant. But then her face lit up as if realizing something. ¡°Are we in Elsewhere?!¡±

    ¡°Huh? What are you talking about Rosary?¡±

    Elsewhere? What kind of name for a place is that? Rosary flapped over to my art stand there was something strange about the canvas; the page was empty as if I had never laid my brush or pen to it. Where did the painting go? As soon as Rosary touched the Canvas colors started pouring back into it as if hiding.

    The scene I had initially drawn was gone. Instead, a vast snowy landscape filled the canvas. Snow seemingly untouchedexcept for the one trail leading up to the middle of the page, where what looked like blood seemed to have blended into the snow, as if the snow itself had been used as a canvas.

    The scene only lasted for a moment before leaving the canvas blank once again. ¡°Long ago, my grandfather talked about a time when Elsewhere and Nowhere were still connected.¡± The young woman said, her face still glued on the empty canvas.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

    ¡°That place that you live is that Nowhere?¡± I asked,

    She looked over to me, her lonely frightened eyes affirming my suspicions. ¡°How did I get there?"

    ¡°Grandpa used to tell me that our God would kidnap beings, and bring them to Nowhere.¡± She said with a little awe.

    ¡°Rapientem, lord of Nowhere and god of the Fae.¡± She looked at me with wonder then, that and fear. ¡°Daniel, if our God took you away from Elsewhere then why are we back?¡±

    I didn¡¯t know, I had felt an itching sensation, like the feeling that something inside me had wished to express itself. It had led me to Nowhere, and later it had led me back. If this is real then how much of it was even of my own will? I clenched my fist; I was angry, pissed even, this didn¡¯t feel like the first time that I had been led around. ¡°Rosary, please turn around,¡± I mumbled

    ¡°Why?¡± She asked innocently, ¡°I¡¯m going to get some clothes and change.¡± She cocked her head, ¡°Are you afraid of me seeing you naked still? I¡¯ve seen plenty already though, and I don¡¯t mind, we fae don¡¯t usually wear clothes.¡± She blushed a moment as if remembering something, "and it¡¯s not as if you¡¯re terrible to look at if you weren¡¯t so big."

    Her remark about not wearing clothes reminded me very acutely of her womanly body, though small and foreign from a normal human it seemed almost perfect, her perky breasts covered with just a little crimson made me acutely aware of being a man. Fuck, I could feel it, cheeks growing red, I decided I might just need a little cold water to calm me down.

    ¡°Ju-ju-ju-just turn around Rosary.¡± I stammered out, trying to hide the growing proof of my manhood with my blanket. Rosary also seemed to be embarrassed, as her cheeks were almost as crimson as the feathers on her body, she turned around quickly pretending to inspect the canvas that she was standing on.

    I rushed to the bathroom, opening the closet next to it. I grabbed some clothes and shut the door. I felt almost guilty, why did I find myself so aware of her body when she was maybe the size of a doll. I could only imagine some of the names if Emma or anyone else were to find out, and I¡¯m pretty sure pervert would be a pretty tame name among them¡­

    The water from the shower had washed away all the blood, god was I a mess, but strangely enough, the messiest wound seems to be one that should have only been in my dreams five angry red lines which cumulated into a handprint near where my heart would be. What or who was that? It was unlike any dream I¡¯d ever had before, but then again this whole experience is so unreal.

    I had just finished changing when all of a sudden I heard a commotion outside, a small feminine scream and more crashing. "Leave me alone beast!"

    Outside I was greeted by the sight of my cat Rocky intently chasing around Rosary his tail swishing around excitedly pouncing after rosary as if she were a bird. Seeing the door, open Rosary sped over with tears in her eyes get this beast away from me please she pleaded with me as she latched herself to my neck. The feeling of her breasts again made me acutely aware that she was a woman. That and the sweet, earthy smell that came from her made me almost dizzy.

    Rocky ran up to my leg and started meowing persistently "No rocky, stop Rocky." I said to him

    "MROW," he said complaining. Finally, I decided that for the moment I would have to lock him in the bathroom.

    It was a good couple minutes before I could convince Rosary that things were clear. Though when she finally decided to let go of me, I almost sighed in disappointment.

 Chapter 6

    ¡°Why did you decide to help me Rosary?¡± At this point, I didn¡¯t care if she was just a figment of my imagination. If this was a story that my mind concocted and I was secretly the cause of everything then at the very least I may as well play around. Things seemed to have gotten way more interesting, albeit scary, actually scratch that downright horrifying. But at last, there was something that seemed significant.

    ¡°It felt wrong what they were doing.¡± She responded meekly.

    Wasn¡¯t she supposed to be like them though? Demonic like beings with tentacles or whatever? Why would she be so different from them that she would choose a stranger over them? That thought reminded me of when I first saw her, so lonely, so beautiful. She had seemed different somehow even then.

    ¡°Can you change yourself the way they did?¡± She shook her head, ¡°No, they were born of Beelzebub, I was not. I am a child of the Late Lady Weyden. Former ruler of the Forest of Beelzebub though back then it was called the Forest of Youth. Those Fae are Fae born from Beelzebub after Beelzebub killed Lady Weyden.¡± She looked at me with a forlorn look, as if the question had scrounged up terrible memories, or at least memories left forgotten. I wanted to know more, why were the Fae so different from her? Why would changing a ruler change how a creature was born? But looking at those eyes, eyes that looked as if they were fighting back a deluge I couldn¡¯t help but stop myself from asking any more.

    ¡°Thank you, Rosary, you don¡¯t need to tell me more. I would have died if you hadn¡¯t warned me.¡± She was so brave, looking back on it if I were in her shoes would I have gone so far for someone that I barely knew just because I felt it was wrong? I¡¯d like to think I would but deep down I feel like I wouldn¡¯t have cared. Or if I had cared it wouldn¡¯t have been enough.

    The conversation lulled down then, both of us exhausted, I got myself some food to finally lull the hunger, and I tried to sleep, though the fear of returning to that dream before made it hard.

    ¡°You know Daniel, Lady Weyden isn¡¯t going to be happy if we keep her waiting!¡± I seemed to be in a dream. In the dream, I was much younger I couldn¡¯t have been even 10, why didn¡¯t I remember any of this? It all felt so Nostalgic. I was running around with a group, a boy with chestnut brown hair, ghostly grey eyes seemed to be clinging to my younger self as if scared. He was the one who had made the comment about Lady Weyden.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Hah Lady Weyden doesn¡¯t scare me.¡± My younger self retorted, before getting whacked by a young girl with blonde hair and, her face seemed to have taken on a highly irate look. This girl didn¡¯t seem quite human she had a puffy tail that matched her hair and feline with blue feline-like eyes.

    ¡°You better give the Lady more respect then that Daniel!¡± She responded, her cute contorting in an aggressive manner. Behind the girl was another girl, shy, quiet, she had an almost mystical quality. The air seemed to hum around the young girl, her eyes pale grey matched her platinum hair. Oddly enough her eyes stared at me. ¡°Daniel, why are you watching us from over there?¡± The girl asked her face perturbed, Could the girl see me?

    Little me groaned as if tired of something, ¡°Clair I¡¯m right here not over there.¡± He seemed pretty intent on just ignoring the cat-like girl, an action that had probably been meant to spite the young woman. It worked, her face contorted in anger and she pounced onto him, ¡°Don¡¯t just ignore me, DUMMY!¡± She yelled as she wrestled with him.

    ¡°You¡¯re so scary Bell.¡± The younger me responded grinning like an idiot as he engaged the girl in wrestling. ¡°I¡¯ll beat you this time Daniel¡± Bell, the cat girl, or at least that¡¯s kind of what she looks like said the look of anger was gone. Instead, she was also grinning like an idiot. ¡°Stop it you two!¡± Whined the young man who had been clinging to me earlier.

    ¡°Sebastian,¡± Little me grunted as he tried to exert himself over the girl, ¡°I can¡¯t back out now.¡± It seemed that the young me had successfully rolled himself on top of the girl named Bell. Clair stared at me for a moment longer before jumping into the younger me. ¡°No fair two on one isn¡¯t fair.¡± Clair giggled and Bell got a devilish look on her face, ¡°Save me, Sebastian!¡± Little me yelled playfully.

    I turned away from the group of kids as the sound of walking came from behind me. A muscular panther looking man was walking up the road, his face like an unreadable stone wall. Covered in Black fur the only thing he wore was a pair of trousers. ¡°Children,¡± the man growled, ¡°Lady Weyden has issued a summons, it would be unwise to make her wait.¡± The man was incredibly muscular even being covered entirely by fur one could see that he was a powerful lean man who was best not trifled with.

    Bell was the first to respond, her tail momentarily scuffed out as if panicked. ¡°Yes, sir Pan.¡± The rest followed after, I tried to follow, but the scene had ended and I found myself awake in my room. Was that a dream? It felt so nostalgic and yet I couldn¡¯t remember any of it. Why? It felt so real, if I had a childhood like that would I have been happier?

    They all were so familiar, looking over to the canvas I distinctly got the feeling that if I wanted to know more, if I were to break away from this Apathetic shell that I called life, that that canvas was the answer to it. The urge came back, but for the moment I stifled the feeling and instead closed my eyes.

 Chapter 7

    Why won¡¯t it work? I had tried painting a scene from Nowhere multiple times. Absolutely nothing, what was I missing? Rosary was perched at the top of the painting curiously watching. I had tried to go to that place that was in my dream. But even now it was slowly disappearing the memory of that place.

    Finally, I felt driven to do something for the first time in a while and nothing. Rocky lay lounging in my lap now as I took a break, he still eyed Rosary, but he was behaving. My phone rumbled from my bed, still on vibrate it just shook. I barely took notice of it and instead stared at the painting. It was that same clearing in my dreams, the one that I had played in. Something that I still felt unsure about, memories of my childhood lacked anything about Nowhere. But for some reason, the painting just felt off. As if the scene was completely wrong.

    My phone vibrated again, god it was so annoying, I tried to ignore it still staring at the painting, but a loud tap tap tap made it impossible, I almost grumbled in irritation.

    ¡°Stop ignoring your phone Daniel.¡± An irate feminine voice called from the other side of the room. Shit, I forgot that Emma was coming over. ¡°I whispered to Rosary ¡°You need to hide!¡±

    The fae woman gave me a confused look as if unsure why she should need to hide.

    ¡°Daniel, why do you want me to hide?¡± She puffed her cheeks cutely. ¡°If I''m a burden you can tell me.¡± Rosary seemed to have gotten the wrong idea in her head, but I didn¡¯t have time to explain to her, so I scooped her up. Her face grew red; it was pretty adorable.

    Where would be a good spot?

    The door knocked again, ¡°What¡¯s taking you, Daniel?¡±

    ¡°One moment Emma I¡¯m getting changed!¡± Rosary cocked her head at that, ¡°You aren¡¯t getting changed you¡¯re fondling me, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°¡­ WHAT? What the hell gave you that impression?!¡± I asked my face budding.

    ¡°Who are you talking too in there Daniel?¡± Emma asked impatiently, she may have been pretty, but pretty didn¡¯t mean she was patient.

    ¡°Nobody Emma Ummm I¡¯m on the phone!¡±Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

    I regretted that excuse as soon as I said it. The other side of the door grew quiet, she was pissed, no doubt about it.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you just fondle her too while you¡¯re at it?¡± The faerie in my hands stated, her face looking up cutely, wait a sec, was she pissed at me too now. What the hell did she even mean by fondling her? Wasn¡¯t I fondling her at all? The top of the fridge seemed to be the best place, for now, I didn¡¯t exactly have time to second guess. So, I set her there, ¡°Seriously you need to keep out of sight for now.¡±

    I turned around quickly and bounded to the door. Opening it a copper-haired woman with ivory green eyes stared at me with a not so happy look on her face. ¡°Morning Emma,¡± I meekly said, she just ignored me and walked in.

    ¡°You know these last couple days you¡¯ve been worrying me.¡± She said, the look on her face changing to a serious timbre. ¡°You were covered in blood Daniel.¡± I felt a pang of guilt for a moment before swallowing it back down. I still felt the ache in my body from what had happened; the most significant pain in my chest, the very thought of it causing shivers of terror.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on Daniel?¡± She asked, pulling off her shoes and sitting on my bed. Seeing her there felt a little embarrassing even now, though we had been best friends for years I still had times where I felt that maybe something could happen.

    Rocky happily jumped into her lap and started purring. ¡°Aww you¡¯re so adorable Rocky,¡± The young woman squeaked practically.

    I didn¡¯t know what to tell her. Would she think I was crazy? Would she abandon me? Like how dad did? I felt cold terror at the idea of telling her. ¡°Daniel are you alright?¡± Shit, I thought I was hiding it.

    ¡°I honestly don¡¯t know what to tell you, Emma.¡± Hell, this land of Nowhere both scared the hell out of me and intrigued me. I¡¯d already decided I had wanted to explore this place but at the same time, it scared the hell out of me. Fuck everything seemed to scare the hell out of me lately.

    Emma, moved the cat out of her lap, much to Rocky¡¯s chagrin. A step or two and suddenly the scent of her shampoo was in my face, her arms comfortingly around me, I felt pleasantly dizzy for a moment, my heart doing a backflip for a moment.

    ¡°Whatever it is you can tell me, Daniel,¡± She said comfortingly. God, she made this both hard and easy. I debated for a moment still locked in her embrace when all of a sudden she let go, her face in shock. ¡°What is that Daniel?!¡±

    I turn around to see Rosary eyeing Emma. Fuck. Well that cat, erm fairy is out of the bag.

    ¡°That¡¯s Rosary Emma, she¡¯s a fairy erm I think.¡±

    Rosary flapped over to my shoulder and gave me a hug too? Her breasts seemed especially concentrate on me, it was fairly distracting. Emma seemed awestruck. Her face blank, ¡°Why is there a fairy in your place that doesn¡¯t look like any fairy I¡¯ve ever heard of, and why is she clinging to you? Rosary seemed to be ignoring the stares of Emma instead enjoying the warmth of my neck.

    ¡°You¡¯re nice and warm,¡± she said happily ¡ª her perky little breasts making me feel VERY aware of her. This would almost be nice if Emma weren¡¯t here looking at me incredulously. ¡°Long story,¡± Emma seemed to have decided to put on her pissed off look again as she stared at me. ¡°I¡¯m listening.¡± She sat back down on the bed her fingers tapping in a not so happy rhythm on my headboard.

 Chapter 8

    After I finished telling Emma of my adventure into Nowhere, she gave me a look of bewilderment. I felt if Rosary weren¡¯t here that she may have thought that I had gone crazy. Rosary seemed to be eyeing Emma suspiciously, she was still perched on me but thankfully she had moved herself to my shoulder.

    ¡°So, let¡¯s say that I believe you, I don¡¯t remember anything that you explained that would have explained that scar on your chest. I can¡¯t say I see you naked all the time but I at least know that something like THAT isn¡¯t normal.¡± I didn¡¯t even flush from the naked comment, she had just reminded me of that dream. The dream that felt so real, the one that had left its mark on me.

    ¡°Umm, I¡¯m not entirely sure about that. I lied, I didn¡¯t want to talk about it, the very idea of having to bring up that dream seemed to slowly crush my heart as if inky black tendrils had wrapped itself around it. I didn¡¯t feel like it was even safe to mention the dream like by talking it I would be inviting what was there into reality.

    God did I feel like a coward, but that woman ¡­ So beautiful but so terrifying. I just couldn¡¯t¡­

    Emma sighed, ¡°So now what?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± She took that incredibly easy, honestly suspiciously. I was expecting her to try to push the issue. She seemed to be studying Rosary, who was studying her as well. Rosary perked up and whispered in my ear. ¡°I don¡¯t trust her, something feels wrong about her.¡±

    She¡¯d been my friend for years, ever since my father had left us, there is no way that I couldn¡¯t trust her. I just ignored what Rosary had said, what could I do? What should I tell her?

    ¡°I want to go back to Nowhere, Emma.¡±

    ¡°Even with it being as dangerous as it sounded?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, something feels like it¡¯s calling me there.¡± It was true, hell every once in a while, a voice literally would call for me. I could feel the itch in my head, but I had no idea how to control that urge.

    ¡°Fine, then I¡¯m going with you.¡± Part of me had expected that she had always been a tomboy, that and she seemed to think that she still had to baby me, it used to be comforting, but now it was kind of embarrassing. Like I wanted to be the protective one kind of, show her that I¡¯ve got a cool interesting side, but instead I just kind of let her coddle me.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°I have an idea¡­¡± A tiny voice stated meekly

    ¡°I have no idea how to even get there Emma, I can¡¯t promise that I¡¯ll be able to bring you there with me next time.¡±

    ¡°I think I know of a way¡­¡± The tiny voice said again.

    ¡°Well, you better figure out a way,¡± Emma responded back to me.

    ¡°Hey listen to me already!¡± Rosary yelled angrily, shit, I didn¡¯t realize that she had been talking. Craning my neck, I eyed Rosary.

    ¡°In the legends that my grandfather told me our God would call to humans and monsters alike to visit Nowhere, but it was always a one-way trip.¡±

    ¡°If that was true then why was Daniel able to come back?¡± Emma asked, in an irritated tone.

    ¡°Let me finish human,¡± snapped Rosary. Those two were not getting along, great.

    Rosary continued; ¡°Our God would bestow those that lived in the land a gift of sorts. Every human or Demi human would have an ability, outside of any abilities that they may have already had. I think that our God may have brought Daniel to Nowhere, but that Daniel left on his own. Through whatever ability it is that our God gave him.¡±

    ¡°You know this God kind of sounds half-assed,¡± Emma responded Rosary shrugged, or at least what looked like a shrug. ¡°He¡¯s a chaotic force who created Nowhere for his own amusement, or at least that was what my Grandfather said.¡±

    This information was great and all but that didn¡¯t seem to be helpful at all, it just answered what we already knew, that we could travel back and forth to Nowhere¡­ Wait a sec? I remembered what exactly I had done, I had used the blood from my body as ink.

    ¡°Impose your will, Daniel,¡±

    The voice was back, it sounded amused as if its favorite pet had just figured out a new trick. God that pissed me off. But I didn¡¯t have time to stay pissed, nor did I care. ¡°You¡¯re a genius Rosary!¡± I replied to her excitedly grabbing a putty knife from my art stand.

    Rosary beamed happily, Emma though seemed to be shocked, ¡°What are you doing Daniel?¡± She asked as I cut open my hand. She freaked out and rushed to the kitchen to grab a towel. ¡°Don¡¯t worry Emma, I have a reason.¡± The itch in my head started to get worse, right after cutting my hand, the anticipation growing, I thought about that place where my dream had been, I wanted to go there. My hand touched the canvas and my blood moved on its own as if the canvas were sucking it in. The earlier painting warped and changed dramatically, sprawling streets filled out everywhere. This was very different from my dream but still, it felt right. The itch suddenly became a mind-numbing head-ache, pain bludgeoned me mercilessly in the top of my head like a merciless boxer.

    Emma was shocked, her face frozen in it. But I didn¡¯t really have enough time to think about how it must look as the canvas started to suck me in. I really hope that I¡¯m not naked again. The scenery started to paint itself around me, the sound of crowds, the smell of smoke in the air, it all felt so overwhelming and in a moment Rosary and I stood in the center of a large stone roadway that led into a massive sprawling city. Emma falling in behind me.

 Chapter 9

    The first thing that I noticed on my return trip to Nowhere was that we all seemed to be wearing our clothes, thank god¡­ I snuck a peek back over at Emma, who was currently trying to wipe the dirt off her clothing from her fall. I did feel a tiny bit of regret just then about the clothes, and she saw me naked, it would only be fair, wouldn¡¯t it?

    Rosary, of course, wore no clothing but then again, she wasn¡¯t wearing apparel, to begin with¡­ Those perky little¡­ God damn Daniel get your mind out of the gutter. Dusty streets with hundreds of tiny alleys, the ground dirty not like a dirt road but like the streets weren¡¯t well maintained. I could hear hushed conversation all around; carts pulled along the streets where goods seemed to be getting haggled. It was busy, the sun was high in the sky meaning that must have been near noon here.

    Rosary flitted to my shoulder and perched there, the sweet smell of the forest that hung around her momentarily overpowered the faint smell of decay and shit.

    ¡°Let''s leave here Daniel, please¡­¡± I craned over my shoulder, her face a mask but the intonations of her voice made it quite clear that she didn¡¯t like this place. What was bothering her?

    ¡°This place stinks¡­¡± Emma complained from behind, her plain beige sweater covered in grey scuffs of dirt, which Emma insistently would try to brush off, a fruitless act that made her equally dirty blue mini skirt tease my eyes enticingly. She was right, of course, I¡¯d noticed earlier.

    The sound of men and women menacinglycould be heard in the distance, something about it seemed dark, almost sick though I couldn¡¯t quite gauge what was said. ¡°Yeah it does stink Emma, this isn¡¯t where I wanted to go.¡± But something DID seem right about this place. Why was that?

    I started walking forward, unsure of what to do; I was so intent on just getting here that I hadn¡¯t thought of what would come next. I had thought that it would happen to me, that I would get an idea of what I had lost or never had. Instead, I was filled with a sense of foreboding. Emma seemed to have become significantly less confident, in fact now she was walking behind me her hand holding my shirt loosely.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to get lost in any crowds,¡± She said when she noticed me looking. Rosary was fidgeting even more now. ¡°I think this is a bad place for us¡­¡± She said. The chanting grew ever louder.Stolen novel; please report.

    ¡°Why?¡± I asked the place seemed decrepit and depressing, but it didn¡¯t seem dangerous. ¡°The Mad King Sabbath controls this land,¡± She shivered, her eyes seeming to remember something dark.

    ¡°Mad King?¡± I found myself curious how he managed to get that title, and was about to ask when all of a sudden, I turned the corner to come across a huge crowd of people. Hundreds upon hundreds of people seemed to be here at what looked like a large square. Emma sharply drew in a breath, ¡°Oh my god.¡± She said horrified.

    Looking to where she was, I felt a wave of nausea hit me. A massive stage loomed in the square, chained to it, men and women who were usually hooded. But that wasn¡¯t what made my stomach curdle. Not all of those men and women were alive.

    Bodies hung in gallows, their heads twisted in some ungainly manner. Others seemed to have been whipped to death or near death; a few had had their bodies lopped off, it was so surreal like a painting from Van Gogh. For a moment it almost seemed beautiful in some sick twisted way.

    The scent of death and blood attempted to pervert my sense of smell. The chant could now be heard. Some called for a hanging, others to be whipped. But the strongest chant.

    ¡°DEATH!¡±

    In the center of all that was a stately man in uniform guarded by cold-eyed guards in full armor. The air around him crackled as if it waited for him to command. Pointing to what looked like a Demi-human his voice boomed.

    ¡°This Demi-Human defied his human masters, as you all know Demi-humans are beings that lost their rights due to their treachery. I¡¯m sure you all know that no crime outside of defiance needs by declared. The masters of this Demi-human wish to make an example of him.¡±

    The Demi-human looked to be almost my age, brown fur, and he seemed practically bear-like. His face was down as he had been forced to his knees by two guards. ¡°What shall his punishment be oh lovely citizens of Rizengar?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s even worse then what they said¡­¡± Rosary said, fearfully to herself.

    The crowd chanted, many stomped their feet like this was a festival. It was sick,

    ¡°DEATH!¡±

    ¡°Is this what you wanted Daniel?¡±

    That voice pissed me off, of course, I didn¡¯t want this¡­ Who would?

    You let this happen.¡±

    It seemed to be laughing, this voice seemed slightly different but no that must have been my imagination.

    The square grew silent all of a sudden, not the natural kind of silence. No this was the kind of silence that felt like an omen of bad things to come. The air seemed to tingle with anticipation.

    The man at the stage flourished his hands as if in a performance.

    I''m still letting it happen, but why should I even care? I don''t know him, something about this just felt wrong, all of it. My surroundings seemed to be going out of focus.

    "Daniel."

    I could hear my name, but it didn''t seem real. Hell, none of this seemed real could you blame me?

    I could feel someone shaking me.

    "Huh?"

    That''s when I realized that I was in the middle of a panic attack.

 Chapter 10

    Frantically my arms went to my throat, the feeling that I was going to suffocate felt overwhelming.

    ¡°Daniel!¡±

    Emma was shaking me as if trying to get me out of the panic attack through sheer brute force. She never was all that great at being comforting when it mattered. Rosary flitted around Emma her face in worry. This hadn¡¯t been the first time that either had seen him have a panic attack.

    ¡°I can¡¯t breathe¡­¡± I gasped feeling like something; someone was choking me.

    People were starting to look over at me in a weird manner the people nearest to us seemed to be glaring daggers as if to say, ¡°How dare you to interrupt us.¡± Thankfully only those few people had noticed the exchange, god how scary would it be if that crowd were to turn its attention on us.

    I could hear whispering, like the sound of conversation, I looked over to find the blurry figure of Emma conversing with a woman. I couldn¡¯t make out what they were saying but a moment later Emma grabbed me by the arm and practically dragged me.

    We reached our destination shortly. Entering inside the scent of lavender and cinnamon filled my consciousness, driving away that scent of death and decay. It calmed me a little; they seated me on a chair of hardwood that reminded me of oak. My surroundings started to clear up, the haze fleeing from my eyes. Did we seem to be in a tavern or something? I wasn¡¯t entirely sure as my only experience with one had been from the various games and fantasy movies I had interacted with. In total only four people were in the room, Emma; Her Hazel eyes are staring at me with concern.. Rosary, whom at this point was on my shoulder again, myself, and an elderly woman.

    They all were staring at me to some degree. I wanted to hide, anywhere would do. Why couldn¡¯t I be more normal?

    ¡°I¡¯m ok now, I think. Thank you.¡± I respond in answer to their stares. The old woman smiled at me, her wrinkles lessening. ¡°Young man was that the first Declaration of Law that you have been too?

    That was a Declaration of Law? It was more like a public show of profanity.

    ¡°Yeah¡­¡± I responded to her avoiding her gaze my eyes purposefully looking away from her lest she sees just how much it had affected me. God damn, I¡¯m pathetic.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    ¡°You call that Law?¡± Emma responded, ¡°That was horrific.¡±

    Rosary didn¡¯t say anything she had been unnaturally quiet ever since we¡¯d arrive, only voicing her concern of being her. But damn if that¡¯s the way they treated people like her kind could I blame her?

    The old lady nodded as if by habit, then as if she had caught herself nodding, she unnaturally stopped herself. ¡°It is what it is.¡±

    ¡°The law keeps this place in relative peace, and the lord of this realm is a stronger lord than the one who came before.¡± She had a far-off look for a moment as if remembering happier simpler times. ¡°Do you have a place to stay young ones?¡±

    That was a good question, now that I was here in Nowhere, what was I going to do? I had no idea what I was doing here. Letting fate push and pull me where it pleased, allowing others baby me. I had to make a decision. ¡°No ma-am, we¡¯re not from around here, we kind of just happened upon here.¡±

    Rosary flitted over to join the conversation; she seemed to be in a better mood now. ¡°The two of them are from Elsewhere.¡± She piped out to the woman.

    Wait a sec, Rosary why are you just casually telling her that we are from a different world. She wouldn¡¯t believe us and probably think we¡¯re crazy. Well more crazy than we are.

    ¡°Ahh, that makes perfect sense, from what part of Elsewhere do you hale from?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± Did she believe her? I was dumbfounded.

    ¡°Seattle, in the United States¡± Emma responded. Wasn¡¯t she surprised? If she was, then she was good at hiding it.

    The old woman smiled as if pleased about the subject. ¡°I was born and raised in Britain; I was brought to this world while I was still in school.¡±

    ¡°One thing about this world that you will realize quickly young ones is that people coming from Elsewhere though rare are not unheard of. The god of this world is a tricky god with no qualms of populating this world with those that had former lives.¡±

    Her face darkened for a moment, ¡°Whether or not those who were kidnapped are good or not for his world.¡± This world was so different from the world I had been raised. ¡°I will let you stay here for a while.¡± The old woman piped after turning away. ¡°I know what it¡¯s like to end up here alone, scared, with nothing to support me.¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t need you to help us,¡± I responded more so out of impulse than the real desire to say no.

    Emma responded to that with a swift punch to the kidney. ¡°He¡¯s a bit prideful ma-am I¡¯m sorry, we do need somewhere to stay. He only meant that he would feel bad to impose on you.¡±

    Emma shot daggers at me, they almost felt real, and I was thoroughly cowed. The old woman watched our antics for a moment, ¡°No need to feel imposed, and I will, of course, ask for some help in exchange it has been a while since this tavern has hosted guests, I¡¯m sure my son will also see the light in allowing you to stay.

    That made me wonder, how could a tavern with such a nice atmosphere and an even nicer proprietor find itself lacking in customers.

    ¡°Please follow me; I shall show you to your rooms. Today you can relax if you like. Tomorrow we can talk about just how you can compensate me for staying.

 Chapter 11

    Leading us to the spare rooms a floor above, the woman told us her name ¡ª Jean, named after her great-grandmother. The floor neither squeaked nor creaked from our footfalls and was almost glossy.

    ¡°This will be where you¡¯ll be staying.¡± She pointed out a door for me and another for Emma next to my room. ¡°I¡¯ll let you know when supper is ready, my son should be home soon from his job, I¡¯ll let him show you around some more.¡± She softly rubbed against her leg as if to try to appease the pain inside. ¡°This old woman isn¡¯t so spry anymore, unfortunately.¡±

    She flashed another smile before going down the stairs. The rooms seemed nice, more beautiful then what I had imagined a tavern room to be. It was better than some of the motel rooms that I¡¯d had to stay in. A knocking at the door turned my attention back to where I had entered. Emma opened the door without even waiting for me to respond Rosary reluctantly following behind her.  So, do you think that you can bring us back?  Emma asked.

    ¡°Well, I could try.¡± I looked around my surroundings; I needed something sharp preferably something that could draw blood. The room though well furnished with furniture seemed to be barren of much else. Maybe I should go back downstairs and ask for a knife? Wouldn¡¯t that sound like an awkward request though? What would I tell her? Yeah sorry, I need to borrow a knife from you because I think that If I cut myself, then I can go home. I was still sore from earlier even. I looked down at the previous cut. Red, swollen, a little bit of blood leaked here and there.

    How much blood do I even need?  Would a little bit work? I didn¡¯t want to piss off the innkeeper by getting blood all over her nice furniture.

    ¡°Do you have anything for me to draw on?¡± I asked Emma. ¡°Sorry,¡± It seemed like we were going to be getting nowhere fast, god damn that¡¯s a fucking pun now. Give me a sec; I¡¯m going to ask Jean if she has anything to draw on,¡± maybe I¡¯ll also try to find something pointy or sharp too while I¡¯m at it. Emma shrugged, ¡°Fine but you can meet me in my room then. It¡¯d feel awkward just hanging out in your room.¡± She walked out of the room, her dusty skirt swishing to and fro.  But Rosary decided to stay and instead perched on my shoulder. She hadn¡¯t said much since our trip back to Nowhere, in-fact she seemed incredibly troubled, but could I blame her?

    Stepping out of the room, the faint scent of something tasty seemed to be filling the air outside. It smelled so good; I hadn¡¯t had something home-made in a while. Usually, it was a choice between quick, easy to make meals where the only skill needed to make was the ability to press a few buttons and wait for the microwave to beep and the occasional trip outside of the school grounds to go to a restaurant ¡ª a feat that usually was done to appease the disaster known as Emma. The thought of real food made me nearly start drooling.

    Following the scent, I passed by the main room. A small hall near the stairs led to the back where a large kitchen took up about half as much as the main room. There Jean seemed to be toiling away at a large pot. An open flame fueled by wood let off a warmth into the room, the earthy smell of the timber intermingled with the hearty scent of what I could now see was a stew. Her back was turned away from me currently.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Cutlery hung casually near me; I just needed a knife or something, preferably small. The blade that caught my eye was a small paring knife. It; along with the group of knives paired with it seemed to be a simple set, wood handle that appeared to be home-made, it didn¡¯t seem especially sharp it looked like it had seen a lot of wear. Jean started to turn. Shit no time to think.

    I palmed the knife, casually slipping it into my pocket as Jean turned. She grabbed for what looked like some seasoning, but stopped, and turned to me. ¡°I¡¯m sorry dear, food isn¡¯t ready yet.¡±

    I felt a little guilty at the feeling of the knife in my left pocket. Maybe I should have just asked her for it. ¡°I¡¯m sorry to disturb you, but I need something to write on.¡± The sound of the bubbling stew roused the woman to action, she turned back over to her seasonings, grabbing one.

    ¡°What do you need that for?¡± She asked as she worked on the stew. This would be so much easier if I were to tell her. ¡°I¡¯m still feeling a bit on edge; writing seems to help.¡± I lied, well sort of. I did feel better-doing something after a panic attack, but I feel fine right now.

    She nodded absently; she seemed more concerned over the pot right now. ¡°At the bar, I have some parchment that I use; you can use some of that,¡±

    ¡°Ok thank you.¡±

    I nervously started going out of the room, ¡°Daniel was it?¡± I froze, thinking that maybe she had figured out something. ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°Please be sparing with it. Lately, it¡¯s been getting harder to come by, the merchant that I usually get it from has been late coming. I don¡¯t have much left.¡± I let out a sigh of relief. ¡°Will do,¡± I said before finally leaving.

    I felt winded like I had run up multiple flights of stairs. I wasn¡¯t exactly well suited for lying. I did it anyway. Going back to the main area, I quickly spotted what I was looking for. Grabbing a piece of the paper, I promptly left. Passing to the stairwell, I made my way up. A bell chittered, probably the bell that signaled that a customer had come from the inner city. I was curious, but instead of lingering to see who or what had entered I continued up the stairs. Firstly I wanted to know how reliable my abilities were.

    Emma was waiting in her room patiently, moved she seemed to be staring absently at her phone, a worried expression on her face. Its light was reflecting from her eyes dimly. Did she think it would have service out here?

    A moment later she seemed to notice that I was at the doorway and she seemed to shake herself off. ¡°Well?¡± She asked a tinge of impatience in her voice. I pulled out the little knife and set down the paper on the wood floor. ¡°I¡¯m ready I guess.¡± Rosary flapped down near the parchment. I tried at first to scratch open the old wound. Dripping the blood onto the paper, I attempted to will it back home.

    Absolutely nothing; well here goes nothing. A sharp pain sliced through my hand. The little knife cut through my flesh easily. Fuck does that burn. The drops of blood started forming all over I willed again, picturing my room as best as I could do. Colors began to develop from the droplets, colors that shouldn¡¯t have been possible from my droplets of blood. The parchment started to look like someone had puked a rainbow on it. Pain suddenly blasted through my head, at least that¡¯s how best I could describe it. A ringing filled my ears; the pain far worse in my head then my hand had been.

    The colors drained from the picture as if losing all vitality. The rainbow mess was gone, it now looked like a muddy grey. God, I can¡¯t think; it pounded in my head.

    ¡°Did you do it, Daniel?¡± Emma asked. I tried answering, but my body didn¡¯t respond. For a brief moment, it felt like I couldn¡¯t control my body. ¡°Are you ok?¡± Rosary asked, her little voice coming from below.

    I fell over, my head banging against the knob of the door that I had been leaning against. It probably should have hurt, but hey that pain was nothing compared to what was in my head.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Emma jumped over and seemed to try to catch me, a lot of good that does.

 Chapter 12

    ¡°Fuck, what the hell?¡± I complained in an almost whimper.

    The blood dripped slowly from my hand, using my other hand I felt where my head had slammed against the door. Thankfully nothing seemed to have opened up. I looked first to Rosary and then to Emma. Rosary seemed unsurprised, Emma, on the other hand, seemed to be freaked out now and had rushed over to me cradling me away from the door. Great, just what I needed more babying.

    Those green eyes seemed almost in tears as I stared into them, my heart fluttering just the slightest bit. ¡°Well, that didn¡¯t work.¡±

    ¡°What happened?¡± Emma asked her face a little too close to mine. I moved out of her grasp, trying to hide the embarrassment that was probably pretty evident in my face, at the very least I could feel a little heat in my cheeks. I moved to the bed near the window and stared out. The window faced into what looked like a dark alley, thankfully. I didn¡¯t feel very comfortable about the idea of watching what was happening out in the town square. It still made me nauseous a little thinking of all that.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°It looked like it was working Daniel.¡±

    ¡°I know, it felt like it was going to work too and then all of a sudden my head just started pounding and I felt more pain then I think I¡¯ve ever felt. Hell, It still hurts, even worse than my cut or where I collapsed into.¡±

    ¡°Sebastian is going to be worried Daniel.¡±

    I winced a little at the name, my other best friend. Also currently the man that was dating Emma. That must have been why she had been staring at her phone. Those two seemed attached at the hips sometimes¡­ Which made her insistence to continue interacting even more painful at times.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t ask you to come with me Emma,¡± I responded with maybe a little more venom then I had meant. I still stared out that window refusing to look at her instead I watched the shadows dance moving in rhythm to the flames of the torches that dimly lit the alley. But I didn¡¯t need to look at her face, I could and did imagine the contours of her face wincing.

    ¡°Sebastian has been worried about you too. Ever since we started our second year, you¡¯ve been distancing yourself again.¡±

    A soft creak, I could feel the bed move yielding to the weight as another human body sat in it. Emma sat near me her breath tickling my nose; she seemed to be staring outside too now a complicated expression on her face. Loneliness? Depression? Concern? I couldn¡¯t tell hell half the time I couldn¡¯t figure out my own emotions so why was I trying to figure out hers?

    It¡¯d be way simpler if I didn¡¯t expect anything from her emotions. The way she sometimes would look at me that made me think that maybe she wanted things more than friends. Like that hurt look, she gave me when I had told her that I had started dating Thera from our class. I shouldn¡¯t be expecting anything, and all that came out of it was a pain.

    A shaky hand rested on my shoulder. ¡°I told Sebastian that you had hurt yourself.¡±

    ¡°Why would you tell him that?¡± I snarled.

    ¡°Because that¡¯s what I thought had happened!¡± she responded her hand on my shoulder tightening.

    ¡°Sometimes you¡¯re so dense, what did you expect me to think when I found you in your room covered in blood? Believe it or not, we DO care about you, Daniel.¡±

    The fluttering of wings stopped my next retort cold as I realized that there was more than just Emma and me in this room.

    The weight of the bird-like fairy rested on the opposite shoulder that Emma gripped.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if you two should worry so much.¡± Her melodic voice chimed.

    ¡°Abilities take time to use between uses, us fairies can create illusions for only a limited number of time, and my father from what I¡¯ve been told could only shape-shift every once in a while.¡±

    ¡°Illusions?¡± That reminded me of that very first day that I spent in Nowhere. When that fairy horde had tried to kill me and punish Rosary for trying to help me, what had been happening was very different from what seemed to be happening.

    I craned my neck to look at Rosary, and she nodded, ¡°So maybe you need to give it and you some time to rest?

    That suddenly had me thinking what the limits were? What was fueling this power?

    ¡°So we might be able to go back to our world as soon as tomorrow?¡± Emma asked hopefully.

    Rosary frowned a little, and I looked over to Emma now finally having the courage to look at her. Her face was mixed emotions of hope and dread.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Rosary responded plainly. A rapping at the door stopped our conversation cold. ¡°Yes?¡± I responded getting up off the bed making my way to the door.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    A deep masculine voice responded, ¡°Dinner is ready for all guests. ¡°OK thank you! We¡¯ll be out in a second,¡± Emma called back, also moving off the bed.

    The voice didn¡¯t respond though I could hear the sound of him walking away. ¡°We¡¯ll have to save this discussion for later,¡± Emma responded, I nodded as she looked my way. ¡°Let''s assume for now that we¡¯ll figure a way back soon.

    The bar that had once been empty now seemed to be full of life as men and women filled the seats. The bar wasn¡¯t exactly full as many of the seats were still empty but compared to earlier it would have been a welcome sight for any business owner.

    ¡°Ah, there you are.¡± The voice of Jean the Innkeep piped up slightly over the din of the crow. She seemed to have brought a large tray with an assortment of bread, and bowls of steaming stew. ¡°Please move to the corner over there.¡± She said as she kept moving using her chin to point to an uninhabited corner near the stairwell. Emma and I did as we were told and Rosary clung to my shoulder tightly obviously uncomfortable with the number of men and women in the room especially as she seemed to be the only Demi-human here.

    She tried to shrink into my neck, but it was evident that some people had taken notice of her as a couple of men and a woman in a group seemed to be giving occasional glances our way.

    Stew and bread were waiting for us; I could hear one incredibly boisterous voice telling what sounded like a drunken story. Laughter shortly seemed to follow as the man¡¯s voice got louder. The smell of the stew made my stomach leap and my mouth water. As we sat down along the circular wooden table, Jean sat down next to us. With plenty of drinks and a couple more large Stews and what seemed to be a salad.

    ¡°Rosary was it?¡± Jean asked in my direction pointed towards the Fae that was trying to pretend she was invisible. ¡°I have been told that most of your kind subsist on fruits and vegetables.¡± A small voice piped up barely audible against the roar of the other customers.

    ¡°Well yes, those of us who haven¡¯t felt the touch at least.¡± The older woman smiled satisfied at that answer and pushed the salad between Emma and I. ¡°Please eat, I, unfortunately, do not have silverware for your kind, the last time I met one of you was before this city had come to be.¡±

    Rosary reluctantly let go and hopped down to the table. What had she meant by the touch? That fae that was around her before seemed very willing to kill and eat flesh. At least that was that I had of them from my last encounter.

    But before I could ask a large shadow blotted out a lot of the light at our table. A large man loomed over the table. I had to crane to see his face. He didn¡¯t look happy, his eyes first stared at me, our eyes making contact for a brief moment before I looked away. Then they went to Emma though she seemed to stare back with a little more grit than me before looking away and finally at Rosary though when she looked back at him, he ended up looking away strangely enough.

    The guy was intimidating; he looked like one of those bouncers that I had seen when Emma had forced me to go out drinking for my 21st a little while ago. The muscular man sat down next to me; reflexively I scooted a little away. Who was he?

    He grabbed a bowl of stew and some drink though he still seemed to be tense as he took a swig his large hand seeming to engulf the whole cup which was quite a feat as I almost had to hold the cup in two hands.

    ¡°I don¡¯t like this.¡± The man gruffed before taking a long drought. ¡°As you¡¯ve said,¡± Jean replied.

    Emma piped up slightly quieter than usual, seemingly intimidated by the large man. Is this your son ma-am?¡± Jean nodded, ¡°Introduce yourself to the new help please.¡±

    He shrugged, ¡°Fine; I¡¯m Frederick, my mother has told me that you¡¯ll be helping with the bar while you get acquainted with the area?¡±

    He glared at us, ¡°I don¡¯t trust you, honestly if it were my choice I¡¯d tell you to leave.¡±

    ¡°Fred¡± exclaimed Jean, ¡°There is no reason for you to be hostile to them, they haven¡¯t done anything to you, the only reason you even had a chance to live was because of the kindness of others, were it not for your fathers kindness when I came to this world I doubt I would have survived.¡±

    ¡°Things were different back then.¡± He commented though the hostility in his voice seemed to have toned down. ¡°You have no idea how many people I have seen who take advantage of one another here mother; these people could be just like those type of people, or worse¡­¡±

    Jean sighed, ¡°I love you, Frederick, I know you are concerned about your poor old mother, but you need to trust in my judgment. Besides, it¡¯s not often that an untainted fae will align itself to someone who is up to no good.¡± The man took another glance over at Rosary, ¡°Yeah, I guess you¡¯re right there.¡±

    Rosary seemed to have taken an interest in the conversation though still seemed intimidated, ¡°How can you be so certain that I¡¯m not?¡±

    ¡°Jean smiled, ¡°Call it my God-given intuition.¡± Rosary nodded as if satisfied by the explanation and went back to her meal. I, on the other hand, felt lost, again strange talk that seemed to go over my head completely. Tainted? God-given intuition? I wanted to ask, but Fredericks¡¯ eyes seemed to have found themselves staring at me, and I could only shrink back in response. ¡°Boy, tomorrow you and I shall be going out to the market, I¡¯ve got the day off and it sounds like the merchant we¡¯ve been waiting for will be there finally.¡±

    At least he seemed to have given up on objecting our presence. ¡°Emma?¡± Jean responded,

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°How confident are you with people?¡±

    ¡°In the other world, I worked as a waitress.¡±

    ¡°Good, we¡¯ll be busy tomorrow. We¡¯ve got an envoy coming into town, or so my son has told me, lots of people will be here.

    Emma looked over at me with concern. She didn¡¯t seem comfortable about us being separated. Frankly, I didn¡¯t feel pleased about it either, but we should probably heed to their wishes at least until we know the limits of my abilities.

    Frederick eyed Rosary again for a moment before looking away. ¡°Rosary? You¡¯ll have to stay behind.¡±

    I turned to him, ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious? People look at Demi-humans with suspicion. Especially Fae people around here. If you want to Rosary, you can make yourself invisible here in the bar, but out in the market we can¡¯t afford to bring unsavory attention even if I work for the guard that doesn¡¯t give us a free pass as far as Demi-humans are concerned.¡±

    Rosary frowned, ¡°I won¡¯t use illusions.¡±

    Jean seemed to grow concerned at that. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but we can¡¯t afford to allow you to eat here in plain sight if you don''t use illusions then, unfortunately, we can¡¯t allow you down here often. Today is fine but most days would be dangerous.¡± Rosary nodded, ¡°I will stay in Daniel¡¯s room then.¡± It was minute, but I could tell that she seemed depressed by that. If she could use that kind of magic to make her life easier then why won¡¯t she?

    After that Frederick left and went from table to table acting utterly different from the groups, then he had with us. Jean left us and shortly after Emma and I went back to our rooms, there had been so much that had happened today and yesterday too. I wanted to ask Rosary some questions but left it alone. A smaller bed had been put up near the window for Rosary. And she quickly made her way to it and curled up. The last thing I thought of before falling asleep was the lonely look in the little woman¡¯s face.

 Chapter 13

    ¡°Daniel.¡±

    The voice was that of a young woman, stirring me from my sleep and looking around me a massive structure of stone lay before me. Another voice responded to the little girl''s voice.

    ¡°Yeah, I know Bell.¡±

    It took me a moment to realize that I was having another dream? Or maybe a memory? It was hard to say. Looking behind me where the voices originated from was a group of 6 people. A younger me, the girl named Bell I think, the Panther looking man named Pan, Clair the girl with the grayed out eyes, the boy they called Seb, and a beautiful woman with a multitude of tails, her face looking slightly foxy and a pristine look. A woman that hadn¡¯t been in my last dream. All around us was forest and ruins.

    The familiar group had all taken a knew to the new woman, including my self, a half circle of kneeling children and the only other adult.

    ¡°Lady Why,¡± The panther looking man half purred in reverence. So this was the Lady that I¡¯ve heard about. She seemed so mysterious, so powerful, like that of a Greek goddess in the flesh.

    ¡°Children, I hope that you have been listening well to the instructions of your mentor.¡± She looked over the group of children like a proud mother. Her timeless beauty is washing over us all. ¡°Sir Pan,¡± She suddenly stated to the kneeling Cat-man. Her face had grown gravely serious now. ¡°It has come to my attention that the Sanctuary has come under attack by strange creatures.¡±

    Pan nodded, he didn¡¯t seem all that surprised to hear about it. ¡°I heard word hours ago Milady. Survivors poured out earlier giving reports of strange deformed creatures that seemed straight out of nightmares.¡±

    One of the ears on the lady, so unlike of that of a normal person, covered in white fur like hair and much larger then the normal ear much like that of a fox perked up, swiveling and listening to the noise of some unheard sound. ¡°I come to tell you to be careful Panzer; these creatures are dangerous of that I¡¯m sure. Though these children need the training to remember that they are not soldiers but symbols of the unity of our people.¡± Her voice was mesmerizing, and each of the eight white tails that fluttered behind the lady and seemed to move in their rhythm.

    ¡°I understand, I wish only to scout and plan to bring the children with so that they too can understand the threat.¡±

    The lady nodded, and she walked over to the kneeling Demi-man. ¡°I wish for you to be careful as well Pan. Stand up.¡± Pan did as he was told. He stood just a foot taller than the Lady. ¡°Lean down my consort,¡± She gave him a heated kiss, one of her tails glowing in dim light, as their kiss continued a glow from the lady entered Pan before disappearing.

    She didn¡¯t stop at just Pan, she bade each of the young teens to stand, and each was treated the same, and a new tail would glow at the contact of another''s lips. I walked closer while this was going on wanting to hear the words whispered into each of their ears. The girl Clair, strangely enough, seemed to notice my approach just like the last dream. But other then her the rest seemed not to notice.

    By the time I got close enough, The Lady was at my younger self who seemed barely able to keep still his cheeks blazing red. The Lady appeared to sensually brush her hand against his cheek bending down enough to give both my younger self and my current self ample view of her generous bosom. The kiss left the younger me breathless. A mischievous smile came to her face as the kiss ended. ¡°Daniel, prove to me that you deserve to be my chosen.¡± Her mischievous smiled hinted something slightly more something far more carnal in those whispered words. ¡°If you do my dear, I shall reward you with my greatest blessing once you¡¯re old enough.¡±

    She stepped away from me at that point, those almost bewitching words still in my ears. She left then with not another word; the group seemed all to be a bit breathless and glassy-eyed. It seemed that this woman was more than just the ethereal and mysterious being that I¡¯d first imagined.

    The group soon got over their daze and walked into the entrance ¡ª all except for one girl. Clair stared at me, her Grey eyes quite clearly staring directly at me. ¡°Daniel, it¡¯s your fault.¡± She said at me before walking quickly to the group.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    My fault? Why was it my fault, hell what was my fault? I followed the group into the dark corridors of the sanctuary. Bell and younger me stayed close to Pan, while little Seb took a more cautious approach and Clair seemed the furthest from the group. Her eyes are peeking at me every once in a while.

    ¡°What exactly is my fault?¡± I asked Clair. I figured it was pointless, so far nothing I¡¯d been able to do had affected the dream so even though she apparently could see me I didn¡¯t think that meant she could hear me too. But surprisingly she turned around and responded. ¡°I will not say for worse will come.¡±

    Then she walked to me, her small hand brushing tenderly against my chest and she gingerly felt at the scar beneath the clothing. The injury left behind from that dream. Her eyes seemed to water for a moment before a few blinks banished the tears. ¡°I wish I¡¯d never been born with this detestable ability.¡± Just then she hugged me for a moment, her little body seeming larger then the dream, ¡°I miss you, all of you. I wish things didn¡¯t have to be this way.¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about Clair?¡± I asked the nearly shaking grief-stricken girl. I felt like I was the one roughly tearing at her scar, but I felt like I needed to know.

    She blinked some more, and the group was slowly disappearing into the darkness of the sanctuary. ¡°I¡¯ve seen the future Daniel,¡± the future of Nowhere. She was shaking her body like that of a leaf being violently tossed about. ¡°I, I wish that there could have been a different choice. You are not supposed to be here.¡±

    The group at this point were no longer in sight; the frail-looking girl sniffled a little before turning away. ¡°Clair?¡± I called out her name but was unsure of what to say. She stared into the darkness, and that¡¯s when I realized that the scar on my chest was burning.

    A creature slinked from out of the darkness it looked like a slug, one which had grown to the size of a pony and had sharp razer like spikes coming out of it. Clair screamed, her voice seemed more childlike than the sound I¡¯d heard earlier. The girl backed up; the creature followed it¡¯s spines appearing to twitch in anticipation. Fear crept through me, paralyzing me. Fear for myself and fear for the willowy pale girl that seemed to now be its prey.

    I blinked, and suddenly I was with the group again. The only one not there was Clair. My fear subsided slightly though my pain was still plenty intense where the scar was.

    ¡°Where¡¯s Clair?¡± The group stopped, Bell had been one to ask the question as she had looked back to find her missing. My younger self seemed to have still been in a stupor from his encounter with the Lady, but after a moment he became the most animated of the group. ¡°Clair?¡± they started yelling each.

    ¡°Stop,¡± Panzer said authoritatively, ¡°I smell something to stay behind me, children.¡±

    The group started to follow Panzer, though they kept looking behind worried about Clair. The scent of rot and blood soon filled the air. Bodies torn to shreds littered the area. They reach a large open area where the darkness receded. Water poured down from above spilling into a pool and there in the light of the sun stood a heavily wounded man, bodies surrounded the fountain arrayed as if they were trying to crawl towards the light only to be struck down moments before reaching it.

    The man stared at the group blankly for a moment as if not entirely able to see correctly. A feeling of dread; was I the only one feeling it? It was knowing what was happening to Clair? Sebastian was shaking like a leaf his face turning almost green, while my younger self kept clenching his fist to the point that it seemed like he was cutting circulation to the hand and Emma looked back steadily as if hoping Clair would return tears sneakily appearing at the corner of her eyes. The only one that seemed calm was Panzer. ¡°Who would do such a thing?¡± Emma asked. The group seemed almost afraid of the wounded man, were they afraid of him or of learning what had done this kind of destruction.

    ¡°We need to look for Clair!¡± My younger self yelled out. Panzer gave the boy a wary eye, ¡°I know, but keep your cool, or you could end up like these poor souls.¡± Pan made his way to the wounded man.

    I felt like I was going to puke, can you puke in a dream? Again I have to wonder whether it is a dream. I felt like I was inside some invisible creatures stomach. Was that just my imagination?

    Panzer at this time was quietly whispering to the wounded man. A clicking sound filled the air, and suddenly a shrill feminine scream accompanied it, that was Clair''s scream. The Little me, Emma and Sebastian though momentarily frightened shook themselves. ¡°Clair!¡± The younger me screamed and started rushing after the sound. It was almost impressive how brave he was. Even when I had known it couldn¡¯t hurt me, I had been paralyzed to do anything.

    ¡°Stop!¡± Panzer yelled as the other two followed me. Panzer went to chase after them when the wounded man grabbed the Panther man and whispered something to his ear. I couldn¡¯t hear what it was the only thing I could see was unbridled fear in Pan¡¯s eyes before I turned and chased after the group. Was Clair OK?

    Then I woke up, the chill air of the morning nearly wiping out the earlier damp heat that had been in my dream. ¡°Fuck!¡± I sprung out of bed, cold sweat across my brow and my chest still had that faint burning sensation. All these dreams seemed to do was create more questions. Then I remembered that I wasn¡¯t the only inhabitant in the room, Looking over to Rosaries bed I noticed that it was empty. Where had Rosary gone? A slight dread filled my gut; I shouldn¡¯t worry so much that was only a dream besides this is obviously not some forest filled with Ruins.

 Chapter 14

    Rosary couldn¡¯t sleep, to her, this place felt wrong. She could still remember the feel of this place ten years ago before when Lady Wyn had been the ruler of this area. Before the tyranny of the Mad-King and before Rosary had lost her father.

    It was deep into the night when she heard a noise from the alley. Sleepily she shuffled her way over to the slightly open window. She didn¡¯t have a reason, but she felt so restless. To her right Daniel was still sleeping, his face seemed anything but rested, it seemed to be squinting into a pained look that made Rosary want to go over and comfort him.

    It was silly she thought to herself. She felt a feeling of kinship with the human. For a moment she remembered those last few moments with her brethren. The sick twisted looks on their faces. Those Fae had been tainted, their selves twisted into her sick idea of perfection.

    She could still feel the pain of them holding her down. The lecherous looks they had given again made her stomach lurch ¡ª the slimy feel of their extra organs slithering on her as they attempted to violate her.

    Shivers ran a sprint from her neck down to her bottom. ¡°Stop, stop thinking about that,¡± Rosary demanded of herself. She took another look over at her savior and felt a warmth battle against the cold before she tried to ignore both feelings and instead vested her attention to the window.

    A large man stood below, a torch in one hand and the other hand resting along his waist. The man was covered in a cloak, one dark enough to make him almost blend into the darkness of the shadows were it not for the torch that he held.

    Rosary recognized the man; it was the innkeeper¡¯s son, what was his name again; Frederick? What was he doing? She thought to herself. He didn¡¯t seem to be going out for a midnight stroll. Rosary debated to herself on whether or not to follow the man. She watched as he appeared to be checking to make sure nobody was around. His eyes even went up to check the window that Rosary was watching from. She flushed and froze in place; he was staring right at her his eyes looking up towards the windows of the inn.

    The moment felt like it lasted an eternity, thankfully he didn¡¯t seem to have spotted her as he looked away without making any fuss. He had probably been checking to make sure humans weren¡¯t watching him, and so he must have glanced over her.

    He started moving, Rosary looked back over at Daniel sleeping and made up her mind. She didn¡¯t want to risk the innkeeper''s anger if she got caught. She turned away and went back to her makeshift bed, but a nagging feeling kept her from getting in it. What if he¡¯s up to no good? Do I want to risk not knowing? Whether it was a fairies natural curiosity for knowing things that they don¡¯t need to know or maybe a genuine concern for her and Daniel¡¯s and perhaps a little of Emma¡¯s to.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    She ended up second-guessing herself and turned back to the window. I¡¯ll just keep hidden; I need to make sure that he isn¡¯t bad news. With those words in her head, she flew out into the night.

    The city which had a sinister air even in the daytime now felt like it was going to swallow Rosary up. Quickly she made her way into the streets, doing her best not only to find Frederick but also to stay hidden. Thankfully for Rosary, she had an advantage that most humans didn¡¯t.

    She flew higher into the air, the building which was so huge to the diminutive woman now seemed to shrink. Lights dotted all over the city.

    Certain landmarks from her memory from before the cities magical erection still dotted the vast metropolis. Old ruins with buildings having grown over them stuck out as if the last bit of healthy skin on an otherwise rotted body.

    Her eyes spotted many people, more then she would have expected at this time of the night. Then she saw it, a sizeable cloaked man slinking to and from the alleys, he seemed to be practiced. He was near one of the old ruins. Was that where he was heading? She didn¡¯t have time to think about it as a screeching sound forced her thoughts to change to a different course.

    An owl seemed to have spotted her. Its huge orbs seemed to be staring intently at Rosary. It didn¡¯t seem to be friendly.

    It rushed at Rosary with the practiced speed of a predator. Rosary had never been alone before when dealing with predatory animals. Back when she had still been with the other faeries, they had practiced hunting birds of prey. Rosary had never taken part in these hunts as she didn¡¯t eat meat, unlike her tainted brethren. She could still remember the death wails of fairy and bird alike.

    The fairies had the advantage of numbers and illusion magic back then. Rosary was alone now, and though she technically could use her magic, she inherently felt it was wrong to try to trick the bird or anyone in that case.

    Rosary spun out of the claws of the owl right before it could clamp down on her. ¡°Kreee!¡± The owl screeched in anger. Rosary dove down, her body still partially in a spin. The cold night air roared in her ears. Rosary had to dive back into the city. If she was going to survive this encounter, it was her only choice.

    The lights of the city rushed up to greet her. She caught sight of the owl; it was catching up. The city was still approaching. Would she make it? She wonders to herself. The owl was right on her now. She tried twisting away, but the owl followed suit. Rosary felt her impending death approaching, wouldn¡¯t it be worth it now to use her magic? No, she couldn¡¯t do that, it would be the same thing she thought to herself. Just like her brethren when they had lied to her. When her father had lied to her.

    She zoomed to the left just in time for a claw to brush against her. Too close, she was bound to be killed. Her only chance was to use it; she felt so filthy so wrong as she felt her body condense with magic that should have been so natural to her. Her body glowed, and her insides felt sick. She willed herself an image of herself flying opposite of where she was going. A second Rosary split off from her; the bird thankfully chased after the copy which momentarily fizzled away as it tried to dig its claws into the copy.

    Rosary made it back into the city and like a feathery red arrow made her way to the ruin. She looked back and saw that the owl was following. But the distance she had made for herself with that distraction had been enough she rushed into the gaping opening of the ruin, darkness quickly enveloping the young woman

 Chapter 15

    The wind, blowing in from the open window was cold, its touch reminding me like a mother scolding their child to put on more clothes then just the undergarments I currently wore. I went over to close the window. The window was stiff, though it seemed to move with ease, I stopped myself just before closing it, what if Rosary was outside? That thought reversed my movement, and I opened it wide instead just in case Rosary came back.

    The bar was empty when I got down. The light of daylight slowly seemed to be eeking its way into the room giving me an almost sleepy feel. I sat down where I had last night. A slight scent of cinnamon started to make its way into the room. I felt like I was swimming in my clothes, I was wearing some of Fredericks old clothes. Apparently, they had been too small for him. My clothes were dirty. Jeesh even that man¡¯s small clothes made you feel like a child while wearing them.

    ¡°Good morning,¡± a sleepy voice said with a yawn. Emma had just walked in, and she made her way beside me. ¡°Good morning,¡± I responded.

    ¡°I like your new look,¡±

    ¡°Yeah, yeah, I¡¯d make fun of your clothes too, but I¡¯m afraid Jean would hear so count yourself lucky.¡± I hadn¡¯t been the only one who had needed new clothing to wear. The difference was that Emma fit in her clothes, well mostly. I couldn¡¯t help but eye at Emma¡¯s chest. She didn¡¯t exactly have a large chest per se, but Jean hadn¡¯t had much of a chest at all in her youth. Emma¡¯s breasts looked huge in the shirt, and about ready to burst out; I wouldn¡¯t mind that.

    ¡°Looks to me like you seem to be enjoying the clothes,¡± Emma responded dryly having spotted me looking at her suffocating chest. I looked away, feeling like a kid who had just been caught doing something he wasn¡¯t supposed to be doing. An awkward silence came over the table, and she started to fiddle with her phone, reminding me of the fight we¡¯d had in her room before.

    ¡°Where is Rosary at?¡± Emma asked breaking the silence.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know; she wasn¡¯t there when I woke up.¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you a little worried about her?¡± She asked, it almost sounded like an accusation. But her face seemed to imply something else.

    ¡°I¡¯d be lying if I said that I wasn¡¯t a little worried.¡± I said it plainly, she seemed to want to say something to that, but I continued, ¡°But I¡¯m sure she can probably handle herself better than we can. This is her home.¡±

    Was I saying it to convince Emma or myself?

    ¡°You know it¡¯s kind of surprising to hear you say that, I got the feeling that she seemed more out of her element than you do. Ever since I met her, it seems like she¡¯s always clinging to you.¡±

    ¡°Jealous?¡± I asked as a grin threatened to display on my face.

    She blinked for a moment, then she, looked away. Was her face a little red?

    ¡°Um, of course not!¡± She stammered. Then she glared at me. What the hell? I was joking. Though her mixed reaction did leave me with a shit eating grin. The scent of Cinnamon was suddenly more noticeable.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    ¡°Leave the flirting somewhere more private would you?¡± A gruff voice interjected.

    Shit! I almost jumped at the voice; I wasn¡¯t the only one as Emma also seemed to have just noticed. I could feel the blood in my cheeks¡­ painfully clear. I turned around to find that Frederick had come in with a tray of food for the three of us along with what looked like a salad. His eyes seemed to have dark moons under them, and he did not seem to be in a good mood.

    I didn¡¯t know what to say to him, Emma and I weren¡¯t flirting at all, but it kind of felt like we were. Were we flirting? ¡°Don¡¯t say anything. I¡¯ve seen and heard enough for today, eat. We¡¯ve got a busy day."

    The meal was a quiet one; occasionally I would sneak a peek over at Emma, she would be playing with her phone one minute eating with her right hand as her left kept opening and closing the dead phone. Then she would look over to me, those dazzling eyes staring back into mine furtively before we both would look away. Frederick asked about Rosary; I told him the same thing I told Emma, I didn¡¯t know. Jean came out to visit and after Emma finished they both left. After we finished, we also left.

    The road that we are on is vast; it reminds me of a multi-lane highway, You could probably drive six vehicles down it without any issue and plenty of shoulder room. We¡¯re in the center of the city; a colossal road splits the city into two Merchants are plentiful here, many looked to have come from outside the city. The scent left my nose feeling assaulted as all kinds of strong smells battled for supremacy; body odor, spices, baked goods, shit, piss, flowers, and cologne or at least something like it? It almost made my head dizzy taking it all in. The sounds were just as much of a mess.

    ¡°Turn here,¡± Frederick said before leading the donkey-driven cart to a much smaller but still large and occupied road. Something strange caught my eye, along the road some of the building seemed to have crumbling ruins right underneath them, it was especially odd to see a foundation for a floor in an almost obsidian kind of color with grey slated ruins jutting out of them as they grew right out of them. ¡°What the hell happened here?¡± I asked Frederick, who gave me an annoyed look, a look that seriously made me fear for my life, god this man was scary.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Is that normal?¡± I pointed to the mess of stone. Frederick shrugged, ¡°Lord Sabbath wasn¡¯t the first one here. Those stones are from the last ruler, well actually I think they are actually older than that even.¡±

    What the hell? What crazy city planner decided it would be safe to not only build on-top of crumbling ruins but to build them like that?

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t they just break down the old building?¡± I asked as a huge ruin started to come in view. The older man gave a sigh, ¡°I forget that you¡¯re an Elseworlder, you really do know nothing. Most of these buildings were not built.¡±

    Huh? What did he mean not built? ¡°Obviously someone had to build them, buildings don¡¯t just appear by themselves.¡±

    Frederick burst out laughing. What now? That was obviously common sense so why was he laughing? ¡°The lords of the land have complete control as to how they wish for their realm to be. If lord Sabbath so wished it he could make the buildings all have trees growing on them, upside down if he so wished.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re obviously fucking with me.¡±

    His grin faded, a serious almost melancholic look replacing it. ¡°No, I wish I was. That is the right given to those that God has deemed a Ruler.¡±

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t he get rid of the ruins then?¡± I asked feeling the last shreds of my common sense slowly degrade. ¡°It takes a lot more effort to remove what a previous ruler has created then it is to form over the top, or so I¡¯ve heard. But I suspect it is also a warning, a reminder of the strength that he has.

    Then I saw something it, to the right of us an ominous ruin stood in defiance to the buildings around it. The maw of it gaped out; I felt my chest burn a little. There it was¡­ The ruins from my dreams. It felt as if hundreds of tiny hands of ice were crawling their way down my back. I suddenly had the realization that we really were in the same place that I had tried to send us. It just wasn¡¯t the same as it was back then.

 Chapter 16

    The merchant that we were looking for wasn¡¯t far away, from those ruins. From the side of the road, the carriage we were looking for looked a lot like many of the carts that we had passed, big, wood, with what looked like a cabin of sorts. Outside of the cart, the merchant had set-up stalls in front of the carriage.

    ¡°Ello, ello, welcome.¡± A cheerful voice calls out from inside the cart. A lanky dark-skinned man with numerous freckles exits the carriage. Though I had the impression of him folding himself out of it, it wasn¡¯t that the carts¡¯ door was short or anything. Just that the man getting out of it made the door look tiny in comparison. Even Frederick, though a large and muscular man himself, seemed to be at least a good head and a half shorter. Holy shit was this guy tall.

    ¡°Good to see you old friend,¡± Frederick said, his face warmly showing the hints of a smile under those darkened sleep-deprived eyes. ¡°Aye yes, it is so good to see you little Freddy,¡± The other said with an open-mouthed smile. The tall man seemed to have spotted me as he pointed towards me with one of his bony fingers. ¡°New help?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Something like that, he and a girl ended up stranded here after being taken by Elsewhere, or so I was told.¡±

    ¡°Ah, I see. It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you my name is Oscar Merch the 3rd,¡± he said to me. I introduced myself quickly, and after-wards Oscar turned back to Frederick.

    ¡°Where have you been Oscar?¡± Frederick asked as he grasped hands with the tall man in a friendly manner. Oscar shrugged, ¡°Lately the roads have been dangerous.¡± Oscar''s fist clenched for a moment before he tried to put his hands behind his back subtly. It seemed that Frederick hadn¡¯t missed the reaction either as he eyed the taller man dubiously. ¡°What happened Oscar?¡± Frederick asked concerned.

    Oscar seemed torn, he shook his head no, but he did seem to want to say. Frederick put a large hand on Oscar''s shoulder, ¡°You¡¯ve been more than just a business partner to my mother and I. Remember how you helped mom after the death of dad? We couldn¡¯t have made it through the first couple of years without you Oscar.¡± Was Frederick comforting? He seemed more like the sort to smash your face into a pulp. It was odd seeing a man who exudes violence like him to try to appease someone. I guess there is more to a man then what it seems.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°Ah, I suppose if you insist,¡± Oscar said exhaling softly. ¡°We were on the way to Jespira when bandits attacked my caravan. They came out during the full moon. Do you remember Derth? Skilled man that one was, he along with two of my other men were killed in the initial attack.¡± His face winced, ¡°Not only that but the scoundrels harmed my precious Aunna and ran off with a good stock of my food stores.

    ¡°How bad was Aunna harmed?¡± Frederick asked. ¡°Thankfully she will live¡­¡± Oscar¡¯s face darkened he clenched his eyes shut as if trying to hold back tears, ¡°I fear that she may never be the same though.¡±

    ¡°Did you catch any sort of identity?

    ¡°No, all I know is that they were Demi-Humans, they were big like you Freddy, but they looked more like wolves than men.¡± Frederick nodded listening, though his eyes slit slightly.

    "I could tell that they are well practiced they knew what they were doing. I wasn¡¯t the only one that has been attacked, and hearing from the other Merchants, they always seem to strike a full moon. At first, I suspected that they might have been tainted, but now I¡¯m unsure."

    There it is again, what exactly do they mean by the tainted? ¡°Excuse me,¡± I interrupted before Oscar could continue. ¡°What exactly do you mean by tainted?¡± Oscar and Frederick both looked at me in surprise.

    ¡°Ah yes, I suppose that you''re an otherworlder so you would be ignorant,¡± Oscar said. ¡°They are Demi-humans who have been corrupted by some force.¡±

    ¡°How do they get corrupted?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. But they first started appearing 12 years ago. But they¡¯ve been wreaking havoc since.¡±

    Oscar blinked hard and then went back to his cart. ¡°Here they are.¡± Oscar came out holding a few parcels, ¡°We ought to get Jean her order shouldn¡¯t we?¡± He apparently was done talking about what had happened. The three of us went through the supplies of the merchant. Parchment, spices, different types of foods. It looks like Jean had ordered quite a bit. Slowly the donkey-led cart that we had brought was filled.

    ¡°Oscar, be sure to visit the inn before you leave, the next meal is on the house for you,¡± Frederick said. Oscar smiled, he had the same face that he had when we first had seen him, jovial, friendly almost even carefree, it was so strange to see him look like that when the opposite had been so apparent not terribly long ago. ¡°Don¡¯t you worry Frederick, I couldn¡¯t leave without seeing sweet Jean.

    While traveling along the road, we crossed paths with that ruin again.¡±Stay away from that ruin kid; it¡¯s nothing but bad news.¡± Frederick must have noticed me staring at it still.

    ¡°Why, what¡¯s wrong with it?¡± I asked.

    ¡°The place is dangerous, very dangerous.¡± He replied. ¡°I would stay far away from there.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s so dangerous about it?¡± He didn¡¯t respond to the question and instead guided the donkey past the ruin and into the main road. I couldn¡¯t help but look back a few times at where the ruins were. A burning sensation seemed to rake against my chest at the thought of it. He was probably right but knowing who I am feels more critical than that vague danger. But what happened to that creature that was in my dream of the ruins? Wasn¡¯t it still there, was it? Thinking these and other thoughts we finally turned to the main road.

 Chapter 17

    The main road was a flurry of activity when we got on it. People seemed to have found something exciting to talk about as the usual sound of merchants yelling out their wares had turned to an excited discussion between stall-owners and passing customers alike.

    ¡°Did you hear?¡±

    ¡°That was the Faceless One¡¯s retinue.¡±

    ¡°I heard that they were recently attacked.¡±

    ¡°By who?!¡±

    The town was abuzz with the talk. The broad highway was a dull roar of conversation. ¡°Quit dawdling kid,¡± Frederick responded. God, why was he always so aggressive? It wasn¡¯t too far before we turned off the highway. Apparently, the road was the Royal Road and further on it split off into three routes at the square. The same square that we had watched the public execution at. Further ahead an extensive line of traffic filled the street. Huge men that looked like stone statues walked alongside carriages, their size almost seeming to take up the same space as a carriage¡­

    Wait a sec. Squinting my eyes, I looked closer at the men. They moved as fluid as a person, but I didn¡¯t see anything that would hint of humanity. I think that those are statues. I pointed out the distant figures. ¡°Frederick, what are those things?¡±

    The muscular man shrugged. ¡°I¡¯ve only heard rumors, but those are Stone-Men.¡±

    ¡°Stone-men? Like they are men that look like stone?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not certain, but apparently the Lord of their Realm created these statues to serve in their army.¡± I could feel my eyes widen in disbelief, Living Statues? It reminded me of Gargoyles but they didn¡¯t look anything like what I would have imagined them to look like.

    The group seemed to have stopped at the square its line of men, statues, carriages, and horses snaked forward following the middle road where a gate seemed to have halted their approach. Two people seemed to be discussing something, but I couldn¡¯t make out any details.

    As we stopped, orienting ourselves to the large group. I took note of the bulletin board near the entrance to the square. It was covered in parchments, many of them looking to have been recently put their, covered so much that you couldn''t see the wood because of the sheer amount of papers posted to it. Most of the papers didn''t seem very interesting, recruitment for the guard, church schedules, and a schedule for the government activities were the first few things I noticed.

    But behind the recruitment papers just peeking out I saw the word "WANTED" posted. Pulling it out, curious, I encountered not one portrait but multiple, each listing crimes underneath their portrait. Many of them seemed to be Demi-Human, one especially caught my eye, a race that I had yet to see here.

    The portrait seemed to have been a hand-drawn sketch, the man had a rough appearance, scaley appearance, narrow iris, and no hair. He had a reptilian appearance to himself, best thing I could think of was a lumberjack and a lizard-man had a child this man would be what it would look like grown up.

    <blockquote>

    Regar Halfcreed, wanted for the kidnapping of the daughter of Noble Vin as well as crimes against the crown. Last seen at Market End, Twenty gold pieces his capture; five instead for delivery of his body.

    </blockquote>

    "Hey what are you looking at?" A voice questioned gruffly, I turned my head to see Frederik loom over, his face visibly grimacing at the sheet of paper I was inspecting. "Come on, let''s go." I took another glance at the paper before turning away and following Frederik.

    The tavern was nearby; we took a side street so as not to get mixed up in the mess. God were those stone-men fascinating I just wanted to stare at them and draw them. ¡°Fucking come on!¡± Frederick yelled. ¡°Can you not see how busy it is in there? Quit gawking.¡±Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    Looks like he¡¯s back in a bad mood. We came to a stop near a set of large wooden doors. Frederick started rummaging through his pocket; his brows knitted close. ¡°Where the hell is it?¡± He grumbled.

    While we were waiting for my thoughts went back to Rosary. Where had she gone? Hopefully, she¡¯s back. It seemed like everyone was pissy, hell that included myself. But that girl never seemed to be mad. Sad yes, lonely too, but mostly she just seemed mischievous and cheerful.

    ¡°There it is.¡± Frederick pulled out a large bronze key; it still looked shiny. Which made me wonder, when they thought up this city or whatever the hell they call it, did that also mean they thought up every single key, window, door? Privy? How does that even work? The door opened without even a sound and we were immediately attacked by the sound of the patrons. It was busy.

    Frederick and I quickly went to work unloading the supplies into the building. My stomach grumbled as the scent of seared meat reminded me that it had been nearly half a day since we left.

    By the time we finished unloading the roar of voices had only escalated, I could barely hear myself. Jean walked by and with a smile told me that after we were done to get myself a plate. Frederick left, pulling the donkey and cart in tow, apparently, they didn¡¯t own the cart but had instead rented it from an acquaintance as was usual.

    I peeked over at the bar on my way down to the kitchen. It was just as crowded as it sounded, all the tables and seats were taken, though the patrons of the bar today seemed far different from the ones yesterday.

    All of them were unnaturally pale as if their bodies had never seen the sunlight. Some of them even seemed to be Albino. All of the patrons had masks some of which were worn while they ate, the masks covering the upper half of their face. Others had them laying next to them as they ate. Every mask looked stylized and ornate and seemed to be made of some sort of metal though the inside seemed to be lined with a thin layer of fur.

    None of the men or women seemed to be drinking alcohol and their conversations seemed far more subdued so much so that I could only guess that just the sheer number of people here made them seem so much louder.

    ¡°Ah, there you are!¡± Emma came up from behind me. Her breasts were still very much being suffocated, but it seemed that Emma had gotten used to the shirt. In both, her hands were trays of food.

    ¡°I¡¯d ask if you¡¯ve been busy, but it¡¯s pretty obvious isn¡¯t it.¡±

    She shrugged, ¡°I¡¯ve worked worse. Jean said you could eat in your room.¡± Thank Raph-what ever his name. I hated crowds and didn¡¯t like the idea of eating either alone in there or with random people. ¡°Jean did say that you would be helping out after wards though,¡± Emma responded as if having read my mind.

    ¡°Gehh, I guess I don¡¯t have a choice,¡± I responded discouragingly.

    ¡°Waitress, we¡¯d like another serving.¡± A voice responded in the background.

    ¡°I gotta go, Daniel,¡± She turned to leave and even took a step but then stepped. Her face turned to face me again. Her eyes seeming to be worried about something. ¡°Rosary is back, but she seems pretty shaken by something.¡± Then she waded into the sea of bodies.

    Upstairs, the cacophony of voices died down to a minor hum. In my hand was a plate of food for myself and a bowl of food for Rosary. Opening the door to my room my eyes quickly started looking around. Where was she? The first place I looked was the bed, and she wasn¡¯t there. I walked further into the bedroom, my bed had been made in my absence, and she wasn¡¯t there either. Had she disappeared again?

    For some reason that made me feel lonely, but that line of thinking was shattered. ¡°Welcome back Daniel.¡± A cheerful voice said from behind, and then I got to feeling the reassuring¡­ and just a little bit erotic feel of her breasts on my back. Wait a sec had she gotten larger? I don¡¯t remember her. Ohhhh, my thoughts went haywire as they squished into me. My breath is coming to me just a little faster. Calm down Daniel, just calm down.

    ¡°Rosary where have you been?¡± I asked sitting down on the bed and putting out our meals. Rosary let go of her glomp and glided over to her food. Her red feathers were seeming to glisten in my eyes. I could feel myself getting excited again while looking at her sleek, exotic body.

    She smiled at me, ¡°I was just out enjoying the sun, you don¡¯t need to worry about me.¡± A burden seemed to fall from my shoulders, did I feel relieved?

    ¡°Oh good, I was worried about you. Emma made me even more worried when she told me you were back.¡±

    Blue and Hazel mixed eyes that seemed almost cat-like stared into my eyes. It seemed weird that I just now noticed the inhuman look of her eyes. ¡°What did Emma say?¡± She asked, her head bobbing cutely.

    ¡°Oh, she just said that you looked upset.¡±

    Rosary blinked and looked away, ¡°I see,¡± she said noncommittally and refused to look back. A cool breeze meandered inside the room, Rosary shivered, though the shivering seemed to be a lot worse then what that breeze should have made it. Maybe she was extra sensitive to the cold? I closed the window and wrapped my hands around her body.

    Rosary yelped in surprise, ¡°What are you doing?¡± she squeaked cutely.

    ¡°You seemed cold. So I figured I¡¯d help you warm up?¡± I realized just now that my hands were wrapped in a way that could very much seem like I was trying to molest her. Shit! I went to let go when I felt a sharp nipping pain. Rosary looked up at me, ¡°Don¡¯t you dare let go.¡± Her face seemed to have warmed, as a healthy flush of red were in her cheeks. ¡°You¡¯re right I was warm, now you¡¯ve gotta keep me warm.¡± She snuggled into my hands. She did seem larger; I swear last time I could fit her in two hands, now it looked like I could only partially cover her.

 Chapter 18

    By the time Jean let us off from our duties it had gotten dark outside. I immediately went to my room. I feel like I used up all my energy for the year with today. How can Emma handle it? Last I saw her she seemed like she was even more energetic than she had been before.

    I thought about those ruins, and that dream as I walked back upstairs. Was there something there to help me? Did those ruins hold the key to remembering who I was? I had been thinking about both my dream and those ruins connected to my it ever since I¡¯d finished. Opening the door into my room, the first thing I looked over to was my bed, where a woman in red plumage lay. Her eyes blinked slowly open as I entered the room and the small woman stretched herself awake.

    ¡°Should I tell her?¡± It felt like something that I should keep to myself but at the same time what kind of problems would I get myself into if Rosary found out that I had disappeared. The last thing I needed was for there to be drama once I got back.

    ¡°Assuming you make it back.¡±

    A voice whispered from nowhere in particular. Was that the same voice from before? This one seemed insidious like evil intent had been laced into it¡¯s very being. The thought of it burned in my chest. What was going on? Why were there voices in my head?

    ¡°How was working?¡± A sleepy voice asked cutely. The thoughts about the voice were swept away; Rosary instead took up my attention. ¡°Absolutely terrible,¡± So terrible in fact that I had to hide myself near the end, a moment of high strung anxiety, anxiety that reminded me once again of how little I enjoyed my interactions with people, people who always seemed to look at me with a judgmental almost pitying way as if their brief presence in my life was a salve to the mediocrity of my life. Fuck them. Of course, I didn¡¯t say any of that out loud, as doing so could open a whole new can of worms, one which I refused to open.

    Rosary looked at me with a curious, almost child-like look her dazzling eyes inspecting me as if I were a rare specimen and she a bored cat let into the scientist''s lab unwittingly. ¡°Why was it so terrible?¡± She asked, her face alight in interest, probably because it was much more interesting than her recent experience. ¡°Reasons,¡± I responded, in an attempt to try to avoid the subject, a feeble attempt I know, but I wasn¡¯t really well versed in making conversations go my way.

    She gave me a pouty look, her little face going into an exaggerated frown, a frown probably meant to make me feel bad enough to relent and tell her. Instead, all I could think of was how adorable it made her look. Walking to my bed I sat down for a moment next to her trying not to too obviously enjoy her sinfully well-proportioned body with my eyes, which was hard, why do women look so damn good naked? ¡°I just don¡¯t do well with people,¡± I mumbled.

    Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    ¡°Neither do I,¡± she responded, a voice both cheerful and thoughtful, ¡°I never got along well with my sisters or even those of our clique.¡± Her voice faltered, cracking a little as if talking about her past reminded her of painful memories that ought to stay buried, deep underground, so deep that they could never again be found. I would be lying if I said I wasn¡¯t curious about her past circumstances, and once again I remembered how she had been treated when we had first met, alone, with what had seemed like not a friend in sight and yet she had been so warm, so friendly, she had treated me with open warmth as if in sheer defiance of the cold that she herself had been treated to. Before she could say any more, I gently patted her head, the feel of her hair both course and smooth like hair and yet also like a feather, as if the two were one and the same. She was so warm, it almost felt like she should have a fever, but she was always this warm, apparently her body producing more heat than that of the normal human. ¡°You don¡¯t need to say anything else.¡±

    She nodded, and I took the moment of quiet to peek out the window, the murky darkness thoroughly engulfed the streets. I once again thought of those ruins, something just kept drawing me to them, like the lone fish who swam too deep, lost in the darkness of the ocean, lost and searching for some hint of direction, only to find a light in the distance, a light that very well and probably could be my demise, and yet a light that I still felt I needed to swim towards.

    ¡°Rosary, there¡¯s something I need to see in the city.¡± I worded it carefully, unsure about what kind of reaction I would get. ¡°It¡¯s something that I need to see before I sleep, hell I don¡¯t think I can sleep until I see it.¡± She looked at me; she seemed to be a little confused, her head slightly cocking. ¡°What?¡± She asked.

    I explained to her the dreams I had had in further detail, the dream which had originally led me to this very city, as well as the dream of the ruins, the one where the fate of that girl named Clair and hell even my own fate seemed to be a mystery still. I told her of how the very ruins I had entered in the latter dream was here in this very city. She seemed to show some worry, near the end of the explanation but didn¡¯t say anything until I finished.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think those ruins are safe,¡± she paused, as if gathering her thoughts, remembering something, something that seemed to terrify her, her body shaking a little, was it from the description of that creature? I thought back to that fish who had swum too far down, of that light in the distance. Was that light safety? Or was that light a vicious monster that was trying to swallow me once I got closer? That inner voice chuckled, a dark, inhuman chuckle that most definitely was not mine, but the question then became what was it that plagued at my mind?

    ¡°I think that regardless of how safe it is I still need to go,¡± I responded back to her; it wasn¡¯t courage but rather desperation that fueled that answer. It felt so wrong to have things missing from my memory. She stopped shaking, eyes of hazel and green staring up at me with an intensity that seemed ready to fight whatever it was that had just moments ago frightened her.

    ¡°I¡¯m going with you then.¡± She responded, her words fierce and without an inch of room to budge. I could tell without saying anything more, it would be useless to try to convince her to do otherwise. Though to be honest, it was a little comforting to know that she wanted to be there with me. ¡°Fine,¡± I responded trying to sound defeated but inwardly happy.

 Chapter 19

    I left the inn, my old clothes; a black hoody with drawstrings in the neck, a plain white shirt underneath, and a well-used pair of old blue jeans on me, feeling more secure rather than clothes that had been lent to me this morning. In the front pocket of the hoody I hid a small lantern, the cool steel a small comfort as my fingers wrapped around it. Rosary followed me, a short distance away, flying from shadow to shadow, trying to keep from being seen, the streets so far empty, only the occasional guard breaking the near emptiness of the square. This part of town seemed to have quieted down tremendously since this afternoon. Most of the people who had come on that train had found other lodgings or had probably gotten passage inside of the Royal District. Many of those people had taken residence in the tavern I was staying in, a fact that made sneaking out of the place even harder to do.

    The town square had a peaceful but ominous feel to it as if we were in the eye of the storm; the calm before the tragedy that seemed to loom here. My thoughts lingered for a moment again on the mass execution that I had witnessed when I first had gotten here. I would have never guessed from talking to the people here that something like that happened regularly, the people here seemed so much like other normal people I had met. Disturbing thoughts bubbled in my mind that I quickly pushed down. As we started down to the road leading to the major road, a lone figure came within my view.

    The persons blond, almost silver like hair seemed to shine in the glow of the lantern, the person held their lantern as if to drive away all the darkness in front of them, the light not only reflecting off their hair but also the beautiful metal mask that they wore. I couldn¡¯t tell whether the person was a man or woman their form both feminine and yet not quite enough.

    I tried to avoid the person, though something about the person drew my attention so that even when I was trying to avoid them, I still couldn¡¯t help but be drawn to them. It seemed that I too was noticed as they started to move towards me, stepping with both the grace of a noble and the predatory confidence of a lion. ¡°Fine evening is it not?¡± The person asked as he/she passed by, the voice both feminine and not, a mysterious air in it. I felt a little uncomfortable and looked around quickly, searching for Rosary, my eyes finding nothing, something that paradoxically felt reassuring and yet not. I turned to the person, their back still to me, the feminine curvature of the person more profound from behind. Something felt dangerous about this person, hairs on end, the very air around the person like that of an Arctic breeze; undeniably cold.

    I fumbled with my words, searching for something anything that would be right, a fruitless act as my head was very much in a fight or flight mood right now. ¡°A night to remember for both of us I expect.¡± The person said, voice low and haughty as if having already played the conversation out and knowing exactly how it would play out. They acted so familiarly, even with their back to me I could sense a hint of nostalgia through the haughty response, or was that just shaky reasoning spurred on from a hope that this is only a perceived danger.

    ¡°What do you mean? Who are you?¡± I fumbled with the words, like a toddler, lips feeling cold and refusing to work quite right as if this were a cold winter night rather then the warmth of spring. The person chuckled, a haughty masculine laugh, and they turned to me. ¡°Just someone out for a walk.¡± Their mask seemed to look like the misshapen combination of an angel and demon, as if their faces had been gruesomely slammed into each other and combined, still having the pained expressions from the experience, I couldn¡¯t tell if I was horrified or awed, a closer look at the mask revealed that the duality of Angel and Devil was actually made up of tinier extravagant details, depicting a scene that could only be revealed through inspection up close. A work of art would be a vast understatement. It seemed fitting in a strange way, the mask combined with the persons¡¯ otherwise plain white robes that they wore.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

    ¡°The better question I suspect is, Who are you?¡± The person paused and nodded the way they said the last part seemed heavily emphasized. I wanted to run, hide, escape, whatever, from their presence but that phrase, did this person know? The person then turned away and waved a gloved hand.

    The sound of a carriage broke my reverent fear, its sound quickly coming into focus. ¡°Take care of yourself.¡± The carriage pulled up near to us, a man in a half mask jumping out a crazed look clear in the man''s face as if searching for the dead. He relaxed only moments later after eying the person I had been talking to.¡±

    ¡°My lord, we suspected some trickery from the Mage King when you disappeared.¡± The man said in a hurried manner. The person who I spoke too ignored the man and made their way into the carriage but stopped for a moment turning back to my direction.

    ¡°I am glad to see you again, though I had hoped never to see you again. Farewell.¡± Saying his/her piece they walked inside the carriage, the small masked man entering inside for a moment likely to talk to their lord, moments later galloping off.

    A feeling of relief intermixed with a sense of foreboding, who was that? Rosary came out of hiding, an uneasy look on her face, her usually cheerful demeanor not entirely masking her anxiety well enough. ¡°How do you know that person? She asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t, or at least I don¡¯t remember knowing anyone like that. Do you know who that was Rosary?¡± I asked

    ¡°No sorry, but I could feel an immense presence coming from them.¡± Whomever that person was, they seemed to be prominent among the delegation of men and women who had come here.

    The rest of the trip seemed to be far less eventful, and we quickly got to that massive, sprawling highway. The highway that sprawled out was far more lit on the other side of it, hell it almost seemed like the inhabitants had forgotten that it was night time as jovial laughter, drunken giggles, and other sounds loudly interrupted the silence that had been prevalent. Rosary and I stayed on the quieter side, trying to avoid attention. Finally finding the turn that I needed to make, one which I scarcely could remember, the blanket of the night making certain things look different at first glance, we made our way onto the road.

    The entrance to the ruins loomed overhead; inky black darkness mingled with the scent of mildew and rot, the mouth of the ruins as inviting as the jaws of some prehistoric monster just waiting to gobble up its next meal. An owl hooted in the distance, its cry an almost calming melody in my ears, reminding me that even as bizarre as this world was it still had elements of the natural world in it. I went to grab the lantern from my pocket when the sound of rushed flapping spooked me a little, its'' rushed, frantic flapping like a creature afraid for their life, something landed inside of the hood of my hoody and wrapped itself around my neck shaking slightly. ¡°Rosary is that you?¡± the feeling of breasts against my neck made me fairly certain it was her.

    ¡°I don¡¯t like owls,¡± she whispered, her body shaking. ¡°I¡¯ve had bad experiences with them.¡± Her warmth was honestly a little distracting, and I ended up fumbling for the lantern much longer than I otherwise would have. It was a little thing, smaller then Rosary even, turning the knob sent a spark and light immediately batted away the darkness. Entering into the ruins, I could feel something in the air, something wrong, my chest burned as if to warn me of the wrongness, it felt like someone or something was slowly digging into my chest again, reopening those mysterious scars that hovered ominously where my heart was, as if to finish what it started and rip out the heart that fluttered inside frantically.

    Rosary slowly released her grip as I walked down one of the many hallways, the beating of her heart seems to have calmed. The ruins were so large that the light of the lantern failed to illuminate everything, trying to make out what was ahead was as useful as counting every little-broken stone that lay in our path. The quietness of the ruins made my quickening heartbeat seem to echo in the hall that we were currently exploring. The place felt both nostalgic and terrifying, like an old abusive friend. It wasn¡¯t long before I realized that I was lost, the path having split multiple times forcing me to choose a direction. The gray-hued walls of the place looking the same no matter where we were.

 Chapter 20

    ¡°What was I looking for?¡± I found myself wondering, the footsteps that I took becoming more and more unsure. As I was beginning to think that maybe I should try to make my way back, I spotted something. The path ahead seemed to be getting easier to see, a faint glow illuminating its edges.

    The hallway that we were in split out, a chamber filled with light, a gentle, peaceful light, we had found our way to the chamber in my dreams. Bodies no longer littered the floor, the blood that once had bathed everything here in its grimy black crud was gone. It was like the scene had never happened, who had cleaned this place and when? Signs of a struggle still shown though. Large slices, in the wall, on the floor and even on the ceiling seemed to have survived the erasure of evidence. Rosary slipped out of my hood, inspecting the solemn moonlit room.

    I could still feel a sense of despair, like the feeling of something holy becoming filthy, corrupted, no longer ever able to take back it¡¯s former holiness. My chest which had been burning earlier now seared, as if something were pressing a seething hot brand, an act that whoever did so did it with gleeful intent, not a hint of compassion for the one suffering it¡¯s magma hot embrace.

    ¡°Fuck, god damn it, please stop whoever, or whatever is doing this." I whimpered as I pressed both hands to my chest, tightly grabbing, hoping, wishing, begging for some kind of release. I lost my balance, my legs buckling at the sheer pain, left knee first slamming into the cold hard stone, my right knee following, the pain of my descent hardly registered, all I could do was close my eyes and try to block it out.

    ¡°Daniel, my child, my lovely child.¡± A cool parental voice whispered into my ears, or my head or whatever, it was everywhere and nowhere for me. ¡°Give me your pain,¡± Her voice was as sweet as a kiss, as tempting as a drug and felt like an icy salve on my chest, the burning in it fleeing, retreating like a beaten puppy who had made its owner angry. The voice was both familiar and not. "Become one with me my love, the pain will go away." It whispered

    Opening my eyes, I found myself back to that time. Bodies were everywhere, the sun which shed its intense light from above burned against my skin, it¡¯s light painful, like the feeling in my chest moments ago. I retreated from it, those words still ringing in my ears. ¡°Give me your pain.¡± From afar I inspected the bodies, feeling detached, no that''s not right, the scene in front of me excited me, it felt so right.

    I could hear shouting ahead, I moved; my head fuzzy, my body feeling, exotic, powerful, I felt like I could crush bare stone. These ruins no longer felt eerie nor ancient, but instead like home. How could I have thought otherwise? I traveled easily, making my way to the sound of fighting.

    Two older teen boys were the first ones I spotted. One with eyes that spoke of more knowledge than what should be possible, an elder maturity that the other seemed to lack, the other though had an air about him, an otherworld atmosphere, blood dripped from his hand the drops of blood solidifying together becoming a long razor-thin blade pulsating like the blood vessel that its blood form had come from. These boys faced off against a creature; it¡¯s size and visage partially a part of the ruins only a piece of it showing, spiked razor like spines running all across it. Strangely enough even knowing that this creature was the same that had stricken terror in my heart before I felt none, perhaps I even felt a kinship?

    Behind those boys were two girls, one had animal-like parts to her, large fluffy ears, a tail that whipped about, and claw-like nails, eyes feral like a cat, plump thighs and a large chest accentuating the human parts of her. The other girl had a pale, gaunt complexion, a lean body and cold wisps surrounding her body, clothing in tatters and cuts oozing still.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Something seemed familiar about this group. The pain in my chest started to sting again at those thoughts though. The creature attacked, tentacles springing out from the visible parts of it. It''s attack so fast that the group seemed to barely register its movement, the only one appearing to have enough wits being the pale girl,she thrust herself forward yelling something archaic that made no sense to my ears, a wall of ice rose up stopping the thrusts mere inches from the soft flesh of the teens. It was quite clear that the they were severely outmatched. The wall shattered, sprinkles of ice exploding out-wards, misting the air for a moment before dissipating into the air as if having never existed in the first place.

    A blood-curdling, enraged, roar echoed through the hallways, the source of which came from a cat-faced man behind the group. The monster stopped what it was doing if it had eyes I¡¯m sure it would be staring at the panther-like a man, assessing him. The group of teens, bolstered by the presence of the older man tried to go on the offense, and I realized that I knew these teens, hell it scared me knowing that I had almost forgotten myself.

    My younger self, his blood blade held in front of him forward took the front he rushed ahead. Bell, the cat-like girl, followed behind. Sebastian and Clair both seem to be mumbling words, Clair glowing an icy white, Sebastian shining. The creature struck out as if suddenly becoming aware of the advancing group, two, three, no four tentacles with razor spines blasting forward with inhuman speed. Ice walls blocked two of the limbs, and as they touched the walls, they seemed to get sucked into them, freezing in place, ice growing from where it had started. One was blasted into a cauterized pulpy mess, and the last was sliced in half by the blood blade, my younger self splitting through it like a rock dunking into a lake. The blade cut with ease, but the tentacle tried to pull itself together just like how water will fill itself back up after that rock passes by. Bell who was right behind my younger self snarled and started tearing at the meat stitching back together, a feral wild look in her eyes.

    The cat-man seemed shocked for a moment; he yelled to the group, ¡°Stop,¡± and started rushing forward, speed far faster than that of a normal human, faster by far even then an Olympic sprinter. More tentacles blasted out of the things body, my younger self narrowly missing a blow to the head as he dropped to one knee and turned his sword in a twirling motion, gore sprinkling all over, gore that in turn became alive upon hitting the ground and piercing into the skin as they seemed to get lives of their own. Bell grabbed Daniel hoisting him away, preventing him from getting skewered as a tentacle destroyed the ground where he had been. Pan flashed out a sword, a flash of light ramming into the tentacle destroying it. His paw-like hand pulling out cylindrical objects from his pockets. "Sebastian, he yowled and threw the objects towards the creature.

    I watched, I craved, and I lamented, wanting both to relish in their blood and cringing at the sight of it. Wait, who¡¯s blood did I want to relish in? A chill, the thought of me changing into something cruel, something bloodthirsty made my back sting in icy pain, the thought horrifies me.

    The sound of many explosions made the room rumble. Gore flew towards me. The fighting had nearly ended. The creature, at least the physical part that stuck out of place had been decimated, slices of its body hanging off blasted by fire and frozen in ice. Seeing that I turned and ran. Something about seeing that creature killed made me run, why?

    ¡°Daniel stop please!¡± The faint dainty voice brought my sense back into reality, my hands were bleeding, and from them, something seemed to wriggle dangerously, a spine covered in razor-sharp ends. As I awoke, it dropped to the floor. Rosary stared at it, eyes wide open in fear.

    ¡°What? What happened?¡± I asked, blinking, the pain in my chest rising, throbbing in time to my heart.

    ¡°You curled into a ball, I tried to talk to you, but you wouldn¡¯t respond. I was afraid that you¡¯d gotten hurt. And then your hands just opened up and  that thing or whatever came out of you and attacked me.¡± Rosary explained as she stared at my open bleeding hands. ¡°We should get that covered.¡± She said her eyes looking to and fro, probably searching for something to cover them with.

    All I had brought with me was my clothes and the lantern. ¡°I¡¯ll be fine,¡± I stated, my hands didn¡¯t even hurt, hell the only thing that hurt was my chest.

    ¡°Don¡¯t bore me Daniel,¡±

    A voice said in my head, the same one from when I first experienced this world and the one that had shown up the most. What an asshole, ¡°I¡¯m not something to amuse you with.¡± Laughter filled my head, scornful laughter, the kind of laugh one makes when you find something so pathetic that it¡¯s funny, it filled me with anger; I found myself hating the voice.

    ¡°What? What do you mean?¡± Rosary asked, eyes staring at me in confusion. Shit, I said that out loud.

    ¡°Oh sorry, um nothing,¡± I mumbled. An awkward silence came upon us for a moment, I looked down embarrassed, my eyes searched for the spine-like thing that had come out of me hoping to get a better look. It was gone, and with it the awkward silence, the sound of footfalls and yelling breaking it.

 Chapter 21

    The thumping of feet to stone grew louder in moments; accompanied by the sound of excited chatter. Rosary flew over to me, taking a seat inside the hood of my sweater. The chamber,  lit with the gentle blue light of the moon, started shifting colors, a garish orange light invading, it''s presence destroying the calmness of the blue room replacing it with its destructive orange glow. A group of people entered the room, torches in hand, The first thing that I noticed about the group that entered the room that Rosary and I inhabited was the lack of humans. A cat man, mole man, a snake-like thing, so many creatures that I at first thought they were monsters, seven in all. The very last to enter; a man covered in scales, eyes yellow like a lizard, seemed the most dangerous, he also was the most familiar for some reason. Their eyes stared down at me.

    ¡°Who the hell are you?¡± The Lizard-like man growled glaring at me,  a look ready to kill.  I gave the man a questioning look, trying to figure out what it was that bothered me, then it struck me, I had seen this man before; this was the man from the wanted poster, a criminal on the run, the group with him were most likely other criminals, their glances at me felt more menacing now. God-damn I have the worst luck. The Lizardman seemed to be in charge of the group, the others all looked to him for guidance.

    ¡°I¡¯m Daniel; I¡¯m an otherworlder,¡± I responded unsure of what to say. ¡°The hell are you doing here?¡± He asked, what was I going to do? Would they believe me if I told them the truth, that I was here because I wanted answers; would he kidnap me too? I didn¡¯t respond; I was unable to, I couldn¡¯t help it; fear for my safety made me dumb at that moment. I looked away from him unable to meet his gaze.

    ¡°Stand him up,¡± he ordered the female demi-human nearest to me. ¡°I don¡¯t trust the look in this one¡¯s eyes.¡± She started walking my way her hand resting on the sheath of what was likely a knife. I need to run. Rosary rustled from inside my hoody, ¡°Be careful,¡± she whispered. The bandits froze, a look of surprise on their faces, an opportunity to take action, I pushed against the floor as if I were doing a push-up, righting myself up to a kneeling position then shifting to standing;  one hand holding the hood, keeping it from flipping as I stood up. I was able to stand up, Rosary still in the hood, though by that time they seemed to have regained their composure.

    ¡°Why do you have a fairy with you boy?¡± The lizardman asked.

    ¡°He¡¯s my master!¡± Rosary responded in an exclamation. Master? Was that a wise thing to say to them? If we were talking to humans then it''s possible but these were demi-humans, and in this city, these demi-humans got treated like animals.

    The female demi-human nearest to me glared at me, her reaction the tamest of the ones are given. ¡°Rosary, that seems to be the wrong thing to say to them,¡± I whispered. In the peripherals of my eye, I spotted an exit, reminding me for a moment of the vision of earlier, the same exit that I had followed to get to where the fighting had been.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!

    ¡°You picked the wrong place to decide to explore young noble.¡± the female demi-human said as she started to edge closer, the others following her lead.

    Shit, now they seem to think I¡¯m nobility, At least they might spare my life if they think they can get a ransom off me. I backed up inching closer and closer to the exit nearest me, hoping they wouldn¡¯t notice, begging to whatever higher power that I get out of this alive. ¡°Leave him alone; he hasn¡¯t done anything to you,¡± Rosary yelled, her tiny voice echoing in the room, she had left my hood at some point and was now was flying next to me, hovering near my right end, the exit to my left. ¡°Don¡¯t worry; we won¡¯t hurt your master too awful,¡± One of the demi-humans responded as they got closer.

    ¡°Run!¡± I yelled grabbing Rosary, bolting to the door, the sound of surprised yelling from behind me a reassuring tone. Rosary yelped in either pain or surprise; I didn''t have time to think and darted out into the darkness with her.

    The darkness of the labyrinth felt so reassuring, like an old friend that had come to save the day. Yelling and cussing followed me; I turned left at a four-way remembering the path that I had taken before. It didn¡¯t make me any less lost, but it was reassuring knowing where to go even if it didn¡¯t help ¡ª two more crossings. My legs ached, everything that had happened today wearing down on them.

    ¡°Do you know where you¡¯re going?¡± Rosary asked, her voice muted mostly from the sounds of yelling behind me. ¡°No idea,¡± I responded, worried about what might be waiting near the end. A faint sound filled the chamber behind me, shrill like a whistle; I couldn¡¯t think too much on it though; instead my attention was towards what was in front of me and what I held to my chest.

    A few more twists and we made it to that wide chamber, the scars of battle still left behind in its wake. Here was where I had fought against that creature in my visions.

    Could I fight my way out of this? I remembered that blood blade; I could remember conjuring it up, but I wasn¡¯t sure how. Could I use it against them? I''d never been in a fight before, at least one that I could remember. Footsteps echoed behind. It scared me to think of fighting them the thought of having to cut down a person, regardless of how human they may or may not be. Let''s save that for later; I remembered something; fairies could make illusions was the answer to this that simple?

    ¡°Rosary we need you to use your magic. I let go of her, setting her down. She looked at me sadly.

    ¡°Daniel I don¡¯t know. I can¡¯t just use it that easily, isn¡¯t there anything else we can do?¡± She asked, avoiding my gaze, a sad look in her face

    I felt like I had said something horrible to her, she looked ready to cry, as if the thought of her using it betrayed herself; my gut wrenched at the sight. But did we have much choice?

    ¡°Never-mind I¡¯ll think of something,¡± I whispered, my thoughts going back to that blood blade. The sound of our pursuer''s stopped at the entrance to the room. They must have noticed that I wasn¡¯t running anymore. Why hadn¡¯t they rushed inside yet? Rosary yelped, turning to see what had happened something smacked against my neck the force of it sprawling me to the floor. Groaning, I turned over, my eyesight blurring and looked to see a human looming over me, a club in hand and a whistle around his neck. Darkness came, the last thing I remembered was the aloof, quiet noise as the person rang it.

 Chapter 22

    ¡°What are we going to do with him?¡± Those words, coming from a squeaky voice was the first thing I heard, and with it came a pain, the back of my head and neck ached, though the ache was nothing compared to the searing in my chest. ¡°Could we just drop him off outside?¡±

    ¡°Are you stupid? You saw that look when he saw me; I¡¯m pretty sure he recognized me.¡± Another voice hissed. ¡°If he tells the authorities about me being here we¡¯ll have them swarming in these ruins, the last thing anyone down here wants is to have to deal with that.¡±

    ¡°Are you certain that he¡¯s a noble?¡±

    ¡°Have you ever seen an otherworlder with one of the fae? He¡¯s either a Noble or an agent of the Blighted One, either way; this isn¡¯t good.¡±

    ¡°That fae didn¡¯t seem to be one of the tainted,¡± a female voice interjected. A scoff was the other''s response, I was sure it had been Regar, the man with the bounty.

    ¡°The tainted aren¡¯t that easy to pick out, Lizz. If they were, I doubt that we¡¯d have ever had the issues we currently have.¡±

    ¡°Guys I think he¡¯s awake.¡± A voice squeaked.

    Should I pretend to be out cold? Rough hands grabbed the upper part of my arm, the scales from his hand dug into my skin almost as if they were trying to grate through the flesh of my skin, I opened my eyes, we were still in the room that I had led us too. Regar held me up, using one hand he lifted me onto my feet, showing no sign or exertion as he did so. I then noticed that I hadn¡¯t been bound or gagged. Were they stupid or only confident that I couldn''t run away or yell for help?

    ¡°What are you doing here?¡± Regar asked, his face so close to mine that I could smell his breath, a foul odor that smelled about what I would expect from a rotting corpse, a smell that made me gag. ¡°God damn quit breathing on me, your breath reminds me of a grave; an open grave with sewage; probably my grave if you breathe on me long enough,¡± I complained, realizing moments after that that was probably the wrong thing to say.

    A couple of snickers, a snort, and an arm that felt like it was about to rip off through sheer pressure; those were the rewards for my careless remark. ¡°Watch your tongue human.¡± He hissed, his lidless eyes staring me down, unblinking. ¡°Answer the question human.¡± I realized then that Rosary was gone or at least I didn¡¯t see her.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°Where¡¯s the fairy that was with me?¡± I asked my thoughts immediately turning to the worst, this was a criminal I was dealing with, sure he thought I might be worth something, but Rosary? Regar glanced over at one of his men, a lean man, who to my surprise didn¡¯t look any less human than me, he hadn¡¯t been with the original group that I had encountered. I realized then that there was a lumpy bag in his hand, was that Rosary? Regar lessened the grip on my arm, his eyes staring intensely into mine. ¡°I don¡¯t have any reason to answer anything that you ask. You on the other hand,¡± he pauses, his free hand going to his belt, he pulled out a short blade; curved into a crescent and pressed the edge to my neck. ¡°You would be wise to start answering MY questions.¡±

    ¡°Regar, don¡¯t you think you¡¯re going a little too far?¡± The female demi-human asked putting a hand on his arm, almost as if to ward the blade from my neck, and indeed the pressure on my neck lessened. The man who had been holding the bag sighed, ¡°The fairy is here,¡± he motioned to the bag he had been holding, the motionless lumpy bag. Tears surfaced; their touch burning where they landed, and no matter how hard I tried I couldn''t stop them. They must have killed her.

    The human groaned as he looked at me. ¡°Don¡¯t worry we didn¡¯t hurt her she was uncooperative, so we had to knock her out is all.¡± Hot relief and guilt, those were the emotions I felt after hearing those words, I took a look at that lumpy bag again relieved that she was alive and guilt at the fact that I was the one who had gotten her dragged into this.

    ¡°Happy?¡± Regar asked, visibly softening up after watching my reaction. I nodded, something seemed off about them, was I maybe wrong about them?

    I explained the reason I was here, about my shadowy past, my dreams; they looked at me dubiously the entire time; they didn¡¯t believe me. But I was able to gauge that these men and women weren¡¯t the bandits that I first took them for.

    ¡°We¡¯ve wasted enough time here; Sir Panzer will have to judge you for himself. Unfortunately, even if I wanted to let you go, it¡¯s not my decision to make.¡± Regar said. Shit, it was a 180 from how he had been treating me earlier. By this time the bag had started moving around. ¡°Regar, she¡¯s up.¡± The lizardman eyed the bag then looked my way. ¡°Tell her to calm down, we¡¯ll let her out if she does, but she will not leave.¡± The lanky man handed me the bag. I grabbed it, pulling at the that strings kept it closed, opening the bag the first thing that happened was a sharp pain. ¡°You beast let me out right now!¡± She yelled.

    ¡°Rosary, it''s me calm down,¡± I implored setting the bag down. Rosary came out, her feathers and hair a mess, tears in her eyes. ¡°You¡¯re okay?¡± She asked in a whimper. ¡°Yes I¡¯m ok Rosary, these people are going to be taking us somewhere, they told me that nothing would happen to us, as long as we behave. I wasn¡¯t for sure anymore, they did seem more reasonable then bandits, but they did seem to be hiding something here. The name Panzer sounded familiar though, was it the same one?

    The group of us walked through the hall, Regar leading. They wove through the darkness with practiced step taking us back the way we came. It wasn''t long before we made it back to the moonlit room where we had all first encountered eachother. "Dadaa," Regar said.

    "Yes Regar?" A moleman responded

    "We''ll wait here, we wouldn''t want this boy to know too much before he gets a chance to meet with him."

    "Sound plan sir."

    The moleman started moving towards the entrance where they had come from earlier when the sound of rumbling and scraping interrupted. A creature came out of the entrance; slug-like, about the size of a large horse, its body covered in spikes and spines; a monster I had only seen in my dreams. Hadn¡¯t it been slain? The group of demi-humans around me stopped and looked at each other.

    ¡°What is that thing?¡± One of the demi-humans asked

    ¡°It¡¯s one of HER minions!¡± yelled Regar. ¡°Battle Positions. ¡°Lizz secure the prisoners now!¡± The lizardman yelled as he brandished his curved blade.

    "What is it doing here?" Asked the woman named Lizz. But their conversation halted as it rushed them.

 Chapter 23

    The creature before them was like the thing in Daniel¡¯s memories the only difference being that I couldn''t see any sign of that unseen presence. Rosary looked horrified as if understanding its true nature, a beast that shouldn¡¯t be, a monster. I felt like I was going to piss myself, I could feel myself shake. We were lambs to the slaughter, my only hope for Rosary and I to survive this was by running away again. Something that I was neither great at, nor especially well-suited to doing at the moment, but something that I had gotten a lot of practice with lately.

    The first thing the creature did was a flail, spikes, tentacles, and other parts of it of that which I could not try to think of names for dragging, slashing, pummeling everything around it all lights nearby going out as it flailed. "Fuck, I can''t see," a voice yelled. The light of the moon gave enough light for me to see its silhouette.

    Three of the demi-humans faced it, one with a shield and mace ready to strike in practiced co-ordination. The human in their group stayed aloof pulling out a large crossbow from behind his back pulling out a long thick bolt. I looked back at Lizz, she stood behind, fist clenched. She watched the fight between the group with fiddling with the quiver and bow on her back looking unsure about what to do.

    One demi-human had already taken an injury; his arm sliced from the shoulder having tried to block one of the slices with a small shield only to have it wriggle around the guard mid-swing bits of skin and bone hanging where his arm had been like some macabre decoration. This wasn¡¯t a mindless creature; its movements were too calculating, its attacks too precise. It seemed to predict certain changes.

    ¡°I can¡¯t just sit here and watch Regar!"

    Lizz screamed right before running over to the fight to help. This was our opportunity. I looked around when the creature had attacked, they had dropped some supplies, but unfortunately nothing of any real use. ¡°Rosary let''s go!¡± I yelled. She gave me an uncertain look as if unsure. She gave one last look to where the fighting was happening then nodded. Taking the opportunity we ran out the exit, following along a route that I couldn''t understand why I could remember. The sound of yelling in screaming fading into the background.

    Something deep inside me started to gnaw at me though ¡ª a feeling of guilt, a sense that I had sentenced these people to death. I remembered the dead bodies in that room. Their bloodshot eyes and torn limbs pointing, pointing to me, accusing me of their deaths. I imagined as I was running, those dead bodies were their dead bodies. Stop! Stop, no matter how much I pleaded with myself I couldn¡¯t stop the self-doubt, the guilt.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    How was I supposed to help them? All I am is some fucking deluded crazy art student. I can draw, I ¡¯m not a fighter. That thing would rip me apart. I remembered the me that I had seen from vision, from memory. That person in my vision, it couldn''t be me, I can''t fight monsters. The me that I knew couldn¡¯t risk himself fighting things like that.

    I stopped for a moment, breathing labored, heart pounding, my chest on fire, stomach flopping, bile threatening to exit from my mouth. I didn¡¯t know which was worse right now, that burning or the exhaustion from all the running around I had been doing. ¡°Fuck!¡± I yelled out in frustration. Rosary looked over at me, looked back towards the direction that we had come then back at me.

    ¡°Daniel, I¡¯m going back, get out of here please,¡± Rosary pleaded.  The guilt pierced my heart like a psychotic doctor, stabbing me at me with needles filled with ice, no care at where those needles pierced. What could she do?

    ¡°No, Rosary why would you help them? You¡¯ll die for people that wanted nothing more than to make sure we never left here.¡± I had asked myself that same question. She smiled a brave bittersweet smile, a look of quiet resolve in her face. ¡°I don¡¯t feel right leaving them, Daniel. They may not have been nice, but I don¡¯t think it would be right to leave them.¡±

    ¡°What could you do? Just run away with me. We¡¯ll try and find help.¡± She shook her head, denying it, ¡°I¡¯ll try to distract it, that thing isn¡¯t something that we should ignore. I think that if it stays here Daniel, its influence will bring about the same thing that happened to my home. Keep going Daniel; I¡¯ll be behind you once I¡¯ve done all I can do.

    A few tears dripped from her eyes, something that I don¡¯t think she even noticed as she smiled at me again, a heartbreaking smile, a smile that said "Goodbye." She turned and sped back. I watched her leave, my heart feeling like an abyss of negative self-loathing, eating away at what made me human the whispering of insidious things betraying everything.

    I stopped running. I changed to a walk still going in the opposite direction away from the fighting. Was this who I wanted to be? Was this the right decision to make? Not only was I now turning away from strangers, but now leaving Rosary to die, what could little Rosary do against that thing? Be a pest at most. So why did she have to make that choice? She should have known that she was walking back into death¡¯s embrace.

    I stopped. I started thinking again about that other me, the one that I didn¡¯t remember, the one that I felt at this moment had to be fake. What would that other me do? I thought to myself. Could I let Rosary go like that? No... I turned back, and something about it felt right. I didn¡¯t know what I was going to do, but I couldn¡¯t leave things as they were, if a younger me could face these things then why couldn¡¯t an older me?

    I started running, this time running back; no more running away if I wanted to be the person that I remembered I had to have the bravery to be that person. I wouldn¡¯t run anymore; I couldn¡¯t. My feet seemed lighter than they had ever been before, my ears clearly could hear the sounds of battle, my mind felt clear and my chest no longer felt any pain as my body moved with a speed that felt faster than I had ever run before I was certain now of what to do.

 Chapter 24_R

    Rosary left; knowing in her heart that this was the right thing to do, knowing that this would be the last time that she saw his face. Her chest simmered like a pot on the edge of boiling over, the thought haunting her, but the pain was far less than the intense guilt that she would have felt at having left those people to face whatever that thing was.

    Daniel didn¡¯t know, of course. She didn¡¯t blame him for it; she had kept it a secret not sure what to tell him, the mystery of what Frederick had been doing here that night, it reassured her knowing that he didn¡¯t know, that he wouldn¡¯t have to face the pain that she felt. To him, she was sure those people had been bad people, people who had attacked him for little other reason than him being in the wrong place at the wrong time; she knew better.

    Rosary had never been good at directions; she especially realizes that now, zipping from hall to hall. ''Had we taken this turn?'' She wondered to herself as the hall split off, one direction going left, the other continuing to go straight. Thoughts went back again to the past, reminding her of a time that she wished to forget. She blocked the feelings out, deciding to go straight, her memory foggy, she could have sworn that there had been only a turn or two.

    The darkness of the ruins frightened Rosary, though if she asked she would deny it, she didn''t really want people to think she was tough, rather she didn''t want to bother them. Rosary felt like she was in the belly of a beast, and that the long hallway that she continued through was like its intestine. She couldn¡¯t shake the feeling of wrongness here. Was she alone in these thoughts?

    She came to a crossroads of sorts, had they indeed passed through here? The sounds of conversation decided her course. She took the route to her right; she could tell that these weren¡¯t the same people, for starters these people didn¡¯t seem to sound like they had gotten into a fight with a big slug porcupine. Secondly, there were far too many voices for them to be the people that they had left.

    She entered into a colossal chamber, tents lined up everywhere, slats of moonlight trickling down from above. She was back.

    Guards stood at the front of the entrance, two mole-men, holding in their hand''s spears, garbed in dirty leather armor. When Rosary approached, they looked at each other in a confused manner, probably wondering how Rosary had gotten here and why she was here. ¡°Halt,¡± piped the younger of the two mole-men. ¡°What is one of the Fae doing underground?¡± He asked, ¡°What business do you have?¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    Rosary didn¡¯t have time to deal with these people, every second that she wasted meant another second closer to death that those people would come to. She hadn¡¯t expected to go here again; she remembered how Frederick had gone into the ruins, shortly after she had. She had followed him here and had learned a significant number of things that night.

    ¡°Your people are in danger! I¡¯m here because they need your help!¡± She exclaimed, though the mole-men seemed anything but convinced.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how you got here lady, but unless the damned loyalists have found us, I doubt that we¡¯re in danger.¡±

    Rosary flushed her lips, getting frustrated. Flying past the bumbling idiots before they could get another word in edgewise, she searched for someone to help. She could remember a catman with dark midnight black hair; he had seemed like a leader among these people, at least that was the impression that she had gotten from the meeting that he had had with Frederick and the many other people that were there. Rosary hoped that this man lived up to this expectation.

    She up into the rafters, hiding in the darkness of the ceiling and tried to get an idea of where he could be. She watched as one of the mole-men that she had talked to earlier left his post, and made his way through the multitude of tents, he made his way up, taking a stairwell, stone benches surrounding on both ends covering the wall as it went up diagonally.

    She made her way sneaking behind the mole-man, hoping that if she were to follow him that he would bring her either to the person, she was hoping for at least somebody with more authority and intelligence than he and his companion had.

    He stopped at the top, the end of the stairs opening up into a sort of ring that surrounded the entire complex. Rosary followed as he made his way to a dull looking room, one that Rosary would never have picked out as having any kind of importance. She was thankful that she had followed the man.

    He opened the plain wood door, entering inside, Rosary flying in only moments before it closed on her.

    ¡°Bebee reporting in sir.¡± The moleman said. A regal looking man with a feline face looked up from his study in the candlelight, his face matching the one of the man she had been hoping to find. At his desk; documents, some with the picture, some without lay sprawled out in a mess. Rosary had never learned how to read so she couldn¡¯t make much sense of them. ¡°What¡¯s the matter, Bebee?¡± The man asked.

    ¡°Intruder sir,¡± The mole-man said back straight as a plank as if trying to impress, a contrast from the lazy slouch from earlier.

    ¡°I see that,¡± the Leo man intoned, Rosary noticing just now that his eyes were staring at her, how long ago had he noticed her?

    The mole-man blinked as if not understanding what it was that he said, then his gaze turned to face the direction that the Leo was looking and he jumped. ¡°Agaaa it¡¯s her. I¡¯ll get her!¡± He lunged at Rosary, a fruitless action; she just flew over him.

    ¡°Please, Sir you need to listen!¡± Rosary implored avoiding the mole-mans grasps. The Leo mans attention seemed straight on her.

    ¡°Stop already; you¡¯re making a fool of yourself Bebee, go back to your post if that¡¯s all, I will listen to this fairy, she seems to have something that she wishes to tell. Bebee nodded, took one last glance over at Rosary, blushed and left. Rosary started explaining what had happened.

 Chapter 24_D

    I remembered the direction that I had come from. It was strange how well I could remember the path. I ran; no hesitation, confident about where to go, quickly making my way back, only stopping when my weary legs buckled and forced me too. What am I doing? I found myself wondering. This felt like a fool''s quest; I had spent most of this night running from a bunch of thugs, and now that I¡¯m free from them what am I doing? I¡¯m running back to help them. Though to be honest the main reason I had made this decision was because of my concern for Rosary. But it still was something that was far out of my norm.

    I followed the sound of screams; the sound of curses and yelling, making my way to where the fighting was happening ¡ª reaching the entrance to the shrine I burst in and was greeted by a sight that felt far too familiar. Three bodies littered the floor; the first was the moleman whom I had watched earlier have his arm sliced off. Huge gouges in his face made him unrecognizable, the only thing that gave away his identity was his ratty like skin and the lack of an arm. Another mole-man lay nearby, his body sliced in half, his torso only connected to his hips by some skin intestine looking like they had been dragged in the fight hanging in shreds like fleshy confetti. The last was the snake-like man, his body so full of gashes that his body seemed to have become covered in its fluids.

    Shit, this was REAL; I knew that of course but still; This IS real. My chest itched like crazy replacing the burning sensation; I almost preferred the burning the itching was harder to ignore. Adrenaline seemed to have kicked in; I froze in place, the terror of what I was seeing chilling me to the core; I¡¯m going to die; it seemed so obvious.

    ¡°Hahahahaha.¡±

    Something laughed at me inside my head, a laugh that seemed to break through the frozen state, laughter that seemed to inject hot magma into my brain. I get it, you¡¯re an asshole that likes to fuck around with peoples¡¯ heads, I don¡¯t have fucking time to deal with you. The most inopportune times I swear. Couldn¡¯t this asshole pick a better time, like when I¡¯m not trying to fight to the death?

    A shrill feminine scream echoed in the chamber; immediately I thought of Rosary, my heart skipping a beat, please don¡¯t die Rosary, I pleaded.

    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    ¡°But she¡¯s already dead.¡±

    I ignored the voice in my head, searching for where the scream had come from; I found it. That scream hadn''t been Rosary. It was instead the demi-human woman from before, who was being assaulted by the slug-like beast now cornered and frantically trying to get away. The creature flailed its appendages like an angry newborn child, Satan''s newborn. The woman seemed able to move fast enough to avoid most of the flailings; many still scratched her though bloody lines appearing in her dark skin where they had hit. Her clothes were in tatters; modesty was all that they protected now leaving her large bunny ears exposed, those ears flapping like crazy as she jumped with inhuman agility. One large gash seemed especially prevalent in her shoulder, and blood seeped from it uninhibited, a tentacle nearby her stuck in the wall, blood covering it.

    The clang of metal brought my attention to the other fighting that was going on; tentacles seemed to be striking out from the shadows, no body only the shadow of the ruins attached to them. The rest of the group looked to all be fighting off the tentacles from the center of the room where the moonlight that poured in was strongest. The limbs of the beast seemed to weaken and die when the light of the moon touched them as if their lives were being sapped away by its glow. The group of men appeared to be trying to make their way to the woman, but with no luck, for as soon as they made a step outside of the protective ring of light they would be attacked with a hungry ferocity.

    I didn¡¯t see Rosary here at all, where was she? Could she really be dead? I stopped that thinking; immediately, the thought too hard and harsh to face.

    I watched as the woman started slowing, she would be shredded soon, something needed to change, I didn¡¯t want to get near that thing, but she would be dead if I didn¡¯t do anything. I rushed over to the first dead body, grabbing the spear that lay near him. The creature ignored me, the closer I got to it the worse the itching in my chest became. The beast lifted its husk, its body touching the ceiling of the room, a roof that was far above my head. It seemed ready to pounce. I slammed into it, spearhead first. A wailing scream filled my ears, and it collapsed sideways. I stumbled, practically falling right into it. Something that would have been very ill-advised, as doing so would have meant a nice mean hug right through its spiked body.

    The bunny woman glanced over to me for a moment then bound towards her companions. I rushed to try to join up with them, hoping that they might have a plan, but tentacles blocked my path, wriggling angrily at me.

    The mass of spikes and wriggling tentacles righted itself from its fall and turned to me, or at least it seemed like it had. With no identifiable face or even top or bottom, it was hard to tell. I tried to pull out the spear which had become planted in its body, but a swing of a tentacle that I avoided stopped any hope of me using the spear again as the haft became demolished.

    ¡°Do NoT InTErfERe!¡±

    A caustic voice echoed in my head, a mass of tentacle colliding with me slamming me, causing me to become airborne for a moment, sending me straight to the other end of the room, my body hit with a dull crunch. It seemed I had gotten its attention. Unfortunately for me, I didn¡¯t have any protection on me. Nothing, I would be mincemeat immediately if it got a hold of me. I needed to change that, somehow.

 Chapter 25

    The lump of spikes and spines lumbered towards me, intent on making me its prey. I staggered backward, it flailed at me, I sidestepped, but I wasn¡¯t quite fast enough, my arm grazed by one of its tentacle, its texture as rough as sandpaper despite looking as smooth as glass. It shredded the skin on my right forearm; the wound mostly shallow and small, the damage only bad near the elbow where it had taken a chunk of my skin out. It bled, bled like crazy. My mind felt like it was swimming through sludge, my body moving through instinct, my head not keeping up. I didn¡¯t have the strength or speed of these demi-humans. The feeling of fresh blood oozing out of me made me feel faint.

    I remembered something in that foggy mist of my brain, a long thin sword, the edge scarlet, a blade of blood. Could I do it? I remembered the attempt that I had made to go home. The failure to do so. What were the rules? What had I been missing? The creature flailed but then stopped as the sick sound of something plunging into it echoed. An arrow had become planted in its body; followed by a bolt.

    Lizz, the bunny woman whom I had rescued, held in her hands a bow, an arrow being pulled back, she nodded to me and said something that I couldn''t hear before letting off another shot. Next, to her the human with the crossbow was setting another bolt, its tips dripping in some fluid.

    But even with that distraction it still didn¡¯t amount to much. It lumbered at me flailing like crazy, after the first few shots it ignored the arrows.

    ¡°HUnGrY!¡±

    It growled. My hand by this time had become soaked in blood, my numb fingers only feeling the slick texture and pulsating warmth, its heat reminding me of something as if breaking down a  mental wall. I could remember something, a feeling of something else, something that felt right, how could I have forgotten? I could feel an almost alive sensation coming from my blood; a sentient intelligence; A warmth filling my body, the itching stopped, a buzz in my brain replacing it; a mental high the reward for awakening it.

    ¡°Be one with me, Daniel.¡±

    It spoke to me, the voice of an angel, the voice of a lover, those tantalizing words rang inside me, engulfing me in its desire. I reached out I wanted to become one with her, affirming her, physically saying yes I stretched out my hand and from my outstretched hands'' blood started coming out, defying gravity moving with a mind of its own, I could feel it, sense it. I grasped at the blood like a lover, and from it a blade came out, rushing out like a hefted spear; four, no five feet out, a handle forming in my clenched hand. It was beautiful, a piece of living art.

    The creature froze in place; stopping as if confused.

    ¡°Mother?¡±

    It asked as if expecting an answer. We ignored it. I could feel her presence again. I felt an elation that I hadn¡¯t felt in a long time, a burning passion, yes this was right. I pointed the blade at the creature, I felt invincible at that moment, and it, in turn, lashed out.

    That movement broke the reverie, and I felt the presence disappear, I was alone again. Blade still in hand but that feeling of completeness gone. What had happened? I waved the sword out at the flailing appendages unsure of what to do feeling stupid for my bravado no matter how short-lived it had been. The tip of the sword glided through flesh and bone sundering everything it touched passing through as if I were cutting nothing more than mist.

    The creature recoiled, the tip of its tentacle writhed on the ground. The beast stopped it action for a moment it''s tentacles tentatively touching the sundered spot inspecting it with a curious gesture as if wondering how exactly that happened. Its tip grew back, bubbles forming into the shape of what had been lost.

    I waved the blade towards the creature hoping to try to frighten it. Instead the opposite, it became more aggressive, a multitude of tentacles burst out from it, half-formed, no blades yet, one slamming against my shoulder punching me like cannon, pounding me into the wall, my breath forcibly expelled; lungs emptied like a popped balloon from the impact of the shove. A second tentacle started to try to wrap around me, I slashed downward with the blood blade slicing through both its flesh and the floor underneath. It howled in rage.

    A third tentacle shoved at me, it would have hit me straight in the gut, probably disemboweling me, but for the last second save from Regar. He had jumped at the tentacle and slammed his sword down into it. Diverting it enough to instead hit the wall next to me. Unlike my blade, Regar¡¯s blade remained stuck, piercing through the tentacle enough to lodge in it but not enough to cut through.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    ¡°That¡¯s payment for saving Lizz, now get your ass over to the center NOW, the thing seems afraid of the light!¡± Regar commanded, letting go of the now useless sword as he turned and rushed towards the light. I followed behind, knowing that if I didn¡¯t that I would lose my chance to survive. Even with a sword, this thing was still too much to handle.

    I followed Regar and was moments away from the moonlight when out of the darkness one of those disembodied tentacles appeared wrapping itself around my ankle. Momentum took over, and I fell face first into the ground my arms flailing it. I turned over and tried to slice a the tentacle with my sword until I realized that the sword wasn''t in my hand anymore. With the risk of death hanging over I searched for it hoping it was still within reach. I saw the sword, it had only fallen a few inches away, I went to grab for it, but as I did it melted away as if the only thing that was keeping its form was its contact to me. "Fuck."

    Regar grabbed the hand nearest to him and tried to yank me away, but the tentacle creature had other plans holding on steadfast to my ankle. Another tentacle appeared from the shadows, wrapping itself around the other arm that had been grasping for the sword. They tugged at me, pulling me in both directions, Regar trying to get me out of its snatch but with no real effect. So many arrows and bolts sprouted in the tentacles holding me that they reminded me of pincushions. The other men using whatever they had as weapons to try to keep the beast at bay. But it was all useless.

    The creature yanked at my arms; I felt like I was going to be ripped apart, I could feel my limbs starting to give way. I needed to get free. I focused again on the blood, trying to will it to again become a blade, dizziness came over me as the blood formed again in the arm that was held down. It worked, only it was the size of a small dagger, its length far from impressive, but it was enough. I wiggled the blade in my hand until I felt the slight resistance of flesh. I pulled then and sliced deeper, my arm now free.

    I turned my attention to the other tentacle grasping my blade; something seemed to shoot at me from the slug. I rolled, out of the way a spike whizzing past, and felt a sharp pain in my ankle. The main mass was getting nearer. I lunged towards the tentacle holding my leg. I nipped at it with my little dagger, but it grew back. This dagger just couldn¡¯t reach it. God damn it, I looked up, the huddling mass was just about looming over me. I can¡¯t die here. ¡°Get bigger!¡± I yelled out heart beating in a made dance,

    I put all my will into enlarging the blade; blood gushed out of my main wound as if being willed to my hand. I felt faint and dizzy like I was pushing my limits both physically and mentally. For the first time, I could sense where my limits were. I could feel the last bits of my mental strength, my emotional power, well into the blade, it rose, the sword lengthening outwards, growing back to its original form.

    The creature was on me; I needed to get free now! I sliced through the tentacle holding me, the appendage flopping to the ground its life taken. Now free I tried to get up, tried to rush to where the demi-humans were, Regar grabbed at my one hand trying to help me up. I got to a kneeling position but as soon as I tried to put weight on my left foot; the foot that had been trapped by the tentacle, I felt a sharp pain. My leg collapsed bringing both Regar and me down to the ground. The creature was on us now. Tentacles bore down; we were going to die.

    The sound of a Roar seemed to freeze everything. A man with the face of a panther appeared and with him Rosary. Men both demi-human and human followed him each carrying a torch, the light from them brightening up the room with such an intensity that it was hard to even see in here. The creature recoiled, as if afraid of the light. It retreated from it, its skin molting almost boiling where the light shone.

    ¡°Surround the creature, do not let it escape!¡± The panther man yelled pulling out what looked like a glowing blade. ¡°In the name of my Lady Whyn, I command you to unveil your true form!¡± He shoved the sword outwards strands of light and steel seemed to unravel from the blade, revealing inside a living moving sword. It looked like a torch but with the flames taking on the shape of a sword. It''s light far brighter than any other in this room a miniature sun.

    ¡°RRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW¡±

    The creature screamed, it screamed with such pain and horror that for a moment I felt bad for it. The men started to try to surround it, the panther man taking up the lead. ¡°Remember what I told you on the way here, men!¡± He roared taking a step towards the creature his blade cutting through the assualting tentacles with practiced grace.

    He waved the sword, slicing seemingly at the waves of pure light pulsing out of it. The creature screamed, I watched in amazement those waves of light cut through the beast. It roared and flailed, but by this time it was ineffective. It looked like they about had, the creature was cornered. But then its form seemed to merge into the shadows disappearing before anyone could give it the finishing blow.

    The fighting was over, but the panther man wasted no time, glowing, flaming blade in hand he yelled out orders to some of the men then walked his way over. His face seemed familiar. I wasn¡¯t for sure, but I thought that it might have been Panzer.

    A red blur of feathers and hair zipped into my chest, crying. ¡°What are you doing here dummy?¡± She yelled; I wasn¡¯t for sure, but I think she was angry. ¡°You were supposed to have gotten back to the surface."

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t leave you alone against that thing,¡± I told her.

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have been alone.¡±

    ¡°That''s not what I mean. I mean I couldn¡¯t just let you go help them alone while I ran away.¡±

    She started bawling.

    ¡°When I saw you there I thought you were going to die.¡± Her sniffled responses becoming less and less intelligible by the moment as she pressed herself against my chest.

    ¡°You¡¯re lucky that she found Sir Panzer.¡± A voice responded. I looked up to see a¡­ wait a sec I didn¡¯t see anything. ¡°Over here.¡± I turned my head, on the floor was a midget? No, this person was far smaller. He reminded me of a house dwarf, not the Tolkien type of dwarf, the Russian ones from folklore. I didn¡¯t know what to think about that. Here was another fairy tale in front of me this one quite a bit more like the fairy tale then my last encounter had been.

    ¡°She be a brave one that one, I heard what happened, been a long while since I met a brave fae, they usually have no backbones.¡± I looked down at the sniffling, crying fairy in my chest and felt a sense of relief and happiness at having met this brave fairy, this girl who seemed to defy expectations, I patted her on the head, my body on the verge of collapse.

 Chapter 26

    The trip back felt long and arduous. My ankle wouldn¡¯t allow me to put any pressure on it so I was relegated to being assisted by the human from the first group I had met. We moved as a group; many of the men still worried that the creature would pop out. They made sure that they held out their torches and that they didn¡¯t go out. Rosary rested in my hood.

    Regar was up ahead of the group; he seemed to be having a conversation with the Panther looking man, whom at this point I had figured was Panzer. It wasn¡¯t long before we entered a room unlike that of any of the other places that I had seen before. It was huge. Honestly, it felt like I was in an underground football stadium except that the seats were stone and the only light came from torches and small slits in the ceiling. Tents lined the bottom perimeter. Near the center was a stage of sorts and in the center of that stage was something else, but I was too far away to get a clear look. Rosary and I were taken to one of the older looking tents and told to wait.

    A perky looking woman with floppy dog-like ears came over an infectious smile on her face, a large medical bag in her hand. ¡°Hello, I hear you saved Lizz. I¡¯m the head doctor here; call me Cali.¡±

    "Sorry dear, you''ll have to wait outside," Cali told Rosary.

    "Why?" Rosary asked, a suspicious look on her face.

    "Because dear I will need to inspect this man for injury, I''m sure you fae don''t have much of a need for modesty but you most other races do."

    "Fine," Rosary groaned.

    Cali touched my body in a cursory light way, taking off first my shirt she looked at the wounds in my shoulder before moving down to my legs. After inspecting me she went to work; putting a salve on the cuts and gashes, the feeling of pain diminished, instead replaced by a cooling itching sensation. ¡°Make sure not to itch it, unless you want your wounds to open right back up,¡± Cali said as she rummaged in her bag. She moved over to the counter grabbing two pieces of wood. ¡°This is going to hurt.¡± She said and moved my foot forward. I felt a sharp pain pierce me as she arranged the foot, I wanted to cry it hurt so bad, but I endured it.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    ¡°Make sure you don¡¯t put pressure on that foot. You¡¯ve got a sprain,¡± she said as she finished wrapping the brace out of cloth. ¡°I¡¯ll come back with a crutch in a moment, stay there. Please,¡± Cali said before leaving again. Shortly after Rosary came back in, a look of irritation.

    ¡°What did that dog in heat do to you?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Huh? What are you talking about a dog in heat? All she did was take care of my wounds.¡± Rosary hovered over to me and gave me a long stare.

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t change the fact that she¡¯s a dog in heat,¡± Rosary grumbled. What was she even talking about? This whole line of dialogue seemed so bizarre. The Doctor came back, blonde tail wagging, a flushed look in her eyes; in her hands the crutch.

    ¡°You¡¯re going to have to come back to me every day so that I can keep an eye on the status of your wounds.¡± Wait once a day? Rosary glared at Cali. Huh? Cali gave Rosary a toothy grin. Cali''s face turned to shock as a hand grasped her by the shoulder. ¡°Dear Cali, you wouldn¡¯t happen to be harassing your patients again would you?¡±

    A blush showed on her face, ¡°Oh no sir just teasing is all.¡± She turned back to me. ¡°You will show up to see me a week from now.¡±She said to me. Her tail moving far less now. Maybe there was something to what Rosary had said.

    The panther man came in, ¡°You may leave now Cali, I have something that I need to discuss in private with our guests.¡± Cali sighed as if disappointed and left the tent. The panther man-sized me up as if trying to figure something out.

    ¡°Daniel, is that really you?¡± He asked. His face held an expression of utter joy, tears in his eyes. I was speechless, I didn¡¯t know how to react, I had seen this man a couple of times in my dreams, but he still felt so much like a stranger. My first impressions of this man had been that he was a strong, stoic man. It felt so strange to see him in tears.

    Finally, I uttered a single word, ¡°Yes.¡± The cat man burst into tears, burst into tears! ¡°I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re back, my son, we had thought you were dead all these years, but you¡¯re back.¡±

    I was struck dumb once again; this man was now claiming to be my father? ¡°Ummm sir I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I don¡¯t remember much about my time here.¡±

    The cat-man blinked as if trying to fight the deluge of tears. Then the sudden flapping of the tent stole my attention, the front burst open, a beautiful girl rushed inside, hair kept short, and cat-like ears flicking; a girl who looked a lot like someone I knew of. ¡°It really is you!¡± She yelled a huge smile on her face. She pounced on me; yes literally pounced. I fell to the ground my injured foot barely avoiding another injury, but I still felt a small wince at the sudden movement.

    She hugged me with such force that I thought I was going to pop, god damn was this girl strong. That wasn¡¯t the only thing, her breasts, trapped one of my arms, their size large enough that now that she was squished against me I had no chance of escaping, and I could feel the heat of blush in my cheeks. A moment later she purred. God, what is going on?

    ¡°You¡¯re alive Daniel; you¡¯re alive.¡± Tears spilled from her drowning me in their salty wet deluge. It felt so strange to see two people who seemed to care for me this deep. I felt myself wanting to cry, wondering to myself why I had to lose these people, wondering why had I forgotten.

 Chapter 27

    ¡°Bell dear be careful, the boy has a sprain.¡± Panzer tried to say with some authority, but with all the sniffling he was doing it came out as anything but authoritative. ¡°Bell?¡± I asked she had changed so much from what little I could remember of the dreams, but so had Panzer or at least the impression that those two dreams had given me of them.

    Bell hugged me even tighter flashing me a smile that would make any mans¡¯ heart skip a beat; at the least, it had mine in a flutter. Reluctantly Bell let go of me, and even though her grip had been tight as a vice I still found myself craving it; maybe I was developing a bit of a masochistic tendency. Immediately after Bell let go, I was once again assaulted, this time by a small little fairy as she clung to my neck.

    Bell looked at me then suspiciously. ¡°Where did the fairy come from?¡± She asked. Rosary looked over at Bell and gave a mischievous smile; a smile that reminded me of another time back in my dorm. ¡°I found her when I discovered this world for the first time,¡± I said quickly and put a finger up to her mouth to try to stop her from saying something that would result in misunderstandings. Thankfully she took the hint and didn¡¯t say anything.

    ¡°So what¡¯s this about you not remembering anything?¡± Panzer said, the sniffling he had been doing finally stopping. Bell cocked her head, one ear twitching. ¡°What do you mean he doesn¡¯t remember anything?¡± She asked Panzer. The old man shrugged, I want to know as well. I got some of the details from Regar.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t remember anything Daniel?¡± Bell asked.

    ¡°Nothing about Nowhere, the only things I can even say I know of came from some recent dreams I had."

    ¡°I¡­ I see,¡± Bell responded, her face tearing up as if I had just told her that I wanted nothing to do with her. ¡°I came down to these ruins in the hopes of finding answers.¡±

    Panzer nodded, Bell regained her composure something akin to hope. ¡°The only clues I have were two dreams I¡¯ve had. Both of them had a group of people in them; I think I remember, you two, a girl named Clair, Lady Whyn and a boy named Seb?¡± The last name that I mentioned was met with looks of anger. As if saying that name reminded them of something horrible. ¡°I remember how close you all were,¡± Panzer said distantly. ¡°Daniel, the boy, named Seb¡­ He betrayed us all.¡±

    ¡°What did he do?¡± I asked.

    ¡°He tricked Lady Whyn into letting her guard down, the reason that Lord Mage Sabbath has taken most of the lands that were once Lady Whyn''s was because of Seb.¡±

    ¡°Why would he do that?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, you kids were attacked, you, Clair, and Bell. Bell was able to escape, but you were captured, and we still don¡¯t know what happened to Clair. When we tried to rescue you we found out that you were gone, we were told that you had been killed.

    All this lead to a piling of questions. But I stopped myself, remembering Regar, the criminal, a man who apparently took orders from Sir Panzer.

    ¡°So what is all this?¡± I asked.

    ¡°All this?¡± Bell asked though Panzer seemed to understand what it was I was talking about.

    ¡°The Resistance. I don¡¯t know how long you¡¯ve been here, but I¡¯m sure that you have probably seen how they treat demi-humans.¡± I did remember it haunted me, the chants, the hangings, the deaths. All of it still whispered in my memories.

    ¡°Our true goal is to rescue our lady Whyn.¡±

    Rosary piped up, ¡°Didn¡¯t Lady Whyn die in the invasion?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what he wants them to think but no.¡± She was taken to a dungeon and is hidden on a special level. We are still trying to find out where exactly she is located.¡±

    ¡°Daniel, I know you don¡¯t remember our past together, but I¡¯m hoping that you can join us. I¡¯ve always loved you like a son of mine. I was ecstatic to find out that you and my little Bell had talked of marrying.¡±

    ¡°Wait a sec!¡± My eyes quickly looked back to Bell, as Panzer talked a blush forming on her cheeks. ¡°Dad I told you before that we were joking around back then.¡± Shyly she looked back at me, her face growing ever darker shades of red. ¡°Besides I¡¯m sure he wouldn¡¯t be interested in a girl as boyish as me.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not true!¡± I blurted out without really thinking. Four reactions came out of that, a father who seemed to outright beam in delight, the daughter who hid, me just realizing what I said also trying to hide, and a fairy who growled and bit my neck.

    ¡°Owww what was that for?¡± I complained at Rosary whom at this time had decided to jump off me and fly around on her own. ¡°Nothing,¡± she said dismissively before flying off, leaving me very confused. ¡°What did I do?¡± The two others that having seen this exchange had very mixed reactions, ¡°That part of you hasn¡¯t changed.¡± Muttered Bell now looking a slight bit annoyed. Panzer, on the other hand, seemed mildly amused.

    ¡°You¡¯ll figure it out I¡¯m sure,¡± Pan said. ¡°Back to the matter at hand Daniel, I hope that you can help us. The abilities that you have would be indispensable in helping to free Lady Whyn from that tyrant.¡±

    ¡°We all would be happy to have you again.¡± Bell chimed in.

    ¡°What would happen to me if I refused?¡± I asked tentatively.

    ¡°I would ask that you pretend that you know nothing about us.¡±

    It seemed very tempting, not only would I be able to be with people who could tell me more about the me I didn¡¯t know, but I could also be with people who seem to care, but one thing still bothered me. I could still remember the poster about Regar; they had criminals working with their cause, did he know about that?

    ¡°Pan when I first saw Regar it was on a roster full of criminals. Did you know that he was a criminal?¡± Pam sighed, ¡°Yes I do know, he was wrongly accused unfortunately for the most part.¡±

    ¡°For the most part?¡±

    ¡°Yes the accusation of crimes against the crown is correct, many of the men under me have been accused of it, Sabbath knows about this faction and is trying his best to rid himself of us. The other crime though is a fabrication, the Government here has decided that we demi-humans are nothing more than second citizens and that¡¯s at best, most of our kind are slaves. Regar was one of those slaves, a bodyguard for a wealthy family that grew to prominence with their support of the Mage King. He fell in love with one of the daughters of the family and she with her. Her parents wanted nothing to do with him and so tried to have him put to the gallows. So the two of them ran away, and he now works under me. Her parents announced her as having been kidnapped after they ran away.¡±

    ¡°I see, that¡¯s quite the story. Now that I knew that side of the story Regar didn¡¯t seem at all like a bad guy, a bit rough on the edges but so was Frederick, and in fact, I¡¯d bet the two would get along great were they ever to meet. Honestly, I didn¡¯t have much connection to this rebellion emotionally, but I¡¯d seen the atrocities that had happened in this city, I knew it was wrong. Plus this could be the place where I belonged. At least I hoped.

    ¡°You don¡¯t need to decide now; you could think on it if you want Daniel. Go to wherever you¡¯re staying, or if you don¡¯t have a place to stay we could make arrangements for you here and rest on it I could send somebody to get your reply later.¡±

    I shook my head no; I already knew what I wanted. ¡°That¡¯s ok Pan, I¡¯ve made my decision. I want to help you and Bell.¡±

 Chapter 28 (NSFW)

    ¡°That¡¯s excellent. Do you have somewhere to stay?¡± Pan asked

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m staying at the Lapping Kitten,¡± I replied

    ¡°Good, that¡¯s an excellent inn, one of the best inns on that end of town.¡± Pan said, ¡°It¡¯s a safe inn too, the son of the proprietor is one of our biggest allies, he and some of his men are currently trying to figure out the details of Lady Whyn¡¯s whereabouts.¡±

    ¡°Frederik? Frederik is working for you?¡±

    ¡°Working with us would be a closer way to put it. He keeps the bulk of the guards away from our activities; we make sure to have regular meetings with him so we can keep him in the loop of our activities. Real smart, like his father.¡±

    ¡°So the accusations were true then?¡±

    ¡°Yes, his father was a great man, a man who did not deserve what he was given. Anyhow, I¡¯ll send a man with you and the fairy. I believe she said her name was Rosary?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°Next time you come back we¡¯re going to have to wrestle again, I¡¯ll make you remember our score.¡± She said with a cheery grin. The thought of wrestling her both intrigued me and scared the living shit out of me; I could feel how monstrous her strength had been. Was there seriously a record of us wrestling?

    ¡°Um, I¡¯m not sure if that would be a good idea,¡± I said nervously.

    ¡°Hey just because you¡¯ve gotten older don¡¯t think that you¡¯re suddenly too strong for me to handle.¡± She said irritated.

    ¡°Wait a sec! That¡¯s not what I mean at all!¡± I tried replying, quickly seeing how this misunderstanding could go out of control. This seemed more like the girl I remembered in my dreams. But she ignored me, her tail flicking around as if trying to swat the air, though before exiting she turned around and smiled at me, a predatory smile. Was that a mischievous ¡®haha I tricked you,¡¯ smile or was that an ¡®I¡¯m going to eat your face for that¡¯ kind? If that girl was anything she was fantastic at leaving an impression and I found myself staring at that flap which still fluttered from her leaving wondering what the hell to think of her.

    ¡°Daniel!¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± I turned back to Pan.

    ¡°Did you hear what I said?¡±

    ¡°No sorry.¡±

    ¡°I said that you need to make sure that you tell nobody about your connection to us. Even Frederik has left his mother in the dark about us. It is imperative you remember this, even if you trust them completely.¡±

    I nodded, not thinking much of the warning, I don¡¯t know anyone in Nowhere anyway so that would be an easy one to follow.

    After that, Pan left, Rosary returned refusing to explain what had gotten over her. A woman appeared, a human girl that looked like she had been raised on the streets, couldn¡¯t have been older than 15. The girl was going to be my contact with the resistance, and called herself Umma, though that name was a name that she had gotten off the streets. After some back and forth arguing between her and Rosary; Umma trying to tell Rosary that she should stay down here where it¡¯s safe for Demi-Humans and Rosary telling her that she would not stay here and would instead go back with Daniel, we left.

    Umma held my portable torch in her hands during the trip, as one side was busy organizing a crutch she told me that it would be easier for her to keep it in case we needed to put it out. The place was a maze; she explained that I should not try to find the camp alone, Panzer, once a subordinate to the former ruler of this land was given the ability to in a minor degree rule over those lands that had been hers. And through this ability, the maze underground would constantly re-shift itself.

    It wasn¡¯t long before we made our way out, the entrance we used though was a different one than the one that I had used before, this one barely large enough for me to fit out of, it was more a hole than anything. Umma hid the hole with a few pieces of rubbish. We went to the Lapping Kitten and separated ways, Rosary and I heading back to my room for some sleep and her to have a conversation with Frederik.

    The inn was quiet; everyone seemed to be fast asleep. The sound of the occasional snore accentuated that feeling. Rosary and I fell fast asleep collapsing into my bed.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    Darkness surrounded me, the sound of clicking, screeching, and growling neared me. I ran, trying to distance myself from it. But they got ever closer, their mad whispering filling my ears.

    ¡°Let us free.¡±

    ¡°Save us.¡±

    ¡°Blood.¡±

    The whispering, so intense, so direct, their voices wallowing in misery, I felt equal parts pity and terror. I could feel hands grasping at me; I could feel myself being pulled down as if being dragged through quicksand. I tried to pull myself back up, but I could find no purchase. The world was black, and I descended, my body feeling as if hundreds of beasts were grabbing, pulling, and whispering into my ears.

    Then it all stopped. All of it, a light appeared before me, violet and red light, a woman, stood before me at the center of that light seemingly the source of that light, a woman of untold beauty, hair deep red, almost a blood red. This woman reminded me of another woman, the woman in my first dream, the one that had left the scar on my chest. But this woman seemed gentle, and instead of terror, this woman left a feeling of relief, a taste of peace. Her body was the very epitome of womanliness, she was neither young nor old instead seeming timeless, and she stood here naked to me, her eyes seemed to glow as they watched me, violet eyes that seemed to suck you in.

    All around her the darkness took shape, her light just barely revealing our surrounding. Though the forms should have been terrifying, monster-like creatures, people with hallowed out eyes that still walked, and other monstrosities I felt calm. Something akin to kinship for the poor things.

    Their moaning and whispering had stopped when she appeared. ¡°Ah, my love.¡± She said drawing closer, her smile creating a feeling so intense inside me that I could barely take it, but her very presence filled me with such awe that I couldn¡¯t move, nor speak.

    ¡°You have returned my love.¡± She was a whisper''s breath away from me; her scent almost overwhelming me. The world around me shifted, the darkness all around taking shape, I realized now that we stood inside of a garden. Lillies and Black Roses surrounded us, their vines twisting into the form of a small outdoor building. Their walls covered in the contrasting white and blacks of these two flowers, and from these flowers, I could see the trickle of blood.

    She touched my face, a gentle, loving motion, the touch which lasted only for a moment left me feeling breathless, it¡¯s electric sensation leaving me dizzy. ¡°Who are you?¡± I asked, barely able to think, my mind a blurred mess and though I asked I almost felt like I should know her.

    Her response; a kiss, the touch of her lip pressed into my own ¡ª the taste of her mouth destroying every last vestige of sanity and self-restraint left. I found myself not caring at that moment who she was, nor did I care where we were. Something about her felt so right, so perfect.

    NSFW<input class="spoilerButton" type="button" value="Show">

    We pressed our lips together; our frenzied kisses were separating long enough only to breathe, she pressing her body against my own, I wrapping my arms around her and pulling her in, her breasts pressed against my chest, the feeling of her erect nipples rubbing against me only strengthening the intensity of our kissing. Her waist rubbed against my member as if stroking it, our passionate embrace making my mind both cloudy and energized.

    This woman, she made every woman before seem like a shadowy impostor. Something about the way she touched me, the way we kissed, the very scent of her made me feel like we belonged. Not only did I feel that I wanted to be inside her, but I felt that it was wrong to not be, her very body by extension belonging to me and my body belonging to her

    As we kissed, our tongues explored one another; her tongue rubbing my cheek, my tongue brushing her teeth in its search, then the two met each other. Wrapping around each other our tongues batted against one another, pushing each other until one would relent and allow the other back inside an endless playful battle, the faint taste of blood mixing with the flavor of each other''s saliva.

    It felt like we embraced each other for hours, I wanted more, needed more, her hands grabbed my ass cupping it pulling my hip into her own, they moved upwards tracing the contours of my back with the faintest of touches, just to then reverse course back towards my ass. God, I couldn¡¯t take it anymore. I wanted her, I didn¡¯t even know why I wanted her, but my body reacted to this woman in a way that I had never felt before.

    My left hand raked down her back, desire releasing a lust filled rage inside me. A delighted moan escaped from her as we roughly kissed, the sound of it further strengthening my desire. I felt like I was on fire, my whole body burning up, my hand reached for her ass, I grasped it, and my other hand blindly explored her pale white skin, searching for the proof of her femininity. Wet and hot I could feel her pussy, the delicate petals of it protruding out, dripping, sopping wet affirming the desire she felt.

    I plunged a finger inside of her, the walls of her pussy sucking it in greedily, eagerly taking most of it inside. A desperate moan left her mouth as we kissed, her back arched, our kiss momentarily broken; she gave me a look of pure carnal desire her eyes staring into mine in a crazy passion.

    Locking our mouths together again, her hand fondled my dick, stroking it, roughly rubbing it with manic determination, her hips pressing against mine as if asking for more. Rubbing my finger against her tight walls, her pussy clamped on to it pulsing, desperately trying to suck it in deeper. Our kissing became even more desperate, so desperate that we dropped to the ground, our minds so muddled in an intense passion that I barely noticed the nip to my lips as she sucked on my tongue the taste of blood tasting more sweet than honey.

    I put another finger inside her in a desperate attempt to heighten our pleasure; going as deep as they could go, stopped only by a thick membrane, her pussy quivered at the feeling of the now two fingers rubbing her inner walls. Her hand stroked harder, bringing me treacherously bringing me closer to release.

    Her pussy swallowed another finger, so tight now I could barely move my fingers. My thumb rubbed her the lips of her pussy, searching for that tiny bump, her body contracting in pleasure as I brushed against its hood.

    ¡°Oh god yes!¡± She moaned out loud, pressing her sopping wet hips against me her fluid drenching my hips. Her hand now covered in her juices; the feeling so enrapturing so dizzying that only a brief moment of willpower stopped me from cumming.

    It became a competition, a competition of pleasure, we raced each other, her pussy spasmed sucking in my hand, as if telling me that it needed something longer, something harder, her fluids drenching my lower half covering it in her aphrodisiac juices the scent of her womanhood driving me to an animal like craze, I couldn¡¯t stop, I could feel it coming, our kissing became so deep that I didn¡¯t breathe; The jerking of her hand being pounded back by the frenzied thrust of my hips one last push, hardest yet, my sticky liquid splattering all over her.

    We lay there for a moment, dazed, I wanted more, we kissed again, her violet eyes locking with my own. ¡°We are meant to be together,¡± She whispered, her voice so mesmerizing that at that moment I would have killed had she even suggested that.

    ¡°Find me, my love.¡± She said to me, her voice so sweet so nubile that I felt heart flipping, my heart aching to hear more. The darkness became even more shaped, scarlet light from above bathing it in an eerie yet beautiful glow of red, the light originating from a deep blood red moon, its crescent barely showing the bulk of it imprisoned unable to come out and light our way. ¡°Remember your blood moon, Daniel. Find me, release me, become one with me,¡± she smiled and gave me another kiss, ¡°I love you,¡± she whispered, her face shyly averting away from my gaze, and then I awoke.

 Chapter 29_D

    It took me a few moments to realize that I was awake. The darkness of the room felt so strange, so surreal. What the hell had that dream been about? Did it start off as a nightmare only to end up like that? Even now I couldn''t remember too many details, like most dreams the more I tried to remember the less I actually could two things did stick in my head. That Scarlett moon, it both terrified me and calmed me looking over at it. The other was that woman, a woman that felt out of place in this world, a woman who felt so familiar.

    After pondering the dream I decided to finally get up, my throat burning begging me for water feeling dryer than the Sahara. On top of that my foot itched like crazy. Throwing off the blankets I jumped out of bed only after remembering my sprain.

    I braced myself for the pain but instead felt a dull ache. Something else weird had happened while I slept. My foot though not perfect yet seemed to have recovered far faster then it should have. I was overcome then with a moment of bewilderment. It seemed like the last few days had been nothing but a wild ride.

    I looked over at Rosary, still sleeping in her shell-like looking bed, her peaceful face bringing a sense of calm relief as I remembered the terror and fear of yesterday.

    ¡°Please mommy go back to how you used to be.¡± She mumbled in her sleep, tears dropping out of her closed eyes. It was sad and pitiful. I wanted to embrace her, but instead decided to let her sleep, leaving the room in search for something to quench my throat.

    I stared at the glass of water on the table having seated myself at our usual spot, my head still processing the night. Had I gone over my head? That creatures voice rang in my head.

    Traitor.

    How the hell was I a traitor to that thing? There was so much that I needed to remember, and so much that I needed to learn about this mysterious world. A sense of wonder and dread eclipsing the thought

    ¡°Where were you Daniel?¡± A voice demanded breaking me away from my inner world. I looked up from my glass of water to find an upset Emma glaring over at me, eyes bloodshot as if she hadn¡¯t gotten any sleep.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°I mean where were you last night?¡±She asked.

    ¡°I was sleeping?¡±

    ¡°You weren''t sleeping when I checked up on you. Both you and Rosary were gone.¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­¡± I responded.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

    Standing up from my seat careful to put as little pressure on my sore foot as possible, more so to not push my luck rather than from any real discomfort, I took Emma by the hand.

    ¡°Let''s go somewhere a little more private," I said.

    She didn¡¯t argue with that, and we made our way upstairs; passing by a couple of the occupants of the other rooms on the way up, one of whom already had a mask over their face. Not wanting to disturb Rosaries sleep I brought us over to Emma¡¯s room, closing the door behind us.

    As soon as we were inside Emma sat on her bed and watched me, patiently, something that seemed odd to me, Emma the girl with a short fuse and no-nonsense attitude waiting for me to talk. I hesitated; remembering what Pan had told me, ¡°Don¡¯t tell anyone about what happened,¡± but I felt that if anyone was safe to tell it was Emma. Not only was she not involved in anything here, but she had also been dragged into it, so I told her.

    She sat their, listening and when it was all over she sighed. ¡°I was so worried that something had happened to you, Daniel. I couldn¡¯t sleep, last night, I went to see if you were awake, only to find out when I knocked that your door was open and you were gone.¡±

    ¡°I know it''s none of my business what you do Daniel, but I feel like you¡¯re trying to avoid me, I wish you would rely on me more." She said, her eyes looking downward as she spoke.

    No, that¡¯s not true at all, all I wanted is for her to see me as something more than just the mess that I had become. I didn¡¯t want to worry about her or have to rely on her anymore. I still felt pangs seeing her face, the feeling of a little me struggling in a cage, clanging against it saying ¡®No I love you.¡¯ But I, of course, am not telling her that, how could I?

    ¡°I¡­¡± I pause trying to think about what I want to say, trying desperately to find something to say that would help her feel better without revealing what I truly felt.

    ¡°I¡±m sorry Emma,¡± is finally what I came up with. She shook her head, a lonely look in her eyes, an affirmation of what I already guessed, that what I had said hadn¡¯t been the right thing to say.

    ¡°What had you wanted to talk about?¡± I asked her trying to change the subject.

    She looked up, her eyes a storm of green, eyes that usually so confident and bright now dark and broody. ¡°I¡¯m worried, Dad usually calls me every night, It¡¯s been three days now. What if he freaks out? You know how overprotective he can be.¡±

    Yeah, I remembered, he also had a bit of a clingy side to his daughter too, something that his daughter seemed to share though she called it having to be stubborn for her friend.

    ¡°Plus Sebastian and I were supposed to go out, I wonder what he¡¯s thinking right now, also I don¡¯t know what to think about this place we¡¯re in. I feel so lost, usually praying to God helps but it¡¯s hard right now."

    I could see that she was worried, I¡¯d forgotten how close she was to her dad and aunt, hell my mom rarely spoke to me and my dad ditched us, it was hard to remember that not all families were like that. I needed to find out how to bring her back to our world. Our world? Was it really a place where I belonged? As dangerous and crazy as this world was something about it felt right. A feeling that the other world didn''t give.

    ¡°The man named Pan, he might know something. Maybe he can tell me what I¡¯ve been doing wrong.¡±

    She looked at me and smiled, a bittersweet smile that made the fluttering in my stomach start right back up. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for always being so pushy, I¡¯m glad that you¡¯re trying to be helpful, but I also think you should worry a bit more about yourself. How do you know that they are telling the truth?"

    It was something that hadn¡¯t crossed my mind, but now that it came up it was something that festered though I pushed it aside remembering the very real warmth and excitement they had at seeing me again. I wanted to hope that something like that couldn''t just be faked. Emma hadn¡¯t seen that, so of course, she¡¯d be suspicious.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be careful, I¡¯ll make sure that we get home one way or another, it¡¯s possible I know it is I¡¯ve done it before.¡±

    I wrapped my arms around her, surprising both her and myself in the process. Blushing for a moment I tried to let go but she hugged me even harder, sniffling a little.

    ¡°I love you, Daniel, even when I¡¯m feeling the worst you always bring me up. Even for all your moodiness life would have been so much worse without you, I¡¯m glad God brought us together as friends.¡± She said and gave me a warm gentle smile that almost tempted me into kissing her¡­ Almost.

 Chapter 30_D

    Emma and I waited on people for most of the day. The conversation from earlier still managed to elicit a few flurries in my stomach when I saw her. Though the rush of the day helped keep that down. Once again Emma seemed to have no trouble with dealing with the customers. In fact, as I peeked over at her on occasion a young man with a full mask on the table seemed to be especially interested in her.

    Focus Daniel, don''t get distracted.

    Easier said than done, she seemed to be very receptive to his advances, smiling at him, listening to whatever it was the guy was saying with plenty of interest.

    "Excuse me, we need another drink."

    I stopped watching the two of them, coals simmering in my chest. It was completely irrational, I knew it, she had a boyfriend already so if anyone should have been jealous it should be him. But I couldn''t help it.

    "Hey kid, did you hear me?"

    "Sorry!" I replied before getting back to work.

    It wasn''t until Frederik had come back that I even got a chance to relax. Today was especially busy. I needed to ask him where to find that guide. Umma I think was her name? Unfortunately, he seemed to be busy talking to some of the customers in a corner of the room, and my conversation wasn''t exactly something that I wanted others to hear. I waited in a little room next to the kitchen, a break room of sorts.

    "God was that exhausting!" Emma exclaimed as she walked in. "Doesn''t matter what world you live in."

    "Huh, what are you talking about?" I asked, a mix of coals and butterflies in my stomach messing with me both physically and mentally.

    "Just some presumptuous asses, we had a few today."

    "You seemed to enjoy some of the company," I said, irrate the coals taking the lead.

    "Well some of them were nice, though some a little too nice." She smiled, "I got a great tip, so I''m going to go to the city tonight and grab a few things with miss Jean." She said her face alight a moment of butterflies bubbling up at her excitement.

    Before I could say anymore Frederik walked in, a tired slump in his posture. He glared when he saw the two of us. This was my chance, but I didn''t want Frederik knowing that Emma knew anything.

    "Hey, Frederik I need to talk to you. Sorry, Emma, it''s important." I hoped she would take the hint.

    She walked up to me. "I''m going to take Rosary, be careful, he seems in a bad mood."

    I nodded and approached the unamused man. Even now that we were both working towards the same goal he still didn¡¯t treat me any different. ¡°What do you want?¡± He grumbled, ¡°I¡¯m looking for Umma,¡± I said.

    ¡°No.¡± He replied coldly, ¡°I told you once already that you shouldn¡¯t go into those ruins.¡±

    ¡°I need to go see Panzer.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care, I¡¯m not about to risk myself or the men working with me. The less you show up they''re the less likely that you¡¯ll be caught.¡±

    God he was getting so frustrating, what was his deal? I glared up at him, and he returned it. It was a strange feeling, that glare he gave me would have put me into submission, but now that I had gotten a taste for the terrifying and fought it rather than running away I found that Fredrik wasn¡¯t so bad.

    ¡°Panzer told me that I could come by anytime,¡±Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    ¡°I don¡¯t take orders from Panzer, and I¡¯m not about to tell you anything that may risk our operations, do you understand? You¡¯re a risk, I don¡¯t even know why Panzer would allow an Otherworlder to join, this isn¡¯t your fight and all you other-worlders do is bring trouble.

    ¡°Your mother is an other-worlder.¡±

    He flinched, ¡°My ma is an exception.¡±

    It was like talking to a rock, we argued back and forth but he didn¡¯t budge. I understood now why he acted so terribly to Emma and I now though, he had some kind of grudge against other-worlders. I left cheeks feeling like they were on fire. I stepped outside into the cool alley. If I couldn¡¯t find Umma then I might as well try the way I had before.

    It didn¡¯t take too long for me to make my way to the place that I had remembered us coming out of. I searched for that pile of rubble and couldn¡¯t find it, had I picked the wrong spot?

    A giggling sound came from behind me, I turned to find Umma, a huge grin on her face; she was laughing at me, I knew it. Well, at least I had found my guide.

    ¡°Ya know I did tell you that you needed me if you were going to have any chance of finding your way back.¡±

    ¡°I tried to, but Frederik wouldn¡¯t tell me where you were.¡±

    She shrugged as if she didn¡¯t know what to tell me.

    ¡°I doubt he could have told you anyway.¡±

    ¡°How the hell was I supposed to find you then if even he wouldn¡¯t have known, I thought that was why you talked to Fredrick.¡±

    ¡°Nah, I had to relay a message to him from Sir Panzer, the last thing I¡¯d want is some guard keeping tabs of where I¡¯m at, could ya imagine how much of a disaster that would be? I need to eat ya know. Guards don¡¯t like hard workers. Especially those that need to take things from lazy rich guys.

    Seriously? Why had Panzer made this girl my guide? Had she been the only choice? I looked her over, short cropped hair, wearing a dirty shirt and trousers size large. The girl swam in her clothes. She couldn''t have been older than 15 so why was she his first choice? God was this going to be a pain.

    ¡°Ok got it, could you bring me, please there¡¯s something very important I need to bring up to Panzer.¡±

    ¡°Sure, but it¡¯ll cost ya.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t Panzer tell you to let me in or something?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but he only told me to be your guide, he didn¡¯t tell me to do it for free.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry but I don¡¯t have anything to offer you.¡±

    She shrugged, "Guess that''s too bad.¡± I could feel myself become exasperated by this girl.

    ¡°Umma, I need to see him, it¡¯s very important. Please, I¡¯m begging you.¡± She gave me a look as if I was the exasperating one. Then she shook her head.

    ¡°You¡¯re so hopeless Daniel, like a lost puppy, it''s almost adorable. Ask me what I want, trust me when I say that you have it.¡±

    ¡°Ok fine,¡± I grumbled. ¡°What do you want?¡±

    She gave me the biggest Chesire grin I¡¯ve ever seen. ¡°Well I¡¯d love it if I could lose my virginity to some nice good looking guy; though they can''t stink, god does some of the men here stink.¡± She gave me a playful stare, ¡°You seem to fit that description, well at least enough of it, you see I¡¯m not too picky.¡±

    I stood their mouth dropped as far as it could go, any further and I''d lose it. Was she being serious? She wanted me to fuck her? Why?

    ¡°That''s not going to work,¡± I stammered. She rose an eyebrow at me and licked her lips suggestively. She strode right up to me grinning, a predatory look in her eyes, the look of having cornered her prey, my back against the wall of a building, I felt utterly helpless as she pressed herself against me.

    ¡°And why is that?¡±

    ¡°You''re a bit young for me, I''m sorry but I have this thing about not fucking kids.¡±

    Umma pressed her body harder against me, her face having almost a sneer to it, her small chest pressed against me awoke something, the feeling of guilt and disgust at myself following.

    Then a sharp pain beginning in my crotch. Explosive and painful I gasped as I fell to my knees and then to the ground. "FUCK!" She had seriously punched me in the groin. It took me a moment to recover and she stood over me one foot on my chest, probably putting most of her weight down. Were she wearing a dress I¡¯d be able to see underneath but instead I got to stare at some ragged trousers.

    ¡°What the fuck was that for? I groaned. She pressed her foot down sliding it too close to my crotch. ¡°That was for calling me a kid. I¡¯m 22 asshole."

    Wait what?

    "Seriously?¡±I asked she nodded acting as if she were pissed that grin on her face made it hard to believe. "You know for denying me a second ago you seemed pretty excited. She moved her foot further down, a playful stroke in my nether region before letting go. "In fact you''re still kind of excited, pervert."

    I stood up immediately, at 5¡¯9 I was about average height, this girl was tiny next to me, I wouldn''t have been surprised if she were just under 5 feet. Could she fault me?

    ¡°So all I have to do is fuck you and you¡¯ll take to see Panzer?¡± I asked still feeling a sense of moral distress my body still not done processing that she wasn¡¯t actually a kid unsure if she were actually telling the truth.

    ¡°I never said that. When did I say I was that easy? I¡¯m still a virgin for a reason.¡± She said, then burst out laughing.

    "I just told you what I wanted. That''s different from my conditions silly."

    I could feel the heat in my cheeks again, god damn was this woman frustrating. ¡°Why did you say that after I asked then? This whole damn conversation was pointless.¡±

    ¡°Cause you¡¯re so cute that I couldn¡¯t help myself.¡± She sidled up to me, a tiny hand resting on my leg. She looked up to me, her left blue eye and right green eye staring up, her other hand pulled me down. Fuck did she have a lot of strength for her size. She whispered in my ear, ¡°My condition is that you take me with when you go back to Elsewhere.¡±

    Just when I thought I couldn¡¯t be any more surprised she tells me that.

    ¡°What makes you think that I can go back to Elsewhere?¡± Did panzer tell her?

    ¡°Because the birds and the bees told me.¡±

    ¡°Uh huh.¡± Had Panzer told her about my abilities?

    Seeming to predict my inner thoughts she smiled ¡°Don¡¯t worry nobody you know told me, in fact, few people have ever had the chance to even speak to the ones that told me.¡± She said.

    I gave up trying to play dumb with her. ¡°Why do you want to go to Elsewhere?¡±

    ¡°Because I thought it would be cool to lose my virginity in another world.¡± She joked, err at least I think she¡¯s joking.

    ¡°You can¡¯t tell me you¡¯re serious.¡±

    ¡°Maybe,¡± she said, her hand rubbing down my leg the feeling sending tiny tingles of excitement her upturned eyes, stirring conflicting.

    ¡°Whatever my reason it doesn¡¯t matter to you, bring me with you, that¡¯s the deal. Take it or leave it. "

    ¡°Fine,¡± I said, what harm could it be to bring her with? I wouldn¡¯t be able to go at all if I can¡¯t figure out what is stopping me right now.

    ¡°Good boy,¡± Suddenly she tiptoed up and gave me a kiss, her mouth pecking at my cheek. She turned around then, grabbing my hand in the process and rushed forward practically jerking me back to the ground in the process.

 Chapter 31_D

    Turns out I would have been looking for a very long time. Umma uncovered the entrance to the hole, hidden under what looked like a wagon she had smoothed over the appearance so well that I never would have thought that the ground there was loose.

    ¡°So what did you do to your foot? I would kill to be able to recover like that, one time I was out for weeks after running from the guards left me with a nasty sprain.¡±

    ¡°I have no idea.¡± I didn¡¯t, not a clue. I was hoping that Panzer had an answer for that too. The trip to the base took longer then I remembered it taking, Umma spent that time chattering happily telling me about her adventures on the streets. I found myself being drawn into her energy, and it wasn¡¯t long before I started telling her about my art, and days when I had gone out drinking; usually with Teresa my girlfriend at the time along with other things.

    Though I didn¡¯t feel like my stories were anywhere near as interesting as hers she still seemed to enjoy them asking more and more questions.

    Two guards stood in our path they let us by after seeing Umma¡¯s face, the camp seemed far more alive men and women chattered. Umma asked where Panzer was and after giving directions were off again.

    ¡°It should be that tent,¡± Umma said, pointing to one of many tents that looked exactly alike.

    ¡°Are you sure,¡± I asked, wondering how in the hell they kept track of them.

    ¡°Oh yeah, I¡¯ll tell you a secret, I won¡¯t even charge ya for this one, look on the ground in front of the tents.¡±

    Doing as she told me I looked down, a symbol and number were etched there.

    ¡°That¡¯s how they keep track of where everybody is.¡± She winked at me I¡¯ve gotta go, don¡¯t miss me too much.¡±

    ¡°Wait aren¡¯t you going to be bringing me back?¡± She shrugged, probably, regardless I¡¯ll know when you¡¯re done.¡± She left then, a little hurricane on its way to its next victim. I still wasn¡¯t for sure how I felt about her flirtatious advances, regardless of how serious they may or may not be I still felt unsettled by her physical youth.

    Entering the tent I was overwhelmed by the scent of death. Panzer, Regar, and Lizz all stood around the bodies in heated discussion. A mousy looking man sat further back, a pad in his hands and seemed to be taking notes.

    ¡°Did you remember whether it made any audible noises?¡±

    ¡°It didn¡¯t, not a peep, it was so creepy,¡± Lizz said

    ¡°She¡¯s right nothing at all.¡±

    The mousey man nodded, ¡°From the reports you¡¯ve all given me I conclude that it must have been a newborn, I suspect that it won¡¯t take much to flush it out, they are quite stupid the first few months, the better question is how did it get here?¡±This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    I stepped deeper into the tent, realizing quickly that they were discussing that creature that attacked us. ¡°Hey, I heard it,¡± I said, eyes turning towards me a look of bewilderment on their faces.

    The mousy man especially seemed interested. ¡°Who may I ask is this?¡± He asked his voice making an intellectual squeak.

    Pan walked towards me and put an arm around me affectionately. ¡°This is my son.¡± The remark left quite a few eyes with raised eyebrows. ¡°Pan sir I am quite interested to know when the hell you had a son.¡± Regar said amused.

    Lizz gave me a sidelong look, ¡°He seems a bit too human to be one of your kid''s Sir, no disrespect.¡± She said humbly. I had a feeling I knew where this was going, mentally I braced myself for the embarrassment that I would have to face.

    ¡°He was a pupil of mine, training to be one of Lady Whyn¡¯s consorts, all those children I considered mine.¡± He paused, a look of pain flashing on his face disappearing faster then it appeared. ¡°Even those that betrayed my expectations.¡± He finished.

    I was relieved that he didn¡¯t bring up that son in law bit, I¡¯d had enough embarrassing moments today. The conversation ended there, the rooms morose atmosphere returning.

    ¡°What did you mean you heard it?¡± The mouse man asked

    ¡°It spoke to me, it told me not to interfere, and it screamed, how did you guys not hear that?¡± I asked.

    Regar, Lizz, and Pan all shook their heads.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t hear anything.¡± Regar said

    ¡°Hmmm,¡± The mouse man hummed jotting down notes. ¡°Very interesting,¡±

    The room felt a little colder all of a sudden. Was I seriously the only one that had heard it?

    ¡°What was that thing?¡± I asked timidly.

    Pan gave the mouse man a glance, ¡°Go ahead and tell him.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a fragment. More precisely it¡¯s a fragment from another world.¡±

    ¡°Another world? So like my home Earth, I mean Elsewhere?¡± The mouse-man shook his head. ¡°I do not believe so, all accounts I¡¯ve seen of this Elsewhere suggest that the world could not nurture these beings.

    Nurture? So does that mean there are other worlds?

    ¡°What do you mean by that?¡± The mouse man looked over to Pan. ¡°Lizz, Regar, I am done with you two for now. Take the rest of the day off.¡± They bowed short bows and left, neither looking back.

    ¡°Continue please.¡± Panzer said.

    His gift allows him to travel back and forth between Elsewhere and Nowhere so it wouldn¡¯t be surprising if he found out.¡± The mouse man seemed to suddenly get more energetic, putting his face up to mine his whiskers tickling my nose he seemed to inspect me. ¡°Fascinating, I¡¯m certain that Queen Ceranna will be most excited to hear this news.¡±

    ¡°Queen Ceranna?¡± I asked

    ¡°Bah you Outworlders, she is Queen to the Glorious Western nation of Sandalphon. To answer your question on why Elsewhere could not nurture these beings the answer is because of the lack of mana that exists in your world now. Mana, which is the life source of magic and a variety of creatures including this one runs low in Elsewhere or so all accounts seem to point.¡±

    ¡°So then where did it come from, and why is it here?¡±

    ¡°Another world, possibly a broken world, they are linked to something but I don¡¯t know, they feed off mana siphoning it to some unknown place.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re still learning more and I would be very much pleased if Sir Pan were to bring the body when he finds it.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll do my best, we¡¯ll let you inspect the bodies for a while longer before sending them off as a proper burial.¡±

    We left the tent; I thankful to be out not wanting to look at those bodies any longer if I had too. We ended up going to Panzers room, a robust walk in itself. The information still going through my head.