I woke with pain in my right leg, and that startled me enough as to make me jump up in alarm. I never got hurt. Grim reapers are immortal, and therefore, we can't get hurt or killed by a simple fall. Only scythes and magic can do any harm to us. I appeared to be surrounded by green trees and grass. But the most surprising was the large, bright yellow circle in the middle of the sky, which hurt your eyes when you looked at it for too long.
"hey man. You okay? You were out cold for a while now." A dark skinned man with pitch black eyes and odd attire approached me.
"Pardon? Er...out cold?" The man laughed heartily and offered a hand. I took it hesitantly and got back on my feet.
"I meant that you were passed out for a while. Did you drink too much or somethin'?" I gave him an odd look.
"D-drink too much? Of what?"
"Aw man, you still drunk? I mean alchohol." Having absloutely no idea as to what the man was saying, I gave him a pat on the shoulder and pointed to the trees.
"So, where is this exactly?"
"The central service yard."
"No, I mean this whole..world." He looked at me for a good while, and then laughed again.
"Why, this is Los Angeles, USA." Having made me even more confused , he slammed me on the back, which was quite painful, and walked away. Was I in the light realm?! suddenly, everything flooded back to me. We had opened the gateway, however someone had pushed me in instead of Blossom!
Panicked, I began looking around for my scythe. After a while of searching, I found it laying around in a green bush. A bit relieved that at least I had a weapon to defend myself with, I glanced around for a way out of the forest. A bridge crossed over what appeared to be a pond, and I decided to cross it. After wandering around for quite some time, I got out. But a bigger problem awaited me, for big giant metal objects with wheels and what appeared to be glass on them were crossing the roads at impossible speeds.
I spotted a women pressing something on a giant metal rod and waiting. then all the big metal objects stopped and she crossed without a single care in the world. Quite dumbfounded, I followed behind her in fear that the objects might crush me. Thankfully, I crossed safely and took in all the tall buildings that seemed to almost reach the heavens above. I began walking towards one which was covered entirely with glass, but as I was walking, a child in a dress that didn't even reach her knees came up to me, holding her guardian's hand, and pointed to me cheerfully.
"Mommy, look! That man has a big weapon!" The mother stared at me for a good while, mouth opening and closing in attempts to speak, however she gave up after a few minutes and just picked up the child and rushed away. Why, what rude behavior! They don't even ask if I am well or if I have had a good day! And a women, wearing pants? Was I seeing things?
"Nice costume, dude." A young boy commented as he passed by me. As I stood there, trying to ponder what on earth that could mean, there I was, surrounded by thousands of humans. And my, was it hot. I wasn't used to such weather, for the shadow realm is as cold as ice. It never does get warm, and I believe it is because we don't have the big yellow circle, or the sun.
After looking around and having some unpleasant encounters with wild and aggressive animals on leashes, I found myself a seat and sat down to rest for a bit. A thin looking women in her middle ages and light blue eyes with blond curly hair sat beside me to catch her breath, and I could not help but judge her attire once more. The skirt was too short, and her shirt was without any sleeves whatsoever. I was surprised that the skirt was even separate from her shirt. Humans were so-so uneducated.
"Well hello, aren't you a hot piece of-"
"Pardon me? I couldn't hear you over the raging sounds of the black metal...things on the road. Goodness, those things are loud." I cut her off, not wanting to hear what she thought of me when I was hot. Ah, I sure hope I wasn't sweating. "Do all humans...er, comment on the others hotness? I mean, it certainly is very hot out here. Is it always like this? I mean, is it a common thing?" The women looked at me strangely, then let out a cough which sounded oddly forced.
"Um, yeah, sure. So, did you know what happened today? I met my friends colleague and my goodness, she was a-" I had stopped listening at that part, drowning out the noise. After it felt like hours had passed, I found that the women had finally stopped talking.
"Well, aren't you a church-bell." I commented, giving her an unpleasant smile. She laughed nervously, looking very confused.
"Excuse me?"
"Er, never you mind. Just...get on with it." I ushered her to get up and leave, and still looking oddly lost, she finally left me alone. Letting out a sigh, I crossed my legs and then I caught sight of the sun. It had moved!
Who could have thought! Maybe this world is magic after all! The bright yellow thing had started to disappear behind the mountains, and that was when I got up to find a place to stay. On the way, I stopped a passerby, whom looked very intimidated by my scythe.
"Do you know if there is a place I could stay for the night?" The short little thing stared at me, open-mouthed, and pointed a certain direction. The child looked at the verge of crying, nevertheless. I grunted and pulled the crushed monster candy I had kept in my pocket and shoved it in his mouth. An odd expression seemed to pass over his face, and I took it as a good sign.
"Thank you, friend." I made an attempt at a smile and walked away. The poor child just stood there for a good while, frozen on the spot. I wonder if the candy was so good as to have done that to him! I waved pleasantly, and then ventured inside the glass doors of the building. A marble floor and a chandelier awaited me inside, and my face lit up at the decorations. A middle aged man sat at a desk to the side, looking as if he owned the place, and I decided to approach him regarding a place for the night.
"Pardon me, sir, but may I have a room for one night?" The man had almost gone bald, with only a small fraction of silver threads around his head like a halo. He moved his hands on what looked like a smaller version of the keys on a piano, only more wide, and then seemed to be staring at a bright light which emitted from the object in front of him. I decided not to question it, and just waited patiently.
"Yes sir. For one person only?" He questioned.
"If you'd please." He nodded at me, then went back to staring at the bright object. After staring at it a bit more, he turned to me again.
"We have one room available that is 418 dollars. Do you want it?" I realized that I did not have the human currency, whatever it was, and so I grabbed a handful of Emerald Cajade and put it on his desk. The man, at a loss for words, examined the coins thoroughly. I stared at his expression hopefully.
"Well? Will these do?"
"Er, sure. We are known for supporting different currencies..." After taking the coins with an odd expression on his face, he handed me a key and had a kind man lead me to my room. The room was quite simple, with only a bed in the corner and velvet green curtains to the side, covering the window. I thank the man and sit on the bed, which isn't as soft as my own used to be, and take off my shoes and just lay down when a voice interrupts me.
"William!" It whispers, startling me right out of my skin. The voice, however, sounds so utterly familiar that I recognize it right away.
"Wait...Tarot??" The faerie comes out from under the bed, flying over my head with a hard expression on its face. " What on earth are you doing here, Tarot? Did you follow me in after me?"
"Yes, I did. I couldn't just simply leave you there after your father kicked you out, so I followed you. After that, you opened a portal, but got pushed in instead of the human girl."
"Wait, so you knew this whole time?" I question the faerie, whom looks at me with its forever bitter expression. My, I have never seen that faerie smile.
"Of course I did! I am loyal to you and always will be! It is my duty to protect you, whether you see the danger coming or not."
"Wait, so you saw who pushed me?!" Tarot suddenly started to look dangerously murderous, clasping its arms together in sarcastic delight.
"Oh Yes. You mean that boy with the striking resemblance to the human girl?"
"What point are you trying to- wait, so they could possibly be...family?" Tarot scoffed, then kicked me right in the head.
"How stupid can you get? They were clearly twins!" And then when the realization hit me, I felt an aching pain in my chest. They had betrayed me, manipulated me! She had. Who knew if James wasn't part of it as well? Father had been right. I should have never trusted humans again.
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