I stood there dumbfounded at what I was looking at, and I totally didn’t know what to think. Never in the holy heavens after I followed a light to find….

“Daammm. That landing though…. It did a real number on my butt, I kinda wished that he didn’t push me THAT hard. But, ehh, beggars can’t be choosers. Now, time to find….. Eh?” 

I wouldn’t have imagined finding a boy at the end of the glittering light. But he was staring right at me with a confused expression on his face. In truth, he looked like he had just rolled out of bed, with messy shoulder length brown hair and incredibly bright turquoise eyes. This boy’s choice of clothes was questionable, an untidy grey shirt with a black jacket over it. I blinked and, in that split second, this boy was right in front of me, peering into my face, and a strong smell of vanilla went right up my nose.

“Errr… Boundaries? Have you ever heard of them?” I took a step back.

“Ehh?” He tilted his head in confusion.

“Boundaries as in you were a bit close to me.”

As I said that, it now occurred to me that this boy was, in fact, around about the same age as me. But it looks like he didn’t know any social cues, since he was still staring at me like I just said some major maths problem, for him to deduce. Sighing to myself, I gestured with my hands the distance that was between us. I honestly can’t believe that I was doing this.

“These are boundaries, it’s kinda called personal space.”

Again, he titled his head, then he looked back and forth between the invisible line, until he randomly grinned and before I knew it, he was right in front of me again. Before I could even step back, he grabbed both of my hands, and held them in front of me.

“Lunaria, right?”

“Err…. Do you mean the name of the town?”

The strange boy’s expression lit up for a split second and, in another blink of an eye, he pulled me into a hug. I face planted into his chest and, as I tried to get some words out, it just came out muffled. Am I going to die here by suffocation? Also, WHY did he smell so nice?

“It’s so wonderful to meet you, Luna.”

Doing my best, I managed to wiggle out of his hug, and step back.

“Who are you calling Luna?”

“You’re Lunaria, right?”

Is he being serious right now? I just couldn't help but facepalm.

“My name is Lucette, I live in Lunaria. Lunaria is the town, not my name.”

A look of shock hit his face, like I just kicked a puppy in his vicinity. Then he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck.

“Ah… I messed up again, didn’t I? I knew I should have listened to Fin, but nooooo, instead I counted the amount of grey hairs he has. Which was a lot, mind you.”

I opened my mouth to say something, but I closed it. What could I say? To me, he was spouting nonsense. I mean, this guy seriously went off into ‘fantasy’ land a lot. But there was actually a pressing matter at hand. I pointed a finger right at him.

“I have some questions for you….” With that statement, his attention was back on me. “First off, who are you?”

“Ichthys!” He beamed at me. “Although most people just call me Ikky.” He looked pretty proud of that statement.

“Ok… Ikky… Second question is, who are you? And thirdly, what was that light?”

This Ikky tilted his head and moved his hand to his chin.

“I kinda hoped no one saw that… BUT it was honestly the first time I used it and, well, I didn’t listen to the Finster. So ‘travel’ was wonky, and I landed on my butt…. How do the others do it? They make it sound easy.”

I blinked at how he was now trailing off, pacing back and forth and mumbling to himself. Man, this guy was WEIRD! Only one question made sense, and it was literally his name. However, something now occurred to me, and that was the feeling that something was off. I was on the beach now and I should be able to hear the movement of the waves, but there was nothing. Ignoring the strange guy, I turned my attention to the sea, and what I saw made my eyes widen. The waves weren't moving, instead they were frozen in place. Like time had stopped.

“Has time actually stopped?” I couldn’t help but mumble out.

“Time stopped?” That weirdo, called Ichthys, stopped pacing and came to my side as I was staring out at the frozen sea. “Time is a tricky thing for us, but there is a unique thing that does happen. However, I have to think… What was it again?… Why does he have to distract me with the grey hairs? Parading them about…. Bah…” He started to ruffle his own hair until he stopped. “Oh! He said that everytime we land on a mortal plane, time gets frozen! So we can just pop on down and then leave without any human noticing. However, it’s not actually our power, it's ‘us’ colliding with the mortal plane that does it, because time doesn't exist for us…. But…” He turned to look at me, as I was standing there gobsmacked at the information that he just dumped on me. “Humans should be frozen….”

“Are you ok… Like at all?” 

“Hey, are you human or something else?”

“Excuse me?” Lord, why was I still entertaining this weirdo?

“Are you….” His face went dead serious as he said that, which took me by surprise since he actually looked normal. 

“Well, I’m not a duck.” I sarcastically said.

“Clearly not.” His manner of speech now reflected his serious face. It was most definitely a vast contrast from him acting like a complete idiot just moments ago. “You do look like…” With narrowed eyes, he folds his arms and sighs. “Maybe it’s because you got stuck in it? But that would make no sense… Or, could it really be…?” His face went through various emotions as he thought, then he suddenly slapped his cheeks. “That’s it! I totally messed up!”

I was about to say something to him, until he crouched down into the sand and buried his head in his knees. 

“Erm… Are you okay?” I bent down a little and reached out to touch him.

Lifting his head slightly, he peered up from over his knees. 

“You have an odd smell….” He bluntly pointed out.

“Excuse me?” I pulled my hand back.

“I mean NOT in a bad way, but you smell like home?”

“You are very odd, do you know that?” I also bluntly told him, with my arms crossed, whilst looking down at him. It seemed to make him smile, as I saw that he was grinning at me.

“Someone I knew once said that exact same thing to me. So, thank you.”

“You do know it wasn’t a compliment, right?”

“Hooo!” He shot up again. “They said that too!”

“Well, it looks like whoever this person is, it seems like we are on the same wavelength.”

“Hah!” He gave me a smile, his entire attitude was now neither serious or idiotic. It was… normal? Well, whatever normal is in this situation. “By the way, Miss Lucette….” 

I blinked as he said my name and, well, along with the random ‘miss’... But the main thing was… he actually remembered my proper name?

“You can drop the ‘miss’, please.”

“Oh… I’ll keep a mental note of that…” Ikky nodded to himself. “But…” He looked at me with serious eyes. “I am not human.” 

“Erm… Come again?” Did I hear him correctly?

“I suppose I should introduce myself fully, grandma did say that manners are best…” Ikky let out a cough. “Ah hem…” And then bowed. “I am Ichthys, one half of a son of the dark and light, the grandson to the heavens and earths, and the master of the ‘universe’… Or something along those lines….”

I didn’t know where to start with everything he just said, he already told me his name. But the rest of it? What did he mean by he was ‘one half of a son’ and ‘of dark and light’ too? Also, what about the earlier thing? He was not human? Then what was he? I opened up my mouth and asked one thing.

“Or something?”

“It’s hard to explain that point but, more importantly, is that all you took away from that?”

“I.. Well… Give me a moment to actually process all of this. Are you… An alien?”

“An alien?” He pondered. “Oh! I heard them being mentioned on the large pool that grandad watches.”

Pool? What is he going on about?

“Then, erm…. No, I am not an alien.”

I’m losing my mind, right? This is just a dream.

“But…” Ikky continued. “The place I am from is called ‘Seraphirima’. So, I guess, in human terms, we could be considered… God’s?”

I stared blankly at him, did he seriously just say what I thought he said?

“However, if I remember correctly, we personally are referred to as ‘Divinity’, since the manner of a ‘God’ doesn't exist in Seraphirima.”

“... Ok….”

“Hmm? It looks like you don’t believe me.”

“Well… Why are you so openly telling me all of this anyway?”

“Eh?” He looked at me with confusion on his face. “You did ask me who I am and, to answer your last question which is what was that light, it just happened to be me. However, it shouldn’t have been seen. So I messed that up…” He laughed sheepishly. “Do you still not believe me?”

Wait, was everything he said the truth then? Even though I was taken aback by everything said, I still didn’t take my eyes off him, he didn’t look like he was lying or acting. It generally looked to me that he was telling the truth.

“Well…” I suppose there was only one way to find out? “If you can prove to me that you are some ‘God’, then maybe I might start believing you.”

“Prove to you? Hmm, you want more than the frozen waves? Well, hmm….” He held out a hand to me. “Let me prove it to you then.”

Now it just occurred to me, was it even safe to keep talking to him? Or even take his hand and have him ‘prove’ to me that he is a ‘God’. I was also aware that throughout the time I’ve been speaking to him, I have sensed no ill will. So, I suppose no real harm could happen if I take his hand, right? 

“Then show me….” I gingerly took his hand and, as I did so, he pulled me closer and, in a swift motion, he moved his other hand to pick me up and I realised that he was now holding me, bridal style. “Erm, this is NOT what I meant!”

“It’s just easier to hold you this way.” 

He gave me a little smile, and I suddenly felt a rush of air, and then my body felt like it was floating up. The sensation felt like one of those awful roller coaster rides, which I was never keen on. 

“You can open your eyes now.”

I didn’t even realise my eyes were closed until I heard Ikky’s voice and, in response, I opened them. I was met with his pretty turquoise eyes, and Ikky gestured with them to look towards the ground. As I followed his line of sight, my eyes widened, and my grip tightened. For we were not standing on sand anymore but, instead, I was looking down at my house.

“Whaaa?”

I was so glad I was not truly scared of heights, but still!

“How are you doing this?”

Right now? Right at this second, we were floating in midair, and somehow I was being carried by this… Weirdo.

“By the magic of flight or, well, in this case, we’re floating.”

“But how?”

“You wanted proof? And this was perhaps the best proof I could give? However, I will say that not many of us actually use flight.”

“‘Us’… There are more of you?”

“A fair few…”

“Oh… Wow… Ok… Ok… I believe you. But could you perhaps let me down now? BUT only when we are back on the sand please! Do NOT drop me!”

Without saying anything, he listened to me and we both returned back to the ground, and he put me down. As I dusted myself off, I looked directly at this guy again, who seemed to be in his own little world again. But, there was one thing for certain, I did not feel any ill will from him. In a weird way, I felt safe? Which made NO sense, considering everything that I just witnessed. However, it was now even weirder that somehow all this feels… Normal? How was any of this normal in any way, shape or form?

“Y’know….” The strange guy started to speak again. “I’m not actually supposed to be, well y’know, down here.”

“Are you referring to the fact that you are here ‘illegally’, so to speak?” 

“I guess so?” He shrugged. “But I am looking for my brother and, well, meeting you was a happy accident.” Again, he smiled at me.

“Woah…. Did you just say ‘brother’?”

The weirdo, who called himself Ichthys, turned his smile into a grin. “Yep. He basically looks like me….” He points to himself. “However, considering the fact that I’ve not seen him in awhile, I dunno how true that is now.”

“Oh? Huh…” 

As I opened my mouth to ask him more about his brother, something wet hit my foot. As I looked down, I saw that water had moved up and was now brushing gently against my foot. It seemed like time was moving once again. However, against the sound of gentle waves, I could vaguely hear voices in the distance.

“I get the feeling that they are calling for you…” Ikky chimed in as he scratched his inner ear.

My eyes widened, completely forgetting the fact that I rushed out of the house. 

“I completely forgot about them….!”

“It’s easily done. I know I forget about things all the time.” He casually waved a hand up and down at me. “However…” Ikky’s face turned serious and then it changed to a shade of pale white.

“Are you ok?” I questioned him.

“Oh… Yeah… I just hear boss music. But it’s fine. Totally fine…” He titled his head to the side a little. “Oh, your friend is here.” But before I could react, he took me by the shoulders and turned me around. Just as he said, there was someone with a shade of red hair coming down towards us. As I was about to call out to her, I felt a warm breath on my ear. “Take care…”