Baelfire stumbled his was through the forest quietly, grim in the face of his inevitable demise. Still he thought three hundred years was a pretty good run. He'll die without resolving things with his father, but it was still a pretty long life. He'd been in this new realm for a year, and he'd survived off of rations from the empty houses and stolen convenience store water bottles. The only real problem was the monsters. There were bipedal creatures with faces that opened when they ate, a shadowy eldritch horror, strange bats in the sky, and vines that moved. It was difficult to avoid them most days, but his magic seemed to help. He'd gotten here after portaling to the Land Without Magic, only to be captured by scientists that experimented on him. He's broken a whole into this realm in his panic. Still the tattoo with the three zeroes written on his wrist would always mark him as their's. It made something in him spit fire at the thought of being owned. He wasn't a slave, he refused to be at someone's mercy ever again.
He swallowed harshly as he heard the sound of feet running in his direction. He could tell from the sound of it, that it was a child, and that made him firm his resolve. He couldn't allow a literal child to get killed by this place. Quickly, he grabbed the kid as he past, covering his hand with his mouth when he opened his mouth to scream, silently motioning for him to be quiet. Working quickly he pulled out a spare water bottle and dumped it's contents on a hastily created mound of dirt, before mixing the mud together. he quickly covered all available skin before covering the kid, who complied, terrified of the monster. Once he was done, he motioned for the kid to follow him. Quietly they walked through the forest, the kid utterly silent in the face of his terror, as Baelfire led him to safety. His breath hitched and he heard the kid start to hyperventilate as the monster began to sniff around the area. He grabbed the child's hand gently, hiding his head into his shirt and stood carefully still. He could feel the creature sniffing barely a foot away, and he bit down a silent gasp as it sniffed directly in his face. He waited with baited breath as the creature checked him over, before dismissing him and bounding away. He let out a silent breath of relief, before quickly pulling the kid along, rushing back to the hideout.
It was the only safe place here, it was where he'd come through into this realm. It was a massive cavern lit by glowing crystals born from his arrival. The moment they entered, he quickly shoved a rock in front of the entrance before breathing out quietly in relief.
"it's safe to talk now," He assured the kid.
"What was that thing? where is this place?" the kid blurted out.
"That was a half bloodhound, I named it because it can sniff out a drop of blood from a mile away, and we are currently in the Realm I have appropriately decided to call, the Void," he answered him grimly, "You must be from the Realm without Magic," he concluded observing the boy's clothing style and word choice.
"The Land without Magic?" the boy sounded bewildered.
"Earth," he replied bluntly.
"How can I get home?" the boy asked, anxiously.
"You can't" Baelfire refuted.
"Why not?" the boy sounded stubborn.
"Okay," he sighed, "you want to walk through hoards of shadow creatures and half bloodhounds, all to reach a portal that may or may not reach Earth, be my guest," he told him flatly, "But I've been searching for years, there's no way out," he finished tiredly.
"My mom," the boy sounded like he wanted to sob. Baelfire sighed, before turning to look him directly in the eyes, "Listen, your mom, she's safe, we are not, so I need you to get yourself together, so we can find a way out of here," he told him firmly.
"I thought you said there wasn't away out?" the boy pointed out.
"For me, yeah," he agreed, "But you came here recently, you still have the air of your realm on you, we can use that to make a gateway," he explained.
"So we might be able to get out?" the boy breathed out in hope.
"If we're very careful," he warned, agreeably, "Now if we're going to get back, we need to contact your realm," he told him grimly, "And for that we need a location where communication devices work, so we can connect to them," he explained.
"My house could work!" the boy volunteered, "We have a phone there!" he declared.
"Alright, we'll head out tomorrow, but right now, we need sleep so we can travel with vigilance," he agreed.
"I'm Will," the boy introduced himself awkwardly.
"Baelfire," Baelfire responded shortly, "Get some rest, you'll need it in the morning," he ordered.
