The Fifth Realm

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 4: 𝕴𝖙'𝖘 𝕵𝖚𝖘𝖙 𝕭𝖚𝖘𝖎𝖓𝖊𝖘𝖘🌤

"What the hell," Xena stood pale-faced as Jake handed a duffle bag to a large man.

They were in an abandoned alley in the middle of Khethinia. There was garbage all over the floor at the end of the alley near a wall. The large man opened it and grunted. He had a solid build and towered over them. His face was unshaven, and his eyes were fiery red. Another man stood next to him and got out a large pouch. He was a little shorter and had an oval-shaped face. He opened the pouch out in front of them so they could see inside. It was full of yellow, red, and blue jems. They all stared at it with blank faces. The man handed the pouch full of jems over to Jake, who took it and grinned at them, "Thanks boys." He nodded his head at them in a cool manner.

The others saluted as the shady looking men walked away, confused and terrified. When they were out of sight Alfie turned on Jake, "What was that? What was in the box? Who the hell are those people? And why is it jems? Isn't the Khethinia currency cards?"

"Nothing, nothing, and yeah, but in these types of deals we use jems cause jems are an international currency, duh," said Jake, counting his jems. "Don't worry about it too much." He beamed as he waved the pouch in the air, "now we have money for our vacation in Shlow."

Maria smiled at him and ran her fingers through the stream of Jems he was pouring out of the pouch.

Xena rolled her eyes, she couldn't believe these people. She never thought she would be here. She pointed at the setting sun, "We should get going."

"Come on, we just got here," said Jake, "let's go eat."

"Yeah," said Maria, jumping in. "Maybe we can get to know each other more and stuff."

Xena threw her hands up in the air. These people literally did not give a single fuck about their mission. She sighed as she followed them to a nearby restaurant.

She couldn't deny it though, Khethinia was nice. The buildings loomed over them and there were no farms, just factories. There were no houses, just tall buildings with multiple little houses inside of them. The air was dirtier than it was in Everstan, and the clouds thinner. The Khethinians all walked as if they had somewhere to be and no one stopped to greet each other. It was so different.

When they got to the restaurant, she went over to the sidewall and called her mom. She updated her on what was happening, telling her that they were in Khethinia. Her mother took it surprisingly well. Who knew she was so supportive? "Have fun Xena," she said.

She hung up bewildered and went back to the group. The restaurant, Platmy, was nice. It was themed blue and green and photos of plants everywhere. The booths were on the sides and there were circle tables lined up in the middle. There was a pretty light green rug under the circle tables and the booths had pale blue curtains draped over them for privacy.

They sat at a corner booth. Maria sat next to Jake, so Xena sat next to Alfie. They ate in silence for a little until Jake started flicking paper at Alfie.

Xena looked over at Maria and they groaned simultaneously, not this again. Alfie took out his little notebook and started scribbling it. "I know your secret you little shit."

Jake mocked him by scrunching up his nose and pretending to write in the palm of his hand. "I know your secret you little shit."

"I know your illegally selling weapons," said Alfie, scribbling away.

"Watcha writing there? A note to my mother?" asked Jake. "I wouldn't bother. She taught me everything I know."

Xena let out a little gasp. Madam Edith sold weapons for money? Jake shrugged, "A side hustle doesn't hurt anyone, not even royalty. It's just business."

Maria's eyes widened and Alfie kept writing in his notebook like he was taking notes from Jake. Jake leaned over and snatched his notebook from his hand. "Give me that."

Alfie jumped up and tried to grab it back. Jake stood up and backed up, flipping the pages. "What language is this?" He cackled and threw it back at Alfie.

Alfie caught the notebook by a page and clutched it close to his chest.

Maria dragged Jake back to his chair, trying to change the topic. "So what's it like living in the richest realm, Xena?"

Jake interrupted, "And how about Alfie? How's it like living in the poorest realm?"

Alfie gave him a death glare.

"Stop it," said Xena, holding her hand out in front of Alfie. She paused, not trying to sound too stern. She didn't want them fighting, yet she didn't want to scold them.

Luckily, Maria jumped in, soothing waters. Xena nodded at her as a thank you. Jake sighed and drummed his fingers on the table. "Fine fine."

Xena stopped for a second, not knowing what to say. "Yeah, it's pretty cool in Everstan. It's weird leaving and seeing that all the other realms aren't the same. I feel like I'm in a different world."

They nodded along, "Yeah," said Alfie, "Everstan was weird."

Maria motioned for them to come in closer. They all leaned in, "Did you all know that my great-great-grandfather Mateo Izan shot Seth Asmodeus.

"Well," said Alfie, looking at all of them, "I'm a direct descendant of Seth you know."

They all laughed. Xena didn't believe any of them, but they seemed pretty serious about.

"I'm not joking," said Alfie.

Xena sensed his anger and patted his shoulder, "I believe you."

Jake laughed, and nudged Maria, "Did your great-great-grandfather really kill him?"

She nodded, blushing a little from the attention.

Alfie drew his eyebrows together, "So you believe her and not me?"

Jake put his hand on Maria's, ignoring Alfie, "That's so badass."

Xena looked from Maria to Jake and back again, and felt an uneasy feeling in her stomach, this didn't sit right with her.