The man dropped the cigarette at his feet, watching with faint interest as the dying flame did its best to bring the dry grass ablaze. If he had had the time, he would have watched the beginning of a forest fire take place, as it was, he simply walked away from the item, choosing to allow it to burn, or not burn, without him watching over it.
There was a smooth grace to his walk as he made his way through the forest. He wasn't actively trying to be unseen, but after centuries of training himself to be invisible, it was second nature for him to blend into his surroundings. It shouldn't have been possible for him to walk across the dry ground with hardly a sound, but he managed effortlessly. He didn't need to think about where he was putting his feet to avoid the dry leaves and trigs that were sure to crackle underneath his feet. To the rare soul that might have been able to spot him, it wouldn't even appear as if he was paying any attention to his surrounding.
Rather, he would have appeared blind.
His grey eyes were locked on a point in the distance, his pupils glazed over. He wasn't actively seeing the world around him, but there wasn't anything that he wasn't aware of. He didn't need to be staring at the twig to know that it was exactly thirteen and nine-fourteenths of an inch away from him. He didn't need to see the owl to know that the normally nocturnal animal was following him far above his head the creature's powerful wings beating soundlessly.
Although he wasn't seeing the world he was walking through, he was watching the paths unfold in his mind, seeing what needed to be done to creature the ending that he required. It was a skill that his companions hadn't yet mastered. Multitasking was second nature to him; he could lock himself within the depths of his mind for hours while never fumbling the task at hand. The only visible sign was the glazed look his eyes took on.
He vaulted over the roots of a large tree, not stumbling even as he landed on the sloped surface on the other side of the roots.
There wasn't anyone around to see him, but that didn't stop him from ensuring that he didn't leave a single trace of his presence for others to find. He was careful to keep his steps light, to avoid any branches that might snap as he made his way through the forest. Even a speck of evidence that he had been there was too much for him. The only evidence that he would leave would be what he wanted to be found.
Even with his careful movements, it didn't take him long to reach his destination. He had long since gained the ability to be able to move carefully, quickly. Breaking into a run, he propelled himself off the cliff. As he fell, every bit of him wanted to open his wings, or at the very least controlled the air around him to slow his fall. It took every inch of his willpower to resist using his powers to keep him from falling, the act of hurtling towards water going again his every instinct. He flipped himself in midair, angling his body to that he was nearly vertical as he dived.
The moment he felt himself enter the warm water of the lake below him, he kicked off, using his momentum to fling him quickly through the water. He peeled open his eyes, the water burning his eyes as he squinted. The dazed look had vanished as he focused on the world around him. It was difficult for him to make out the blurs around, forcing him to rely on his other senses as he propelled his way to the underwater cave. He ignored the bodies of the dead merpeople, using the faint taste of blood in the water to keep himself away from their bodies.
The bodies were scattered throughout the large lake, still hovering somewhere between the surface and the lakebed. He figured that it would be another day before they completely reached the surface of the lake. It had only been a day since he had slaughtered them, staining the once crystal clear water with red. With the warm water of the lake, it wasn't taking the bacteria in the bodies very long to grow, producing the gas that allowed the bodies to float. It took a fair amount of effort to weave his way through the bodies, pushing the ones away that he couldn't quite avoid.
The other creatures in the lake stayed far away from him, sensing the darkness that had taken root within the male. It made it a quick trip to the bottom of the lake. It took him a moment to locate the cave, a moment more to push away the stone that he had used to block the entrance. Swimming inside, he sent out a burst of power, forcing all of the water that was inside the underwater cave to rush back into the lake. Rich oxygen filled the opening, he breathed it in greedily, panting softly.
Standing on the solid ground, he blinked the water from his eyes. His clothes stuck to him as if they were a second skin, but he couldn't find it in himself to care about that. He was softly panting as he flung his damp hair out of his face, automatically moving to tie it back at the nape of his neck. He had just barely enough hair for it to all fit behind his head, the stub behind the band being exactly an inch long. His eyes traveled over the tunnels that he had explored after killing its former inhabitants.
The merpeople lair was large, he knew that the tunnels stretched far beyond the lake itself, its web branching far within the forest. It even branched out underneath the stream that fed into the lake, the tunnels reaching as far as the burning town not terribly far from the lake. It was once a bustling place, providing a home to the countless inhabitants of the lake. It was a place that hadn't been empty since the say that the merpeople carved it out of the bottom of the lake. Nor had it ever been emptied of water like it was.
Ignoring the way that his shoes sloshed with every step that he took, he made his way through the deserted caves. Although he hadn't been there but twice before, every step that he took was sure as he moved. He never guessed which turn he needed to take, the path as clear as night within his mind. He traveled underground until he was far underneath the forest, the roots of the trees above him starting to get thicker the deeper he traveled.
There were no doors in the caves, so when he finally made it to his destination, the room's inhabitant noticed him instantly. It was a wide room, far larger than the purpose that he had needed it for. The male almost wouldn't be surprised if the ceiling collapsed. The mermen had no built-in support beams in their caverns, trusting the water to hold up the ceilings. Looking up, he could see a slight bend in the center of the ceiling, threatening to crush them in if it was hit with enough force. He could clearly picture himself being crushed under the weight of the ceiling, the earth burying three people underneath her core.
He smiled. It was, after all, the reason that he had chosen this room.
If it hadn't been for the chains that were holding his prisoner up, he would have been on the ground as he emptied his lungs of water. The first male leaned against the entrance as he watched the boy try to catch his breath, mildly amused. He wasn't sure if the wind spirit would still be alive when he returned, but it looked as if he had managed to pull enough oxygen out of the water to survive.
The was a wispy look to the male, his blonde hair so light that it was all but see-through, especially weighed done with water as it was. It matched his pale skin well. Everything about him was colorless as if he would fade into nothing at any given moment. It had been a challenge to find chains that would hold the male. Finding something that would lock his ability to turn into vapor while being small enough to lock around his thin wrist had taken the male quite some time. He had almost worried that he wouldn't find it in time, but he had found the perfect solution before it was necessary.
The water that they were surrounded by was an extra caution. If his bindings failed, the water would naturally drain the creature of his air affinity. He may be able to draw oxygen from the water for a short amount of time, but the very substance would slowly deplete his natural energy until he was left with no options left but to drown. Looking at him now, he knew that he had almost been at that point. If he had remained gone another few hours, he would have returned to find a body.
Cyrstal blue eyes met his grey ones, "Welcome home, honey." The man's voice was rough with the water that he had inhaled, making it difficult to understand him as he cleared his throat, "Did you have a nice day killing off my friends?"
The other male chuckled under his breath, "What friends?" He returned simply. Pulling a bag out of his pocket, he walked over and yanked out a few strands of the other man's hair, making him grunt softly. He glanced briefly at the wounds running over the visible skin on his captive, all of them red with infection. Dropping the hair into the bag, he commented, "I must say, they don't seem very interest in rescuing you, Dyn."
Dyn chuckled dryly, "I wonder why that is." His tone was proof that he had little hope of his friends ever coming to recuse them. That hope had ignited when he saw his friends hiding in the bushes of the camp, but fled just as quickly as they found themselves hostages, just as he was. His deck of cards hadn't improved since then.
The response he got was a simple smirk. Both of them knew that Dyn's friends would never find him in time. Even if by some miracle they realized where he was, the man had already proven himself more than capable of taking out entire armies on his own. The merpeople weren't known to be an easy-going bunch. They weren't as vicious as sirens, but they were warriors, and not easy creatures to kill. It shouldn't have been possible to wipe out the tribe of them single-handedly, but the male accomplished it with ease.
Having already grabbed the only thing that he needed, the male looked at Dyn, "Last chance to give me the information that I want." He told him rather lazily, already knowing the man's answer. Even so, he wouldn't deny him the chance at a swift death, "You can either die quickly or slowly. Whichever you prefer."
Dyn raised his head, meeting his tormenter's gaze evenly. He had to admit, this man was kinder than the demons he had been with. The male hadn't held any interest in the torture his companion did. He had made it clear that although the information would be nice, he had many other ways to learn what he wanted to. If Dyn gave it up, it would only make his life easier.
And Dyn, although a coward to his core, he refused to say anything, despite what everyone thought of him. He hadn't broken under torture and hadn't given anything away to this male either. He wasn't going to make his life easier. Both options resulted in death, and although the thought of dying had him shaking, he refused to betray his friends. They had put their trust in him and he would earn that trust, no matter the consequence.
They might have thought of him as weak, as a coward, and he was at times. But he would never betray them. Not for his life, not for anything. He squared his shoulders, meeting the other man's eyes. He tried to think about what his friend would say if he was in this position. An insult of some kind, probably. He tried to challenge his inner friend when he replied, but even he knew that his insult was weak.
"I hope that you rot." Dyn tried to sneer like his friend would have, but just ended up in a coughing fit as he choked on the water still in his lungs. The other male nodded at the response, having expected no less of him. With a simple wave of his hand, the room once again started filling with water. As the water started trickling in around them, he whispered an enchantment to the water around them. As the water started to build, an image flickered onto the particles of water, showing the man the outside world that he cherished so much.
The man watched as the first scene that took place was the fire that had finally caught above them, destroying the habitat that had stood for years, "Make no mistake. I will burn this world down, and you will watch me do us until your last breath." With that, he turned back towards the entrance, half swimming, half walking as he left Dyn to die a slow death.
"Back up, he's waking up." An unfamiliar voice cut through the darkness that had overtaken, cutting away the remnants of the bloody lake. I tried in vain to remember the dream, I could feel it slipping away from me the harder that I tried to remember it. I could faintly grasp the idea of fire and water, the feeling of danger radiating off of someone.
Opening my eyes, I found myself surrounded by unfamiliar faces, most of them hurriedly taking a step back. I saw Dare among them, standing closer than the others, but still a few feet away. Directly in my line of vision kneeled someone else. I stared at them for a moment, trying in vain to determine their gender. There was something androgynous about their smooth skin and sharp cheekbones. There was something feminine about their hair, the long strains messy and mixed with braids, but hair was the worst judge of gender.
With no clues on what their gender might have been, I determined them non-binary in my mind until proven otherwise. They were an odd mix of smoothness and angles. They had smooth skin that stretched over high, sharp cheekbones that faded into their angled eyes. The tips of his ears poked around his hair, numerous piercings lingering in his cartilage. They weren't wearing what I considered normal attire either.
Their clothes were something that I expect to see in an old Chinese TV show, not in real life. They were wearing what appeared to be a long white robe, numerous designs weaving over it in, faintly shimmering silver. From the way that they were kneeling, I could tell that they were also wearing a pair of thick pants underneath the robe that fit them more like a dress. There was a silver sash tied tightly around their waist, keeping the robe tied shut. Even their hair had numerous silver accents woven into it, from pieces of metal that represented leaves to shimmering geometric designs.
They were whispering something faintly under their breath, too quickly and soft for me to make out the words. Their voice was a deep baritone, easily identifiable as male even with the smooth quality of his words. It was the only clue to their original gender. The pain in my head spiked as they spoke, reminding me of the headache that I had been trying to ignore. Just as suddenly as it spiked, it dimmed down to nothing. Even the faint throbbing in my head had vanished.
My stomach dropped as everything came rushing back to me. The kidnapping, the...creatures fighting. Looking at the crowd, I couldn't even pretend that it was a dream. The people surrounding me weren't normal, weren't human. I could see the flicker of wings, a flash of a fang, a shimmer of what I could only describe as magic as I stared at the crowd that was surrounding me. My inner panic was steadily growing.
It wasn't so much as the fact that these creatures exist as much as what they wanted with me. I could live with other creatures existing as long as they left me alone. Being kidnapped by them? Them looking down at me with identical looks of concern? Them pulling me from my normal life to be mixed up in their shenanigans? That was what had my stomach dropping. That was what had me staring at them in horror.
I couldn't even run from them. There were closed in too tightly around me for me to even think about making a break for it. What was worse was that they had my brother. I couldn't lose my brother, I couldn't leave him here with these people. I took a deep breath as I look around, trying in vain to calm my nerves. I tried to figure out what I needed to do next, but it was difficult to concentrate with the person kneeling before me, muttering under their breath.
It took me a moment to realize what they doing. Disgust overtook the fear as I pushed them roughly away, "Don't inflect me with your magic," I spat at them, pushing myself into a sitting position in the process. I glared at the crowd that had formed around us, "What are you freaks looking at?"
Rather than looking sheepish or even annoyed at my tone, the crowd exchanged knowing looks with one another. Something that royally pissed me off. A few of the ones closest to Dare even passed him a couple of dollars, seeming annoyed at that. It didn't help my temper that they were making bets on me. The person in front of me didn't take any offense to my tone either, instead, they stared at me calmly, "I would assume they are looking at you in concern, largely in response to you passing out. They were concerned that there was something wrong with you, not that you were just overwhelmed by our lifestyle."
The tips of my ears burned in embarrassment at that. I didn't remember passing out but sitting on the ground, it was obvious what happened. I mentally cursed myself for my weakness. I needed to get a grip over myself. I could panic after I got out of here. I deepened my glare at him, "I am sensitive to extreme amounts of ugliness. Case in point, if I stay around you too long I will probably end up projectile vomiting."
"Most be an unfortunate occurrence whenever you look in the mirror," They returned without hesitation. Glancing behind them, they made a gesture that had everyone other than Dare taking their leave. Something told me that Dare was supposed to leave with them, but he couldn't be bothered to, "Are you ready to listen now?"
"I'm ready to switch my career choice and become a hunter," I said in reference to the people that made it their life's goal to rid the world of the supernatural. I wasn't sure if it was a career choice that existed, however, hunters seemed to be a rather large pain in any story that contain them. The man pulled a knife out of his pocket before pressing it into my hands.
"You might as well start with yourself then. Like it or not, your time as an ignorant human ended the moment that you stepped foot in this world." They locked their brown eyes with me as They spoke, "Or you could choose to stop acting like a child and listen to what we have to say. You might find that it is something that you want to hear."
If possible, my stomach dropped further at his first statement. I wasn't one of them. I wasn't a weird creature. I was human. I was normal. I had a family in the human world. I wasn't a part of whatever it was that they cooked up. And I wouldn't be a part of it. I refused. I wasn't important, wasn't the main character in any story. I was just me. I was just an average kid that pickpocketed people by day. I only fought demons in my dreams.
"I think that I would rather kill myself." I deadpanned, flipping the knife in my hands. It wasn't anything fancy, a simple steak knife. I dropped it in favor of the sharper knife that I had taken earlier. The knowledge that I could slit the throats of anyone who got too close to me soothing me. I pushed myself to my feet, the person across from me following suit.
It was Dare who responded with a snort, "How are you going to be the bane of everyone's existence if you are dead?" Easy. The fact that they wanted me alive so badly meant that my death would torment them. I was okay with dying for a good cause like that, "Aren't you the least bit curious about your curse? I know that I was when I first got here."
I was, but I wasn't going to tell him that. I wasn't even sure that I wanted to believe in curses, I certainly didn't want to believe that I was cursed. What would a curse mean anyway? Constant bad luck? That was practically the definition of life anyway. I had a feeling that they would end up explaining what it was whether I wanted them to or not, "You seem very hung up over this whole curse thing."
"You seem very unconcerned about the fact that you have officially lost your freedom."
"You seem to be forgetting that I'm not staying here much longer."
"You seem to be forgetting that you are human and unable to leave." Although it was meant as an insult, the statement had me calming slightly. So I was still normal. I wasn't a freak. I would just have to make sure that it stayed that way.
"You both seem like idiots to me." The elf deadpanned, not looking very amused at our argument. In return, Dare just stuck his tongue out at them, making me smirk. If Dare wasn't part of this whole kidnapping thing, we might just get along. The elf looked at me for a moment then asked, "Are you an avid reader? Do you watch a lot of television?"
Their question seemed random, not to mention completely off-topic. I crossed my arms, "If you think that showing me a library or movie theater is suddenly going to make me fall in love with you and this place then you have another thing coming. This isn't Beauty and the Beast, things like that don't work in real life."
The person rolled their eyes, seemingly deciding to ignore me. They turned towards Dare, where they seemed to have a silent conversation. Finally, Dare spoke, "What Milo is trying to get at is that every book, every movie shows a dimension that is in chaos. And you've got the heroes that are trying to save them. What those stories don't show is that more often than not, the hero can't save the world. They can't. One person can't save a world on their own. They don't have the experience to save it. It's like asking someone who has never seen a car to build one without instructions. They might be able to figure out a few pieces, but 99% of people won't end up with a running car. "
I recognized the name Milo from the conversation with Dare earlier. It also gave me the guy's pronouns. I briefly wondered if Dare ever gave him his phone back. Considering that I only had Travis' phone in my pocket, I had a feeling that both Dare's and Milo's phones were back to their rightful owner. I saw the point of what he was saying, in a way, it made sense. I also saw where this conversation was going as I sarcastically replied, "Big whoop, people can't do anything right. What else is new?"
"This is where we come in," Dare continued, ignoring me completely, "Those missions that we were talking about earlier? Each mission is one or a group of us going out to help another dimension. We exist to save the worlds that can't help themselves."
"Congrats, want a cookie for your trouble? Your suicide missions have nothing to do with me, so if you wouldn't mind showing me how to get back to my own dimension, I will be on my way."
"Tell you what, if you can tell me the name of your dimension, then I will take you back there myself."
I stared at the cyborg for a moment, "How am I supposed to say the name of something when I don't even know how you people make their names?"
"You've lived there all of your life, haven't you? Most people know the street that they grew up on, the name of the world should be easy." Dare told me like it was common sense, "Fine, I'll even give you a hint. It's a mixture of numbers and letters in a rather specific pattern unique to the properties of your world."
"Helpful, real help." I deadpanned, yet decided to humor him anyway. It wasn't like I was promising to stay if I got it wrong, "How do I know that you won't change the name if I get it right?" Not that I was going to get it right, but I didn't put it past him to cheat just to be sure that I wouldn't. I figured that the probability of my guessing correctly was somewhere around a billion to one.
In response, Milo snapped his fingers, a pad of paper appeared in front of him. He quickly scrolled something on the page, holding it at an angle where I couldn't see whatever it was that he wrote. When he finished, he closed the pad and stared at me. Obviously waiting for me to rattle off the name. Rolling my eyes at the stupidity of this idea, I listed off a random bunch of numbers and letters, "W1S1AFL7463W."
Every word that I spoke appeared in the air as I said them, a permanent record of the words that I was saying. Dare had his right arm out, a sliver of light o the tip of his mechanical the only proof that he was casting the hologram to appear between us. Dare had a smirk on his face when I finished, though Milo's expression never changed. I wasn't bothered by the triumphant look Dare had, I wasn't expecting to get any of it right. It wasn't possible. Milo handed me the notepad. I glanced at it briefly. Then did a double-take.
W1S1AFL7463PW.
I stared at the numbers in stunned silence. I knew that Milo had powers, that was how he got the notepad in the first place. He must have changed them as I spoke. It was the only explanation, "Every letter, every number, means something different about your dimension. That 'W' on the end? That is the reason that you are here. That 'W' is you. It means that there is a Wanderer in the dimension."
"What is a Wanderer?" It took me a moment to realize that it was me that asked the question. I mentally scolded myself for giving in. This was manipulation. There were trying to convince me that this was real when all they were doing was making up a story based on the information that I was feeding them.
"Everyone that you see around you is a Wanderer," Milo's voice was soft as he explained, his gaze traveled over the sparing groups before they landed back on me, "A Wanderer is the name that we have given everyone who carries our curse. Someone whose home dimension isn't the world that they belong in. That 'W' appeared in your dimension's name 16 years ago. The moment that you were born, you were fated to be one of us. Our curse was placed on your soul, and you became one of us. Even if you didn't know it yet."
The explanation was tossed around in my head. How could someone be born in a dimension that they didn't belong it? That made as much sense as an alien being born on earth from two human planets. I crossed my arms, "What idiot came up with the term Wanderer? And why don't you all just slide on over to the dimension that you belong in?"
"This is the dimension that we belong in," Dare was fidgeting as he spoke as if he couldn't be still for long. He pulled a few pieces of metal out of his pocket, messing with them idelly, "It's not being born in the wrong place. It's having no true place. So you wander around the world you were born in without a purpose. You don't quite fit in."
"I fit into my world just fine and I would fit in even better if you would return me to it," I scoffed, glaring at the pair of them. Who were they to tell me that I didn't belong? Why didn't they go bother the hundreds of teenagers who claimed that they didn't belong anywhere? Show them this crap and see what they think about it, "I demand a refund."
"Sorry, refunds are only processed on unopened items with receipts. For any questions, please call 1-800-382-5633." Dare didn't look up from whatever he was building as he spoke. I scowled. I knew from experience exactly what number he just rattled off and what it meant.
"This is less than acceptable customer service, I demand to speak with your manager."
"He is currently unavailable right now, he's in the middle of doing anything other than dealing with Karens. Is there anything else that I can not help you with today?" Dare gave me a lopsided grin as he spoke. I stand by the thought that if he hadn't kidnapped me we would probably get along.
I crossed my arms at him, the next line of the joke coming easily to me, even though I wasn't really joking, "I think that I will just have to take my business elsewhere. If you would kindly show me the door, I will be on my way."
He laughed loudly, making some of the people around us glance over curiously. I had no doubt that some of them were standing this close purely so that they could eavesdrop. Dare didn't seem bothered with the looks, "Speaking of which, we need to show you your room."
It was obvious that they weren't going to let me out of here any time soon. Not until they realized that I wasn't a Wanderer, or whatever it was that they thought that I was. I didn't think that they would try to harm me. A thought occurred to me, "If you guys are as good as you claim to be, then you will have no problems proving that my brother is safe." I asked them, looking between them for signs that either of them was uncomfortable.
It was Milo who answered, "We never touched your brother, he should still be in your home dimension where he belongs." He held his hand out to me, "I can show you."
I looked between his hand and his face for a moment, "How can I trust you not to show me another illusion?" I asked him with my eyes narrowed. What was he going to do, show me a screen with Janus on it? The image being his idea of proof? I already knew that there were enough beings technologically inclined to produce some kind of fake image. Dare was part computer himself, he would have no problems going through data until he found some video of my brother to use as proof.
"I'm not going to show you an illusion. I'm going to take you to AFL7463PW, show you that your brother is still in the world where you left him." I looked into his eyes, seeing nothing by truth inside of them. I slid the knife into my pants pocket. All he need to do was bring me back, once I was out of here it would be easy to evade him. Wordlessly I took his hand.
And the world around me dissolved into nothingness.