I am all alone. No one cares. No one ever has. Everyone who loves me eventually leaves me. I am a freak. Always have been, always will be. “Hey, Patches, guess what? Today I left another team. My parents took yet another thing from me. They took a place that I felt safe, like I belonged. There’s only one person that still loves me. One person that won’t abandon me. It’s my sweet little Zach. Even still, we like different things. She likes video games, I like card games. She wastes her money on me.” I felt a tear roll down my cheek as I stared at the cold night sky. The stars shone bright like a thousand gemstones and the full moon as white as a unicorn’s coat.

“I don’t deserve her care. I don’t deserve the things she gives me, lets me borrow. I don’t deserve her friendship. I am useless, a useless human being. I will never be able to give her anything in return, to repay her, and yet, she cares about me anyways,” I said.

“You’ve been here all along though, haven’t you, Patches? You’ve watched over me ever since I was a little kid. And you’re just a stuffed animal. I might be crazy. I know deep dwn you’re not alive. You’re not going to save me. You’re not going to give me a friend. You’re just an inanimate object that I hug at night. I miss you. I miss the days when I was young and naive. When I could really believe in you. When I didn’t know better. Growing up is hard. I want to quit. I dont want to stay here, in this horrible world. And yet,” I curled into a ball on my bed, “and yet, I am too much of a coward to take my life.”

“What if it gets better? What if I miss it becase I was gone? Sometimes it feels hopeless, but I will never give up my life. I will never give up my hope. That’s what I keep telling myself. I wish I had my fantasy world. I wish I got to go to another world. I would be a hero. I could find my romance. I could get my smile back. If there is a god above, please hear my prayer. Please, give me a chance to live another life give me my anime world. I’ll start as a slave, even, but I know I can d it, if only I have another chace at life. Who am I kidding? No one’s listening. Goodnight, world.” I laid down on my bed and I slept. THis life I led was a liserable one. My parents didn’t love me. They only cared about my accomplishments. I was all alone. All alone… except for Zach. Zachriel… please… I only want your love. That’s the only thing I live for. I’ve lost so much please, if you’re going to take anything away from me, don’t let it be her."

“Zoe! Zoe, wake up!” I felt two hands shaking my shoulders and I heard Zach’s voice. Why would she be in my room?

“What?” I asked groggily, I was tired, and what was that light i could see through my eyelids.

“Look around, you doofus,” she said. I opened my eyes slightly.

“Wait… what?” I asked. I observed my surroundings. Shockingly, we were in a field of grass This wasn’t my bedroom… what was going on? Not too far away was a road with horse drawn carriages, some exquisite and some a bit shabby. Further in the distance was a castle. It was white and gold and it was absolutely massive. It looked like it touched the sky. How could a piece of architecture that big still be standing? It was miles tall, like a skyscraper, but much more align, and much, much larger. This was something out of a fantasy book. This was my fantasy world. Holy shit. I guess my wish came true I silently thanked God for nswering my prayer.

“Follow me,” said Zach, pulling me onto my feet. I saw an ethereal being sanding behind her. It was mostly human looking with stitched patches on his eye, side, ear, and tail. It’s hair was a beautiful blue. It looked a lot like… Patches? I was so confused. Why would Patches be a human? Why would he be see-through? What was going on? I looked back at Zach. She was also wearing something out of an anime, although she did look kinda like a dude. She was wearing a white suit with a cape that covered one shoulder. She had gold chains and buttons all over. She looked a lot like a noble, or maybe a knight. I wasn’t entirely sure. Still, this was weird.

“Wait, Zach, what’s going on?” I asked. I was so confused. Was she already here? Maybe I took the body like another me in another world or something. That Zach was way too tall to be my Zach.

“Well, it’s a little hard to explain but I’ll try. Every night since I was a kid, when I laid down to rest, this is where I went. I always appear here at night. Sometimes several nights would pass, me simply returning to sleep in our world at daybreak in this world, and returning at night, and sometimes I would remain here all night in our world. Time works a little differently here, from what I can tell at least. Recently, the king of this kingdom, Alphea, and I went to a fortune teller after he,” she coughed, clearly uncomfortable, “anyways uh the fortune teller told us some stuff and basically, I found out you would come here, or rather ‘my soulmate,’ would come here.

“So basically, you’re here because your soulmate was supposed to be here? You think that’s me?” I asked. Soulmate? I guess god really did hear my prayer. This was great!

“No, actually, I just know that when I first arrived here I almost died, nearly got raped, starved, got robbed, and then I i disappeared,” she sighed, “When I found out an otherworlder was coming I knew that I didn’t want anyone else to go through that. Now, to be fair, Alphea is a pretty good kingdom; it's not nearly as bad as the one I was brought into. Still, we’re not used to this world. Within a week of coming here, I had accidentally killed a few people, I became a sex slave, and from then on, I was basically in chains. I was dangerous. You could be too. Any otherworlder could be. It’s far too dangerous to let any of us roam free. I don’t want any other kids to kill and be afraid of themselves for killing, which, by the way, makes magic go ven crazier. I hated myself for months and I feared falling asleep. I was afraid of killing someone. Of being used as a sex slave once more. It was terrible. So when I heard someone like me was coming, I came here and stayed to watch for an otherworlder to appear. Supposedly, as the fortune teller said, you would arrive here. So I’m here now. I suppose I was waiting for you, Zoe.”

“So basically you wanted to save a random person from our world so you staked out here? Does that mean you don’t care about me being your soulmate? Just that you want to help me?” I asked. The Ethereal Patches put a hand on Zach’s shoulder.

“She’s not telling you the whole story,” said the creature, Zach stared daggers at it, “first off, I’m Patches, your little dog stuffed animal. The fortune teller told the King and Bug, here this and I quote: ‘Very soon, another will come within the land of your home. One from a world not so far away. She and the spirit accompanying her are two that you will not fail to love. You four belong together. The king of a country, the great spirit, and the two otherworlders,’ the fortune teller then pointed to Bug,” he pointed to Zach, and then continued, “‘you will also soon see the light of day.’ It was pretty cool. I feel like I need to explain this, we made a contract that I come with her here whenever you leave me at her house. I was with you, and when you were sucked into this world, so was I. Believe me, when i saw that the two of us were being brough here, I was very happy. I don’t mind being your soulmate,” he smiled.

“Anyways, back to the topic of this world and not all of that destiny shit, I suppose that I should explain who I am in this world. After I got past all of the initial gruesomeness, I ended up creating a whole clan of assassins and mercenaries. We basically control an entire trading company that is one of the largest in the world. We can take down entire nations in a matter of days, if we wanted to. On the other hand, I am the king’s secondhand man. Everyone here thinks I’m a guy. As the leader of the assassins, I am known as Zero, and as the knight, I am Bug. I’m called that because everyone made fun of a mle knight for calling himself Ladybug Junior, so now it’s just Bug. Anyways, the point is, I can protect you, and as my very best friend, I will most certainly do so. So come on, let’s go to the king’s castle. If you want to go back to our world, I can find a way, and Patches… welp, you’ve left him at my house quite a bit, so he’s ended up here before, he knows a bit about this world. Same with the rest of my spirits,” explained Zach.

“So then, you don’t believe in the fortune teller?” I asked dejectedly.

“Oh no, I do, I just know that I make my own fate. No magic is going to tell me who to love. Only I can do that.

“I see… Oh! Right! Did you say you had other spirits?” I asked, intrigued by the idea. Spirits were so freaking cool! I wanted spirit friends! Were they, like, super smart or powerful?

“Ah, yes. You remember all the toys i hav…ddd?” I nodded, “Well, each of them was a spirit. In our world, spirits have to tether themselves to objects or they will die, and when their vessels are broken, they also die. Spirits gathered around my room in sympathy for all of the freaking yelling in my house and… well… a lot of them were attracted by my magical energy from travelling to and from this world, which was filled to the brim with magic. Our world is like a dry well for them and this one is like an overflowing ocean. I made a contract with each spirit in my room and that way, they don’t have to fear running out of magic and dying. As Patches said before, I made a contract with Patches that I would supply him with transport here whenever you left him at my house and I would get nothing in return. Patches is yours, after all, and I know how lonely it can be for you, so I tried to keep him alive and safe. And… well… Now you’re here. Both of you are.”

“I see, well, I trust you Zach,” I said. It was the truth, after all. I trusted her with all of my heart.

“When I’m in this uniform, it’s Bug. It is super important that you don’t call me by my real name. Only when I am at a home base, you’ll know when you’re there, trust me, am I to be called by the name Zero, and only when I’m in casual clothes can you call me Zach. Zach is a bit of a hero. A masked one, and he rarely appears. Only in emergencies. Yeah, that’s me too… Anyways, what I mean is you need to be careful what you call me,” she said, grabbing my arm and leading me to the open door of a really fancy carriage. I just followed her, and then I asked.

“Alright then, Bug. I guess we’re going to the castle then, huh?”

The castle was huge. Even from a distance, it looked huge, but up close… just… wow. Even the defensive wall wrapping around the outside was intricately carved. It was beautiful. The top of the wall had gargoyles all looking at the gate and I could see men-archers stationed at the top. Our carriage had stopped for the gate to open. It was an iron bar gate that was slowly being pulled upward.

“We should probably go meet the king,” said Za… Bug. Jesus, thinking of her with a different name was so weird. Oh yeah, and I would probably get the gender wrong half of the time too.

“But I’m in a nightgown,” I protested, “And I don’t know how to act!” If I was going to meet a king, I had better at least know how to act, much less going in there like this.

“Nah, you shouldn’t worry,” Bug assured me, “King Ben is a pretty laid back guy. He doesn’t really care how you act around him. If you treat him like the king he is, he’ll only embarrass you. Believe me, I would know. Just walk by my side and do what I tell you and you’ll be fine.”

“It’s true, Bug has a very distinct lack of manners around the king. I’ve been there recently. It was highly cringey.” agreed Patches's voice from next to me. I turned to see a man with brown hair. “The king is pretty laid back and nice though, I must admit. He’s never treated me like a great spirit, not once. We have a mutual agreement to act like friends, also, he is very close to his people. He has never once cared for those formal talks, he just wants to hear the honest truth no matter how bad it may be, and he wants to hear honest opinions. So treat him like you would anyone else.”

“R-really? Is he really like that?” I asked. I was kinda curious. Why would a king do all of that? He’s, like, in charge of tons of people. Why would he not want to be respected?

“Yep,” the two of them said at once.

“That’s so cool!” I said, as the carriage began moving forward once more.

“Yeah, it is. Although, you should be careful around him,” said Patches, “He is a little… weird around Bug, and he's been acting weird to me too ever since the fortune teller.”

“Wait, whaddya mean?” I asked.

“You’ll see,” answered Bug.

“Oh yeah, I think since Bug’s introduced herself in this world, I might as well too. I’m a super powerful spirit. If you want, you and I can make a contract. It is usually pretty dangerous for spirits to make contracts, but I’m special,” Said Patches.

“You’d put your life in my hands?” I was really struck by that statement. Someone trusting me with their life? Me? The useless person that was always alone?

“Well, Patches is a super powerful spirit. He has watched over you for so many years and he has turned into a great spirit, so nothing dumb you do should kill him and he can protect yo a lot easier if you make a contract with him. Just give the boy some closure knowing you’re safe. Plus, if you get into any sticky situations, you can use his powers to fight or escape. Patches has masses of power built up from the centuries he’s been alive, so he could be a very powerful and useful spirit,” said Bug.

“Uh… well then… How does this work?” I asked, convinced by Bug’s argument. I didn’t want to hurt Patches, but a contract did sound pretty cool...

“You can use the contract circle in the castle. It would take months to make one on your own. After we meet with the king, I can help guide you through the process. Plus, a contract circle takes long enough to create, but one for a great spirit like Patches would take years. Still, we have one here at the palace, so again, I’ll guide you through the process.

“Oh… Okay,” I said. The carriage rolled to another stop.

“Alright, I’ll guide you to the throne room,” said Bug, opening the side door of the carriage and helping me down from the large steps. I stepped on the sharp gravel and winced. I didn’t have shoes on. Bug picked me up and sat me on her back, then carried me through the large doors and into the castle. The doorway was intricately carved, organic patterns lining them. There were guards outside the door and they let the three of us in, saluting Bug.

“Hey, you don’t have to give me a piggyback ride,” I complained. This was weird. I didn’t need to be carried.

“You have cuts on your feet, I would rather not make the maids clean up blood, plus, it probably hurts to walk, so yes, I do,” she replied. Well, she wasn’t wrong. We walked in silence for a little bit and I observed the walls of the palace. They were white and the carpet beneath out feet was red. There was gold paint all along the walls, and really cool patterns that reminded me of castles that I had seen in various mangas. After a few minutes, a large pair of doors guarded by two fully armored men appeared. Bug was once again saluted as the doors were opened by the guards. Was she allowed to just go wherever she wanted? That seemed pretty cool. She carried me into the room. It was huge. The ceilings were giant, and there were bookshelves filled to the brim with all colors of books. There was a ginormous window on the opposite side of the room. In the middle of the room was a desk with stacks of paper. The extreme majesty of this place simply astounded me. Bug carried me to a door on the side of the room. It was a very large door as well. When she opened the door, I saw that it was a bedroom. In the bed was a man, half under the covers. He looked like he was nude. I couldn’t see any underwear, but the covers covered him up just fine. He looked super handsome. He had blonde hair and red eyes. He was waiting on a mini table that sat above his lap. That must be the king.