Into The Fantasy World (Zoe)

“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?”

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