Strange Encounters

As he got up, the air around him felt heavy. It felt as if he was in a completely different country— a different world.

The sunlight poured over him, seeing how the night had turned into day from out of nowhere made him freeze.

Snapping out of his daze, he saw himself standing before a big town, in a completely different place.

There were big, beautiful, green mountains with snow on the tips surrounding the entire town.

There were also wheat farms he could barely make out in the distance. It reminded Alex of his hometown in France.

He muttered, barely above a whisper, "Where am I…"

He was in utter shock. The peaceful place he had just been resting at vanished without a trace.

'Is this a hallucination?' He thought. 

He tried biting his tongue, but to no avail. Soon after, he tried pinching himself and nothing worked either.

It looked like reality.

Trying his best to keep his composure, he thought to at least try and talk with someone in the town.

He was never good with unknown places, now that its possible he was in a different, unknown world, his heart beat intensely.

He took a deep breath before proceeding to take his first steps onto the carved path leading into the town.

'Staying here won't help.' 

As soon as he entered the open town, he noticed many different things.

The houses looked familiar, yet so distinct. They looked abandoned, but at the same time, very well-kept and clean.

The houses had strange, intricate window designs. Ones that Alex had never seen before.

As he was walking, he noticed the people were dressed in a… special way. A way that the people of his town would never dress.

Some wore casual clothes, while many wore robes with capes that hung over their backs, giving them a special look.

He stood out like a sore thumb in a place that felt not just foreign, but unreal.

The feeling of stress lingered inside him, but seeing the lively town, the happy smiles and laughter on people's faces, made Alex calm down a little.

Not only their clothes, but Alex noticed the different facial features of the people, but surprisingly, nobody came up to him, even though he stood out with his different outfit.

Hearing weird sounds above him, far in the sky, he turned his head upwards only to see a group of people flying high in the air.

Alex opened his mouth out of pure surprise, and a small hint of excitement. 

But, he wanted his father to see all of this too. It would have meant a lot. The thoughts of recalling his father brought his mood down, remembering he still hasn't learnt anything.

He still had to talk to one of them to learn even the slightest bit of information.

Much time passed as Alex kept wandering around the town, until he finally realized he didn't know where he was heading at all.

"I'm lost," Alex accidentally said out loud.

But then, all of a sudden, he felt someone tap him on the back. It was a gentle, tender tap—but more than enough to make him jump.

Already fighting back his fear, this sudden interaction terrified him.

He had been so focused on the buildings and people around him, he forgot how high of a possibility it was that somebody could have walked up to him.

He swallowed, then turned his head—only to see a woman who looked roughly his age.

She was short and had striking dark auburn hair and big, round, eyes. She wore a long black-and-white skirt with a certain symbol on her outfit. It looked like a school uniform.

"Excuse me…" she said, her voice stuttering and low.

Instead of saying something, Alex's eyes widened. How was he able to understand her so clearly? Wasn't she supposed to be someone from another world? Did they share the same language?

After a few seconds, the lady grew a bit tired, "Sir..?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry." He paused for a second, "Do you need something…?" he continued, hiding his shaky hands.

She replied, a smile crept up on her face, "Well… I just happened to hear you say very clearly that you were lost. I thought I'd come by and help."

The lady seemed to be like a genuine, trustworthy person. That gave Alex a reason to not doubt her much, considering how she even went out of her way to come up and talk to him.

He needed to learn more. He didn't want to use the girl's kindness for his desires, but he had no reason.

All of a sudden, she asked, "Are you an Invoker? You seem like one. Or are you a traveller? Well, they mean the same thing."

"I'm just a… lost… adventurer!" He said with a wide, nervous grin.

"Oh, I see. Let me help you out. I can at least get you back to the Guild" she replied.

Alex was still petrified, but he agreed. "I'll be right behind you."

The Guild was an even better place to understand more about this place. Information about the entire world would only flourish in such a place.

The girl started walking ahead, Alex closely followed behind.

It felt weird to him. He never usually goes on walks like this with women all the time.

"So, back to our topic. Are you an Invoker or a Concept Wielder?" 

Alex took a few seconds to reply, his voice hesitant, "What even are these names?"

The girl raised a brow. She seemed to be suspicious of him a bit, not knowing these terms that were famous in her world.

She chose to ignore it and answer kindly. "Well, you know the rising tensions and all, Cirolea chose to divide from the main system and make their own, or what they say is the true original system of the world, proven by the Aeon of Wisdom. Most countries trust them, but Aeloria doesn't."

Aeloria had to be the name of the country Alex was in. It would have only made sense. 

"Aeon of Wisdom?" 

The girl narrowed her eyes, her suspicion growing only further. Alex slipped up, realizing that he tried to fix it by telling her he was joking. 

Before he could, the girl chose to answer, "Nyren, the Aeon of Knowledge and Wisdom. It's said He has knowledge of everything and everyone. Also, He is one of the only Aeons that live in the Mortal Realm. However, nobody knows where."

Seeing the topic took such a serious turn, the Aeons must be considered as divine beings in this world, or realm. How many realms even were there? If He was seen as a divine being, did that mean the mortals worship Him? Alex's curiosity was like a burning fire. 

Their names aren't to be played with for unmeaningful reasons. That was the conclusion Alex had got to, so he chose to not involve himself in such matters.

Shocking Alex once more as she spoke breaking the silence, "You do have money on you, right? After all, you need to rent yourself a place for the night." Then she added, "It gets pretty dangerous once the sun goes down."

'This girl needs to understand when to speak and when not to…'

Putting that aside, Alex realized the painful truth of how he had zero money on him, making him homeless.

He gulped, telling her he had nothing on him without saying a word.

She sighed. "I'll lend you enough to rent a place, but in return, I wanna know your name—"

Out of nowhere, a loud sound erupted nearby, cutting her off.

A louder sound followed, it sounded like buildings crashing down upon themselves… Or something crashing them down.

"Oh no," the girl said with widened eyes and a worried expression.

"W-what's going on?! What is that sound?" He asked, confused.

"There's no time to explain." Her face tensed as she grabbed his hand, thinking he'd be able to help against whatever was crashing down the buildings.

"What—?!" Alex yelled, completely caught off guard, his face turning a bit red.

She took a deep breath as we ran. She closed her eyes in concentration and said in a low tone, barely audible, "Activate."

The wind howled at Alex and the woman, both of them were going at a terrifying speed, closing off the distance in less than a second.

All of a sudden, in just a blink of an eye, Alex found himself and her standing in front of what looked like the source of the commotion.

It was a big beast—resembling a grizzly bear—but far scarier, and more importantly, bigger.

It roared loudly, shaking the entire place as its golden fur waved.

Alex was stunned. He couldn't move at all. While already being terrified due to everything that happened before this, he was on the verge of passing out.

The girl shouted, "Get a grip! This is not the time to be spacing out!"

She seemed confident in Alex, mistaking him to be an Invoker or a Concept Wielder.

But he was utterly helpless.

Ignoring her, he tried to stand up and run away, but his legs were trembling too much, making Alex fall back to his knees.

The beast, roaring and shaking the ground, saw him collapse, unable to do anything at all.

He roared loudly once more, taking his chance then throwing his open palm at Alex.

He accepted his fate—to die here, in this unknown world.

He raised his hand to swing at Alex, but then, just as he was about to strike—

The girl appeared, almost instantly.

She had used her power once more, then she pushed him out of the way only to take the blow herself.

Alex was knocked into pieces of rubble from the destroyed buildings, and the girl lay unconscious, barely surviving from the beast's blow.

He screamed at the top of his lungs. His head throbbed, blood dripping from where it hit the rubble.

Old wounds from before burned.

The beast roared, revealing its sharp teeth once more, continuing its destruction. There was a small dark green symbol engraved into its tooth—I barely noticed it.

'She got hurt because of me. Because of my own weakness and helplessness.'

'It always has to be like this.'

'I don't want this to happen. I won't let this happen. I'll kill him. I'll kill him even if I have to do it with my bare fists!'

Pure rage sparked up inside Alex, making him rise back on his feet even when they were trembling.

He stared at the beast with madness in his eyes. He stood before the beast. The sheer size difference made him hesitate.

Yet he still threw his body toward him. Either way, he was gonna die. At least he could die a noble death.

As he ran straight at the beast, yelling as loud as he could, he noticed Alex again, after rampaging through the area.

"You bastard!" He screamed, to fully get his attention.

He roared back and swung his massive fist straight at Alex—and he, stupidly, threw his own trembling, small fist covered in dust toward him. 

He thought he was dead. As our fists were about to collide, his heart pounded violently.

And then—the air shifted.

Along with it came a powerful, confident male voice from the sky:

"That's enough," he said.

A flash of silver fell from the sky, cleanly severing the beast's arm just before it could reach him.

Alex's eyes widened. The beast roared in agony, its severed arm falling.

He tried to look at who had done this—but as he turned, he collapsed from exhaustion, barely catching a glimpse of the man who struck the beast.

He heard one last thing before fainting completely:

"Forgive me," he said, almost guilty as he looked at the destruction and blood around the area.