H opened his eyes. It was still dark. Everything rushed in; his eyes were hurting, the darkness and coldness, he was flowing, and couldn't open his mouth.
H panicked for a second. He took a quick glance around him, and for some reason with the movement everything around him started to be clearer. It wasn't so dark anymore. He could see tiny fishes swimming in the distance, seaweed growing under and around him, big rocks here and there. The realization hit him, and he felt like gasping, but he still couldn't open his mouth for some reason.
It seemed that he wasn't that deep. Even though H had never been interested in swimming or diving in general, for some reason, he felt really relaxed. Everything looked really beautiful, and with every movement he made, he could see better. The tiny fish he saw at the distance looked like perches.
He started to swim up. H had gotten so excited about his surroundings, that he had forgotten one crucial thing when it came to diving. But on the other hand, when he had started to swim towards the surface, he noticed that it actually didn't hurt to hold his breath. He had a little guess regarding all the weird things that had happened back at home, and now underwater. But he didn't want to take the risk of drowning himself trying to prove his theory, so he kept swimming towards the surface.
His head broke the surface of the water as he took a deep breath. Air felt heavenly, so did the sun. H looked around him. He wasn't sure was he floating in a river, a lake, or even in a sea. Before him he saw an extensive water area. Far on his left was seemed to be some islands. On his far right he was a sandy beach surrounded by birch forest. He turned around while staring at the beach on his right. The shoreline kept going both the distances in front of and behind him. Now the islands were on his right. In front of him in the distance he saw another sandy beach. But his beach was surrounded by conifer forest. On the beach's left, the water kept going towards the distance. He had to be in front of an estuary. H sighed and sucked some water in his mouth. It tasted salty. He had to be on a sea. He spit the water out and had an awkward laugh.
"So that's how some ladies feel like..."
He started to swim towards the sandy beach in front of him. The water had started to feel warm. And it felt really easy to swim. H had never been a good swimmer since he never had cared for the water. Even thou he had lived on an island most of his life. But still, even if the swimming had started to feel easy and natural to him, he started to get tired. The beach wasn't as close as he had thought. His body had started feel heavy. Especially his hair. Thought about hair made H stop. It was then when he realized that he was naked. Even the hair tie he had had at home was gone. His hair was open and floating all around him.
H took a couple of breaths and kept going. Whatever was going on, he knew that he couldn't stop now. Even if his theory was correct, there was still the change of him drowning. And that was something he didn't want to happen. Yet unfortunately he had to admit to himself that he had started to struggle. His whole body had become heavier again, and the more he swam, the heavier it got. He started to think Mii and Sweet.
Mii and Sweet were both good swimmers. Sweet had even swam as a hobby when he was in his teens. And Mii just purely loved sea and swimming. Mii and H's friends had many times tried to take H to a beach, but he never felt like going. It was boring just to sit on the sand and watch other people swim. Even if the beach was filled with pretty bikini girls. H felt a bit sad. If he'd known better back then, what would happen, he definitely would have gone with them.
H had stopped again. The thought about Mii and Sweet had got him worried. Where were those two? He thought that they had followed him, but he woke up in the water all alone. Could it be that they didn't follow him? Or something had went wrong and they were stuck in the void? H grunted and wiped his hair away from his face, and continued swimming. They had to be somewhere. They had to. H decided that he wouldn't rest until he'd find them.
H didn't know how long he had been swimming, but the beach didn't seem any closer to him. Maybe it was the fatigue creeping over him, or the slight stress and worry that Mii and Sweet were lost somewhere. His arms had started to give up. Legs didn't want to move anymore. H's stress and worry grew in a matter of seconds. Desperately he continued on, hoping that someone would help him. He needed to get to the shore before he started to panic.
He started to think back what had happened back at home. The fairy appearing from nowhere. His mind going haywire; hoping both that the creature was imaginary and that it was real. But when that tiny pretty girl with wings had landed on his hand, his mind and heart went haywire. It was real. He couldn't understand what the fairy was saying to him, but it seemed like she thought his name was Vess, since she was pointing at him and repeating the word over and over again.
H remembered Mii leaving the room. She had a panic attack. Sweet was yelling at him, when he had started to talk about other worlds and portals. Sweet had been in that opinion that those things were only real in stories. Then he got angry at him for not listening. Sweet had followed Mii, and the fairy flew after them. He followed the fairy. The fairy had started to repeat two other words. "Iima" and "Mae". If he's theory of "Vess" being his name, then "Iima" and "Mae" were the names of Mii and Sweet.
The fairy had flown to the door. The door was open for some reason. There wasn't any light outside. He was certain at the time that their door had become a portal. He tried to tell Sweet that they should go outside to check it out, but Sweet refused, because he tried to keep Mii calm. When H had looked at the fairy, his heart skipped a beat. If there really was an opportunity for going to another world with fairies and possibly other magical stuff, he wanted to take it. He had read and seen so many stories with that plot, and many times wished he could do that too. He had told Sweet that he'd be going and that they should follow. The last thing he had heard was Mii's cry begging him not to leave her.
His eyes had gotten heavy. He had stopped moving. And he had started to sink slowly. His eyes closed. Water had turned cold. He didn't like it anymore. H tried to open his eyes, but the only thing he saw was Mii's face smiling, and her hand trying to control her hair in the wind. Her hair looked really orange. But behind the orange hair something was coming towards him. Something orange too. H's eyes closed.
H felt the sun again on his skin. He was back at the surface. He opened his eyes slowly. Something had brought him back to the surface. Something orange, that felt hard like a rock, but light as a feather. He let go of the thing in order to see it better. It was a fish. A huge, orange fish. With yellow fins. He looked at the fish and then he had an awkward laugh again.
"Are you really what I think you are...?" H said tiredly. The fish looked H back with empty eyes, mouth gasping. H laughed. "Yeah, I know what you are. But you saved my life there, friend."
The fish swam under H's arms in order to carry him. The fish started to swim towards the beach.
"Oh, you're helping me? Thanks buddy." H said smiling.
He sighed and let his body rest against his new fish friend. The ride wasn't as smooth as one might think since the fish was more splashing forwards than swimming. But H didn't mind. It was still better than drowning. He sighed and closed his eyes. His mind started to wander.
Apparently, there was magic and other worlds. So, all those novels and series and movies have been true all this time. But what was the logic behind waking up in the sea? And was this new fish friend his generic animal companion? If the fish was indeed the kind of a fish, he thought it was, then he would have some harsh words for the whoever had summoned him there. Or maybe he wasn't summoned at all. Maybe the portal had already been there and some planets had aligned, or something like that, and made it visible. Who knew?
As the beach was getting closer surprisingly fast, he started to think about Mii again. What she would say about the fish? Either she would laugh her guts out, or be really jealous. But then again, when was the last time she had laughed so much that she ended up crying and gasping for air? H couldn't remember. He was worried again. Where was she? And his brother? Were they okay?
He started to feel sand under his feet. He let go of his fish friend and started to half swim, half walk towards the beach. His fish friend still kept on splashing with him. The fish seemed to have decided that it would follow him no matter what. As H laid on the sand trying to catch his breath, his fish friend was hopping and bouncing from the water to the land next to him.
"So, it seems you really are my generic animal companion..." H sighed smiling. "Well, I have the perfect name for you buddy."
He laid on the sand eyes closed thinking, what he should do next. Clothes, food and drink were the obvious answer to that, of course, but what else? Possibly figure out how this world worked? Obviously, there was some magic, since he got just saved by a fish that followed him to the beach, and was now hopping and flopping around him looking way too excited. But did he have some magical abilities? Would this be one of those cases that he was the hero, and needed to save this world? Or was this all just a coincidence, and he just needed to find his way home? Too many options.
H got up and stretched his arms. He looked around. The beach was a tiny sandy beach at the edge of a forest. Most of the trees were conifers, but there were tiny birches too. It seemed that there was a tiny pathway through the forest, but since H wasn't sure, how long it would take to get out of the forest, he started to walk towards the shoreline to his left. The river continued then to his right. He started to follow the river. His fish friend had hopped back to water and was now following him, swimming and splashing.
It didn't take long for H to see few tiny piers and boats tied to them. He started to walk faster. There were also people on the piers. H sighed in relief. His pace got faster again, but unfortunately the shoreline started to rise and turn rocky, so he couldn't continue on foot. He turned to look at his fish friend who stared at him back with the empty eyes, mouth gasping again.
"Wanna give me another lift?" H asked, and then he carefully climbed down the wet rocks back to water. He grabbed his fish friends back fin, and they started to head towards the piers.
It seemed that the people on the piers were fishermen. They were putting nets and rots in one of the boats. Other man, the older one, was smoking a pipe, as the younger one was on the boat taking care of the fishing equipment. Older man was nodding as he watched the younger man. Then he suddenly turned to look towards H. He squinted his eyes, to see better.
"Oy! Do you need help there, lad?" the old man yelled. The younger man got up in the boat and turned to look towards H too.
"I could use some help, yeah." H yelled back. But then he started to think. How did they spoke the same language?
Old man climbed down to the boat and grabbed one of the oars. He lifted it over the side of the boat.
"Grab that, lad, and we'll pull you here."
H let go of his fish friend and grabbed the oar. The men pulled him closer to the boat, and then helped him climb aboard. He sat next to the younger man swiping his long hair from his face.
"What happened to you, lad? How did you end up in the river with that useless piece of trash fish?"
H laughed and wiped his face with his hands. The younger man had gotten up and opened a tiny trunk that was behind them. He grabbed some sort of blanket and handed it to H.
"Thanks, mate." H said as he wrapped the blanket around his waist. "Well, to be completely honest, I don't know."
"You don't remember?" the younger man asked while sitting back down next to H.
"No, I do remember. But I think you won't believe me, but I might as well tell you, since I have nothing to lose here! I woke up few hundred meters that a way." H said pointing at the sea. "I started to swim towards the tiny beach over there, but I guess I'm not that good of a swimmer I thought, and then that useless piece of trash actually saved my life." H continued looking at his fish friend, who was now splashing frantically next to the boat. "Before that there was just darkness... Oh, and a fairy! There was a fairy. Have you guys seen a fairy? Long, curly golden-brown hair, green eyes? Pinkish dress?"
The men looked at each other, and then H.
"No, lad. There are no fairies here. They have their own tiny kingdom in southeast." the older man said. H was relieved. There were fairies in this world, so he wasn't crazy. Which was really nice.
"I think they also have a community in the capital." the younger man said. "If I remember correctly, they rebuild it after the War of the Witches."
"'War of the Witches'?" H asked. He was immediately interested, even thou the world history wasn't the first thing in his mind.
"Or the 'War of the Capital', as some call it." the old man said. He pulled out a tobacco pouch from his pocket as he started to speak. "Seems that you are not from here, son. And to be completely honest, I don't give a rat's ass, where you are from. But I can see that this fish of yours is not ordinary fish, so you must be witch. And quite powerful one." The old man lighted up his pipe again. "Do you happen to have a twin brother?"
H froze.
"Ho-how did you know?" he asked quietly.
"Well, lad... I might be a mere fisherman, but I know my world history and old tales." the old man said laughing.
"You two also know a young woman with a red hair, don't you?" the younger man asked smiling. H looked at him mouth hanging open.
"Yes, she's like a sister to us... Have you seen her? Or my brother? Are they here?!" H asked. His fish friend had started to splash around even more frantically.
"No, I'm sorry my lad, but we haven't seen them." the old man said. "But if you are here, so are they. Somewhere." He took a long, satisfying looking puff from his pipe. "So, you grab that fish of yours, and then we're getting some rags for you to cover your shame. After that we're heading to town to reunite you with the rest of the Trinity."