Over the Coastal City of Tianjin, Wu Hai was flying alone. His strange appearance was hidden among the clouds.
The Lights of Beijing could be seen in the distance. Wu Hai could see the horizon past the many enormous buildings and came to a stop on a small building that was shaped like an egg. Wu Hai was a little unsure what he was seeing.
Strange colored lights filled the evening City, Towers were everywhere. The noise was only second next to the smell of Oil.
'I wonder if this place has many Magicians?' Thinking to himself along the way, Wu Hai kept his eyes darting around. Since his youth, he would always pay extra close attention to details that others might overlook. It didn't matter if the information turned out to be useless at the time, he paid attention to what felt like anything and everything.
Wu Hai sent out his spiritual sense and didn't feel anyone in the direct vicinity of him with power, yet he was sure that he had arrived in a very busy area. 'Towers are everywhere but where are the Mages?'
The entire City Block had nothing to offer, there was no one that gave off the feeling of power.
Observing his surroundings closely, Wu Hai noticed many things that captured his attention or senses. The sound of the metal carts that had no horse or cattle pulling them, the air was pulled along with a stench of burning oils. Occasionally, he would smell something that was obviously a sort of food.
What he smelled the most, were people. Everyone seemed sick in one way or another as he passed from one building to another. "Where exactly am I?" Wu Hai had escaped that place called FROHK and flown into the distance but nothing seemed familiar, not even the sky.
Soon, a sharp whirling chopping noise could be heard in the distance, Wu Hai could see a strange metal beast approaching his direction. He didn't know if it was any real threat. Wu Hai had not yet seen anything in the Air while he was coming to the coastline but the new noise meant he might have attracted the attention of a predator. Wu Hai's senses told him that anything that was sensing his position and coming for him, was no ordinary thing. He had been captured already once that evening, even if he was unconscious at the time, he had still been taken hostage.
Clearing his head, he quickly came up with a plan. "I better change and figure things out." Wu Hai had noticed the prejudice faces of the Humans who had tried to capture him and thought of a preliminary solution.
Swooping into a darkened corner near the Cheong Sing Building, Wu Hai pulled out the Dice and Cup from storage. Rolling them, he quickly switched to Human form and felt renewed, although he was a bit short. When he realized that he didn't have any clothes that fit, he used the size die and returned to a more appropriate size. His clothes were tight and grabbed slightly in some places.
'Its been a long time since I've been in a Human body.' Wu Hai had not been in a human body since he discovered the form die. It was only a stroke of luck that he had so many dice already. 'Thank you Mu,' Fumbling with the resizing die in his palm, he was lost in thought for a moment and recovered his senses.
With his appearance hidden, he was less likely to draw attention unless he used an ability in public, he looked just like everyone else. Walking down the pathway Wu Hai came a wall and leapt onto it instinctively.
With a single step onto its ledge, he saw a man in a uniform discussing a problem with the metal carriage that they had in front of them. Red and Blue lights flashed repeatedly, the pattern was distinct and drew the attention from others as they passed in the street around them..
Looking up, the officer had seen Wu Hai jump down from thirty feet and was frightened. Any normal person would have been dead or seriously injured.
He ran up to Wu Hai and asked if he was okay. "Sir, are you alright? That's a really far fall, you should sit down. Why were you up there?" The Officer had a myriad of questions that Wu Hai couldn't be bothered to answer.
Wu Hai just jumped back onto the wall and disappeared into the shadows.
"Hey!" Realizing that he couldn't chase after the man, the officer was losing his mind when he tried to figure out how that man jumped.
The officer rubbed his head, called for backup and asked for an ambulance to check him over. There was no way to tell if he he had been drugged unknowingly.
֍ꟷꟷꟷꟷ֍
Slipping through the shadows, Wu Hai made his way through downtown Beijing. He saw a few very old structures scattered around. The strange buildings looked like they were built before all towers, the construction methods were much more crude and decorated.
Neon lights flashed every so often.
Wu Hai found himself on a Main, he was street minding his own business and soaking as much scenery as possible. Occasionally someone would be yelling or someone would be begging.
The city was full of individuals that looked like they had no future, no life worth living. Everyone seemed to be in a hurry to get somewhere but everywhere Wu Hai looked, people were bored or complaining about something.
The ambient noise outside was louder than before, in some areas it was much harder to hear. The city was in full motion and no one seemed interested in those around them.
Wu Hai wandered the street for a bit, paying close attention to the citizens and probing his senses into anything that looked interesting.
A homeless man saw Wu Hai looking around, Wu Hai was wearing strange clothes and looked completely out of place. Staring at the signs for crossing the road and the many warning signs that were adjacent to the construction nearby, Wu Hai was sticking out like a Japanese tourist on vacation.
"Mister, you're not from around here, are you?" A voice came from beside Zao Wu Hai, it was the homeless man from earlier.
They were kind words and he had experienced nothing but disappointment since his arrival. It was pleasant to talk to someone and so the Prince responded after turning his gaze to the Man. "No, I'm quite far from home." Wu Hai answered and sat down with him on the curb.
"You have an accent from somewhere else. Where do you come from? My name is Jin." Jin introduced himself.
"I come from a place far away. We don't have Cities like this around either.." Pulling a bottle of wine from his storage ring Wu Hai passed it over to Jin.
"Where did you get this? You weren't holding anything when you walked up." Jin was confused but grateful, he took the wine and looked it over. The bottle looked old, too old to have been on the market.
"The Wine? I took it from my storage ring, don't you have wine here?" Wu Hai was perplexed.
Everywhere the Prince had been since he rescued his parents from the Bandits, had been places where storage rings were known, they were expensive and somewhat uncommon in places but not every country would produce alcohol.
'Perhaps this Country didn't have alcohol?' Wu Hai thought quietly.
"This is wine?" Looking at the expensive looking antique bottle, Jin opened it and a rich smell came out. He almost fell over in shock, "This really is wine!" For a moment, Jin believed he was being pranked. Wine that old, like the kind in the bottle, was extremely expensive and even harder to locate.
Surprised, Jin took a sip, savored the taste and passed it over.
Wu Hai had never shared a drink like that before but he wasn't going to spoil the mood with unpleasantness. Taking a drink from the bottle he had given to someone else, it was a different experience for him.
"What the hell is a storage ring?" Jin asked in a puzzled voice.
"Its a ring with space in it, you put things inside; It doesn't take much magic to use one, I'm sure even your kingdom has Mages that can manage this much, right?" Wu Hai prattled off a sentence that Jin wouldn't have expected to hear with a serious tone in all of his life.
"Eh? Magic? Are you on Drugs?" Jin didn't quite know how to respond but he didn't like being made a fool of, so he chose to defend his sense of reality.
"Magic doesn't exist and ..Kingdom? Where did you say you were from again?" Jin didn't know how else to respond but the wine smelled great. He took the bottle to chug and drank it down one gulp at a time.
Looking over at Wu Hai, Jin still had a lot of questions but he was drinking the best wine he had ever had. "Phew, this is some good wine. I didn't expect someone to come to me tonight and show me some hospitality so I will give you a bit of advice. Magic doesn't exist my friend. If it did, life would be different, maybe even this world would be for the better. But, It still doesn't exist.. so what use is it to fool with an old man like me."
Pushing the bottle back to Wu Hai, Jin looked disappointed and a little annoyed. He looked like he was about to leave with a sad expression on his face.
"Magic does exist, maybe your tribe just forgot how to use it ..see?" Wu Hai condensed electricity in his hand in front of Jin.
Jin jumped up and stepped back only to fall over and crawl backwards on the sidewalk. "Whoa Whoa Whoa! That's magic? Not some Taser? I don't like being tricked." Jin was alive with energy like he had been zapped.
"Magic does exist and storage rings have space in them. There is no reason to doubt me." Turning his hand down, bottle after bottle of wine fell out of the ring and in front Jin's eyes. "I need to know, is there anyone here in this village with maps of the area? I need to find a way back to my home." Wu Hai still didn't understand where he was but the night sky told him he was definitely somewhere far away.
"Why is there only one moon?" Wu Hai asked.
"One Moon? We've always had one moon, what are you talking about? If you seriously come from a place with more than one moon, you're not from this planet." Jin was fearful, he reeled back slightly. 'If this guy is an Alien..' Then, Jin thought about the news feed he had seen.
"Its you, you're the Lightning Man." Jin said calmly after collecting his nerves. "Come with me!" Jin motioned for Wu Hai to follow him as they walked to the park nearby. Too many people were crawling past them and if someone heard what they were talking about, things could happen.
Pulling a cell phone from his pocket, Jin looked over at Wu Hai and said, "This Is you right?" He showed the display to Wu Hai.
Wu Hai grabbed the small rectangular metallic plate and saw a moving image. The video was of him transporting into the room with the scientists and then, another one of him disappearing after the breakout. "They tried to trap me and some man in a white coat wanted to threaten me. I left, I don't have time for foolish human behavior."
"Foolish human behavior. You're definitely an Alien.." Jin was convinced now. He repeated himself, "Definitely an Alien. Where in the galaxy is your Planet?"
"Planet?" Another term Wu Hai was unaware of.
"Yes, Planet, we live on Planet Earth. What planet are you from?" Jin kept pushing the question, he really wanted to know and this was his only chance to pry.
"I come from a place with more than one moon, we can see the other worlds in our night sky just like you see your Moon. My home is on the Central Continent, my Family fled from a murderous King and established our own Territory." Wu Hai tried explaining but ultimately it didn't translate well enough.
Frustration gave way to more explaining.
"I don't think you'll see my world by looking up into the Sky. However, this world of yours is very strange yet not. So many people in one place, how do they manage it? So many people and animals would surely make a stink. Is that what I smelled earlier? Do the humans of this world really not have magic?" Wu Hai was finally accepting that he wasn't on his home world.
"Hold on. Everyone has magic in your world?" Jin inquired.
"No, not everyone but a lot do. However, those with talent have real ability and those without, don't. It's even possible to gift someone the ability to control magic but it's very expensive and the materials needed are strictly controlled." Wu Hai wanted to go on but he couldn't' find a reason to justify explaining sect secrets to outsiders. He had remained as vague as possible but there was one problem that was persistent, he had no idea how to return.
"Thank you Jin. I notice you live in the street. Do you not have any gold to pay for a home?" Trying to figure out why this man was in the road, dressing the way he did, Wu Hai guessed that he was a beggar. It wasn't wrong but Jin lowered his head in shame.
"Yes, I live in the street." He felt ashamed of his circumstances. "No one carries gold, even though its expensive it's almost always in banks or vaults. Normal people don't walk around with precious metals." Jin finished his statement and all doubts about Wu Hai's story vanished.
"Very well. Here, I don't know how much this is worth is in your world but it should get you a place to sleep." Wu Hai handed over a sack of gold bars to Jin.
The man's eyes watered the instant he saw it. Tears fell down his face before Jin asked, "Is this really for me?"
"Of course, I can always get more. Thank you for being kind to me, I'll remember it." Wu Hai stood up and was about to leave when Jin stopped him.
"Wait!" Jin tried to give the sack back while saying more.
"Take me with you." Jin was on his knees pleading with Wu Hai. "At least tell me your name!"
Wu Hai didn't want to dismiss him, he had been the only nice person. "Very well, When I leave this place I'll look for you. However, Only you. If you tell others that I will effort to take you along, all bets are off. My name is Zao Wu Hai."
"THANK YOU, THANK YOU!" Jin was very happy with this outcome, if the man from another world truly took him along, his life would change.
"Don't thank me just yet, I don't know where I am or how to get back. But, I give you my word that if its possible, I'll take you with me when I leave this place." Wu Hai felt like it was okay to bring people back with him as long as he could trust them. "Show me that little box you had earlier, does it have a map?" Continuing with his questions Wu Hai handed a healing potion over to Jin.
"What's this? And what map do you want to see? The Map of this Planet is right here. Opening the phone app to a map search is simple enough. Use your finger to point and move the map around." Jin tried showing him the basics while Wu Hai played with the phone.
"That's a healing potion. You're sick, just drink it." Wu Hai was lost in a cell phone, it was interesting and looking at the map, Wu Hai couldn't find anything that looked familiar. Then, he saw the name Xuanwu on the map of China and his mind stopped for a moment. He was fixated.
As if a part of his dreams had come along in a flash, he said it, "Xuan.. Xuan Kim Li."
Wu Hai stopped what he was doing and turned to Jin. "How would I find someone particular in this world, are there bounty hunter associations or subjugation squads I can talk to or work with?"
He felt like he might be in the place where the White-room was. Feelings that deep had to come from somewhere but Wu Hai was sure that this place, this planet, had everything to do with his dreams.
"You want to find someone? That's easy. What's the name?" Jin grabbed the phone and opened an internet browser.
"Xuan Kim Li," Wu Hai repeated the name he had been searching for.
"There are 289 matches for that name, can you narrow it down." Jin tried to help further.
"A man, Probably under thirty years, with short brown hair." Wu Hai responded quietly while he thought more.
"Okay.. that brings us down to less than twenty, not bad. Are any of these him?" Passing the phone over Wu Hai could see a block of images with peoples faces on them.
"This one." Wu Hai pointed to the IT student from FROHK, Jin laughed.
"You came from a place called FROHK, right? He's probably there right now." Jin was sure that it was a strange turn of fate, and continued. "You were there.. you might have walked right by him." Jin didn't know if he was rubbing it in but Wu Hai grabbed another wine bottle and started to drink.
Remembering that he had just promised to keep Jin with him when he left, Wu Hai lamented for a moment then pulled out a silver bar.
After Jin's reaction from a bag of gold, a silver bar seemed like less expense or extravagant.
"Find us a room to sleep tonight, I don't feel like explaining my misunderstandings to others."
"This I can do. Thank you, Master Zao." Jin Kowtowed.
'So its like this,' Wu Hai grinned. "Okay, so this is where that form of respect came from? This world keeps amazing me, I wonder what it will be like in the daytime." Wu Hai followed Jin until they came to a Hotel.
It wasn't a great hotel but the staff was very happy to take a silver bar instead of State Credits.
"Jin, how much money is a gold bar worth? Can we check out shops tomorrow? I'd like to get as many supplies as possible. It is unlikely that if or when I leave, that I'll ever return to this place. Already, I feel the need to go far from here." Wu Hai sounded serious, although it was unlikely the Humans of this World could harm him, he didn't want to stick around in a place without Magic.
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Wu Hai was bathed in the sunlight when he stepped out of the Hotel. It was refreshing, even if it smelled a bit.
Jin had gone out earlier and picked out a set of clothes that didn't seem too out of place. He had Wu Hai change into them. Hailing one of the many carriages that were passing on the road, Jin called out, "Taxi!"
One of them stopped just beside the pair. "Where are we going?"
"Take us to a Jeweler." Jin had a better idea than randomly searching the City.
Visiting the Jeweler, he traded gold bars for money and a large bag of assorted Gems. Wu Hai didn't feel any power coming from them but it was nice to have things freely given to him. The shop owner was very interested in the Gemstones that Wu Hai pulled out. He had not sold any of the magical gems but the gemstones that he had pulled out were impossible to identify.
The Jeweler had never seen the gems in Wu Hai's collection. In trade for one, they left with a generous payment and gift.