"Flash fire fist!" I hold my hands out towards a tree.
Nothing happens.
"So no fire powers..."
I delete that from the notes in my phone.
Maybe I'm just not thinking hard enough...
Or maybe I'm not saying the right chants.
"Flame on!" Nothing.
"Magician's Red!" Nothing.
"This girl is on fire!" Nothing.
I sit down by a stump.
Just stay calm... be rational. There's no way that I don't have powers. There's no way you can get isekai'd without getting some kind of OP power. That's just how isekai works. Maybe I just have to get mad. Rage shield?
"God, I hate people who ride in the middle of the road on their bikes. How inconsiderate do you have to be?! I mean, come on, what are you trying to prove?! Who do you think the sidewalk is for, asshole?! Oh, and political signs?! Come on! I don't care who you're voting for!"
I hold my arm out.
"Nothing?!" I slump down again.
"What are you doing?" It's the orb again.
"I'm trying to get my powers to work."
"Well they won't work like that."
"So I do have powers?"
"Yes."
"What are they? How do I get them?"
"Your power is called," I nod vigorously, "Having strong willpower."
"What?"
"And you get it by being a brave, little boy. Can you be brave for me?"
"I want my orange back!"
"What? Really?"
I groan, "No. I just feel frustrated. This isn't my home, right?"
"Correct."
"It's just... usually when this happens- when someone is transported into a different reality or whatever- they have some kind of powers."
"I don't have the ability to give you powers."
"But you have the ability to lead me here."
"Right."
"I just heard a super loud roar not too long ago. Is that dangerous?"
"There is something dangerous in every universe."
"Can you only speak in riddles?"
"Sorry?"
"It's just... everything you have said to me has been so vague and convoluted. There's like 30 different meanings behind everything you say."
"My apologies. I do not believe that I can talk any other way."
"It's fine. Not your fault. I shouldn't have gotten mad anyway," I get up and brush myself off, "At least I don't have to do calc anymore."
"I suppose."
"Are you sticking around?"
"I was told to come only to, 'Give you a kick to the ass'."
"Wonderful."
"I'll be going now."
"Alright. Good luck."
He lingers, "Why have you been saying that to me?"
"Whuzzat?"
"Every time you would leave after visiting the lamppost, you would always say 'good luck'. Or something along those lines."
"Yeah. I just thought you might've been some kind of ghost. Ghosts have unfinished business or whatever. So I wished you luck just in case."
"I'm very sorry to have confused you."
"No worries. Can you tell me anything else?"
"About what?"
"About anything really."
"I'm afraid not."
Could have just said that in the first place.
"Now I really do have to go. Your ass has been sufficiently kicked to."
"Thanks."
"For?"
"I was being sarcastic."
"You're welcome then," he disappears.
I sigh, and slouch down once again. What a bummer.
I hear a twig snap.
I turn to the direction of the sound. Nothing there but darkness. Must be a raccoon then.
Wait. Shit.
I don't wanna get rabies! What if they don't have a rabies vaccine here?! I hop up, and start to rush out of the forest.
"M...eat," I turn to face the sound as I'm rushing out.
A pitch black arm shoots out from the trees to my left. It's grotesque. It's like... undulating. Beating like a heart. It wraps its fingers around my head, and propels me into a tree. It holds me there for a second. I get a glimpse of a pair of white eyes back in the trees. All I can do is whimper, as I sit there.
"Mea...t."
He pops my head like a grape.
So I guess it was Sweet Home monsters then? Fucking lovely.
Before I know it, I'm awake again.
Maybe once I died, I returned to my world. Or maybe it was all a dream. My bike's still there. And so are the three story mansions. I touch my forehead. Yeah, that's still there too.
Did I just pass out and dream of that happening? I hop on my bike. I decide to keep my lights off. I haven't seen any cars around. Plus, if there is a real monster around, I don't want to draw unnecessary attention.
I'm just realizing now that my bike is janky as hell. The gears or something are creaking like crazy. Maybe ditch the bike. As I'm walking my bike over to the side of the road, I see some curtains fly shut from the corner of my eye. I go to investigate.
"Were you trying to pull a sneaky on me?" I ask the window, "Were you spying on me and my delicious body?"
The door opens.
"Hurry up."
I rush inside, and close the door behind me.
I'm faced with a sword to my throat.
"Hello there," General Kenobi.
"Who are you?"
"My name's Bright."
"What kinda name is Bright?"
"It's like a nickname."
"What does it mean? Nicknames have to mean something, right?"
"Not really. I just don't like giving out my name to people."
"So it's an alias?"
"I like to think of it as a nickname I gave myself. Like Kobe."
"... I miss Kobe."
"So he exists here too?"
"What do you mean?"
"Is Kobe Bryant a famous basketball player."
"No. He played for the Chargers."
"Huh. No basketball team called the Chargers."
"Kobe played football."
"What?"
"Kobe. Played. Football. He died earlier this year."
"In a helicopter crash."
"No, Spontaneous combustion."
"What?"
"Spontane-"
"No I heard you. I just didn't think that actually existed."
There's a pause. The sword is still to my throat.
"So who are you then? Like where are you from?"
"Well, not around here. I can tell you that much."
"Why're being so vague?"
"You could be a cop."
"Not a cop."
"This is a fun little meet-cute, eh?"
The sword lowers, "Yeah."
"Who're YOU then?"
"Shai."
"Well, you're not that shy. You tried to stab me."
"S-H-A-I. Shai. That's my name," she steps forward, "And you're one to talk. You're not so bright."
I laugh, "Yeah, I know. That's why I call myself Bright."
"Eh?"
"It's ironic. Funny."
She exhale laughs, "Whatever. Why were you wandering around out there?"
"Well, like I told you, I'm not from around here. I don't really know what's going on."
"Well, where are you from then?"
"Another world? Another universe maybe? I don't know exactly."
"What does that mean?"
"Well, I walked into that forest over there back when I was in my home world. When I walked back out, I was here."
"What was it called again... is it like an isekai?"
"Exactly! You know about that kind of stuff?"
"Well, my sister told me about it one time. This is her sword."
"Pretty cool sword."
"Thanks. She said it's super overdone and the main character is always way too powerful."
"Nah, not me. No powers."
"How can I trust you?"
I shrug, "Iunno. I tried doing a bunch of magic in the woods and it didn't work."
"Bummer."
"I know, right?"
"So you have no idea what's happening here, then?"
"I'm basically a newborn."
"In more ways than one," she sits down in the corner, "Go sit on the opposite side."
"K... Why?"
"Don't know if I can trust you yet."
"Sound."
"You British or something? Why'd you say sound?"
"What? No I'm not. I don't have a reason for saying it... is it a British only thing? Is it racist if I do that? I had a British friend-"
"Dude, shut up."
"Sorry."
"No worries," she puts her sword down, "Did you hear that roar earlier?"
"Yeah. I think I might have caused that."
"What?"
"I played some music real loud and then the roar came right after."
"First of all- dumbass," I nod, "Second, do you have internet?"
"No."
"How'd you play music?"
"I have it downloaded on my phone as an mp3 file."
"I didn't even think of that."
"Well, you are pretty stupid."
"Says the guy who's walking around alone at night."
"Never said that I was smart."
"Anyway, that was a monster. We call them voiders."
"Ooh. That's cool."
"Thanks. I came up with it."
"What do they look like?"
"All black. They differ from one another, but they're all that same pitch black color. It's almost impossible to see them at night."
"Huh. I think I saw one."
"What?! Where?!" She lowers even further to the ground.
"I think it was just a dream."
"You're just speaking nonsense."
"Well, it killed me."
"Bullshit."
"Squeezed my head like a zit."
"So then why are you still here?"
"Like I said, it was probably a dream."
There's a pause.
"So... do they hunt all day."
"Well, kind of."
"Can you elaborate?"
"They don't really hunt. They kinda just stay in their own areas. They're very territorial, so there's only about one voider ever 100 or so miles."
"Woah. That's a lot of space to cover."
"Well, they move pretty easily at night. On top of that, night has been lasting a lot longer recently."
"Like how long?"
"19 hours at most. So far, at least."
"Woah... are we in Alaska?"
"No. Michigan."
"Oh so that's just normal then."
"Uh... no."
"I'm just joking."
There's a long pause.
A loud, crashing noise comes from the back.
Me and Shai jump up, and converge on the center of the room.
At the back of the room, a giant, pitch black, undulating monster stands in front of a giant hole in the wall.
"...wha- wha- why?"
"We have to run! Don't just-"
"We're fucked. They don't usually hunt. If it's coming directly for us..."
I stare at her, wide-eyed, "We're fucked," she nods and drops her sword hopelessly.
"Fri...end."
Friend?
I don't know if they all look like that, but the arm and the eyes certainly remind me of my dream monster.
Wasn't he saying "meat" earlier?
The monster appears in front of us.
He shakes his head, "Not... to f...riend," and pushes me away from Shai. Then, he reaches towards her. She falls back, and crawls to the wall.
I step in front, holding my hands out.
I shake my head, and turn and point to Shai, "Friend! Friend!"
The monster tilts its head.
It points to Shai, "Fri...end?"
We both nod emphatically.
It lowers its hand. We both relax.
It lifts its hand up again, and swings down towards Shai.
Now it's my turn to watch in horror. Shai covers her face with her arm.
The monster's hand stops on her head.
It's... petting her.
"Friend," it says lovingly.
It walks to the corner, and sits down.
Shai crawls towards me and sits at my feet, facing the monster.
"Dog, what the fuck was that?!" Shai asks.
I fall backwards, "I pissed myself."
Shai nods, "Me... too," she slumps forward.
A moment passes. The monster prods me, then walks outside.
Eventually, we both get up, and go to clean ourselves.
There's no running water, so laundry or a shower isn't happening.
And if there's no running water, I would rather save everything that's in my water bottle. Guess I'm just chucking these pants then. Good thing I brought extras.
Why's this girl alone?
She looks like she's not too much older than me. What if she's from another world too? I don't really want to ask her. Her parents might be dead or something. Wouldn't want to bring that up. She said something about her sister too. Maybe she's dead too.
I walk out of the bathroom. She's waiting at the top of the stairs, fidgeting about. "You look sketchy," I point out.
"Oh yeah? What's the big deal? Not like there's anyone around to get sketched out."
"Fair. But... what are you doing?"
"I don't wanna go down there... I'm trying to see if it came back."
"Right. Well, I'll go and check. I'll let you know if you can come down after me."
She rolls her eyes, "Yeah, what a fuckin hero you are, mr. isekai. Why are you so confident? We should be avoiding that thing in any way possible."
"Relax."
"Don't you know how easily it can kill us?"
"I know better than you think, sister. Like a zit, remember?" I pinch my fingers shut. I turn, and step onto the stairs, "If it could kill us so easily, why are we alive."
She hesitates at the top of the stairs, "How will I know when to come down?"
"If I don't say anything, don't come down."
"Why?"
"You can figure it out," she looks up in thought.
"Oh cuz you'll be dead."
I walk down the stairs. The monster walks back inside. It bows... or something like that. We both freeze in place.
"Shai? Do you have any food?"
I hear her take a step down the stairs, "Yeah."
"Can you give him something?"
"You get it," she shouts, "you're the superhero."
"I don't know where your food is. And I don't have any powers!" I shout back. The monster scratches his neck, "Sorry about her," he puts a hand up to say 'no worries'.
"Is it safe?" She peeks out from the stairwell, and darts back.
"It's safe. He's just standing here."
"Yeah right."
The monster speaks, "Friends?"
Shai peaks her head out, and I turn to it.
It tilts its head.
"See, look. It's not doing anything."
"Yeah but it could. I've seen what this one specifically can do."
"Yeesh. Don't really wanna push that issue further."
"Eh. I didn't really like the neighbors anyway."
"Cool." I turn my attention back to the monster, "Hungry?"
It stares at me.
"Food?" I point to my mouth and rub my stomach.
"I'm not hungry."
I turn to Shai, "I wasn't talking to you."
"I know. I didn't say anything."
"Huh?"
"Didn't say anything."
"So then-"
"My apologies. That was me."
"Quit it, will you."
"Quit what? I'm just standing here."
I feel something tap my shoulder. I turn and see the outstretched finger of the monster. His hand is down at his side, but its finger is extended all the way from the hand to my shoulder.
It points to itself with a normal length pointer finger, "No, not her. It was me."
*~Note
I'll probably be using apostrophes for the monster's dialogue. It might get confusing with three different speakers and heavy dialogue. Or I might put a label in front of each time someone speaks.
Like this: 'Hello, World!'
Or this: M: "Hello, World!"