Siren sat in his office alone, listening to the seemingly endless overlapping voices on top of each other. It was an annoying sound for some time, but the louder the noise means the more satisfied customers are. He sat down at his desk, in which there was an open book that Siren was reading. He lay back in his chair feeling frustrated.
It's been years since Ana died, yet the guilt eats him the same. It's a strong and hurtful feeling that he knows is eating him away yet can't push past it. He wants to push past it, not for his sake but so that he can be a better father for his kids.
Why would anyone want a father that wines all the time? He simply will have to push past it by force. No matter the drawbacks, Vail and Rose are his top priorities, and he needs to get that he has to teach them the right things, especially with those freaks running along.
He rubbed his face as he leaned over towards the window.
"I need to get some actual sleep." He thought to himself. He threw himself towards the wool couch and lay there as he began to doze off.
The feeling of your body shutting down as it begins to get harder and harder to keep your eyes open. And just like that he was asleep. Then there was silence as he snored away with exhaustion starting to fade away.
But it didn't last long.
Suddenly a loud boom rumbled causing Siren to jump up in shock. He looked over towards his glass table and noticed four people lying in the pile of broken glass, as they struggled to get up. Without wasting a single second, Siren quickly aimed his hand towards them, as he activated his eyes once more.
"Who in the world are you people?" he asked with an angered tone.
Everybody jumped up, and as they stretched and groaned, one of them in glasses started talking.
Thanks, Jermaine, now we're stuck in another place! We barely survived our last adventure!" The man said as he stared at the other angry man who was allegedly Jermaine.
"You know damn well that's not my fault, and when did this become an adventure? Last time I checked we still gotta get home." Jermaine stated as he looked at Siren with concern in his eyes. He didn't move as the two just stared at each other waiting for one of them to make a move.
Suddenly one more person awoke as they gazed up at Siren, who was still aiming his hand at them.
"What the hell is going on now?" The woman asked as she looked at Jermaine and the guy with glasses. Siren straightened up as he glanced over towards the woman. "You and your friends broke into my bar, that's what happened dumb ass." Siren said as he chuckled a little. The woman began waving her hands as she caught Siren's attention.
"Hey now, we didn't break in here. . . It's a valid explanation if you give us time to hear us out." She pleaded. Siren rubbed his face in annoyance, as he side-eyed the group as the last person got up.
"Fine. . . You better not waste my time." He fell back onto his couch.
"Okay, so these are my acquaintances, Terrance (The one with the glasses), Railon (A young black man with a fur coat), Jermaine (The guy with the punkish attitude), and me (Jocelyn a young white woman). We have been on a wild goose chase through mirrors, traveling to different mirrors to get back home, but some stupid robocop rip-off keeps chasing us," she said as Jocelyn attempted to catch her breath.
There was silence as everyone stared at each other with utter awkwardness.
"Please tell me you're joking, right? . Oh god, you're not joking." Siren said in disbelief.
"Of course, we aren't Mr. Emo man," Terrance said with a cocky smirk on his face. Ignoring the smart remark Siren signaled for everyone to follow him out the door.
"Well, you sure did end up in one hell of a place then. Welcome to Newland, a town where creatures from once fairytales now roam among us. If you're looking for a good place to find refuge from society's cruel nature, this is the town to do it." Siren said as they walked down the streets. In my world, we are gifted enough to have magic through the grace of a giant tree that we call the World Tree, a Unique name I know. The best thing is that there is such a large variety of races that live alongside us, mostly those from different mythologies." He stated as he took a deep breath after saying all that information.
"So . . . Do you guys have powers where y'all from, or anything out of the ordinary at least?" Siren asked. The group simply shook their heads as Railon suddenly spoke up.
"Nope, we kind of just got powers randomly out of nowhere." He said
There was a faint pause as the group side-eyed each other in this fairly weird situation.
"You guys go do some shopping, I gotta go meet with some people who might know how to send you back." Siren said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a couple hundred dollars for each of them. "Geez oldy, you sure have that bread, where did you get it from," Railon said as he side-eyed Siren heavily. Siren simply sighed as he walked off, as he left the group in front of the incredibly large mall.
As the group began walking in they were astonished by the detail put into the infrastructure. The floor was shining off the smoothened marbled floor, as crowds of people walked past the group. Within the crowd, there was such a diverse group of people that it was astonishing that they came together so effortlessly. There were elves, orcs, banshees, and even a couple of harpies in the crowd.
The scent of food roamed the air as it caught Jocelyn's nose. It was a wonderful smell. It had been days since they had smelt anything of that sort.
The scent of grilled meat. It was alluring, to say the least like wild animals being drawn toward food. The group ran wildly as if they were some maniacs until they stumbled upon the source of a burger shack in the heart of this flourishing mall.
"You guys wanna get something to eat?" She asked with a famished expression on each of their faces.
Meanwhile, in a alleyway not too far from the mall a dark presence clouded the end of it as flickering noise rumbled from the dreadful abyss. It was a soft flickering noise that shifted between a distorted cry to a wild shout.
Multiple boney hands clawed against the bricks as they pushed against it, forcing its way through.
A cloaked figure walked through with a ravaging aura oozing from it.
There was a man standing in front of this being, with a look of sheer horrid.
He couldn't move, even though every instinct told him to run, get away from whatever this thing was approaching him. Yet his fate was sealed the moment he entered this alley.
The thing opened up its gaping mouth to reveal layers upon layers of teeth stacked behind each other as it leaned in to end this young man's suffer.
Within one bite it swallowed the man whole, as a new scent caught its eye.
The scent of a portal like the one it entered from not too long ago.