Rattling noises like the sounds of creaking metal and the deathly harrowed screams of damned souls echoed inside the cockpit, Nera clung to the steering wheel tightly, Thomas' hands clasped on the dashboard and the tightly clung seat belt slung over his chest. They were traveling, the windshield swarmed in an amalgamation of mixing violets, deep emerald greens, some bright yellows and vibrant red's. The dial's along the dashboard swung and swayed as the engine roared to no consequences of her feet stepping on the pedal.
'Hailneris Feyshire~'
'Hailneris Feyshire~'
Whispers assailed their ears in the relentless torment, enough that it almost sounded like their own damned screams from the depths of fear though frighteningly more like worship. The engine roared more fiercely, howling with the dial's rapid movements as Nera's head throbbed with the incessant echoes clambering through her thoughts.
"Neraa!!" The car swerved, skidding like it'd gained solid ground on what felt as though they'd been flying through mid-air just moments prior. She tightened her grip on the wheel, attempting to shift it back in place though far too late at the gesture as the rattling grew fiercer with a receding swarm of the prismatic colours showering into the dark.
"Left Rock!!" She heard him shout, blinded by a flash of white light followed by the crunching of gravel rocks and thunderous flashes. The world grew dark as a towering jagged protrusion of rock shrouded their vision ahead, noticing the sudden control she swung the steering wheel right, narrowly avoiding the object whilst grappling at the gear stick.
"Righ—"
"I have eyes!!" The vehicle swerved, drifting past another jagged construction of rock as she scrambled at the gears whilst pulling the wheel opposite to the car's shifting direction. Thomas spared a terrified glanced, if the horrors of a speeding sports car through prismatic rifts hadn't already shaken him to his core then what stared back at them through the window certainly did.
"Crises…" His eyes widened, met with the harrowing scenery of ever spanning mountainous grey rocks and a sky half engulfed by an approaching storm mired in flashes of pearl white and deep crimson. He was a normal human being, he was a sane and completely sober human being, a single bottle wasn't enough to place a person this far from home. He turned to his petrified partner, robotically swerving and shifting at the gears in an ample attempt at avoiding the towering protrusions miring the rocky grounds and felt a similar reaction swirling through her thoughts.
'Shit, shit, shit!' threading through two further obstacles, the ground beneath them faltered for a moment, flying over a short gorge and crashing back onto the rocky grounds. Fluid reactions kept them planted down the barrelling stretch of mountainous terrain as Nera grappled with the skidding vehicle, "I'd start looking at that paper, Tommy!!"
His head shifted in her direction, "You don't actually believe that do you?" the last thing he'd conclude was that a piece of incongruent letters and runic words were responsible for their current predicament. As ironic as that sounded from a ghost hunter and an exorcist, they weren't believers of the supernatural, besides he'd also been drinking right? That was a little hypocritical though, just earlier he'd brazenly told himself that no singular beer could affect a person this badly especially himself. Then the paper? The old woman's aged old runic letters that held little value even to fanatics of the genre? He had read them so maybe..maybe they did hold a hand in it?
It wasn't that he couldn't believe the idea, it just felt so hard to accept, "Try the illogical when the illogical is already in front of you"
"Was that supposed to be encouraging!?"
"Say the damn spell!!"
Not exactly a spell but sure, all other options seemed to have been exhausted anyway, "Hailneris..Feyshire!!" The structure rattled, runic lettering like the ones from before, scattering over the car's surface as the amalgamation of colours swarmed in front of them. Thomas gripped at whatever the car could provide as the hellish terrain grew blurred and distant, shrouded in the colours before everything disappeared.
§
Night shifts were the worst, he'd always thought they were. Nothing made a person more detached from the job than the reality that whilst slaving away in the dead of night, everyone else was either drinking themselves to death in a bar, fast asleep or coming home from a date, or mingling with the youth, or…getting action, now that was something to be mad about. End of the day, night shifts sucked but perhaps it really depended on the job that was offering it.
He shot a tired glance outside, sometimes the lack of customers was reason enough to pack up and leave, he could explain it the next day and a bunch of others had done it before him anyway. The parking lot was eerily empty and eerily quiet as well, he sighed and turned back to a newspaper. [Abominations strike for public rights], [Demon saves burning family in striking irony], he raised an incredulous brow at the titles but read through them nonetheless.
ZZZZTT
There was a flicker of the light systems, he lifted his gaze from the newspaper and felt the sudden rumbling of the store walls as short flashes of violet, pinkish crimson light sparked across his vision. The world contorted, spiraling to the space outside as though drawn to it. He felt sick, rising from his seat at the counter whilst a part of his body, still being drawn by the contorting space, turned his head to the open parking lot where the sparks of enthralling colours swarmed and coagulated. He watched in slight awe as those colours brightened, as that space warped further and drew him till something appeared from within it, popping into existence with blaring sirens and flashing lights.
"Is that a..car?"
Nera was panting, her hands still grasping around the wheel and her heart still beating like it'd run a marathon. The car had stopped and the engine had screwed itself dead, the stock stillness of her body was only made apparent in life by the rising and falling of her chest. Beside her, Thomas was groaning with a face that looked almost sick; right, he was more susceptible to motion sickness than anyone else she knew, she remembered. Barely sparing a glance at their surroundings, the door was flung open as he tumbled outside followed by the disgusting noises of puking. She scrunched her face in disgust but if he could drop out of the car and let it all out then the danger had mostly passed, "Haa", her shoulder slackened as her hands slipped from the wheel and fell limply by her side, "Dreaming, definitely dreaming"
A few minutes later, Thomas lazily planted himself back in the car. The alarms had stopped and the effects of the previous blast had mostly subsided, subconsciously still there but gone, He crashed onto the seat and sunk into its caramel covers whilst staring blankly at the windscreen. The place was silent, as he turned to the open door, "We're in a parking lot, different from before though" the lack of an immediate reply turned his attention towards her, she'd laid her head in her arms, now rested over the wheel and looked up for a moment, "We're still dreaming then?"
He sighed, "You can't share the same dream"
Her body sunk into the seats and her shoulders shrugged, "I'm trying to find a logical conclusion, Tom"
"Right…"
A flickering lamp post shyly illuminated the dark tarmac ahead of them, it was empty. They hadn't left the car, blank stares staring into nothing. Thomas sifted through his pockets, pulling out a cigarette and placing it calmly to his lips and perhaps that's what was keeping himself from freaking out entirely. She'd warned on multiple occasions over an addiction but didn't have any desire to halt it here, if it weren't for her own personal values then she most certainly would've asked for one herself. The car was wafted by the scent of burning cigarette smoke and the voices of still tired sighs, the process of what'd transpired a few minutes ago still whirred through her thoughts and the silence of the car was unsettlingly unwelcome.
Thomas rolled down a window on his side of the car, outstretching his hand and tapping at the cigarette. Nera's head had once again sagged into her arms, the pitch darkness of the emptied parking lot sparked at a few areas with the flickering lights slowly coming into view. His gaze was aimed blankly towards a part of the darkness where subtler lights flickered and slowly flushed to life, he squinted his gaze where the glow of a store sign shimmered followed by the rest of its lights inside. A convenience store? He wondered, turning to Nera and back at the now mostly visible store.
The car was still seated outside with headlights now stilley gazing at the convenience store ahead of it, he stared for a while as the store lights flickered back to life with the all too familiar hum of fluorescent lights above. Receding remnants of the distorted space sparked out of existence as the car lights switched off, the vehicle was odd to him though. Fancy models of expensive cars didn't pass by the place much but he had a handle on quite a few, the one parked outside didn't ring a bell.
'Nothing of concern' he flipped at the newspapers, magecraft needed no further explanation. If seen, ignore and pretend, that's what his mother had taught him. He crossed his feet and laid them across the counter, only shaken from his nonchalance when the sounds of shutting doors rattled his ears. 'No, no wait, I didn't see anything!!'
The store bell rang, two figures stepped through it in void black coats, bright white shirts and deep dark tie's. Brentwood's convenience store was an attraction for the weird, sometimes the odd and mysterious or slightly dangerous. When his mother had handed down the family craft to himself, she'd strictly gone through the basics of array activations and various secret defense mechanisms which was why he'd acquired the job as a teller despite his exceedingly lacking qualities of customer service. He'd never needed to use them though, maybe until today..
The two, a man and a woman turned towards him. His body shivered, the earlier display of magecraft still shuddering through his thoughts. A vehicle appearing through thin air wasn't something he'd seen before, one of the two, a pearl haired, dark skinned woman finally moved. He shifted his feet of the counter whilst one of his hands skillfully, or as skillfully as his untrained hands could accomplish, hid under the counter and greeted the woman.
"Brent's convenience store, how may I help you this evening?" The largely automated tone of voice slightly surprised her, inwardly he felt a part of himself spark in fear; would a mage erase you for something as simple as that? He wondered but his fears were proved pointless as the woman pointed at one of the newspapers by his side.
"Are you..like a collector of old school news?" His eyes followed her finger to the newspaper article he'd been reading through just a few moments prior and raised a brow, old school? He shot an incredulous look, just how old were these wizards, no, more importantly was how it was old..? He'd just acquired this three hours ago, still trying to hide the sense of worry in his chest, he answered tentatively, "It's actually today's news, are you..perhaps used to another form of news?" Wizards were always experimenting, always conniving and inventing so maybe it looked primitive to a person of such high esteem.
The woman's surprise wasn't lost on her face, she gave the newspaper by his side a sharper look, analyzing its very title and first few words. Suddenly her brows furrowed in deep thought, then they widened in surprise to shocking horror as some sort of realization was met. She leaned forward towards him, quickening his already fragile heart and asked another question, "What..year is it and what country is this exactly?"
Surprised and confused by the question but far too afraid not to answer, he spoke immediately, "Nineteen sixty eight of the Arken calendar, and..we're currently in Blackton..capital city of Saint Tyris; Ma'am!!"