"Nineteen..sixty..eight?" Nera felt a pit in her stomach like the drop of a pin in total silence, that was over fifty years ago. She shot a worried glance back at Thomas, the latter preoccupied by the items lined across the store, not the least bit worried over the revelations of their current predicament. Shaking her head with a disgruntled sigh of annoyance, she turned back to the teller. Nineteen sixty eight..but how? No, more importantly was another piece of information that felt just as jarring to the ears, "Saint..Tyris, that's the country we're in right now?"
The teller gave her an incredulous look, suspicious of something though not hesitant to provide an answer, "Yes, founded by some late general from ancient times. Look, I'm not that good at history so if you're in need of a quick catch-up to get in touch with the times, I really can't provide that" he said, glancing over herself and Thomas' still distracted figure. It was glaringly obvious to her that no country in the world existed or had existed with a name as memorable as Saint Tyris, let alone a country brazenly named after a person from who knows how long ago. Then where were they? At the thought of that question, their earlier ordeal from just a few minutes prior flashed between her thoughts and a wild suggestion came to mind; could they have..was it actually even..? The thought came and left, a little bit too frightening to dip herself into so haphazardly. She shook her head a bit and calmed herself whilst turning her attention back at the teller.
The man, who was of short stature and thin physique, studied the woman's actions closely. Neither of the two looked exceedingly dangerous though just a few minutes prior they'd teleported a car, the woman looked him over again and the store as he felt a shudder run down his spine; was this it? Had he exhausted his usefulness enough that they'd kill him? He'd heard stories of powerful mages, old masters or heartless bandits. It was always a few questions and the next thing one knew, they were a fish flopping on the floor whilst dying of a lack of water, or a pile of stone or just..gone. She sighed at him, "You don't have a radio for these kinds of stuff? Television even?"
The question caught him off guard, so much so he was only able to spare her a further look of confusion, the woman on the other hand seemed disgruntled rather than displeased at a lack of knowledge on the peculiar item she spoke of. She couldn't tell whether the names were different because of the difference in world's or the technology itself was weirdly nonexistent though the presence of a convenience store made her believe in the former.
"I'm sorry, is there anything else I could help you with?" She stared back at the man, realizing it'd been a while since she'd spoken and shook her head before glancing outside and then back towards himself, "You wouldn't know of a cheap place to stay, would you?"
The store doors rang with the chime of a bell, Thomas had his hands wrapped around an ice cream packet, cold to the touch as when it'd been given to him by the teller at the counter out of what Nera could only assume was fear; she'd noticed a similar reaction when the man had been speaking to her, what was that all about? Thomas unwrapped the treat and gave the place a puzzled look as they strolled towards the car, "Is the owner of this place an old man or something? Pretty outdated stuff in there"
Nera gave him a sidelong glance as they made it to the vehicle, the doors swung open, seating themselves inside and inserting the keys to which the engine miraculously roared back to life. Thomas leaned back into the chair and turned to her, "So what was that all about at the counter?", she frowned, still digesting the information herself. The old ladies 'gift' had been an actual spell? They were currently in the 1960's of some world they didn't know? Truth be told it was exceptionally hard to believe, no, anyone in their position would find it far more than just hard to believe, it was downright fanatical.
She heaved in a tired breath and placed the car into gear, "It's nineteen sixty eight and we're also..not on earth"
§
They'd pulled out of the parking lot ages ago, leaving the retro convenience store miles behind of which Thomas' head was still wrapping itself around the entire ordeal.
"Nineteen sixty eight!? Like..over fifty years ago?"
"Yes"
"And we're not on earth because.."
"Because we're in a country, in a city that doesn't even exist" She answered, although drastically more calm the information hadn't settled any better than it did with him. The idea that this was all still an elaborately concocted hallucination from a midway black out was tantalizingly on the table yet neither of them were willing to ramble on on a theory that held as much weight as water in a sieve, Thomas had been the only one who'd held a beer bottle and one to be exact. She'd only ever drank on occasion which wasn't the previous night and etcetera, etcetera. No effort was needed in finding a hole in the idea but so too was it frightening to accept the idea of having transmigrated to another world, all the questions it brought up built up a migraine.
Firstly was where Ms Brentley—where her father had acquired an actual, working and otherwise quite powerful spell? If the first recitings of its words that sent them traveling through hell hadn't been reasoning enough to figure out its involvement then Thomas' second use of it to get them out most certainly had, then was Ms Brentley's father some real life wizard? Far from a supernatural expert by name and an actual practitioner of the arts? Then Ms Brentley's naivety in it all made zero sense, a person whose father was quite literally dealing with the dark and mysterious should have no problem differentiating the real thing from a vile man's pitiful reconstruction.
Then assuming she knew, the entire thing was an act then? But an actor like herself, unofficial or not, could at least spot it. Sure, the greatest of actors never made you question whether they were acting but similarly could a thief recognize a thief, an actor could recognize another and she never felt that from her. So then..why—how?
Thomas had a part of his elbow outside of the window, staring outside in tranquil silence or perhaps it was grim trepidation. They were cruising down a highway system, emptied by the night and flushed under the city's gold visage as tall, fluorescent billboards flashed past them, some neon signs glowing a few distances in the flurry of buildings miring the scenery all around them as well as the contents of peculiar advertisements that were just lost to them. Thomas seemingly had his mind stirring over a succubus perfume ad, the evidence towards an actual transmigration were far from non-existent.
"So the spell's real, Ms Brentley's father was an actual supernatural master and yet his daughter grew up to have zero talent in the field let alone an aptitude of seeing the truly supernatural from a fake?" Thomas cited, more to himself it seemed though Nera chimed in anyway.
"It doesn't make much sense to me either, did he die before he could actually teach her all that stuff?" He frowned in thought, then shook his head violently, "We're treating this far too normally for what it actually is, Nera! We've been fucking teleported a chant and a few miles through hell to another world, crises, wasn't there some guy who said he'd pay anyone who could prove to him that magic was real?"
"Forgot his name and that was years ago, how are you planning to get back and do that exactly?" She raised a brow, Thomas' hands practically thrown up in frustration, "What I'm trying to say is that this is far from a reaction anyone in our position would be making!"
"It's the only logical reaction, how is panicking going to solve anything?"
"Remind us how utterly insane this is?!" He shouted, rubbing at the bridges of his nose and sighing at the fact as he rested his head along the dashboard, "Another world, a working spell, that's a lot to take in.."
There was no denying that, a day ago, the supernatural and the magical were fantastical dreams they manipulated the believing with and now they were caught up in one. Her grip over the wheel loosened as she cursed under her breath, "Yeah..I get that.."
Bright headlights shown through a darkened alleyway, illuminating a part of a dilapidated building that flickered and flashed with the humming of neon lights. The engine rumbled with the echoes of squealing rodents shuffling in the dark as the car slowly came to a halt beside the aging building, two doors swung open as the lights shut themselves dead and silence befell the area.
The directions from the convenience store weren't hard to follow, a large, brightly lit building past the local highway with a less than..subtle illustration on it. They walked over towards the only entrance visible beneath all the lights, a steel door similarly illustrated by the same image lit above by the building. Thomas made a showing of amusement at it and knocked on the door, there was silence and then came the unlocking of various parts of the door behind them. Creaking rusted hinges followed in the dark silence as a pair of pointed ears poked out from behind the door, "How may I help you today, Nya?"