"And I thought I was having a bad day. It looks like you won that title, little boy. Where are you running off to in such a hurry? I don't bite." the person I ran into said. Her accent sounded like she was from California. I looked up to see a dark-skinned African American woman.
"Are you going just to keep looking at me or introd-" the woman said, looking down at me before a screech cut her off, causing her to harrumph.
"Do you need a Snickers? You look pretty mad there." I said, looking at the half-spider, half-woman creature. My comment earned a screech from the spider demoness as she began shooting eggs everywhere before her. Spiders the size of full-grown border collies began popping out of them within seconds.
"A brave one you are, I see. You still have the gall to make jokes before you were about to die for someone who would have left you for dead." the woman said to me as I looked at her closer. The lady also seemed off the runway, just like the woman of fire. The lady wore a light pink plaid blazer dress with some white flats. She also wore white gloves, making the whole look have a business feel.
Looking back at the battlefield, though, the woman in lava began to destroy as many as she could, but alas, she couldn't get all of them. The spiders started popping eggs the size of greyhound dogs as time passed. Finally, the woman on lava began to stomp on the ground like she was dancing, and mini volcanoes started appearing from the ground. She looked like she controlled lava, but humans couldn't control lava, much less step in it without injury. It was a blood bath, but all the blood evaporated before it went anywhere.
"Pele, Why are you holding back? This place got abandoned, unlike the sites we usually fight in. Don't be afraid to go crazy with the destruction." said the woman in the light pink plaid blazer dress.
Pele looked back with disdain before rolling her eyes. Pele turned before stomping hard on the ground, causing a lava wave to spread in front of her, effectively killing most of the spiders in the area. If they weren't dead, they were close to death. Even the spider demoness was deeply affected by the attack.
"Seems you left some for me to finish, " the woman said as Pele rolled her eyes and turned to look at the spider demoness. Then, with a hand wave, a pit of lava appeared under the creature, causing it to explode. As fast as the battle started, it had already ended. I didn't even fully process everything that had occurred.
I got convinced I was lucid dreaming because this world seemed one of my imagination. Maybe I took my sleeping pills rather than my other medicine, but I remember being in the tub. Before I let my thoughts continue, I took a deep breath before I began to freak out. I didn't need an anxiety attack. I had so many questions but no answers. Once I looked at the woman, she appeared to be studying me.
"Little boy, what's your name? Also, where are your parents?" she asked solemnly. If I were in her place, I'd assume the worst, considering I was a child with no adults. As a result, I wasn't sure how to answer because if I were truthful, I would sound crazy. I also didn't know what kind of lie I should say. This place could be a new world different from mine, so I would have to find out more about it if this all was real.
I don't know any responsible adult who would let a child go alone, so I had to think of something fast. Finally, I decided to stay silent and look confused. I needed her to believe I didn't know anything. Playing the card that pulled on human empathy worked, considering I was a child. Just like I had assumed, it worked in my favor.
"Well, you can tag along for now. A child like you shouldn't be in a place like this so you can follow me. This area needs to be changed for children to explore. By the way, You can address me as Ms. June," the woman said as she pulled me along.
As she led me forward, there were giant insect monsters. Some of which were pretty humanoid. The Arachne, for example, wasn't rare, and I saw about twenty as Ms.June was leading me to safety. It was as if the monsters were throwing themselves at her. As a result, I could see the looks of disdain Ms.June had, as well as Pele, who was she summoned. I didn't know what that meant.
As we continued, fewer monsters were popping up until there were none. At that point, a fire pillar rose from the ground, and Pele walked into her dimension, according to Ms. June. Five minutes later, we reached a tall metal wall with giant high-tech cannons. Ms. June stopped us about ten meters away as a small hole opened in the wall. A drone came out of a small opening in the wall before scanning us.
"No parasites or magical beasts in human form detected. You may now enter." a cold robotic voice spoke from the drone before returning to the hole in the metal wall. As I took a closer look at the wall, there were what I believed to be snipers. There were also magic minefields that activated if one was deemed a threat by the drone, according to Ms. June. The wall was exceptionally well built, and as the gate opened, there were a total of ten 1-meter doors that slid open.
There was a dimly lit hallway on the other side of the gate. After walking another 5 minutes, we underwent another scan before ascending in an elevator. The first scan was more focused on the external, while the second scan was more on the internal, according to Ms. June. At the end of the hallway, a few people in uniforms were waiting. They subjected Ms. June to various verification forms, including retina and face scans. It seemed whoever this woman was, she commanded respect because the people didn't even ask to check who I was once they verified her identity.
The security was tight here as there was a 1-meter wide gate every five meters we walked in the hallway that needed to get opened. Finally, after another 20 minutes, we reached an elevator with seats and a seatbelt. Instead of going up or down, though, it went backward before making a few sharp turns. I felt like I was on a roller coaster, but I couldn't see where I was going or how the track appeared. Once we stopped, the elevator dinged, and I unbuckled the seat belt as I followed Ms. June.
As we stepped out, it was a circular white room. Both the ceiling and walls were white. The floor was white marble, and everything looked extra clean. There were also six other elevator doors, and above all of them were weird symbols I didn't recognize. In the center of the room was a desk with a lady typing away on what seemed to be a hologram. She looked up as we approached the desk with a smile.
The lady scanned us with some weird watch before looking at me strangely. She seemed confused and mentioned something about me "not being in the database" and her "never seeing anything like this." She spoke for a while with Ms.June before shaking her head. I had to sit on a bench against the wall since they didn't want me to hear the conversation.
I sat for a while as they discussed before Ms.June walked over to me. She smiled before explaining the situation. She lied to the customs lady so that we could get to where we were going. Ms. June said she pretended I was her long-lost family member named Zephyr, who got lost years ago after being taken by human traffickers. She told an elaborate story that sounded like it was straight out of a crazy lifetime movie. I could say that the lady at the desk didn't believe her a single word, but like the other, she seemed to respect Ms.June from her expressions and didn't want to overstep.
"So I told her your name is Zephyr, so just play along like yours, my long-lost nephew." Ms.June ended as we walked back up to the desk. She talked with the lady again, and honestly, I had the same expression as the lady at the desk who said 'really .'We both heard that story twice, and I rolled my eyes. The lady at the desk asked me a few more questions before handing a device over to Ms.June, who grinned happily.
"Looks like we are out of here." Ms.June said, pulling me along into another elevator.
Instantly, I could feel a few questions firing off in my head. My stranger danger alarm didn't go off at first, but now I didn't know how to feel. Where are we heading to? Also, how did she come up with the name Zephyr? Why did everyone look at Ms.June the way they did? Those were just a few questions I had in my head.
Once we hopped in the elevator, this one had no seats or seatbelts. It went directly down before opening to a sleek subway area. There was a modern concrete look and a bullet train floating on rails. A holographic screen said the train was heading to somewhere called Pyramudis City. It was a weird name, and I couldn't place it as a city I recognized. Then again, only some cities in the world were known.
After about 30 minutes, the train stopped, and we got off. We followed a tunnel that went above the ground. I was not in any way prepared for what I saw. There were a ton of buildings with new infrastructures, but what caught my was the cars. They all floated while some even flew in the car. What made matters even more impressive was no one was driving a lot of them. At this point, I genuinely thought I had one crazy dream or was transported into another dimension. For all I know, I could be in a hospital bed somewhere after my attempt.
Ms.June fidgeted with her hologram watch a little before a ding sounded. A hovercar pulled in front of us, and we got in. As I put on my seatbelt, she slid the screen map attached to the car dashboard to some location. Once she put on the seat belt, the vehicle took off. We sat in a comfortable silence as the car flew to go wherever it was going. Eventually, we reached a lovely house in a beautiful neighborhood, and the vehicle stopped. Ms.June was about to press the button to complete the ride, but he seemed to hesitate. She looked over at me and began to talk seriously.
"You have two options, Zephyr: you can easily leave to go to the orphanage I know wouldn't mind taking you in, or you can come with me. If you come with me, your life may come into danger from assassins trying to kill me, and I'll push you hard, but I guarantee you'll achieve greatness," she said, looking me dead in the eyes.
I had two options to weigh seriously. In an orphanage, I would be with people I didn't know, but they would be children my 'age .'I could get adopted by a fantastic family, but I wasn't entirely a child in my mind. I was a young adult, so being around many children didn't sound that comfortable to me. On the other hand, I could get into a household with a respected individual. Being able to receive a loving home wouldn't be possible, though.
"I choose to...."