In the dark corner of a ally slightly illuminated by the multitude of neon signs splashed up and down the sides of the towering buildings laid a girl bruised and battered curled up against the side of a dumpster. If anyone who would pass, not that they would be walking in this part of town this late, would see the girl and believe she to be dead; However if one looked closely enough they would see a slight movement in her chest indicating that she was still breathing, for now.
The girl stirred for a few seconds before she slowly pushed herself up off the ground and leaned against the dumpster. Picking up her boney hand, she covered her right rib with a noticeable grimace of pain. The girl sitting there for a few seconds longer to gather her strength tried to stand up only to stumble and land back on her behind. Again she tried despite the noticeable pain she was in, but this time she was able to stand up with the help of the dumpster's rim. Walking around the dumpster the girl limps down the ally in the direction of the bright neon lights that filled the ally.
She kept walking till she reached the end of the ally hitting a dead end blocked off by a large concrete wall; However, out of sight laid against the wall, lays a stairway leading to a single metal door. The girl slowly limps down the stairs holding her hand against the wall so that she doesn't fall. Reaching the door she reaches into her pocket and fumbles around for a second till she pulls out a key. She slowly puts the key in the door and slowly opened it, walking inside she closed the door and looked at her very humble home filled with the slight smell of damp mold.
"I'm Home." Says the girl to no one but the bugs that live in the walls. She walks into a room with a slightly broken door on the side of the short hallway to the main room, more like the only room really. The room contained an off white wallpaper, broken tile, a toilet that has a unpleasant smell to it, a shower with slight mold around the rim, a sink with a chipped edge, and a mirror with cracks running through it. The girl turns on the the sink and with a slight groan the pipes took a few seconds before it started to spitter out water. She started to wash the dirt and grime that covered her face from laying on the ground for too long. After she washed what she could off with just water she looked into the slightly broken mirror.
In the mirror a girl with short brown shoulder length hair with bangs that covered the topside of her deep set back amber eyes that had large slight purple bags under them from a severe lack of sleep. She appeared to be slightly malnourished and paler than what should be healthily. A large bruise covered the left side of her jaw. Looking at herself all the girl had to say is "You've had worse Marcy."
After turning off the water, Marcy walked out of the bathroom and down the short hallway to the bedroom/kitchen/pretty much everything room. the room also colored in the same off white wallpaper of the bathroom and in the corner of the room one could see slight growths of mold. On the right side of the room there was mattress with dark black sheets which seemed to be the only clean thing in the room, but maybe that was just because it wasn't white. On the left there was a small stove, a mini-fridge, and trash can. The floor was hard concrete floor that left no room for comfort.
Marcy walking over to the mattress hovered over it for a few seconds and then fell on it having passed out.
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Marcy felt like she was falling for minutes until she hit the surface of what she thought was water with the same amount of resistance as, or what felt like it, but she wasn't wet and felt as if she was no longer falling but floating instead. One may ask what the difference is physically very little, it was more of an intuition than anything. Marcy felt like she was falling for an long time until she suddenly hit the ground, but instead of hitting it like an egg and breaking apart she just bounce a few time till she came to a stop.
Marcy opening her eyes for the first time since she started her descent saw a sky of light pink littered with purple clouds. Sitting up she saw a grass plain sparsely covered with trees and flowers. "What the hell, . . . Where am I."
Even though Marcy was in a strange place she had never seen before she was strangely calm almost as if she had nothing to worry about anymore. However, this calmness only seemed to unnerve her with thoughts like why am I not worried, how the hell did I get here till she came to only one conclusion "Oh shit, am I dead."
" Mmmmmm. . . I wouldn't say that your dead, certainly not where your supposed to be. . . not yet at least."
Suddenly Marcy heard a voice appear from her right and tried to jump away, but it seems that her physical condition followed her here. Turning her head to look at the person who spoke, Marcy was caught off guard.
What stood before her was a tall thin man with a face as pale as the dead, long dark blue hair that reached his mid-back wearing long dark blue and gray robes that covered most of his body standing on a boat shrouded in a slight purple mist that floated a few inches off the ground effortlessly. The man's eyes. . . or well a gray eye that seemed to stare at Marcy's very being under the monocle he was wearing, but if one looked close enough they would see something akin to that of liquid moving throughout the eye. The man held a aura to him that made it hard to look away from him.
Marcy had seen plenty of people that seemed kind of weird people such as a priest, beast kin, orcs, goblins, drunk dwarfs, and heck even a cult leader, but she had never seen someone as odd as the man in front of her. "Who are you." Marcy asked in a weirdly calm manner for the situation at hand, thanks to the affect this place seemed to have on her.
"Well, that depends on who you ask," the man replied with a hint of amusement. "But if you ask me, I'm what you might call a guide of sorts."
Marcy narrowed her eyes at the mysterious man and asked "A guide to what exactly"
The man's gaze remained steady as he stepped off his boat and approached her with a deliberate, unhurried pace, as if he had all the time in the world. Marcy tried to retreat, but her body remained eerily still, trapped in the profound calmness that the place seemed to impose. The man stopped in front of her, leaning down with a slight, enigmatic smile. "Why, everything and nothing, young lady."
Marcy staring at the man only inches from her face only had one question "What the fuck is that supposed to mean."
The man's expression shifted to one of playful surprise, and then he burst into laughter, his amusement genuine and infectious. "HahHAHAhhahaahahaha... I haven't laughed like that in ages!"
Marcy not affected by his laughter in the slightest narrowed her eyes with distrust and said "That still doesn't answer my question."
The man's amusement hid behind the completive look that appeared in his eye and said "Well since you made me laugh like that, I can answer one question you have. . . any question."
Marcy catching the end of his words almost instantly said "Any question?"
The man looked at her with slight amusement and asked "Is that your question"
Marcy locked eyes with him and said in a hurried tone "No, give me a second"
"hahaha, very well then. . . but do remember the curiosity killed the cat. . . granted he had nine lives, but I know for a fact you don't." His cryptic words carried a hint of amusement that was reflected in the amusement that was also present in his eyes.
After half a minute of debate in her mind Marcy decides on the question that has bugged her the most. Who is he, and not some cryptic answer but his name, she debated weather she should ask where she was, but through the feeling she was getting from this place she determined that it wasn't dangerous and that maybe it was her instincts telling her she's fine; However, if that was case why is it not telling anything about the man in front of her. "Who are you, and no cryptic answers. I want the actual answer."
Something in Marcy's mind nagged her that she shouldn't ask the question straightforwardly and be slightly vague with the wording in a hope that he doesn't just answer with his name, but a little more.
The Man stares at her for a little longer than gives he a warm smile "Ah quite the interesting question the more you think about it. . . I mean you just happen to wake up in an unfamiliar place and the only person close by is a peculiar man."
The man proceeds to take a few steps back and locks eyes with Marcy, and with a mischievous grin and hint of amusement he says "You can call me Sobrisus, I am what you people might call a Mystic but of a very high rank of sorts. . . well unique in my own right, not to brag or anything."
Marcy becoming unnerved with this answer started to think of reasons he might want with her. 'What would a Mystic, let alone one of a high rank want with me.'
"Oh, don't be too worried, I'm merely fulfilling my duty as a messenger." Sobrisus grins at her with a cryptic smile that seems to know everything, but unwilling to part with the knowledge. Sobrisus reaches into a fold in his robe and pulls out a beautifully crafted vial filled with swirls of pink and reddish liquid that to gives off a aura that seems to draw one in.
Sobrisus walks back over to Marcy and starts to hand her the vial. Marcy instinctively starts to reach out for it before Sobrisus pulls back the vial and says "I do suggest you be carful" with a look that suggest he knows what happens to those who aren't.
Sobrisus finishes handing Marcy the vial and starts to walk back over to his boat and as he's boarding it, he pauses for a second and says "You have thirty-days, be ready." After, saying this the mist around his boat starts to envelope the bottom of it, covering all the way up the his ankles. The boat creaking in slight protest before moving into a thicker portion of mist until it eventually disappears entirely.
"Wait... what the hell happens in thirty days?" Marcy's voice trembles as she calls out, but the calmness she once felt is rapidly slipping away. She now realizes that the sense of peace she attributed to the realm was Sobrisus's doing all along. Panic begins to set in as the reality of her situation sets in. she's stranded in an unfamiliar place, holding a mysterious vial, with no clue of what to expect.
As her emotions peak, Marcy suddenly feels herself being lifted off the ground, as though gravity has reversed. She rises quickly, the ground falling away beneath her until she suddenly crashes into a surface that feels like water, mirroring the sensation from her initial descent.
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Suddenly waking up, Marcy sits up so quickly that her ribs scream in protest, forcing a rough cough that echoes throughout the quiet room. After recovering from the coughing fit, she quickly glances around, noticing that the vial is still clutched in her hands.
Studying the vial for a moment, Marcy lets out a sigh and lies back down against the mattress. "Well, shit."
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Note: Sobrisus is pronounced like ("Soh-BREE-sis")