My eyelids twitched as I slowly awoke.
Then, they shot open as I quickly rose to my feet, observing my surroundings as I did so.
It was daytime. Not just that, but the place I was in was quite a familiar one.
"No…" I muttered as I stared at a building nearby. On a particular floor, the window was shattered.
"Why here again? Sylvie, what's going on?"
No response. I tried calling for her a few more times, but my efforts were for naught.
"For fuck's sake, Sylvie, can you hear me?"
Instead of the melodious voice of my AI companion, I heard something quite concerning—a loud growl accompanied by a rumble.
I slowly turned around, only to find myself face-to-face with the Nightmare that had goddamn barrels for legs.
My mind kicked into gear as I thought of what to do in order to save my ass, only for it all to come to a halt as something odd happened.
The Nightmare slowly turned around. Once its back was facing me, it lowered its torso and bent its back.
"No… Don't tell me…"
Then it did it. It began to fucking twerk.
"What the actual—"
Whatever it was that I was about to say went unsaid as my vision darkened, followed by excruciating pain.
"AGH!" I howled as my eyes shot open once more.
This time, the sky was dark. Not only that, but I quickly noticed two figures floating close by—very small figures.
"Fairies…?" I uttered hoarsely, my throat parched.
"AH! Sis, how many times do I have to tell you? Don't do that!"
"But… it would take too long for them to wake…"
The first one that spoke was a small humanoid figure with transparent wings. It was a female. I assumed her hair was black, but it wasn't that clear since my vision was still disoriented. Specifically, I still wasn't seeing colors properly.
The other one had seemingly white hair and was pretty much an identical copy of the first one.
Though, there was one other key difference between the two. The white-haired one wore a dress, while the black-haired one was donned in an outfit I could best label as tomboyish—black shorts, shoes, and a crop top.
Even fairies are stylish these days. Who would've thought?
"Uh… hey, big fella. You all right?" the black-haired one spoke as she shifted her focus to me.
"Yeah… I think."
The fairy gave me a sympathetic look before she shook her head and spoke, "No matter how bad things must've been, you shouldn't throw your life away so readily."
"…What?" I uttered, trying to figure out her intentions.
"I must say, I was surprised by how bad the damage was despite the height you fell from."
As she said so, she looked in a particular direction. I did so as well and realized that her sight was locked on the edge of a small one-floor building.
My mind quickly connected the dots as I felt heat rise to my cheeks. I wasn't sure what was more embarrassing: supposedly committing suicide by jumping off such a building or running into its wall foolishly.
"Big sis…" the other fairy spoke as she pointed at the wall. "He didn't jump off…"
The black-haired fairy appeared startled as she observed the wall…
"Oh…" she uttered, both realization and confusion apparent in her voice.
"Okay, the heck?" she uttered soon after.
"Don't ask," I uttered, wanting to escape from the area as soon as possible.
"Yeah, right. The least you could do for your benefactors is tell us why you were almost turned into meat paste on the wall."
"I tripped."
Both fairies deadpanned at my response. The white-haired one even raised her arm for some reason, only for the other one's eyes to widen as she hurriedly latched onto the arm.
"Stop, stop, stop! Calm down!"
"He still hasn't healed properly," the white-haired one spoke. For some reason, the way she said "healed" sent a shiver down my spine. Even now, I was feeling some pain all over the front of my body, which my gut told me had something to do with her.
Just what the fuck is going on!? First, I had that cursed dream, and now I'm dealing with two fairies. With the way one of them called themselves my benefactors, did they heal me or something? Heck, forget that—didn't Markus say the fairies were situated in… what was the name of the city again?
I realized that Markus never told me its name.
Keeping that in mind for later, I observed the two fairies, who were having a mini-fight or whatever. All I knew was that the black-haired one was helping me out… somehow.
"Who are you two?" I asked.
That got both of them to stop. They both glanced at each other briefly before the black-haired one introduced herself: "Sorry for not introducing ourselves. I'm Yang and happen to be an Omega-Class Channeler."
Then, the other one followed suit, "Yin… Alpha-Class."
Yang… Yin… Yin-Yang? Seriously? Also, why is she Yang when her hair is black and the other one Yin with white hair? Lastly, what are those Classes they mentioned? Why are they using Greek letters for them? Actually… I just realized something. Why is everyone here speaking English?
"Mikael," I spoke, ignoring the many questions in my mind for now. "No idea what Class I am."
Both fairies gave me an odd look before eventually Yang spoke, "Are you a late-bloomer or something? Would explain why you're so close to the City Center."
"Something like that," I said dismissively as I slowly got up from the ground, both fairies floating away a bit to give me space.
I then scanned my clothes to see if they had gotten dirty before patting them away at a few dusty spots.
Once done, I focused back on the two fairies who were observing me curiously. After a moment of consideration, I voiced one question: "Aren't you fairies supposed to be in another city?"
They both winced at the question before, to my surprise, Yin, the meeker one, was the one that answered almost in a whisper, "Problem occurred…"
With nothing else said, I took it as them not wanting to speak of their private matters to a complete stranger—something completely acceptable.
"Right… hope it's nothing too bad," I tried to empathize.
"Thanks. But forget that; what're you going to do now? Need more help?"
I found it pretty admirable for the duo to be so nice to someone they had just met very… oddly. Though, I wasn't keen on burdening them any further.
Just as I was about to reject the offer for help, I noticed something within their eyes—anticipation.
My gut feeling was telling me that rejecting at this moment would be unwise.
"Actually, yes. Do you two happen to know the way to the market?"
I almost burst out laughing with the way their visages brightened up upon hearing my response.