(Marco)
A lady in a dress made of flowing emerald robes handed me a ring and a crystal. Now when I say flowing emerald most people would picture emerald green silk or another cloth of some sort, but these robes appeared to be made out of a continuous piece of translucent gem that shifted like cloth. I must say it was extremely distracting to look at especially when I had no idea where I was or what was going on.
The woman made a motion to me to put on the ring and without much thought I complied. I was too busy trying to take quick stock of my surroundings. I was in a rather comfortable chair across a desk from the woman in question who was standing with her own chair pushed in. Bookshelves filled with books and trinkets lined 2 walls, a third had some kind of weird glowing symbols in circles that rotated together and the last wall seemed to be a door flanked by a wardrobe, an armor stand and a banner. I smiled thinking of how much this looked like my old history professor’s office though he had never had a set of armor so valuable that looked like it could have purchased the Buckingham palace.
My right hand instinctively slid down to my holster and I tried to go white and red at the same time. My gun was gone. It wasn't unexpected when you suddenly find yourself sitting in a strange room without remembering how you got there to find your weapon missing. I suppose that must be kidnapping 101 or something, you would have to be really stupid to screw that up. But it's pretty disturbing to realize your pants are gone too and now you are very aware of the woman in the room whose form is outlined pretty well through that shifting emerald.
After a few seconds while I inspected the room and tried to get my bearings she finally spoke, her voice sounding a little odd to my ears, “Welcome and greetings I am Elli. And you might be?” This was not how I thought that the conversation would start. To be honest I was still a little out of it. “I’m Marco… Where are we and why am I here?” Might as well try to get some answers out of her if I could. She smiled but not in a friendly way she looked kind of sad. “We are in my vault and as for why you are here… Well that's what that,” She motioned to the crystal she had handed me. ”is for.”
Upon closer inspection the objects I had been handed were fairly interesting. The ring was plain, a band of what looked like steel speckled with spots of black and the crystal was a blue white with what seemed to be black flames inside. I held it up with a raised eyebrow. “So this is why I'm here? I mean don't get me wrong it's a beautiful crystal, something I'm sure people would spend fortunes on. But why am I here because of it?” This time she smiled and it was friendly and amused. “This is a Soulfinder, it's not why you are here. It's designed to find out why you are here.” That made absolutely no sense to me but I decided to just keep the conversation moving. “So I’m in your vault but you don't know why I'm in your vault?” She sighed and the smile disappeared as she continued. “No, I know why you are in my vault. What I’m trying to figure out is why I intercepted you, and at least one other, entering our space without using the proper channels.”
Now I was even more confused, the closest border I could have wandered over was a six or seven hour drive north and this lady really didn't seem like a mountie. Then again I could have wandered onto some weird cult or hippy or tribal land that seemed more likely. “Look, the last thing I remember is getting absolutely hammered with my girlfriend at the bar and then drunkenly stumbling out towards home. I’m sorry if I stumbled onto your land or whatever I’ll get out of your hair if you just give me some pants and let me know where Hanna is.” She frowned at me then waved her hand. “Just indulge me and hold that crystal to your forehead for a moment.” I sighed hoping I could get out of this weird situation soon. Then my mind went black.
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I was having a great evening. It was a Friday night, I was off for the weekend, and Hanna and I were out drinking excessively and watching the Packers game. I didn't care about the game that much but it was always fun being in a crowd for sporting events. After the game me and Hanna had stumbled out drunkenly supporting each other and laughing about something inane that I’m sure our drunken minds found hilarious. Then a few blocks down a flash of bright lights then darkness. After that a black void with spiraling lights of all colors, a blue light next to me, spiraling around me, or maybe I was spiraling around it. Then a pulling a relentless tugging as both lights were wrenched sideways. A popping sensation almost like altitude change experienced all at once across my whole being. Following that a green enveloping light coating everything then… The vault.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
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I snapped upright in my seat panting heavily, my heart hammering in my chest, my brow soaked in sweat. The crystal lay nearby on the ground, the flames within flickering. Elli was standing next to me now and handed me a glass of water. It was cold almost to the point of icing and was one of the most refreshing drinks I had ever had. I sighed in relief as all of my senses calmed and the throbbing in my head I hadn't even realized had been there began to fade. After a few more sips I asked the first question that came to my mind. “What happened to me?” Elli laid her hand on my shoulder trying to be comforting. “It seems like you died. Though to me the circumstances were vague and I didnt understand everything.. I'm sure your heavy intoxication didn’t help with that.” I stared at my hands. I kind of figured as much. That kind of blackness after the light I saw sure looked to be what I thought dying would be like. At least I hadn't felt whatever had killed me though I had felt everything else in the vision. I looked up at Elli, “But… I don't feel dead?” She lifted her hand off my shoulder and walked back around the table finally sitting in her seat.
She poured herself something that looked alcoholic to me and took a sip before replying. “You aren't… Well you aren't technically. You died, that's true. But then someone grabbed your soul and tried to put it in a new body, but then I stopped it and brought you to the vault…” She trailed off mid sentence and sighed, flicking her hand once as a new chair appeared next to mine then shimmering into existence near the door was another Elli holding Hanna in a shoulder lock. The Elli by the door fizzed out of existence as Hanna flew over and landed roughly in the chair next to me. Elli sighed again, “Marco will you tell your girlfriend to stop fighting me and listen for a minute.” Hanna was currently struggling against completely invisible bonds holding her to the chair. “You know fighting against someone who both already somehow physically subdued you as well as is currently apparently holding you in place with some sort of magic probably isn't the best idea.” I said, also sighing. She grinned at me not struggling much less than before as she replied “I underestimated her and she got lucky. And what's one of the first things you did when you realized you were in a strange place with no idea how you got there.” My sigh was even louder this time. “Went for my gun.” Her grin just broadened. “But when I realized fighting was pointless I opted to talk with the strange seemingly magical woman I know nothing about.” Hannas glared at me and Elli in turn her struggles turning more to just checking her bindings occasionally.
Elli took a longer drink from her glass. “Well now I’ll get you two up to speed at once I suppose.” “And why were you trying to keep us separated?” Hanna demanded. “Trying to keep you two from corroborating a story in case you really were illegally entering our space.” Elli explained reasonably. “But Marco proved that it was an accident so you don't have to worry about any legal repercussions.” Hanna looked at me and I shrugged. “I thought I was in some sort of cult’s basement or something. I didn't know anything actually magical was going on until I used the black flame crystal… Oh and also we are apparently dead.” She rolled her eyes expressively at me. “I knew we were dead from the minute we got here. Well even before the minute we got here.” I just stared at her in shock before she continued. “The last thing I saw was everything below my chest lying about 10 feet away from me.” I just continued staring.
She shrugged. “Jason Miller was a dumbass and tried to drive home from the bar and hit us, probably going at least 60. And you know he never takes the plow off the front of his truck.” I could finally think of something to say “That bastard!.. Wait, you knew you were dead and tried to attack the first being you met in death? You are more religious than I am, isn’t that like really really stupid?” She just shrugged again.
Elli was looking between us confused before shaking her head and giving up. “You two are taking this far better than I thought though that's probably the shock keeping you going. But we are unfortunately running out of time. I'll have to do this next part quickly. You thought you woke up in some cult’s basement and unfortunately that's rather true. Neither of you are actually here; the vault is a purely spiritual space where I was holding you before your spirits got to your bodies. Now that I know you weren't willingly breaking the law I can let you go. Unfortunately you both aren't going to the same place and are both going to wake up surrounded by some sort of law breaking organization almost definitely a cult in both cases. I tracked the locations you will end up and have authorities on their way they should arrive within an hour. Once they have secured you safely they are tasked with introducing you to and settling you into your new world.” The rapid fire barrage of information stopped and Elli clapped and my world became darkness again.