Tom opened his eyes. He appeared to be in a forest, nothing out of the ordinary from redwood trees to pines that felt like a normal forest in California. It would be normal if he wasn't just falling from a cliff not 5 seconds ago. As Tom looked around he noticed the air felt heavy.
Tom moved his hands but it felt like a very humid day in the middle of spring, except it wasn't wet, nor was it humid. Tom didn't understand but continued walking until he noticed the terrain felt familiar
“I broke my leg here, I jumped off of a tree there” He muttered to himself; “This is my home.” As Tom kept walking he kept noticing the similarities until he left the forest and got to where his home should be.
His home was at the end of the street where the forest begins, but to Tom's surprise, his home was nowhere to be seen. It all looked the same but, no home. “Figures, the last thing I can look for is… The edge of this world” Tom figured if he followed the path he remembers to get there and the cliff was in fact there it would answer a lot of questions.
Tom trekked through the forest as fast as he could just in case Selina was there and some fuckery occurred and she was waiting for him. If that was the case he wouldn't know what the hell happened.
After 30 minutes of running, Tom got to a familiar spot where the trail in his head ended, and as expected ahead of him, a large expanse of water except something wasn't right. Tom saw lights coming out of the edge of the cliff. Before exploring what that could be Tom searched for Selina and her car.
“Selina!” Tom yelled, over and over to make sure she wasn't there and he didn't drag her into his weird post-death fever dream thing. After concluding that she wasn't there he made his way to the edge of the cliff, where the light continued to peak over.
As he got close he began to hear sounds coming from the edge of a cliff, it sounded like,
“People, why are there people, and what sounds like a lot of them under a cliff,” Tom thought to himself. Tom picked up his pace and walked over to the edge and peered over, it didn't even take him 5 seconds to realize what was in front of him.
“There's a fucking city under, a city where there isn't meant to be a city” Tom racked his brain for any answer; and either thought he was genuinely tripping on some brain chemicals before he died or was in an alternate reality. Continuing with the alternate reality thought Tom questioned why he would be here as he should be dying or at least falling off at the same point he was, in the other dimension (i. E off of the cliff). Letting go of that thought Tom got closer to the city and heard a robotic voice.
“Welcome to Gazra city”...
**************
Back at the edge of the world
Selina stood petrified one second her best friend was walking off of a cliff the next he was gone.
What could he have been trying to show me? Selina thought to herself. While thinking about it she had a faint memory of him getting pushed back off of the cliff, but decided it must have been her imagination playing games on her.
Why am I so calm right now? Selina had just realized that a moment ago she was crying her eyes out, but after seeing him disappear she must have accepted subconsciously that this was part of his trick. It wasn't the first time he disappeared, he's done this before to her and he always came back. Therefore she decided she would beat him when he came back but for now, she walked away while profusely swearing.
As she was getting closer to her car she came to the edge of the forest and heard footsteps come out a path, the same path leading to Tom's house.
As Selina's heart began to race she quelled it knowing there's little chance it was Tom and didn't want to get her hopes up. As the footsteps began to get closer Selina felt a pressure that felt like it came from her soul. She instinctively reached for a knife in her back pocket, something she always kept on her.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
As the sound of the footsteps stopped a man could be seen standing at the edge of the forest, he was a man with perfect hazel-colored skin, that gave him warmth as the sunlight bounced off of him. In contrast to his skin, his hair was white, and along with his eyes, both very out of place for his appearance. The man was wearing a white robe embedded with gems along every centimeter but had no shirt on.
The man gave off an aura that could only be described by Selina as an emperor's aura. This very aura was quickly leaving him but not quick enough to keep Selina from falling to her knees almost as if to prostrate herself.
“Get up you are not one of my people, nor is this my land; I have no place being worshiped here” The man spoke with a commanding tone. As he said this his pressure was quickly lifted off of Selina, whether by his will or not it made Selina able to breathe again.
“Excuse me sir, but what the hell was that. I couldn't breath, I couldn't stand; it was like magic, can you at least tell me your name? '' Selina questioned as she was getting up.
“Ha my name, it's been ages since someone asked my name, almost feels refreshing” The man heartingly laughed. “Okay listen closely as I don't repeat myself, Its Gazra “
A short silence passed while the man named Gazra stared down at Selina “That's a weird name is it foreign” Selina stammered to cut the tension.
As Gazra looked around and did a check on his body he replied “very weird.” With the brief conversation with the stranger over, Selina walked back to her car and drove home awaiting the eventual return of her best friend.
**************
Gazra continued to look down the cliff, his eyes wandered to every line, crack, and imperfection possible within the cliff.
“It truly looks the same as the land I found my city on” he mumbled to himself.
“The only difference is I don't have the same magic power here” Gazra’s palms flashed with light a sword made of water “ha I guess nothing changes what you're born with. I'll always have this magic I conquered with”.
But, based on the fact that I don’t have my old magic and my city no longer exists, my only guess is… Iv been transported to an alternate earth Gazra thought to himself. “Well, I've only met one human so I might as well find her again, and question her. Based on my observations of their technology from that girl's vehicle they must be beings with complex thought, so she should understand everything I tell her”
As Gazra attempted to channel a power nothing occurred and he sighed, “ha, guess it all really is gone” with one last look back Gazra continued walking in the direction of the girl's tire tracks.
**************
Selina sat in her house anxiously tapping her foot with every noise making her twitch. She debated calling 911 more times then she could count, but she decided to wait. There was no way he wouldn't have seen him hit anything or hear the sound of him hitting anything on the way down. Thus she concluded that this was all a part of his elaborate trick. Otherwise she didn't know what to do or how to live with herself.
“Whew” as Selina exhaled, finally able to slow down her heartbeat she heard footsteps.
She bolted for the door and threw it open, while gasping for air she looked at the man in the front door: tall, dark-skinned, white hair. Selina thought to herself where she had seen him before. After a moment of contemplation, she remembered a confrontation with a man at the cliff earlier that day.
“Oh hello… Gazra I believe it was what are you doing at my door, and how do you know where I live” She stammered.
“Don't worry about it, may I come in,” Gazra asked as he let himself into her house, letting in a warm aura with him.
“Umm, sure I guess since you already barged in, you may as well come in”
“Perfect, thank you miss umm I don't think I caught your name”
“Selina '' Selina grumbled as she slowly made her way into the kitchen, to give her access to a weapon, as she felt her pocket knife wouldn't be able to handle this man.
“What a nice name miss Selina, I'm sorry about my aura earlier I was controlling it in a new environment, but my first question is where are we”
Selina temporarily forgot her plan to grab a weapon and looked at the man questionably “you don't know where we are”.
“No, that's why I'm asking you”.
“Ok, we are in California”
“Don't know that go bigger”
“The US”
“Next!”
If he doesn't know the US I must not know about North America, the final option Selina thought about was “Earth!”.
“Earth, Earth…” Gazra repeated to himself “I guess I was right”. Gazra began to get excited and started to laugh. After he was done laughing he looked at Selina, but more so he looked straight through her into nothing “we are in for a great change… ' and I love it” Gazra said with a beaming smile.
While Gazra was getting excited, Selina remembered why she was in the kitchen. She reached for a large knife and slipped it into her hand while hiding under the counter.
Gazra looked into her eyes and with one step was right in front of her “Ha, iv lived decades before I ever acquired external energy, this change won't stop me from becoming a king again”.
Selina looked down and screamed her blade was grabbed by Gazra who had water on his hands. She let go of her kitchen knife and backed away until she was on the other side of the room.
“Well, I can't just let you leave like that” Gazra took another step and was in front of Selina.
Selina looked down, Gazra’s fingers were knuckle deep into her chest. As he pulled them out she noticed there was no blood nor holes. The only thing he left was a searing pain inside of her along with sudden exhaustion.
“This is the only way I can repay you in this new world. what you're about to experience will be the worst pain you've ever felt but only time will tell if you're strong enough to accept… Thank you miss Selina'' Gazra said and walked out of her house and continued walking in the opposite way of the cliffs.
Selina was left on the ground crying from pain, part of her body told her she had to keep her eyes open otherwise she may never open them again.
After attempting to crawl on the ground to her bed she gave up and just laid down on the ground crying “Tom, please come home, I need you”.