Jackk took a sip of his drink. “I can’t believe that kid managed to get away.”
“Y̸̘̖̻̽̚ó̵̠̠̘u̷͔͕̕ ̴̱́̈t̴̰̼́̾͘o̶͙̥̎͑o̶̩̰̔͐͝?” A man with a mechanical arm sat down next to him. The man’s eyes were hollow, and his clothes were modern.
“Who are you?” Jackk asked, putting his drink on the table.
“T̸͚̈́h̸͉̊ḛ̴͌y̷͇͝ ̶͙̂c̵̻̃a̷̺͊l̴͕̒l̸͉̊ ̶͓̃m̶̮̚ȩ̴͠ ̶̤̾I̵̱̕v̷̗̈́a̶̙̓n̸̮̒. ̸͙̑I̶̧̋ ̵̬̽w̴͎̒o̴͙͊ř̸̮k̸̺̈́ ̶̡̀f̵̬͗ơ̵̼r̴͓̽ ̷͉̇t̵͙̎h̸̦͊e̴̦͗ ̷̱͘S̶̝͒h̸̺̑a̶̗̓ḑ̷̄ó̵̹w̶̦͝ ̶͇̆C̵̤͝ȯ̸̹r̴͔̈́e̵͔̕,” the stranger responded. “Y̵͛o̷͌ů̴͔ ̷̒h̴͑a̶͌v̷̓i̵̒n̷̆g̸͛ ̸̎t̴̄r̵̒ȍ̶ù̴b̸͊l̸̀ẹ̶͒ ̸̾w̵̝͑i̵͝t̷̚ĥ̸͇ ̶̌t̴͋h̴̆e̶͆ ̶̎ḱ̵í̵d̶̈́ ̷̂w̸̏i̶̿t̷͗h̵̔ ̴͆t̷̛h̴͑e̸̽ ̵̕s̴̈́ẇ̵o̷͘r̴͛d̸͋ ̸̔a̸͗s̵͛ ̸̀w̷̏ĕ̷l̵̂l̵͘?”
“I didn’t know they took people on without infecting them with a shadowspawn. And yeah that kid managed to run out of my jurisdiction. Now I’m hiding in here so my boss doesn’t kill me. Which he literally will,” Jackk replied.
“Ï̵͇̓̚ ̵̪̜̈́s̷͈̊̈́h̷̡̬̮̽ơ̴̤͆ú̶̢̺̳l̵̛̝̠̔́d̷̠̄̇ ̶̱̻̊́͌ğ̵̘͜ḙ̷̯̀͘t̷̩͉̻͛ ̷͍͉̅͂g̶̣̭̈́̚o̷̫̟̪͗̒i̵̳͒̕ņ̴̼̉g̸͎͊̒͜͝.̵̺̓͛ ̷͎͎̣̌͆H̸̟͍̙́ȗ̷̳̉̃n̶͈̾̐̾t̷̗͗͝s̴̤͙̜͂͗̚ ̵̄͒ͅw̶̮̣̒͂͠o̴͎̣̎n̷̦̭̲̏̅̈́'̸͍͈̣̾t̵̨̧̯̒ ̸̢̯̬͋̾h̶̹͊a̸̠̠̤͊̌̈́p̵̗̠͊p̸̲͓̦̉̚ë̷̦́͒n̷̰̭̍̿ ̷̺̖̱̅͝o̵͈̾n̷̪̣̙̈́͌͝ ̵̢̞̼̂͑̔t̵͚̖͘h̵̝̭̏͆e̵̯̅ͅͅi̸̢̪̺͘r̴̦̰̎ ̸̙̃̽̅ŏ̶̪͔w̶̢̏̍ń̸̝̰͍͊,” Ivan said before falling through a glowing blue ring that had appeared under him. A shadow spawn briefly hiss-screeched at him before jumping through the ring too. The ring closed, leaving no trace of the cyborg or his shadowspawn companion behind.
“Oh, the days only get worse,” Jackk mumbled before taking another sip of his drink and slumping into his booth even more. Jackk leaned his head back and tipped his hat over his face. His district had long since stopped gaining new arrivals, so he could sit around for as long as he wanted. And so, he slept.
* * *
Micheal found himself floating in a void. White glowing orbs seemed to hover throughout the strange realm he found himself in. As he looked closer to one of them, he saw it looked like the desert where he had met the bounty hunters; Teddy, and Skulls. Another looked like the hellish dimension he had been transported to after the events of the desert world. The closest sphere appeared to contain the heavenly realm he had been in before this odd place.
Then he spotted a creature. Most of its body seemed human, while its skin was purple. Its head looked like a black hole, with two horns floating on either side of the head. Purple flames burned behind the head of the creature. All it was wearing was cargo pants, and one of its arms was covered in bandages. A sheathed katana hung on its waist.
The creature turned to look at Micheal, and when he stared into the strange thing that took the place of its head he became incredibly uncomfortable and looked away. He turned his attention back to the orbs floating around him.
Slowly, the orbs began to drift. As he felt a wind hitting his face, one that shouldn’t exist in this strange world, he realized that it wasn’t the orbs moving through the void, it was him. As he gained more and more speed, something akin to an aura began drifting behind him. Hazy white fog floated in the space he had left, wispy drifts showing his previous locations. The faster he got, the longer they became, until he became so fast that they couldn’t separate from his body before new ones formed.
Abruptly, he stopped in front of one of the mysterious orbs. Inside it, he saw a cross between a fantasy tavern, a modern-day truck stop, and some kind of futuristic space bar. While he stared into the intriguing sphere of most likely magic, it slowly moved towards him. Suddenly, it slammed into his chest, dissolving his body into white smoke yet again.
* * *
Micheal felt himself reconstitute in the mystery bar. He looked down at himself and saw white smoke flowing out of thin air to make up his body. He felt as solid as usual, and soon the smoke cleared. His body looked normal, and absolutely nothing felt off.
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'What the actual shit just happened?' Micheal thought.
He looked around and saw a blue ring shrink into nothing. Micheal shuddered. He looked a little to the right of where the ring had been and saw Nightmare Jackk with his hat over his face. A shiver slowly crawled down his spine as he watched the sleeping demon. He felt a breeze and looked to his far left and saw a portal opening. Three figures walked through. He recognized all three of them, if only barely. The first figure to exit the portal was a four-armed man wearing a stereotypical pirate outfit without a hat. His two right hands were hooks, and he looked extremely pissed. It seemed to be Captain Jack. Following him were a pair that he recognized better: Teddy and Skulls.
Micheal heard a ‘huh?’ from a booth near the back as Nightmare Jackk startled awake.
“Hey, Captain!” Nightmare Jackk shouted drunkenly while pointing at the other warden. His hat was still half covering his face.
“Nightmare? What’re you doing here?” Captain Jack responded.
“I’m lookin’ for leads on the kid with the sword,” Nightmare Jackk said.
“Shouldn’t you be warden-ing your district?” Captain Jack asked.
“Naw, Lord Goldfire sent me bounty hunting. My district’s empty of new arrivals anyway. Shouldn’t you be in yours?” Nightmare Jackk said.
“I think I got banished after that kid with the sword freed my entire district,” Captain Jack said.
“Keep it movin’, pal,” Teddy said suddenly, pushing Captain Jack forward.
Micheal looked over and saw some high-tech-looking holding cells in one of the more futuristic segments of this place. Teddy and Skulls were guiding Captain Jack over to that area. He turned back to Nightmare Jackk as the man disappeared in a flash of red and black smoke.
“You gotta pay your tab ya miscreant!” Micheal heard the bartender yell.
Micheal turned back to see the Captain in one of the previously vacant cells. Skulls was inputting something into a keypad next to the door. When Skulls finished, he heard an automated-sounding voice say “SUSPECT IDENTIFIED. CONTACTING the middle man.”
“Teddy you can go home now. I’ll wait here for the guy,” Skulls said.
“Okay. I’ll see you later,” Teddy said before walking over to the still-open portal and entering it. It closed promptly afterward.
Micheal sat down and watched Skulls impatiently waiting for whoever the “middle man” was. Micheal was about to fall asleep from boredom when something appeared before Skulls. Startled awake, he saw a man with a single large eyeball for a head wearing a golden tuxedo and black gloves.
“Well, well, well, look who we have here!” the man shouted.
‘He sounds like a gameshow host mixed with a radio host, yet his voice is so smooth,’ Micheal thought.
“Get on with it,” Skulls said dryly.
“Oh my, so sassy,” the man remarked. “Anyway, I’m here to do b̴͉͗ȕ̴̗̽s̶̻͔̏i̶̘̐͝n̷̛̟̹͑ẹ̶̗̽͝s̴̟͐͌s̷̻͂̓ͅ.”
“I know,” Skulls stated.
“Ugh, can’t you just play along for once?” the man asked.
“Can you just drop the act for once?” Skulls retorted.
“Ok, ok, let’s just get on with it. How much do you think this man is worth to the buyer?” the man asked.
“Hmm, maybe a few million credits?” Skulls said.
“That sounds g̵̈͜o̷͍͉͑̕ō̶͇d̵̬̐͛͜ ̵̠̳̒͗f̶̍ͅȏ̴͕̻r̶̘͌ ̷̖̫̌͘b̴͉͗ȕ̴̗̽s̶̻͔̏i̶̘̐͝n̷̛̟̹͑ẹ̶̗̽͝s̴̟͐͌s̷̻͂̓ͅ. How many millions are we talking?” the strange man asked.
“Let’s go with five,” Skulls stated.
“That sounds like ȃ̷̭̳ ̶̘̰̽̈́d̶̬̩̓ẻ̷̜a̸̧͋̈́l̸͚̋.” The man put out his right hand. Skulls shook it.
Skulls left through a reopened portal shortly before a mass of writhing, oozing shadows, appeared in his place. It had more eyes than any natural being deserved, constantly entering and exiting the surface of whatever the creature was. It was disturbing to look at.
The man in the gold tuxedo stuck out his left hand. “That’ll be 5 million credits,” he said.
The creature suddenly sprouted a stick-thin arm, barely held together by strands of goop. It reached out its hand and shook the man’s hand.
“T̸͔͊̇ḩ̸̭̔̓̄̚ḙ̶͖͕̤̑ ̴̼͈̑̆̋͑ͅḋ̶̛̲̹͆͐ẹ̸̘̓͗a̸̰̒͛l̴͍̠̝̭͝ ̴͈̓̈́̐i̴̬͙̖̘͒͊ş̷̟͍̒́ ̵̳̖̠̣͋́͂̄c̸̡̘̞̆ő̴͚m̴͉̥͒͒̅̏p̴̝̣͗͠l̸͇͌͘͜͠ë̷͍́͘̚t̸̛͕̺̊e̷̢̲͓͊̈́̍͘,” the man said.
The creature plopped into a puddle that suddenly soaked into nothingness. The strange man dusted off his hands.
“Another successful t̸̗͒r̴̪̒a̵͍̓ṉ̸͗s̶̤̒a̷̢̚c̵̥̾t̶͙͐i̶̡̓ǫ̵̀n̸̡̈́,” the man said.
Then he collapsed into a pile of dollar bills, gold coins, and millions of other currencies Micheal didn’t recognize.
“What the hell just happened?” Micheal exclaimed.
The bartender said, “What, ya’ve never seen a complete transaction before?”
Micheal put his palm on his forehead and muttered, “I need to talk with the Shogun.”
Micheal began to focus, trying to gather the white smoke that accompanied him every time he realmwalked. He slowly but surely transformed, and in his last seconds, he saw a girl with auburn hair and green eyes appear from a puff of white smoke. He knew it had something to do with him.