Chapter Text
A heavy sigh escaped you as you leaned against a large oak tree, grateful for the shade. Summer had been, in your opinion, unreasonably hot this year. Not that any of the patrons at the fancy, upper crust country club you worked at seemed to care. They had no issues sending you scurrying back and forth across the hot lawns or slogging behind their golf carts on foot while they sipped mimosas or whatever the new fad alcoholic drink was and reminding you to hurry up. Ugh, the regulars were the worst. The ones who expected you to grin and thank them for their generosity every time they gave you advice on how to "properly" serve them. It was a wonder you hadn't cracked a tooth with how hard you had been clenching your jaw while flashing that "Tour Guide Barbie" smile.
Yeah, this day off was way overdue. And just to make sure you didn’t run into any of your usual “guests” (Seriously, what was it with rich people and a lack of boundaries?), you decided it was the perfect day to take the bus to the next town over and visit their aquarium.
Smiling to yourself, you checked the schedule on your phone once more when an exasperated groan, one with a level of desperation only possible by teenage girls or middle aged fathers of four, caught your attention.
A sympathetic smile touched your lips as you beheld a young woman collapsing on the mildly rusted bench of the bus stop; a bulging satchel and smallish duffel at her side. “Let me guess, summer camp?” You asked as you approached the girl, your eyes flicking to the crumbled brochure she was currently glaring down at. Despite nearing thirty, you still remembered the trials and tribulations of puberty.
“The most boring camp to ever exist! Mom wants me to learn to balance checkbooks and write historically accurate research papers!” The girl turned and frowned up at you with the most miserable face you’d seen since you looked in the mirror at the end of your last shift.
“Oof.” You agreed as you plopped down onto the bench beside her. “That’s rough. I remember when my parents tried to make me get rid of the life size cardboard cutouts of my fictional crushes.” You laughed into the back of your hand. “I just hid them under my bed along with my fanfiction journals until I left for college.”
Your smile widened as the young girl looked up at you with sparkling eyes. “Your Mom is probably just like mine; worried people won’t 'get you'. And honestly, a lot still don’t. But you’ll find your way. Growing older is mandatory, growing up is optional.” You finished with a small wink.
The teen, now smiling, held out her hand to you. “I knew adults were still secretly dorks! I’m Luz.” She beamed at you.
You shook her hand as you laughed and introduced yourself. “Pleasure to meet a fellow ‘dork’. I-” You gaze drifted from the younger woman to her unattended bag on the bench. “Is.. Is that owl stealing a book from your bag?”
“Wha-?” The teen whipped her head around in time to see the small brown bird hopping and flapping into the forest behind you, a well-loved hardcover book in its tiny talons. “AZURA! Hey, tiny thief! Get back here!”
You fought the urge to laugh at the teens plight and lost, your arms wrapping around your waist as tears pricked the corners of your eyes. “Go get 'em Luz! I’ll watch your bag, hun.” Eventually you caught your breath enough to sit up straight, your gaze resting on the now eerily silent rows of trees.
Your brow furrowed as the seconds ticked by without the teen’s reappearance. Worry began to gnaw at your gut as relatively recent news stories of increased muggings and assaults rose to the forefront of your mind. “Luz? You catch that bird yet?”
Your frown deepened in the absence of any response. Now genuinely nervous, you rose to your feet and headed into the forest yourself, sparing her now abandoned bag a quick glance. “It’ll be fine on the bench for two minutes.” You reasoned with yourself as you started after the path you saw the teen tear down, your own pace measured yet hurried. "It'll be fine, you're just being paranoid."
“Luz!” You called out periodically as the forest grew steadily darker. “Are you ok? Can you answer me?” Just as you considered pulling your phone out to call the police, you heard what sounded like muffled voices. Lightly jogging after the noise you stumbled onto a small clearing with one of the town’s many abandoned colonial era houses nestled firmly in the middle. Its door, an oddly intricate affair with an enormous slit pupiled eye adorning it, hung wide open, and you could just make out what sounded like “Wait, come back!” echoing through the frame.
Sighing in relief you stepped into the doorway, mindful of the rotting wood on the porch. “Luz, you should probably let the bird keep that one. These houses are old and…..” Your word died in your throat as you looked around. Instead of a half rotted wooden cabin, it appeared you had stepped into a tent? Glancing behind you, a blank canvas wall marked your point of entry, absent of anything remotely door-like.
Heart hammering, you glanced around the cluttered tent as you crept forward, trying to make sense of the haphazard piles of junk cluttering the space. Mismatched clothes were strung up on lines next to deflated pool floats while precarious towers of cardboard boxes threatened to spill their contents of broken toys and wads of yarn at the slightest provocation. Voices drew your eyes forward again to the only apparent exit; a slit in the wall of the tent allowing a single beam of sunlight to shine through.
In a slight crouch, you crept forward, the hairs on the back of your neck bristling as your heart pounded in your ears. You needed to find that girl and get both of you the hell out of there before whoever owned this creepy collection came back.
“Luz!" You harshly whispered as you crept out of the open flap of the tent, eyes squinting at the bright light. “Where are….you….”
Your words died in your throat as your eyes adjusted to the bright light, sunlight you realized. The tent you stepped out of stood in a long line of similar temporary shelters and stalls, similar to the outdoor markets your town constructed during fairs and festivals. Only instead of people milling about there were what you could only describe as demons.
Creatures in every conceivable size, shape, and color wandered about. Giant centipedes with human faces, tiny fairies with fangs so large it was impossible for them to fully close their mouths, humanoid creatures with ears closely resembling bats, and so many more your brain either could not or would not process at the moment.
Without conscious thought you found yourself crumpling down to the hard packed earth and cobblestone road, back pressed against the support pole of the tent with your knees drawn to your chest. The fabric of your light sundress gently brushing against your ankles in the soft breeze. Your enormous eyes hardly took anything in as you struggled to keep your breathing even. The large chunk of your brain desperate to believe this was all a dream was slowly being eroded by the growing realization that you had, somehow, teleported into another world.
“Why couldn’t this have happened to me in middle or high school? Hell, even college me was better suited for this isekai bullshit.” You groaned to yourself as you forced your trembling legs to gather beneath you. “Gotta find that Luz kid and get out of here. Fast.”
Laughter drew your attention to a previously unnoticed cluster of creatures, their attention all trained on a tall, ash haired woman. An old portable television was perched on one shoulder while the other supported a grinning and laughing human.
“Luz!” You gasped out in relief as you started to shakily make your way towards the group, pointedly ignoring your body's cries for you to run in the opposite direction. The kid clearly was having fun explaining the finer points of those old jazzercise tapes from the ‘80s. And none of the creatures surrounding her seemed hostile. Maybe you could-
Screams erupted from the crowd as a gloved fist crashed into the small television, knocking it to the ground. The previously entranced menagerie scattered almost instantly, barely avoiding each other in the chaos. Your eyes widened in fear at the hulking cloaked and masked figure glaring down at Luz and her new companion as your desire to help the girl battled with the primal instinct to flee.
Before you can even make it halfway to the pair, the older woman conjured a staff and soundly cracked their assailant over the head. With a snarky grin, she hurried off into the fray, one hand clasped firmly on Luz’s arm while the other heaved a huge bundle over her shoulder.
Dodging the stragglers of the scattering shoppers, you struggled to follow the fleeing pair, your heart rate spiking each time you caught sight of Luz’s sweatshirt or the older woman’s hair before it disappeared around a corner.
Turning down an alley you could have sworn you saw a flash of white disappear into, you slammed into a pair of figures, falling back on your rear from the sheer force of the impact. Groaning in mild pain, you glanced up as you struggled to your feet. As your gaze focused, the half formed apology died in your throat. While much smaller in stature, the pair wore near identical outfits, down to the plague doctor-esque masks of the behemoth that smashed the television set.
“I-I’m so sorry.” You stammered as you struggled to your feet, still a little disoriented from the collision.
“Of course you are!” The smaller of the two squeaked out in an abnormally high voice. “You wouldn’t want to end up disrespecting a member of the Emperor’s Coven, would ya?!”
Shaking your head emphatically, you offered the pair a small bow as you slowly began to back out of the alley. “No, of course not! Please, accept my apologies!”
“Freeze.” The larger of the pair barked out, one hand darting out to capture your wrist in a bone crushing grip. “Dart. Take a closer look at ‘er ears. You don’t think…”
You swallowed hard as you fought the urge to struggle in the guard’s grip. ‘Authority figure. Clearly used to unwavering compliance. Don’t give him any reason to think you’re trouble. Just cooperate and run the second they let you go.’ You repeated those last two sentences in your head as if they were your entire identity.
The smaller guard, Dart, approached your free side, his sickly yellow eyes visibility widening behind the narrow slits of his masks. “Oh Titan! She’s a human.” He exchanged a tense look with his companion before turning back to you, his hand darting under his cloak to retrieve a small corked phial. “Sorry about this in advance. Emperor’s orders.”
Before you could fully make sense of the exchange, you heard the telltale tinkle of glass being broken quickly followed by a puff of yellow smoke engulfing your face. Your small flinch and gasp of surprise was all it took for the gas to take effect. Slipping out of the larger guard’s grip you crumbled into a boneless heap on the ground, your mind quickly following suit into oblivion. Your last coherent thought was mild relief that at least Luz had gotten away.