A Journey Within the Realm

I woke up to the smell of breakfast cooking. After getting up, I stepped outside the tent. Miki sat wearing a towel, as she cooked strips of bacon. I took a deep breath and walked over to Miki. She noticed me coming and looked up.

“Good morning, Randy,” Miki said, “Breakfast will be ready shortly. I suggest you bathe in the pond just beyond the hill. Its very warm and clear as can be.”

“Is that why you are in a towel?” I asked.

“That and I’m waiting for my clothes to dry,” Miki replied, “Oh! That reminds me. I need to wash your outfit.”

“Do you have a spare towel?” I asked, nervously.

“All ready and waiting for you to use it,” Miki answered, handing it to me, “Here you go. Hand me your clothes after you change in your tent.”

I took the towel and walked into my tent. I can’t believe I’m about to strip naked and put on a towel around two ladies who haven’t seen a man in so many years. After undressing to my boxers, I stared at my towel and then, to my underpants. Hmmmm… I might be able to sneak to the pond wearing my boxers underneath my towel. Once I wrapped the towel around my waist and folded my clothes, I took my clothes and stepped outside the tent. I walked over and handed my clothes to Miki. Then, I started to walked towards the pond, when Miki stopped me.

“Randy?” Miki asked.

“Yes?” I asked, nervously.

“I need all your clothes,” Miki replied, holding out her hand, “That includes your underwear.”

“Do I have to?” I asked.

“You want to be clean? If so, then yes,” Miki replied, “Now, you take them off or I will.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” I exclaimed.

Miki glared at me. Yep… she would. I carefully pulled down my boxers without Miki seeing anything else and gave it her. As I walked towards the pond, I was wondering where Kuri was hiding.

“Hey, Miki?” I asked, “Where’s Kuri?”

“She saw a local merchant carrying goods nearby,” Miki answered, “Kuri has been trading with her.”

“When was that?”

“A little bit before you woke up. Now, go bathe.”

I continued walking towards the pond. When I reached the pond, I looked around to see if anyone was looking, dropped the towel, dived in, and swam to the deep end of the pond. After going under the water a few times to wash my hair, I lowered my body until the water was up to my neck. How did I get myself into this mess? I’m completely naked, in a pond, near two women in their early 20s. On top of that… I’m heading towards a ghost town with real ghosts living there. I mean, come on! I didn’t want an adventure! I just wanted to read that godforsaken book that my parents gave me! After lowering my mouth to the water and blowing some bubbles, I came to realize something. Where was that darn book!?! It wasn’t with me when I fell from the sky… was it? I quickly swam back to where my towel was lying and dried myself off. After wrapping the towel around my waist, I ran back to camp. When I got there, Kuri and Miki were talking to each other. They stopped talking when they saw me walking over.

“Enjoyed you bath?” asked Miki.

I nodded, catching my breath.

“Good news! Kuri got you your own clothes,” Miki said, handing me them, “The trader was heading towards Crystalstaff, so she only had robes and their matching pants. However, you will like them better than what you were wearing.”

I did like the sound of wearing a mage robe instead of those tights again. After saying my thanks to Kuri, I went into my tent to change. Two minutes later, I came out wearing my new outfit. Both, my robe and my pants were tan. Hooded, the robe even matched my boots.

“You look great, Randy,” Kuri said.

I smiled, blushing a little.

“I agree. Here take this,” Miki said, handing me a staff, “Even though you can’t cast spells, you can still hit things with that staff. I already attached a holder for it on your backpack if you wanted to put it away.”

“Thanks… I guess,” I said, examining the staff.

Just like every other staff, this one was wooden. It was also smooth and was cut at a slant at the top of the staff. It was a simple, but nice, staff. I think I will use this for a walking stick. And, if I have to, a weapon. I like it.

“Breakfast’s ready,” Miki said, “Let’s eat!”

We had our breakfast and then, packed up our stuff. It took us about ten minutes before we were back on the road. As we walked, I kept on wondering about that book. If the book was a portal to this realm, then there must be another book to get me back. I guess Miki noticed I was busy in thought and walked up next to me.

“What’s wrong, Randy?” Miki asked.

“I was wondering about that book. You know… the one that sucked me in this realm,” I replied.

“What about it?” asked Miki.

“Is there another one that could lead me back to the real world?” I asked.

“’real world?’ Oh… you mean the nagical world. There are many legends and myths about being transported to the nagical world, but only the elders know for sure,” Miki answered.

“Is that why we are heading towards Crystalstaff?” I asked.

“That’s one of the reasons,” Miki replied, “The other reason is that we need to find out the real answer to why you were brought here in the first place.”

“I see…,” I said, “Wait a moment… nagical world?”

“Yeh. Nagical means non-magical,” Miki explained, “You see… our realm is as real as yours. If you keep calling it that, a lot of townspeople will get very cross at you. Try not to use it, if you can.”

“I will try…,” I replied, “Hmmm… ’nagical world’”

“By the way… it’s pronounced na-gic-al, not nag-ic-al,” Miki corrected, “That’s another thing the townspeople would get crossed at. Makes them sound like jerks. Oh, look! There’s the ghost town.”

Miki looked up at the sky. I guessed she was checking the time of day by the sun’s placement in the sky

“Hmmm…,” Miki said, “We got here quicker than I thought. Come on, Guys! Let’s hurry!”

Before Kuri or I could say anything, Miki started running towards the town. We followed Miki into the ghost town. Once we were there, we slowed down and looked around carefully. If there were ghosts, I sure couldn’t see any.

“Where are all the ghosts?” I asked.

“This is strange,” Miki replied, “Let’s check in Town Hall.”

Miki lead while Kuri and I followed. As we walked, I studied the town. For a ghost town, this place was very well built. Nothing was in ruins around here. My guess people was calling this place a ghost town because ghosts lived here… If there were any here. We finally found Town Hall near the town’s square. When we entered the building, Miki started to search under the front desk.

“What is Miki looking for?” I asked Kuri.

“The town’s people counter,” Kuri answered, “Every place has one.”

“I think it’s called a population counter,” I corrected.

“That’s right. Silly me,” Kuri replied.

“I found it,” exclaimed Miki.

Miki pulled a blue stone from under the desk and placed it on top. The stone had three buttons; one on the right, one in the middle, and one on the left. Then she pressed the button in the middle. The stone started to glow. It also made a soft humming sound. Miki pressed the left button. A light shot out from the middle and the number four appeared above.

“That can’t be right,” Miki said.

“Why?” I asked.

“Right now, the stone is telling us there are only four people in this town,” answered Kuri.

“If we are three of them, where’s the fourth?” I asked.

Miki pressed the right button. Just then, a map appeared. It was the town’s map and it had four blue dots on it.

“Here we are,” Miki said, pointing at the three dots inside the hologram building, “and there’s our fourth. She’s in the graveyard.”

“Then, let’s hurry to her,” I replied.

“I know the way,” Kuri said, “Follow me.”

We stepped out of Town Hall and rushed over to the graveyard. There, in the far right corner, was a glowing woman putting flowers on a grave. And, when I mean glowing, she was actually glowing like that blue stone. However, instead of blue, her light was more silver white. I started to walk towards the ghost, when I realized that Kuri and Miki were not moving.

“What’s wrong, Guys?” I asked.

“N-n-n-nothing’s wrong,” Miki answered, “You go talk to her. We’ll stay here.”

“Yeh. You go ahead,” Kuri added.

Great. Now they were nervous. I sighed before walking over to the young ghost. When I got there, the ghost looked like she was praying. She was too busy having her hands together and speaking softly to the gravstone to notice me. So, to make things more friendly, I got on my knees and started praying with her. Then, I softly cleared my throat. The ghost looked over.

“Hello,” the ghost said, “Who are you?”

“My name is Randy,” I answered with a smile, “And you?”

“I’m Nori,” replied the ghost.

I looked at Nori. She was a silver haired girl with same color eyes. Nori was wearing a medium height skirt with matching vest, a white shirt, and a red tie tucked into the vest. The outfit reminded me of the ones Japanese schoolgirls wear. At the moment, she had a puzzled look as she looked at me.

“What are you?” Nori asked.

Apparently, this girl was too young to know about men.

“How old are you?” I asked.

“16 years old,” Nori answered, “Why do you ask?”

“I’m from the nagical world,” I replied, “I’m what you call a man.”

“You’re a real live man!?!” Nori exclaimed, hugging me, “That’s so cool!”

I wasn’t expecting Nori to be able to touch me. My guess is that ghosts have the ability to become solid when they want to be. Her touch made me shiver. Ahhh… the coldness of the dead.

“What are you doing here in the graveyard?” I asked.

“Paying my respect to my dead mom,” Nori answered.

“Aren’t ghosts already dead?” I asked.

“True, but ghosts roam freely until they are sent to the underworld.”

“What are the ways to be sent to the underworld?”

“Two ways for a ghost; old age or a certain spell.”

“What kind of spell?”

“I’m not sure. They don’t teach you that sort of thing in school.”

“Right. I know! Come with me. There are two people I would like you to meet.”

I took Nori over to the where Kuri and Miki had been waiting.

“Kuri. Miki. This is Nori,” I introduced.

“Nice to meet you, Nori,” they both said.

“Nice to meet both of you,” Nori replied, “You’re an elf and a fairy, right?”

“Yes we are,” Miki answered, “Where did everybody go?”

Nori’s eyes started to tear up, but managed to control herself from crying.

“It was terrible,” Nori started, “Kei’s evil shadow minions came and attacked our town. Most of the ghosts ran away to god knows where while the others were killed by the shadows’ spells. Some of them were even captured.”

“You mean that underworld spell?” I asked.

“It’s called The Hands Of Death,” Kuri explained, noddding, “It’s a dark mage spell that allows the caster to send anyone to the underworld. You can always tell when someone is using that spell when the person being attacked gets grabbed by hands from the ground and pulled into a black hole.”

“Is that the spell your mom was killed by?” I asked.

“It sounds about right…,” answered Nori.

“Now… who is this Kei and what are Shadows?” I asked.

Miki and Kuri looked at each other with a worried look on their faces.

“Well?” I asked.

“Kei is the Magic Realm’s ruler or, what we call her, our evil overlord,” Miki explained, “She killed our real ruler about 51 years ago. Kei is what we know as a dark mage, even though she is a goddess.”

“’51 years ago?’” I replied, “When did the men from this realm disappear?”

“100 years ago,” Kuri answered.

“And, what are these Shadows?” I asked.

“Shadows are Kei’s magical darkspawn,” Kuri explained, “Kei created them to do her bidding. If we get rid of her, we get rid of them.”

“What do they look like?” I asked.

“Like a normal human, but with shadow features,” Nori answered.

“Shadow beings, eh?” I repeated, “I do not like the sound of that.”

“Nobody does,” Miki exclaimed.

“So, when did the Shadows attack your town, Nori?” asked Kuri.

“About two days ago,” answered Nori.

“How did you manage to survive?” Miki asked.

“My mom hid me in one of her jars filled with buttons,” Nori replied, “I processed one of the buttons and watched the Shadows break into our house and kill my mother.”

“Do you have any other family?” I asked.

Nori shook her head and started to cry. It gave me a sad feeling deep within my heart. I gestured Miki and Kuri over to a place where Nori couldn’t hear us.

“What’s up?” asked Miki.

“I don’t know if it’s just me, but this kid is breaking my heart,” I answered.

“It’s not just you,” Kuri said, “I got the same feeling.”

“Same here,” Miki added, “But what can we do?”

“She has no family, so why don’t we take her along with us?” I asked.

“Take a ghost with us!?!” exclaimed Miki, “Are you crazy!?!”

“Not one bit,” I replied, “I say we bring her along.”

“Okay… it’s your choice,” Miki said.

We walked back to where Nori was still crying. She didn’t notice that we were gone for a bit.

“Nori?” I asked.

She looked up and sniffled.

“How would you like to join our group?” I asked.

Suddenly, a huge smile grew on Nori’s face. She wiped her tears from her eyes.

“Thank you,” Nori replied, “You are very kind.”

“Do you need to bring anything?” I asked.

Nori shook her head.

“Then, let’s head on out,” I said, “Miki. Kuri. Let’s go!”

Nori started walking towards the edge of town. As we walked, I noticed that Nori’s feet never touched the ground. In fact, she sort of hovered about five inches off the ground. After we left the town towards Crystalstaff, I caught up with Nori and began talking to her.

“How are you feeling, Nori?” I asked.

“Much better now that I know that I have friends,” Nori answered.

“I’m glad to hear that,” I replied, “By the way, I have a question, if you don’t mind me asking.”

“Go ahead.”

“You said that some of the ghosts living in your town were captured. How do you capture a ghost in the Magic Realm?”

“There are bottles that have the ability to suck spirits into them. Once a spirit is in the bottle, all you have to do is cap it and they will be captured.”

“Boy do I know the feeling…”

“What do you mean?”

I told Nori about where I was from and how I got here. She became very interested about the fact I came from the nagical world. However, she was more interested about me being a man.

“What is a man exactly?” Nori asked.

“You don’t know the history of men in this realm?” I asked.

“We don’t learn about men until we turn 18,” Nori answered.

I scratched my head. How am I going to explain men to a teen? I sighed.

“Men are the opposite gender of women for humans,” I began, “There are two genders for every creature; male and female. You, Nori, are a female. Same as Miki and Kuri, you all have the same parts you were born and grew into.”

“’Parts?’” asked Nori.

I cleared my throat.

“Well… ummm… women grow things called… ummm… breasts,” I explained, blushing, “And while women have nothing hanging in their pants, men do.”

Nori nodded as if she understood what I was trying to say. Just then, an arrow landed by my foot.

“Uhhh… Miki?” I asked, “We might have a problem.”

Miki walked over and picked up the arrow. She examined the arrow and then, groaned.

“Great…,” Miki said, breaking the arrow in half, “It’s an arrow from a bandit group called the Traderobbers. Be on your toes, everybody. These thieves are pros.”

Sure enough, I saw ten women, wearing all black clothing with only their eyes uncovered, running towards us with swords and knives. This is definitely not my day.