"Lucien," he said. "And Lana." He motioned the the girl with the dark hair, and then to the other. "And Azrael. Might I ask where you are coming from?"
He rarely saw anyone in the forests, as they were easy to get lost in. Lana stood half way behind Lucien, again overwhelmed by the newcomers. She forced a lopsided smile on her face and let Lucien do the talking. At least she wasn't alone.
"Hello," Azrael said. She put her scythe away.
"How are you doing?"
“This is Arabelle and Victoria, and her son Joel there,” Charlie said, gesturing to each. “We just came from town.” She pointed back into the woods.
“Did you say something about magic?” Arabelle asked. Her green eyes burned with curiosity and fascination.
"Yeah, Lucien and Lana did!"
“We’re doing alright, I suppose,” Charlie said, answering Azrael’s question. “At least, some of us.” As Joel’s moaning and crying started up again.
"Thats good!" Vozrea said.
"Hey Lucien," Azrael asked, "can we stay the night?"
"At your place?" Vozrea said.
"Yes, of course," he told her. "Though I don't have much room, so hopefully you'll be alright on the floor."
"I have some room, if you need it." Lana decided to pip up. She turned to the crying child and the new group. "The baby is very cute." It was a bit embarrassing to say so, seeing as they were strangers.
“Oh, thank you,” Victoria said. She went back to rubbing and patting Joel’s back.
Arabelle seemed to materialize beside them, her face grim. “I decided to go back to the woods to look for something. When I went in, nothing looked familiar. The trees and soil were different. I couldn’t find much sign of any towns nearby either. I’ve roamed those woods all my life. This can’t just be me…”
“Arabelle, what do you mean?” Victoria stared at her.
“It’s like the towns and the woods we came from never existed.”
"Thats weird, even by my standards!"
Arabelle locked those intense eyes on Lucien. “Hey Lucien- that’s your name right? Where exactly are we?”
Lucien frowned. "Sieland, Edyre. On Iokisia. You… you don't know?" His frown deepened and he ran his hands through his light brown hair. "I didn't even know there was another town that way."
Lana shrugged. She didn't either.
Arabelle cursed. Victoria stared silently, while Joel continued to cry. Charlie began, “What? No, we’re not! We’re near-“ but Victoria cut her off.
“Charlie, I don’t even think we’re in America anymore.”
Lucien cursed quietly and Lana grew worried. "I'm so sorry… that's weird…" He sighed. "And it's quite interesting. I can't think of why you could just arrive here like this. Anyway, I'm sure you could stay with Lana until we figure out how to get you all back home."
Lana nodded. "It's like something brought them all here," she commented. It wasn't a bad theory, but Lucien wasn't sure.
And so they went to Lana's house. It was quite nice.
"Teddy!" Lana yelled as they entered the house. "I've got guests."
Teddy came running down the stairs, taking the steps two at a time. "Hi," he said sheepishly to the new group. "Who are you guys?"
"They all ended up here somehow. It's like the portals have gone wack or something. Oh, Vozrea and Azrael are friends of Lucien's."
"Where is Lucien?"
"Work."
"Oh. Y'know, I did something weird today. With magic. Something's off."
“Magic?” Arabelle moved closer to Teddy. “Do you mind of I take a look?”
Despite the fact they ended up in a completely different reality, she was still on researching streak. The possibility that these people were witches only kept her there.
"Hmmm… Nice place," Azrael said after looking around.
Teddy nodded to Arabelle. "Yeah, alright."
"Thanks," said Lana with a grin. "We moved here not too long ago. Fixed it up a bit and made it home."
(Wait no! Arabelle needs to see what Teddy did)
(^^^)
"I can usually do little things, you know? Like blow out a candle or make my bed. But today, I tried to make a fire… I can usually do it, I swear." Teddy stared at the fireplace. The stones around it were blackened, and the kindling reduced to ashes. "It got out of control…"
“Oh…” Arabelle tried not to wince. “Don’t worry about it too much. I mean, the only thing I can do is blow stuff up. Well, among other things.”
She leaned closer to get a better look. “But it is interesting. You say you can usually do it? What did you use?”
She wasn’t sure if she should go by her research, but it was a start.
"Cool fireplace," Azrael noticed as she created a flame of black fire in her hand and threw it into the fireplace. Everyone was impressed, especially Lana and Teddy. Lana wanted to learn how to do it like Azrael just did and she asked Azrael.