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The day their life changed, was the day that a blue light exploded through their world. Sitting on the couch, simply studying, they never expected a flash of swirling blue light to break through their windows, encompass their home and leave the ebode empty and raw. There was no warning, no rhyme or reason as to why it happened like it did, but it did. It ripped open the fabric of the world they knew and dropped them in a new world. A world that was vastly different from the one they were raised in. Yet it was familiar, this world, it didn't feel quite as separate from their own as one would think.
Laying flat on cold pavement, smelling distinctly like actual shit, Zale slowly came back to themselves. Immediately feeling displaced, out of sorts, and recognizing a small voice whispering ' danger ' in their ear. Their world swayed on its axis as they pushed themselves into a seated position with two shaky arms behind them. Nausea crawling up their throat and quickly being deposited onto the hard ground beside them, adding to the already disgusting smells. Looking around, Zale came to the conclusion they were in an alley. Tall buildings that have seen better days, towering over their head on either side.
"Who are you?" A small voice whispered, seeming afraid and unsure. Zale whipped their head around over their left shoulder, finding a small child looking dirty and lost, her dress ripped in sporadic places, and her hair cut choppy. She was hiding behind the side of what looked to be a dumpster. In confusion, Zale just stared. The child herself was weary. Living in Zaun, she knows to be afraid of most. Always careful of who to speak to, who to trust. Despite the alarm bells going off in her head, the child was curious. Now she was wondering if she should have listened to those alarm bells sooner, the look in this girl's eyes - is this a girl? There was something off, strangely masculine that even the child could see. Something imposing, ridged, sharp - was a look that she often observed from afar. Dark, empty, almost angry, even without an obvious reason to be so. Their long orange hair was pulled back in two kept french braids, not so unsimilar to a certain right hand the townspeople whispered about. Their clothes were strange, a long sleeve shirt with a built in hood, and a long pair of pants with pockets littered up and down their legs. They were a pail short thin frame, coated in black with eyes almost too green to be natural. The girl was almost sure that between their looks and how they just appeared out of thin air, she had to be looking at the ghost of a demon. Still, curiosity won out. Who was this person who just appeared out of seemingly nowhere? Pulling her shoulders back, she tried to portray a confident disposition, except being so small and young, the act fell short. "Who are you? Where did you come from?"
Zale stared for a moment, weighing their options. Still confused and feeling very displaced, their brain was rapid firing ideas, theories, thoughts, and plans, trying to rearrange their mind fast enough to make sense of this very nonsensical situation. One minute they were studying for an up and coming psychology exam, sitting on their couch, snacking on grapes, when suddenly their laying on an ever growing more disgusting ground, in an alley they've never seen before, staring at a child who looked to be from both the eighteen hundreds and a strange steampunk era. Not sure what is and isn't safe yet, they flipped tactics, "And who are you?" They asked with a blank tilt of their head. That was not what the child wanted to hear based on the hard stomp of their foot and the balling of her fists.
"I asked you first!?" It was the shout of a child trying too hard to seem adult and it left Zale chuckling despite the still unknown situation.
"If I tell you who I am, will you tell me where I am?" Zale bargained.
"You do not know where you are!? How can you not know where you are!?" The child asked in disbelief.
"Good questions. I do not know where I am because here feels neither there nor here and as for how, I'm still trying to determine what the how even implies." The child looked confused, Zale looked pensive. "Does my trade seem adequate?"
"What does 'adequate' mean?"
"It means acceptable, does it sound good? Like that could work?" Zale explained.
"I guess..." The child now seemed hesitant, even more confused than before, which seemed impossible.
"My name is Zale. Now where am I?"
"Zaun."
‘Vague’ , Zale thought. ‘Frightened ’, a voice whispered back. She's frightened. Like a mouse caught in a trap, staring at a piece of cheese she’s unsure whether she should take or go running from instead.
"Zaun? Zale in Zaun. Hmmm," but where is Zaun, how did one get there - here - how did Zale get there - here? There were a few things Zale could quickly deduce. One, they are very far from home, dropped in a place completely unknown to them, and obviously a little dangerous if the dirtiness and the general fear wafting off this just as dirty child is anything to go by. Two, their empty handed in a place that's dangerous. And three, they got here by unknown means, a child witnessed it and without knowing just how dangerous this 'Zaun' is, having a witness - even just a young child - could be a problem.
'Death'
"No, not the answer." Zale whispered.
"What!?" The child asked, now seeming even more fearful. Something about this person named Zale scared her. Something was very off.
Looking up, Zale saw a few beams and quite a few balconies. It would be a risk, but they had enough tree and rock climbing experience under their belt to maybe pull it off. Get them out or the alley, in a way hopefully the child could not follow, and bonus, get a good vantage point view and get an idea of what territory they'll be navigating.
Quickly they got to they're feet and pulled their hood over their head. Glancing at the dumpster the child still partly hid behind and the nearest balcony across from it. "Nothing." Zale stated before taking off at a run toward the dumpster. Startled, the child jumped back with a shriek and skittered back like a crab in fright. 'this is it ' the child thought, 'I really should have listened to my parents more' . But, Zale jumped still five feet from the child, landed for half a second on the top of the dumpster before leaping off and across to the balcony rail above. Pulling themselves up with two hands, finding footing and taking off again for the other balcony across. Doing the same until reaching a beam, and with perfect balance, walking across. Jump, grab, walk, leap. They repeated the pattern until they made it to the top of the tall brick and metal building, grasping the biting edge with tightly gripped fingers. 'Now I feel like a video game character completing an unrealistic feat of parkour ' they thought. Only to momentarily lose focus and therefore their grip with the realization that barreled into them.
Below the child watched with wide eyes, wincing when they saw Zale get to the top, only to look like they slipped a little. But, of course they seemed to regain their grip before disappearing over the ledge and out of sight.
Above, Zale stared out over a world that should not exist. A world very, very far from home. A world, Zale vaguely recognized from TV and social media. A world where Zale definitely should not be.