Young Writers Society

There was only one time in Asteri's life where he woke up in a place he wasn't supposed to be in, and that time was at a masquerade hosted by a goddess that possessed powers he hadn't even thought were possible. He had assumed that the masquerade would be the last time he had to deal with something as strange as that, but the universe liked to prove him wrong. After a seemingly normal gaming session with his brother Kentaro, Asteri finds himself on a completely different world.

She's won the war, married the boyfriend, and headed home. One would think excitement in Eremia's life would be out of the question now, but lately she's been having what she's trying to convince herself are only strange dreams. Foremost among them was the masquerade ball where she ran into literal gods, strangers from multiple other worlds, and made a new enemy. Unfortunately for her, she's about to find out that both those dreams and that enemy are anything but.

Neither Asteri or Eremia are happy when they discover their only company in the unfamiliar forest is the person they were glad to say goodbye to after the events of the masquerade. But if they want to survive the wilderness and figure out how to return back home, they're going to need to stick together and trust each other.

From the bars in the carriage window at the edge of her vision, Eremia watched the sunset. She smiled as she felt a furry claw brush through her long blonde hair. He'd gotten much better at doing that; she could almost forget the days when somebody had had to snip off part of her hair because one of his claws had gotten stuck in it. Not that Taber didn't always apologize for it, because he was nothing if not sweet. Who else would let her rest her head on their lap?

"Will we get there soon?" Taber said, breaking the silence.

She looked up at him and raised an eyebrow, smile turning into a smirk. "Is it not your family's estate?" she said. "Your guess would be better than mine."

Taber stuck out his tongue. "Sorry," he said, setting his other hand on Eremia's forehead. "I was distracted by things. Like how nice you look today."

Eremia rolled her eyes and gently pushed Taber's hand back so she could tilt her head up. The sun came into view once again, settling right into the gap between The Pillars and the plains beyond. They were almost certainly in Elchanan now. It wouldn't be long before they made it.

She froze when she saw a speck of white light on the other side of the window. It was the horizon, but it was most certainly not natural. And it appeared to be drawing closer.

Her view was suddenly replaced with a pile of fur. Taber, looking down at her, frowned. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No," said Eremia automatically, shaking her head. "I saw something peculiar, is all." She didn't mention that she also felt strange. The feeling came suddenly; it was like something was tugging at her arms and chest, drawing them out. Whatever that light was, something in her body was attracted to it, which couldn't possibly be good. But she couldn't will herself to stop. It became a bit harder to breathe.

Taber looked out the window and gasped. He let go of Eremia's hair and grabbed her arms, but it was already too late. Light spilled in through the carriage and swallowed it, blinding Eremia.

When Eremia woke up, it was on something hard and cold. She gasped and choked for air as her senses returned to her, almost smacking her head against a low-hanging tree branch. Which she only recognized when she opened her eyes and found, past all the black spots, a forest.

This wasn't right at all. Eremia quickly pulled herself up, fighting off a wave of nausea and dizziness as she scanned her surroundings. Dirt, rocks, roots, moss, leaves, trunks - no trace of Taber or anyone else she recognized. Worse yet, she couldn't even contact her other self. She couldn't be that other self - that change felt completely different. No, this was unique, and she was very much trapped in her human body.

"Hello?" Eremia called out, pressing a hand against a tree for support. She wiped the sweat off her face and took a couple deep breaths. "Who brought me here? What have you done?"

Asteri leaned back into the soft fabric of the sofa, grinning triumphantly as his team won yet another round in Overwatch. He turned and handed the PS4 controller over to Kentaro, feeling more than a little smug when he realized he had gotten more wins than his brother.

Kentaro didn't say anything. Asteri knew he was mourning his defeat.

Asteri took the opportunity to get up and head into the kitchen for a late night snack. He already had his eye on exactly what he wanted to get - he had saved a bar of chocolate in the fridge, and it had miraculously remained untouched by both his mom and Kentaro.

Grin still wide across his face, he opened the refrigerator door and retrieved his beloved Hershey chocolate bar. It did take a little digging, but the chocolate hitting his taste buds made it worth the time.

He turned around, ready to head back into their living room.

But it wasn't there.

He was in a forest much like the one behind their house, but he couldn't see the house anywhere. He wasn't even sure how he had gotten here in the first place. He wildly looked around for some sort of rift, even though he knew the chances of one opening up wasn't that likely.

His grip on the remaining half bar of chocolate tightened, and the temperature immediately dropped as an oddly familiar voice rang out through the forest.

He wasn't alone.

Asteri panicked. He had been so careful! He had only left the house under the cover of darkness, and even then it had been in clothes he was sure could conceal his features if necessary. This time around, he just had on a hoodie that was unfortunately on the smaller side, and no sunglasses to hide his red eyes.

He shoved the chocolate bar into his hoodie's pockets. They had to have known Kentaro. He had barely interacted with anyone outside of their immediate friend group, and he would have been able to put a face to those voices-

Unless this person had come from that masquerade.

He wisely slipped into the shadows of the nearest tree. "I didn't do anything," he said, waiting for them to do something that would reveal who they were. He thought for a moment, then hesitantly looked around the tree.

He saw a girl leaning up against another tree a short distance away, and it only took him a few moments to figure out who the owner of the voice was.

It was Eremia.

He couldn't help himself - he let out a groan.

Ah, so her attacker was an idiot. Or was this idiot just a fellow victim? She couldn't quite decide if the light had been caused by something human (or reasonably human) or not. Either way, they were far too noisy and far too obvious - she could see the edge of something like a coat protruding out from a tree nearby. Whoever this person was, they'd probably have something over their face. Also not a good sign.

Eremia had to move quickly; she didn't know if she'd already been spotted. Gritting her teeth, she pushed away from the tree, extending her palm and conjuring a breeze on it. When she felt like she was close enough (only a few steps away), she aimed the gust at the coat. Rude? Yes, but it would give her a clear view of the stranger.

He stumbled away from the tree as a wall of wind slammed into him, and his hood went flying off of his head. He had never felt magic like it before, but he knew that it had to be magic - there wasn't any other explanation for how it could be so powerful on a day that didn't look remotely stormy. He frowned. There could only be one person who would do something like that; Eremia was the only other person he had found in the woods.

He fully stepped out from behind the tree.

And then he angrily fixed his ponytail, because his hair had already been slipping out during the gaming session and the sudden blast of air certainly hadn't helped. "What was that for?" he asked, glaring at her.

Oh. Of course. It took a few seconds for Eremia to finally realize who the stranger was, but the horns peeking out of what appeared to be a wig helped. She'd sworn that had been part of his mask, but he hadn't exactly been honest with her, so she couldn't be too surprised.

"Ah," she said, crossing her arms. "You. How nice it is to finally see you again."

"Yeah," he said, tail angrily swishing behind him. "Me."

He mirrored her by crossing his own arms. He was starting to get the horrible suspicion that there wouldn't be a large group of people present wherever they were like there had been last time - he was going to be stuck with her. He hoped that they weren't stuck together for long, but he had also hoped that he'd never see her again.

"I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that you have no idea where this place is or how you got here," Asteri said. The air dropped another few degrees. He was frustrated, and he had no qualms about expressing that through his magic.

The longer he spoke, the colder the air around him grew. She knew magic when she felt it. Admittedly, its strange weakness implied that it wasn't voluntary on his part, and he likely wasn't all that strong of a mage. That didn't stop her from retaliating with the little bit of fire magic that she'd learned from Taber. It didn't help much, since she felt lukewarm, but it was better than the chill she'd felt around Asteri.

"You are correct," she replied. "And I should hope that you would be honest enough to tell me the same of yourself?"

He could feel the air heating up around her, but didn't question it. She probably had some sort of elemental magic like his own - that type of magic usually heated up places, rather than cooled them like his did. The air around him dropped a little more, and ice began to form at his feet.

She knew why he had lied. He had explained himself. And while he might not have told her the whole truth, it was enough to give a reason for what he had done.

"I'm in the same boat as you," he said, then impulsively added, "though I wish I wasn't."

"Yes," she said. "I am certainly glad to have you here, of all people. Now, what in Fayne am I supposed to do in this neglected forest? Camp? Look for shelter? Where are the gods or the banquets or the masquerades?"

She looked past Asteri, scanning the forest at the edge of her vision. "Furthermore, is there any person nearby that would be more friendly than you? Or, to state the same sentiment, is there any person nearby?"

"I think we're the only ones here," he said. He eyed the surrounding area for some place to sit on, and eventually settled for awkwardly sitting on a fallen tree trunk. He kept his arms crossed and crossed his legs for good measure, frustration clearly written across his face. "And I'm just as clueless as you are about what's happening. Maybe it's a different god, or maybe something else decided to ruin my day by throwing me here with you."

Setting her hands on her hips, Eremia scowled at Asteri. "Charming," she said, "You do not like to mince words, do you?"

She looked up at the lush canopy overhead. High enough to make lifting herself up there challenging, but not impossible. Eugh, and she'd likely be better off using his magic, if any of it could be of use. "If you would like to be useful for a change and help me find out where we are, I would much appreciate the help."

The dig admittedly stung a bit, but he wasn't going to admit it to her. It would give her a satisfaction he didn't want someone like her to get. "What exactly were you thinking of? If you're going to say we split up to try covering more ground, I'll have to pass. I've seen enough horror movies to know that it's a horrible idea and would probably get us both killed."

Eremia pointed to the top of the tree. "As helpful as it would be to have you run off," she said, "I would rather you help me up that tree."

That was...a better plan than he had been expecting. But he still managed to find a flaw with it, and he eagerly suggested his own alternative plan. "If we want to get a look at the area, I'll just make a pillar of ice," he said. He looked her over. "And since I don't trust you to keep your balance, I'll stand on it instead."