"I just wanted some new pens," Andrew whined, fixing his slipper back onto his foot. It had fallen off several times thanks to catching on the torn edges of his pajama pants while he stumbled through the outskirts of the misshapen city.
His vision had blurred to the point of mistaking most of the alleyways for an alternative path to take, though he was sure he had circled the area more than twice after a few minutes of walking. All of it looked the same, the few differences being faded posters and signs hung by or over some doors. Those didn't give direction, since he couldn't read them through the fog his eyes couldn't blink away.
"I just had to go outside and get some and not order them online like a damn sane person! But no, I couldn't just wait one or two days and finish writing the article later."
Every building had a straw roof over stone walls, like an ancient, medieval town. Though they were much taller than any of the ones he had seen in movies, some having five or six floors. A few of them were so close together that he had to shuffle his groggy body between them.
The sun dipped below the horizon by the time his feet grew sore. Lights popped up in the dark further into the mass of buildings. Stone paths and uneven stoops that crowded the tight alleys slowed his approach, but eventually he got to a path that had a direct line of sight to a crowd.
Andrew picked up the pace. His eyes had adjusted enough to make out more details, confusing him further. Music he had never heard before played under the sound of voices, guiding him to the mass of people dressed in a fashion he had no name for.
Maybe he had been knocked out, mugged, and then dragged off somewhere to throw him off the trail of the bandits. That would explain the confusion, lack of phone and wallet, and the dull pain in his chest.
"Do you think he'll come our way?"
"Oh, I hope so! Elias is so handsome, I wouldn't mind seeing him in person again!"
Andrew paused at the sound of two female voices walking toward the thick of the crowd, looking over with a smile. Surely they would have phones or could answer some questions.
"Excuse me, you ladies wouldn't happen to-" Andrew's words died on his lips when he looked at their faces.
Each had blue glowing tattoos on their foreheads, a thin line that ran from one temple to the other. At first, he thought they might be a glow stick crown or paint. They weren't, however, and he realized that when one girl rubbed the area as if it were sore, and the line didn't budge.
"Can we help you?" One of them scrunched her face and stepped closer. "You don't look like you're from around here."
"I, uh, I'm not. At least, I don't think I am. I just-" Andrew took a step back, bumping into a building.
Warmth spread across his shoulders, coming out of the wall as if it were reaching out and grabbing him. "I need to use someone's phone. If you don't mind?" His slurred voice cracked, and he cleared his throat while pulling his arms away from the wall.
"A phone? I don't know what that is. Meyal, do you know something called a phone?" The first girl spoke to her friend without looking away from Andrew.
"No," the other said slowly. "And I don't think we should be talking to him. Let's go, Lea." She grabbed her friend's arm and dragged her away, walking too quickly for Andrew to follow.
"Shit," he huffed. Andrew looked back at the building, noticing tiny veins of the same blue, glowing, paint-like substance that the girls had on them.
Carefully, he reached forward and let his fingertips touch a stone, able to feel it move ever so slightly each time the veins pulsed. The low heat emanating from it seeped into his fingertips and ran up his arm, soothing the pain in his chest.
Andrew yanked his hand back. It hadn't hurt at all, and it didn't look like it did anything to him other than make his ribs ache a little less.
"Huh," Andrew drawled, his stomach twisting into a knot as he rubbed the once sore area. "Something is… Something is very wrong here." He looked upward, the veil of the oncoming night revealing that every building had the same blue phenomenon coursing through them.
Waking up in a daze, not knowing where he was or how he got there, surrounded by glowing houses and people? His thoughts whirled around in his head, bringing back the spinning sensation he had woken up with.
Either his dreams had become too vivid for his liking, or his trip outside had taken him extraordinarily far from home.
His gaze drifted from the sky to the ground where more lines of blue wiggled and pulsed. Specs of the substance floated up from the bricks and clung to his slipper.
Andrew ran. Where he was going, he didn't know, but he didn't want to just stand there any longer. He had to wake up or find help, and he wouldn't stop moving his legs until he either heard his alarm or found his way home.
Running wasn't Andrew's forte in life, however. Sports never appealed to him, and working out didn't fit into his schedule. And yet, his out of shape body didn't allow him to stop pushing through the crowd that filled the freaky town he had ended up in.
With burning lungs and aching feet, he shoved people out of his way, with no goal in mind other than away. Away from all the weird things his mind had made up, and away from the sinking weight in his gut.
Endless rows of buildings and people made escape seem impossible. Even the way he had come from could no longer be seen.
Despite his attempt to ignore his surroundings, Andrew could hear people shouting at him, some trying to reach out their hands to stop his progress. The denser the crowd got, the more the hands gripped at his jacket or T-shirt and tried to tug him back. Not even his most intense nightmares could have conjured up the long fingers and disgruntled voices digging into his arms and ears.
Andrew forced his arm free from the large man who had nearly stopped him, bolting forward harder than before. Only a few more steps were taken before his face collided with something big, soft, and warm.
Being stopped so suddenly made Andrew groan, his insides jostling and twisting into an even bigger knot of anxiety. Every conversation died, and the music came to an abrupt end.
For a moment, Andrew wondered if he had hit his head hard enough to pass out again.
Before he could open his eyes and see what or who he run into, an arm wrapped around his back and pulled him closer, mashing his face against their chest.
"What seems to be the rush, my friend?" A deep, resonating voice rumbled from their chest right into Andrew's. "Are you looking for someone? Perhaps, me?"
Andrew unburied his face from the man's burgundy shawl and looked up at him while he panted to catch his breath. Ruby eyes stared back, lined with black makeup that trapped his gaze on them.
Judging by the way everyone had stopped the festivities to stare at them, Andrew guessed that the man had to be important. Someone he shouldn't have been pressed against.
Though it wasn't as if he had much of a choice. When he tried to step back, the man tightened his grip.
"Ah-ah, I need some answers before I let you go. Who are you?" The man offered a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Depending on your answer, I may be able to help you with whatever you're running from."
Andrew clenched his jaw. Countless articles with his name on them painted a target on his back, and he posted them without flinching or thinking twice about how his words might upset someone. So why wasn't he using the backbone he knew he had, and demanding to be taken home without having the song and dance of telling them his entire story?
"I'm not here for you," he said as he attempted to push away from the man. "I…" Not having his face buried allowed Andrew to see more of his captor.
Bumpy, curved horns sat on his head. Ones that looked to be coming out of his skull and not just slapped on like some costume. "I, uh, I want to know who you are first."
The crowd gasped and mumbled, acting as if he didn't have a right to know who had him in a death grip.
"Of course, how rude of me," the man laughed, the sound posh and, to Andrew, condescending. "I am Prince Elias. I come to town at least once a year, and this year I ran into you. Or rather, you into me. And I'm glad for it, because you're causing quite a stir. I prefer it if I know everything that's happening in my kingdom right away." Elias leaned down, his nose softly bumping into Andrew's. "I believe it's your turn now. Who are you, and why are you running through this city as if something is chasing you? Do you need help?"
Andrew's overworked heart hadn't slowed from his run, and the sound of it filled his ears and muffled half of the prince's words.
"A big nerd, great," he grumbled, trying to compose himself. No way he had actually come face to face with a prince from some place he had never heard of. He couldn't even recall a place that still had royalty. At least none that looked or acted like Elias. Those only existed in movies or the romance novels his mother always had lying around.
The tension in Andrew's body released.
Role players. They had to be. Nothing else made any sense. Andrew had to have been knocked out, and while stumbling around, he found an elaborate game made up by people who poured their lives into playing make-believe.
"Here I thought I was dreaming, had died, or gone into a coma. But it's just a bunch of people with too much time on their hands. Oh, man, you had me freaked out for a second there!" Andrew gave the "prince" a pat on the cheek, earning another gasp from the audience. "My name is Andrew. Dude, I get that you guys take this stuff super seriously, but I could really use a phone to get home. I don't know how far from L.A. we are, but I'm assuming it's pretty far. Are we even still in California?"
Confused murmurs came from the surrounding people, and Elias' face softened.
"I'm afraid I don't know where those places are, or what a phone is, but I will do what I can to help you, Andrew." He brought a hand up to Andrew's forehead, using the back of it to brush his hair away from the area. "How about I take you back to my castle, and we can figure out how to get you home from there?"
Andrew looked away from the prince, forcing himself out of his arms. "I guess if you need to step away from the others to break character, then fine. But that's pretty forward of you to just ask me back to your place like that. Could get me a coffee first?"
Elias pressed his lips into a thin line. "Ah, if that's a type of food or drink, I will do what I can to give you something close to it once we're at the castle. But first I must excuse myself from my people."
"Do whatever you need to, I guess." They were all taking their game so seriously. Andrew had to admit it was impressive to be so dedicated to something. "Whatever gets me home quicker."
The prince stepped away from him and raised his hands, a pair of red wings flaring out from his back. Andrew wasn't sure how he had missed those, but it reaffirmed to him that he wouldn't be getting any straight answers from those people. Their dedication seemed to have gone a little too far, maybe to the point of delusion.
"People of Aldoun, it has been my greatest pleasure spending this time of year around you all." Elias didn't need to shout for everyone to hear him, his voice resonating over the crowd so easily that Andrew had to wonder if he had some sort of microphone that he just couldn't see. "It saddens me to have to end things early, but as you know, I must not let someone who needs help go without. Please continue the festivities and enjoy yourselves while I deal with this matter."
Everyone erupted into a cheer, dispersing after a moment and moving on with the party as if there hadn't been an interruption.
"Right, now that is settled, you and I can head off to my castle." Elias ran a hand through his long, golden hair, stopping at the high ponytail in the back to tighten it. "Allow me to prepare myself," he said as his hands worked, "and we will make it there in no time. You don't have any aversion to heights, do you?"
Andrew raised his brow. "No, why? Are you going to tell me that your castle is so big that I might be afraid of being in it, or something? 'Cause I've been to the city, and the main office I report to is on, like, the twenty-sixth floor, so I doubt you're going to impress me much there."
Elias moved closer to Andrew once more and laughed, shaking his head. "You're an odd person, Andrew. I have a feeling that we will need to speak to the mages about this because I think you may be further from home than you know."
Before Andrew could tell him that, duh, of course he was, the prince wrapped his arms around him and squeezed. "You're a touchy person, you know that, right? How about you quit holding me, and we get going? Is there some fancy carriage you decked out for this? I wouldn't mind some time to sit down. These slippers haven't been ideal for running."
Another chuckle came from the prince. "Just hold on tightly to me, and I promise to stick by your side until we can get you home." Elias spread his wings and flapped them a few times, each movement harder than the last, until their feet lifted off the ground.
Andrew yelped, his fingers digging into Elias' shawl. "Wait! What?! H-how-!" His questions remained unanswered thanks to a rush of wind hitting him in the face.
Flying? The dude had somehow figured out how to fly? It had to be some sort of wire system or an oddly quiet jetpack. Andrew didn't know enough about that stuff to make an educated guess about it. All he knew was that their flight better be quick, or he was going to be forced to remember the last thing he ate.