19 Chapter Five - 2 || Darren (2/2)

At the center, a young man, who looked to be around her age, was sitting on his behind on the dirt street. He was rubbing his lower back and holding his head in shock. He wore a powder blue button-down, dark navy jeans, and yellow ocher boots.

Essairyn strode over to him past the gaggle of onlookers and stretched her hand out in a greeting. He had sandy brown hair that messily yet handsomely framed his angular face, vivid chestnut eyes that shone up at her in surprise, and a light honey complexion that complemented his ruggedly boyish looks.

He blankly stared at her hand for a moment before extending his own. She grasped his hand as soon as it was within reach and quickly tugged him up.

”Come on!” she exclaimed as he stumbled onto his feet.

”H-Huh?” he stammered bewilderedly as she held his hand and dragged him away from the crowd.

”I'm a traveler too! The name's Essairyn.” She grinned back at the boy as they raced away. ”What's yours?”

”Darren,” he shouted as they ran around the corner. ”Um, where are we going? And why're we running so fast?”

Essairyn slowed down as they neared the school.

”To get away of course. And we're here!” she announced.

She dropped his hand and looked up at the school. It was a old-fashioned stone building barely three stories high with an indigo roof that served as an attic floor. The wooden door matched the roof, and the inscriptions etched above it were painted in gold. A window laid on either side of the door.

”The Academy, Reisparte Regional School?” Darren read.

”Yes, I arrived in this world two days ago and learned that this was the best place to learn about it,” she cheerfully explained.

”This world?” Darren uttered perplexedly, ”What do you mean—?” He stopped as he took in the sights around him. ”Where the hell is this?” he blurted with wide eyes.

”Sol'h'meyr,” responded Essairyn calmly.

”Soul-hey what?” he replied loudly.

Darren gripped his head in confusion and closed his eyes to deliberate this bizarre turn of events. He couldn't believe what was happening. He had just been walking downtown with his friends after university classes when suddenly he found himself plummeting through nothingness.

When he landed, his surroundings were completely different. He was in a rustic town with strange people all around him, and a random girl who casually dragged him off to a school. Apparently he was a 'traveler,' and so was she.

”It's a lot to take in, I know,” she expressed gently with concerned eyes.

”It's just—” Darren began. ”I was just with my buddies in the city. We had just left the campus dorms, and we passed by this store that had this beautiful painting in the window, so I stopped to look at it, but they had gone ahead, so I went to catch up to them but then suddenly I was—”

He shook his head in disbelief and stared blankly into space. ”It's like that painting teleported me to another world…” His eyes suddenly lit up. ”You don't think—?!” Essairyn shook her head, knowing what he was going to suggest.

”I arrived in a forest actually. It's located on top of this huge cliff several miles away from this town. I wasn't near any painting before I found myself here. I'm not yet sure how or why we traveled to this world, but apparently it's not uncommon for people from Earth to appear here.”

Darren wrinkled his brows. ”Then..” he trailed off and looked into space again.

”Hey.” Essairyn patted his arm. ”It took me some time to believe that this wasn't a dream. And there's probably some part of me that still doubts this world is real.” She looked directly into his eyes and smiled softly. ”But it really is real. This isn't some dream.”