by Quil Carter
“It’s… it’s been longer than a couple days. You’ve been out for almost – almost a week.”
Ben shot him an alarmed look; he could feel what felt like an icy worm slide down his throat.
“Take me home.” Ben started to feel sick.
“I can’t.”
“Why?” Ben didn’t know whether the tightness in his chest was fear or annoyance. He let out an exasperated breath and tried to stand. “Look, kid, I get it, it’s hard to find a guy in this world but this isn’t the way to do it.”
Ben rose to his feet and took a shaky step forward. As he did he noticed the kid’s body jerk towards him, as if expecting to have to catch Ben when he fell.
“Sit, please…” the boy said almost pleading, though he didn’t move closer to Ben. “I – you need to be sitting for this.”
“Okay, thanks, I’m going now,” Ben said flatly. “I’m flattered but I’m not interested in crazy.”
“Ben, look at me,” the boy suddenly said.
Ben froze.
That’s right, he knew my name; he had on the rooftop too.
“How do you know my name?”
“I’m sorry,” the boy said for the umpteenth time. “For what’s about to happen, but please, I’ll take care of you. I’ll help you through this. I didn’t want this to happen; I was commanded to.”
Ben turned and stared at the kid. He had his head lowered, his fingernails kneading into an arm that looked like it had gotten a lot of abuse from those same fingernails.
This is it, he’s going to force himself on me… or try to, anyway. Poor kid doesn’t look like a rapist, maybe was just delusional and lonely.
Ben’s mouth opened to tell the kid he was leaving, when he saw him raise a hand and place it on top of his wool hat. Then, without saying another word, the young man slid the hat off of his head.
Two pointed ears popped out from under the hat before being partially covered by red-streaked golden-blond hair. At the same time, the boy raised his hand and brushed his hair away from his ears; his slender fingers holding the pointed fingernails which, on closer inspection, resembled claws.
“What the hell are you?” Ben gasped. He took a step back and glanced behind him, readying himself to run.
“I’m a hibrid, an elf or well… demi-elf,” the boy whispered. “I brought you here, when we jumped off of the rooftop.”
“Where is here?” Ben said faintly; his chest constricted in on itself, making it hard for him to breathe.
Ben took a step back but felt his legs buckle underneath him. He looked down but when he did he got a new shock.
His bare feet – they had claws on them now, not unlike the ones on the creature in front of him. Ben moved his toes and was further astonished to see the pointed nails on his toes could flex in and out like a cat’s.
The world started spinning around him, and before Ben knew it he had dropped to his knees. He let out a confused moan, feeling a rush of sickening nausea claim him in its clutches. Without any warning at all, he keeled over and felt his stomach spasm, then moments later a stream of bile and water spilled from his mouth and onto the forest floor.
Ben rested his hands in front of him to steady himself; his eyes streaming and his body shaking. Though as he stared at the ground, he only got another shock – his hands, like his feet, were no longer his own. He had long, slender fingers, and fingernails pointed just like the young man behind him.
Ben got back up. Then, unable to stop himself, Ben put his hands up and touched his ears.
They were pointed too.
“I brought you to Alcove, Ben,” the boy said. “You’re a hibrid now too. You’re not in your – your world anymore. You’re in mine.”
Ben shook his head, and wiped his mouth with his bare arm. “No,” he choked, feeling himself start to hyperventilate. “Concussion,” he stammered, not even able to form a sentence anymore. “Rooftop, drugs… fall, the fall–”
He was surprised to hear the boy give out a whimper, when he spoke his voice was strained and cracked. “No, Ben, it’s none of those things. My – my, a very… a demigod, a powerful being, told me… to bring you here. We – we need, I mean…”
Ben whirled around. “SPEAK PROPERLY!” he screamed at the creature.
The kid shrunk back, he was looking at the ground and took a shaky deep breath. Ben could see that he was trying to get a hold of himself. “We brought you to Alcove, Ben. My home, in a world called Elron. He changed you into a hibrid like me. We need your help with him and only you can help us. You’re not crazy; it wasn’t the fall. I’m sorry; I was commanded by the protector of Elron, a demigod, to do this. I had no choice. We need to save Alcove.”
Ben stared at him like he had just started talking in tongues; he shook his head fully accepting that this kid was a lunatic. “I’ve lost my god damn mind and I’m not going to stick around to hear any more of this bullshit. I’m going home.”
“You can’t – I can’t bring you back…”
“Piss off.” Ben struggled to get to his feet, feeling a sickeningly hot heat rush through his body heating him like an oven. He stumbled forward and leaned his hand against one of the oak trees to steady himself, before he slowly started walking into the woods.
There had to be a road here somewhere, or at least the vehicle that the lunatic had used to bring him here. He’d steal the fucking car if needed be, leave the little bastard in the woods to rot. The world had enough crazy people; he wouldn’t be missed.
“Ben…” the boy’s sad and unsure voice sounded from behind him but Ben didn’t stop.
The road had to be near… if not, someone would have to find him. Tav would be looking for him… Tav would find him. Someone would. Unlike the insane person behind him people actually would miss him. It wouldn’t take long…
He had to go home back to his apartment, back to his Tav, back to his drugs, back to–
“Ben… you’re not in Colorado anymore. You’re not on earth…”
Ben ignored him. He didn’t have a comeback; he didn’t know what to say. The kid wasn’t human, that much was true, and – Ben shuddered – it looked like he wasn’t either. It must all be in his head. He’d probably died… the jump off of the roof would’ve killed him.
“Ben? Please… please.”
“If you follow me, I’ll rip your face off with my new claws,” Ben said lowly. He stepped over a rock covered in an orange fungus and continued walking away from the camp, stepping around roots that matched the width of the tree trunks back home.
He heard the boy behind him suck in a breath; his hearing ability was much more improved in this new body.
“What are you going back to, Ben?”
“My drugs, my roommate, my television…”
“The job you’re going to soon find out you were fired from? Your depression, your life leading you nowhere, your nightmares.”
Feeling a spark of anger, Ben clenched his teeth; he violently tore a bunch of leaves from a fern and demolished them in his grip.
That little freak had some nerve.
“Ben… what would that life give you? You’ll either die from an overdose, fall into an even deeper depression once your roommate goes back to Albania. Get beat up by another drug dealer. Go on welfare–”
“So that god damn god you have told you everything about me, huh?” Ben snapped. He tossed the shredded leaves off to the side and continued walking.
“I just want to know – what you think you’re going back to? What makes you want to go home?”
Ben felt himself let out a breath; he hadn’t thought of that.
He found his mind going to his bedroom. Sitting in front of that box for hours. Sitting and staring at it, hallucinating, delving so deep into psychosis he had scared Tav into running out of the bedroom to get help.
I had – Ben looked up and stared into the woods as the realization claimed him. I had been seeking the silver-haired man. I had been seeking answers as to where Erick was. I had
gone to that building with that weird poem in my head saying I would either go insane from my hand or I’d…
Catch me and catch me… Benjamin Zahn.
The silver-haired man… I bet he’s the demigod.
The realization made Ben’s heart sink to his feet. A thousand questions burned his lips but he was unable to speak.
“You can help save us, Ben; you can have purpose,” the boy said. “The demigod told me, you were chosen in the prophecies for this. In many respects, you were chosen by a god.”
“I don’t believe in gods,” Ben whispered.
“These gods exist. They’ve been seen, touched, they used to walk amongst us in the early years. They’re real, they’re the reason you were born in your world.”
Ben hadn’t even realized that he had stopped. He stared forward into the woods, just as vast and thick as it had been at the camp. No signs of civilization, no cars, power lines, garbage. It was untouched beauty he had never seen before.
“What do you mean?”
He heard the soft crunching of twigs as the elf-creature walked up behind him.
“The humans were banished to Earth in the first age, for corrupting, pillaging, causing war. Anea, the Elder God, decided they were not for Elron and exiled them to their own world, to live as the godless race. You were chosen to come back.”
“This is insane,” Ben whispered. He so dearly wanted some drugs right now. A joint to calm his nerves, some morphine to stop the stab of anxiety still in his chest. Something to help him cope. His brain was fried; his emotions were fried. He wanted to sleep, or sit down, or something.
Damn, he wanted to go home.
“The last thing I did was jump off of a building because I was driven into madness by nightmares and voices in my head,” Ben said. His life before this seemed more clouded than he felt it should be. It seemed like it had happened years before, not just days.
He tried to remember back.
“I remember being miserable. I remember going crazy staring at that box, thinking of–”
Ben stopped midsentence. His hand, which had been leaning against a tree to help him stand, fell to his side. His mouth went dry and his body started to tremble as the pieces of this mystery started to mould together and take shape.
“Erick’s here, isn’t he?”
With slow movements, like his mind didn’t want to hear the answer, Ben turned around, just in time to see the young hibrid nod.
“Yes – Erick’s here.”
Erick was here.
Erick was alive? Ben had forgotten until he spoke those words that he had said it on the rooftop. Ben’s brother, who’d seemed to have disappeared off of the face of the earth was here in this strange world. Alive.
Erick was alive.
The roof… the poem. The boy had known the poem that Ben had kept reciting in his head. He had known it word for word. Ben hadn’t even had time to question just how this strange creature had known the chant that had been echoing inside of his head for weeks. Everything had happened to fast.
“The silver-haired man, he is the demigod isn’t he?” Ben asked. “He set this whole damn thing up and led me to you?”
The boy looked down at the ground and nodded. “That’s right, I’m sorry. I had to do what he says.”
A sour taste seeped into Ben’s mouth. He was looking to this kid for answers but it seemed that he was just as much in the dark as he was. This kid was terrified and seemed in a constant state of anxiety; he was probably nothing more than a pawn. The silver-haired demigod was the one in control of all of this, but why? Why bring Ben here? Why bring Erick here?
Was Erick okay here? Was he scared too? His life had been absolute shit when he disappeared. He was heavily addicted to drugs, hell, he was getting the crap beat out of him constantly from people he owed money to… me included.
“I want to see him, bring me to Erick.”
Erick would be able to explain everything to him. Erick would be able to make sense of this. Ben so badly wanted to see a familiar face in this new world, not just any face, his only brother, his blood. He never thought he would see him again.
He had to see him, now; he had to see Erick.
“You can’t,” the boy said. He had an edge to his voice that immediately raised Ben’s hackles.
“No, you are,” Ben said taking on a threatening tone. “It wasn’t a request; you will take me to him.”
The elf-boy didn’t move but Ben could see the corners of his mouth pull down slightly. Ben scanned his face for any sign that he was intimidated but there was nothing.
“I couldn’t even if I wanted to, which I don’t,” the boy replied, his voice a level calm. “He’s heavily guarded, in a place called the Pyre; surrounded by guards, Dashavian priests, and a thousand leagues of forests, mountains, and lakes. And even if he did see you, Ben; he would have you killed on sight.”
The boy looked at him and with that single look Ben paused. His eyes were hard as was his stance; the nervous, unsure look he’d had before was gone, gone at the mention of Erick.
“He’s murdered tens of thousands of our elves. He has behind him an army of four times that many. He is the Dashavian usurper – the Draken King. He is Erick of House Zahn – and he is the King of Alcove.”
7
Ben had never had an anxiety attack before but he was no stranger to them now. He could almost hear his own mind snap with the last words the creature said to him. It was the final straw on the weight that had been pressing down on his back. He had reached his threshold of what his mind could handle.
“I’m sorry!” the boy cried. Ben could feel his presence beside him but his mind was everywhere but in his new reality. His teeth were chattering with such intensity his head was filled with the clicking noise he was making. And as the boy laid a supportive hand on his shoulder Ben realized he was muttering incoherently through his strangled cries. Not a word he was saying was making sense, but nothing was making sense right now.
As the anxiety attack raged on, Ben knew he had to calm himself down and try and make sense of this. He was tired of arguing with the strange elf-kid in front of him – he just wanted answers.
Even if he knew he might not like those answers.
Moments later, Ben could feel a cold vial being pressed up against his lips and he made the split second decision to accept it from him. The boy had been giving him things from those vials since he arrived here and it hadn’t hurt him yet.
The boy tipped the vial forward and an odd tasting liquid filled Ben’s mouth. He swallowed and let out a small confused whimper before clasping his hands around his knees trying to make himself as small as possible.
Ben closed his eyes and tried to will himself home. The confusion was overwhelming and his head kept stalling and jamming as he tried to process all of this information that had been thrown at him.
It made sense though… in an odd way it made sense.
He felt the boy’s hand on his shoulder, warm on his clammy skin, and as the medicine started to do its job Ben felt the shaking start to subside in his body. He struggled to take deep breaths as he felt the clamp on his chest slowly start to relinquish its grasp.
When he felt okay enough to move Ben got up. The boy steadied him and they walked back to the fire.
Ben sat down on one of the logs and accepted the green blanket he had become attached to while detoxing. He wrapped it around himself and stared into the flicking flames, watching the glowing embers engulf a large piece of twisted silver wood. He had never seen such a vibrant colour in the flesh of a tree before; it looked hauntingly beautiful as the fire consumed it.
As he watched the flames he felt himself calm. There was something about sitting by a warm fire that seemed to resonate in Ben; he drew a sense of peace from it. A primal instinct, he assumed.
Feeling small flickers of bravery, Ben brought his hands out and warmed them against the flames. He examined them and turned them over, seeing sharp fingernails on long fingers
that seemed much stronger than the flimsy, brittle fingernails he used to have.
Ben made a clawing motion and was mildly amused to see he could flex them in and out as well, just like the ones on his toes. To further take advantage of his brave state he gently ran the claws over his arms as they were extended, and saw little white roads appear in his skin. The claws seemed strong – exceptionally strong.
After hearing some light clattering around him, the elf handed him a skewer with a few chunks of raw meat and potato on it. Ben took it and held it over the fire.
The elf sat down beside him with his own skewer and did the same.
“I just want you to know…” the boy began to say quietly; Ben could hear a level of confidence and strength in his voice. “I’ll protect you; I’ll teach you everything you need to know. I’ll help you through this.”
“Who are you?” Ben asked. He couldn’t express how thankful he was for the tonic the hibrid had given him. It was sweeping through his body like strong Xanax. He felt like he could finally think without going into a full-blown panic.
The hibrid, with blond and red hair, gave him a half-smile, it was the first time Ben had seen any emotion besides worry and terror on his face. “My name’s Teal.”
Ben held out his free hand to shake it with Teal’s. The hibrid stared at it for a second before he awkwardly took it and shook it.
“I learned how to do that when I was in your world. We usually just incline our heads or embrace here.”
Teal paused; he let out a breath that made several red-streaked curls on his forehead fly up. “I know what you’re going through. I didn’t leave the woods for over a month. I was terrified. I only had the demigod to help me and he isn’t nearly as patient as I will be with you.”
Ben dearly wanted to ask more questions about who or what a demigod was, but he had more important questions.
