Cassius
Cassius played a lively melody on his ocarina as he was forced to walk with his friends. The darkness soon vanished and Cass could see the Sun—or suns, to be more exact—the two stars began to rise on the horizon not long after the group fled the cursed building.
The grass was blue and came up to Cass's knees, literally; with each step he felt the plant wrapping around his pants on purpose. He stopped playing.
— Is it my imagination or is the grass grabbing my leg? — Elliot nodded.
— It's grabbing my leg too, but Pearl doesn't seem alarmed, so this type of plant must be harmless — Noah coughed.
— I don't think anything in this world is harmless — Cassius slapped Noah on the back.
— Stop jinxing our trip! I want a peaceful walk until we get out of here — Pochi shouted at the trio.
— What an annoying person — Cass whispered, and soon a piece of wood was pointed at the redhead.
— What are you talking about!?
— Where do you get those sticks out of nowhere? — Elliot and Noah stepped away from Cassius and Pochi — Traitors! — Elliot shrugged.
After a brief chase by the small, irritable girl like a pinscher, Cass spent some time thinking of a way to get revenge. One idea was a mean nickname.
Just wait, I'll get even with you, you uncontrollable pinscher!
Pearl finally seemed to realize that no one was walking with her; the elf looked back with some surprise. Cass narrowed his eyes and finally asked.
— Is Pearl deaf? — Elliot choked and Noah widened his eyes; Pochi adopted a more aggressive stance than usual.
— Yes, and if any of you three decide to do any harm to her, be sure I will kill you without remorse — Noah put a hand on her shoulder.
— There's no need; we would never hurt either of you.
The silent mood returned during the walk, except for Cass who played his ocarina, a little softer this time. Elliot cast furtive glances at the elf, who was walking further ahead with Pochi; Cass approached his friend.
— I'm surprised you didn't notice before me; observing and identifying isn't your best skill? — Elliot just looked down, discouraged.
— Yeah, I guess I'm not always very perceptive — Hearing Elliot's answer carefully, Cass clearly knew he was lying. His friend always got nervous around other people, especially girls, but always hid it; to Cassius this was obvious, yet he couldn't do anything to help.
After spending some indescribably long hours walking through the strange grass and encountering other odd plants that Pearl insisted on avoiding, Cass's eyes narrowed as he observed buildings in the distance; some had pointed roofs, but all resembled England victorian-era constructions.
They had one small difference, however: metal elevators that followed lines made of plant material, and bronze boxes came and went in all directions without ever colliding, and pipes of the same material as the elevators were spread throughout the city.
The eyes of the four outsiders shone with excitement as they approached the strange city, which seemed small compared to the great metropolises they had come from; Pochi and Cass decided to break the silence.
— How cool — Both said at the same time.
— I think you should go ahead; I'm shirtless and bloodied, it wouldn't be a good first impression — While speaking, Elliot pulled Cass by the arm.
— What's up? — He put a finger to his lips.
— Pay attention to who lives in this city and how everything works; if possible get clothes for me; if not, focus on learning as much as you can about this city, culture, language, writing system, social organization and return to this same place before sunset — Cass agreed silently.
— Then the strange boy stays, let's go — Pochi demanded, never stopping following Pearl, who had not noticed that someone had stopped again.
The walk wasn't long, but an uncomfortable silence reigned as the group neared the city; none of the three knew what to expect, would everyone be elves like Pearl? From afar it was already possible to tell they were humanoids, but perhaps it was only a disguise and they were monsters. Cass's imagination created thousands of possibilities, none positive.
The answer was a little disappointing: while walking the paved streets and occasionally seeing carriages pass by, Cass noticed that most people were human like him, with only a few differences: they had shinier skin, silver eyes, and many of them were about Cass's height.
— A city of short people? — If Cassius weren't surprised he would have punched Noah's arm.
— Short people, well dressed — Indeed Pochi was right; everyone wore various suits, some with top hats and monocles, but for the most part they seemed to represent the peak of elegance, albeit in a different era.
Pearl continued to guide the group amid suspicious looks from the locals; while crossing a street Noah was almost run over by one of the metal boxes; it stopped in front of the group, and after releasing a thick smoke, its door opened and four men in black suits and top hats stepped out.
The men began to murmur in an unknown language; Pearl bowed and began to move her hands.
— It must be a kind of sign language in this world — Noah whispered with a curious expression. And the most impressive thing: all four men stopped mumbling their strange language and made gestures too.
— Apparently everyone knows it as well — Cass stated the obvious.
The next minutes alternated between dodging the flying boxes, observing the strange citizens, and being observed back. It was extremely rare, but from time to time Cass saw some people with ears similar to Pearl's; they were even taller than Noah, had bored expressions and bizarre eyes with no sclera. Totally different from Pearl.
After Cassius almost died three times (he got distracted a lot by all the strange people and especially the women of this new world) the group finally reached the area of a mansion. A long iron gate that bore a rune in its center was spotted; Pearl jumped joyfully when she saw it, running toward it. A woman with long pink hair, wearing a red bow and a maid's outfit, opened a big smile upon seeing the elf.
The two hugged and Pearl began to gesture toward the trio while the maid nodded with a neutral expression. She had porcelain-white skin that matched her hair; her nose was small and seemed to shrink whenever she spoke; her lips were small too; she had a classic European face, if not for the eyebrows and pink hair.
Are there people who are born with naturally strange hair colors?
The woman, who seemed to be between twenty and twenty-five, stared at the trio; her pupils had a spiral shape, which made the three quite uncomfortable, she seemed to observe the depth of each one's soul. Finally they were invited in with a gesture; when the gates opened Cass finally saw what the strange symbol guarded: a garden with flowers of the most diverse colors organized in spirals all around the mansion; the property's scent was sweet.
The mansion was incredibly normal; it looked like a twenty-first-century celebrity house, entirely painted white with marble details; it had several windows, yet strangely it was impossible to see through the glass. At the door stood a man about Noah's height; he wore a black coat over a white linen shirt, wore glasses strangely similar to Pochi's, and had a bright yellow left eye and a brown right eye; his features also seemed Asian, different from Pochi however Korean perhaps? Cass wondered.
The man greeted them without saying a word; it seemed he knew the fact that no one there spoke his language; he greeted Pearl quickly and conversed with her in signs. The three were finally invited to come inside.
The mansion had no end, or at least that was the impression it gave to Cassius; it seemed infinitely larger on the inside than on the outside. The walls were marble with white painted details; hundreds of paintings flooded the two corridors that extended on opposite sides of the great hall; in the middle a beautiful central staircase gave access to the second floor, which promised to be even more luxurious than the first; some other maids carried strange copper materials from one side to the other of the mansion, but Cass did not pay attention to them; he was very busy envying the owner who sported a long smile at the expressions of the three guests.
They passed down the left corridor and Cassius almost tripped on the luxurious red carpet that covered the whole corridor. The five stopped at a door with an unknown rune; upon opening the door an office slightly similar to one that could be found in contemporary houses presented itself to them; all four sat on a small black sofa, but the unknown man sat opposite them, a wooden desk with several scribbled and messy papers separating the man from the youths.
He and Pearl exchanged some signs. Not to be bored, Cassius decided to play his ocarina; Noah and Pochi seemed to feel a little more at ease when he began to play, although the girl would probably never admit it verbally.
— Ellio—Flush? Are you okay? — Elliot appeared accompanied by a strange man; Cass was very happy to see his friend again, and the man seemed slightly irritated, which may have been due to the fact that part of his suit had been given to Elliot, who was no longer shirtless.
— Hi Pair and... Royal, I'm fine, really, this noble gentleman speaks our language — Cass choked and almost swallowed his ocarina (no double entendre).
— He understands us!?
— Yes I understand — The half-formal man approached; he looked like an ordinary businessman, except for the black top hat, a long mustache, and a frightening gaze; Cass couldn't quite identify his ethnicity because he constantly felt the man stared deep into his eyes, as if he saw his soul.
— Great! You speak our language, so explanations, let's go: what place is this? Why does no one speak our language? What other races exist here? Do you have hot water and electricity? I would really appreciate a hot bath right now — The elegant man raised his hand and Cassius understood it was better to shut up; even Pochi looked slightly uncomfortable.
— Your questions will be answered, but first I need you to be quiet while I examine each of you — Cassius was first; the man did not seem like a doctor and what he did was nothing like what a medical man would do. He approached the boy's face and examined his eyes carefully; for some reason Cass felt as if someone was peeking at something private inside him. The strange man spent a few minutes doing the same process with each of them.
After the examination he exchanged words with the owner of the mansion, who seemed to relax at his words; the man who was not a doctor approached again.
— What I did just now was merely a routine examination for supernatural people — Cass wanted to ask more; however he noticed the man was just taking a pause so everyone could digest the information — Supernatural people are humans or not who begin to hear the whispers and stop at some anchor in this world here; this city has only two anchors, one that is near here, and another that no one had left alive before, which is where you came from.
— Is that why you were wary of us? We survived the impossible and that would be an indication that we are dangerous? — Elliot asked sarcastically.
— Actually no, I was examining whether none of you is a Returned; this specific type of supernatural is a danger to the city and has to be eliminated before it breaks the seal.
— And none of us is a Returned? — Cass asked.
— To your luck, no; listen, usually people like me who analyze new supernatural's would charge an additional fee to explain the powers I saw in each of you, but Mr. Trickmaker asked me to speak as a favor — The man ran his hand through his hair.
— You — The man pointed to Noah — Servant of the Traveler, your power is quite simple: strengthening of the body and senses; as for your weakness, I cannot see anyone's weakness, so find out on your own. The red-haired boy is Servant of the Pointer; it has something to do with random things and probability, the gloomy boy also seems to be Pointer and has an ability related to death, and the human girl is of the Traveler and her ability is related to blood. Don't worry, on your first apocalypse it will be much easier to understand things.
And thus, without any more explanation, the man left the group.