I walked out of my bedroom and down the stairs. Mom, Dad and Krystal were all sitting at the table. They smiled as they waved me over. I ran over towards them, but I couldn’t reach them. It felt like I was running in place, and not getting any closer. Their faces looked so happy and I just wanted to get closer. The floor cracked and I fell through. With a splash, I landed in a well full of slime. My family were all standing at the very edge, just waving at me.

“Don’t Go!” I shouted to them.

I reached out and tried to grab something,

“Please don’t leave me!” I screamed.

My efforts were futile. The slime pulled me down. I was left floating in a slime void. No sound, nothing but orange. As I continued to float, I began hearing a voice.

“C…st…”

I opened my eyes try to find where it came from. There was a light coming from above me now.

“Ce…ste,”

A hand reached out to me separating the slime void around me. I knew this hand was going to help me and make all things right.

“Celeste!” a familiar voice shouted my name.

I grabbed it and was pulled back up.

…

“Celeste!” Heather shouted as I stirred awake. When I saw that she was there, trying to shake me awake, I practically leapt at her. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes. My family… my friends… I’m probably never going to see them again. Everyone I loved was gone. I cried my heart out into Heather’s shoulder. My cries pierced through the quiet night. Everything I knew was gone… and nothing would come back.

Heather began stroking my hair, “Hey… it’s okay… I’m here… you’re alright,”

She repeated this until I calmed down. My eyes were red and puffy when I pulled away.

“Why are you here?” I asked.

“I was about to go to sleep when I heard you cry out something. At first, I thought it was nothing, but you sounded so urgent. I opened the door and you were whimpering a lot. It looked like you were having a really bad dream,”

Heather turned to her nightstand and opened the drawer. Inside was a small, white crystal with a soft, comforting glow. She placed it in my hand and closed my fingers around it.

“What is this?” I asked her.

“It’s a dream crystal. It keeps away nightmares. I got it when… never mind. You’ll be able to sleep a lot better with it,” Heather said softly. I looked up at her. Her face was full of worry. Everything about her seemed to soften. I hugged her once more before thanking her.

As she began to close the door, she looked at me and said, “Sweet dreams,”

When I began to drift off, I noticed how pleasant I felt. The dream crystal seemed to do its work because I slept like a log after that.

…

The next morning, I woke up to the sound of sizzling grease from the kitchen. I got up and walked sleepily out of the bedroom. When I rounded the corner, I saw Heather cooking on the stove.

“Mornin’ sleeping beauty,” she said with a smile, “You alright with bacon and eggs?”

“Sure. Sounds nice,” I told her.

I sat down on a bar stool as I waited. Heather was so nice to me, a person she barely knew. It felt like she was the only person I could trust in this world. I began to wonder… if this was a fantasy world…

“Order up!” Heather said as she put a plate in front of me. When I finished eat the scrumptious bacon and eggs I finally asker her,

“Hey… is there magic in this world?”

“Magic? Kinda. Some creatures are innately born with magic. It can kill them if they’re not careful. The most common type of magic is in the form of crystals. Most of them are naturally charged with some type of magic. Some of them are empty so spellcasters can put spells in them. There are a few different types of power plants that rely on crystals,

“As far as I know, there are combustion, lightning, heat, and sun power plants. Lightning crystals are extremely rare, but they produce a lot of power. Combustion ones create a good amount of power, but the need to be handled very carefully. They are usually found near volcanoes. Heat and sun crystals are generally the most stable and easiest to handle. Heat isn’t the greatest source of energy, but there are a lot more of those than combustion crystals. Sun ones are the most common form of energy. They keep soaking up the sun so turning them into energy is reliable and steady,

“That said, there are many different uses for crystals. Some have the energy drained to use in everyday items… Flashlights use a solar crystal, heat crystals are generally good fire starters, magic-infused combustion crystals are used in cars, I think you get the gist,”

“That’s amazing!” I said, “Back on my world, we didn’t have magic and there are only humans… besides animals,”

“I can’t imagine a world like that. But, how did you know what a slime was when you woke up here,”

“Board games, books, anime… people have big imaginations. It makes you wonder how so many common things here were just fiction in my world. Like, how did they come up with the exact same things that were here?”

Heather shrugged her shoulders, “Beats me,”

Our conversation died down and Heather carried the dishes to be washed. I borrowed Heather’s laptop to find out what this world actually looked like. It turns out, the geography of this world is quite different. There are seven continents, but their shape is so different. Five of the continents, Rovola, Bellar, Greyhol, Thaylon, and Ubreck were all in a U shape. Svaña was isolated below it and below that was Kaltune. The country I was in, Freidia, was in Bellar. The country above it in Rovola was Gibido, and the country below it, still in Bellar, was the Varna Republic. Freidia’s ruler was a Prime Minister.

That was all I could find before Heather interrupted me.

“Let’s go shopping today! I’ve got a friend who would love to shop with us and help you choose some clothes,”

“Okay… sure,” I told her in a slightly unenthusiastic tone.

I was actually really excited to go shopping. I could try on all the clothes that didn’t look good on me with my old figure. The possibilities seemed endless and I couldn’t wait! We both got dressed before heading out. Heather gave me a pair of black shorts, a white t-shirt, and a blue zip-up hoodie. She was wearing another tank-top and cargo-shorts. The hoodie reminded of the many I had at home and made me miss it. My sour mood was halted when Heather began to drag me along to her car.

We drove fifteen minutes to a train station and took a forty-minute train ride into a city. The place was called Seabrook City. We exited the trains and appeared in a Grand Central like station. Hell, there was even the clock in the middle.

“Heather!” I heard someone call.

“Lily!” Heather waved her hands at someone.

A woman with flowing blonde hair came wandering over to us. She was wearing a white camisole, denim shorts, white sneakers and had a pink purse. Her height was somewhere between me and Heather. As she got closer, I noticed her eyes were a vibrant green.

“When did you meet such an adorable girl?!” she accused Heather.

“Actually, yesterday. She doesn’t have any clothes or a place to go so I’m letting her stay with me,” Heather explained.

“Aww you poor thing! Don’t worry we’ll get you all sorted out!”

“Hello, I’m Celeste Lowe,” I said as I took out my hand.

“Lily Fair. It’s so nice to meet you!” Lily said as she vigorously shook my hand. She leaned in to whisper in my ear,

“Heather’s not really good at shopping. She mostly has athletic gear,”

“I heard that,” Heather said as she pulled Lily away from me.

“Hey, is it alright if I call you Celly?” Lily asked, “I like coming up with nicknames, but Heather never likes them,”

It was the first time someone had ever given me a nickname, even if it was really bad. I nodded my head to tell her it was okay.

Lily said proudly, “Okay then Celly! I’m gonna make you the prettiest little… human? You don’t feel like a human”

“It’s complicated,” I told her, “Let’s go with human for now,”

“Okay! Well I’m going to make you the prettiest little human girl around town! You better thank me Heather!”

Heather leaned in and told me, “She’s a dryad by the way. A little hyper and can be a bit of an airhead, but she’s one of my best friends and has a much better fashion sense than I do,”

“Let’s get going!” Lily announced as she paraded us off.

AshleyTanuki

Here's chapter six and the introduction of a new character, Lily! I wanted to add a character who was outgoing to get our main character our of her shell so Lily is the end result. I got a little curious, so I decided to do a very crude drawing of Heather's apartment. https://imgur.com/RVTCKmq I hope you enjoy my bad drawing skills that I will continue to work on.