'Just a moment ago.'

'Just a moment ago.'

'I'd just been home. The lights were out, and I was headed to bed…'

Porter eyed the gigantic creature staring into his eyes. He couldn't help but shiver in unrest when it spoke the name 'Arlo' in such a menacing tone.

'Of course…I wasn't exactly in the best place, emotionally that is.'

Porter averted his eyes toward Hayes, giving a stare that looked helpless and cowardly. Hayes couldn't help but flash the same look, no matter how prepared he looked.

'--But why…? Where the hell am I?' Porter thought. 'I suppose... it doesn't matter right now.'

Porter recalled a scene from his home world, Earth.

His room was small, able to fit a bed and a dresser with enough room to walk around. His carpet was a slightly stained white, and the only light was a ceiling fan, though it was turned off in the night.

It was cold. Porter found himself sitting in a fetal position against his wall. A dark hoodie covered his face. An unseasonal sniffling could be heard.

"--Please… just leave me the hell alone. Go bother someone else…" He muttered. His voice trembled as if he was struggling to even talk.

Upon time passing, he found himself resting in his bed. It was a hard task to try and sleep, though Porter was drifting off.

His mind was clear, though his head was scattered.

It was until…

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----

"Arlo! Get the fuck down!" Hayes yelled frantically. His voice was trembling with uncertainty.

The creature's eyes glowed once more. Its body size shrunk down to a smaller size, and a large tentacle-like arm extruded from its left side.

Wrapping its arm around another car, the creature lifted it up into the air, ready to toss.

The crowd cheered. The city was becoming more wildly vibrant with people wishing the creature good luck.

'Phoebe… I think it was. That's the bitch's name.'

With speed that caused a whipping soundwave, the car was flung directly toward Porter.

His eyes were that of pure terror. Porter was sweating, though standing there motionless as if he couldn't do a thing.

"Stay back!" Hayes yelled.

He picked up his sword once again, strangely aiming the side of the sword at the car rather than the blade.

In an instant, the sword tore the metal in half. The car's interior spilled out. 

"--Ah, shit!" Porter yelped. A stray piece of debris had hit his legs, leaving a cut.

The creature's arm retracted. Its size grew back to normal. 

"Haaah!" Hayes whaled out. He took all his energy and jumped onto the car he had come out of.

With a face of determination and resolve, Hayes pulled a metal orb out of his left pocket, while pulling something resembling a grenade launcher out of his right.

It was small, the orb could fit in his hand. It gleamed a dim blue light toward the top center.

Throwing the orb inside the launcher with swift timing, Hayes aimed it directly toward Phoebe.

The grenade launcher looked old with tainted steel and a black handle. It cracked open and closed within two seconds.

*BANG*

The ear piercing noise cracked out of the machine. The blue light shined as the metal orb flung with sound-breaking speed toward Phoebe.

The tip of the grenade launcher was a steaming hot red-orange, and small amounts of grey smoke blew out of the chamber.

Before it could even reach her, the orb exploded, letting out a large cloud of brown smoke that covered her sight and upper body.

Hayes had jumped down, making sure to get out of the way of the car he'd stood up on. Phoebe had been blinded.

"Rrrw." Phoebe growled. Her bright red eyes peered through the smoke, visibly looking to predict Haye's movement, but there was no doubt the smoke orb had fully blinded her for a moment.

--

In that moment, Phoebe's body pulsed a brilliant white light twice within a second.

Blowing the smoke away, a cutting gust of wind surfaced from her body.

The wind, which looked sharp enough to rival a knife launched with speeds faster than sound, aimed directly at the vehicle. 

It was a translucent blade that roared as the blistering speeds caught up to near Hayes was.

Porter looked at the vehicle with intense fear and a sense of dread. A man had been in the driver's seat. It was something that clearly didn't phase Hayes, as he stood emotionless out of the firing point.

Within less than a second, the wind made contact with the car, instantly creating two halves. It cut through the sturdy car as if it was a fruit.

The only remainder of the man in the driver's seat were bloody limbs and a dark red pool filled with brain matter that spewed out of the vehicle.

"--H-holy shit…" Porter mumbled with disbelief. 

"Arlo, we gotta get the hell moving!!" Hayes yelled over, signalling him to run.

Porter stood motionless at the car, then back at Hayes.

Porter hardly wanted to move after seeing such a traumatic sight, though something in his mind told him that the immense danger he was in could get him killed instantly.

With a small remaining ounce of energy, Porter ran, following Hayes. 

The creature locked eyes with them, hurdling another stabbing gust of wind.

Her body gleamed once more, and the same translucent wind blade launched from the center of her body.

The mid-size building it hit nearly collapsed on impact. It'd left debris flying out into the street toward Hayes and Porter.

Holding his sword out to counter, Hayes continued running at full speed.

"--This better work!" Hayes said.

"Huh?!"

Out of his left pocket, Hayes pulled out another metal orb. It was significantly smaller than the other, only fitting into his palm. The color that shined on the top was a dim pink.

He'd retracted the launcher. By now, it wasn't needed. 

Hayes threw the small orb out in front of him, and nearly instantly, a pink 2D oval broke open in the middle of the street, hardly wide enough to fit Hayes.

It was clear to Porter that Hayes knew what he was doing. Hayes looked at the portal-looking object like it was the only hope they had.

"Just run into it!" Hayes yelled with confidence. He might've looked scared for his life, but Hayes knew how to stay composed. 

Hayes rushed into the portal, disappearing as he entered through and wasn't able to be seen anywhere on the street.

"--G-Got it!" Porter replied.

In the reflection of a window, Porter saw Phoebe's body pulsate. He knew what was coming if he didn't run.

With nearly no time left to spare, Porter charged with all his might into the same portal as Hayes.

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The feeling of teleportation felt as though Porter lost existence for a moment, only to be brought back into a completely new location.

Frantically looking for Hayes, the night sky slightly lit up his view.

A small, grassy field was planted all around him, though Porter was standing on a gravel path.

The distinguishable bright blue and white buildings of the city from before were up on the horizon. 

The true beauty of the world was clear to Porter. Large steel borders stood about as tall as a small building. Beyond those borders were deep ravines with beautiful lakes. 

Bridges covered the distance from the border, and Large floating islands of perfect looking steel acted as support structures. Flowing orange and red oak trees swayed with the calming wind. 

The stark difference between an atmospheric field and a bustling city had Porter in disbelief. Something so advanced couldn't be real.

"--You alright, man?" Hayes asked, suddenly extending his arm to Porter's shoulder.

Porter flinched for a moment, only to look back and greet Hayes.

"That was my last transportation orb. Glad we made it with our limbs, right?" Hayes calmly spoke.

"--The hell? Transporter?"

Hayes paused for a moment with a blank stare. 

"Heh. God-damn, the Bliss domain must've really gotten to you. Not that I know what the hell you were even doing alone in a place like that."

…

"--I couldn't tell you either. I'm… not sure."

"That's not exactly an acceptable answer here. Everyone was worried sick. We thought you died."

"Maybe for a moment, I did. Not sure."

Hayes couldn't help but calmly chuckle. 

"Shit, Arlo. Maybe so. Either way I'm glad I can return back to say a mission was a success. We're going to need to discuss it though, sooner or later."

"Eh?" Porter retorted. It's not that he knew at all who 'Arlo' was, but pretending for now felt like the easiest solution until they got to a safer place.

"Don't 'eh' me. You know damn well that the Aether faith, especially the Bliss Domain will kill you. Only Array must know what the hell you were doing there. N' since you conveniently lost your memory of it, we'll need to do something about whatever injury they might've put on you..."

Porter's gaze was casted down. It was something that clearly threw off Hayes, as if it was something he hadn't seen before.

"--That man." Porter muttered quietly.

Hayes looked up in Porter's direction giving a confused look in his eyes. 

Porter looked as if he was ready to cry, His eyes looked dead, and he could hardly stand.

"He died like it was nothing…"

"--Now, Arlo...That isn't like you at all. You know damn well that people got to be sacrificed for us to keep going on living. I know you might've lost a bit of who you are, but you should know that."

Porter paused. He wore a vaguely dazed look..

"That sword...why didn't you point your blade?" Porter asked. "That car came straight at you but the blade didn't even touch it."

"Oh, well...you should know that this is the mirror sword." Hayes replied.

 His eyes were sarcastic, wondering how the hell 'Arlo could forget such a thing, but his tone was very warm and welcoming.

Hayes pulled out the sword, letting Porter look. 

From what he could see, the blade wasn't reflective like the side was. It didn't glow, it even looked dull.

"It's made from weak material, so blade combat would just break it. However, the mirror abilities allow it to deflect any kind of magic or machine."

'--Machine…?' Porter thought to himself.

Porter's eyes glew with awe hearing Hayes explain something that must've seen trivial to him.

'--The wind from that creature, it must've been magic. That's...wild' Porter thought to himself in disbelief.

If it hadn't been clear to him before, it was now. Porter had been transported to some kind of fantasy world. One with much more technological advancements than what Earth had.

It felt so surreal, Porter almost felt like he had nowhere to go.

"--Oh, and…" Hayes followed up. "Your sword. It's at home."

"--Oh?"

"Maybe your mind is a bit distorted, which I understand. But you own the legendary Array sword. One laced with pure magic from the Array gods themselves."

"I-I see." Porter said. His mind was jumbled. Porter thought that Arlo must've been some kind of real badass. 

'That 'Array' thing must be some kind of religion.' Porter thought. 

He wasn't religious himself, but something about how Hayes explained the legendary sword felt like it carried more weight than something that could be called just a religion.

"--Hopefully you remember how to handle it." Hayes retorted with a smirk.

It was a world that seemed hung up on magic and gods. Something Porter was intrigued with, but he always knew how to separate fantasy from reality. From the looks of things though, fantasy had become reality.

"Let's find a nearby carriage ride and get home for now. It's been a long day." Hayes said.

Hayes averted his eyes toward the bright and lively city they had just teleported from. "I can't stand to be around Aether territory at this point. Especially Bliss."

"--Right." 

'--Who the hell even is Aether?'

At the moment, Porter wasn't sure how to handle all of this. He wondered who Arlo was. He wondered how his family would feel. He wondered if he'd ever be able to return home.

For the time being, though, Porter felt as though he was lost in Array.