Chapter 1 - Sky Harbour

"Oww... my head is killing me, did an elephant kick me in my sleep or something?!"

Oz complained loudly, rubbing the back of his head as he irritably opened his eyes. His hands still trembled from the aftermath of that dream, but he chose to ignore it and look around first.

"Where the heck am I."

He scowled as the ringing in his head subsided. He squintingly looked around the alleyway he seemed to be sleeping in. The floor was stone-cold and incomparably dirty, with very little sunlight reaching from above due to the cramped wooden buildings on either side.

"Why would I sleep here? I literally have a gadget I can use to make a cloud bed for m-"

Immediately, Oz went silent, pausing for a moment before searching the area frantically.

"I hate my life."

He sighed, realizing that apart from the things on his person, he literally had nothing else.

His firework molotovs, cloud bed spray, frozen flame matches, magic broom... all gone without a trace, not to mention the thousands of things he had left in his laboratory.

He wanted to cry then and there, but that dream had startled him. He faintly felt that this was reality now, and he had to get a grip.

"Oh, an otherworlder ay? Was wonderin' who was makin' such a racket back here."

A muscular man with a malicious grin suddenly appeared from the back of the alley, alongside three others.

Oz was still grumbling to himself whilst fumbling through all his pockets, quickly checking what little of his belongings he actually had on him.

As time passed, he grew more and more annoyed. So many of his coat pockets that should have items in them, were empty! What happened to them!

"If you hate your life so much, why not pass your life's belongings on to me hm?"

The man brandished a cutlass, as the others also unsheathed their weapons and smiled evilly at the boy that was paying them no attention whatsoever.

Oz's expression grew darker and darker as he realized some of his most precious, latest inventions, that were physically attached to his coat for safe-keeping, had turned into nothing but scrap gears and machinery in his pockets.

Did an elephant really kick him in his sleep?! What in the world happened to him?!

"Oi, are ya list-"

"SHUT UP!"

Oz yelled, finding an outlet to vent his insurmountable anger, as he quickly took out a tiny cube from his pocket, and magically pulled out a giant boomerang more than ten times the size of the box.

As the four hooligans were flabbergasted by the scene, Oz launched the boomerang with all his might towards them, taking up the vast majority of the space in the alleyway.

There was barely any room to react, much less dodge, as a vortex of wind surrounded the boomerang and launched all four men far away, crashing into an unmanned stall at the end of the street.

Stepping out of the alleyway and catching the giant boomerang that flew back into hands, Oz continued to grumble to himself as he walked away from the scene of the crime without a second thought.

"So god damn noisy, can't someone get some peace and quiet around here..."

He looked around calmly as he stuffed his giant boomerang back into that magic tiny box, and put the tiny cube back into his coat pocket.

Wooden buildings and tall blue skies filled his line of sight as he took the city scenery in. It seemed like a pretty ordinary big city, though with a very different architecture than back home. There were a lot of repairs going around though, and some cracks and fallen rubble on the outskirts of the area. It seemed that there was an earthquake or something recently.

Astutely, Oz noticed that the clouds were rather close, as he rushed towards the horizon immediately out of curiosity.

"No way... really?"

He mumbled, gazing into the endless sky below and above him.

"How fascinating! I wonder how it all works, if I can find out... wouldn't I be able to create my own floating castle?!"

Oz laughed excitedly, spreading his arms wide to take in the leisurely feeling of flying through the skies.

Fluffy beasts were seen flying between the hundreds of islands that covered his view, seemingly serving as a transport service of some kind. Airships and long bridges were also strewn about, though it seemed that many of them were under maintenance at the moment.

Suddenly, his tummy rumbled, ruining the awe-inspiring mood.

"Ah, well, I suppose stomach first huh."

Oz looked around awkwardly wondering how he was going to, uh, get food.

Though he was a prince that lived on the lap of luxury, he knew at the very least one had to pay money to get food.

And he had no money.

"Uh..."

Looking around, he decided to ask one of the repairmen that were on break about this place.

"Hey there! Do you perchance know of a way to get a job around here? Perhaps I could help you out with the repairs, you look a little understaffed at the minute. Though it's fine if you don't think I'd be very useful! I'm pretty weak after all. Ah, perhaps you could also tell me where I am? It's cool knowing that I'm on a sky island and all, but surely, there's more to it y'know?"

Oz chattered on incessantly, startling the poor man sitting on a bench just trying to wipe his sweat.

"Uh, well, this island is called Sky Harbour. And, I believe a lot of the otherworlders like you have applied for the adventurer's guild. They'll, uh, tell you all you need to know about this place."

The man smiled politely, though it was evident he was a little off-put by the loud messy young lad in front of him. He gave directions for the adventurer's guild main branch and waved him away.

"Adventurer's Guild huh? I'm not really one for adventuring but if I can make money, so be it~ Thanks! Work safely!"

Oz called out as he waved back, before making his way quickly to the adventurer's guild.

After all, the faster he gets work done, the quicker he can eat, and he's hungry!

The repairman chuckled softly as he watched him leave, before getting back to work.

Though he's a bit loud, he's a good kid.

He thought to himself, before mumbling.

"So young, and so suddenly thrown into a new world. It must be hard."

He shook his head, as he took up a hammer and nail and continued his work.