Cross Worlds (Hiatus)

Chapter 5-1: "Accepting This New Life" (Side- Reality)

I reappear in the same spot I entered The Cross in. The Cross is what Fantasy and I decided to call that place, since it fits. I sit down on the edge of the plateau and go over the crazy amount of information in my head. Souls, phasing, magic, gods, Cross Worlds...it all sounds so insane. I never could've imagined I lived in such a complicated multiverse. Despite the fact that my head is spinning from all the new knowledge I've acquired, I find myself smiling.

I take a deep breath in as I gaze at the scenery below me once more. With a sunset in the background, the city looks so much more beautiful. It fills me with both a sense of warmth and ease. "There you are." The familiar voice behind me breaks me out of my trance. It's the woman who saved my life, looking down at me with a soft smile from only a few feet behind me. Riki, the demigoddess Fantasy and I met, and what we've decided to call her, may have been one of the most gorgeous women I've ever seen before, but even so, there's something about this woman that makes my heart stop and my breath hitch whenever I look at her.

"Did you need something?" I ask as normally as I possibly can.

"Well, yes. I was worried about you, but you seem to be okay, so that's good." Without warning, she takes a seat right beside me, and I quickly become a bundle of nerves. "How are you feeling? I know you must be a long way from home, so you're probably nervous at the very least."

"Well..." I look down at the city again. "To say I'm completely fine would be a lie. I'm a bit worried about Roco, so I hope you don't mind if we go see him soon."

"That's no problem at all. I just wanted to ask some questions first, and I'm sure you have plenty of questions for me." The woman chuckles as she looks down at the city as well.

"Questions like what?" I tilt my head.

"Hm? Well, like who I am for instance. Maybe why I wanted to help you?" She gives me a confused look.

"Why would I ask you something like that? Sure, I'd like to know your name at the very least, but what kind of person asks someone a bunch of questions of accusation after that person just saved their life?" I return her confused look with a muddled expression of my own.

She pauses for a moment and smiles, putting a hand over her mouth as she giggles slightly. "You're an interesting one. You have that much faith in me, Riku Fumiya?"

"Well, anyone who would save someone else's life has to be at least somewhat of a good person. That's what I think anyway. I imagine you know my name because you had to look at my license?" I pull it out of the wallet in my pocket.

"Correct. Despite such naive tendencies, you're still quite sharp as well. I like that." She smiles approvingly at me before looking forward once again. "Since I know your name, it's only fair that I reveal mine. My name is Artemis. I don't have a last name to give you though."

I frown slightly as she says that. "So she doesn't have parents either..." I think before speaking aloud. "You don't have to talk about that if you don't want to. I'm just a stranger after all..."

"I'm not the type to just close off my personal life. If you wish to know something about me, simply ask and I'll tell you whatever you want to know. Well, mostly anyway..." She doesn't look at me when she talks. She seems to be too mesmerized by the view, just like I was. If I stare at her too long, I know I'll become mesmerized by the way the sunset makes her eyes shimmer, so I look back at the city as well. "If I may ask, how did you end up in that state?"

I spend the next few minutes explaining to her how I almost died. I even tell her the same thing I told those three about how Riku Fantasy and I are two different people, just in case. "So, you ended up in that state because not only do you hardly know how to fight, but you also don't know how to use magic yet... And you real name is Riku Reality, someone who looks strikingly similar to this Riku Fumiya character, which is why those three mistook you for him and proceeded to do those horrible things..."