You Are My Escape (G/T) (Completed)

4

At best, Ezriel figured he had until sunset until he'd have to cancel the spell. It was a bit of a strain to keep up his magic at all times in the streets, so he was going to have to try to make his visit short, but that was so hard to do with the constant buzz of excitement coursing through him as he entered an entirely new world. There weren't many people out at this hour, but it was still more humans than he had ever been around in his life.

His first stop had been a small book store, the first door he found to enter after his wandering had landed him on the main street of this little town.

The inside was decorated like no other place the prince had ever seen before- the building wasn't made from twisted wood and polished stone and glass, but old tired stone instead, with weathered wood to match. The place had seen a lot of foot traffic and it wasn't in pristine condition, but that only made him love it even more. Framed book pages lined the walls, as well as some paintings that caught his eye, but the prince didn't have long to stare mouth agape before the man behind the counter spoke to him. 

"Hey there, anything special I can help you find today?" 

Ezriel jumped slightly at the greeting, but quickly shook his head with a smile. "Very kind of you, but I am just looking for now." The man let him be after that point, and he quickly found himself walking towards the history section. 

He poked through a couple of different books and their table of contents, leafing through the interesting sections at incredible speeds. The books in the library in the castle had to be very dated by this point-- surely humans have accomplished more since what had been written back then.

And they had, he realized, reading about the incredible feats of technology they'd reached. It was like their own version of magic, that everyone could use. But to him, as impressive as it was, it seemed equally as.. unnatural.

He also found it strange that not a single one of the books mentioned anything about fairies, almost as if everything about them had been erased from the records. Sure it had been a long, long time since anyone had heard of a fairy and a human interacting, but surely they must know of what happened. Of what they did.

The words of the most recent book he'd grabbed were starting to blur. It was all foreign to his eyes and he understood only limited amounts of what was reading, so before long he decided to trade reading about human culture for experiencing it first hand. He placed the book back and bid the shopkeeper a good rest of their night as he left the store, excited to see what else this place had in stock for him.

Walking down the street, he couldn't help but notice his legs start to drag a little. It was strange to walk for such a long period of time, especially on such strange stone pathways. A part of him wondered what the whole town would look like from above, and one of his wings twitched at the thought of flight. But he knew he had to keep them still, and keep his feet on the ground.

After wandering for another little while, poking in and out of all sorts of places, he could hear the sound of music. More specifically it was the strumming of an instrument, and he stopped dead in his tracks to figure out where it was coming from. It was one of the most interesting noises he'd ever heard, and he only liked the odd little sounds he heard more and more as he got closer to the source.

Following it had brought him to an alleyway between two large buildings, both rough and worn much like the bookstore had been. But there was a human back here too, holding a long wooden instrument and looking his way. 

Feeling like he was intruding, Ezriel figured it best to speak up first.

"Was that you playing, just now?" He asked more to confirm than out of curiosity, taking a few steps forward. 

The human cracked a smile, and choked out a laugh. "I'd hardly call that playing, but yeah." He nodded. "I'm just doing some warmups out here, don't wanna bug the crowd with all the noise." 

He continued to play with the pitch while he spoke, plucking different strings and tuning them to what sounded right to his ear. And after fiddling with the last knob he did a quick strum of all of the strings together, making the most harmonious sound Ezriel had ever heard one instrument make. 

"That instrument is fascinating," he commented, his eyes alight with wonder. 

"What, my guitar?" The other asked with a raised brow.

The prince nodded enthusiastically. "Would you show me more?"

The man simply chuckled, equally as flattered as he was confused. He ran a hand through his short brown hair, somehow leaving it better than it looked before.

"If you really wanna hear me play I'm supposed to be on stage tonight, in this building here." He gestured to the wall behind him, checking his watch to make sure he was still on time. "Just go to the front and tell Tanya that you're here for the show, I'll be inside in a few minutes." 

Ezriel wasn't sure what else there was left to do in the town and he was eager to see what the human's performance would be like, so with a smile and a swift departure he bid the other farewell and left him to his preparation.

But unbeknownst to him, the sky began to darken above.