Adventures of Wisteria Book 1: The Unwilling Bride & The Vampire King

The Tavern and Mysterious Stranger

Shuichi couldn't believe his eyes, his mind refused to believe the fact that he had just stepped through a doorway in a dusty old library only to step out onto a smooth cobblestone path that led to a beautiful, historical town that looked like it belonged in a storybook rather than in reality.

From this distance the buildings appeared to be made of a strange grayish stone were built sporadically with some overlapping and even on top of each other yet it all looked like it fit together too like a perfect puzzle. Even from this distance he could hear the faint sound of a bustling populace.

Shuichi's head immediately snapped to Korekiyo who looked completely at ease.

"How did we- holy shit is this your hometown?" Shuichi fumbled with his words as his mind tried to wrap around the fact that he was definitely not in his hometown anymore.

Korekiyo quirked an eyebrow at Shuichi's inability to speak

"Of course not, this is a neutral town called Esgate. This is the main hub for those who are coming to and from the different plains and is runned by Orcs" Korekiyo explained

"Oh okay-" Shuichi went silent until Kiyo's words hit him like a freight train

"Wait ORCS?!" Shuichi exclaimed loudly, his eyes wide

"And what did you mean different realms? There are more than just mine?!" Shuichi continued, his mind struggling to comprehend everything he was seeing. Korekiyo remained completely unfazed as if he expected this reaction.

"Calm yourself Shuichi. Did you honestly believe the human realm was the only one out there? Be reasonable. Wisteria is the realm of the supernatural, Earth is the realm of the humans, Velala is the realm of those you call 'gods' and their servants etc."

"There are so many that not even I could ever imagine being able to know about them all" Korekiyo explained before he started walking down the path towards the town; Shuichi hastily followed him not wanting to lose him despite the cobbled road being a straight, clear path.

The path had strange eerily pale blue flowers dotted erratically along the side of the paths and Shuichi would have gotten closer to them if Kiyo hadn't have pulled him away.

"I wouldn't touch those. They are nasty little things that will make you- how do you humans describe it... mmm 'trip balls'" Kiyo warned and Shuichi tensed as he moved away from the path edge and decided to just stick to the center nervously.

It didn't take them long to reach the town and Shuichi immediately felt like an outsider upon seeing the townspeople. Whilst they looked human enough, their skin shades were definitely not normal with some ranging from a murky green to a lime green. Some even had additional limbs, horns or even oddly shaped noses making them stand out. 

But even the strange people couldn't compare to just how beautiful the town was up close. The streets were lined with floating flower shaped orbs that seemed to be inactive but Shuichi would hazard a guess that they would be some sort of light source when it got dark. Despite being stacked haphazardly everything was extremely clean, even the street was smoothly paved with not any pothole or anything. The town was the closest thing Shuichi had ever seen to being perfect.

Shuichi was too busy caught up in staring at a light green skinned girl who was selling fruits that he was almost crushed by a cart being pushed by a burly man who had a dark blue skin tone and a pig snout for a nose, however Korekiyo had pulled him out of the way safely.

"You need to be careful" Korekiyo warned before his tone dropped to more of a whisper

"Orcs whilst passive in nature do get extremely hostile very quickly especially to those who are weaker than them. You are a human and therefore definitely weaker than them"