The Reincarnated King (ManxManxMan)

Chapter Twenty-one: A Normal Not-so-Normal

~Chapter Twenty-one: A Normal Not-so-Normal~

"Jasper?"

Today has been a strange day. Well, honestly, every day for the past...at least a week has been strange, and time itself is strange because that week has probably been about three for everyone else. However, still, today has been strange in particular because it started out in Annwn, and then I somehow ended up in what I think was Faerie, where I then spent some time in a horrible place full of light. Then, I met my former boyfriend, who happens to be the godly nephew of my godly host, and...

And now, here is Ari, my two-times date who I parted ways with only a few days ago in Wales - a country we are almost definitely not in now.

Hunched over and still dizzy though I am, I stare up at Ari in incomprehension for a moment before it registers that I probably look really weird right now. So, forcing myself to straighten up even though it makes my head swim and limbs shake, I hesitantly greet, "H-hey, Ari."

Smooth. Real smooth.

Ari looks like he has a lot of questions, which is probably to be expected when I did just practically appear right before him, though hopefully he did not see me appear basically out of thin air, if that is even what it had looked like. Still, it is more than a little gratifying that, as he reaches out to rest a steadying hand on my shoulder, the first question out of his mouth is not to ask why I am here but is instead, "Are you all right?"

I'm fine, is the first response my brain comes up with, but I dismiss the lie before it can even reach my tongue. I am, after all, very much not 'fine' at the moment because I am so far over my head in all of this, and I might need some help. If only I knew how to get it.

"Could--uh, could be better," I admit, after a brief pause, and if I lean into his hand a bit too noticeably, he does not comment on it.

Ari hums in understanding. "I am surprised to see you so soon," he tells me, tightening his grip on my shoulder when I waver on my feet a bit too far to the right and end up stumbling a step. "What brought you here? I had thought you would be home by now."

"It's...complicated," I say, having no idea where to start or, better yet, if I should even start. After all, as much as I appreciate seeing a familiar face in an unfamiliar place, this is...too crazy to be a coincidence. It is weird enough that I ended up wherever we are - though, maybe no weirder than it was when, earlier, the forest path I was walking on abruptly turned into a small valley or the doorway of light turned into some land of the giants, but it is still weird.

It is weirder, though, to find myself faced with someone who, by all rights, should be unrelated to everything I have been through. Allen-who-is-Ainmire was enough of a surprise, but at least I already kind of knew he was a bit strange with how little he understood about most modern things, which makes sense now in hindsight, and Gwyn is kind of the same way. Ari, though, has always seemed down-to-earth, and I just find it really hard to believe that he would be mixed up in all of this nonsense.

Tempting though it is for whatever reason my brain has for wanting me to be miserable, I do not ask Ari if he has a relative named Gwyn.

"I see," Ari replies, though he seems just as skeptical as I feel, which is probably a good sign. He sounded confused, too, when he called out to me. Or maybe he is just very good at pretending and I am too desperate to see through it. "Is everything okay, Jasper?"

Hesitantly, I shake my head, but I do not elaborate on why. Instead, I just ask, "What're you doing here, Ari?"

I cringe. That probably sounded rude.