Dawned

Chapter 2

Basil aimed for the arm that was reaching out, and took his shot. The arrow narrowly skimmed her arm, cutting only a few strings inside. But this seemed to suffice, as Mary let out a dismayed cry, and retreated while dragging her strings behind her. Basil looked over at the person he was protecting. He was looking around crazily, obviously panicked. Basil reached out a hand to help him up, but he backed away.

"Don't worry," said Basil. "I'm not a monster. Most monsters can't talk here. They also don't usually stand on two legs." He chuckled quietly. "You're - you're not human." The guy responded. Basil looked at himself, then said, "oh yeah, that's normal here. Well, not looking like a blue deer, but the not being human part." After a bit of silence, he smiled and said, "my name's Basil. I'm a part of the Cheshire City elite group. I'm here to protect people like you from monsters like Mary. And in case you didn't know, that monster you just faced has been nicknamed Mary. Would you like to be brought to a safe place?"
The guy nodded.
They both began walking out of the wreckage of the apartment, and in the direction of Cheshire City.
"So, what did you do to Mary?" Asked Basil.
"Huh?"
"Mary doesn't often come out into the open like that, especially in the Great City. At least not anymore. So you must have done something to upset her."
"I don't know. I've been here not even a day and three thing have tried to kill me already. Where the hell is this? Sorry, let me rephrase; where in Hell is this?"
"Don't worry, your not in Hell. It's actually purgatory."
"That's no better!"
"Well, not that kind of purgatory." Said Basil. "Basically, if you didn't live a full life, or weren't ready to die, you go here. It's like being a ghost, except your unfinished business doesn't involve the living world. Let me ask you this: do you remember dying?"
"No."
"What do you remember?"
"I remember my name is Xavier." He said "and I remember some kind of monster attacking me."
"What about before you died?" Asked Basil. "That was before I died. At least, I think it was."
"That's odd." Said Basil. They walked in silence for a while. Finally, Xavier asked, "so I'm dead?" Basil thought for a second, and replied, "I'm not the one to tell you that."

As they approached Cheshire City, they could see the buildings stop, and could finally see the end. When they got there, they saw the void. On the other side, they saw an island floating in the middle of the blackness. Only four large metal rods connected the city to the island. "What is this?" Asked Xavier. "It's kinda like a wormhole." Replied Basil, "to get inside the pocket to outside, or vise verse, you have to go through the wormhole. However, the wormhole is infinitely long and impossible to cross. The only way in and out is across this opening. We took advantage of this to keep everyone inside safe. It's the only completely safe place in the dawned zone."
"The dawned zone?" Asked Xavier. "Yeah, that's the place we're in." Said Basil. "The dawned zone is what this dimension is called." A metal cart  came across the void, held by the two beams on the left. No one was on it, so Basil and Xavier got on. The cart began moving across the void, towards Cheshire City. When they got they got there, they were in a small town on a hill, with a larger hill looming to the side.
"So this is Cheshire City?" Stated Xavier. "Actually, no," said Basil, "this is Bricker City. Cheshire City is over there." He pointed towards the larger hill.
"Until we can find your wasp, you can stay here, and live a simple life. Or you can move up to Cheshire City, and have more things to do. You could also go to Sarah's palace, or just go out on your own."
"My wasp?" Asked Xavier. "Yeah, I'll let the school explain that." Said Basil. "And other stuff. I'm sorry, I have to go back to the Great City. More people to help, ya know? Just head to Cheshire City and ask for directions to the school. Tell them I sent you." As he said this, he hopped back in the cart right before it left, leaving Xavier on his own. He thought about his situation for a second, then started towards Cheshire City.