Tales Of The Underlands (jjba part 5 Wonderland AU)

Prophecies Of Smoke

"Polpo we aren't looking for trouble, we just want to get this human to Bucciarati." Prosciutto grumbled.

Polpo took another drag from his hookah, "Interesting." he spoke.

"You betray the King and run off to Bucciarati with a human. What do you gain from that? You can't expect Bucciarati to reward you for that, he surely won't trust you after all you have done."

"What does he mean by that?" you spoke up, clearly irritated by what you just heard. They had worked for the King, a King who as far as you could tell was a tyrant and probably wanted you dead.

The realization that you barely knew anything about these man set in. Why were they so set on getting you to this Prince Bucciarati and so fascinated by the fact that you were a human.

"What I mean by that is that those men suddenly changed sides and no one knows why. They didn't tell you that they used to work for the King did they?"

"There was no need to tell her that." Risotto said, "It's irrelevant since we don't work for the King anymore."

"I don't think it's irrelevant to her, you are the ones who are responsible for her safety after all. The fate of the Underlands lies on her shoulders and the prophecy of the golden sorcerer will only come true with a human fighting on Bucciaratis side."

Now the blue haired, Ghiacco chimed in.
"You know that we don't give a shit about a stupid old prophecy." he didn't yell, but his tone was very aggressive.

"Is that why you bring a human to the Prince, instead of leaving them with the Kings henchmen?" Polpo remarked amused. He blew another cloud of smoke into the air before he spoke again. "You cling to the hope that the prophecy turns out to be true just as much as everyone else does. You, little human, come closer, I want to show you something."

As you tried to take another step forward Formaggio grasped your wrist to hold you back.

Without looking at him you tugged yourself free, going slowly towards Polpo who directed a devilish smile at Risotto. As  you stood right in front of him he took a deep drag from his hookah.

"Now take a deep breath."

Just as you started inhaling he blew the purple smoke right into your face. The smoke tasted bitter-sweet, making you gag a bit. You closed your eyes and exhaled.

As you opened them there was no swamp, no Polpo and no Risotto. You were alone in an environment that didn't look like anything you knew. Pearly white clouds surrounded the place and polished marble floors shone in the warm sunlight. A place like this couldn't exist in real life. Everything looked so perfect it was almost surreal.

A wave of calmness overcame you, as you continued to look around, noticing paintings on the three walls. The left wall only depicted flowers you had never seen before. A beautiful shimmer surrounded them and you found yourself reaching out a hand to touch them.

As you did so the painting rippled like water and in front of your eyes it changed. Now instead of the flowers you could see a figure standing in front of a crowd, red substance, you assumed blood, dripping down their hands, who held a crown above their head.

Then it changed back to the flowers.

The wall in the middle showed a white castle high up in the mountains. The snow surrounding it looked so real that you swore you could feel the cold radiate from it. When the picture switched it showed a person sitting on a red throne, to their left and right grew the flowers from the first wall.

The third wall depicted a boy with golden hair and an undistinguishable figure next to him and when you touched the picture it showed a man in white sitting on a golden Throne surrounded by people.

You recognized it as the throne from the second picture, except its color changed and the flowers were gone. That picture emitted a pieceful energy, like the happy ending to a tragic story.

You knew that these pictures meant something, they were probably the prophecy that Polpo talked about. Still you didn't know what they had to do with you.

Taking a deep breath, you closed your eyes to concentrate, but after a few seconds you could hear people chattering.

As you opened your eyes, you were met with the view of the swamp again and seven people standing around you.

That was probably how snow-white felt waking up in the dwarfs house, you mused.

You then heard Polpo speak," I told you she'd be fine, a bit of smoke never harmed anyone." The looks your travel companions gave him ranged from angry to slightly annoyed.

"Now," he directed his voice at you "what did you see?"

"A place that smelled way nicer than this swamp."

This made the weird man bark out a laugh before his attention was back on the group.

"You saw the pictures on the walls, didn't you?"

You nodded.

"But you don't know what they mean yet. Don't worry about that, you'll find out soon enough."

As Illuso helped you up, he took that opportunity to whisper something in your ear:"Don't believe a word he says, he's full of shit."

"It would be better if we go now."Risotto said, more to Polpo than to the rest of his Team.

Everyone seemed more then eager to leave the swamp as fast as possible, though it would probably still take a while till you got to the prince, who you hoped could get you home.

As the lights of the swamp began to glow dimmer and the sun began to sank, it was decided that you would continue your journey tomorrow after a good rest.

You offered to help with setting up the camp, but Prosciutto just sent you to collect some firewood with Pesci.

The boy didn't talk much, he seemed shy and a bit insecure. Maybe that was because you were a human or maybe he was like that around everyone. At the same time he might tell you something interesting that the others withheld from you.

"Your name is Pesci, right?"

His looked shocked at the fact that you started talking to him,before he hesitantly nodded.

You told him your name before you continued.

"Illuso told me you are from a similar environment, what's it like?"

His eyes lit up at the mention of his homeland.

"The river roads are waterways used for trading goods from the entire Underlands. Its a lively place where many people come through. Or..." he paused for a moment "used to be like that, now the water not as clear as it used to be and the wave ringlers stay away."

He seemed very sad about the change that his homeland went through. His eyes had become dull and his voice was quieter.

"What happened?" you asked hesitantly.

"Everything changed after the old King was murdered." was all he said.

You decided to change the topic:" What are wave ringlers?"

A small smile appeared on Pescis face.
"They are like gigantic fish, but they glow in more colors than one. They helped fishers find home or showed them were the best fishing grounds were."

You smiled, imagining a small pesci sitting in a boat with his parents, watching some whale like creatures. How can one King change things so badly?

" Pesci, Polpo said you worked for the King, can you tell me something about that?"

Now his demeanor changed to nervousness. "Uhm-eh well we-"

"Pesci! Hurry up!" you recognized Prosciuttos voice. Pesci shut up immediately and you followed him back to the camp in silence.