Starbits

The Below World

Dark shadows are all around him. Jericho looks around but everything is just darkness. He runs, not knowing what else to do, but he suddenly hears a voice he doesn't recognize. He looks around, trying to catch any sight of where the voice could've come from. He squints his eyes as he can almost make out the sight of something a great distance away. He hears the voice again, though he doesn't understand what it is saying, but it has a sad, frantic sound to it. He runs to the source of the light. As he approaches he can see something? No, someone! Wrapped in red feathered wings. A yellow tattered robe drapes over them, their discolored wings concealing them the rest of the way. Jericho is scared but he reaches out to it. "Hello." He says calmly. He can see the floor just in front of it. A glowing drip of water hits the ground. "Are you... crying?" He asks very gently. The being turns to face him, calmly moving its wing down and peeking out from under its ragged hood. Jericho can see these beautiful, other worldly eyes. Eyes that look like an entire galaxy of stars dwell within them.
"Are you hurt?" He asks again, reaching his hand out. It looks at his hand, like the gesture is foreign to it. "It's alright, I'm not gonna hurt you." He says with a very kind voice. The being looks at him again, but this time with a look of terror. He realizes it is looking behind him, he slowly turns to be grabbed by two large shadowed hands!

Waking from a deep sleep, Jericho sits up in an old fashioned cot bed. In his disoriented state, he scans the room. He doesn't recognize anything. Pictures that look ancient, near dark age craftsmanship of the old looking wooden tables and dressers. He lifts the blanket off himself and realizes he is just in his boxers. "Yikes! Why would I sleep here!? I don't even know where I am!?" He says to himself. He looks over and sees Malka sleeping in the bed next to him. He runs over and tries to wake her by less than  gently shaking her.
"Malka! Malka! Wake up!... Ack!" Jericho gasps as the blanket slides down revealing Malka's large breasts in nothing but her black designer bra, he immediately covers her up (he's a good boy) and Malka begins to stir. "Hmmmhhh... owww... my head..." Jericho looks relieved. "Are you okay?" Malka pulls herself up into a sitting position on the bed: "Uh, yeah... my head is just hurting a bit." She looks around, now realizing they are in a room she doesn't recognize. "Where...are we?" She quietly asks. Jericho answers her with a question of his own. "I don't know. Do you... do you remember what happened!? With the picture?" Malka looks at him a blankly for a second, like she thought the whole event was just a dream. "Sort of, it all happened so fast, I just remember... something grabbed you and I tried to hold you back. Then everything goes blank. I'm glad you are alright. Where is Axle?"
Jericho gives a comforted smile, but realizes he hasn't seen Axle yet! Just then, the door to the room opens, a small octopus looking creature walks in. Upon seeing them awake, He signals for someone. A tall dark skinned Goblin walks in carrying a tray with a teapot and several glasses.

"Hello! I am glad to see you two awake, I was rather worried about you both, a fall like that would've splatted most folks."
Jericho reacts with shocked curiosity. "A fall? What do you mean?"
The tall goblin girl replies calmly. "You both fell from... oh, you may not remember, a landing that rough may have rattled you a bit. Either way, you are safe here, my name is Constance by the way. The Little fellow over there is known to our village as grandpa." The diminutive figure with tentacles for a beard, sits silently in a rocking chair, smoking a very long pipe.
Malka gives a friendly head tilt. "Hi Constance, I'm Malka... ahhh... you wouldn't happen to have something for a headache would you?"
Constance smiles back. "I sure do, I have a cup of Athelas tea right here and it should fix you both right up." Jericho is still feeling very unsure of their situation. "You... you are being awfully nice to us, we're not really even sure where we are? You also keep mentioning the two of us, we had a third friend with us."
Constance hands them both their fancy cups of tea, Malka quickly drinks hers as Jericho is a bit skeptical. Constance sits down on a wooden stool and sets the tea tray on the table next to her. "When my grandfather found you, there were only two of you. You two are from BlueMoon by the looks of you, we don't see many folks from that far away these days. You said you don't know where you are, I take it you didn't intend to travel this deep then?"
Jericho shrugs. "Well, we are from BlueMoon, and yeah, we were looking around my father's study when..."
Jericho starts to think it may be best if he doesn't share all the information, however, Malka finishes the story for him. "We were pulled into a painting by a pair of smoky tentacles!" The four of them are startled when a loud, high pitch voice is heard ringing from just outside the door.