Petibone (Fantasmical 2024)

9. Tattooed moon_ Quickfantasy

Prompt: You accidentally stumble upon an otherworld where humans are considered villains because humans are the reason that their world is not as popular as Earth.

**

The full moon lit my way home, and I returned to Narig still in my druid form. Until I changed back, I didn't want to take on any new tasks. I was feeling terrible, and even at night, I had nightmares. One, in particular, was quite interesting.

I stood before the wizard again, handing him the black coin and delivering the message. Maxwell vanished, but the black coin fell from his hand and rolled under the cabinet.

This image stayed with me during the day because what if that coin was there? The growing conviction within me was spurred by the dreadful guilt of having done something unforgivable to the wizard by giving him that cursed message.

I went to his quarters, pretending to search for him, and found everything as it was. The glass-eyed stuffed animals still stared at me with even more disapproval.

I began examining the floor to see where the coin might have rolled. Crawling on my belly and gathering all the dust from under the cabinet, I finally saw the black coin gleaming.

With the coin in my hand, I hesitated, wondering if this was really what I wanted. Who knows where the spell had sent Maxwell? He might already be dead. But my desire to atone for my sin was so strong that I took a deep breath and, holding the coin in my palm, repeated the incomprehensible words I had spoken to the wizard on behalf of the Hell Cat.

At first, I felt nothing and didn't dare open my eyes. But then, it was as if the world had turned upside down. I began to fall and could barely breathe.

When I came to, I was lying on the beach because I felt the water rhythmically lapping at my feet and the hot sand under my palm. The sun was burning, and as I sat up to look better at where I was, it seemed I had arrived in paradise. I saw a white sandy beach with palm trees and crystals jutting from the ground.

But I didn't have long to gawk, as suddenly I was surrounded by what seemed to be soldiers dressed in brightly colored feathers and clothes, pointing their spears at me.

I had never seen creatures like them before. They were tall and lanky, with bald heads and skin colored from numerous tattoos. Their large black eyes initially made me think they were human, but they were distinctly different from any humans I had known.

The four spear-wielding figures said nothing, cautiously poking me with their spears to direct me. I followed them into the palm trees.

Deeper in, I saw huts covered with palm leaves, and as we passed by, more and more faces appeared, watching curiously.

We arrived at a small square, where they led me before an even more elaborately dressed figure scrutinizing me thoroughly. They spoke in a strange language I didn't understand, seeming to argue about something.

One lifted my hand to examine my clawed fingers and then pointed to my ear.

"Not human," he said, and I was relieved because I understood that. To be sure, I repeated, pointing to myself, "Not human... druid!"

I had to repeat "druid" several times as they watched my mouth and tried to pronounce it.

I had no idea if being a druid was better than being human, but they seemed satisfied that I was not human.

Then, the one whose speech I understood turned to me again and asked something. At first, I didn't get it, but he repeated it many times, articulating more and more clearly: "You came from where?" and pointed to the sky. Only then did I understand that he meant "from where" because the words sounded so different when he pronounced them.