In The End

Section 2: Chapter 1

The water was cool, but not cold. Fingers closed around the side of Naoki’s cheek, and a smooth cloth wiped the side of his face. It felt refreshing. When it stopped, he opened his eyes. Everything was green - a welcome change to the grey and white facility. Silvana was kneeling just beside him, holding a cloth that was stained with dirt and blood. He sat up slowly, and she leaned back. He stood, but as soon as he was on his feet, he felt his knees start to give. He grabbed the nearest tree.
"What the... Where..."
Were it not for the blossom, the trees looked no different to any he’d seen. The birds were the same shape as woodpigeons, but they were brown and green, and they had little red crests on their head. He heard a crash behind him and something small and green flew out a tree nearby. It landed on a bough above him. Naoki looked at the leathery wings, jutting out of a fairly spherical, scaly body.
"Oh..."
He saw Silvana, idly going through her bag. She looked at Naoki, and then at the thing. She smirked.
“Do they not have avixes in your world?”
“No. I’m assuming this is your world, right?”
She smiled and hugged him. She was so happy...
When they broke apart, he told her about the portal, the whole battle, and the scientists’ escape. It didn’t feel real now.
He’d nearly made it to the end of the story, when he stopped. Silvana leaned forward, wanting more, but Naoki turned away, hiding the tears flowing down his cheeks.
Charles...
Charles was dead now.
Naoki felt empty. He turned away from Silvana and reached down under his shirt, finding his necklace. He held it loosely, clenched his teeth and forced the tears to stop.
"Thanks, Charles."
He then snapped his necklace and slipped it into his pocket.
It didn’t matter that Charles had got lost, and taken the wrong path. He’d given his life to protect them all. He would be grateful for that until the end of his life…
..................
Silvana looked away from Naoki. She spotted her hospital gown and frowned. She dug into her bag, noting that her longbow had been left in her hotel room, and took out her clothes. She pulled on her tunic, her cloak, and her boots. She then peered at Naoki, tilting her head to the side.
"You can get away with wearing that," she said, pointing to his jeans and T-Shirt, "Just be aware that the wrong sort of people will look at you oddly. Here," she said, pulling some furs out from the bottom of her bag. "They're hot, and they stink a bit, but they’ll have to do."
She put her bag down, and grabbed the bottom branches of the tree next to her. She put a foot on the trunk, and managed to swing herself up second time. The branch creaked slightly. Naoki, putting on his furs at the base, looked up.
“I’m trying to figure out where we are,” said Silvana. She hauled herself up, pulling herself into the trunk and trying her hardest to spread her weight. Within a minute, her arms were beginning to ache. It was too long since she’d done this. Half way up she stopped, took a couple breaths, and kept climbing.
“I think it’s best we find a city."
She broke through the bracken, and leaned against a branch, gasping.
The trees ended less than half an hour’s walk away. In front of them was a green meadow, studded with fields. The fields were a light, muddy green - evidently, the crops had just begun to come through. There were a few hills in the distance, and she could just see the tip of a white tower, nestled in between them. The whole place looked very familiar. Silvana thought back to her travels, and groaned inwardly.
“Bother. It’s Crystal City.”
"Crystal City?"
"Major Elf city," said Silvana, as she climbed down the tree, "A bit weak, and slightly corrupt, but hey, you can't have everything. It should be a couple hours away,”
She stopped, and jumped out a lower branch. She remembered to roll just in time, but the fall still hurt more than she remembered. Naoki looked impressed, which showed how much he knew. She stood up and stepped towards Naoki, trying not to notice how awful he looked, before grabbing the hood of his furs and jamming it onto his head.
"I wouldn’t let them see your little flat ears. Elves can be a little funny towards humans.”
Their roles had been reversed. She knew this world. He didn’t. She just hoped she didn't have to carry him every five seconds.
.....................
Naoki still felt sick and he was finding it harder and harder to breathe. The air felt heavy, and it tasted odd. The hot fur wasn’t helping. He could barely move, forget efficiently. He had to stop every once in a while, and lean on a tree, gasping for air. Yet the more breaths he took, the more sure he was that the air wasn’t right.
"Why does this feel so weird? What's the air composition like here?"
He asked, realising he should have thought about that before,
“You should be alright. The air’s about three quarters vitrium. I think your world’s about the same”
Naoki looked at Silvana, confused,
“Nitrogen? You breathe nitrogen?”
“If that’s what you call it, yes. Why? What do you breathe?"
“Oxygen,” When Silvana stared at him, he said, “The one that fires need.”
“Oh, fessium. Come to think of it, the fires were easier to light in your world. I think I heard a statistic somewhere. Five percent fessium?”
"I am so screwed..."
He chuckled slightly, before taking a seat by the tree. He felt like he was suffocating, but after taking a few deep breaths, he felt a bit better. Seems like everyone had a poison in a different world. For once, he felt guilty about jumping into the portal. He should have asked those questions. He was useless now, even with his stamina.
"Let's get going. Slowly,” he said to Silvana as he stood back up.
...............................
It wasn't Silvana's fault that the air was all wrong. Thankfully, they were going to Crystal City. The Arcane and Natural Scientists would hopefully find a solution. They usually did.
"Come on," she said, taking his hand, "Crystal City this way. If it really starts to kill you, I'll try to heal you. I won’t collapse here."
They continued to walk. They reached the first hill in an hour, and Silvana had to drag Naoki up it, to the point that climbing the hill took another half an hour. The temperature had started to increase - Naoki was forced to open his fur coat, and Silvana had to take her cloak off. Looking down from the top of the hill, they had the best view of the city.
They could just about see the gates from where they were. They were made of glass, and caught the light in just the right way so as to sparkle. The walls surrounding the city were white marble and about twice Silvana’s height. All the buildings were very much the same - very tall, very large, filled with large windows and covered in ornate decorations. They were even made of the same white stone. The river was scaled by bridges that looked like extensions of the buildings. The city was still the cleanest Silvana had ever seen, but it had seen better days. The buildings were cracked and greying in places. The streets were mostly empty. She could just about make out a few figures in grey rags, sheltering underneath an archway. There had been none of that last year, when she’d visited before.
The wall had certainly not been enchanted either. Silvana had climbed it without issue, but the fact it was tinged blue now made her feel apprehensive. Feeling a little scared, she turned to Naoki. He was looking at his feet, forcing the breath in and out of his lungs.
"That's where we're headed. Just a downhill stretch, and we're there. We should - repeat, should - get there before sundown."
Naoki nodded grimly, and Silvana held his hand as they set off down the slope, neither of them quite sure what to expect
***
Naoki tried to follow Silvana, but boy was it hard. The air was feeling like spikes in his throat, and his body was refusing to move.
"Wait, s-stop..."
He breathed out and collapsed onto a white tree beside him. His chest was burning. The tips of his fingers were starting to feel numb.
"Just... Give me a minute..."
He breathed deeply, trying to get the air into his lungs.
"Damn. This is annoying..."
He knew he was complaining like a child now, and he attempted to smirk. A few minutes later, he pushed himself away from the tree and straightened up, wobbling slightly.
"Right... need to go sit somewhere ... can't go further...."
“We’re going to need to try.”
Naoki pulled up his firs, even though he was already overheating. He took Silvana's hand and the two carried on, watching the sun rise to the top of the sky. By the time it did, they were walking through the gates of the city.
.................
Silvana tried to avoid the eyes of the guard as they walked through the gates. His long, blond hair was lined with grey. Instead, Silvana looked down. His armour was gold, and it was so polished that Silvana could feel her eyes melting. His right hand clasped a notebook. Silvana could see the a knife strapped to his belt, although it looked like it had never left its sheath.
"Mandatory bag check," he said sternly,
"Why?" she said, holding her bag closer to her chest, "I bet you can't check the bags of everyone who comes through here,"
The guard pretended not to have heard her.
"Mandatory bag check," he said again, this time putting a bit more force into his voice. Silvana sighed, and opened her bag. Furs, hides and arrows spilled out onto the ground. Silvana gave another shake and her two books tumbled out, landing on top of the pile.
"There," she said, "Just some stuff. You can check it if you want."
The elf edged away, curling his lip, and looking with disgust at the contents of Silvana's bag.
"I'd...rather not, thank you,"
"Good," said Silvana, taking Naoki's hand. He was turning blue now - slowly but surely, her air was poisoning him, "Now I'll just be on my way.."
The elf thrust out his arm, barricading her route in.
"Stop!", he said, looking at Naoki, curiously, "What the hell is that?"
"A..foreigner," said Silvana quickly, "He came from a long way away. That's why he's wearing such strange clothes. I thought I'd show him our ways," she said, grabbing her stuff and shoving it into her bag, "Now, you found nothing in my bag. We have no reason to be denied the hospitality of the High Elves, right?"
"Certainly not," said the guard, removing his arm, although he still looked at Silvana distrustfully, "I'm sorry. Dark times are at hand, and we are forced to be vigilant. But consider yourself a guest in our city. You may pass."
Silvana and Naoki, still holding hands, walked through the gates.
................
They were now walking slowly, so Naoki tried his best to calm his breathing. This air felt disgusting. It was burning his throat by now. But he gripped silvanas hand pretty hard and tried to look normal.
They walked on when she finally stopped and let him take a seat on a bench.
"Damn... My lungs feel like they're on fire.. Heh..."
He breathed out and chuckled a bit. It was kind of amusing to him for some reasons, but he knew he was seriously in trouble if he didn't do something about it.
"Don't worry. I know someone who can help."
She said as they carried on. But just as they were almost there Naoki just had to stop and couldn't get up without wobbling. She wrapped her arm around him and helped him walk. He was just hoping someone could see past the racism and help him.