Saving Ethan

Chapter 5: "Why does my face hurt?"

Ethan stirs awake and notices Mark leaning over him concerned. Spooking him, he jolts up from the cot he is laying on and hits his forehead on a shelf above him.

"Christ, Ethan," Marks says, "calm down, it's just me."

"Where am I?" Ethan asks.

"We're at Enchanted Hills Castle." Mark replies, "Sir Casper helped us find you and Aria patched up you up."

"Oh," he replies "is that why my face hurts? And who is Aria?"

Aria comes around the corner, overhearing their conversation from down the corridor. "I'm Aria, I'm the witch of a little town called Wonderlust nearby here. You were shot in the jaw and I helped patch you up along with the nurses here. I hope you're feeling better." she says politely.

"This feels like a huge fever dream, honestly. How did we even end up here? We were streaming on Youtube like 2 hours ago." Ethan questions.

"It's been about 2 days, Ethan," Amy chimes in "You've barely been conscious this whole 'trip'."

Ethan leans back and looks up at the ceiling, contemplating a reasonable explanation for all this. Everyone falls silent, and then Sir Casper walks in. Everyone, except Ethan, stand up in unison to greet him. He's a tall man with dark, warm skin. His hair is up in a bun, with bug and flower hair clips; wearing a very flamboyant, puffy purple blouse and black harem styled pants with patches, along with what seemed to be house slippers.

"I'm sorry you had to see me in my pajamas," He said with a very thick southern accent. "it's quite early in the morning but I rushed out of bed knowing you guys were here."

Everyone, including Aria, stared at him in bewilderment of his beauty.

"How did all this happen, sir? Do you know?" Ethan asks eagerly.

"Well," Casper starts, "some of our evil dwellers have been getting loose into the human realm. As of right now, you're in the Enchantment realm. Basically, you're living in what humans would call a 'video game'. The soul of an evil dweller was attracted to the attention it would get on your stream if it caused a little chaos, and when you fell out the window it took you guys here. In your reality, it's only been 1 hour. Your stream is still up and going."

"Great," Tyler replies, "how do we get home though, sir? With all due respect, this is a beautiful place but I think I can speak for everyone else when I say that I want to go home."

Everyone nods their head in unison.

"I can totally get you guys home, but someone doesn't want you to leave yet." Casper points over to Oobz, who is sulking in the corner. "I can manifest Oobz into your life in one way or another. You will find him, but maybe not immediately."

"Who will find him?" Mark asks.

"Ethan will. But Mark, Oobz will still be in your life, too. He'll be in everyone's but predominantly Ethan and Mark. You'll see once it happens."

Oobz slowly moves over to Ethan's cot and nuzzles his hand. Ethan smiles faintly, knowing he'll see him again.

"Now, I've built you all a portal that will take your back to your reality. Where you will spawn is out of my control, but it will be in the vicinity of where you last were. Once Ethan makes it into reality, he will be fully healthy as well as the rest of you. No wounds or anything." Casper says. "Out that window is the portal, Oobz will jump through the portal with you but he will not be with you when you come through. You'll have to find him in someone or something. Are you guys ready to go home?"

"Wait!" Aria interrupts. She runs over and hugs everyone, including Oobz.

They say their goodbyes while everyone takes a turn hugging Oobz before Ethan holds him tight to take with him through the window.

"Goodbye!" Aria and Casper say in unison as they all jump through the window one by one. The portal closes and Casper sighs to himself.

"What?" Aria asks.

"They didn't even compliment my appearance!" He groans, and walks off. Aria giggles and snaps herself away.