Elysia

Jake and Alex walked their bikes along the side of the road. The sky was red and the shadows were long. They did not ride, because Alex was not in a hurry. He was never in a hurry to get home. In his hand he held the old pocket watch he always carried with him. It was silver, with a large dent in it. In all the time Jake had known Alex, the watch had never worked.

“It’s never gonna change, is it?” Alex asked.

“What?”

“This. This crap in my life.”

Jake stopped. To their right was an old abandoned factory, rusting away for decades. The name Oakmont Falls Silverware Co. was written on a sign near the faded driveway. He felt it was the perfect symbol of this whole terrible, stupid town.

“We’re getting out of here. One day this place will be nothing but a bad memory. I…” Jake’s fist clenched at his side. “I hate this place.”

“Hey, at least you have parents who want you around.” Alex said softly.

“Like hell!” Jake screamed. “I’m not their son! I’m…I’m a god damn fashion accessory! My son is a straight A student! My son is on the basketball team! My son will interact with your kids and pretend he doesn’t want to tear his jugular out as he listens to their stupid bullshit!”

He slammed his fist into the sign.

“They…they’ve never even been to one of my games…hell, you’ve been to more than them.”

“I wish mom and Steve would ignore me. One time, no comments about how I woke mom up as she’s sleeping off a bender, how Steve wishes he didn’t marry someone with such a useless…” Alex stopped and laughed. “We’re pretty pathetic, aren’t we?”

Jake laughed back. “The worst.”

Alex and Jake looked at the old ruined factory, a light breeze running over them.

“You’re right. I’m getting out of here,” Alex said softly. “I’m not gonna let this place ruin me. I’m gonna go out, see the world, be a writer, make stories about aliens and monsters, make people happy.”

Jake nodded. “Wish I had a plan. I don’t know what I’m gonna do. But I’m going to do it without my parents and their wealth and their damn arrogance. I’m going to build something by myself.”

Alex looked over to his friend. “Why do you never cut me loose? Why aren’t you an asshole like your parents?”

“Why do you always carry your old watch around?” Jake asked. Alex held it up and smiled.

“It’s a reminder from the only other person I ever knew who wasn’t a complete asshole.”

“Reminder of what?”

“Our time is limited.” Alex looked down at the watch, turning it over in his hand. Then he smirked. “Hey, worst case scenario, you can be Craig’s lackey.”

“Bro, shut up!” Jake said, shuddering.

“You can walk by my side! What the holy stuck up his own butt hell was he talking about?” Alex laughed. “I honestly don’t know what’s worse, hearing him talk or smelling his overpowering body spray stink.”

“I’d say it’s the getting your ass kicked part,” Jake said.

“Ah. Yeah. Nevermind. It’s the ass kicking,” Alex agreed.

They stood by the side of the road for only a few moments more. If fate had blown in a different direction then, Jake would have already been walking, never turning his head at the right moment to see the flash of green shoot out of the woods and into the factory. But he was there, and he did turn his head, and he uttered the words which would change their lives forever.

“Hey…I think I saw a girl run in there.”

“What? Where?”

“The old factory!”

“Sure it wasn’t a deer?”

“Bro, I’ve lived in this town my whole life! I know the difference between a girl and a deer!” Jake said with a heavy sigh. “Look, we have to go check out the factory.”

“We do not. Where in my contract does it say I have to go?”

“Bro, I’m telling you, I saw a girl!”

“And I’m telling you it’s probably nothing! Or worse, a creepy homeless person!” Alex said, exasperated. “Look despite my relatively jovial nature, I did not, in fact, have a fun day. I’d like to go home now and not potentially get the crap beaten out of me by a stranger!”

“Yeah, well, have fun going home. Say hi to your mom and Steve.” Jake got on his bike and started riding down the driveway to the factory.

“Damn it. God damn it. This is stupid! I’m not this stupid, am I?” Alex asked himself.

Seconds later, he was pedaling after Jake.

Stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid! Alex kept repeating the mantra over and over in his head as he caught up with his friend at the entrance to the old building.

“Don’t say I told you so,” Alex said quietly.

“I wasn’t gonna say I told you so,” Jake said defensively. The door on the side of the old building was open. They slipped through  into the dark abandoned factory. The red dusk light outside filtered through dust covered windows, filling the giant, open room of the main factory floor with warped shadows and eerie hues. Where once had been massive machines to produce silver products now only showed bare floor. The boys saw a large catwalk overhead, with bits of rusted metal dangling precariously down. As Jake was about to step forward, Alex grabbed him back. He shook his head, pointing. The floor was rotted, with visible holes showing a dark basement level below. On the other side of the rotted section they could faintly make out some harsh breathing from behind some of the few old rusted  machines left. Walking slowly around the rot and broken machinery, they saw the girl in the green robe, on her knees, panting and out of breath.

“What…what do we do?” Alex whispered.

“I don’t know,” Jake whispered back. Alex grabbed Jake’s ears, turning his head to look at him.

“You didn’t actually have a plan for what happened if we found the girl you saw?!” Alex hissed.

“Well I don’t see you coming up with anything!” Jake hissed back.

“I wanted to leave! It’s not my responsibility to…oh.” Alex looked behind Jake, who turned around and saw the girl looking at them. She was about their age, dressed in incredibly strange clothes, a green robe and some type of vaguely medieval shirt and short combo, with strange looking boots. Her dirty blonde hair was tied into loose braids which hung down her front. And, Jake thought, she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

“Um…hi?” Jake raised his hand. She immediately began speaking a bizarre foreign language, something neither of them could place.

“The hell did she say?” Alex asked.

“I was hoping you’d know,” Jake said.

“Like I speak mystery factory girl, dude! Look, maybe we should…” They both turned to look at the girl again, and she slapped them in the foreheads, her hands covered in a cold blue gel. Immediately their brains started searing. They dropped to their knees in pain, grabbing their heads, their eyes closed tight.

“What the hell?!” Jake screamed.

“Hell is right!” Alex yelled.

The girl was talking to them, spouting her gibberish…until suddenly, they understood.

“…hope I didn’t use too much of the communication gel! I’m technically not allowed to use it yet, but this is an emergency, so…”

“Wait…why can I understand her?” Alex asked. The pain started to recede, and his vision unblurred. She stood there, looking at them with concern.

“It…it worked? Oh, thank the First, I didn’t fry your brains!” She leapt over to them and gave them a big group hug.

“I’m sorry, are we friends now?” Alex asked.

“Oh! Yes, right! I’m Elysia! Um…sorry to be in a rush, but where are your heroes? Warriors? Anything of the type?”

Jake and Alex looked at each other, horribly confused.

“Our…what?” Jake asked.

Elysia's face grew concerned. “Heroes. People who could help me. I’m…okay, this is probably going to sound crazy, but I’m from another world, and I came here to find people to help me stop the Twisted.”

“A…another world? You’re saying you’re from another world?” Jake asked incredulously.

“I’m so glad we're having this conversation. Jake, let’s go. Elysia, good luck finding a place to give you a CAT scan.” Alex started pulling Jake away.

“Dude, she needs help!” Jake said, yanking his arm back.

“You’re damn right she does! Look, I love fantasy and Dungeons and Dragons and all, but it’s fantasy!”

“She put magic goo on us and we can understand her, bro!” Jake countered.

“It is not fantasy!” Elysia said forcefully. “My people are going to die if I don’t get help fighting off the Twisted!”

“Look…okay, calm down. First, what is a Twisted?” Jake asked.

Fate answered then as the wall near them exploded inward. Two large figures, fifteen feet tall at least, stood there. One was a massive minotaur, with spikes protruding all along his shoulders and back. He held a large, blood stained axe in his hands. The other was a bloated man whose body was covered in dozens of blood shot eyes, all looking directly at them.

The creatures looked down at the three young people. They looked back.

“I think those are Twisted,” Alex said.