The Other Side

The other side of 'what', Misa didn't know, but the sight of it was enchanting all the same.

The world before her eyes was like nothing she had ever even dreamed of. It surpassed the limits of one's imagination and raised its value into something entirely untouchable to others who lived normal lives outside this realm.

"Good lord, this is crazy!" Misa exclaimed, her breath catching at the end of her sentence.

"I know." The bat Prince Ran said, his voice dry. "These bastards are genuinely breathtaking."

The moment Misa and Prince Ran had entered the portal, Misa's perspective changed from endless to marbled, colorless white to colorful clear.

Everywhere seemed to be made of glass, giving the area a bottomless look with lots of individual pieces of visual appeal. As far as the eye could see, there were domed, squared, tiered, cylindrical, and infinite more glass structures scattering the space, appearing to be homes and buildings of some sort with entryways, gardens, and fountains outside. Misa saw impressive clear glass trees whose canopies of leaves looked like the twinkle of stars in a night sky.

Meanwhile, she noticed how nothing rested on a patch of land of any kind. Things seemed to float right where they were. And though clear, all things were easily visible, swiped through with a wavy, paint-like streak of color. In this way, the glass structures were solid enough to exist boldly on their own--it was hard for Misa to see through them to other pieces. 

The clarity of this place made it seem like the space stretched on forever, and Misa, though tricked like the 'weak-minded human' she apparently was, felt like a specially invited guest to the Fae species' very own piece of a shattered, otherworldly glass rainbow.

I'm able to witness the secrets of this other world. She thought, forgetting momentarily to be afraid. She couldn't help herself.

Misa then realized in awe that where she had planted her feet, a large and thick circular slab of magenta-colored glass supported her footing. This, she could see straight through. Beyond it, she gawked at house-like structures lit with soft light far below.

"Gosh, I honestly have no fitting words to describe this place. It's nostalgic in a ridiculously undervalued sort of way. It kind of reminds me of the marbles I played with as a kid. These clear little glass balls with color in them from my world," she explained to Prince Ran, assuming he'd never seen them before, "that you use to play a game. 

"To win, you had to take them all. But beyond the game, they were so beautiful that you'd end up gathering a huge collection of them until you got yelled at by Mom for having too many." Misa smiled at the fond memory. "I used to sit and shine a light on them as I played, because the shine was just too mesmerizing.

 "And now, look. A world of marbles. There's probably nothing more beautiful than this."

Rather than offering a response to her memory, Misa heard Prince Ran smack his tongue against his teeth. "Let us move. No lingering, human." As expected, he fluttered his little princely bat body away without looking back.

A paper thin and extra curled smirk crawled over Misa's face as she leisurely followed behind. She wished she'd had deep-pocketed pants to stuff her hands into while she said, "You're jealous, Ran."

"Call me 'Prince Ran,' human."

"Ooh, without wasting a beat! He's real jealous." Misa sang and then couldn't take it, pausing to laugh aloud because she could imagine the constipated look on Prince Ran's face. A second later, she shouted out upon feeling a gentle smack of icy air slap her forehead. "Hey! That hurt! Was that you?"

The prince's voice sounded light, almost giddy, when he replied, "Get a move on, you snail of a human. We're wasting daylight."

"What daylight?! We're trapped in a world of glass!" Misa cried, hearing the laughter in her voice and wondering how in the world she'd been able to end up in a place and time like this. 

With her eyes on Prince Ran's cute little body flapping wildly in front of her, she sped up to a steady jog. The beautiful magenta-streaked marbles met her feet as she stepped across the air. She couldn't stop staring at them.

She imagined it would have been awesome to morph into a bat and fly over the glass land like the prince, but this... experience she was having wouldn't have been the same.

She smiled big at the comparison. Walking, running, using my human legs. She thought, her body feeling light as a feather. It made the first time today that she was happy about her limitations in this world as a human being.

"Hey, Ran?" Misa called ahead, purposefully leaving out his royal title to annoy him, "Would you be happy if I admitted to you that you're--"

She had wanted to say, 'my favorite,' as something changed in the air.

The hairs on the back of Misa's neck stood up and goosebumps traveled in waves down her arms and back. "Huh?" She said as she slowed a little to turn behind her, her instincts telling her lift her arms in defense of her body.

However, she was too slow. 

A light blue spear, the shape and appearance of an extra long icicle, shot into her line of sight within the blink of an eye. Misa screamed, knowing she had no time to avoid the sneak attack.

She hardly had time to think, Oh shit, I'm going to die, before the spear was deflected from the air just a millisecond before piercing her right through.

"Prince Ran!" Misa cried as the vampire, who had now returned to his full size, dropped himself between her and their hovering foe. His broad back was to her as he faced an elegantly dressed male Fae who rapidly beat quiet, man-sized wings against the air, keeping himself afloat.

The Fae spoke to them now, a wicked smile morphing his handsome face. "That smell." He said, "Not a creature of the night as I so thought, but a living human?"

Misa gasped and looked down at herself. The ice-like spear had been aimed for her heart, attempting to kill her on the spot. Its tip had sliced the fabric of her dark green satin shirt when Prince Ran had sent it flying with that powerful kick, and blood had welled up from the wound on her now exposed skin.

"Oh no!" Misa whispered, grabbing the shirt pieces and pulling them together. She asked the prince urgently, "He knows I'm human. What do we do?"

Prince Ran didn't immediately respond to Misa. Instead, Misa noticed popped out veins in his neck and an obvious stiffness to his shoulders even as he took deeper than normal breaths. She traced her eyes down his body and saw him working his hands into fists and back out again, his fingernails having grown into long, sharp claws for the first time since she'd met him.

"Ran?" She asked, wanting to look him in the face. Misa was shocked to hear his voice waver in what seemed like weakness when he snapped an order at her to stand back.

And then she thought with belated realization, Oh crap, it's me!

"Go!" Prince Ran growled when she hesitated, never turning around to look at her.

Misa stumbled backwards a few steps before fully turning away from the two powerful beings and running several tens of meters beyond their reach. When she determined she was a safe distance away, Misa stopped to watch the clash that was soon to follow.

She dabbed at the blood on her chest with the loose fabric of her shirt, thinking, Don't lose, Ran. But was unable to ignore the anxious feeling that rooted itself in her heart. She shook her head fiercely. You had better not lose.

Her only concern was getting out of this place--however beautiful it was--together.

Far ahead, if she trained her enhanced hearing well enough, she could just barely hear the tense exchange between Prince Ran and the elegant Fae.

"Quite poignant, her blood." The Fae was saying. "She must be your Promised One, or whatever it is they are calling her. I've heard all about that sham prophesy from the old fool, the Oracle. Prophesied or not, you bloodthirsty heathens will not best us Fae, dear pathetic Prince Ran.

"Because you see, the Oracle told another. Our Fae prophecy is one well worth this encounter. We await a human, too. A princess who, after accepting the sweet food and blood of the Fae, will vanquish the polluting undead from our fields, our lakes, our forests, and will carry the Fae into lasting peace and prosperity."

Across the glass land, this Fae caught Misa's eye. His smile, worse than before, seemed to reach the tips of his pointed ears. He no longer looked handsome but instead looked devilish. He felt frightening and predatory.

Misa shivered down to her core.

"I thank you for deflecting my spear earlier when I thought I'd be killing yet another weak and pitiful vampire who trespassed onto my territory." The Fae winked at Prince Ran. "You see, I almost killed my princess. I'll even let you go, if you leave her here with me."

Misa, shocked beyond reason, choked on nothing but the still air, thinking, Now there's absolutely no way he's talking about me, is he?? His princess? Who is this creep?!

Prince Ran, quiet during the Fae's bullheaded monologue, finally spoke in a low growl. "Over my dead body--"

"Ha! I see what you did there."

"--prince of glorified winged ants."

The Fae prince smirked, but his twitching cheek revealed how those words had gotten under his skin. He said slowly, his voice finally matching the darkness in his face, "I'm going to pick my teeth with your bones."

Prince Ran never responded but blasted the Fae prince with a blinding attack.