Down She Goes

Marnie was surprised that after such a hectic fall he somehow landed on his feet. However, that wasn't as surprising as the scenery which greeted him.

He appeared to be in the middle of a strange forest. A dense, sweet-smelling fog obscured the forest floor from view, and the trees that rose above it were oddly colored with periwinkle bark and soft pink leaves. When his cobalt gaze followed the trees into the dawn-colored sky, he found it painted in stars and galaxies as if it were nighttime.

“What…?” Marnie wondered aloud in awe. “Where… Where am I…?”

“Oho~ You must be a human.”

The unexpected voice made Marnie yelp and jump. As he looked about wildly for the source of it, a long tail as black as shadow unfurled from one of the tree branches and brushed his shoulder. Although he flinched at the touch, it also drew his attention to the tail’s owner — a lithe young man lounging upon the tree branch, with matching black hair and snow-white skin. Most peculiarly, despite the cat-like tail there were black rabbit ears upon his head, and even further despite those he wore a white rabbit mask on his crown.

“I-I’m sorry?!” Marnie didn't know how else to respond to such a sight. Indifferent to his confusion, the man sighed and stretched before sitting up, much like a particularly lazy cat. When he opened his eyes it revealed a burning crimson gaze, and for a moment Marnie wondered if he was more of a man-like creature than a man.

“Only humans ask complicated questions and expect simple answers,” he descended from the branch, landing gracefully on his feet. “That, and you fell from the window in the sky.”

“Window in… the sky…” Marnie whipped around to peer at the sky directly above him. Sure enough, there really was a circular window hanging there as if it belonged just as much as the sun or moon did. It looked exactly like an ordinary household window, however beyond it was nothing but a black abyss, much like the one Marnie was thrust into after taking the RabbitHole.

“I see…” he pried himself from one perplexity to another, turning back to his unwanted company. “Then, are you implying that you're not human?”

For a moment, the creature pondered the question. Then, he grinned.

“I'm Chez, and you've landed on the Other Side.”

“The Other Side..?” Marnie mused. He wanted to ask “the other side of what?” but that felt like one of those questions he couldn't get a simple answer to. Instead, he kept quiet and let what he already said elicit Chez into elaborating — a manipulative defense mechanism the daydreamer was all too accustomed to.

“Yeah… That's probably the best thing to call it,” Unfortunately, Chez remained cryptic. “It's a place where fantasy can be lived.”

“Fantasy, huh… Is that what you are, Shay?”

Marnie's inquiry, punctuated with his awkward mispronunciation of French, garnered nothing but a sickeningly sweet smile from the creature before him. Like the smile one gives in the face of an underhanded insult. Then, he slid the rabbit mask from his crown over his face, turned around, and began walking off without a word.

“Huh?! Wait! Shay!”

“If you don't believe me, then just take a walk. You'll see soon enough.”

The crippling feeling of being lost and alone quickly encroached as Chez’s back began to fade in the fog. Suffocating under the pressure, Marnie decided to chase after Chez before he entirely disappeared.

“Take a walk?” Marnie inquired a bit breathlessly, catching up to the masked man. “What does that even mean? There's… Well, there's nothing but trees! What if we get lost? How will I get back to the window?”

Chez shot Marnie a sidelong look out of the holes in his mask. His crimson eyes were so unnerving, and his gaze so striking, that it halted any other attempts Marnie made at speaking.

“Wait and see,” he looked away again, continuing their trek. “If you stop asking so many questions, you might end up finding some answers.”

Marnie had no idea what that was supposed to mean, but he obediently strolled beside Chez nonetheless. For what felt like a while, nothing in their surroundings changed. Nothing but the same whimsical trees and eerie fog, enticing Marnie's mind to wander.

The first changes he noticed were sounds, rising up out of the fog ahead. At first the noises were soft and distant, but soon they became crisp and clear. They were the sounds of swords clashing, men grunting, and onlookers cheering. Just as Marnie began to ponder the sounds, buildings began to rise up through the fog as well.

They were archaic yet cozy cottages and shacks, the sort that you would see in a medieval fairytale. Before he knew it, Marnie was walking among a small village, the fog and trees of the forest clinging to its outskirts. The few villagers present were gathered around a fenced off, dirt arena, where two cartoonish knights exchanged blows.

“It’s like I walked into a storybook…” Marnie breathed, trying to process the miraculous sight before him.

“Wow, impressive,” Chez remarked absently. “They've even got chickens pecking around.”

“Why is there a place like this here?”

Marnie’s question was met with nothing but a shrug and an annoyed flick of Chez's tail. Of course — he should learn not to expect any straight answers in this place.

“Sir!” A group of more cartoonish knights, their faces obscured by helmets and their banners nondescript, suddenly rushed towards the pair of onlookers. They wore armour, as any good knight would, yet something about it felt uncanny. It was very shiny, very ergonomic, as if they were born into it like skin; drawn to life wearing it.

“Sir Marnie of Worick!”

“H-huh?!” Marnie recoiled as the head knight clapped hands onto his shoulders. The strange use of his full name was hard enough to process, but the sudden and intense grasp only made matters worse.

“Thank God we've found you,” the head knight continued, apparently unconcerned with Marnie's alarm. “Our Lord sent us for you. Please help us, you're the only one who can slay the dragon and save the village!”

“I… What?!” Marnie's panic and confusion only increased. “Sorry, no, I-I think you're probably mistaken. There's no way I could slay a dragon—”

Chez chuckled beside Marnie, interrupting his stream of denial.

“You still don't get it,” the creature slid his rabbit mask aside just enough to peer at Marnie better with his sly smile. “Stop fighting it, Marnie. Just move forward and enjoy.”

They were simple words, ones that Marnie was almost certain were intended to be mocking, yet they felt more therapeutic than anything his therapist had said in the past decade. He felt some part of himself slip away, like an iceberg breaking away from its polar cap and drifting away through the ocean. A large, frigid chunk of restraint melting away into nothingness.

“...Okay. Take me to the dragon.”