EPISODE 01 - TRUST FALL
Falling was not a new experience for Alex.
One of his most prominent recurring dreams was of him falling off of a huge escalator in the mall, except in the dream it was ten stories tall and he fell forever and never hit the ground. He used to wake up in a cold sweat, worried that it was a premonition of things to come, that he would actually fall off an escalator in the near future, only to realize in his sleep-fueled stupor that that simply wasn’t a thing that could happen unless he jumped off on purpose. He had no desire to, obviously, so he would simply avoid the edges and stay in the middle of the steps whenever he rode one.
He’d fallen a lot in his lifetime, actually. He’d ridden a horse once at summer camp, years ago, and had fallen off almost immediately after mounting. He fell on his bike and skateboard a lot. It didn’t hurt; he’d just receive a few scrapes and bruises. Falling down stairs wasn’t uncommon for him, either, much as he’d like to pretend it was.
Alex didn’t hate the feeling of falling. Once he got used to his dreams, and realized he couldn’t fall off an escalator accidentally, he didn’t mind them as much. His favorite rides at amusement parks were drop towers. He liked the weird feeling he got in his stomach whenever he was dropped; it grounded him, ironically, and reminded him that he was alive.
So Alex wasn’t afraid of falling.
He only feared what came after the fall.
Which meant that things weren’t looking good for him right now, since he was currently falling through the sky and would probably be landing on the ground and breaking all his bones in about a minute or so. Yes, it was a strange situation to be in. He was very aware of this.
How long had he been falling for? Five minutes? An hour? It seemed like it had been ages, but also like it’d only just begun. It was hard to keep track of time when he was mostly focusing on trying not to panic about his rapidly-approaching death.
He wondered idly how he’d even ended up in this mess. He knew how he had, of course - he’d clicked on a link from a spam email and then been transported into the sky - but everything leading up to that was a distant memory at best.
He sighed, long and loud. He shouldn’t have done that. He should’ve listened to the others when they’d told him to delete the email or report it as spam. If he’d had any common sense at all, he wouldn’t be in this situation.
But something deep within him had told him to click it, and he’d never been good at ignoring feelings deep within him.
Maybe this was a bad dream. Like the escalator dreams. He’d fall for a little while longer, and then, when he was just about to hit the ground, he’d wake up in his bed at home in the middle of the night.
He wasn’t sure if that would be more or less likely if the other five weren’t falling with him.
“How long have we been here for?” he called out to no one in particular. He didn’t think anyone could hear him, but he figured he might as well try, just in case.
Azure, apparently, heard him. They looked at their wrist (checking their watch?) and shook their head the best they could with the wind whipping it every which way. Their blue hair almost blended in with the endless sky around them, broken up only here and there by clouds drifting by.
They yelled something that he didn’t catch - he’d forgotten he’d asked them the time. He made a gesture that he hoped conveyed he didn’t hear them, and they closed their eyes, rubbing their forehead.
Alex frowned and looked around. Everyone was falling quite gracefully, he thought, considering their current situation. Harmony almost looked like this was familiar to her; she had the expression of someone who’d done this a million times and knew exactly what it was like, but had someone yelling in her face that she was doing it wrong. Alex would’ve laughed if he’d been able to work any feeling into his throat.
Ryan - well, he looked like usual. Maybe a bit angrier, though Alex wasn’t sure if that was possible. He wasn’t looking at anyone, just the ground below. If there was ground below.
He caught Alex looking at him and scowled. Alex quickly looked away, trying to appear as if he was simply surveying their nonexistent surroundings. He ran his hand through his hair and looked back toward Azure.
When they noticed that he’d finally come back to reality, they rolled their eyes and shouted as loudly as they could at him. “Less than a minute!”
What the hell? That couldn’t be right. It had definitely been longer than that, hadn’t it? Or was their looming death slowing down time?
Nope. Not a helpful thought.
The only thing Alex could do in his current position was look around and make sure everyone else was doing okay. …Mostly everyone. He couldn’t say he cared much about Ryan, really, but he was familiar with everyone else. Maybe not close with them, but he knew who they were, and he didn’t want them to die. (He didn’t want Ryan to die either, of course, but there were bigger concerns.)
Miguel looked like he was about to explode. He was almost upside down, unlike everyone else, and curled up in a ball as if that would convince the ground not to kill him upon landing.
Also not a helpful thought.
Alex sighed. He’d noticed that the way they were all falling was… unusual, to say the least. Excluding Miguel, everyone was perfectly vertical. Ryan’s hands were shoved deep in his pockets, Harmony’s were clenched at her sides, and Azure’s were holding tight to their bag.
He closed his eyes and tried to pretend he was on a rollercoaster. A rollercoaster that was a hundred miles in the sky and went downwards forever and that was absolutely not going to kill him when it finally reached the ground.
That didn’t help. He opened his eyes again. The wind didn’t sting them the way he’d expected it to. Strange.
Maybe this is a dream?
“How are you holding up?”
Alex blinked and tried to turn around to face the speaker, but he found it difficult, so he instead craned his neck around at an odd angle. It wasn’t comfortable, but it was better than nothing.
“Pretty good, all things considered,” he said. Ezra smiled at him and reached out, spinning him around to face him.
The sixth person was Ezra. He looked so much better than Alex had expected him to be, and all the worry flooded out of Alex’s chest when he saw that. He felt like he could finally breathe again.
Out of the other five humans, Ezra was the only one that Alex genuinely cared about. He hated to say it, but if only one of them could survive this fall, he hoped it would be Ezra. He knew that that wasn’t a helpful thought either, but he hadn’t had many during this experience, so he didn’t care too much.
“Me too,” Ezra said. “I hope we don’t die.” Alex grinned weakly and nodded, and Ezra’s face softened, much like his voice did when he spoke again - or as soft as it could be while still being loud enough to hear. “We’ll be okay. This is some sort of prank or weird fever dream or… something. We’re not going to die. Clicking a link can’t teleport us into the sky.”
Alex nodded, lips drawn tight, but his mind was racing. He’s right. It has to be a prank. Maybe after I clicked that link someone knocked us out and took us somewhere. We’re all collectively hallucinating. This is some weird social experiment.
“Oh,” Ezra said, looking down. “There’s the ground.”
Alex swallowed thickly and, against his better judgment, looked down. A stretch of green-yellow grasslands, far below them, was approaching rapidly. He felt his stomach lurch. This was going to be just like his dreams, but worse, because he was about to actually hit the ground.
Well, if we’re going to die -
“Ezra,” he said, trying to get his attention, but his gaze was fixed on the ground below. Were they falling faster? “Ezra, I -”
Ezra suddenly grabbed him by the shoulders, shouting something as he did, but it was lost in the sound of the wind rushing by.
The ground was right beneath them.
Alex screamed, and then they were all there.
In the dirt.
…Unharmed.
Alex couldn’t get the ringing sound out of his ears. God, it was loud - and that was to say nothing of the wind knocked out of him. Someone groaned from underneath him; he realized he was halfway on top of Ezra, and he quickly scrambled off, pushing himself to his feet. The earth swayed below him as he tried to get his balance. He fell back down.
He grit his teeth and rubbed his head. Around him, the others came to as well, trying and failing to get up.
“Well this is really fun,” Harmony said, sitting with her legs splayed out as she dusted herself off.
“Is anyone hurt?” Alex asked, surprised to hear his own voice - he didn’t realize he’d said it.
“No!” Azure said, standing up and wobbling slightly. “Why aren’t we dead? We fell from miles up in the sky and we’re all miraculously fine? We should be dead right now!”
Ryan snorted and kicked some dirt around with his foot. “Are you seriously angry that we didn't die upon landing?”
“I’m not angry,” Azure shot back. “Just confused. I’m glad we didn’t die, but don’t ya think it’s weird?”
Ezra sighed and got up, reaching a hand down to Alex. He took it, holding his arms out to balance himself as he stood up. Ezra brushed some dirt off his shoulder and then looked around. “Does anyone know where we are?”
Nobody answered.
“Great,” Alex mumbled. “We’re not dead, but we’re lost.”
“We’re probably somewhere out in the country,” Harmony said, still seated. She flicked a stick off of her leg and rearranged herself to be more comfortable. “Azure, what time is it?”
Azure looked down at their wrist and groaned. “My watch broke.”
“Phone?” Miguel suggested quietly. He looked fine; a little shaken, but better than Alex had expected.
Azure pulled their phone out of their pocket and switched it on. “It says it’s… midnight. In military time. That’s weird.”
“I think it’s weirder that you have your phone set to military time,” Alex said, hoping to lighten the mood.
Azure gave him an ice-cold stare. “I don’t have my phone set to military time. That’s what was weird.” They squinted down at the screen, tapping it here and there.
“So it says 00:00?” Alex took a few steps toward them and grabbed the phone from their hands without asking. Azure frowned, but he ignored them. “Huh. It does. That is weird. Let me check mine.”
He fumbled around for a bit, checking his pockets a few times before he finally found it, then pulled it out and turned it on.
The top of the screen read 00:00. Around him, everyone went silent as they checked their own and murmured their assent. They all read the same.
“That’s really cool and awesome,” Ezra muttered. “We’re lost and nobody’s phone says the right time.”
“They’re not even changing,” Harmony said, pocketing hers. “We’ve been here a while and it’s said the same thing the whole time.”
Alex furrowed his brows as he stared down at his phone again. Aside from the time, there were a few other key differences. For starters, he had no signal, which he supposed made sense if they really were out in the country - but that was the only thing that made sense. The battery icon was completely empty, but the number next to it said 100%, and Alex was sure it had been on the verge of death when he’d checked it at break a few hours ago. When he unlocked his phone and opened a couple apps, none of them seemed to work. He could view his photos, but the camera glitched out whenever he tried to take a new one. He was able to scroll through his messages, but when he sent a text to Ezra, it came up as “message not delivered” - which, again, could be due to the lack of signal, but combined with everything else…
He sighed through his nose and stuffed it back into his pocket. If they were going to get back home, they were going to need cellular so they could call their parents or 911 or whatever, and they weren’t going to get it by standing around.
“I think we should move,” he said, and all eyes were on him instantly. “We can’t do anything where we are right now. We need to find a cell tower or a town or something so that we can call for help.”
“No!” Miguel shouted, and all eyes were then on him. He flinched and shuffled his feet before continuing. “I mean - what if someone comes looking for us? And then we’re gone and they don’t know where we are?”
…Alex understood where he was coming from. He didn’t know much about Miguel, but he didn’t need to know much about him to tell he had some pretty bad anxiety. He wasn’t going to do well if they went off into the wilderness or had to walk for long stretches.
But staying put wasn’t a good idea either. There was no service, no sign of civilization, no water source - nothing of use, just rolling plains and scattered trees and mountains. If there wasn’t anybody coming to find them, they wouldn’t last long here.
Which led to his next thought. “We just fell thousands of feet from the sky. Do you really think someone’s going to go through that just to find us?”
Miguel’s face fell, and Alex almost felt bad for saying it. “…I guess not.”
“Alex is right,” Azure said. “We need to get the lay of the land and figure out where we are. I don’t have any idea what’s goin’ on, but I think we’ll all be fine, as long as we stick together and don’t get lost.”
Ryan rolled his eyes. “Get lost? Newsflash, genius, we are lost. We have no idea where we are. For all we know, we could be dead and this could be hell.”
“Can you all just, like, calm down?” Harmony said wearily. “For a few minutes? Please?”
Ryan and Azure eyed each other for a moment more, then huffed and turned away from each other.
Harmony continued. “We’re all confused. None of us know where we are or what just happened or what to do next. All we know is that we’re together, and we have to work together to figure it out. So if we could stop fighting, that would be great.”
The group mumbled a collective agreement. Alex let a tension fall out of his shoulders, and he smiled.
“Great. Let’s head… that way.” He turned to point in a direction that felt good to him, towards what he hoped was civilization.
“Why that way?” Ryan said. “Why not any other way? Why do you get to decide where we go?”
“Guys,” Harmony said forcefully, and Ezra snickered.
Ryan held his hands up defensively. “Fine. Alex, lead the way.” He gestured forward dramatically, then fell into line behind Miguel.
“Off we go,” Ezra said, and Alex smiled again as they began to move.
He could see some mountains and trees in the distance; they were definitely heading toward a forest. Which was why he had chosen that direction, of course. He hadn’t just picked randomly, that would be stupid.
…He hoped he wasn’t making a mistake by choosing to lead them.
“We still haven’t found anything,” Miguel said, wringing his hands together and looking around.
They’d been walking for a while; it was hard to tell how long, since their phones still weren’t working, but the sun had moved lower down in the sky. They hadn’t found anything of note so far, save for some rocks and patches of flowers.
Dry grass crunched under Alex’s shoes with each step. The only thing that reassured him was that their surroundings were very similar to their home. Maybe they were still somewhere nearby.
What wasn’t reassuring was Miguel’s uncanny ability to always find something to be scared of.
Alex clenched his fists and tried not to let it bother him. “We’ll find something eventually,” he grumbled, kicking at the ground. He tripped over a stone and hissed as he fumbled to regain his balance. Ezra placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder to steady him, but he brushed it off, embarrassed.
“We don’t even know what we’re looking for,” Ryan muttered, loud enough to hear.
“Just - anythin’ that could help? A town? With people inside?” Azure turned around to look at him and spread their hands in exasperation. “Stop being so cranky.”
“We’re all in this together,” Harmony added. Azure nodded firmly, and Ryan shook his head but kept quiet.
Harmony suddenly perked up. “Oh, there’s some trees! It’s a forest!” She pointed at the woods up ahead, the ones that Alex had seen earlier. He hadn’t noticed how far they’d gotten.
Ryan scrunched his face up. “Why do you sound so excited?”
“It’s shady, okay?” Harmony said, and stuck her tongue out at him. “And there might be water!”
“That is the direction I was leading us in,” Alex said. He stopped walking and turned around to face the group, sensing some hesitation. “Harmony’s right. The most important thing is to find a water source so that we don’t die of dehydration.”
“But forests are - they’re creepy!” Miguel exclaimed, wrapping his arms around himself. “What if we get attacked?”
Alex squeezed his eyes shut, refusing to yell. “Attacked by what? Rocks? Trees? We haven’t come across anything. There’s nothing that’ll hurt us there. Maybe a bear, but all you have to do if you see one is lay down.”
“That only works for grizzly bears,” Azure said. “Which we don’t have in California. We have black bears. You’re supposed to try to appear bigger than them by raising your arms.”
“Literally who cares,” Alex said. “My point stands. If nobody else has any better ideas, let’s get moving.”
He whipped around and started moving again toward the forest, and felt a twinge of satisfaction as he heard the others follow suit. Finally they’re realizing I’m the sensible one here.
They reached the edge of the forest sooner than Alex thought they would. It was… certainly dark in there. For a brief moment, he wondered if Miguel was right - but then it passed, and he pressed onward, not wanting to show fear.
The shade was a relief from the sun beating down on their backs. Alex could almost feel the entire group breathe a collective sigh of relief, and even he couldn’t resist taking a deep breath in. They walked in silence, taking in their surroundings. The trees were impossibly green and full of leaves, considering how dry the grass had been. The grass here in the forest was much softer and lighter, and didn’t cut Alex’s ankles, which he was thankful for.
There was no birdsong in the trees, though, which made the whole experience seem a little off. There was rarely a tree back home that didn’t have a bird belting out its latest tune at this time of day and this time of the year.
Eventually, the overall anxiety of the group seemed to wear off. Alex was actually starting to enjoy the walk. He barely knew anyone with him, but it was kind of nice. The others seemed to be having similar experiences; he could hear Harmony humming a tune, and even Miguel had a bit of a pep in his step.
Even Ezra, walking just alongside Alex, seemed to be doing pretty well. He was beyond grateful for that. He’d been worried at first that the strange situation they were in would end up with Ezra closing off from everyone, including him, and withdrawing entirely. But it didn’t seem like that was the case. Which was good. Alex liked it when Ezra was doing well.
But after a while, things started to get… weird. Weird as in “this shouldn’t be happening” weird.
Weird as in telephone poles in the middle of the forest, connected to nothing.
The group’s pace slowed as they observed the strange objects. The telephone poles were the first ones they noticed, but they recognized signposts and even a few haphazardly placed train tracks here and there. Road signs stuck up out of bushes, warning them to stop and yield to pedestrians. Ezra pointed out a vending machine hidden deep in the underbrush. It didn’t have any snacks in it, much to everyone’s disappointment. Maybe it had never had any. Phone booths blocked their path at one point, and they were forced to find a way around them. They weren’t plugged in to anything, and didn’t seem to work, which the group knew because they had tried calling 911 (only to be met by an endless ringing).
After the objects became more and more common, Ryan spoke up. “So are we not going to talk about this or what?”
“What is there to talk about?” Alex said. “Just some random things in the middle of a forest. Maybe this used to be a garbage dump or something.”
Miguel frowned. “This place is weird.”
Well, if he had to be right about one thing, it would be that.
Slowly, the oddities grew fewer and farther between, and the strange feeling in the air faded with them. The telephone poles weren’t of any use in their quest to find a signal; attempting to call anyone, even amongst the group themselves, resulted in more endless ringing. Eventually, they stopped thinking about the strange attractions. It was odd, but not a big deal, and far from their biggest concern.
They walked for maybe another hour, if Alex had to guess, and the trees eventually thinned out. The sunlight shone down through the branches above, and patches of flowers crept up from between clumps of grass. Despite the silence and vague concern hovering over the group, it was peaceful, and they all seemed to be in a good mood.
But all hope of finding anyone had long since disappeared. Harmony had stopped singing, Miguel was slowing down, and even Ezra seemed a little off now. Alex kept up his brave front, but even he was losing motivation.
There’s got to be something soon, he kept telling himself. We’ll find something. We just have to keep going.
Just when they were ready to give up and call it quits, Miguel saved the day.
“That looks like it might help,” he said, pointing at something off to the side. He’d veered off from the rest of the group slightly, and they headed toward him to see what he was talking about.
It was a huge mansion, coming into view out of the forest in front of them. Alex hadn’t seen many mansions in his life, so maybe he wasn’t the best judge, but to him, this one seemed… inordinately large.
The trees had been cleared out, and the result was a scene straight out of a movie. The mansion loomed in front of them, enticing them to enter. The exterior was white, with fancy decorations everywhere - lion statues at the front steps, ornate carvings along the side, very expensive-looking roof tiling. Alex didn’t know much about architecture, but the patterns were very detailed, and made the place seem much older than it probably was.
The ground around the mansion was gravel, and nicely paved. Small gardens circled the perimeter, and they seemed well-kept; it looked like someone lived here. A fountain sat in the middle of the gravel clearing.
It was astonishing, and also just a tad sinister.
“Well, shouldn’t we go inside?” Harmony asked. Alex looked around the clearing; there were no cars or any other form of transportation. Seemingly no garage, either, which was confusing. Maybe it was around the back?
He figured it was worth a shot.
“Alright, let’s go,” he said. He took a few steps forward, then looked back over his shoulder to see if the others were following him.
Only Ezra had.
Alex resisted a sigh and turned around fully to face them. “What.”
No one answered him for a few moments, until Miguel stepped forward. “What if it’s haunted?”
Alex’s eyes narrowed as he looked over the group. “You guys are worried about it being… haunted?”
“I’m not worried about it being haunted,” Ryan said. “I’m just not really in the mood to explore strange houses in the middle of the woods.”
“So you’re afraid of it being haunted,” Harmony said, smiling. Ryan frowned and ignored her.
“No offense, but I agree with Ryan,” Azure piped in. “We’ve been walking for quite a while, seen some weird things, and now we come across a strange mansion? Why is your first instinct to explore it?”
Alex threw his hands into the air. “Because the point of walking this way was to see if we could find someone to tell us where we are?” He couldn’t believe them. Miguel’s fear was understandable, to an extent, but the other three had no reason for not wanting to check it out. “Chances are there’s a rich old man in there who can take us back home. Why don’t you all just suck it up and come on in?”
He didn’t wait for the rest to follow him this time. He knew Ezra would come, and he was the only one who mattered. Soon, though, he heard an extra four pairs of feet behind him, and knew he’d convinced the rest.
When he reached the door, he tried to knock, but it swung open when he first touched it. Inside was dark, with the only light source being the small windows scattered along the walls.
“Well, hotshot, why don’t you go in?” Ryan called out from the back of the group. “Since you were so adamant about doing so.”
Alex decided not to respond, simply pushed the door open further. He peeked around for a mere second before stepping in.
A cloud of dust swirled up behind him, causing some of the group - notably Azure - to cough as they followed him. That was also weird. There shouldn’t be that much dust unless this place had been abandoned for years.
“Hello?” Harmony shouted into the darkness, tapping a foot against the tile floor. “Is anybody here?”
“Honey, I’m home,” Ryan said dryly.
It was hard to pick out in the dark, but as Alex’s eyes adjusted to the low light, he spotted a grand staircase right ahead of them on the opposite side of the room, with two doors on either side of it. Following his gut instinct, he headed forward and took the stairs up to the second floor. The others followed not soon after, to Alex’s surprise but satisfaction.
The second floor was smaller, but no less fancy or dusty. Red carpet woven with golden thread lined the wood hallway, leading the way to various rooms and doors. It was certainly an experience to be walking through such a place in casual clothes, rather than a fancy suit.
“Is there anyone here?” Ezra asked quietly.
“Is anyone here?” Alex asked loudly.
Azure shook their head. “No response.”
“Maybe they’re out getting lunch?” Miguel suggested. His hesitancy to enter the building had disappeared, and he was looking around just as curiously as the others.
“I don’t think so,” Harmony said. “It’s almost evening.” Alex hadn’t noticed it had been getting darker, but once she pointed it out, it was obvious. They really had been walking for hours.
“Hey, come check this out,” came Ryan’s muffled voice from further ahead. The group obliged, heading toward him and stepping through an archway into what seemed like a large bedroom.
The walls were cream-white, a sharp contrast to the carpeted brown floor. There were six differently colored beds, three on each wall, each made perfectly with a fluffy comforter and several pillows. Nightstands were placed next to each bed, all of which had a lamp that was currently on. On the far side of the room was a balcony, the doors wide open and the curtain billowing in the wind.
“Okay, it’s a bedroom,” Alex said, looking at Ryan. “What’s so special?”
“There’s six beds,” Ryan said, stating the obvious, though Alex didn’t say it. “There’s six of us. And they’re all color-coded. Doesn’t that seem a bit strange?”
“Not really,” Ezra said, shaking his head. “Maybe whoever lives here just has six kids.”
“Yeah, but all of them sharing one room?” Ryan shot back. “Unless they’re sixtuplets or whatever, that’s a dumb thing to do.”
Alex frowned and headed toward the bed closest to him, the one with red bed sheets. He ran his hand over the covers. They were smooth, almost unnaturally soft, and there seemed to be several different layers of blankets, just how he liked his own bed to be.
The rest of the beds had their own oddities. The purple one, the one Ryan was looking at, had two pillows on each side, rather than one, like the rest. The blankets on the green one were fluffier than the rest, and the orange bed - directly across from Alex’s - seemed to have larger pillows. Like how Ezra likes big pillows.
…Maybe Ryan was right.
“What’s these bags?” Miguel said, bringing Alex back to reality. He was peeking under the green bed, and he pulled something out, staring down at it quizzically.
Alex reached under the red bed and felt something too. When he pulled it out, he realized it was a backpack, black with red trim.
Against his better judgment, he unzipped it and looked within. Inside was one shirt, one pair of pants, a jacket, and - Alex couldn’t tell what the last thing was. He held it up, examining it under the light of the lamp.
“Is this a pair of goggles?” he said, asking no one in particular, but he glanced toward Azure, who looked up at him. Ezra strolled over and fiddled with them for a second before nodding.
“Looks like it.”
Alex frowned. “Why was this in the backpack under my bed? I’m never going to wear these. I’ve got perfect vision.”
“Good for you,” said Azure, who wore contacts. They paused, looking at him curiously. “What do you mean ‘your’ bed?”
Oh. Hmm. Alex looked at the bed, then down at the goggles in his hands, then back up at Azure. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “It just… feels like it was made for me.”
“I didn’t get goggles,” Miguel said, sounding forlorn. He’d pulled the contents of his own backpack out - a gray-green shirt, a darker green windbreaker, and blue jeans.
“Me neither,” Harmony and Ryan said in unison, then stared at each other. They’d both finished looking through the backpacks under the beds they were standing beside - blue for Harmony, purple for Ryan.
“Do you want them?” Alex asked, turning toward Ezra. He’d sat down on the bed after looking at the goggles, and he lit up when spoke.
“Sure!” he said, putting them around his neck. “I probably won’t use them, but they seem fun to have.” He grinned down at Alex. Alex felt his cheeks and ears getting warm and he looked away before anyone noticed.
…There wasn’t any way to confirm that these beds were really made for them. There was evidence, but not enough to come to a firm conclusion. But the lack of vehicles out front, and the dust they’d kicked up, and now the beds and clothes that seemed tailored to their own desires (mostly; Ryan didn’t seem happy with the pair of jorts in his backpack)… not to mention the weirdness of the forest…
Oh, and the fact they’d fallen out of the sky. That was kind of hard to miss.
“I think we should stay here for the night,” Alex said. Four heads swiveled in his direction, all of them wearing a doubtful expression. Alex’s shoulders slumped in frustration and he raised his voice. “Come on. We don’t have anywhere else to go. I’m sure if anyone lives here they won’t care about us spending the night after getting lost. This is the only safe place we’ve even come across.”
Azure cleared their throat, and Alex braced himself for a lecture on why it was the worst possible idea - but instead, they nodded. “You’re right. All of this is too much to be a coincidence, from the trash in the forest to whatever’s goin’ on with this place. Someone obviously planned this out beforehand, expectin’ us to stop here. Maybe tomorrow they’ll come pick us up.”
Slowly, everyone else voiced their agreement. Alex would have liked to think it was due to his reasoning, but he knew without a doubt it was because of Azure’s.
“Slumber party!” Harmony laughed, throwing her pillow at Ezra’s head. He recoiled, looking offended, before launching one back across the room. His stomach suddenly growled, loudly, and he placed his hands over it sheepishly.
“Sorry,” he said, and Alex smirked. “Haven’t eaten since earlier this morning. Too busy falling through the sky.”
“Well…” Miguel mumbled to himself, barely noticing Harmony throwing Ezra’s pillow at his back. “I could make dinner. I saw a kitchen downst—”
“YES,” Ryan shouted, pumping a fist in the air. “I am STARVING.”
“I trust you not to poison us,” Ezra said to Miguel. He caught Alex’s eye and winked, a silent message that Alex scowled at. Ezra giggled and flopped back on Alex’s bed.
“Great!” Azure clapped their hands together. “So it’s settled. Miguel will make dinner and y’all can do whatever you’d like. I’m gonna help him with preparations.” They stretched and stood up, dodging a pillow flying by their head, and gave Harmony a pointed look. She ducked her head, hiding her amusement.
“I really hope there’s food in the kitchen,” Miguel said under his breath as he followed Azure out of the room. Ryan snorted, though he looked a little worried.
“I’m glad we could all come to a reasonable agreement,” Alex said, laying back on his bed next to Ezra. “Someone wake me up when dinner is ready.”
“Same,” Ryan yawned, stretching out across his sheets. Ezra mumbled agreement, shifting closer to Alex.
“I guess it’s up to me then, huh,” Harmony said, but the three boys were already asleep.
Dinner was ready two hours later. The sky, by this point, was pitch dark, and Alex could make out a scattering of stars. He wasn’t able to recognize any constellations, no matter how hard he tried, but he’d never been very good at that anyway. There was a slight chill in the air from the open balcony, and Alex rubbed his arms in an attempt to warm them up. Ezra offered him the jacket that had been in his backpack, and he immediately slipped it on, completely ignoring the fact he had a jacket of his own in his backpack.
After Azure called everyone downstairs, Harmony and the three sleep-weary boys stumbled their way downstairs. Well, the boys stumbled - Harmony walked like a normal person, giggling under her breath at them. The kitchen was warm and smelled amazing; Miguel had clearly outdone himself. There hadn’t been a lot in the fridge or pantry, he said, but he made do, and the result was spectacular. Everyone ate to their heart’s content, and the food was gone almost as soon as it was put on the table.
“This was absolutely wonderful, Miguel,” Harmony said, sighing happily as she placed her dishes in the sink. “You really didn’t have to do this for us.”
Miguel dipped his head and averted his gaze. “It was nothing,” he said quietly. “I could’ve done better if there’d been more ingredients.”
“Well, you did great with what you had,” Azure said, and Miguel flushed.
Alex yawned and pushed himself up from his chair, following Harmony to the sink. “So… is anyone going to sleep now or…?”
“I’m done with being social for the day,” Ryan said, finishing up his meal. He wiped his mouth with his napkin and reached over to the counter, putting his plate up on it. “Hope I don’t pass out in the hallway.”
“Ha, that rhymed,” Harmony said as she sat back down, smiling. Ryan rubbed his temples, looking utterly exhausted. With a shake of his head, he left the room without so much as a goodnight, heading upstairs.
“I’m pretty tired too,” Miguel admitted. “I think I should go to sleep, too. Although I don’t think we have pajamas…” He trailed off, furrowing his brow.
“Just sleep in your clothes like a real man,” Ezra said, his eyes twinkling. He’d finished his dinner first. Alex had tried to convince him to eat more, but he’d refused, giving Ryan his leftovers. He didn’t want to say it out loud, because it wasn’t something the others needed to know about it, but Alex was a little concerned about his small appetite. Was he really not hungry, or was his anxiety telling him not to eat?
Alex shook his head and pushed the thought out of his mind.
“I hate to say it, but I’m tuckered out as well,” Azure said. “You three had best come to bed soon, too.” They pointed at the three remaining kids still sitting at the table. “It’s been a long day for all of us. Who knows what’s in store tomorrow.” With that, they left, beckoning Miguel to follow.
Alex turned to Ezra, about to say something, but he looked deep in thought. His eyebrows were knit together, wrinkling his freckled nose, and his hands were folded in front of his mouth, propping his face up - a typical thinking pose for him. Even as Alex tapped his shoulder, he continued staring straight ahead.
Alex knew it was best to leave Ezra alone when he got like this, but he was getting a little antsy, and so he shook him gently, hoping to snap him out of his trance.
Ezra startled a bit, blinking twice before acknowledging Alex’s presence. He smiled, his cheeks dimpling the corners of his eyes. Alex tried to ignore them.
“What’re you thinking about?” he asked quietly, trying not to disturb Harmony. Ezra looked over Alex’s shoulder at the once wide awake girl, now slumped over the table, half asleep.
“Hm?”
Alex cocked an eyebrow. “You were doing your hand thing.” Ezra flushed, rubbing the back of his neck, and Alex smirked. “I know you. You can’t hide these things from me.”
Ezra bit his lip, his eyes shifting to the side. He clenched his fist and rubbed his fingers around, another nervous habit he had. “It’s just - ” He broke off, sighing. “I just think it’s weird that this place - this house is here. Don’t you think someone should… stand watch? Just to make sure it’s not a trap?” He closed his eyes, letting out a breath and turning away from Alex.
Alex blinked. He hadn't considered that, but it made sense. “That’s a good idea, actually,” he said, and Ezra visibly relaxed. “We should tell the others and get this young lady to bed.” He jerked a thumb in Harmony’s direction, and Ezra laughed, rejuvenated.
“I am awake,” Harmony muttered. “You don’t have to act like I’m not here.” The boys attempted to restrain their laughter, but failed, and Harmony huffed, picking her head up to rub at her eyes.
Ezra reached out a hand, and she took it. Alex turned the lights out and the three of them walked upstairs and into the bedroom. The lights were dimmed, but not turned off completely, possibly to provide the three of them a little light when they finally came up. Alex turned it up to full brightness, clapping his hands.
“Chop chop, everyone,” he announced. “We’ve got an idea.”
“Is it morning already?” Miguel mumbled, stifling a yawn. Ryan didn’t open his eyes, but he sat up, making the best frown he could at the newcomers. Azure was up as soon as the lights were turned on.
“Nope.” Alex stepped further inside, sitting down on his bed. Harmony trotted over to hers and fell down on it, while Ezra sat next to Alex. “Ezra had an idea that we should keep watch, just in case this is a trap.”
“A trap?” Azure squinted at him. “I thought we all agreed that this was arranged for us, and it was completely safe.”
“I didn’t agree to that,” Miguel said.
Alex ignored him. “Sure, but I think it’s worth it just to be safe. Better safe than sorry, right? That’s your life motto, Azure, isn’t it?” He smirked at them, and they shot a glare at him and flipped him off.
Ezra held his hands up. “We don’t have to if you’re all too tired.” He pulled on the collar of his shirt, casting a sideways glance at Alex. Alex bit the inside of his mouth, unsure of where to go next.
“I think it’s worth it,” Ryan grumbled. “Can you turn the lights off? Just wake me up whenever you’re tired.” He rolled over and buried his face in his pillow.
“Well, if he thinks it’s a good idea, then let’s just do it,” Azure sighed, shaking their head.
“Guess it’s settled then,” Ezra said. “I’ll take first watch.”
“No, I will,” Alex cut in. “I’m more awake now than I will be if I get woken up later. Besides, I want to explore this place a little more.” At Ezra’s grimace, Alex went on. “You can go after me. I’ll wake you up in a little bit.”
That seemed to satisfy him, as he nodded and stood up. He stretched his arms above his head, reaching out and switching the lights off completely. Ryan let out a very loud sigh of relief. Ezra smiled thankfully at Alex and ruffled his hair. Alex ducked away, frowning.
“Don’t get lost,” Ezra called over his shoulder as he strode over to the orange bed. “And don’t not wake me up. It was my idea.”
Alex rolled his eyes and stepped out of the room. “Yeah, yeah, whatever.”
Time to check this place out.
“This place” turned out to be incredibly boring.
Other than the bedroom, kitchen, and one bathroom, all the other rooms were almost completely empty. A few of them had some chairs, others some empty bookshelves, and there was one with just a single trashcan in the middle of the room. Alex vaguely remembered Azure saying something about that, but he’d been so focused on dinner that he must have disregarded it.
Well, that’s stupid, he moped as he strode down the hallway for the fifteenth time. Why isn’t there anything that tells us who lives here? Or even lived, past tense? If they’d moved, they would’ve taken all of this stuff with them, right? Even if they hadn’t, who the hell leaves a single trashcan in the middle of a room?
Alex sighed to himself, pausing in the entryway of one of the chair rooms. He’d explored the whole damn place and found not a single clue as to who owned this mansion or looked after it or had lived here or anything. There was nothing. It was as if this place had appeared completely out of nowhere one day and hadn’t been lived in until the group had arrived today.
He shook his head out and went back to the bedroom, walking as quietly as he could through it as he made his way toward the balcony. No one had been out there yet, and he stepped out onto it with a smug smile.
He surveyed the surrounding area, struggling to make out details in the darkness. There was forest as far as he could see, except in the direction toward the mountains. There, it seemed to go on for a little bit before dwindling away and opening into a grassy plain. It was hard to tell in the dark, but he could have sworn he saw more telephone poles.
What the hell is even up with this place?
Alex exhaled deeply and folded his arms on the railing. It didn’t seem like anything was going to appear and attack them. Maybe he could go back to bed and pretend that he forgot to wake Ezra up.
“Penny for your thoughts?”
Alex jumped at the sound of Ezra’s voice, and punched him in the shoulder when he came to stand beside him. “Don’t do that!”
Ezra gave him a mock confused look. “What, ask what you’re thinking?” Alex punched him again, and he grinned, ducking away, before raising his eyebrows. “Were you going to wake me up, or no?”
Alex didn’t respond, unable to hide the guilt on his face. Ezra stared at him, unimpressed. “I told you I was going to do it. This was my idea, you know.”
“Sorry,” Alex said, though he didn’t feel very sorry. “I was… distracted, that’s all. I was going to wake you up. Just not yet.”
Ezra shrugged and turned his head to the sky. Alex followed, resting his eyes on where the moon was hanging among the stars. It was only a glowing sliver against the night’s darkness.
“I can take over from here,” Ezra said, but Alex was quickly distracted by something else. He leaned over the balcony and strained his ears, staring pointedly down at the forest. He could have sworn he just heard…
“Do you hear that?” he asked, not even looking up at Ezra. “Doesn’t it sound like something roaring?”
He could practically hear Ezra’s confusion. “What?”
The roar echoed again, sounding unlike anything Alex had ever heard before. He frowned, trying to pretend like he could use echolocation to figure out where it was coming from.
“I swear there’s something out there,” he said, more to himself than Ezra. He needed to concentrate right now. If there really was something…
The third time he heard it, Alex pushed himself back from the railing and stumbled as he turned back to the bedroom. “You stay here. I’m gonna go check it out.”
“Alex -”
Alex didn’t care about being quiet anymore. The only thing that mattered was finding out whatever was making that sound. It vaguely occurred to him that if it was a bear or something like that, he was probably running directly into danger, but at least Azure had told him what to do if it was a bear, right?
He rushed through the hallway and practically fell down the staircase as he headed for the front door. He shoved it open as soon as he reached it, and emerged outside, startled by the cold night air. Looking around wildly, he tried to orient himself according to the balcony in the bedroom, and began to run in the direction he thought the sound had come from.
The trees and undergrowth whipped past him; he ducked under branches and tripped over rocks and pitfalls. He didn’t pay attention to any of it, not even the scratches left by the bushes he pushed through or the chill in the air.
But, soon enough, he heard another pair of footsteps behind him. He didn’t want to stop, but he had to see who it was, and so he whirled around, bracing himself. What the -
“I told you to stay behind!”
Ezra placed his hands on his thighs as he bent over, breathing heavily. He lowered his head but glared up at Alex. “You can’t just say that you heard something roaring in the middle of the dark spooky forest in the middle of the night and then run off on your own. How am I supposed to let you go alone?”
Alex bit his lip. “Fine, but don’t slow me down.” He knew it sounded rude, but he didn’t have time to try to be nice.
The roar sounded again, and Ezra straightened back up. “Huh. I guess you were right.” Without a word, Alex turned on his heel and started to run again, given new direction by the sound.
“Alex!”
He ignored Ezra’s plea. He didn’t have time for this. Whatever it was, he had to find out. Maybe someone was looking for them. He couldn’t say the roar sounded like any search-and-rescue alert he’d ever heard, but maybe this was a special case?
He swerved between trees and hopped over bushes. As branches brushed past his face and brambles slashed at his legs, the world around him turned to a blur. He couldn’t hear Ezra behind him anymore. The darkness crept out at him, inviting him to come closer, but he refused.
Everything around him started to look the same. He could feel himself running out of stamina, but he pushed himself harder, picking up speed by the minute. Am I going in circles? No, he was definitely getting closer. He couldn’t hear the roars anymore, but he was certain he was almost there.
“Alex, watch out!”
There was alarm in Ezra’s voice - real alarm. Alex slowed down, but not quickly enough. He felt his foot slip, and the next thing he knew he was tumbling down the side of a small cliff. He instinctively reached out to grab something to halt his fall. Nothing. His fingers closed around empty air.
He landed with a thud and his breath knocked out of him, much like he had earlier in the day. Not wanting to move, he lay there, trying to steady his breathing. He sucked in a breath and winced at the pain he felt from his side.
Ezra reached the edge and began to climb down carefully. “Oh no,” he whispered, his eyes wide.
Alex let out a wheeze. “I’m alright.”
“You just fell ten feet.”
“I said I’m alright. Help me up.”
Ezra reached his hand down, and Alex took it in both of his, shakily getting to his feet. He brushed the dirt off of his pants, and Ezra picked a leaf out of his air before giving him a hard stare.
“You shouldn’t have run that fast,” he said, much more softly than Alex expected, given the way he was looking at him. “Be more aware of what’s in front of you next time.”
Alex shrugged. “I’m okay. Come on, let’s get moving.”
He turned around and immediately tripped, falling flat on his face.
“What the FUCK,” he yelled.
“You’ve had some awful luck tonight,” Ezra said teasingly, but the end of his sentence was drowned out by a strange grumbling sound.
“Please tell me that was your stomach again,” Alex said, coughing, as he got up and dusted himself off.
“It was not.”
Alex blinked and scanned the surrounding area, despite the darkness obscuring any details he might have otherwise noticed.
What he did notice, though, was a pair of bright white eyes staring out at him from some nearby bushes. Pure white, with no visible pupils of any sort.
“Hello?” he called out nervously, squinting to try to get a better image of whoever it was. “Who’s there?”
Ezra turned around and jerked back with shock when he saw the eyes. “Uh - hey there.” A distorted sort of growl came from the direction of the eyes. Whatever it was was aware of them, in the way a cat is aware of a mouse.
Alex and Ezra barely had time to give each other a “what the hell” look before the figure leapt out at them from the bushes, trampling the bracken and grass that dared to stand in its way.
Alex had never seen anything like it before. It was big, green, and kind of ugly, with a wide open mouth full of curved teeth that could really use some braces. A mane of white hair flowed from its scalp, while black spikes stuck out from seemingly random places on its body. Two curved horns protruded from its head, facing outwards. In its right hand it held a bone covered with silver nails, while its left hand had metal studs on the knuckles.
Under normal circumstances, Alex would have been intrigued by whatever this creature was, but it had a look in its eyes - which, though lacking pupils or irises (which was concerning), seemed to convey emotion just like a normal human’s eyes - that said it wasn’t here to play games, unless that game included killing the two kids in front of it.
The monster roared the very same roar that Alex had been hearing all night and lunged forward.
“What the fuck is that?” Alex shouted as he and Ezra dove away from the monster, narrowly avoiding a swing of its club.
“Fuck if I know!” Ezra yelled back, cowering away from the ogre. “Who wants to bet that this is Ryan in a fursuit?”
“Not the best time for jokes like that,” Alex mumbled to himself as he rushed over to stand beside Ezra, dodging another strike from the club.
The monster roared and narrowed its eyes, its smile curving into a snarl. It opened its mouth even wider, almost unhinging it like a snake, and curled its left hand into a fist, extending it out in front of its face. “
A giant ball of darkness erupted from its knuckles, taking the form of the creature’s own head before smashing into the boys.
Alex landed on the dirt hard, and felt his breath leave his body for the second time that night, third time that day. It felt like something had phased through him, yet knocked him out along the way. He erupted into a coughing fit, raising a fist to his mouth to stifle himself.
He felt like he had just been trampled by an elephant.
“Alex?” Ezra’s voice came from a few feet to his right, and sounded weak and raspy.
Alex got to his knees, turning to look at him, but was cut off by the monster shouting “
On instinct, he ducked and rolled to the side, just barely avoiding his head being sliced open by one of the nails. The monster made a displeased sound when it saw that it had missed, but Alex was already scrambling to his feet to reach Ezra’s side, who was still collapsed on the ground.
His breath caught in his throat.
Ezra was… not dead, clearly, as he had just spoken, but he had definitely seen better days. His eyes were squeezed shut, and a cloud of dust had settled on his back and hair. He cracked one eye open and tried to smile at Alex, who sunk to his knees and dug his fingers into his hair.
“Are you -” Alex was cut off by the monster growling again, and he turned to look at it, cringing slightly. “We need to get out of here.” He turned his head in the direction of the mansion, a pained expression creeping over his face as he looked at Ezra.
“If we lead it back to the house,” Ezra said quickly, holding a hand against his stomach, “it’ll attack the others.”
“Damnit,” Alex mumbled, hearing the creature roar again. He stood up off the ground, positioning himself between it and Ezra.
He raised his chin into the air in a statement of defiance; come at me, I can take it, he hoped was the message it conveyed. Ezra whined in disagreement behind him, still struggling to sit upright. Alex ignored him, glaring even more fiercely at the beast. He threw his shoulders back and spread his arms in a defensive stance.
You are not going to hurt him.
The thought hit him like a runaway train, and he shook his head rapidly to try to clear it, as if it was a cobweb on his face - but the harder he tried not to think of it, the more thoughts similar to it he had.
If I can’t protect him, then what good am I?
I have to try something. I have to take a stand. I can’t just sit around and let whatever this thing is kill both of us.
I won’t take this sitting down.
The ogre roared, smiling, and raised its bone club high above its head, its teeth glinting in the moonlight and its eyes shot through with a bloodthirsty look as it advanced toward him.
I will not do nothing.
“Alex, please -”
He hoped - oh, god, he hoped against all his wildest dreams that Ezra would get out of the way in time, would run back to the others and tell them there were monsters here, would urge them to leave and seek help immediately. They were just kids, after all. How could a sophomore who couldn’t take the PSAT without crying handle an eight-foot-tall ogre?
I will do something.
Alex took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and waited.
The monster’s hot breath made his skin crawl and his ears ring, but he did not back down from where he stood, in between it and his best friend, with his face scrunched up tight and his arms held out stiffly and his hands curled into fists and his legs locked and his heart pounding with worry and regret and fear and fear and fear -
A roar echoed off his face, and he physically restrained himself from wiping the spittle from it off his cheeks. He knew the creature was getting ready to attack again, and he took a deep breath.
He waited for the club to come smashing down on his face, or to be blown back by another force of darkness, but just as he was about to crack an eye open -
“
Alex felt something dart past him, and he stumbled back, just barely catching a blur of white and red leaping at the ogre. It screeched and backed up, snarling and swinging wildly in hopes to catch whatever had attacked it.
Ezra came up behind him, and Alex fell into his arms, letting out a shaky sigh and wiping his eyes. He looked up at Ezra and blinked, rubbing his face. “Did you -”
Ezra nodded, and then the monster cried out. “
“
“Whaaaaaat the hell,” Alex breathed, taking a hesitant step towards the two battling creatures despite Ezra’s protests. The dragon was only a third of the ogre’s size, and it didn’t seem to be as strong - but its speed was too much for the monster, who was large and clumsy and seemingly very dim-witted.
“
The dragon seemed to smile as it took the ogre’s pause to look back at the boys - or rather, Alex in particular.
Alex felt a strange twinge in his stomach that felt a lot like both vomit and fire as he made eye contact with it, before it whisked around and jumped right at the ogre again. It sidestepped the dragon, its eyes narrowed as it pulled a fist back.
The dragon quickly shot a look at both boys this time, its ears flicking back as it tugged at its cape. “You might want to move,” it remarked dryly as the ogre’s fist began to glow black again.
“
The ogre recoiled, shaking its hand out and staring at it, forgetting about its attacker.
“And that is my opening,” the dragon said, smirking, as it lunged for the stalling creature again. As it moved, its entire body was engulfed in flaming energy, and it slashed out with a roar. “
It aimed straight for the creature’s face, and it hit home.
A pained screech with the undertones of a roar erupted from the ogre’s throat as it threw its head back, its eyes widening - and then irises appeared out of nowhere, expanding until its pure white scleras were filled with blue. It dropped its club as it stumbled around, gnashing its teeth together in pain.
The ogre blinked, taking a step backward as it examined the scene in front of it. Alex felt a sinking feeling in his stomach and braced himself in case he would have to leap out of the way of another attack.
The dragon sat down, wrapping its tail around it like a cat, and the ogre turned to look at it. The dragon smiled, and the ogre tilted its head in confusion.
And then it just… shook its head out, picked its bone mace up, and turned around to return from whence it had come. Just like that. No more attacks, no more attention paid to the dragon or Ezra or Alex. It was as if it didn’t even remember attacking them.
There was an uncomfortably long silence between the three remaining beings before Alex broke it with a rattling sigh as he sank to his knees.
The dragon blinked big red eyes at him and pulled his hood back with a paw. “Sorry I was late. Wasn’t expecting an infected Digimon to show up.” He paused to mutter something under his breath, his eyes narrowing.
Ezra knelt down next to Alex, who got the feeling that he was deliberately ignoring the dragon - which, to be fair, was logical, because they had just been nearly killed by a giant monster and now there was another, albeit smaller, monster who wanted to have a friendly chat with them.
Alex, however, despite feeling a little (read: a lot) worse for wear, wanted to know 1. what the fuck had just happened, 2. where the fuck they were, and 3. why the fuck was there a talking dragon.
In fact, he asked those same questions, word for word, but pausing in between each one to catch his breath, because holy shit he had just almost DIED and he was having trouble fully processing that.
The dragon cautiously approached the two, ignoring Ezra when he held a hand up to stop him but obeying Alex when he did the same.
Alex felt like there was something up with him and this dragon.
“I can imagine you’d be a little confused after that,” he said, smiling and revealing sharp teeth reminiscent of a dog. “Once again, sorry that I didn’t get here sooner. It’s nice to meet you, though.”
“Can you - can you try not to beat me over the head with the fact that you know what’s going on and I don’t?” Alex muttered, rubbing the shoulder that had collided with the ground when he was hit by the monster’s… Tyrant Fist Beast? Whatever it had called it.
“And can you answer his questions,” Ezra asked, practically bristling with distrust.
The dragon bowed his head toward Alex. “Of course,” he said, and at this point Alex knew that he was actually here for him, not Ezra.
Alex groaned and closed his eyes before looking back at the dragon. “Start with your name. And then everything else. Most importantly what you are and where we are and what that was.”
“Hackmon,” he said, “Digimon, Digital World, infected Digimon.” He counted off his answers on his claws, resorting to his left paw when he had used up all three on his right.
Alex stared at it blankly. “Cool, don’t know what any of that means, mind being a little less vague?” He was exhausted, had just almost died, and did not have the energy to try to decipher a talking dragon’s dialect.
The dragon - Hackmon - squinted and fiddled with his cape collar. “I can understand that you’re confused about the Ogremon, but… don’t tell me you don’t know what a Digimon is?”
At the two boys’ silence, he groaned and covered his face with a paw. “Aldamon, I swear…” He cleared his throat and shook himself out. “Alright. Basically, you’re in another world, called the Digital World, which is inhabited by creatures called Digimon, which I am, and which that Ogremon also was. But that Ogremon was… well, what Aldamon and I call an infected Digimon. We don’t know what causes it, but recently a lot of Digimon have been acting strangely aggressive - we think it’s some sort of virus causing them to lose their sense of self. Not a lot of Digimon know about it, so keep it under wraps, got it?” When he had finished, he smiled up at Alex and flicked an ear.
Alex breathed in and out a couple of times, trying to steady himself. “Different world. Full of monsters. Which are all acting completely crazy.”
“Aggressive,” Hackmon corrected.
“Yeah, whatever, man,” Ezra said dismissively, waving a hand at him. “What does any of that have to do with us? Why are we here? How do we get back home?”
“Well, we’re not sure, to be completely honest,” Hackmon said. He winked at Alex, who raised an eyebrow in skepticism.
“Who are you referring to? You and another one of those monsters?” Alex shifted his legs and leaned his head on Ezra’s shoulder. “Not really looking forward to having to fight another one.”
“Oh, no, Aldamon isn’t infected,” Hackmon said, raising his paws in reassurance. “He’s my mentor.”
“Hang on,” Ezra said, holding his own hands up. “You’re a Digimon. Your name is Hackmon. That thing was Ogremon. Your mentor is Aldamon. Do all your names end in mon?”
“Well, Hackmon isn’t my name,” he replied offhandedly. “It’s what I am. I’m a Digimon, but specifically a Hackmon. That’s my species.”
Ezra wasn’t satisfied. “Okay. Why do your species names all end in mon? That seems like it would get confusing, wouldn’t it?”
Alex, however, wasn’t really in the mood for it. “Ezra, I get it, but we need to find out why we fell through the sky and landed in a world full of raging monsters, and at this moment Hackmon is the only one who might be able to tell us, so let’s save the mon questions for later, okay?” He finished with a cheeky smile, full of impatience, irritation, and affection, the latter being the one that shone through the most (he hoped).
Ezra sighed and nodded, leaning back so Alex could rest against him again.
“Where were we… ah, yes,” Hackmon said thoughtfully, tapping a claw against his chin. “Ever since I was a Botamon, I kind of always had a strange feeling that I was… waiting for someone. I’ve never been able to explain it. It’s always just… been there, within me.” He looked up at Alex, his eyes shining in the few rays of moonlight that broke through the branches above. “And I think it’s you, Alex.”
Alex stared at him, his mouth numb and tongue dry. Ezra rubbed his shoulder, but he didn’t pay any attention.
He didn’t know what to say.
He stared up and out at the few patches of night sky visible through the trees. The few stars were twinkling as bright as ever, and Alex finally realized, with a sudden shock, that he hadn’t been able to recognize any constellations earlier because there were none to recognize.
The stars in the sky were arranged in completely different formations than the ones back home, and unless they had been teleported to the southern hemisphere, it meant that they really were in another world.
Alex cast his gaze towards the ground beneath his legs, still criss crossed over each other, with his hands resting, folded, in between them. The earth was - well, it was hard to tell in the scarce moonlight, but it seemed to be speckled with different colors. The patterns took on unnatural, squarish shapes, patterns that dirt wasn’t supposed to have. He looked to the trees, and noticed very faint circuit patterns crawling up their trunks, glowing a pale green in the darkness. The leaves had similar circuits in place of where their veins would usually be. The clouds above them seemed staticky; the stars, upon closer inspection, flickered in and out every so often like lights on a computer; when Alex crumbled some dirt between his fingers, he felt it pop like he had touched the inner wiring of a computer.
Everything about this place - even the road signs and telephone poles they’d passed, which were just common human things - was digitized.
They were really in a digital world.
Alex exhaled through his nose, placing one shaky hand on Ezra’s shoulder and the other on his own knee. He closed his eyes and savored the cool night air; it seemed just like the air back home, on Earth, but there was a slight tang to it.
After a moment, he faced Hackmon fully. The dragon had pulled his hood up over his head, and he flashed Alex a mouth full of fangs. Alex smiled back warily.
“I think we should go back,” he said cautiously. “And tell the others all of this.”
Hackmon blinked in confusion, looking taken aback. “Others?”
“Yeah, there’s four more with us,” Ezra said. “Back at the mansion where we stopped for the night.”
“Oh,” Hackmon said, blinking. “Grey Manor. I forgot that was around here.” He scratched his nose, lightly tugging on his hood.
“I don’t even wanna ask,” Alex mumbled, pushing himself up off the ground. Ezra followed soon after, steadying himself on Alex. Alex shrugged him off and he flailed his arms, trying to regain balance. Alex laughed, and Hackmon suppressed a chuckle.
“It’s not important,” Hackmon said, more to himself than Alex. “There’s tons of random buildings throughout the Digital World. Grey Manor is just one that I’m more familiar with.”
Alex shook his head, leaning against Ezra’s shoulder, who huffed and shoved him away in payback. “Alright. Let’s -”
He was cut off by a beeping sound from his phone. He gave up trying to push Ezra over, and dug in his pocket to take it out. To his surprise, his phone was already unlocked and turned on, displaying the last page of his home screen.
An app titled in an unknown language was in the process of downloading.
“What the hell is this?” he breathed, tapping on it. Hackmon peeked at his screen and let out a sound of surprise.
“That’s our ancient language,” he said. “Digimoji. I haven’t seen that in a long time.”
Alex frowned. “Well, what does it say?” The app was only just beginning to download; Alex was getting anxious to see what it was.
“I’m not sure,” Hackmon admitted, giving him an apologetic look. “I can’t read Digimoji. Aldamon can, though.”
Alex sighed in frustration and scratched his ear. “Awesome. Take us to him.”
Hackmon snorted and shook his head. “It takes about a week to get there. We’ve got a long journey ahead of us.”
“If he can tell me what this says, I don’t care how long it takes,” Alex said. The app seemed stuck in the downloading process; he tried pausing and unpausing it a few times, but it was no use. He sighed in defeat and pocketed it. “Let’s head back. We need to tell the others about this. And then go the hell to sleep.”
“Sounds good to me,” Ezra said, brushing the front of his shirt off. He gestured back the way they had come, falling into step behind Alex and Hackmon, who led the way.
“What a weird day this has been,” Alex muttered. He stretched his arms out above his head, closing his eyes and ruffling his hair.
Hackmon chuckled. “You’ll get used to it. I bet your world would be weird to me.”
The three of them spent the rest of the walk back in silence, with the occasional irritated hiss from Alex or Ezra as they tripped over roots or stones. Hackmon, for his part, seemed to be able to navigate just fine, and made a few jabs at them along the way - all in good fun, Alex could tell.
He was pretty fond of Hackmon already.
As they emerged from the forest, rain began to drip from the sky; slowly at first, but by the time they reached the mansion, it was pouring. Alex laughed as Ezra tried to shake the water out of his hair like a wet dog.
They entered the mansion in high spirits, almost forgetting about the monster they had fought earlier and entirely unaware of what was to come in their future.
Episodes | >>