Distorted World {Anne and Vein's RP} <M>

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The boy's eyes seemed to be focused on everything but the instructor or the board in the front of the class. He was basically daydreaming to be brief. Daniel was the type of guy who payed little attention and still managed to get by using what he called "Common Sense". However, this paying attention and doing nothing for himself in the social area had basically made him one of the biggest loners in the school.

His own classmates hardly recognized him being there which is a little understandable in a room with fifty students, but you'd think one freakish kid would bother talking to him. Even they avoided him, believing he was no fun or just plain dull. Daniel knew how he was thought of and in most cases, he really didn't care.

"Hey dork," spoke one of the kids in the seat beside him. "What's the answer to the first question."

Daniel smiled lifting his hand an revealing his bony middle finger.

"Real mature freak," replied the guy turning and shaking his head.

Daniel rolled his eyes refocusing on the lesson at hand.

"Life's so dull..."

He reached for his pencil to write notes when everything seemed to go bright red, blinding his sight for a moment until everything cleared. He couldn't see what had just happened, but he could feel something was wrong around him. The air had a new taste and the breeze coming in through the window seemed ancient.

When the brightness cleared he found himself sitting on the floor with no one around besides a girl not far from where he was seated. The room was different. The walls were no longer wood and brick with a paint finish, but stone...like the very same stone used to build old time fortresses. Cobwebs stretched for many feat between corners. The sky outside the window was now red and the sound of running chunks of some sort of liquid could be heard crashing in the distance. It was as if he had stepped into a dream, an alternate reality of his current position.

He could only seem to mumble a few words through his shocked hesitation. "What happened?"

[Anne Bonny]

The day so far had been ordinary enough. The highlight for Norah so far had been getting to wear her new pair of Coach tennis shoes. She glanced down at them beneath her desk and smiled to herself. They looked great with her jeans too.

The professor at the front of the class was going on about God knows what and Norah found herself suppressing a yawn. A glance at her phone to check the time... She still had half an hour in this pit? Groaning internally, the girl pulled the current issue of US Weekly form her bag and slumped into her seat with it nestled in her lap. Her eyelids were getting heavy with boredom induced fatigue.

Another peek at her phone... five minutes had gone by. Was that all? Inserting her pen cap into her mouth, Norah began to nibble on it thoughtfully. What was she going to wear to the color party on Friday?

A flash of red light suddenly enveloped her. She couldn't tell if seconds or hours had passed by the time it had subsided. When it finally did, Norah found herself curled up on a cold, stone floor. She pushed herself up with her hands and stared around the room in wonder. Norah remembered feeling sleepy, but she hadn't dozed off, had she? This seemed too real to be a dream. Classroom walls had been replaced with grey rock, dust and cobwebs decorated the room where motivational posters had been. And most importantly, everybody else had disappeared.

Well, everybody except for one, Norah realized. A dark haired boy who looked just as bewildered as she was only a few feet away. He looked familiar, was he in her class? Oh right, Norah realized. The quiet one.

"Hey, um," the girl squeeked as she scrambled to her feet. "Um... do you know where we are? And how did we get here?"

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Daniel looked to the girl in shock. "N...No I don't," he replied in confusion. "I just found myself here on the floor."

He stood slowly brushing the dirt from his jeans that had oddly appeared on the floor as well. It was strange enough that this place had the familiar construct as his college classroom, but it also looked like it had been sitting this way for ages.

"Well atleast he's gone," Daniel mumbled looking to the desk where the jock had sat before all this. "Heh, wouldn't mind if people like him disappeared more often."

He moved to the window where he looked out at the field below. There were strange creatures in armored attire marching around the field that was now just a lava pit with stone bridges arching across numerous pathways. It was like something from a fantasy novel, like a Lord of the Rings novel...which Daniel found himself disliking greatly.

"Hey," he began looking back to the girl and pointing out the window. "Do you know what those things are?"

[Anne Bonny]

"Hey," he began looking back to the girl and pointing out the window. "Do you know what those things are?"

"What things?" Norah asked as she moved towards the window. "What, are they having marching band practice or..."

But the words caught in her throat as she peeked outside. The field was gone, and those creatures outside certainly weren't students. Everything was gray and black, save the lava that flowed under stone bridges. Norah could feel the heat from it all the way up where they stood.

"Oh my gosh!" The girl jumped back in surprise and clapped her hands over her mouth. She looked at her companion with wide eyes. "What are those? Where are we?" she cried. "This can't be real."

She began to pace as small clouds of gray dust rose up from the stony ground under her feet. "I'm dreaming, that has to be it! I was getting bored in class, I must have dozed off! Here!" She suddenly trotted up to the dark haired boy, arm extended.

"Well? What are you waiting for?" she asked impatiently. "Go ahead, pinch me! Isn't that what they say is supposed to wake you up in the movies?"

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Daniel kept staring as the girl backed away clasping her hands over her mouth in shock. It was if he was possessed to watch these creatures below and try to understand what they were. They wore armor that seemed to hang in pieces as if incomplete with leather straps connecting the separate pieces. No two armors were alike and it was if they had all self-made their own armor. The creatures stood only about five feet tall with scales running up and down their gray and lime bodies. In their hands some held spears, others halberds of large scale, and even daggers and swords. Their ears sprouted out like horns, but much more fleshy.

"I think those are..."

"Well? What are you waiting for? Go ahead, pinch me! Isn't that what they say is supposed to wake you up in the movies?"

"Movies," he asked in confusion. "Jump out this window and see if it wakes you up."

He turned facing the window again and then thinking about what he had said. If she really jumped out that window and everything returned to normal then he'd surely be sitting in a jail somewhere.

"Ok scratch that," he spoke reaching over and pinching the girl with all the force he could muster. If he was going to be given a chance to hurt one of these preppy loud mouthed pretty girls, then he might as well make sure he got some enjoyment from it.

[Anne Bonny]

"Ouch! You jerk!" Norah cried. She cocked her hand back and gave the boy a good slug in the shoulder. "What did you do that for?" Sure she had asked him to pinch her, but after his comment about jumping out the window, she was sure he had hurt her on purpose.

After one more withering glare at the boy, Norah began to pace again. "What's your name? Dave, right? Okay Dave, we need to find our way back. I've got things to do, you know. I'm not just going to sit around here and watch those things..." she waved her hand toward the window, but refused to look out again, "prance around."

Suddenly she drew to a halt and turned to face her only companion. "Hey, aren't you a pretty smart guy? Can't you figure this out?"

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Daniel laughed slight as he felt the girl hit him. It didn't feel good, but to him it was well worth it. He turned looking at the things once more and observing what they were doing before he looked back to the girl.

"My name isn't Dave," he stated with a distasteful glare. He couldn't believe this girl, it was as he had always expected. One of those types that thought that because they were pretty and popular that they didn't have to pay attention to the people around them, not even the people who had been in the same class as them for a semester. Now that he thought about it, it was girls like that who don't see something like a piano fall out of a window and smash them flat!

"It's Daniel," he nodded with a sarcastic glare. "And just because I listen in class doesn't mean I'm some genius. If you payed attention...nevermind."

He turned from the girl and went back to looking out the window at the creatures below. "But if you want my opinion," he offered with a hint of worry. "I'd say those things are goblins and I'd say the shouting and pointing they're doing towards us...isn't friendly."

"We need to get the hell out of here," he suggested quickly facing the girl. "Like now!"

[Anne Bonny]

Norah still didn't understand what was going on or where they were, and Dav... Daniel claiming the creatures below must be "goblins" made even less sense. Her mind struggled to think of some other explanation as to what was going on. But if there was one thing she did get, it was a strong suggestion from her companion to get out of wherever they were. There was a strong urgency in his voice that made Norah's breath catch in her throat. The very idea that he believed they could be in danger was enough to strike fear into the girl, even if she still tried to convince herself that someone must be playing a joke on them.

She gave Daniel a curt nod and turned on her heels. The door that lead into the room was made out of iron and heavy wood, and she grunted as she pushed it open. If this was a prank, someone had put a hell of a lot of effort into it.

The door opened to a long corridor lined with a few other doors, each one looking equally as old and equally as forbidding. Norah glanced to her left, her right, and back again. "Well now what?" she moaned to herself. Which way to go?

A clatter of armor clan footsteps came from passageway to the right, and their decision was made for them. "Hurry up! Go!" Norah exclaimed, pushing Daniel to the left.

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"Well now what?"

"How the hell should I..."

"Hurry up! Go!"

Daniel felt her shove against him and towards the left, he didn't even have time to answer her question before he found himself running like mad alongside her down the corridor. He glanced over his shoulders to see the same armored creatures from before coming around the bend towards the back of the hallway in which they were running from. He noticed one lift something silver and draw back.

"Down," he exclaimed placing his hand on the back of her head and pushing it low whilst ducking himself.

The object propelled through the air and it wasn't until it had missed their heads by incredibly far that Daniel had realized two things. First, it was an arrow, secondly, he had just made himself look retarded dodging an arrow that came nowhere close.

He looked to her with a shrug. "I thought it was going...nevermind."

His eyes noticed a stairwell not too much further down the hall, "There," he shouted as he quickly kicked the door and waited for her. The stairwell was no better than the rest of the building, it was like a horror film. Partially blackness, except for spots where light crept through cracks revealing spider webs.

"Oh please god don't let her be afraid of spiders."

[Anne Bonny]

Norah stopped so short after entering the stairwell that her companion bumped into her back. But instead of barking a sharp command to watch where he was going, as she usually would, Norah simply continued to stare ahead into the darkness.

The place even smelled ancient. The walls were a cold, black stone that seemed to absorb the small rays of light that so valiantly tried to shine in. Long standing dust particles flew through the air in front of them, stirred by their steps. Cobwebs decorated the walls like a bad Halloween party. And for the first time since their sudden transport - or whatever - a sense of dreadful realization began to come over the girl. This is real, she thought to herself.

"Oh God," she whined, shifting her weight from one foot to the next. Who knew if those goblins had seen where they had slipped off to, but she wasn't about to wait around in the darkness to find out. She took a tentative step forward.

"Okay," Norah breathed as the began to move down the musty stairs. "We can do this. Spiderwebs aren't so bad. We can't be too high up. Just a few more turns and we'll probably be down..." Her self pep-talk continued as they walked, and as juvenile as it was, Norah felt a bit more sure of herself with each step.

She was sure they were almost to the ground floor when the unthinkable happened. A rat (a rat!), big and black and beady eyed crossed over the stair in front of her. Norah's new Coach shoe landed right onto the sinister creature's tail. The rat, lighting fast, turned and lunched at her foot, and Norah let out a scream in terror.

Fortunately, the rodent scampered off without attacking once she jumped back to free it's tail. But Norah was left trembling on the stairs. "Daniel," she moaned, tears welling up in her eyes, "I don't know if I can do this! How are we going to get out of here?"

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"We can do this. Spiderwebs aren't so bad. We can't be too high up. Just a few more turns and we'll probably be down..."

Daniel rolled his eyes and smiled slightly, even in this situation it was amusing to hear the fear in her voice. He followed her closely, he felt the need to shout for her to speed up but he knew that it was already hard enough for her to push through the webs, especially if he had told her about the huge one on the wall behind.

He listened as the goblins above seemed to frantically be shouting and arguing over which way to go. A clear sign they weren't very clever or they'd have thought to split up.

A grin could only form as he knew they had lost them, but just then a loud scream of terror brought his attention back forward to Norah who was throwing a fit over a rat.

"Daniel," she moaned, tears welling up in her eyes, "I don't know if I can do this! How are we going to get out of here?"

The cruelty inside him told him to laugh and mock her, but something just didn't feel right about it. She was the type he had come to despise and always label pathetic just because of her "I am better than you Aura", but was that how she was or just how he liked to think she was?

"Look," he sighed as he moved in front of her calmly. "I'm just as scared as you are, but we don't have any other option but to keep going." His hand came up and wiped the tears softly as he gave a slight smile. "We can do this. You're strong and together we'll figure out what the hell is going on and we'll get back home, well our normal home."

"DOWN DOWN DOWN! THAT WER SKEEM COMB FRUM"

Daniel looked up worriedly, he could hear the Goblins upstairs yelling to go down. They had heard her scream and now he felt the urge to say something in a sarcastic tone to her, but really what would be the point?

"Damn," he exclaimed turning towards the lit hallway beyond the door of the stairwell. "We gotta go." He motioned for her to come as he ran fast down the next corridor spotting the area where the hall opened into a section with what used to be office. He turned fast and came to the front door of the building and opened it.

His gaze fell on a bigger challenge than running from Goblins. The terrain before him was filled in fire and magma with moving stones and small steel bridges connecting platforms of remnant land.

"This isn't going to be easy."

[Anne Bonny]

Daniel's kindness made Norah pause in surprise. His words were gentle, as was the brush of his fingers against her cheek. There was nothing sensual in his touch, nothing that suggested any sort of alterior motive. Even his smile was encouraging and even friendly. The girl stared at him in return. She simply wasn't used to someone being so nice, especially when she had been anything but in return.

But there was no time for her to respond, even if she could come up with the right words. The goblins above them had heard her scream, and Norah felt her cheeks flush with guilt and embarressment. A frantic apology was about to escape her lips, but Daniel was already running down the stairs in front of her. Following close behind, Norah was releived to finally exit the dark stairwell and step into the sunshine again.

Her releif didn't last long, however, as the pair found themselves staring at a a hostile landscape ahead. Just the heat from the fire and lava in front of them was enough to make Norah wince.

"This isn't going to be easy," Daniel said.

Ten minutes earlier, Norah would have had a sarcastic comment in response. But now, she just nodded her head in grim agreement. "Fire and brimstone?" she finally said. "Maybe we died and went to hell."

Despite her comment, Norah was not about to give up. Not again. "Okay, so we just have to cross those bridges. Not so bad, right?" she said, taking a few determined steps towards the closes bridge.

When she reached it, the girl realized that the bridges looked even smaller up close than they had from a distance. She placed one foot gingerly on the metal structure. While it groaned and rattled under her weight, it held firm enough.

"Maybe we should do this one at a time," Norah said with a glance back at her companion. Then, without pausing long enough to lose her nerve, Norah made her way across the bridge as quickly as possible.

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"Fire and brimstone?" she finally said. "Maybe we died and went to hell."

The comment caught Daniel off guard. He looked over his shoulder at her without words, maybe she was right. He didn't take the time to ponder the thought anymore as she seemed to take the initiative and move across first, which was a big surprise to him. He had figured that she would whine about how scary it was and refuse to cross, stupidly taking on the wave of goblins that followed.

"Ther thei ur!"

Daniel turned to see the entrance of the building filled with goblins running at full force towards him. The first of the group leaped onto his back and started beating on his head with a stick.

"Ouch! Get the hell off me," shouted Daniel as he stepped forward throwing his back forward and launching the goblin into the lava. The creature howled loudly as it struggled to pull itself out, but soon its greenish gray flesh turned to ash and only bone remained.

He made his way across the bridge and came up beside the girl whom had seemed to be waiting for him. "Come on lets keep moving."

He moved past Norah and came before the edge of the land where another bridge stood. He carefully crossed keeping an eye on the goblins who were not far behind. It seemed that they had realized their comrade had been flung into the lava and were stupidly wandering how to him out. Eventually they gave up after two of them jumped into to save him and instead returned to chasing the pair of humans running across the bridges.

Daniel could already see the edge of where the lava was running down the mountain side like a great river.

"OVER HERE!"

Daniel almost jumped out of his skin as the sound of a normal voice came to his ears.

"HERE!!"

The boy looked closely in the general direction of the voice and quickly spotted a hooded figure waving for them to come closer.

"Who is that," he asked in surprise.

"I can save you!"

Daniel turned to look at Norah, "Should we trust him?"

[Anne Bonny]

Norah paused, watching the hooded figure carefully. Could he be another normal person from there own world that had been caught up in this nightmare too? He certainly wasn't dressed like someone they might know. But maybe he was getting in disguise while they were running from the goblins? Norah shook her head. It seemed unbelievable.

But then again, he was offering to help. Wouldn't it be stupid to refuse to even hear him out?

She looked back to her companion, panting from the exertion of their escape. "Are you okay?" she asked Daniel. She hadn't had time to ask since that monster had jumped onto him. Goblins weren't like zombies, right? You didn't turn into one if you got bit by it, right? Norah swallowed nervously. It didn't look like Daniel got bit by the thing anyway. So hopefully she wouldn't have to worry about that.

A yelp came from behind where some fire had lashed up and singed a goblin's foot as he crossed one of the narrow bridges. Norah snorted and turned back to Daniel. "They're still following us. I don't think we have a choice. Let's hear what he's got to say," she said, inclining her head toward the stranger.

Without waiting for a response, she started off in the hooded man's direction.