Jake Addams May 16th,20XX

I awoke to the odd sensation of breathing underwater and the even odder sight of Cai getting scolded by the fairy that had knocked me unconscious earlier. Their language wasn’t even remotely similar to mine but it didn’t take a genius to put the questioning gestures towards me and the resentful glares from Cai towards me together. I was probably the subject of the scolding.

Their language wasn’t unpleasant to hear and it could be described as beautiful. Each phrase sounded like a full score played by an orchestra, and each word was a medley of notes that would have been impossible to replicate with just a single set of human vocal cords.

I focused on stabilizing my breathing, remembering the whole reason I had been turned into a statue was to keep me breathing. After a few difficult breaths, I began to get used to breathing in whatever I was breathing. It was way heavier than the air I was used to though.

Since asking where I was had managed to get me turned into a statue and knocked unconscious while they used magic on me I tried to figure it out myself. I thought back to grabbing Cai’s arm in an attempt to get him to tell me where Sparrow was. Then I remembered feeling like I was in a speeding car that broke every single speeding law in existence without the actual car. Cai had mentioned that humans weren’t supposed to be in this world, both indicating that this was a different world than the one I was used too… and that there were no other humans in this place. Which lead to the question of what else was here.

Cai generally just seemed like a human with wings, and for all his ill manners didn’t seem to have any animosity around me. The woman, on the other hand, scared me a lot. From her movements to her expressions she was very inhuman. All my senses weren’t completely sealed off while I had been turned into a statue and the rage I’d seen on her face, seconds before she had undone the statue spell had chilled me to my bones. Was it possible that she just disliked humans so much that a statue of one had driven her into a rage?

Well, I could theorize as much as I wanted but none of it told me where this place was, or why Cai had to come here to find Sparrow.

The two fairies finally realized I was awake and the woman nudged Cai towards me, speaking softer to him in a wary tone.

He trudged towards me with a reluctant expression and began to talk to me in that same inhuman language. Even though I couldn’t understand him, the tone of the song he sang could hardly be described as positive and pleased.

I wasn’t sure why he hadn’t switched over to a language I could understand, considering that I knew he could communicate with me, but I wasn’t in any place to ask. For all, I knew maybe he was trying to hide it from the woman behind us.

I choked a response through a throat that felt like I had swallowed a whole box of powdered chalk.

“I can't understand a thing you’re saying but can you please tell me where I am?”

A small light of understanding dawned on his face and he looked around in a hurry, then grabbed a branch off a golden tree and bent it into a ringlet, singing what was probably a spell over it.

The branch thinned out and became more metal like than any natural material should have become and soon grew to resemble the locket he bore on his neck.

The locket looked familiar as well, but I just couldn’t put my finger on where I’d seen it before.

He handed it over to me and motioned that it should go around my ankle and motioned to his throat and then to mine.

“Ah, that’s better. Are you okay?”

I could suddenly understand him, but the odd sounds of his speech still clattered into my ears and constantly reminded me that I was in a different world. As if the wings in their backs, blatant usage of magic and the metal trees weren’t enough to do so.

Another difference was how he suddenly sounded nicer and even bordered on the verge of familiar but as soon as I thought that a strong pain blossomed between my brows and I was quickly distracted.

“I’m fine but where am I? And why exactly did you turn me into a statue?”

Cai suddenly looked abashed and darted a look back to the woman behind him, as if asking for permission. The room stayed completely quiet until she finally nodded.

“Well, you should have put this together by now, but you aren’t on earth right now. Call it what you want, the fairy world, the other world, it doesn’t matter. And as for why I turned you into a statue... Well, let's just say I panicked. It was the only thing I could think of doing immobilize you without actually harming you. I couldn’t have a human following me around.”

I nodded along with his explanation with a forced pseudo calm; after all previous experience had shown me that freaking out only served to get me knocked unconscious. There was also the fact that freaking out and trying to deny reality wouldn't work after all there was living proof right in front of me.

Speaking slowly, I recapped everything slowly, as if saying it all to myself would help me process things more efficiently.

“So I'm in a world occupied by fairies…..I'm in a different world….Not on earth.”

Hysteria bubbled up my throat and I felt myself starting to panic again but this time I couldn't calm myself down.

Beside us, the woman noticed this and calmly said,

“Cai, the human is panicking again.”

Her bright bronze eyes sparkled as she looked at me like one would look like a specimen at the zoo or like a predator would look at prey. A mixture of curiosity and condescendence showed plainly on her balanced features and her wings twitched even as she stood still.

“Jake.”

Both of them somewhat startled as I suddenly talked but I forced myself to push back the panic and continued to speak. Rather than wasting time in panic, it would be better to move on to other topics. I could deal with the existence of another world of superior beings having such easy access to ours later on.

“My name is Jake, not ‘the human’. And Cai, I'll think about how all of this is possible late on but I followed you here for a reason. You said you knew where Sparrow was.”

I also had to put it out there that I was the one that had latched onto Cai as he travelled. Both to take responsibility for my actions, and to get him out of any potential trouble that my being here had caused. Even if he gave me a bad feeling, he was the only one I knew in this place. Him being punished would only put me in danger.

Cai frowned at my statement and quickly corrected me.

“No, I said I had an idea. And I'd wanted to come here to investigate.”

He turned to the woman that had been observing our interaction and called out to her familiarly.

"Gene- Mei!"

It was quick but I latched onto the unfinished title. Was he about to call her general?