Kaleb Maldwyn's Story

The suns rays spread across Kalebs face as his eyes opened up and took notice of his surroundings. He had fallen asleep on the park bench after coming from a club late late last night. The ringing in his ears were intense as he lifted his head up from the old bench. He took his headphones off and rubbed his ears to no avail as the ringing continued. After a minute of pondering he got up slowly and started walking around hoping the walk might wake him up. The sounds of his boots splishing and sploshing on wet ground were very clear to him despite the headphones being on his head. As he walked up and down the street people looked at him strangely. People always do look at him strangely like they never seen a man dressed like that before. See most folks are used to the normal surroundings of a city but not Kaleb. For him it was a different story.
Oddities were a normality for him . After all the way he dressed was odd enough for most folks. The reflection from his headphones said everything. He loved music he loved the sights and sounds of the city so much so that sometimes he couldn't breathe. As he walked into an open street the people could see him in full view. Kaleb had a full head of red hair. On top of his head were large headphones black as night with crimson Xs on the sides, his favorite ones. Below were some goggles on his forehead a keepsake from better times. Kaleb wore black sunglasses to which he saw most of the world in. They were just thick enough so you wouldn't see his eyes. Not that he saw any better out of them maybe Kaleb liked the idea of both being hidden from people and himself. Of course it didn't help that he wore a leather jacket over a white shirt with some gibberish on it he picked up at a store. He wore dark blue jeans and a pair of black boots. Yes sir he was a rarity all right. He picked up a fallen branch and with flick of the wrist he smashed against the graffiti ed wall. The sword training had definitely paid off. After all he only practiced because he was bored. As the suns rays were hitting the glass windows he arrived in a part of the city he hadn't been to before. He looked around and found an old sign that said Antiques. The sign was old and the paint had already started to peel.
He walked in the place it smelled of mothballs and air fresheners. An old women who looks like she had seen it all asked him "Is the anything your looking for in particular". Kaleb thought for a moment and said "Something old that I could actually use". She smiled and went towards the back as the sounds of rust and wood smashing together were heard. After a little bit she came out with a small mirror and said "This is a very special mirror I've had for years". Kaleb walked forward and flicked the mirror listening for the sound. It was different than he expected. The sound was light but deep like this mirror despite it being small was actually bigger. In all fairness it was pretty cheap so he bought it and asked " Hey you wouldn't happen to know how I could get back to this side of the city". The old lady smiled and pointed out the direction for him as he left the shop.
When he got back home he grabbed something to eat and watched some TV but the mirror couldn't get out of his head. So he walked over to the mirror and picked it up. He put his ear next to it and flicked it with his fingers. The mirror cast a wailing sound as it broke in his hands and nothingness surrounded him. The darkness caved in and all light from his face disappeared.

The suns rays spread across Kalebs face as his eyes opened up and took notice of his surroundings. Perhaps his eyes were aware of the new surroundings before he did but never the less he looked around. He was in a very hot place which was completely white no matter where he looked and it was full of sand. {This is a desert I must have fell asleep on the chair again} he thought to himself as he looked around. He took his sunglasses off and tried to turn on his music player. "Damn it must be out of battery but if this is a dream shouldn't I have full control" he said tapping on the music player. " Oh well might as well wait here till I wake up" he said as he put back his sunglasses and layed back in the sand basking in the sun. He layed there for what seemed like an hour until he finally sat up. {Thought I would have woken up by now, I guess I won't wake up until I do something} he thought to himself as he got up. He than began walking through the sea of white. He continued walking for what seemed like hours. The heat was finally getting to him so he took off his leather jacket and wrapped it around his waist. "Shit I should have woken up by now whats the deal" as he looked behind him and saw the long trail of footprints. He then continued walking for what seemed like forever until he thought he saw what he thought looked like a figure in the distance. He smiled and said "Finally that must be where I have to go" as he started moving pretty fast. Eventually he got close enough to see some detail. It appeared to be a woman she was wearing a brown dress, knee high white boots, heels and she was holding a spear. As he got closer he thought to himself {wow, I must have really outdone myself, she is really pretty, too bad I won't remember most of this}. He finally approached the woman and said jokingly "Hello I don't suppose you know where I am do you?"

The pale blonde woman looked up him and began to drink from her canteen. She then said “You are in Langish Desert. Did the caravan leave you behind as well?” He wiped his forehead as he thought {Langish Desert wow I have no imagination I might as well call it Languish Desert. Still what's with the caravan she was talking about.} She then began to say something around the lines of the sun going down. He looked up and saw she was right the sun was setting. {Finally hopefully I'll wake up soon, although that's kind of a shame considering the situation} he thought as he looked at the pale girl in front of him. As he stared at her he mostly blotted out the whole thing about the mage, predator, and walking thing she was talking about. She then said “Oh I am Lilian.” She added. “The town hopefully isn’t too far from here… but do you have a weapon in that weird clothing you have?” He then shook his head and said " Right...the names Kaleb and as for a weapon does this count". He then reached into his pocket and pulled out what appeared as a shiny metal object. He then flicked it and a blade came out. "Does this fit your repertoire, The let's go, oh and I will have you know my clothes are made from the finest leather money can buy".

Lilian nodded at Kaleb, “I would say a pleasure to meet you… but I don’t do well in heat…” she offered weakly as he pulled out something and flicked a blade out of it backing away in shock at that, “By Agnin how did you do that?” she asked before she shook her head, “Whatever… you can answer me later…” she commented as she shrugged, “Leather is good armor, but here… yeah it is a hindrance keep it with you if you want, if we are attacked by the things here it may save your life.” She proclaimed as she started walking to the east hoping to make it to town before the sun went down. She was curious about this odd man with the odd blade… but more concerned about living than anything else.

Her response to him was not surprising. People always did seem to think of him as odd. What did surprise him though was her response of shock to his knife being flipped out. He thought to himself { OK...that's kinda odd not sure why she would be so fascinated by me flipping my knife out and what's with her rubbing that necklace is it for good luck; A lot that will do in my dream, besides you gotta make your own luck}. As he began to walk with her he noticed she seemed to be very tired and weak. { Is she ok I mean she did say she did not do well in the heat} he thought as moved closer to her. "Hey..uh Lilian do you need some help, at this pace it will take quite a while to get to that town." he said waiting for a response.

Lilian smiled at him, “I am not built for the desert… or dry areas, I come from a place close to the ocean.” She explained as she looked around squinting her eyes to see what she could see, “It also doesn’t help that I wasn’t prepared to be dumped like that. I mean really who just dumps a paying customer in the middle of the desert?” she told him as she stumbled a bit letting go of her spear accidently. She reached for it not wanting to lose her main weapon. She sighed as she sat there to gather her breath. “I am sorry about this Kaleb.” She told him as got up, “Can you see anything?” she asked him. She was a stubborn mermaid… she hardly accepted help unless injured.

She was definitely tired but she stubbornly held herself up. He sighed and took off his glasses "Here take these they are called sunglasses they should help you see better when the sun is in your eyes". After he handed them to her he went a little further ahead. He saw what appeared to be a rock hill of sorts in the distance. He walked back to Lilian and said " There is a hill we can rest and make camp at." He wipes his forehead and looks at the setting sun " The suns going down, here let me give you a lift we can make it there faster and let's face it we both could use a rest."