Chapter 20: Chapter 20
Vida
New York City, Planet Earth
Tessa heard the panic in her voice as Vida called her and at once went to her. Her eyes widened as she saw the fallen figure in front of Vida. He was wearing a tunic of sorts, it was embedded with various plates of steel in some places.
“Vida! Why’d you drag him into the steps of all places!” Tessa hissed at Vida who looked at her with hurt eyes.
“He looked like he needed help!” Vida replied in a hushed whisper, the fallen man had stopped moving but they noticed that he was still breathing.
“He looks like he came from a medieval party!” Tessa whispered back to her friend, “Is he shitfaced? No, he doesn’t smell drunk” Tessa had taken a sniff over the fallen man.
Vida was looking around the area, checking to see if this man had friends looking for him, while Tessa turned him over and gasped.
“Oooh momma!” she said clearly flustered, “Nope, not drunk and also not a junkie. Hey mister!” Tessa started prodding the man with her fingers, “You got to get up, mister. The police arrest vagrants here. On your feet now. Jesus this man is gorgeous” she couldn’t help but make a sidecomment while prodding this helpless man on their steps.
Tessa’s comments reached Vida and she finally took a glance at the man that had just been flipped over, bending slightly over she stared into the face of the man she had just dragged towards the bar’s entrance.
The world spinned in her vision, her eyes widened, her blood ran hot and her heartbeats raced. She felt out of breath and her hand involuntarily moved to her mouth. Without a thought, she moved the strands of hair that covered this fallen man’s face and gasped. She took a step back and hit Tessa.
“Hey, what the hell. You okay, Vida?” Tessa asked her, clearly annoyed at being bumped into. All of a sudden, her phone rang and she answered it, making cold and clipped responses to whoever was on the other side of the phone.
“Sorry girl, gotta go. It’s an emergency, you got this right? You should wake prince charming up. Go now, before the cops see you” she said half joking, at the fallen man’s clothes. Vida could only nod silently, still processing what she’s looking at.
Now it was just Vida and this fallen person that had shocked her into strange silence. Staring at the man she could not help but whisper to herself “Am I dreaming again?”
His hair was dark, dirtied by the fall and other things, it was brown and medium length, ruined by what looked like strong winds. His body was well built, lightly tanned. Probably an explorer or hiker, Vida thought mindlessly.
As she stared at this man. His face was bruised, as if he had been in a fight yet his looks did not deteroriate. He was in a way, goddamned handsome. Vida blushed as she thought of these, his lips were full and a pale pink that made them kissable in a way. His jaw was chiseled by the gods, it was a perfect jawline that any woman would fall for. His eyes hinted at an emerald color, she couldn’t see it properly as it was barely open.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Vida told herself, the other citizens of New York were still ignoring them, as if this was a daily occurrence in the city. “This is the man that keeps invading my dreams.” Her heart started to soar again and she instinctively felt weak at the knees remembering the erotic dreams she had with this person.
There was a sound of four splats as Vida had slapped herself to make sure she wasn’t sleeping or dreaming again. “It’s exactly like in the dream. His outfit…” Vida muttered staring at the man’s tunic, it had an unknown crest emblazoned over the chest area, part of the man’s chest was show and she noticed a strange mark over it.
“Hey…” she said gently, nudging the fallen dream man, “Hey wake up.”
The man stirred with a groan and his eyes fluttered open to the sound of her voice and the sounds of New York City. His eyes were a piercing emerald that made Vida lose her breath. They gleamed beautifully.
“Had a rough day?” Vida commented at the now awake Colter.
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Colter
New York City, Planet Earth
“Hey…” a voice echoed in his head, along with it were strange sounds as if there were sirens. There were also countless footsteps on a stone path that filled his ear, “Hey wake up.” It was a woman’s voice and Colter awoke.
With a gasp of air, he looked at his surroundings, panic filling his eyes and his mouth slacked open with wonder.
In his eyes, the skyscrapers were tall buildings and castles made out of steel and metal. The windows were mirrors that seemed to reflect everything off it.
The prince was filled with wonder at this new world he had found himself in. His first thought at seeing these buildings was to climb them and freefall before flying. “Wow” was his first thought upon seeing these tall towers that touched the sky.
There were no dirt roads, everything was paved with stone and rock, there was little to no grass, it was simply a stone path as far as the eye could see. His amazement started to build even further, as he took the sights in. “Amazing.” He muttered staring at the long stretches of paths, but what fascinated him further was:
“Steel carriages?” Colter said, dumbfounded as cars zoomed to and fro on the streets of New York. “But where are the horses that draws it?”
Steel carriages indeed, they outran even the best of thoroughbred horses in his world. They were made of steel and gave off an awful smell that fouled his nostrils. The air wasn’t as fresh as he thought it would be. Their roaring engines made him flinch, their horns made him jump in surprise and fear. Listening closely, he even heard two drivers of these ‘carriages’ fight over something called a ‘right of way’
“They even have magic torches?” Colter commented at the light posts that littered New York City, to his eyes these were undying flames that weren’t bothered by wind and water. It made him feel warm and safe as these undying flames drove away the darkness of the world “Amazing.”
People bustled in the sidewalk and Colter just stared at them, they were wearing the strangest outfits. All of them also seemed so miserable and crestfallen as they passed through. Not giving a care in the world. He let out a tired breath, but his blood raced with the idea of exploring this new world. His eyes took in as many details as he could, wanting to brand it into his thoughts forever more.
“This world is amazing” he thought to himself, but after taking a deep breath he noticed something foul in the air. His nose wrinkled at the pollution of this human world. There was little to no fresh air that he could breathe. The stenches of the New York sewers finally hit his nose and he almost retched.
“So beautiful yet so filthy…”
Someone cleared their throat behind him, as if asking to be noticed.
The young prince turned to look at this person and his world stopped.
“So… care to explain?” the girl told him, staring at him with wonder and shock.
Colter’s heart beat as fast as it ever could, blinking rapidly he tried to wonder if he was somehow dreaming. He wasn’t. Memories and dreams filled his thoughts, the same thing that happened to Vida as she stared at him earlier.
She was brown haired that fell in waves, like in his dreams, her fair skin and red lips gave off an allure of someone kind yet at the same time sensual. Her lips were fixed in a slight frown as she stared down at him, what confirmed all of it, those amber eyes. It stared holes into Colter’s soul as he tried to get a grip on reality. It was the girl in his dreams, the very girl he had looked for all this time, he absentmindedly reached into his tunic pulling out the ruined sketch of this same girl. She was still staring at him, waiting for Colter to answer her.
“You…” he muttered brainlessly, reaching out and trying to touch her face. He felt her face, warm and soft. His blood ran hot as his breath started to shorten. Vida was also frozen by his sudden touch, but she paid it no mind.
“Am I dreaming again?” Colter managed to utter, still touching Vida’s face. “No, no, I’m not.” With a smile of genuine happiness running across his worn out and tired face, “It’s finally nice to see you.” He said to a dumbfounded Vida.