AN: So this is the missing chapter. Sorry for any who got confused!
There were a few problems with the current situation.
One: I just fell into a swirling mist that had come from nowhere. And
Two: I was still falling.
Shouldn't I have hit the ground by now? For a few seconds I figured I was imagining the current situation. After all, there was no way that this story was real. I bet you're even having a hard time believing me at this point.
The next thing I felt was cold. Very, very cold. And had my eyes not been screwed shut from the terror and the bracing of impact, I'd have actually known what caused it.
I never hit. Instead, I heard a gruff "you can open your eyes, you know," which caused my eyes to slowly peek open. Maybe I was hallucinating. Because I most definitely was flying.
I noticed then that the cold feeling was coming from the set of arms wrapped around me. Of course my first instinct was to punch whatever guy thought he could hold me like that, but when I looked I realized that it was Mr. Enigma, AKA the attractive ghost with an ugly personality.
He, however, was the least of my problems. As I looked around I realized we were, indeed, in air, and I instantly tensed up, clutching his shirt in a reaction. I mean, come on, you'd be terrified if you were in the sky in the middle of nowhere with no sign of ground.
"Ow!" he snapped, annoyed at my grip. Guess I caught some skin with my nails. Good. He did deserve it. Of course, he saved me. I think. I still wasn't sure at that point if he was about to drop me and let me fall into oblivion.
Eventually there was a small island floating in the middle of nowhere. Yes, I mean floating, as in suspended mid-air with no sign of support. He landed and put me down rather roughly, which earned him a scowl.
Not only did there seem to be a lack of gravity about this place, it was all green. Don't get me wrong, green is a great color; but when you're surrounded by green mist with no sun, no clouds, and no ground, it's a bit...disturbing.
"Where are we?" I managed to choke out, still overwhelmed by the sensation of flying. He rolled his eyes, obviously annoyed with me.
"We are in the Ghost Zone because you were clumsy enough to fall through the portal." Geez, this guy was a jerk. I folded my arms across my chest, glaring at him.
"It's not my fault that your little friend showed up and tried to kill me!" I returned, my temper rising with each word. "And what the hell is a 'ghost zone' anyway?" I added as a side note, before looking around to observe the area once more.
I saw him roll his eyes, huffing in aggravation. "Are you familiar with the Catholic perception of purgatory?" he then asked, suppressing his anger a little bit.
I stared at him, before shaking my head, which earned another scowl. "What? I'm Jewish," I added in defense, before he continued.
"The Catholics believed that there was a place situated between Heaven and Hell where all spirits would go to be judged after they died. Unfortunately, the judge located in this place, purgatory, ran into a problem. Every so often a restless spirit would show up. This was usually from a person who was murdered or died abruptly. Something about the process was messed up, which caused in a spirit to be disoriented and often not whole. While these spirits certainly weren't deemed evil enough to be sent to the levels of Hell, they were not wholesome and peaceful enough to be sent to Heaven.
"Purgatory then became a place for these spirits to be contained. The judge created something that is similar to a prison to keep the spirits from escaping. Of course that didn't last for too long. Some of the spirits became more powerful than the judge who tried to contain them, which resulted in revolt. There are still many ghosts trapped in Walker's prison, but the strong ones have escaped and made this their home.
"Some claimed pieces of land, kind of like this one but larger, for themselves. And most of them created doors to other dimensions, most of which leading to Earth. Some want to watch their families, and some just want to torment humans." He gave a small shrug as he finished, and I nodded slowly, taking everything in.
Something, however, didn't quite make sense. "But how did we end up here? All of the sudden a portal just appeared out of nowhere."
"Some really powerful ghosts can create portals without having a door. They can literally rip a hole between dimensions, but like you saw, they don't last for more than a few seconds." Ok, that made a little more sense, but at the same time it was a bit scary to think that we were dealing with a really powerful ghost.
"So are we just going to go through one of those doors?" I asked, pointing up to the few that were floating above.
He shook his head in response. "Have you not been listening? Those are doors created by other ghosts. They could lead to a different dimension, or anywhere in the world."
I gave him another glare. Really, the hit on my intelligence wasn't needed. "So, oh great and powerful and wise ghost, what are we going to do?" I asked, sarcasm shooting right back. No one insults Sam Manson and gets away with it.
The ghost glared at me, and I could tell he was seriously regretting the fact that I'm with him. "I am going to get the infi-map from the Far Frozen. It shows every single portal in the ghost realm and where it leads to."
"So you're just going to leave me here?" I snorted, not believing that he was just going to ditch me like that, in a place I had no idea how to cope in.
"That's the plan," he returned gruffly, before starting to take off. He didn't have very long though, because something fired some sort of beam at him that knocked him back down beside me.
"Skulker," I could hear the ghost mutter with dread. "What's a skulker?" I asked, watching the huge armored apparition shoot again.
"1007, I have strict orders to return you to your master. Comply or I'll have your pelt for a rug in my home!" Ew. Ok, ghost or not, that's not normal. "I also have orders to destroy the human child. She has seen too much."
"Hey! I'm not a child," I shot back angrily, before the ghost gave me a glare.
The ghost, apparently 1007, shot back at the large figure, and a fight ensued. A few times I had to dodge shots that were sent in my direction, and I nearly slipped off the small piece of land a few times.
There was a huge blast suddenly, and I shielded my eyes from the light, before I felt myself being lifted off the ground. I nearly screamed before I saw that it wasn't the armored ghost, but the other ghost-1007. As we hurriedly flew away, I could have sworn I saw a tiny little creature being separated from the armor. It was probably just my imagination.
"New plan?" I asked weakly, feeling a bit nauseous. That cold sensation didn't help either.
He gave a curt nod. "Obviously you've got a bounty on your head too. We're still going to the Far Frozen, then we're getting out of here."
I really didn't like the sound of having a bounty on my head. Not in a world that I wasn't familiar with. Everything was spinning as I tried desperately to comprehend.
By the time I opened my eyes I realized it wasn't just the ghost that was making me cold, but the fact that we were over some sort of ice land. We landed, and he let go of me, stepping forward to this huge creature that kind of looked like a yeti with horns and fangs.
Not going to lie, the things scared me. And most of them were watching me, probably wondering why he brought a human to their realm. I took a small step forward, staying behind the ghost.
In spite of everything that was going on, he seemed to soften up as the huge creature handed him a scroll. He quickly thanked the other, grabbed me, and we were off again.
Well, I was kind of getting used to flying. Not to say I enjoyed it by any means, but it wasn't quite as much of a shock.
A quiet settled between us, but it was kind of awkward. After a while I tried to fill it, at least somewhat. "You know, I just realized I don't even know your name," I started, glancing up at him. He looked down at me slightly. "I...don't think I have one," he then admitted rather sheepishly, something so different from how he had been behaving.
"Well, what do you want to go by? I'm Sam," I then added, not sure if I had ever introduced myself.
He thought for a few seconds, before nodding as a thought came to him. "Phantom."