Chapter 2

A New Encounter

Alex opened his eyes only to see darkness once again. "Hello?! Is anyone there?!" Alex shouted, fear lingering in his voice, he looked down at his hands, but they were perfectly visible, he then looked down at where his legs were supposed to be, but to his shock he could only see a mist.

"WHAT AN EARTH?!" He said staring down to see he was floating... and almost out of nowhere, a tiny blue star floated around aimlessly. Alex, who was trembling with fear but still trying to look brave, stood still, puffing up his chest. It slowly floated towards him as he reached out to it. And as soon as he touched it, it grew larger and larger, with a circle with runes glowing from beneath, the light then engulfing him shortly after.

Alex was then in darkness; he couldn't feel anything, he couldn't see, anything... He shouted again but no sound came out, it was deafeningly silent. It was almost as if his senses had stopped completely. Was he... dead?

"Hey, are you ok?!" A voice echoed through the darkness, Alex's eyes darted around in fear, still unable to see.

"Who's there!" His heart was pounding and yet he couldn't feel it, it wasn't cold, but it wasn't warm ether...

He closed his eyes... and felt a sense of warmth against his skin. He heard the feminine voice again.

"Please wake up!" Alex then managed to open his eyes, expecting to see the darkness again...

When he opened his eyes, his vision was blurry, but he could make out a figure, it was... a woman? It didn't look anything like Laila. As his vision became clearer, he could see more details; she had short, dark brown hair that hung down to her shoulders, her freckles scattershot around her sea green eyes on her sandy brown skin.

The woman had a white shirt that was only partially visible as it was covered with a golden-Ish yellow poncho with desaturated sea green cut-off shorts. Her mask was blue as well as she wore a vulchurro hat upon her head.

"Owww, my head..." Alex groaned in pain as he held the back of his head, gritting his teeth.

"Here! Let me help!" The woman said and lent out a hand and he smacked it away.

"Who are you and why are you trying to help me?" The Russian said in a confused and angry tone. It was at this moment he noticed his surroundings and a bead of sweat rolled down his brow.

"And where an earth am I?!"

"My name is Mae; I am a magic user. You are in my house." Alex staired at the witch.

"Use this, it will stop the pain." Mae then pulled out a small purple, glowing vial.

"And how do I know this won't kill me?" He said, a hint of annoyance in his voice and Mae sighed.

"Look, I saw you lying on the floor unconscious under a coconut tree, no one was there, the sun was going down, and I think you wouldn't want to be eaten by a sour pinata or taken by a ruffian, do you?" Alex tsk-tsked and nodded, and then he downed the glowing liquid in the vial. The taste was godawful, it tasted like rotten garlic dipped in sour candy and he scrunched up his face as he swallowed the thick concoction, and he gagged... but to his surprise the pain had vanished completely!

"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Another voice yelled furiously, startling Alex and Mae.

"Alex! Are you ok?!" The voice turned out to be Laila, she ran towards him and hugged him. She looked distressed and he looked into her eyes, which where glistening with tears of worry.

"Don't worry Laila, I'm ok." He exclaimed with a smile and Laila hugged him even tighter than before and she stuffed her face into his shoulder.

"I don't want to lose you..." She said, her voice muffled.

"And who are you?" Laila then turned around and stared the witch dead in the eyes.

"My name is Mae, I'm the one who helped your boyfriend." She said with a chuckle.

"He is not my boyfriend!" Laila blushed angrily, crossing her arms.

"But thankyou..." The young gardener muttered and held out a hand and Mae shook it.

"My name is Laila, and the one you helped is Alex..."

"I have one question, Laila, how did you find me?" The mainlander said, confusion lingering in his voice, Laila then pulled her alert system and pointed to the silvery antennae on the top of it.

"Alert systems have a tracking device built in; it can be accessed only by people who you let track you." She smiled, putting the device back into her pocket and she smiled.

"Well... I guess we should get going now." The dark-haired Russian said, still sweating from the heat.

"I forgot to say... We are in the Dessert Desert." Mae nervously exclaimed and rubbed the back of her head.

"Aaaaand my village is surrounded by dunes..."

"So how can we get back?" Laila said, raising a brow and adjusted her bunnycomb mask.

"I have a Camello outside my house, you can use them." The witch smiled and put her hands together, Laila nodded and walked to the exit, Alex not too far behind her.