Hello again, to the next chapter of Scroll to the End.

A quick thank you to SailorSedna052 and wolfgirl232323 for following/favoriting this story! It's very much appreciated.

To readers old and new, I bid you a good read!


-Facing Reality-

The voices are fuzzy, like Tia's thoughts, as she begins to wake up again. She can hear that strange man talking quietly with an old woman. At the euphoric feeling of being without pain, she figures she might be in a hospital. Safety. Tia doesn't make to get up, enjoying the comfort of the bed she lies on.

"She's awake. Try not to make her panic," the old woman commands, and the guy from before cheerfully confirms that he will do his best. Tia opens her eyes to the same strange-faced man, whose light blue hair is as curiously styled as his face. She couldn't call it bad…

"I'm glad you're awake, no da! How're you feeling?"

Tia begins the struggle to sit up before answering, finding that whatever was wrong with her arm and shoulder has been remedied. She also finds that her pajamas are missing. Hurriedly tucking the sheet around herself, she flushes. "Can't I at least get a hospital gown?"

Waiting until she is comfortably decent, her mysterious savior helps her up with a bracing hand on her back, respectfully withdrawing once she's upright. Staring around at the airy room, she wonders where the old woman went, but remembers that the man asked her a question.

"I guess I'm okay… I don't feel pain anyway. Mentally I think I'm still a little confused. Where am I?" Tia asks, moving her right arm around in slight amazement because it had been unmistakably dislocated.

"You're at Taikyoku-zan, the mountain where the Creator of this universe lives no da. I sensed you when you arrived a few li away from the base, but I never expected that you'd be attacked so fast no da. Bad timing. My name is Chichiri no da," he explains, his voice chipper and calming. Tia can't help but give a small sigh of relief. "I'm not in immediate danger anymore, so that's good, but what the hell is he talking about?"

"I have no idea what this mountain is. What country are we in? And what do you mean by 'arrived?' I clicked a link on my computer and there was a bright red light and I woke up wherever you said I was," Tia prods, furrowing her brows in concern and dipping her gaze down from Chichiri to her hands as they grip the sheet she's engulfed in.

"Well, this mountain isn't in any of the four empires of this world, but you appeared on the Konan side. We'll be heading to the capitol of Konan once you're up to it no da. As for how you arrived, I think that's a story best told to you later no da. Could I maybe get your name from you?"

"Oh, I'm Trianna Redfield, call me Tia. Um… Thanks for saving me back there, and then bringing me here where I'm guessing magic is real and I got healed?"

Chichiri nods.

"Not everyone possesses the abilities to use powers, but Taiitsukun certainly does, as do I no da. I'd like to leave for the capitol Eiyou as soon as possible, if you don't mind. Taiitsukun would get cross if we meandered for too long no da," he says, standing and holding a hand out to help Tia up after she takes his cue and scoots to the edge of the bed, sliding her legs over. She takes his hand with a muttered thanks and he pulls her up gently to allow her to balance herself. Once Tia lets go, he leaves, pointing out her neatly folded clothes on a small table to the side.

Tia dresses quickly, still feeling embarrassed about being naked in front of a stranger. A stranger who is a man. "God I hope he didn't do anything to me." Tia stops abruptly to think on her experience thus far. She banishes the idea of Chichiri doing anything unseemly. "Why bring me here to get me patched up?"

"So, how long will it take to get to Eiyou? Can I get home from there? My parents will be freaked when they don't find me at my desk, especially after I screamed so loud," Tia admits upon joining Chichiri outside the room, feeling a little embarrassed because despite his weird face, she can tell he's scrutinizing her. It only makes sense as they've just met.

"I'm sure being taken from your home without expecting it would be terrifying for anyone, but there is an important reason you're here no da. We'll transport through my cloak, just watch no da!"

He slips off the indigo wrap that had been drawn over one of his shoulders and flings it up to flatten it out, Tia recognizing the technique as something she'd use to make her bed. Then he reaches over to a staff leaning against the nearest wall. It has a metal looping design at the top with metal rings through it, which Tia decides is the jingling noise from before. He taps the butt of the staff in the middle of the flattened cloak. Her eyes grow wide and her mouth drops open when ripples emerge from where the staff landed.

"Whoa, what? This isn't physically possible!" Tia exclaims, leaning forward carefully so she can try and get a better look at what's happening.

"It's magic no da," Chichiri replies, the hint of a laugh within his words. It makes Tia wonder what else he's capable of. With how he fared against the thugs from before, she concludes that he's no pushover. Much better than what she could show for that encounter, anyway.

"Do I need to jump or tap my heels or anything?"

"Not at all, just step on. Since you're not used to it you can hang on to me if you'd like no da." Chichiri offers his arm, and Tia gingerly steps forward onto the cloth to take it. They begin to sink and she squeaks at the feeling, wrapping her right arm around his and latching her other hand on, hugging him close. Down they go, slipping farther, farther, faaaaaartheeeeer….

With a popping noise, Tia goes from the feeling of sinking slowly and peacefully to falling rapidly. Her gut lurches into her throat, blocking her scream. She grips Chichiri's arm to the point that she hears him grunt. Squeezing her eyes shut to await certain death, Tia fails to brace for landing on her feet, her legs crumpling under her when solid ground comes into contact.

"Oh shit!" she curses, dragging Chichiri down with her because of her vice hold on his arm. Fortunately for the both of them, he has better balance and more experience, and manages to stay on his feet despite having to bend down. Tia lands a bit hard on her bottom but not enough to hurt for long. "Not too bad for my first portal. I overreacted."

"… Sorry," she mumbles, releasing her new friend and getting up to gaze about in wonder. She doesn't hear his response. The utter magnificence before her renders all senses to focus solely on what surrounds them.

They have landed outside a large stone wall, and Tia can hear the sound of commerce from beyond it despite being yards away. Outside of the wall there are large East Asian-styled buildings, some smaller, but most of the land's rolling hills are covered in fields of various crops, and even small copses of trees that Tia would bet are orchards. To their right is a wide, beaten dirt road with a few foot travelers who spared them some odd glances, with trees every few yards alongside it to provide shade.

It is the inside of the wall that is truly breathtaking. From their perch atop a hill, she sees a stately palace that glimmers with the power of a ruby-encrusted crown, dominating the view compared to the rest of the landscape, its arms reaching out the breadth of the city from border wall to wall. Before it, the buildings range from small tight clusters to larger, more patterned complexes, all with the distinctive tiers of tiling that denotes its origin. From its rich estates to the lowliest humble shack, this city captures a vision of Chinese culture that hasn't been seen in Tia's world for hundreds of years. In this gorgeous scene, she is further struck into resignation that everything is real, and no mere dream or hallucination.

"Have you been listening to anything I've said the past few minutes no da, or have you been too busy staring?"

Tia turns her head slowly to look up at Chichiri, mouth agape slightly in stupefied awe.

"What?" she whispers, causing him to sigh in slight exasperation. He doesn't lose his smile however; which Tia is grateful for. He's not mad at her yet! She only knows his weird face can frown at all because he did so in concentration earlier.

"Well, to reiterate in short no da, we need to gain an audience with the emperor to tell him that you're here! It will take some time and convincing however, so we'll be staying in the city for a few days until I can figure out how to get you an audience no da," he explains, Tia scrunching her nose in confusion.

"Emperor? Why do I have to meet the emperor, you make it sound like I'm important," she fires off in alarm, having never met with anyone with that amount of power before.

"What am I supposed to say? What's considered offensive? This smells of trouble. What if I smell of trouble? What if I smell?!"

Chichiri senses her tumultuous thoughts and puts a bracing hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry no da, I promise you aren't in any danger from the emperor. He's just the one best suited to tell you why you were brought here no da," he responds, hand sliding away. His voice is still so pleasant that she can't tell if he's lying or not, and trying to read his expression is impossible. She can tell that there's a big whole something that he's not telling her about himself. No one has a face like that. But Tia can't bring herself to pry, seeing as he's asked nothing of her but her name. She also knows it would be incredibly rude.

Tia glares at the ground in frustration, trying to not let him see.

"Ugh, I have so many more questions and I know absolutely nothing about this person I'm trusting! Curiosity is going to kill me."

On their way through the gates into town, surprisingly, he breaks the slightly uncomfortable silence after giving her a casual once over.

"I never got to ask before, but what are you wearing? Your clothes are very… strange no da," he comments, breaking Tia from staring past him at a spice vendor. They're in the food market portion of the city, where everything smells tantalizing and foreign to Tia's nose. He's not the only one wondering: people have been staring –some openly disgusted by the amount of skin she's showing– throughout their walk.

"Uh, they're jammies." At his confused head tilt she stutters and backtracks. "Sleepwear. For sleeping."

Chichiri nods in understanding at her amendment and the ensuing silence bears down even through the chatter of customers and shopkeepers. So, in perfect fashion, Tia decides to continue elucidating. Of course she does.

"To be fair, I would be getting odd looks back home too. Not supposed to be out in this type of thing, although mine are pretty bland as far as that goes, it's just these shorts weren't made for… not sleeping."

It's not like talking to a wall. No. To Tia, it's like texting someone right next to you and being left on read. She knows he's listening. "He better understand that I know that he's listening and actively not choosing to respond." She's never met anyone who could completely ignore someone without making it seem completely rude. God-tier.

"Who is he? What is he?! This guy is freaking me out more than being in some different world based on ancient China. Well… Maybe not, but still!"

"You must be quite the conversationalist back home no da," he laughs, though only slightly. Tia's internal read on the man is skewed by his teasing. She likes it better than just sitting in silence, so she purses her lips tightly and nods.

"Yeah I deserve that. Anyway what's the plan? People are probably gossiping about my weird outfit all over the city by now and I wouldn't think that getting the emperor's attention would be a quick process. Bureaucracy works in mysterious ways, no da," she asks, inwardly celebrating over making his eyebrow twitch up at the use of his verbal tic.

"I was thinking about your clothing and the attention we're getting too no da. Unfortunately I don't carry too much money, comes with being a priest no da."

"Well, I mean we could just march in and say it's important." Chichiri shoots Tia a look that, even with his strange face, is obviously meant to tell her that it was a stupid suggestion. She droops.

"Just a thought. I'm disoriented and tired and hungry and it's too warm for me. Don't mean to sound ungrateful for everything you've already done, but we're in a pickle and I don't see a great way out of it," she groans, stretching her bare arms before her and wincing. They'll burn before too long.

"If we stop by the shrine to Suzaku here in the city, I should be able to get us a room and a few meals no da. They won't be anything magnificent, nothing comfortable and bland food, but it'll solve our immediate problem no da," he poses, glancing down to Tia to see if she approves. He's met with a shrug. Suzaku sounds familiar to her, as if she heard it recently, but her brain is scrambled too much to remember what exactly it is.

"Sounds good to me. Do they always let in random people or are you a big-shot around here?" she jokes, which only serves to make the air between them awkward again. Tia's learned her lesson now and resigns to keep peering around at her surroundings and all the busy people. She makes sure not to stare at any one particular individual: her dad taught her that some people get uppity when stared at the wrong way. Tia suddenly feels a hand grab onto her upper arm and drag her left, making her squeal in alert.

"You were spacing out again no da, I had to pull you this way before I lost you to the crowd. The shrine is this way no da."

Tia takes a few deep breaths to calm her spiked heartbeat and releases them with a grimace. "You scared the living hell out of me, dude."

"I can understand still being disoriented no da. Just try not to wander off here; there are some shifty guys in this area and they'll gladly sell you off to a brothel no da," Chichiri replies, the nonchalance in his voice contradicting his words. Tia takes this cue to scuttle closer to him, jumpstarting her parched brain into watching for undesirables. She regrets not asking for something small to eat and a drink of water before agreeing to leave wherever they were before; it's hard to focus with a dry mouth!

The area of the city they enter becomes more ramshackle as they go, an area that exists in the shadow of any glorious location. Their pace is a touch below rapid. They've already seen a few people about, all men. Tia jumps when Chichiri halts beside her, holding his arm out to make sure she follows suit.

"What's wrong?" she mutters, already knowing the answer. Those men they saw weren't just sitting and watching them go.

"Stay close to me, and we'll get through this," he says, voice low and quiet, all previous cheerfulness gone. Tia fights through a shiver and nods her head, glancing around to see that they're surrounded.

She cringes, remembering the last time she was surrounded by a bunch of men.

"At least I'm not alone."


Never out of trouble for too long, and they haven't really gotten that far yet! Things will pick up in the next chapter, which will be posted in roughly two weeks, barring any personal casualty.

Thanks again to those who have checked this out so far. If I've made any glaring mistakes that I failed to catch in editing, or if there are any words you desire to say, please review and I will respond accordingly!

Til next time,

-A