Strange Journey

By: Phoenix Hoshika

Part III

"My back hurts." Taiko thought as she awoke at the edge of an open field. To her left was a thick forest of flowered trees and on her right a field filled with wild flowers. "How did I get all the way out here? And where am I?" Taiko asked out loud. Looking down at her clothes she gasped realizing she was no longer wearing the worn out faded pajamas she was wearing when she went to bed, instead she was wearing a sleeveless, short, white dress and tight black leggings and slippers. Then it hit her.

"The man that was in my room last night, he must have done this! That pervert is going to regret not killing me while he had the chance." Taiko thought as she aimlessly stomped off into the forest. "And what is this on my back!" She yelled reaching behind and pulling on something that felt feathery. Taiko's face distorted in pain when she realized whatever she had just yanked was connected to her back. Falling to the ground Taiko let out a small whimper. "What's on my back?" She thought as she rubbed the feathery object protruding from it. "It's connected to me… it is me!" Taiko thought as she could feel her hand on one of the six pixie-like wings that were now a part of her anatomy.

"Well, well, what a surprise." A familiar voice said. Taiko's eyes grew three times their size.

"I'm going to kill you!" Taiko said leaping at the man and knocking him down.

"Do you have any idea how much that hurt?" He asked after groaning pain.

"Shut up! What did you do to me?" Taiko demanded as she grabbed him by the collar lifting his head slightly. He looked up at her his expression grave for only a second.

"I warned you, didn't I?"

"Warned me? You warned me?" Taiko screamed shaking him.

"This is what you wanted and now that you have it you're angry? How does that saying go? Don't shoot the messenger?"

Taiko slammed the palms of her hands down on his chest putting all of her weight into the blow. "If you didn't change my clothes, drop me off in the middle of nowhere and did God only knows what else to me beside attach these things to my back then who did?"

"As much as I probably would have enjoyed doing all those things it wasn't me and as for the "things" on your back they're wings." The man stated as he started to laugh hysterically.

"What's the mater with you? What's so funny, you sick bastard!" Taiko demanded as she punched at his face only to have her fist connect with the unyielding ground when the man turned his head slightly. Normally that would have hurt but Taiko was so angry she couldn't feel a thing.

"You, you're hilarious. You tackle me to the ground and accuse me of doing "only God knows what" to you and yet here I am the one in the compromising position. You're the kind to push your actions off on others when you're the one that's really the pervert." The man said barely holding in the laughter toward the end of his state. Taiko froze feeling as if she really would kill him if she moved. "But that's okay." He said suddenly stopping in his laughter. "I don't mind." He said putting his hands on her thighs.

Taiko jumped to her feet slapping him, hard, with her injured hand. "I swear I'll break both of your legs!"

"What happened to killing me?" The man taunted as he stood and dusted himself off.

"I'd rather see you rot in prison, that is after I beat the hell out of you and haul you there myself!" Taiko said taking another swing at him. This time instead of moving he grabbed her wrist and pulled her in and caught hold of her other arm just as she was preparing to elbow him. Taiko motioned to stomp on his feet but the man used his height to his advantage and lifted her off the ground. It only took a matter of seconds for the man to gain the upper hand.

Taiko growled as she furiously struggled to no avail. "You're a lively one aren't you?" The man chuckled while keeping a tight grip on her. "Stop struggling and I'll put you down."

"Fine!" Taiko grudgingly agreed and the man put her back on her feet. Taiko spun around to face him her fists clenched at her sides.

"Don't tell me you're going to try and hit me again, are you? Are you ready to repeat what just happened so soon?"

"Ugh!" Taiko groaned in frustration, her wings flaring out aggressively.

"Listen, I didn't do anything to you, believe it or not. You made a wish for those "things" on your back and it came true. You also made a wish to be here. Reality as you once knew has ended. You better adjust to how things are now real soon or you could end up loosing your mind."

Taiko didn't say a word; she only nodded in response and proceeded to walk past him.

"Where are you going?" The man asked only to have Taiko spin around and punch him so hard in the chest he ended up on his behind and sliding a couple of feet. "Damn it, that hurt." The man uttered putting his hand to his chest. When he looked up Taiko was gone. He then smiled. "This is going to be fun." He uttered still feeling the throbbing pain in his abdomen.

Taiko ran through the forest, barely making a sound as her feet would periodically lift off the ground whenever her wings caught a strong breeze. She finally stopped running when her foot got caught under a raised tree root. "Ow!" Taiko exclaimed when she used her hands to brace her fall. "My wrist is throbbing and now on top of that my ankle is sprung as well." Taiko thought looking down at her leg as she cradled her arm. Hearing a rustling she jerked her head up to see what had caused the noise and when she did she saw what seemed to be a man. The creature had silvery white hair and horns on the left and right sides of his head that curved around in halo fashion, close to his skull. He seemed to be wearing nothing more than a pair of tattered pants and his neck, fore arms, hands, calves, and feet wear covered in thick red scales. His hands and feet had large claws that looked capable of tearing a large animal in half with one swipe. Horn like ridges protruded from his back, but they were out of Taiko's eyeshot since he was facing her. A small gasp escaped her lips when his red eyes met her brown ones (at least they were brown the night before). The creature's eyes were piercing as if they could destroy whomever they looked upon with a glance.

"Hey! Don't run off like that!" The man said catching up to her. Taiko turned around to see him gliding through the trees on wings similar to her own. "It's dangerous out here." He said landing beside her. Taiko ignored him as she looked around the area to find what she perceived to be a person gone. "I'm taking you home." The man said picking her up and cradling her in his arms.

"I'd rather stay out here and rough it in the woods than go back to that hole of an apartment I live in so put me down." Taiko demanded.

"Well no need to worry, I'm taking you to my home."

"No you're not!" Taiko said leaping out of his arms and painfully landing on her feet.

"And here I was worried about all the strange wild creatures you would encounter out here if I just let you wonder off on you own; you seem to be more dangerous to yourself than they would ever be to you. How did you manage to twist you ankle in such a short time?"

Taiko frowned. "Shut up!" She said and attempted to walk away only to find herself limping instead.

The man sighed as he shook his head just before gliding over to Taiko and picking her up once again. "Sleep," he said dropping what looked like glittery sand onto her face. Taiko immediately fell unconscious. "I'm sorry but we have a ways to go and I'm not in the mood to fight with you all the way there. Maybe once you've calmed down you'll listen to me." The man said as he took to the sky.

A few hours later Taiko awoke in a rather large bed. At first she was just going to roll over and go back to sleep, but remembered that the bed in what used to be her apartment was never this huge or comfortable. Taiko shot up when she saw that someone was sitting beside her. "You..," She said seeing the man, as far as she was concerned, responsible for turning her world upside down.

"Please, listen." The man said his expression reflecting the serious tone of his voice. "It rarely happens but every once in a while a wish is granted to one person and one person only."

Taiko was fuming, but seeing how she had no choice but to humor the man she did. "How long is every once and in a while?"

"One person is granted their heart's desire at the end of each millennium."

"What?" Taiko exclaimed and as she did her wings spread out.

"You have no idea how many people exist in this universe or how many wish on stars or chant rhymes hoping that the desires of their heart will be fulfilled." The man said as he stood and started to pace. "You were fortunate enough to have this gift bestowed upon you out of all the countless billions that exist… Are you regretting it?" He asked looking heavily upon her.

Taiko turned her face from him as she thought. "I made a wish for this to happen? Is he serious? It would make no sense to believe him, but how else can these be explained?" Taiko asked herself as she looked over her shoulder at the three sets of wings on her back that sudden started flapping and as they did they made a humming sound that would normally be heard when a bumble bee or another insect flew by. Taiko gasped as she felt her body lifting off of the bed. She grabbed the sheets in an effort to anchor herself, but only pulled them up with her. Realizing that Taiko had no control of her new appendages the man rushed over and pulled her back down onto the bed.

"You're going to have to learn to control those things unless you want to end up flying yourself over an ocean." The man said as he held onto her legs.

"How," Taiko asked as her wings beating even faster pulling her body and the man's up into the air. In a last effort to keep Taiko grounded the man yanked her legs practically slamming her down onto the bed. Taiko's eyes swirled when she hit the mattress. "Was that necessary?" She asked sitting up.

"Sorry about that. At the rate you were going you would have carried us both off and I'm not to keen on the idea of bashing my head against the ceiling." He said pointing up at the jagged rocks that hung above them. Taiko gasped. "You'll just have to practice if you want to get better control over them." The man said fluttering about. "But, here wouldn't be such a good place, for obvious reasons." He said smiling.

"You said before that reality as I knew it had ended, does that mean I can never return to where I came from?"

"I'm afraid not, but aren't your relieved? That's what you wished for after all, isn't it?"

Taiko closed her eyes suddenly remembering a night some months ago when she wished she had wings and was far away from where she was living. The truth of the matter is she had wished she wasn't even on Earth anymore. "So, this is really happening, I'm not dreaming or hallucinating?"

"Would you like me to pinch you?" The man asked mischievously as he landed in front of her.

"Ew, no, get away from me." Taiko said pushing him back. "Look, I'm sorry about before. Thanks for watching out for me back in the woods even though I was a jerk." Taiko said as she started to walk past him to the door only to be pulled back.

"You're apology was unneeded." The man said his expression serious once again.

"I'm glad one of us is easy going." Taiko replied as she tried to leave again, but the man would not let her go. "What are you doing?" Taiko asked starting to panic.

"Don't worry I promise not to hurt you nor will I do anything indecent to you, but I can not let you leave."

"Why?" Taiko demanded trying to yank her arm away.

"Please understand, you're the first person I've had contact with in a very long time, I won't let you leave me here alone."

Taiko looked into his eyes a deep dark shade of blue that was so deep it almost hid the pain he felt caused by being alone for so long. "How long have you been here?"

"Too long," the man answered as he turned her loose. "Now stay off that leg for a while. I'll come back with dinner later, so for now get comfortable; you'll be here for a while."

"How long is a while?" Taiko asked as the man turned to leave.

"A few hundred years at the least, either way it's only a drop in the bucket compared to how long I've been here."

"I already don't like you, what good will it do you to keep me here if I come to truly hate you?" Taiko asked her voice becoming shrill.

The man paused keeping his back turned and replied, "It doesn't matter if you hate me or if you love me. As long as there is another person around I don't care, even if you spent all of your time trying to kill me, it doesn't matter, at least you're here." The man said as he stepped out of the door.

"At least tell me who you are, I don't even know you're name."

"My name? I don't remember my name. Call me whatever you want." He said then closed the door locking Taiko inside.

"He can't be serious." Taiko thought dropping to her knees. "Three hundred years? People don't even live that long."

"Reality as you once knew has ended. You better adjust to how things are now real soon or you could end up loosing your mind."

"This is really happening…" Taiko said as she remembered what the man had told to her just moments before. "He said he wouldn't hurt me, but to keep me locked in here like this, even if he doesn't do anything to me besides keep me in this stone prison, this is not the life I want to live. I wished for wings so I could fly away from things that held me down and now that I have them I can't even use them. I'm certainly not on planet Earth anymore, but is this prison better than the one I was in before?"

to be continued