Chapter 13: Lifeless
I don't even think I'm on earth anymore- I might be miles away from home. It looks like a scene from an apocalypse film here. Curious how I can breathe though… if I ended up in a place with no oxygen then game over man! Yuuki Rito glanced once again around into the scenery; it seemed like there was no sign of life here. Even the once-alive moss on the ruins of the buildings lay shrivelled to the core. To Rito, it reminded him of the ancient civilisations back on Earth, where once they fell, only the ruined monuments lay; but in this case, it was the whole place or even the planet. The orange sand was picked up by the wind, almost like feathers as visibility started to become less clear as the dust devils formed. To escape the impending whirls of sand, Rito ran inside to the first building, which actually had a roof on it: this would at least provide him with some protection. There literally seems to be nothing here… except, what's this? In the darkness, Rito could feel and now see skeletons littered around the place- many of them still had clothes on, albeit a bit torn. It was like they had been condemned to life in a desolate place, and that this was their fate…
These skeletons aren't great company, and the dust seems to have gone away, so now might be a good opportunity to find a way out, Rito thought as he stood up, wiping off the dust on his clothes. He wasn't sure whether the shuffling sound he heard was the wind or something else- he wasn't to keen on finding out either, so hastily made his way outside. Outside, he unsheathed his katana; it might make me a target, but if there is anyone alive here, then this is a good way to find out, his katana started to glow with a tinge of blue and yellow, before shooting off into the sky in a narrow beam. Around and around he looked, but there seemed to be no immediate response… if anybody did see then Rito would find out later.
All the buildings looked similar to what you'd expect back on Earth, it was almost like there was another race of people on this place as well; food was going to be a problem though, as there seemed to be no source of nutrition. With his hands, he started to dig on the ground, intent on finding some groundwater or something; damn, if the air wasn't so dry here, I could just make the water myself, Tsukune thought with annoyance. Only a few moments later, a bit of water started to seep out of the hole that Rito had made- this would be his nourishment for now. Hoho, what's this? It seems like we might have some company, he could sense the air shift slightly; whoever it was, was being very cautious. Putting his hand slowly down on the sand, he sensed where this person was: merely about ten metres away. Acting quick, he disappeared for just a blink and was behind the mysterious visitor in an instant; the figure was rather small, less than five feet tall and some sort of long brown cloak seemed to cover the person.
"Hi, might I ask who you are, mysterious stranger?" Rito asked politely from behind the figure. Judging from the figure's slight twitch, they hadn't expected him to be this quick. Even after what seemed like minutes of silence, there was no reaction.
"Oh sorry, I'll speak a more universal language: English. Hello there, mysterious stranger, might I ask what thou intend to do right now?" Rito asked, this time in English.
Suddenly, the figure jumped up high… very high, about five metres and Rito was still watching when the figure proceeded to run. That's just even more suspicious… now I have to find out who you are, Rito smirked as he bent his knees and sprung up into the air.
"You could've at least replied you know, I just want to know where I am and stuff!" Rito called out from the air as he rapidly descended on the escaping stranger. Landing on the stranger, Rito was struggling to keep the person still.
"Wow, wow, clam down- listen… I'm not here- I'm not here to hurt you," the orange-haired boy just about kept his balance; finally the figure stopped moving. Rito got up, and the figure turned around, and then removed the cloak.
"Wow! You look surprisingly human- wait, you must be a human!" Rito commented with surprise; the figure was a small, short girl, probably in her early teens with large blue eyes and medium-length light blue hair. She wore a dark green dress, which had shades of white and brown; it also had a hood.
"What's a girl like you doing in a disturbingly hostile place like this?" Rito asked with a friendly smile, expecting some sort of sinister answer.
"I can take care of myself you know, I've been here for a while now," the girl replied rather quietly, her dress moving slightly in the breeze.
"Okay, sorry for patronising you. Anyways, what is this place? Are we even in the Universe?" Rito asked pointing up at the weirdly-coloured sky once again.
"Why? What Universe are you talking of?" the girl replied with a question.
"The Universe with the Milky Way, and uhh… football, that's the one- the one with football as well," Rito replied with a smile.
"Oh yeah, I'm from there as well- did Onii-san fall into a funny portal as well?" the girl said rather cutely.
"Oh, so you're Japanese as well, cool, cool. I wouldn't say 'fall', if it was falling then it was on purpose," Rito stated with his hands behind his neck.
"So you came here on your own- that's brave of you Onii-san, this place is not very nice. There aren't a lot of friendly people in this place…" the girl pointed out rather sinisterly.
"(I'm going to regret this but…) What do you mean by that?" Rito asked with curiosity as well as fear.
"Onii-san, there's monsters here- I don't know what they look like, but I've been watching people here. We weren't the only humans who got transferred here. One moment I'd see people fine, and then within a few minutes, they'd be dead. Red stuff everywhere, the people don't look like they'll be living any longer," the girl stated with a dark and sad look in her eyes.
I was hoping she wouldn't say something like that, but oh well… would it be fair to assume that we might not be even in the same Universe anymore. If that's the case, then maybe this is the doing of those inter-dimensional beings from before… that would make sense, Rito's face was full of worry.
"Okay, I see, but I'll make sure to protect you… I promise we will get out of here. By the way, I haven't asked for your name yet, what is it?" Rito said as he looked at the small girl.
"It's Misaka, Onii-san," the girl politely replied.
So, here is another chapter guys, and this time, we have another new character- think of her a bit like Yoshino from Date A Live, cause tha's who I based it on. As always, updates will be erratic. To tsukiami72500, I plan on working on the harem element of the story in later chapters because this story isn't as much focused on harem as the canon manga, and YAY (guest): I wouldn't have expected people to say that, but thank you very much! Thanks for all the support guys, and to all readers, please read the first story (The Change) because things will make more sense if you read that one. Thanks!