The two eyes, coloured crimson, glared at the boy from the opposite side of the room. Shadows veiled the other party's face, leaving the youth unable to identify them and figure out who they were. Still, red was a unique colour for eyes, if it were someone he knew, he'd recognize them right away.

  The unknown person glared at the boy with an indecipherable expression, their brows furrowing and then softening multiple times, most likely as they thought over something.

  The young boy, still dazed from this mysterious situation, unconsciously backed up beside the wooden plank, pressing his own back towards the wall. His hand shot towards his pocket, fidgeting with the fabric to calm himself down.

  Maybe it was the uncommon hue of their eyes, or maybe it was the veil of darkness shrouding them, but something about that person made the boy feel uneasy. He rummaged through his pockets some more, but nothing was to be found.

  At the company he worked at, Werners, staying in the establishment until late hours wasn't uncommon. And considering the streets of his city were far from safe, he had once bought a pocket knife, as a last resort in case he needed to defend himself.

  Though, now, he had nothing to protect himself, if that person decided to assault him. Not to mention, if this really was a prison, and if they were an inmate too, they probably had some makeshift weapon hidden somewhere.

  Staring from the darkness, the figure was sitting upright on another wooden plank. Their frame was small, perhaps short or malnourished, their hands folded on top of each other. The crimson hued gaze turned away from Arthur, falling onto the window. Their expression softened, a hand raised towards their chin.

  “Hm, ah. It's not that early, I suppose. It should be… Around six?”

  Speaking up with a calmer tone of voice, the figure stretched their arms outwardly, letting out a few sounds of appreciation for the routine, before stepping off of the wooden plank, and into the dim light cast by the moon.

  “You look like you've seen a ghost.”

  Arthur looked at the other, examining them quickly and thoroughly. They didn't seem dangerous, at least. He seemed like a boy, probably a teenager or pre-teenager judging from his height and frame alone.

  His arms and legs, hidden beneath some rags, were thin and long, lacking muscle but not malnourished. Most likely, he was simply not the muscle loving kind. Still, they were long relative to his body, as he was still shorter than Arthur, if only slightly.

  And then, the most striking characteristics of the boy. Dark skin, not of the hues he was used to, but rather, a gray tone. Hair as pale as snow fell onto his body, contrasting with the dark skin, while the crimson eyes gazed at him intently. And lastly, sharp ears which extended horizontally.

  His facial features were soft and child-like, but carried a sense of slyness, or perhaps nobleness. He couldn't quite put his finger on it. Arthur clicked his tongue, he had a pretty good idea of this guy's character by now.

  He was used to judging people from their appearance. Not so much as having prejudices, but rather, using what he could to formulate a description of his target.

  That boy, was a unique beauty, that much was sure. He was probably young, but judging from the way he spoke and carried himself, he recognized his own worth. Even in a prison, he glared at the other for waking him up, before carelessly stretching and strutting into the moonlight, presenting himself to Arthur.

  He seemed like a young prince of some foreign, unknown land, who wanted to parade his beauty around. Or, perhaps, an ordinary person born with unique beauty, enough to convince him he was superior to his peers.

  The dark skinned boy tilted his head, gazing at the other, waiting for any sort of response. Ever since he had first spoken to him, he had stayed silent, rather than speaking and responding in turn. Though, he couldn't blame him.

  With a sly smile on his face, he'd hold up a sleeve of the rags in front of his face, hiding the lower half of his face behind it while grinning. Deliberately taking slow steps towards the dazed boy, to see his reaction.

  “Where are we? Is this a prison?”

  The shorter boy pouted at his unphased reaction, having hoped for something a bit more scared, just like he was earlier, Arthur pushing himself towards the wall just to move away from the other side of the room.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Still, he wasn't unwilling to answer his questions. That was needed, too, but he'd only answer what was needed.

  “That's right, you're currently imprisoned in one of the empire's largest military academies. Military academy, and jail for possible merchandise. Now, it's my time to ask-”

  Arthur cut him short, asking another question. “Military academy? Empire? Are you sane? The last time those things stood in the continent, was some thousand years ago.”

  Another pouting insured, and the boy took another step forward, a finger slipping out of the large sleeve and pointing at Arthur.

  “I! Said! It's! My! Time! To! Ask!”

  Like a child throwing a tantrum, he made sure to emphasize each and every word, as well as stomping the ground on the last one, and exhaling heavily from his nostrils. Maybe he was in a bad mood from having been woken up, Arthur thought.

  “You!”

  “Me?”

  At the stupid retort, the boy asked him with a genuinely disappointed face. “Do you see anyone else in this room…?”

  “Anyways… You, your name is Arthur, correct! And no, shut up, that's not a question. I know it is. Even if you had a need to, there's no reason to lie!”

  “Do I know you, then…? Well, I'd remember some shortie with white hair, grey skin and red eyes… And those sharp ears, too. Freaky.”

  “YOU- You, you, you, you… Tch! And here I was, being all kind!”

  With the sparking conversation, Arthur moved on top of his wooden plank. Even though he still couldn't feel much, it was more comfortable than standing up, at least.

  “Calm down Ayn, calm down… He's not ready yet… Of course he'd act like this…”

  The boy muttered to himself, trying to calm down after Arthur's comment. Judging from the glares shot at the other in-between muttering, it wasn't working too well. The sharp eared youth, now identified as being called Ayn, looked at the other.

  And then, the sly grin on his face started growing, into a full fledged mocking smile, going from ear to ear. The sleeve once again covered his mouth, as he chuckled to himself. For some reason, Arthur had a bad feeling about this.

  Something started moving, below the fabric of his sleeve. A bright light found its way from the youth's shoulder down his arm, rustling beneath the cloth. With a grin, he'd flick his arm towards Arthur, while speaking.

  “You called me a freak, hmm, hmm… Well, how about… You look at THIS!”

  Light flooded the room for a brief moment, and from Ayn's sleeve, a spherical, floating construct, seemingly made completely out of water, shot towards the other's face. Stopping a few inches away from it, his intention wasn't to harm Arthur, but rather, to give him something to look at his own face with.

  Though, at the moment, he was too shocked by what Ayn had just done, to focus on his reflection. First, that flash of light, and now, an orb of water was floating right in front of his eyes. Was this some sort of trick? An illusion, maybe?

  Arthur raised his arm, and tapped on the orb's surface with uncertainty. Despite his dulled sense, a chilling sensation ran through his nerves as soon as he made contact with it. Ripples spread out on the water, the reflection slowly getting clearer.

  He tapped it a few times more, and with every touch, as well as that chilling feeling, the image got clearer. First, he could see his hair, longer than he was used to, but he had already noticed that. The colour, too, had changed, into a pale white.

  Then, the tone of his skin, a dark grey with cheeks flushed slightly pink. His features were striking, if maybe a bit noble-looking, with long, white eyelashes, a small nose and scarlet coloured eyes.

  And lastly, the sharp ears, which spread from his head in a horizontal manner. Arthur froze for a second. He tapped the orb a few more times, but the image didn't seem to change at all. Was this truly his reflection? This wasn't how he remembered himself, at all.

  Ayn stopped too for a moment, trying to figure out why he looked so shocked, before coming to a realization. Bumping a closed fist into his palm, he spoke up, as if this was common knowledge.

  “Oh, right. That's not your body, right? Wouldn't make sense if you could keep your body after being transported to another Root, I guess. Well, get used to it!”

  Arthur slowly put his hand through the orb, the construct shaking in an unstable manner, before exploding on his appendage. Instead of wetting him, though, he only felt that chilling sensation spread through his body.

  With an expression now even more confused than before, he turned towards Ayn, his eyes bouncing from the scattering droplets of water to the boy and back. As if, in those fleeting reflections, he was looking for his appearance.

  “You, you know something, right? What does that mean? Transported to another Root? What happened to me? Why- Who- Why am I in another body?”

  He was confused, to be sure, but he was keeping his thoughts in a surprisingly orderly manner. Ayn nodded a few times in approval at his capacity to adapt to his current situation, before extending his palm towards him. A dimmer light spread out from his palm.

  “Let me explain the situation to you! As it stands, you… Have been summoned to another Root! That is, another world!”

  Beneath his skin, light traced peculiar patterns and shapes, slowly growing in intensity. As it did, flickers and sparks of light bounced off of his skin, taking the form of a glowing tree, as tall as the both of them. Arthur could do nothing but watch in awe.

  “According to tradition, our planet, Irminsul, is one of the roots of the Tree of Life which holds up existence itself. And as many branches and roots the Tree has, that's how many interlinked worlds exist.”

  Ayn flicked his wrist, and the glowing tree morphed. Branches and roots started expanding in every direction, with flowers blooming on them. Those were the worlds held up by each branch.

  “Now, of course, that's only a legend… But, with you, we now have living, breathing proof that there are indeed other Roots other than Irminsul.”

  The boy reached towards one of the taller branches, gently plucking a petal from the flower. That petal had a shape familiar to Arthur, the form of his body. He'd bring it down, crouching and placing it on one of the roots of the tree. And as he did, it quickly withered away, cuts and gashes appearing on its form.

  With another movement of his hand, the tree started quickly spinning in place, its shape changing and morphing, until eventually reaching a set-up similar to the galaxies Arthur was familiar with.

  Globes, celestial bodies and nebulas spinning around an axis,with blue and purple hues resembling deep space.

  “I think our reality looks something more like this, but I can't exactly fight against the general consensus.”

  “That's… Cool, and all. But, you mean. I'm in another world. Right now? I got summoned to another world? This isn't my planet? This isn't Malkuth?”

  Ayn nodded, and shrugged. Closing his hand, the construct shattered into a number of fragments of light, scattering throughout the room before dissipating, a particularly large one even hitting Arthur in the chest. Though, it didn't really hurt.

  “That's… A lot to take in.”

  “But you're taking it surprisingly well!”

  “I guess.”

  He had his reasons. If this was reality, and not some hallucination or dream, it might not be too bad of a situation, after all. Finding himself in a new world, untethered by those who knew him as Arthur Luria… Maybe, he should grasp this chance.

  However, reality came knockin

  g at his door, in a quite literate way, and in the form of a patrolling guard knocking on the bars of their cell