Deep in the maze-like cave, finally safe from those who sought to sacrifice them to some goddess, a little blue light flickered, illuminating the dreary walls of the damp tunnel for moments at a time.

  “There we go, I can use a bit of power now,” the small blue pixie quietly celebrated. “I’m feeling a little better. I really was moments away from joining the rest of those pixies. It’ll take a while to fully recharge though. Hey. Hey, human boy… Hey!”

  It struggled to cast a steady beam of light from its hand, faint as it was, then pointed it toward the boy, but he was still unresponsive, curled up on the ground and mumbling to himself about something he’d lost. He had a healthy body, but it looked weak and frail beneath the blue robe in which the vessel had been dressed.

  The frustration in its voice gradually turned to pity as the boy whimpered, still unable to fully control his own limbs.

  “What’s wrong, human boy?” it attempted to ask with some sincerity. “Are you injured?”

  After a few moments passed awkwardly, he clumsily sat up and looked at the pixie. He turned his head to observe it, but his head wobbled like an infant as he struggled to control the muscles in his neck.

  “I feel… no pain… just cold…” His words were still difficult to understand, but he spoke quicker than before. “My body… strange… human…?”

  “Your body seems healthy to me, human boy.” The pixie’s eyes glowed slightly as she looked at him. “It’s very healthy in fact.”

  “My tires… My engine… Headlights… Where…” he continued, his face contorting painfully in confusion.

  “Are those weapons? Were you a warrior in your world?” the pixie asked excitedly. “What’s your name, human warrior?”

  “Not human… Micro… I’m a Micro,” he spoke with a childish frown that made the pixie laugh.

  “Okay, Micro,” she said, then nodded. “That’s a nice name, really. Do you remember what happened before you arrived here?”

  Micro looked around the cave as he tried to recall the events which led him there.

  “We were driving into town… The old man needed something…” He became quiet after a moment.

  “Hey, human!” The pixie waved at him.

  “Talk out loud, not in your head!”

  “Sorry…” Micro snapped out of his silent state.

  “A boy on his phone… walked into the road…”

  Micro placed his hands on his head in despair as he recounted the event.

  “There was an accident.” He cried.

  “I think a boy was hit… then another car… then there were strange lights. I tried to stop, but—”

  “I’m not sure what you’re trying to say.” The pixie scratched her head. “So there was an accident with your master? What’s a car?”

  “After the accident, I was floating.” Micro continued slowly.

  “A woman, with wings, glowing… She spoke to me.”

  “You must have met Nora…” The pixie spoke with some disdain. “That magical rascal of a deity has a reputation for failure. And she sent you here?”

  “Nora…?” The boy groaned.

  “I think so…”

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  “Magicians are always going on about her being a saviour or something,” the pixie scoffed.

  “Boring nonsense, but they’re getting more annoying now…”

  “The old man… Is he okay…?” The boy asked desperately.

  “Is he safe? That boy… That boy on the phone…”

  “Sorry, kid,” the pixie shrugged. “That world is far behind you now. Whatever you were over there, you’re here now, and we’re still not out of trouble yet.”

  The boy took a deep breath, attempting to calm himself.

  “Where is this place?” His voice was much easier to listen to now. “And why does my mind… my mind…”

  The boy held his head awkwardly in his hands with a confused look, and the pixie rolled her eyes. She glanced around the dark cave and sighed.

  “I think this is the Beryl Kingdom now.” The pixie crossed its arms and thought for a moment. “Well, to be specific, this is a cave in the Beryl Kingdom. To be honest, this is the last place I want to be while those crazy magicians are out looking for sacrifices.”

  “Magicians?” Micro tilted his wobbly head in surprise at the word. “Sacrifices?”

  “Do you think we can move along now?” The pixie’s patience was running low. “If the magicians don’t get us down here, the goblins will.”

  “Goblins?”

  “If not something worse,” the pixie said, and nodded again. “I’m getting a dungeon vibe from this place, and I still can’t see very well. We can’t stay here long.”

  “No parking…” The boy seemed to understand the pixie’s words in his own way. “We should move then.”

  After taking a moment to inspect his limbs yet again, he managed to stand, then picked up the pixie in its cage.

  “I’ll try and keep the way lit.” The pixie gave a thumbs up with its glowing hand. “Just don’t drop me, and I think I’ll be able to find a way out of here.”

  “I wouldn’t drop a passenger…” the boy reassured the caged creature.

  “Okay then,” the pixie smiled. “Go that way!”

  “Umm…” The boy suddenly stopped moving, startling the pixie.

  “What’s wrong?” it asked worriedly. “Can’t you move?”

  The boy looked around quietly, then frowned at the pixie.

  “No signs…”

  “What signs? What are you talking about?”

  “What… is the speed limit… on this road?”

  ~

  The cave was filled with strange echoes of unfamiliar sounds, but the loudest sounds were the ones coming from the boy and the pixie.

  “Ouch!” a small voice screeched.

  “Sor—Sorry…” the boy stuttered.

  “I need to close my eyes for a bit, so just slow down for now!” she complained from the cage.

  “Slow… Safe…” the boy mumbled.

  “If you drop me one more time, it’ll hurt you more!” She frowned. “Got it?”

  “Safer, safer…” the boy said, and he did as he was asked.

  The pixie closed her eyes and massaged her temples.

  “Oh, my head…” She grimaced. “What a day this has been…”

  “Bones…? the boy suddenly grumbled as he tripped again. “Bones…!”

  He looked back at the large pile of crumbling, white, bones he’d tripped over with a shocked expression.

  “That’s what you’ll look like soon if you don’t pick up the pace,” the pixie mumbled, giving a glance over her shoulders to the bones. “Looks mostly human, but there are some bear bones mixed in. A snake too, perhaps?” She rolled her eyes and groaned in pain.

  The boy’s awkward limbs moved faster as he tried to distance himself from the terrible scene, and he became more and more aware of the sound of his own heartbeat. He grabbed one ear in dismay as the sound of his own blood rushing through his veins drowned out the eerie echoes of the cave.

  He only stumbled more as the strange blue robe he was wearing became wet with mud and sweat. He flailed his free arm helplessly, but he lost his balance yet again.

  As his head collided with a rock, he noticed the sound of his own coarse breath, where the hum of an engine should be. It was suddenly hard to breathe as a sharp pain filled the side of his head.

  “You’re pathetic,” the pixie lamented as she leaned against the bars of her tiny prison, still gripped firmly in the panicking boy’s hand. She looked over at the dimly lit boy, bleeding and gasping for air while looking around at his surroundings with unfocused eyes. “Here…”

  A warm sensation swept over the boy. His pain vanished and his mind cleared, though his confusion remained. He looked down at the pixie, but he could only catch a glimpse of her as she fainted in her cage and the light in her hand went out.

  “You…” he said with wide eyes.

  He listened closely with his mind now calm, and he heard the sound of the pixie’s own breathing.

  “Wake…” he spoke awkwardly. “Up…”

  He listened to the sound of her breathing in the complete darkness of the cave, his head still full of questions.

  “Wake up…” he repeated. “Wake…”

  He continued to wait.