***

The girl dragged him after her, and, for the moment, Sebastian chose to follow without question. This curse was strange, and unlike others he had had to deal with before. Therefore, for the time being, he had to become a keen observer of his surroundings.

They walked for a while, the girl chatting all the time about things Sebastian could make little sense of. To understand this strange world and get rid of the curse, maybe he would have to learn this gibberish.

In the meantime, he looked around. They were on a street unlike others he had in his world, and there were no horses or carriages. Instead, those shiny contraptions kept flying by, moved by who knew what dark forces.

The girl dragged him to a flight of stairs leading underground. Could that be his first trial? His guide appeared to care not for dangers as she began descending. Other people – perhaps other adventurers trapped in this strange world – poured down.

He stopped. The girl looked at him with an annoyed expression. “What is it now?”

“Do you expect me to walk into danger without a sword?”

The girl rolled her eyes. “It’s the subway. The only danger we have to fend off are people getting on the train faster than us.”

Subway? Train?

“Are you trying to cosplay someone?” The girl squinted at him. “Because you suck. Now let’s go. Mom should be home by now and waiting for us with dinner.”

Dinner, he could understand. Mom was another term he was familiar with. Apparently, he had been cursed with a family in this strange world and a handsome commoner who wanted kisses in exchange for dates, whatever those dangerous things were. This little girl pretended to be his sister, but Sebastian was ready for her to change into a three-headed monster at any moment.

“What is your name, little girl?”

“You’re extra weird today,” she commented. “I’m Princess Tani-Bani-Lulu-Chan,” she added in a high-pitched voice and curtsied.

A princess, then. Well, that meant that he was still royalty in this world. Not that anyone appeared to offer him the required respect, but strange worlds came with strange rules.

He took a bow. “Delighted to make your acquaintance, Your Highness.”

The girl started laughing hysterically. “Wow, you’re really in character.”

She kept taunting him. Of course! She believed him to be her brother, and he had just acted as if he had met her for the first time. He would have to pay more attention to his actions from now on.

They stepped on a shiny platform and appeared to be waiting for something, just like the rest of the adventurers. Sebastian examined them. None seemed equipped properly for slaying monsters.

“Tani-Bani-Lulu-Chan,” he said, “are you sure there will be enough loot for everyone? If only I had my sword, I would make sure to kill the monster in one strike and secure the victory for our house.”

“Just call me Tani, you idiot,” she said as she slapped her forehead and dragged her palm over her face with a groan. “People are starting to stare at us.”

Sebastian shrugged. Attention never bothered him. The more, the merrier. He was about to ask a man dressed in a stylish coat and pants what kind of weapon he carried in that bag he held in his hand when a loud noise announced to him that the monster was approaching.

He would have to use his magic. The monster rushed in, but it wasn’t met with the usual clamor of warriors getting ready for battle. It was a strange-looking thing, made from metal and glass, and… it had people in it!

Tani squeezed his hand and dragged him along. After the people inside poured outside, the ones on the platform walked inside the belly of the beast.

“Oh, it is like a carriage,” he said out loud.

Several pairs of eyes examined him with curiosity.

“Good day,” he said to one of the strangers. “A good day to you, too.”

It wasn’t his habit to address commoners first, but the people in this world seemed to have no idea of manners.

“What the hell, Kai?” Tani hissed at him. “Just grab the bar already.”

Sebastian looked up and then noticed that everyone standing was holding on to that bar. Of course, it was probably how the carriage moved. So people in this world were magic wielders. Except, of course, for the ones sitting. They did appear to be old or weak in some way or another.

Tani wrapped her arm around his. Sebastian drew one breath as he felt the floor under his feet moving. And then, they delved into a dark abyss.

***

He felt a bit sick to his stomach as he walked back to light. Tani then dragged him to a tall building.

“Is this our palace?” It was taller than his residence back in his world, which could mean that he enjoyed a higher station in this one. “Am I the king?” he whispered to himself.

Tani scoffed. “Would you stop with the weirdness? People kept staring at us on the subway because you kept on yelling weird stuff at each stop.”

He had been amazed at the capacity of the metal beast to have people come and go like that, without falter or signs of tiredness. The magic in this world had to be truly powerful.

They entered the building, and Sebastian expected Tani to take him to one of the doors on the ground floor. Instead, she pulled him toward a metal door and pushed him inside a small room with a mirror and a metal panel.

Without telling him anything, she closed the door and pressed her finger on one of the buttons on the metal panel. Sebastian staggered as the room moved. “What is this?” he asked and grabbed one of the metal bars on the side to avoid losing his balance.

Tani threw him another annoyed look. “It’s just the elevator. I hope you didn’t want us to take the stairs to the sixth floor.”

He turned toward the mirror and froze. He wasn’t himself anymore. He was a scrawny young man with dark hair and pale skin. Some of his traits could point out at him being a vampire, but he had walked in the sun just fine, so that wasn’t his class. He scrutinized himself. This body looked weak. And he had to find a place where he could see if he still had his magic.

Maybe it was a good idea to keep his mouth shut for a while. This world had to have scholars and a library from which he could learn more about it without depending on this hysterical little girl.

A small plink came from one of his pockets. Then another followed. He chose to ignore it.

“Aren’t you going to check your phone?” Tani asked. “And what’s the deal with you and Milo?”

Milo was the commoner’s name.

“There is no deal,” Sebastian said haughtily. “And I check my phone as I see fit. It requires no tending now.”

“Whatever,” Tani said with a shrug.

The room stopped, and Tani opened the door. They walked onto a platform and headed over to a door.

“It was about time that you two made an appearance,” a woman in her forties welcomed them. She had short curly hair and a tired expression on her face. “Go wash your hands and come to the table.”

Sebastian looked around. If they were royalty, they surely preferred to live in small quarters. The walls and the ceiling were bland. However, a pleasant smell of food tickled his nostrils. He was quite hungry, he realized.

Tani opened another door and began washing her hands at a fountain spouting water from a wall. Sebastian followed and examined everything with intrigued eyes. He observed Tani as she touched a knob and made the fountain stop.

He ignored her as she wiped her hands and waited until she was gone. Then, he touched the knob. Nothing happened. Ah, he had to turn it, he realized.

“What an astonishing thing,” he murmured. He placed his hands under the fresh stream of water and washed his hands and face thoroughly.

He turned the knob again, and the water stopped. Then, he noticed a similar knob on the other side of the spout. He turned it and placed his hand under the stream.

“Oh,” he exclaimed when hot water burned his skin.

He quickly turned the knob to stop it. What a handy and strange invention! They were probably sitting on top of a hot spring.

That meant that, despite appearances, they were a wealthy family.

“Are you coming already, Kai?” Tani called from behind the door. “Mom says that she didn’t spend hours cooking so that you couldn’t give a damn about her food.”

Strange, Sebastian thought as he wiped his hands. They had cold and hot water on command, but their mother didn’t have anyone to do the cooking.

They had to be a very eccentric wealthy family.

TBC