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abcghimno -> RE: Something Real: a story about a boy and his search for reality. (8/12/2013 15:48:08)
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Chapter 1: The Unraveler, Wordsmith
I've never been called to a world before, the being mused to themselves, standing in the boy's room. What could've happened that brought me here?
Hours had passed since their first appearance, and their many attempts to get out of the world since then had failed rather miserably, as if something was blocking them. Since they had appeared in the boy's room, it figured that it had something to do with him. The being silently hoped he wouldn't scream when he woke up.
Well, he didn't, but he did seem very shocked and surprised to see the being standing there. He was frozen out of fear, absolutely paralyzed. He barely managed to choke out a question. "What are you? Why are you here?" Well, two questions, but that doesn't matter.
The being smiled. Its form was vaguely humanoid, though entirely white in appearance and glowing with a faint light. It couldn't be told whether they were male or female; their hair (if it was hair, it wasn't quite clear) was a bit long for a boy and a bit short for a girl, and they didn't exactly have any noticeable features.
"I'm a… hm. I don't suppose I've ever thought of a name for myself. A… a word traveler, I guess. As for why I'm here…" The being paused and thought for an agonizingly long amount of time, before stating, "I don't have a clue, but I think you have something to do with it. What's your name?"
"Alex," he replied quickly. "Alexander, really, but everyone calls me Alex."
"Do you have a middle? Last? Or has it not been written in yet?"
Alex frowned at the being, rather confused. "Uh… Alexander Timothy Reed. What do you mean, written—" His eyes widened. "We're not real, are we? My sister was right!"
"Well," the being began, only to promptly start over, "Well. Uh… no, no you aren't, I'm not quite real either, I guess."
"You said you were a 'world traveler' or whatever—"
"Word traveler, not a world traveler. I guess both apply. How should I explain?... Alright. Extremely simplified version, I find words in one story and travel to another story which has words in common."
"Stories?... wait, why?" Alex replied, not scared of the being anymore. He sat up in bed and looked at it curiously.
"Err, you won't like this…" The being took in a breath. "I travel through stories to unravel… I guess, get rid of them."
"What?!" Alex jumped up and stood up in bed.
"Hey! Hey! I'm not going to unravel this world, you can tell because there aren't any words floating towards me." The being paused. "Wait, what do you see me as?"
"…totally white. Um, not like racist but—you're actually totally white-colored."
"Really?" The being shrugged. "Alright then, let's test this out…"
Its entire form shimmered and distorted for a moment, before being replaced with a fairly normal-looking (well, ridiculously tall but otherwise normal) human being.
"…wow." Alex gulped and stared up at the being. "You're… tall."
"Uh, yeah, yeah I am… whoops. Let's try that again." The being's form shimmered and distorted again, returning to a height only slightly taller than Alex's. It remained androgynous, and wasn't entirely normal, but hey—you take what you get. The most striking feature was the being's white hair. It was rather messy and uneven, hanging over its face, the longest strands reaching to its chin. Next were its eyes, which seemed almost white in coloration but were in fact a ridiculously pale gray. Its skin was also pale, and the being was rather thin, wearing a simple, long-sleeved black robe covering both hands and feet.
"Well, that's better… I guess." Alex paused and scratched his head. "So you say you're here because of me, huh? Are you sure it's not my sister?"
"I appeared in your room. Reasonably, it's you I'm here for." The being paused. "Hmm. I know your name, but I don't have a name to give you…"
"You don't?"
"No. Hmm."
"Uh… can I just call you something like 'wordsmith' or some other title?"
"Wordsmith doesn't make any sense, to be fair, but I'll live with it. Better than 'Unraveler' anyway. Now, why do you think I was called here?"
"…all I know is my sister asked me to find something real, something like that." Alex paused and scratched his head. "Maybe you're here to help me?"
"Me?" Wordsmith frowned. "I suppose it might make sense—" It was suddenly cut off by Alex.
"Can I just call you Smith? That would work, wouldn't it?"
"Uh, alright…" Wordsmith looked up and around Alex's room, finally resting on the clock. "…It's, uh…?"
"Ten. Time for us to go, my mom will be coming around to wake me up in fifteen minutes." Alex paused. "Hey—if I leave with you, how much time will pass here?"
"No time at all, actually," Wordsmith replied.
"Cool. Let me get changed quickly and we'll head off."
"It doesn't work like that," came Wordsmith's weak reply. It sighed and decided it might as well clue Alex in later. "Fine, fine, Alex."
Traveling to find reality? Wordsmith mentally slapped themselves. This is going to be a pain.
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