Meeting again

Alexander couldn't believe it. He was thrown back into the mortal world, and it had only been a couple minutes since he had fallen to his death. He looked around the orchard and realized that things seemed a bit different.

'These trees are definitely taller than they were before', he thought to himself. He continued to walk through the trees, observing each one and growing more and more curious as to why things looked so different.

As he exited the orchard he started to approach the town square that he had frequented all throughout his life. Vendors yelling as they sold goods from their carts, people bustling around the store fronts, beggars down the alleys praying for just a few copper coins. He couldn't wait to taste his favorite honey cakes from the cart right around the corner, but to his surprise he couldn't hear very much commotion. 'Did something happen? Why isn't anyone selling today?'. As he turned the corner onto the main road he couldn't believe his eyes. Not a single human in sight. Some store fronts were boarded up, a few carts were broken down and strewn along the alley ways.

'How could this be?!' Alexander thought to himself. 'I was only gone for 2 minutes….right?'

Unfortunately no one was around to answer his question. He continued to walk through the streets to see if he could find at least one person to ask what happened.

'If I can't find anyone here, I'm sure I'll find someone in the city.'

Corens was the main city of this area. Alexander was middle class so he was able to wander in and out of the city with no problem. The lower class resided out of the city gates and made up the town of Athargos, and most people that lived there, lived to sell and barter with the middle class who came from within the gates. Everyone was cordial with each other and people didn't make much of a fuss if you were at a different rank than them. It was a kind and simple place to live.

As Alexander walked toward the city gates he couldn't help but notice slight changes and irregularities that made him think that maybe he hadn't been gone for only a 2 minutes.

As he was pondering this in his mind, he realized he was coming up to his favorite store that sold cute little trinkets and rare items. He decided to check it out quickly and see if he could find any type of information. He walked through the broken door hanging off it's hinges and immediately froze in place.

"….Ares?"

A man with bright blonde hair and piercing blue eyes turned to face him with tears streaming down his face. A face that looked like it had been chiseled from a block of fine marble.

"…Alex?! Is it really you!?"