Strange

"Maybe we should tone it down a little?" Khai said as he way trying to catch his breath.

His profusely sweating body was what's left of the adrenaline that ran in his system for an hour.

"Y-yeah, I-im ti-red." Anna was also heavily panting.

"H-how long did we spend on this game..?" Khai asked in curiously.

"More or less an hour.." Anna responded.

She wiped the sweat off her forehead and reached her hand into a pocket of the machine.

"What are you doing?"

Anna looked at him with a smile. "Tickets!"

Pulling out a long strip of tickets, her eyes shone like the stars in the night.

"This is so many!" She exclaimed, excitedly showing it to Khai.

"And what do we do with those?" Khai asked, puzzled.

"Ha?" Anna looked at him in pity. "You really are a poor soul, aren't you.."

"Ah?" Khai was speechless. "Can you not with that? My life has been fun, you know."

"Under a rock, maybe." Anna chuckled. "But here, you're under an endless horizon!"

She quickly grabbed his hand once more and headed somewhere else.

"Where are we going now?"

He knew that resistance was futile so he went along with her.

"To show you what tickets are for!" She said, not turning back.

..

Stopping at on the farthest corner of UOE, the duo found themselves standing at a counter.

Behind it stood a wall of stacked items displayed for all to see.

They had tags that contained numbers with it.

"This is where you exchange tickets for prizes!" Anna spoke up. "The tags indicate how much they cost!"

"Oh, I see.." Khai nodded.

It was basically creating a different currency for the establishment.

'Having fun while also earning something, huh,'

"They're very expensive, how much do we have?" He asked.

Just one look and he'd see prizes that costed hundreds and even thousands!

There were little prizes like plastic flowers, stuff toys, decorations, mirrors, etc.

While there were also expensive items such as ovens, guitars, chairs, etc.

"Well, uhm.." Anna spoke awkwardly.

"What's up?" Khai looked at her; didn't she say that they earned a lot?

Anna scratched her head, "It looks like the prizes here are more expensive than the ones I've been in."

Counting all the tickets on her hand, "We only have 129."

"Eh?" Khai looked around to see if there were any prizes they could exchange.

'Kettle - 1,000 tickets'

'Stuff toys - 400-1,000 tickets'

'Mug - 500 tickets'

'Calendar - 300 tickets'

'Plastic Flowers - 200 tickets'

"…"

'Just our luck, the cheapest prize costs 200 tickets!'

"Uhm, want to keep playing?" Khai proposed.

Anna was really excited to redeem their tickets. He didn't mind accompanying her to get more.

"We burnt through our tokens though.." Anna lowered her head in disappointment.

'She's like a kid..' Khai unconsciously thought.

"We can always get more." He said, feeling bad.

Whenever his brother was like this, he would always feel the need to spoil him; not wanting to see him sad.

For some reason, he also wanted to do the same with her.

Anna heaved a heavy sigh and lifted her head.

"No, it's fine. Link will chastise me if he finds out that I went above our budget."

'Budget?'

Khai took a while to realize what her words meant.

When he did, he immediately responded. "I'll be the one buying."

Anna shook her head. "No way!"

"What?" Khai was confused.

He believed that his offer would solve their difficulty immediately.

Why wouldn't she accept?

'Is she too shy to accept money?'

"Why no?" He asked.

"We're the ones who invited you to this outing." She said resolutely.

Khai smiled. 'How cute'.

"But if you still want to play, Link wouldn't mind." She hurried added, seemingly realizing that she might have been selfish.

What if Khai just wanted to play?

"No, I'm fine." Khai rejected.

'I don't want us to go out empty handed though.' He thought.

"Let's just wait outside for Link, he just texted that they're going to be done soon." Anna said, retreating from the counter.

She knew that staying there would just dampen her spirits further.

If they didn't have anything else to do, they should just leave.

'Hm?'

Before Khai could follow, his eyes spotted something.

"Anna!" He called out.

"What?-" Before she could react, Khai pulled her hand towards him.

'Huh?' Anna was stunned.

It was her first time getting grabbed by someone other than her brother.

Even though she would usually drag others with her, they wouldn't usually do the same with her!

Her face started to burn up. 'T-This,, it's embarrassing!'

She didn't know why but Khai's warm hands had some sort of mystical effect on her.

"Come!" Khai didn't notice her embarrassment at all, guiding her to the side of the counter.

Walking with her hand tightly grasped in Khai's hand, a strange phenomenon suddenly occurred.

With just a blink, her surroundings suddenly changed!

"Huh?"

When she looked around, all the machines and people disappeared.

The lively atmosphere was replaced with a serene environment.

There were so many plants all around her that even their scents wafted through the air.

'What a exquisite aroma!'

She looked around but only saw an endless meadow. Everywhere her eyes could reach were just plain tall grass.

It was as tall as her waist!

'Where is this…'

She was still walking, dazed from the sudden change.

When she wanted to stop, she suddenly felt a tug on her hand.

'Eh?'

Looking in front of her, a man was there, holding her hand as he walked.

"H-hey.."

'Where's Khai?'

Just from their stature alone, the man in front of her was definitely not Khai! Even their clothes were different!

He was a man with black hair, his clothes were strange and his hand was covered with a glove.

On his right waist was a sword in a sheath.

His height was just a little shorter than Khai but his body was a lot bigger.

She tried to retract her hands but the man's grip was too strong! She didn't even manage to make him exert strength.

"Stop!" She yelled, "What do you think you're doing?"

Thud.

The man unexpectedly stopped and Anna bumped on his shoulder.

"We're almost there! Bear the pain just a little bit longer, okay?" The man whispered.

Anna's brow furrowed. "Let go!"

"What? What has gotten into you?" The man turned towards her.

"AHH!" Anna shrieked.

Faceless!

The man was faceless!

'T-this is like the others in my dream!'

"Hey! Shush! We'll get found!" The man covered her mouth with his hand.

He looked around them with wariness and sighed in relief when he didn't notice anything.

"Are you okay?" Switching his focus, he looked at Anna.

"Mmmmm" Still muffled by the man's hand, she looked terrified.

"What's gotten into you?" He muttered. "I'll let you go but don't shout anymore, okay?"

Anna hurriedly nodded.

"Okay…" He slowly let her go.

"Huff, Huff.." Breathing heavily, Anna retreated from the mysterious man.

'He's not as old as I thought..'

Contrary to the middle aged man stature, his exposed skin was still soft and delicate.

'But what's up with his face?' Her eyes were glued to one spot.

At the same time, fear was overwhelming her ability to think.

"Is something wrong?" The man slowly started to walk towards her.

"Stop!" Anna nervously shouted.

The man paused, "Okay.."

"Who are you?" She asked.

Anna tried to calm herself as to not appeared weak but she couldn't control her body's involuntary shivers.

"Huh? What are you saying?" The man chuckled, but Anna knew that it wasn't out of joy.

It was almost as if he was chuckling due to disbelief? She wasn't sure either.

"Who are you?" She repeated as she slowly started to increase their distance.

The man stayed silent.

Terrified, Anna's pitch rose. "Answer me!"

Sshshshs

The tall grass beside her suddenly rustled.

The man looked around and came to a sudden stop when he looked at the space behind her.

"COME HERE!" The man shouted, sprinting towards her.

"Gah! Go away!"

Anna hurriedly turned away and ran.

Frightening! Absolutely frightening!

If it wasn't for her strong will power, her legs would've caved in from sheer fear!

"NO! STOP!" The man frantically pursued her.

Just from his voice, Anna could tell that he was desperate.

"Please stop!" She shouted, continuing to flee.

Shhshsh.

Swish!

Out of her peripheral vision, a black figure jumped out of the tall bush and started to run beside her.

"ACK!" Anna quickly shifted direction.

"Princess!" The figure called out to her. "Stop! It's me!"

'No way!'

"It's the imperial guards! Hurry! Come here!" The man from before shouted behind them.

As if triggered by the voice, the figure stopped. "You despicable scum! How dare you lay your hands on our princess!"

Turning around, the figure dashed towards the man.

"Scum? You're the scums here!" The man shouted, unsheathing his sword.

"Die! Deplorable scum!" The figure jumped, swinging a sword at point blank range.

Clang!

Sounds of steel clashing sounded out as the man parried the attack with ease.

'Run away! I must run!'

Anna didn't see what the figure was, but from the voice, she could tell that it was a man; rather middle aged.

However, that was the least of her worries.

Shshshs

Suddenly, she heard the grass around her rustle.

"They found us!" The man, from a distance away, shouted.

"Silence!" A voice intercepted him.

However, the man didn't back down at all. "Quickly! Go to the wall! I'll meet you there!"

Even after hearing their shouts, Anna continued to run. All of her senses were screaming for her to escape.

There was no way that she'd stop nor go toward another direction just because they said so.

Shshshs

The rustle got louder, seemingly getting closer to her.

'Save me!' She screamed from the bottom of her heart. 'Brother.. please!'

"AH!" Out of nowhere, she felt a chilling feeling on her right shoulder.

Looking at it, she could not help but to screech in fear.

A hand!