A Guide, Is What You Need

Beep!

Beep!

Hearing the sounds of cars honking at each other throughout the night, made me realize how much I'd miss these subtle moments.

My sister mentioned it a lot in her letter, that despite living in a world full of all kinds of possibilities. She missed the simpler things of our world, even if those simple things meant that you'd get yelled at by road-raged drivers.

"Hey! Get the hell outta the road!!"

Beep!

Beep!

The man driving the gray old beat-up truck yelled, honking his car's horn several more times at me.

Riding my bike past the crosswalk as fast as possible, I pondered.

'Does sis really miss these kinds of people? Sigh"

As I exhaled, I peddled faster toward my destination. Central Park, living in New York City had its perks and attractions. And one of them was Central Park, this spot is where my sister managed to find and go to the Other World.

'In her letter, she specifically said she came here at around 7:30 pm, and if I'm reading this right. She met someone who labeled themselves as a 'Guide' to this Other World'

After thinking long and hard, I managed to devise a plan to help keep my guard up and get to know the extent of what I'd be getting myself into.

Reading the advice my sister wrote down in her letter really helped.

As I peddled on my bike through the park, I hit the brakes crashing in my tracks. Looking around, I tried to find where this Guide might show up form.

Narrowing my eyes a bit, all I saw through the park was the tall trees, the wind subtly blowing causing the leaves to fall gently towards the grassy ground.

"Sigh, maybe there's a hint in Sis's letter that I didn't see"

Zip!

Unzipping my backpack, I reached in and grabbed the folded piece of lengthy paper. Slowly unfolding it, I made sure to read between the lines. But all I could think of as a hint was the time and destination of where Nya meet this so-called Guide.

Vroom!

"..?!"

Suddenly though, my thoughts were interrupted by the sound of an approaching car. Looking over my shoulder, I glanced at the side of the park's front gate.

There parked on the sidewalk was a black hellcat, its engine humming as the car slowly began to turn off. After a moment though, a man wearing a black leather suit stepped out of the car.

Immediately, I ducked behind one of the benches of the park. Pulling my bike down with me, I stilled my breath and glanced back over where the man and car were.

The man in the black suit stood there for a minute, his eyes looking over the area. He did this maybe four or five times, before finally walking over to the passenger side of the car and opening it.

He lowered his head, as he extended his hand to whoever he was helping out of the car. I sat behind the bench a bit anxious and curious, unfortunately, though I was a bit too far to hear what the man was saying.

The man's mouth moved, indicating he was addressing the person he was helping out of the car. The individual finally stepped out of the car, they were tall, had long blonde hair, and gentle amber-colored eyes.

Just from their figure alone, I managed to deduce, that the person I was looking at was a woman. She had the face of a mature adult, but her eyes carried this undertone of sadness to them.

She wore a black shirt, and over it was a red long coated jacket adorned with silver glistening gems. She wore slim black pants that accentuated her curvy waist, and black boots that had subtle golden accents.

"Why is someone like that at a park so late at night?…"

Narrowing my eyes a bit, I took another look at her. Her right hand seemed to be carrying something in it, and to my surprise.

"That piece of paper!…."

My eyes widened at the sight of the type of paper the woman was holding, it was the same kind of paper as the letter my sister had left for me.

How did I come to this conclusion? Simple, this particular piece of paper isn't normal. The length of the paper held an almost constant stream of intricate detailed runes plastered on each side of the paper.

The color of the paper was rare even among the many colors that are known in our world, the color being a mix of several shades of red, green, blue, and black.

Lastly, theirs a hidden symbol printed on the back of the paper itself, it had the head of an eagle, the torso of a lion, the wings of a dragon, and the legs of a beast.

"She has one too, that could only mean she's here to go to the Other World too"

Shortly after coming to assess the situation, another car would appear.

Vroom!

Screech!

The blaring sound of the car suddenly coming to an abrupt halt echoed throughout the night sky, covering my ears a bit I managed to block out most of the noise, while still focusing on what was happening.

As I glanced over at the other car that pulled up to the sidewalk, I noticed that it was a white Lamborghini that had small golden accents on each side of the car's frame and rims.

"Talk about showing off…"

I mumbled to myself. Shortly after, someone stepped out of the driver's seat of the car.

There stood a tall man, he wore a dark navy blue suit, and a white tie, and his hair was a short brown color, combed back in style. He had dark green eyes and a bit of facial hair.

It was obvious at first glance, that both the man and woman I was seeing. Both came from wealthy backgrounds, but truthfully I don't care much about that.

What I wanted most out of this, was reliable information. As I lay low behind the bench, I continued to watch their movements, the man and woman stared at each other.

The one to break this strange tension in the air was the man, he smiled and slowly began to approach the woman.

...…

" Natalie Willingham, my oh my, how long has it been?"

The man spoke with a cheerful tone, slowly approaching the woman in question.

"…"

She stayed silent, only narrowly her eyes over at the man.

"Oh, come now. Don't be like that, I'm only trying to make small talk with an old friend"

He spoke, a gentle smile appearing on his face. But before he could get any closer, the man in the black leather suit stepped in front of him, blocking any further advance.

"Please refrain from making any other attempts at pursuing my employer"

The man in the black leather suit said sternly. The man in the navy blue suit gave an awkward chuckle, looking over at the woman he sighed.

"Not even so much as a simple hello? You know, that's quite rude. Even if you're the daughter of a renowned research agency, you really shouldn't go around acting so harsh"

The man quipped, shrugging his shoulders in a mocking gesture. The woman glanced over at the man, her eyebrow raised.

"That's rich coming from you, Jonathan Romanoff"

Natalie spoke with a sarcastic tone of voice, rolling her eyes at the man.

"Hah, and what do you mean by that?"

Jonathan asked with a curious tone of voice, smiling widely.

"Do I really need to explain? Or is your father still neglecting you?"

Johnathan's eyebrows twitched, his smile nearly breaking, and a slow pulsating vein on his forehead could be visible.

Natalie smiled, loving the idea of Johnathan losing his composure, But returned to her neutral face,

Johnathan slowly took a couple of deep breaths, his face becoming more and more calmer.

He was going to say something else, but the man in the black leather suit gave him a quick glare. Johnathan stayed quiet, he gritted his terry a little, simply coughing to clear his throat a bit.

Clank!

Suddenly though, the sound of something heavy and metallic rang out through the area, catching the attention of both parties.

As they all turned their attention toward the park, they noticed a black colored bike with golden stickers attached to it.

But what caught their attention more, was the person that was trying to pick up the bike from the ground.

He wore a black cap over his head, a black mask to cover his face, a black hoodie, and pants.

He stood at a good 179cm, he looked young. His hair color was black, and his eye color was light brown.

He stood there looking at the two parties in silence, his eyes conveying nothing but an expressionless emotion.

The man in the black suit walked in front of Natalie, ensuring her safety from the masked individual.

But, in the depths of Natalie's mind, she couldn't help but be curious as to who the masked person was.

Johnathan on the other hand, Merry gave a raised eyebrow. Scoffing a little, he paid little attention to the masked individual.

...…

A Moment Prior

I found myself unable to hear anything that was taking place between the two parties, the man in the dark navy blue suit seemed to be trying to make a friendly greeting.

But the man in the black suit, who I can only assume is a bodyguard for the woman in the red outfit.

'Sigh, this isn't a good way to gain info. They might be talking about the Guide that might show up here, or possibly something related to the Other World.'

Thinking hard on the subject, I decided to do something a bit risky. Slowly picking myself up from behind the bench, I lifted up my bike slowly pulling it along with me.

Tree to tree, I hid. Hoping to at least be able to hear most if not some of the conversation taking place between the two unknown parties.

But as I reached the fourth tree, I made a mistake.

Crunch!

Bang!

One of the roots of the tree that was sticking out, managed to get caught on one of the wheels of my bike. Causing it to slip out of my grip, hitting the ground harshly.

And before I knew it, the talking died down. Slowly lifting my head, I saw that all eyes were on me.

'Shit…'

I thought inwardly. Before the tension could become apparent, a sudden gust of wind blew through the area.

Whoosh!

The air flowed through the entirety of the park, causing nothing but cold chills the pass through everyone present.

"Stay behind me, Ms.Willingham"

The bodyguard spoke aloud, shielding Natalie behind his body. The former merely nodded her head, slightly holding onto the bodyguard's back.

Johnathan on the other hand, simply stood still. Holding one of his arms over his face. Trying his best to try and see, but the flow of the wind constantly blowing harshly prevented him from being able to fully open his eyes.

All he could do was squint, but even then it was hard to make heads or tails of the situation.

Lastly, Ray, held onto the tree that he was close to, using on arms to cling onto one of the protruding branches sticking out of the race.

At the same time, he used his black cap to help prevent some of the wind that was gusting violently away from his eyes, slowly ripping his cap a bit and slowly sitting his eyes over at the two parties.

'I guess they're having their fair share of troubles too..'

Ray thought to himself, turning his head, he looked in the direction of where the wind was blowing from.

"…?!"

To his shock, he saw something in between the many trees of the park. There, in the midst of the many wide trees, was a large glowing transparent wall.

"…What in the…"

But before Ray could voice his words of concern, something, or rather someone's silhouette began to take shape within the transparent glowing wall.

"..!"

Soon the silhouette began to take the form of a human, shortly after, the from was that of a tall man….or woman?…

Slowly the wind began to subside, allowing all three parties to take a good long look at the unknown individual that appeared.

"A Man?…."

Natalie spoke with a confused tone of voice, placing both her thumb and index finger on the bottom of her chin, thinking to herself.

"…No maybe a Woman?…"

Johnathan spoke, his face a mix of intrigue and curiosity. Narrowing his eyes at the individual in question.

Ray on the other hand, took note of the person in front of them. Their appearance was that of what you might get out of a fantasy story.

They wore a slim suit made of an unknown material, the colors a blend of black and red. In the upper right side of the suit, there was a delicate red glowing flower, reminiscent to that of a rose.

They were tall, approximately 184cm. They had long hair that reached their shoulders, the color was black with red subtle highlights. Their eye color was soemthing interesting, one eye being a mix of blue and silver, while the other eye was red in hue.

They're face and body was the thing that caught others off gaurd, and would make you question the gender of the individual.

A torso of a well toned man, hips and thighs curvy of that of a refined woman, and a feminine face of a gentle woman, with subtle black markings subtlety plastered on it.

Ray could only come to the conclusion that this particular individual might be a Man. But he wasn't sure, keeping his gaurd up, he prepared for anything that might happen next.

Swoosh!

The wind began to be sucked into the transparent wall of light behind the individual.

"Guide…"

"..?!"

The individual's voice caught the separate parties off gaurd. Their voice though soft and gentle, carried a stern and steady undertone to it.

The individual glanced over the people present, eyeing each and every soul there. Almost making a mental note of each specific individual in sight.

Then once more, they spoke aloud for all three parties to hear.

"Do you all, need a Guide?"