voidgsgow

  PROLOGUEMake a wish. Of anything you desire, I will grant it.For a price, that is.Monologue.Tick, tock, goes the clock. Day by day, year by year. 21 of those years, and I've lost all sense of self in exchange for a paltry pce in society which will never make me feel whole. What is too much? What is too little? Tick-tick tock, and I while my life away, spinning a thread that no one will ever see. I bury myself in work until the day passes, and then I'll have my time alone. Time, to ment at my own folly. Exactly what have I done with this life?

  Same day, same time, same people. Tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-

  Ah, how I wish that noisy clock would shut the fuck up.

  I wake up early. Eat breakfast. Go and do my work. Go to lectures. Spend time with a few people I happen to like. Pretend to be a good person. Diligently do my job. Eat lunch. Say "yes, I'll have a drink with you," even though I have no desire to spend another second near you. Py therapist to my neighbor, to everyone who wants to spill. Break off a piece of dark chocote, trying to comfort myself and forgetting to savor it. Turning on the television and turning it off again. Nap. Make dinner. Nap again. Take my shower, wash my hair, brush my teeth, and sleep poorly. Rinse-repeat, rinse-repeat. All the same, and nothing good.

  Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Tick-tock.

  Honestly, humanity can do better than those infernal clocks. Are we not in the digital age? Who uses analog any more?

  BLEEP! BLEEP-BLEEP! BLEEP! BLEEP-BLEEP!

  I rescind my statement.

  Humanity cannot do better.

  ---

  What in Hell? I could swear I was just on my couch a minute ago... what kind of fever dream is this? Such were my thoughts as I gazed around... some kind of eatery?, confused as I watched monsters of several varieties alongside humans (or what I thought were humans) eating all manner of things. Beastmen, serpents, mia, dragonkin, and were those dark elves? The table before me was id with a tablecloth, one that was colored a gaudy mix of piss yellow and blood red, and I couldn't help my stomach from churning as I watched a man with horns eat what I hoped was not a hand.

  "Your order?" someone asked me impatiently, and I flinched and nearly stood up out of surprise. My eyes met a pair of beautiful garnet ones before I absorbed the rest of the man's positively striking face. With hair parted seven-to-three, smooth and framing his face, it only enhanced his pale, extravagant countenance. His nose was straight, and though he was not smiling at me, his thin lips were just as handsome. As if that wasn't enough, it was as if his mere presence pressed against my existence, metaphorically throwing me to the ground without trying. Which was rather funny, considering his work uniform was absolutely ridiculous, a polo striped in the same ugly combinations of colors the rest of the establishment had been decorated in.

  My mind finally registered his words as I realized there was a foreign menu in front of me, scrawled in symbols that looked like some mix of ancient Tibetan, Arabic, and modern Korean. Did my dreaming brain seriously just make up a whole nguage?!

  "U, Uh," I said, a little scared of the man's unfriendly expression. "My eyes don't work so good. Can you read it for me?" The man gave me a long, uncomfortable look in response, and I thought about just telling him that I didn't know how to read. But, then again, I was a little terrified of lowering his opinion of me further.

  "Must I?" he asked, clearly irritated at the request, and I quickly backtracked.

  "N-No; I mean, you don't have to... I can just pick one at random. I-I mean it's not like I'm pick-"

  "Item one," the man interrupted with a sigh, standing next to my spot in the booth and pointing at the first menu item with a red-nailed index finger. He paints his nails? Kind of cool... My eyes fixed onto his hand, up to his wrist. God, why were men's hands so pretty? "Hotter-Than-Hell Cheeseburger. 37 Grimm. Item two. The Monster Mash. 42 Grimm. Item three. Supreme Devildom Wings. 37 Grimm..." He's really listing out all of them, I thought as I watched him point out each and every menu item. Considering what the customers were eating around me, I had zero interest in finding out what most of those things were, but... I would have to say that listening to his deep voice droning on was fairly soothing. "Have you decided on something?" he prompted, forcing me out of my daydreams, and I wracked my brain hoping that whatever I picked would be at least somewhat safe to eat. If I was even going to eat it in the first pce.

  "Er... I think the first vegetarian option would be best for my health..."

  "Good," he said, confiscating my menu with a relieved yet exasperated look. I suppose I couldn't bme him that hard when he read out the entire menu to me. "It will be out for you shortly."

  As soon as the tall man left, I looked around again and finally managed to find the exit. Sorry, Mr. Handsome, I don't have any Grimm, whatever that currency is, and I don't think I can keep much of anything down if I keep smelling wafts of iron every so often. I really must be going, good sir; it was nice meeting you, but I hope you never remember me.

  I felt pretty bad about running off, but it wasn't like I'd actually eaten anything, and anyway, it was probably a dream. That idea became a lot more solid as I stepped out into a bustling city that was even more bizarre than the pce I'd just walked out of. More strange things than I'd ever seen roamed the cobbled streets, glittery objects floating around and disappearing every so often. Some buildings were beyond old-fashioned; others were avant-garde. A normal cat, a fluffy Maine Coon, ran across the street in front of me, shortly followed by a blond man crying for it to come back. I gnced at the sky, a beautiful, pale purple fading to bck. In the distance, an enormous mountain framed what appeared to be a beautiful castle.

  I don't know how you came up with this, Anne, but this pce would be cool to actually live in, I thought to myself as I wandered around, a little too fearless. Although... if it's not a dream, and this is reality... I think I've been royally screwed over. There's no way I'd survive longer than a week.

  Despite having that thought, a faint smile found its way onto my lips, wondering how many more of these creatures could speak English, how different their customs were, if that thing I saw in the alleyway was some kind of magic. Why that starry-caped man stopped and gave me a long, curious look before he resumed talking to a dark-skinned man that I could only describe as being "scantily cd but pure-hearted about it."

  Well, even if I'm screwed... I thought as I walked onwards through the unknown, it's not boring, now is it?