Paradise Lost

The light of a miday sun shined through a blanket of water. A hand stretched out, as if to grasp the light, but slowly the light grew more distant until it was little more than a feint glisten. A man sunk into the cold embrace of the water, and as his vision began to fail, death enveloped him.


A field of stars stretched above the restless waves of a great ocean. The waves rocked back and forth, coming forward to kiss the sandy beach before receeding to repeat the process again. The luminosity of the moon reflected from the waters surface, and the only sound was the gentle ambience of the ocean. On the serene shores, laid the body of a man. He stirred in his place for a moment before opening his eyes, as if waking from a sleep. His name was Arthur. Arthur's hair was a coarse black and his eyes were a deep brown, but more importantly, he was a foreigner to this world.

As he sat up his eyes glanced around him, a look of heavy confusion crossed his face before his gaze finally rested on the ocean. He felt a curious case of amnesia as he stood to his feet. This place was foreign to him, he had no recollection of how he had arrived at this beach. He could only remember a feeling of sinking, but even that slowly faded from his mind, like a dream one would forget upon waking. As he starred out into the ocean, he felt a feeling pulling at the back of his head, like an important thought he needed to remember, but that too faded, and soon he was left with nothing.

"Where am I?"

Fern sat on the beach, absently drawing swirling patterns in the sand with a finger. She was waiting for someone. Is is supposed to take this long? Should I be worried? Though she was no stranger to this world, and she knew its purpose, its rules, and the ways to manipulate it, this was Fern's first assignment as a Koi. But now she was forgetting her nerves--it was important that this went right, after all--and her mind wandered to her duties. She began to review her instructions and the rules of being a Koi. That was when she noticed someone wash up on shore.

Slowly Fern stood. That must be him, she thought. She didn't move, just observed the young man begin to stir. Ill keep my distance for a moment, let him get his bearings. When Arthur (she already knew his name, of course) asked his question, apparently to no one in particular, Fern finally approached. She smiled behind her mask, stopping a few feet behind the man.

"This is the Spirit World," she said pleasantly. "Welcome! You can call me Fern." Thats a pretty good start, right? she thought a little nervously. Yeah, yeah, that was fine. You should probably try to be nice and comforting. Good job. She'd chosen to leave her body in a regular humanoid form. Couldn't risk scaring this poor guy by running over to him all morphed or disfigured.