Dangerous Waters

My first work

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Disclaimer: Felarya is the property of Karbo, the city of Ryzelm'oire is property of TheQuantumMechanic, and The Giger Bar is property of H.R. Giger.

Prologue


It was another beautiful day in Chur, Switzerland, the birds were singing out in what seemed like a well-rehearsed melody and love was filling the air on this St. Valentines Day. There were couples walking up and down the sidewalks of the main road through the city. While even more couples were in their cars, driving off on romantic getaways to far off places. However, this story is not of these lovers and their journeys, but of a strange man and his journey to an even stranger world. We find our soon-to-be protagonist sitting on a bench watching the cars pass through the circle drive as he rests for a spell. It is a long walk from Old Chur to The Giger Bar, and he wants to be as relaxed as possible when he gets there. He could have gotten a taxi, but he needed the exercise. Deciding he has rested enough, he stands up and, dusting his coat off, continues on his walk to the bar. He is a lanky young man of 19, wearing a dark blue jacket over an equally dark blue hemp T-shirt and black canvas pants, with jet-black Crocs on his feet and a hat that looks like it was taken straight from an old documentary on Communist China. As he finally reached the bar, the theme song from “Cheers” floated through his head. Pulling open the large double doors, he enters the bar and immediately receives a joyous welcome from the bar staff and regulars. “ZEKE!” They shout over the light din of tourists conversing as they stare around at the demonic design of the famous bar. As Zeke walks up to the ornately designed bar, he reaches up to his chest and takes hold of the demon-like pendant hanging around his neck and, bringing it to his lips, kisses it like it was a rosary. Finishing his ritual, Zeke takes a seat in his usual chair at the bar and picks up the glass full of Absinthe and Champagne that the bartender had been preparing since his longest running repeat customer had walked in the door. “Another year older, huh Zeke?” asked the bartender as Zeke raised the glass over his head. “Yup…” he replied before bringing the glass to his lips and taking a long sip of the opalescent spirit. “It’s been 16 years since you and your old man first walked through those doors,” the old barman continued; “And I see more and more of your father in you every year.” Looking up at the bartender, Zeke replied, “If that were true, Uncle, I would have left this town years ago.” And with that, he returned to sipping the smoky cocktail in his hand. The uncle just stared at his nephew as he finished off his drink. “Now listen here, Zeke, I know my brother better than anyone in this town and I can tell you he is too loyal a man to just up and vanish like that. There has to be more to this story that we ain’t seeing!” he punctuated his sentence by slamming his fist on the bar with enough force to almost tip over the now empty absinthe glass. The young man gave his uncle a dark stare and then slowly spun the chair he was seated in, at which point he rose from the chair and proceeded to make his way toward the exit. As he left, he called over his shoulder, “I know that your right, Uncle, but it won’t change the fact that he left; and until he turns up and gives a sound reason for his absence, I have no choice but to assume the worst.” And with that, Zeke left the bar and made his way across the courtyard of the Kalchbühl-Center towards the road. He hailed the first taxi he could. After exchanging pleasantries with the driver, he asked to go to the river. A short 5-minute ride later and he was sitting under the bridge that crossed the river that divided Old Chur from the more modern Southern Chur. There Zeke sat, as he had sat there every year on his birthday since before his father had left. This year, however, he did something new. He grasped the pendant around his neck and held it clasped between his hands as he bowed his head, and prayed. “ Guardian Angel, hear my plea… I am not a religious man, I have never pretended to believe in god, but I believe in angels and in demons and I believe that there must be something beyond the mortal coil. So, Guardian Angel, I beseech thee, give me a sign, show me the path my father took so that I may find him; and, failing that, that I may at least receive some closure on this mystery.” As he finished his prayer, he raised his head up, as if looking for the sign he had requested. Suddenly, the world around him started shimmering and fading away. Leaving the now very confused Zeke sitting in the middle of a large circular room surrounded by people who looked like they had been swimming within the last 5 minutes. Almost immediately after the shimmering had stopped, one of the people from the crowd, a woman, walked up to him, held out her hand, and said, “Welcome to Ryzelm’oire.”


To be Continued…

Good start- from Switzerland to the deepest, darkest depths in the only inhabitable refuge of the Topazial Sea... Quite a jump.

First I've seen of Rhyzelm'oire in a story- looking forward to how Zeke takes to chlaenas.

Thanks, I know that it is a big jump; but any jump to felarya is a big jump anyways. It will all make sense in the end
Edit: I also have big plans for the many things that TheQuantumMechanic laid out, so keep your eyes on this story.

My apologies for double posting.
Disclaimer: Felarya is the property of Karbo, and Ryzelm'oire and the Chalenas are property of TheQuantumMechanic

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Chapter 1: I’m WHERE?!


Zeke just blinked and stared and the hand in front of him. After a full three minutes of staring and blinking, he finally managed to stammer, “Wh-Where am I?” The woman just looked at him pleasantly and replied, “This is Ryzelm’oire, possibly the safest city in all of Felarya.” At this point, Zeke held up a hand to stop her. With one swift motion of his hand, he removed his hat and smacked himself hard across the face. The stinging pain helping him to regain his composure, he finally managed to look the woman in the face and ask the next big question on his mind, “Okay, but how did I get here? One minute I was sitting under a bridge in my hometown and suddenly I’m in a big building that seems to be made of some kind of stone-“ “Coral, actually.” The woman interjected. “-Coral,” Zeke corrected himself. “And I… Wait, did you say coral?” “Yep, this whole complex is made of living coral.” She replied in a surprisingly calm manner. This left Zeke absolutely dumbstruck, he just stood there, slack-jawed trying to figure it out without losing his mind. “But if this building is made of coral, LIVING coral, then we must be…” he continued as he rushed through the crowd toward a window on the far wall and looked out onto an alien landscape, or, more accurately, seascape! Beyond the window lay a city built entirely of coral, and entirely covered in a vast ocean. In a shocked gasp, he finally finished his sentence, “… Underwater…” At that exact point, a large object rushed upward past the window and stopped to reveal a gigantic human eye staring at him. This sudden and frightening anomaly made Zeke fall backwards from pure shock and let loose a loud, girlish shriek of absolute terror. While he lay on his back like a tipped cow, he heard a loud and cheerful voice boom through the room, and it seemed to radiate from the window he had just fallen away from. “Hello in there! Sorry for the scare, Ma’am. I’m just here to let you all know that the Bazaar will be opening up soon! Better hurry before all the good stuff is gone!” And with that, the giant eye moved away from the window. As the shock began to subside, Zeke pulled himself up to the window in time to see a giant, blue skinned, topless woman swimming backwards away from the window. Were this not strange enough, as soon as she had moved far back enough, he saw that her lower body was that of a giant blue octopus! Having gotten such an eyeful, he turned to his left and walked out of view of the window and immediately began banging his head against the hard wall of the room. Around the fourteenth or fifteenth hit, he felt himself being pulled away from the wall. He turned his head around and found the perpetrator to be the woman who had so cheerfully welcomed him to this Lovecraftian Nightmare of a world. “Why did you stop me?” Zeke asked incredulously, “I was having fun.” Finishing his question with a sarcastic quip. “Really?” the woman replied in an exasperated tone, “Because last time I checked, it wasn’t that healthy to go smashing your head into a wall like that.” “*Pffffttt*… Logic.” Zeke sneered back. “Here we are, sitting in the dead center of Ryl’yeh and you’re applying logic to the situation? I say BAH HUMBUG to you and your damned logic!” At this point, the woman had gotten tired of listening to this stranger, whom she had tried to be cordial and pleasant to, berate her for no reason at all, and promptly hit him over the head with the large book in her other hand. Strangely enough, this seemed to calm him down, as he almost immediately woke up from the blow and promptly said, “Thanks, I needed that.” She had been totally unprepared for this response, in the past people had reacted to the exact treatment by pulling a knife, gun, laser-thing, or other weapon on her. Not once had a person responded to being beaten over the head with a “Thank You.” She hesitated, wondering how to reply. This gave Zeke the time he needed to continue, “ Sorry for the trouble, I tend to get a little stir crazy when I panic. It’s obvious we got off on the wrong foot. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Ezekiel Reiziger; but everyone calls me Zeke. What’s your name?” Now it was the woman’s turn to be dumbstruck, this man had gone from yelling obscenities and nonsense words to calmly introducing himself. After a while, she finally answered, “My name is Surrelia, Surrelia Gids.” Zeke cocked his head to one side, “What a unique name.” he said with pure honesty in his voice. All this time, however, Zeke had been worming his way out of Surrelia’s grasp. With a final tug, he managed to free his coat from her vice-like grip and right himself. As he straightened his coat, he looked over at Surrelia and casually asked, “Now, let’s try this again. First, where am I?” Surrelia gave a quck look at what appeared to be a watch on her wrist and, eyes wide with shock, said; “No time, I’ll explain on the way!” And quickly pointed at Zeke while muttering something unintelligible, then roughly grabbed him by his arm and began to pull him towards what looked like a doorway. Zeke, now completely lost on what was going on, could only ask, “On the way to WHERE?” “You heard the Chalenas,” she shouted back, “the Bazaar opens in a few minutes, and you don’t want to miss this!”

End of Chapter 1

Well, I suppose one doesn't get attention with just two chapters. Oh Well, On with the story!

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Chapter 2: The Bizarre Bazaar


“Alright, run this by me one more time.” This was the fifth time that Zeke had said that, and Surrelia was getting very annoyed. “Fine…” she huffed, “You are in a land called Felarya, a dimensionally unstable place that is inhabited with all sorts of animals and plants that have a large appetite for humans. The city we are in right now is called Ryzelm’oire, and is possibly the safest place in Felarya thanks to the safe zone enforced by the Chalenas. If you were to go outside of the protective zone, you would be free game for any of the predators that tend to wait outside the border.” As Surrelia paused to take a breath, Zeke decided to squeeze a few more questions in. “Okay, I got that. Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but we seem to be walking along the ocean floor. How is that possible?” Surrelia looked back at him and asked, “Remember that book I hit you with?” “Of course…” Zeke replied, rubbing the lump on his head. “How could I forget?” She grinned sheepishly back at him and continued, “Well, it’s a spell book that I bought on my first trip to the Bazaar. It’s full of special spells to help humans make a living in Ryzelm’oire. From the first spell I cast on you, which is how you’re not being crushed by the undersea pressure; to the spell I used when we left the bubble that’s allowing us to talk under water and a bunch of other stuff. It’s usually the first thing that people buy once they’ve decided to stay here.” In response, Zeke gave an exaggerated sigh “Of course, MAGIC! The answer to all your problems.” He then proceeded to wave his hands around as if casting a spell. “Well, if you don’t like it, I can always remove the spell and let the pressure crush you into a bloody pulp.” This made him instantly begin regretting his sarcastic nature, “So, uhhh, what about this thing you stuck in my nose when you dragged me out of the, what did you call it, bubble?” he asked, trying to change the subject. “Oh, that’s an Amphicillime, it’s a plant that takes the stale air you breathe out and convert it back into pure oxygen.” Zeke stared down his nose at the little plant hanging there, “Neat.” While he was busy staring, he hadn’t noticed that Surrelia had stopped walking and promptly ran into her. “Ow, watch it you big klutz!” she huffed. “Hey, how was I supposed to know you… had… stopped…” his retort faded away as he saw why Surrelia had stopped. For there in front of them was a gigantic street about as wide as two voetbal courts lined up end to end. However, the much more impressive thing about it was that filled with all sorts of creatures, from people, to what looked like elves to giant women like the one he had seen before. Lining both sides of the street were giant stands covered in all kinds of random objects, these stands were tended by more of the giant octopus women. They were all yelling at the top of their lungs, gills, or whatever they breathed with; all trying to get more attention than the others around them. While Zeke continued to stare, Surrelia began walking into the crowd, she turned toward Zeke and yelled, “come on, what are you waiting for, an invitation?” He only had time to do was grasp his guardian angel and make a silent prayer before rushing into the crowd.

To Be Continued…