Stranded Stranger

"Where am I?" Shawn wondered when he opened his eyes and found out he was lost in the middle of nowhere. It was a place he had never been; it wasn't familiar at all, and everything seemed different.

"What's going on here?" he asked again, seeing dust floating with the wind, creating a tornado. "What the hell? Is this a joke?" He screamed in shock and ran as the tornado became greater than he anticipated.

"Stop!" An unfamiliar girl, wearing a lilac shirt and pants, shouted at him. She had long, straight black hair and violet eyes that were sharp as daggers. She moved swiftly towards him and asked, "What are you doing here, stranger?"

"Stranger?" Shawn replied in a curious tone. "I don't know; I don't know what I am doing here. Am I not dead yet? Aren't you an angel fallen from heaven?" He lightly scratched his head and smiled like this was a joke before saying, "I think I'm lost."

"What are you talking about? Of course you're lost; you might have been from another kingdom, because you look really different with what you're wearing," she added. She studied him, scrutinizing every detail of his entire figure from head to toe as if she were undressing him.

Shawn glanced at his arms and legs. He noticed that he was wearing the same clothes before the accident—a pair of dark navy blue denim jeans and a grey shirt that exactly matched the stormy shade of his eyes. But he knew it wasn't time to think about that because another danger was coming.

"There's no time to chitchat. There's a huge tornado there, so we should evacuate," Shawn informed hurriedly, pointing at the tornado.

"Wait! What? A tornado?" She asked in a surprised tone. "If I'm not mistaken, it's my brother again. He keeps practicing to control his magic, but it always ends up in trouble."

"Your brother?" Shawn furrowed his forehead, showing a confused face. "You mean he created that tornado? Are you serious?"

"Probably. Let me fix what he's done first. He's just a kid, and he doesn't know what he's doing," she replied.

Shawn watched the girl carefully walk towards the vortex of violent, rotating winds. Then, he heard her chant a spell that made it stop swirling, and a young boy jumped from above.

"Stop making trouble again, Ash!" she scolded the boy, who looked similar to her with his short, black hair and violet eyes. "You might hurt innocent people with what you're doing!"

"I'm sorry, sis. I just want to train to control my power so that I can protect you and myself from harm. My playmates always bully me because I can't control my magic, unlike them," the boy said in a sad tone.

A boy who could produce a tornado? How was that even possible? Shawn wondered, holding his chin, and curiosity appeared on his face. Everything was unbelievable, and he couldn't even understand what was happening.

"Well, you don't have to overdo yourself because you're destroying the surroundings, and you can't protect us if you get hurt too," she advised. "Come on, let's go back."

"Wait, sister. Who's that boy?" Ash pointed at Shawn, who was still confused about what happened.

"Oh right. I saw him running a while ago; he was the one who told me you were here," she told her brother while approaching Shawn. "Hi! I'm Ava, and this is my brother, Ash."

"Hi, sir, my sister is beautiful, right?" Ash happily asked. "She's also good at combat; you might be interested in her. By the way, she's single, but—"

"Shut up, Ash." Ava covered her brother's lips with her palm. "You don't have to tell him everything. Don't forget that he's still a stranger, and we don't even know his name," she reminded him.

"I'm Shawn, Shawn Pendragon, from Earth," Shawn simply said.

"From Earth?" Ash asked. "Is there a kingdom called Earth? Is it very far away? Is it beautiful?"

"Shut up, Ash. Play with your friends," Ava ordered.

Ash shrugged and turned to leave. He wondered why his sister was so strict and overprotective. He just wanted to talk with Shawn, but why wouldn't she let him?

"I've been in this world for almost eighteen thousand years, but I haven't ever heard of a kingdom called Earth. You might be a spy from the Fire kingdom, and you're just lying to us." Ava's hunch grew stronger as she unsheathed her sword and prepared for a battle.

However, Shawn stood still, wondering if he just misunderstood what she said about living for almost eighteen thousand years. That was impossible! Besides, he didn't even have a stick or something he could use to fight. How could he battle a woman like her?

"Tell me. Where are you from, and what's your real intention for getting near us?" Ava commanded.

"I'm telling the truth. I came from Earth, and I don't know how I came here. But there's one thing I'm certain of: I never intended to hurt anyone, and I'm not a spy." Shawn tried his best to explain.

"Don't fool me, you assassin. You can't fool a woman like me, so you better give up and choose not to fight if you don't want to get hurt," Ava warned.

Shawn could do nothing since the woman wouldn't listen to anything he said. She kept saying he was a liar, a spy, or an assassin. It took her a while to realize that Shawn was completely helpless as he collapsed on the ground due to hunger.

"Hey! Stop fooling me!" Ava shouted as if she weren't convinced that Shawn was unconscious. She thought that perhaps he was just trying to trick her.

"Are you serious? How can you collapse like that? I thought you were a tough soldier sent from the Fire Kingdom, but you're not as strong as you look. I think I overestimated you."

Ava realized all those things as she carried the unconscious man and headed to their house. It was already afternoon when Shawn woke up. He was surprised as he opened his eyes because Ava was staring at his face with curiosity. He slowly stood up and stretched his arms a little bit.

"Um, you're wrong in what you're thinking. I wasn't looking at you." Ava denied what she actually did. She had been staring at him since they arrived here.

"I don't mind someone watching me sleep. By the way, who brought me here?" Shawn asked.

"It was; it was my friend," Ava lied. "Don't try to think that I would carry you after what you did."

Shawn couldn't help but laugh slightly, as he had been awake all this time since Ava carried him. He just pretended to be asleep since he didn't want her to think he was a spy.

"Why are you laughing?" Ava asked in her annoyed manner. "You better thank me for letting you stay here after what you did, or else you're already dead."

"What did I do?" Shawn replied. "I didn't even have something that I could use to fight, so why do you doubt my innocence?"

"I'm not used to strangers, especially when you said you're from Eat, Err, Erd—what's that again?" Ava paused.

"It's Earth. And even if you won't believe me, I can show you something that will prove I came from that place." Shawn took something from the pocket of his jeans. "This—" He showed her a smartphone.

"What's that?" Ava looked shocked and surprised as Shawn showed her something unfamiliar. "An artificial weapon?" She stepped back and quickly pointed her sword at Shawn.

"No! Wait, it's not!" Shawn exclaimed. "Let me explain—it's just a smartphone. I used it to communicate with my friends and family through social media, and it really doesn't hurt any people. Believe me."

Ava slowly dropped her sword, still curious what that thing was on Shawn's hand. Perhaps it could explode and the whole place would scatter, but she stood straight and pointed her sword at him again when he attempted to stand up.

"Why are you so insecure? I'm not planning to destroy this whole place. Trust me." Shawn opened his phone and showed it to Ava, who was still holding her sword.

Her trembling grip grew stronger after seeing someone dancing on his smart phone. It was just a video on an app called TikTok. But Ava became more confused and nervous at the same time.

"Who's that? Why did you put him there? How can I trust a weird man like you? Why are you showing me all of this?" Ava asked again.

"I already told you. I want you to believe me that I came from Earth, and we humans are different," Shawn said. "Do you believe me now?"

"No! I don't! Cut that crap!" Ava suddenly grabbed Shawn's smartphone and attempted to break it with her sword when someone entered the room.

"What's happening here, Ava?" an old man asked. He was wearing a long, loose outer garment that resembled a black robe and a magician's black hat. He was also holding a wooden cane.

"I'm sorry, master, but I find this man suspicious, especially this thing that has someone inside; he keeps showing me weird things, so I'm taking action," Ava explained.

The old man walked towards Ava. He picked up the phone from the floor and scrutinized it carefully. He accidentally dropped it when it vibrated as someone sent a message.

"Careful, master!" Ava warned aggressively while preparing for what could happen again. "I'm here to protect you, so don't touch that weird thing."

"Don't worry, Ava. It's not so dangerous after all," he said confidently with a smile while picking up the phone from the floor.

"How can you say that, master?" Ava asked curiously. "How can you say that it's not so dangerous if it contains someone inside? He might be planning to imprison us too, just like what he did to those people."

"Stop that, Ava! I saw the same thing before, though it's slightly different from this, but it's not dangerous, I'm telling you," the old man assured.

He walked towards Shawn and gave him back his smartphone. "Here you go. Keep it, or else she will break it into pieces," he whispered.

"Thanks, Geezer!" Shawn replied with a grateful smile as he slipped his phone back inside the pocket of his jeans.

"You too, Ava. Stop bothering our guest. He may have looked weird, but he's not as suspicious as you think," the old man told her. "You should prepare him something to eat instead of being rude. I know he's hungry," and then he went out of the room.

"You're just lucky that my master arrived. Or else you'd be dead, stranger," Ava said before she left.

Shawn sighed with relief. He didn't know what trouble he had entered, but he was aware that the people around him were very different from the ones he knew. Even if they wouldn't believe him, he knew for himself that he was reincarnated.

Days before, Shawn was living an ordinary life on earth. He was a student at Jefferson High School. Just like other people, he had a low profile. He loved keeping things private, never posting on social media about what was going on in his life, and never trusting anyone, not even his own family.

That day, about one o'clock in the afternoon, he and his best friend, Justin, were crossing the highway when a rushing ambulance suddenly appeared. His friend managed to survive, but he was hit and died on the spot. That ambulance didn't have a chance to bring him to a hospital; he was brought to a morgue instead.

He would usually crack a joke to his classmates, telling them that if they were tired of their lives, they should not worry because there was free makeup in a funeral home, but he couldn't imagine or never expect that he would taste that free makeup first.

"Hang in there, Shawn!" were the last words he heard from his friend before everything turned dark. He wishe