Walking into the small store that almost seemed invisible to the outside world, Taehyung looked around for something valuable. His eyes raked over the small shop, gliding through the short, dusty isles like a snake. He made himself look only as if he was looking for the right gift to give someone he loved. In reality though Taehyung was searching for something worth some good money. 

His search stopped abruptly when he saw a beautiful hair piece that glittered in the harsh sunlight that formed from the sunset outside. He looked around a bit as if he was still searching while he picked up the small item and carefully slipped it into his pocket. Just when he was about to turn around and continue his 'search' a light, but menacing,voice popped up from behind him.

"What do you think you are doing?" Taehyung jumped and turned around slowly. His eyes met an old lady who was glaring up at him, "Well? I asked you a question. Do not just stand there giving me a dumb look." The lady put her hands on her hips, cocking an eyebrow, waiting for the teen to answer her. 

"Well, I was..." Taehyung rubbed the back of his neck, "I was uhh..."

"You were stealing from me." The lady accused, glaring at him harder. 

"Yeah. I was." He dropped his head down, running a hand through his hair. 

"And you do know the consequences of stealing, right?" 

"Yeah." His eyes desperately tried to avoid the lady's, ashamed.

"But, I will not call the police and have them come and get you if you do something for me. Now, I want you to know, before I tell you what it is, that this is very, very dangerous and you can get killed. Do you understand?" The lady shifted her weight onto her other leg and gave Taehyung a different kind of look and swore he saw her face change into many different expressions in less than a second while she stared at him. 

"What do I get out of it? If I do this for you and don't get killed, do I get something? Or would I just be risking my life so I wouldn't have to go to jail?" The lady glared at him hard, her eyes not leving his for over thirty seconds, "Okay." Taehyung sighed. He didn't know why he was agreeing, He wasn't getting anything out of it, or so he thought. He also doesn't know how or why he said 'Okay' like it was nothing. His mouth just moved on its own. He wanted to say he didn't want to do this but his mouth just would not move, no matter how much he tried. 

The lady smiled, "Good! I thank you so very much. And, if you return alive and with what I want, you will be able to keep the hair pin free of charge. I just do not like little thugs like you demanding things, it never fails to anger me." She clasped her hands together in delight, a scary glint in her eyes. "Now, Like I said, this task will be very dangerous and can kill you. Also, once you start it you cannot back out. If you do, I will call the police and you will be sent to jail."

"Alright." He said, again, speaking without control. This was really starting to piss him off. 

"I need you to go into a different world. A world that not many humans have been to before because the people who inhabit this world are evil. The prey on humans. Now, you may be thinking, 'Why would I have to go there?', Well, I need you to retrieve something, it had been taken from me a while ago and I would like to have it back. I would go and bring it back myself but I am too old. I need someone like you who apparently does not like to follow rules to retrieve it for me." She clasped her hands again and smiled, staring at Taehyung intently. "Now after I told you all of that would you still be alright with going?"

"Yes." Damnit! His mouth spoke again without his effort. 

Her smile got wider, "Good!" She exclaimed again, "The thing I want you to get back for me is a gorgeous stone. It had been gifted to me when I was a little girl. It looks like a big, chunky, opaque sapphire. The deep blue really stands out among other stones of its kind, it is brighter than others I have seen. The king of the other world is the one who had taken it so I would not be foolish to think it was somewhere in his castle. I would be so thankful if you could get it for me, I really miss it." A small tear rolled down her cheek as she thought of the stone. 

Taehyung felt a slight surge of pity for the old woman and it made him a tiny bit determined to get this stone back to her. He was still angry at the could not say the things he wanted to. His shoulders sagged and he looked at the old lady. Taehyung opened his mouth to say something like 'Get someone else to do it! I don't care if I go to jail'. But instead,

"Okay, I will try my hardest to get it back for you! I promise." Taehyung internally screamed. But since he already, and involuntary, said he would do it, he couldn't really back out now. 

And for the third time the lady exclaimed, "Good!"

He nodded and then turned to go home. The lady put a hand on his shoulder and put a warning look on her face. Her eyebrows knitted together and her eyes stared hard at Taehyung. He looked back at her.

"You will come back here at 6:30 tomorrow morning. If you try and run I will find you." Her eyes flashed a different color, but it was just because the light hit them differently Taehyung told himself. He didn't want to think someone's eyes could do that, which they couldn't obviously.

"Okay." He said, slightly scared. This time his mouth didn't have to fight him to say its own thing. 

When she moved her hand he left the shop as quickly as he could, not forgetting to set down the hair pin. The lady said something as he left but he didn't hear her, nor did he even turn around to ask her what she said. His mind was racing with thoughts, things the lady said, almost none of it made sense to him. A different world? A different species? Taehyung tried desperately tried to grasp onto the concept of everything.

Once he got a little bit away from the store he bolted, running back to his house. Once he got there he calmed his breathing down and went over to his computer. He started to do some research about another world but all of it proved to be unsuccessful. All he found were conspiracy theorists talking about parallel universes and  how there are twins of you in them. Nothing that was helpful to Taehyung at the moment. 

He decided to just go up to his room without eating dinner and curl up on his bed. He fell asleep quickly from thinking so much. His dreams merely consisted of what he was going to have to do the next day. He also dreamed about what could happen to him if he ran away. The lady's threat seemed more than just calling the police and that sacred Taehyung thoroughly. He knew somewhere deep down that if he didn't do it he would be killed in a worse way than what might happen during his journey. 

 

 

 

The next day came too quickly for comfort. His alarm woke him up at exactly 6:00 o'clock and he bolted upright. Not even wasting any time laying in bed for a few extra minutes, Taehyung got up and made his way to the bathroom, quickly washing and dressing before going to the kitchen. He ate a small breakfast and left his house at exactly 6:25 am. 

He walked quickly even though he lived kind of close to the antique shop. Right be fore he got there he stopped for a second to catch his breath and calm his nerves. After calming down he continued the rest of his walk, trying to remain calm. Taehyung stopped right in front of the shop that had its closed sign still on the door. He pushed the door slightly and it opened so he walked in. 

"Great, you are here. I was afraid you would have ran off, trying to avoid this." The lady's voice sounded slightly agitated, but she smiled widely. Her hands, once again, clasped together. "It is now time to fill you in on the stuff I forgot yesterday."

Taehyung looked at her with an uncertain look on his face, "What do you mean?"

"Well, the species is called Fae. Have you heard of that?" She stared at him intently, waiting for an answer.

"No, I haven't." 

"Okay, well the Fae is most known as 'Faeries'. They are known to not be real but they are. The Fae are evil creatures, like I said, and they like to eat people. They also look different and since you are human you will stand out amongst them. You will be very easy to spot." She giggled slightly, "So be careful."

Taehyung looked at her, slightly angry because this lady told him that Faeries are real but his mind want to be logical and say thay can't be real. He finally nodded, waiting for her to finish what she was say.

"Thats all I have to say. Now I have to guide you to the other world." Her hand was outstretched, old fingers curling and un folding as she willed him forward.

Taehyung carefully moved forward as if approaching an angry dog. The lady turned when he got closer and walked towards the back of the shop. She walked up to the wall and felt around it for a minute before finding what she was looking for. 

Removing a small piece of wood from under the wallpaper a small door knob was revealed. She grabbed it and turned it. A loud creaking sound bounced off the shelves throughout the shop and the door opened up to a staircase. 

"This is the way to the other world." The lady's hand shot out to show the way down the stairs but didn't move. Taehyung gulped and the took the first step down the stairs and looked up at the lady.

"Are you going down too?" The lady just shook her head and waved him down.

Looking back down Taehyung took a few more steps. He heard the door shutting but he didn't look back up. A small light shined near the end of the staircase and he walked toward it. 

All of a sudden the light flashed brightly and Taehyung's surroundings changed. At first glance it looked like he was just in the woods, hiking or something. But, when he really looked different. Flowers had bright colors but the world around him was darker. The trees were huge and set close together and he could hear things moving and making noise around him. It smelled strange, kind of like rotting food but also a sweet smell from the flowers. 

"Who are you?!" A loud, raspy voice sounded from above Taehyung. Taehyung's head shot up and he looked around frantically for who spoke. "I asked you a question!"

A dark figure dropped in front of Taehyung and crouched on the ground, staring at the boy, his lips. It stood up and walked closer to him before stopping about a two feet before it reached him. 

"Oh, you aren't going to tell me? What a pity. I like knowing the names of my meals." It chuckled darkly, "My name is... Well you don't need to know that. Nice to meet you." The figure stuck its hand out. 

Taehyung pondered giving his name to the creature. He figured it wouldn't hurt because he obviously was going to die before even being here three minutes. 

"My name is...It's.."

"C'mon, spit it out." The thing spoke quickly.

"It's V." Taehyung put his hand into its. 

"That's a lie, but, it's also a smart lie." The two shook hands before it chuckled and pushed Taehyung on the ground. "So, V, you haven't been here long, such a shame you don't get to see much of this place."

 

 

Chapter written by: multi_fandom_trash aka Kale