Alana woke up with a jolt. She sat up and looked around the room. It was a plain room, with white walls and minimal furniture. There were no windows but she assumed it was morning. Next to the only lamp in the room was the brown-headed feminine man, staring intently at her. “Oh, you’re awake! Good afternoon.” He took a step forward. So it was afternoon. Alana thought.

“Get away from me!” She grabbed the pillow from behind her back and threw it at him. He ducked casually and it missed.

He smiled. “I should be saying that. You’re lucky you didn’t break anything.” He had a small bandage on his nose which he rubbed pretending to be in pain.

“Leave me alone.” She glared at him.

“Kevin!” The man with the blonde hair strutted in. “You sure are grumpy, aren’t you? How’s your head?” He sat on the bed, next to her feet.

“Eli!” The browned headed man, named Kevin, warned. “Be careful.”

“My head is fine.”

 “You can thank Ian for that. Ian is our father and taught us everything we know about first aid.” Eli said. Eli and Kevin were brothers? They looked nothing alike, thought Alana.

“You’ve got strength, I’ll give you that.” Kevin said.

 “What do you want from me?” Alana asked exhaustedly.

“That’s a hard question.” Eli said as he turned to Kevin. “I wonder how we should go about this.”

“I saw Eli in the alley laughing and now I’m here. What’s going on?” She shouted.

“Hey, it’s not my fault; your face was so funny!” Eli lifted his hands up, trying to hold back his laugh.

“Why were you trying to kidnap me? You seemed to have succeeded.”

“We weren’t!” Kevin touched his nose. “You’re just feisty. We wouldn’t hurt you!”

“I promise you, we won’t hurt you.” Eli crossed his heart with his right arm. Kevin nodded in agreement. Alana didn’t want to but she felt she could trust them.

“Unless Ian finds out you’re here…”

“Kevin…” Eli threatened. Kevin sulked out of the room and shut the door behind him. An uncomfortable silence filled the room “If you stop being so hostile, I’ll tell you.”

“Fine.”

“Okay, here goes.” Eli rubbed a white coloured crystal hanging from a string tied around his neck. “You’re not in Korea anymore; you’re not on Earth at all.”

She stared at him, what else could she say? “Let’s say you’re right, where am I?”

“You’re in Fate City. Well, the portal to this house is in Fate City.”

“Why kind of name is that?”

“Fate City,” Eli repeated with frustration, “is the only city of Noir. Noir isn’t a part of your world though. It’s a small world, only the size of South Korea. Each door is a portal which leads to a completely different place.”

“Doesn’t noir mean black in French?”

“I’m not sure; we mostly speak English here in Fate City. Although I have been to parts of Fate City that only speak foreign languages. Luckily, I speak Korean.”

“Very funny.”

“I’m not kidding. Listen, you’ve stepped through a few portals already. Didn’t it strike you as weird that a club, grocery store and airport were all connected?”

“Take me home.” She stared into his eyes. “You’re stupid joke isn’t funny and I need to go back to-”

“I guess the only way it to show you. We need to hand in your registration form anyway.” Eli grabbed her wrists and pulled her out of the bed, registration form? What kidnappers required documents? He dragged her out of the room and into another, where Kevin was standing with his arms full of scrap metal. Eli stopped and Alana bumped into his back.

“Oh good, you can help me.” Kevin smiled, he reminded her of Sailor. Sailor! She thought. Was it only yesterday morning she spoke to her?

“Do it yourself.” Eli tried to push past him.

“Wait, are you taking her outside?”

“No, I’m just showing her the front door.” Eli said with sarcasm. “Of course I’m taking her outside!”

“Can I come too?” Kevin mumbled as he tried to keep all the metal from dropping. His face was barely visible behind all the metal.

“No.” Eli said bluntly. Kevin moaned as he carried the metal into another room.

This room was bigger compared to the previous bedroom. It had a giant machine in the middle of the room, which seemed to tick every so often. The machine had bits and bobs everywhere and looked like the inside of a windup toy. Next to the machine, was wooden spiral staircase that led to an indoor balcony, just in front of the ticking machine. “I have no idea what half these machines do.” He pointed to the balcony. “That’s Ian’s work area. Best stay away from there…” Eli forced one of his shoes on which were sitting at the front door. A loud clattering noise came from behind Alana, which made her jump.

“Sorry!” Kevin yelled from one of the doors in the wooden corridor behind her.  One of which, was the bedroom she had come from.

“Why is everything wooden?” She asked herself.

“Not everything, we have windows.” Eli pointed to the roof, which was made up of many different shapes of coloured glass. “We got sick of the colour brown…”Eli sighed and stood up, “You should see when the sun comes up; this place turns into a rainbow. We’re one of the lucky portals which get sun.”

“Not every portal has sun?” Alana asked, baffled at the idea that some areas would forever be in darkness. Eli nodded and pointed towards the door behind him. This door was a different colour compared to the others. It was black and had a multiple coloured crystal knob. Always crystal she thought.

“KEVIN!” Someone other than Eli yelled.

“That’s our cue!” Eli chuckled as he pushed her through the door.

Author's note: How are you all liking the story? Remember to share if you are enjoying it. Also, I've got a poster *Claps*. (link to the poster shop in the foreword) What do you think?