Stranger Shore

"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.