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@calidris

how many characters can we introduce?  I think I’m sticking with Misu for now, but depending on how things go, I might introduce a couple more

You can have two in at a time, but you can switch them out as often as you’d like! I’m actually going to swap out Liorah and Ferran pretty soon. I have two characters I want to develop before a rewrite. I think I’ll put them in after they figured out this trap.

Misu has a rather interesting personality, so feel free to give your characters rather interesting responses.  You’re not going to hurt my feelings lol (although you might hurt his)

LOL, good! Liorah is extremely argumentative and Ferran is shy, which usually comes off as rude. XD They say some pretty offensive things sometimes XD

Liorah

The man smiled uneasily, then sheathed his swords. Thank goodness. Those looked sharp.

I had just been measuring my chances against him. Ordinarily, I could have held my own, and with Ferran on my side I would have won easily, but something about this man was deeply unsettling, though he seemed friendly enough.

“You can call me Misu if you wish.  Most people do.  Some people call me an idiot, but that isn’t at all to my liking.  I came to this room here because I thought I heard people in trouble, but you two look like you’re doing fine!  Are you having fun?  This place looks…fun,” Misu beamed at me and I barely suppressed the urge to laugh. Fun wasn’t the first thing that popped into my mind.

I settled for shooting Ferran a highly amused glance. He signed something to me, spelling out a name. Acyn. Ferran didn’t usually sign me things, I only knew the simplest signs and he was so fast I couldn’t keep up.

I doubled over in laughter, trying to smother my laugh behind my hand. Ferran grinned. He was right, Misu reminded me a lot of Acyn, especially the rapid-fire stream of nervous rambling.

“You’re very welcoming – I can’t say the same for your lovely young friend, though.  I talk a lot when I’m uncomfortable.  Are you uncomfortable?  You look uncomfortable.”

It had been rude of me to burst out laughing, but he didn’t seem to mind. He was right about Ferran though. He was withdrawn at the best of times and hadn’t said a word since Misu arrived.

“I’m doing brilliantly, having the time of my life, thanks for noticing,” I said, sarcastically. Still, I couldn’t keep from grinning. At least Misu was amusing.

“I sense a great uneasiness about you,” he whispered, shifting towards us. He had suddenly turned serious.

Ferran shifted, making a quick sign to Azar so she stayed nearby him. She had been wriggling in excitement, desperate to greet the stranger. She seemed to like him, at least. Ferran was unsettled, to say the least. I shot him a questioning look, asking what was wrong.

He frowned, then shot a quick, barely perceptible look toward the stranger. It wasn’t just the whole situation of being trapped, something about this stranger seemed wrong to Ferran. I trusted his judgment and my smile faded and I let my hand rest comfortably on my sword.

“You are both in danger, this much is plain.  You speak of a Lord Castle – who is he?  His name is clearly a harbinger of doom to both of you.  And where exactly are we?”  He smiled ruefully.

“Where, where?” I imitated, lightly. “Beyond seven deserts, past seven mountains.”

He didn’t seem to catch the reference, which told me he wasn’t from Yerasht, like us. That was the traditional way to start a story, but he had no reaction to it.

“Wish I knew. I wandered into a cave, came out here. No idea.” I shrugged. “The same thing happened to Gav. I mean, Gavril, my older brother.”

I raised my voice, anger taking over once again.

“And Lord Castle, why don’t you introduce yourself properly?” I spat at one of the walls.

An ear-splitting crackle cleaved through the air petulantly, making Azar whine. I clapped my hands over my ears, disgusted.

As soon as the deafening roar had passed, I mockingly imitated it, though at a much quieter volume. The castle seemed to have no reaction to taunting, but I enjoyed it and it amused Ferran, so it was entirely worthwhile.

Ferran snickered, which was exactly the reaction I’d been hoping for.

“Is that all you have to say for yourself? You, who brought this entire chaotic mess upon us? I think you’d have a better excuse than that!” I said, bouncing on the balls of my feet in anger.

“You aren’t going to throw your boots at the wall again, are you?” Ferran asked, quietly.

“Don’t tempt me, I might.”

I snorted disdainfully and shot a cutting glare at one of the castle walls, my standard way of expressing distaste in the castle.

“You see, I’m not actually sure where I am.  I may have accidentally cheated a bit to get here – nothing illegal, mind you, just a little bit of dimensional trickery.”  Misu paused.  “You’ll have to excuse me – I ended up here entirely by accident.  I am dealing with a very clever and unorthodox foe, and so I resorted to very clever and unorthodox methods to find him, which is how I ended up here.  You two haven’t seen him, by any chance?”

Dimensional trickery? What was that supposed to mean? A cold shiver ran up my spine and I stared hard at him. I had a sudden wish that Gavril was here, or my friend Nebiah. They were much better at these kinds of things. Something about this person was not natural.

I unconsciously reached for the tassels at the corners of my shirt, running my fingers over the blue and white knots, seeking comfort there. I didn’t find it.

“Don’t think so,” I said, curtly.

Klein was doing something off to the side, but I barely noticed. Ferran was watching him with interest, and he’d alert me if anything was wrong.

My first instinct was to like Misu, even trust him, but something seemed decidedly off.