Two Worlds: Tales of Arcadia - (A Trollhunters story)

Chapter 1 | Douxie | The Mysterious Cafe

New York.

A city with a beautiful skyline that stretches for miles, lying peacefully between the clouds.  Compact blocks on every street, clear cut roads and bustling street life.

With a clear sky and the sun shining brightly, clouds loomed in the distance. Cars honking in all directions, with fumes clogging up the air, and the streets full of life. 

However, on one of the bustling street corners, stood a middle-aged man, who had clearly been there for hours. A tattered sign hung around his sweat-soaked neck, the rope whispy, the text smudged, and made of flimsy cardboard. In thick, black marker pen read "THE END ", prominently displayed on both sides.

As people walked by, the man pleaded and begged for them to listen, for anyone to listen. They needed to listen to what he has to say, they need to be warned. But, it seemed no one would head his plea. Most would ignore him or point and laugh as they passed by.

At the top of his lungs, the man yelled, "The worlds gonna end, we're all gonna die," but as his pleading fell on deaf ears, his voice slowly dissolved into sobs. "The worlds gonna end, we're all gonna die," he repeated again with less hope.

As the yeller held his head low is distress, close to tears, a young man approached him with a smirk, flipping a single coin into the yellers tin can. And as the man raised his head at the clatter at the coin, the strangers looked into his eyes. While the young man grabbed ahold of the hand of the little girls who stood by his side, he looked right into the yeller's gaze as explained, "Not on my watch."

The pair turned away from the yeller and continued down the street corner, leaving him in utter confusion. However, not long after they did, a presence could be felt from a rooftop not far away. 

Stopping for a moment, the young man tilted his head enough to see the rooftop in the corner of his eye. And his face dropped, turning from a happy giggle to a fed-up glare, as he saw a figure cloaked in red up on the rooftop.

"Douxie? ", the girl asked as she tugged worriedly on his jacket.

He looked down at her with an all too familiar look of concern and annoyance. "Nari, we need to run," Douxie spurted. 

Rapidly they ran down the street weaving in and out of the crowd of people, until Douxie bumped into someone walking by. Douixe and Nari stumbled forward, losing their balance momentarily. As they regained their balance and prepared to continue on, Douxie yelled back to the stranger hastily apologising for his mistake. But as he was about to continue on forward something stopped him. 

Frozen.

Unable to move a single step. Looking around there wasn't anything that was holding him back, but he was still stuck in place. Breathing heavily, sweating from the adrenaline, he looked down at Nari and then back at the pursuers. Holding his hand to his head, he tried to pull all his strength to continue on. But all of a sudden a sensation came over Douxie, like magic, and he knew where he needed to go. His body moved on its own.

Left, right, left, another left, where on earth was he going. 

Right. Keep going. Sudden left, why didn't he seem to be in control.

Next thing he knew he was turning into an empty street, not a soul to be seen anywhere. Out of nowhere, Bellroc landed in front of them, staring them down, and without missing a beat Skrael trapped them by landing behind them. They were pinned in with seemingly no escape, without magic. How could they get out without causing suspicion to locals, making magic, not an option? 

But once again it was like his body just knew what to do. Douixe pulled into the nearby alley racing through to the other side, hoping to have an option of escape at the other side. But as they came to a stop in this new street he realised it was a dead end.

And in front of them stood a tall building several floors high. With a humble-looking cafe sitting at the bottom, without a second thought, Douxie ran to the door, trying his hardest to open it. In a moment of panic, as he could hear the Arcane order approaching, and fast. He let go of Nari's hand, flicked through his magic wrist band and unlocked the door. In less than a second, he ran in, dragging Nari with him. 

Once in he slammed the door shut, panting and hunched over. He looked around, adrenaline still running high, but abruptly a pink shimmer glossed over the door and the window.

'Magic?' Douxie thought, surely not.

BAM!

Bellroc bashed the glass, but it barely moved. 

'How!?'

'Merlin's magic was only just strong enough to stop their attacks, how could some random sorcerer's magic be powerful enough to keep the Arcane order out.

BAM, BAM, BAM!

Multiple attacks from both Bellroc and Skrael rained down on the modest cafe, the magic still holding strong. After several minutes of their barrage they turned around and walked away, returning to the rooftops.

"Whew, that was close," Douxie said with a slight chuckle. "I wonder where we are?" Nari responded. Their eyes wandered around the cafe, with shelves from the floor all the way to the ceiling full of books, several empty tables with chairs resting on top, and dim lights making the room barley visible.

While entranced by their new surroundings, they failed to notice the looming figure standing in the doorway at the back of the room, until they sarcastically answered Nari with, "And I would like to know what you're doing in my store...?"

Douxie and Nari jumped out of their skin quickly turning to the direction where the voice had come from. Douxie gulped as he protectively pushed Nari behind him, in case he needed to confront the figure, his heart beating faster. "I...I...We...Ummm" He stammered. The figures head tilted, waiting for an answer. "We are just passing by and thought this looked like a lovely cafe to stop and get a drink at," Douxie said with a shaky voice. "And why wouldn't we, aren't customers supposed to be in the store in order for you to make business?" He said in a joking manner.

With a stern voice, the figure responded, "You didn't let me finish. What are you doing in my store, Wizard? "

"Ah, Fuzzbuckets!" Douxie blurted.