In The End

Chapter 1

Chilly air blows through the remains of a once-great city, nothing but the soft rustling of leaves can be heard throughout the deserted buildings. At least that was the case- until a soft pop sounded and a woman appeared atop a building. The woman scanned the area, her green eyes searching for any sign of danger, finding none. The woman checked her watch, she guessed that it was late in the evening here, around midnight. A bright full moon hung in the sky, casting a dull light over the area.

The woman moved her blonde hair from her eyes, clutching a staff at her side as she peered over the side of the building and to the street below. They were bare of life, the once strong sidewalks are now cracked and crumbled, cars lay deserted in the middle of the roads.

The woman frowned, using a fire escape to make her way to the street below. The rusted metal was chipping red paint, littering the concrete with flecks of crimson. She kicked at the latter, testing its stability, it creaked but seemed strong enough to support her weight.

The woman's red converse landed in the ground with a soft thud, she scowled as she landed in a puddle, "My socks are wet now." she frowned, "I left my other socks at... hm... I have no idea. Oh well, I'll find them eventually."

The sound of soft buzzing filled the air and the woman dug round in her pockets for the source, she produced a phone, it was classic from around 2019. The phone was a light orange with pretty sunflowers on the case.
"Hello?" She spoke into the phone, turning on her camera.
"Lorelei?" The person on screen was holding it way too close to her face.
"Tis I."
"She picked up!" The person said excitedly.
"Lorelei!" Another voice joined in, grabbing the phone "When are you coming home?"
The woman –Lorelei– smiled softly, she couldn't actually see the people, nor understand the second voice due to his very muffled and illegible words. "Donald I can't see anything, and not for a while. How are the kids?"
"They're great!" Della pulled the phone back from her brother. "How are your travels?"
"Good." Lorelei laughed as the two bickered, each trying to take the phone, Della tried to grab it from Donald and it ended up falling to the floor, a crack was visible across the camera.
"Look at what you did!" Della yelled.
"Me?!" Donald grunted, "You grabbed it!"
Lorelei shook her head and ended the call as the two began to argue even more. Putting her hands in her jean pockets she made her way down the street. Looking around at the crumbling buildings and fallen power lines.

Lorelei turned a corner and found herself walking beside a wooden fence, possibly enclosing some form of park or dump. The sounds of commotion echoed through the deserted neighborhood, seemingly coming from the enclosed space.
She decided not to think much of it and instead continued on her walk, after all, Lorelei had never been to this reality before. The sounds of yelling got louder and she heard a thud. As though someone had been thrown against the fence.
There was a grunt, "Fuck off you lousy-"
"Language." Lorelei commented, not bothering to look over at the perpetrator.
"Sorry." The voice sounded feminine, and was distinctly Scottish. How ironic.
A few seconds later the same voice yelled, "Holy shit!"
"Language!" Lorelei used her staff to help her up and onto the worn wood in order to look over the fence.
"Sorry!" The voice belonged to a girl, perhaps seventeen or eighteen. She was currently pinning a grown man twice her size to the ground; there were three men in total, each covered in tattoos and sporting several scars.

Lorelei was about to comment when one of the men grabbed her arm and pulled her over the fence, she grunted, the sound of her staff clattering to the ground could be heard as she fell, hitting the dirt below. "Come– on–" She gasped out, struggling to breathe.

The man who had pulled her over had a scar on his lower chin, a snake tattoo weaved through the thick white line. "Are you with her?" He gestured to the girl.
"If I say no will the outcome be the same?" Lorelei winced.
The guy paused, "...yes?"
"Lovely." Lorelei took this as an opportunity to roll out from under him, she grabbed her staff from where it lay and hit him over the head. Sadly, this did nothing but anger the man.
"That was a poor decision." The Scottish girl commented, kicking at the two men who had her pinned.

"Tell me about it." Lorelei tried to throw a punch but it backfired as her guy simply caught her fist mid-air and threw her to the side. Lorelei was flung at a tree but at the last second she planted her staff firmly in the ground and swung around it, landing gracefully on her feet, "This is hardly a fair fight." She scowled.
The girl pulled a hatchet from her belt, swinging at one of the men with full force. The black blade embedded itself into the guy's shoulder, he howled in pain, stumbling back. As the other two moved to help him they all seemed to come to an agreement and bolted, pushing through the fence like it was made of paper.

"Wow." Lorelei extended a hand to help the girl up, "What did you do to get on their bad side?"
"I lived." The girl stated and silence overtook the two girls. After a moment the same girl asked, "Why did you help me?"
Lorelei shrugged, "I haven't had a fight like that in a while. Those guys were pure mussel."
The girl still seemed wary, "That's why they were hired."
"Hired for what?"
"Why do you want to know?"
Lorelei frowned, "Because they were beating up a seventeen-year-old girl?"
"I'm eighteen."
"Sorry– eighteen." Lorelei smiled, "I'm Lorelei."
The girl looked her up and down for a moment, deciding whether or not to trust her, "Ophelia." She took her extended hand. "And they weren't beating me up."
Lorelei nodded, "Sure. So, Ollie- can I call you Ollie?"
"Sure..."
"Ollie, what year is it and what planet is this?"
Ophelia looked at her skeptically, "Earth, 3145."
"That's what I thought." Lorelei nodded, "So, why were those guys attacking you?"
"They took a thing of mine and now they are pissed that I want it back."
"What did they take?"
Ollie paused, "A family heirloom."
Lorelei frowned, "Well, in that case we'll just have to get it back."
"How?" Ophilia began to walk towards the street, "The only time we could have a chance is if we went to the annual Masquerade Gala thing tonight– and its invite only."
"Wait," Lorelei cut her off, "Why would it be at a gala?"
"It's an auction too." Ollie said, her accent made the words sound crisp.
Lorelei nodded, "So we get invited slash sneak in and get it back."
"And how do we do that?" Ophilia crossed her arms.
"Leave it to me." Lorelei grinned, "I haven't been on a good caper in forever!" She began to walk in the opposite direction, "I'll pick you up around seven!"
"Where are you going?" Ollie called after her.
Lorelei seemed to not have heard her, "See you soon!"

"O-okay." Ollie stood there for a moment shocked, that was the longest conversation she'd had with someone without them trying to kill her.
She walked down the abandoned road thinking about Lorelei, she didn't seem like she was from here, why would she help her if she didn't even know her? Was the mysterious girl trying to use her to steal her necklace? From what Ollie has learned in the past five years, is to trust no one, no matter what, and she wasn't going to break her own rules for some stranger.

A small stone cottage stood in front of Ophelia, you could tell it was old, vines climbed the walls, the wood-framed windows were decaying, and a black horse was tied to a weak wooden post.
"Hello Willow, sorry I'm a bit late today." She walked towards the horse petting its snout.
"I brought you an apple, sorry it's a bit old its the best I could do." Ollie fed the horse the wrinkled apple and after a moment of playing with the animal went inside.

A pot sat on the flame stove with water carrots and a few shreds of beef as Ophelia read a dusty diary she found in the house. It belonged to a girl named Alice who seemed to be around 10 years old who lived in the house sadly, Ollie guessed her and her family didn't make it, not a lot of children did.
Ollie took the boiling "soup" off the stove if you could even call it that and poured it into a small bowl decorated with flowers. She sat alone as she ate thinking about the strange girl she met earlier that day, she hadn't run into anyone that nice since... since her brother. He was very nice and always offered to help, it's a shame being nice is what got him killed, what a cruel world it is.

A knock on the door interrupted Ollie's thoughts, she grabbed one of her hatches as she made her way to the door, peeking through the window. She spied a flash of blonde and silver before she managed to make out the figure.
"Lorelei?" Ollie pulled the front door open.
"Yes." the woman smiled.
Lorelei wore a beautiful green dress, the skirt was a lighter shade with darker highlights, the top was the darkest –almost black. silver leaves dotted the fabric, creating an almost forest-y look.
"How did you find me?" Ollie stepped back as Lorelei moved inside.
"I have my ways." She dropped a bag on the floor."And I've bought your outfit!"
Ollie took one look at the red dress inside and decided that she would rather die. "I am not wearing that."