The Elementals

Friends in low places

The door opened, bathing us in light. As we walked in, we gasped in unison. It was a whole city down there. I looked up and saw stalagmites hanging down. There were hundreds of structures made of wood, stone, or carved into the cavern's walls, light shining through the all the "windows", which were holes carved into the buildings. There were fairy lights hanging from building to building, lighting up the dark cavern. Men, women, and children were walking the streets, buying from normal merchants with no masks. In our moment of awe, we didn't realize that the old man had started walking without us. We hurried towards him, he was surprisingly fast for an old man, taking long strides despite his short stature. We got a few odd looks, but we mostly blended in amongst the busy street.We walked all the way to the back of the long, long, LONG cavern, to the dimmer section of it. The old man led us into a wooden house with no door. We walked in and saw a chubby, red-haired man inspecting what looked like a crystallized eyeball. When he noticed our presence he put it down and looked at us."Welcome!" He said, thick with an accent I did not recognize. "What can I do for yo-" he said until Tammie flew out once again from underneath my hair."Oh, I see." He responded, with a smile. "Welcome, Tammie, Elementals." He said. "Hello, Shawn." Replied Tammie."Wait you two know each other, I thought you said the last group of Elementals was with my grandma, who died in a car accident, which was 10 years ago?I said confused, because Shawn honestly looked about 21."Puh-lease your grandma never died in a car accident, she was killed by a monster.And didn't I tell you?" Started Tammie. "Time passes differently in this dimension. 10 years over there is about 45 years here, Also, I met Shawn as a child, I knew his father, how is he by the way,Shawn?"We first realized that we were, indeed, in a thrift shop, all sorts of oddities lined on the shelves. "We've probably been missing only a few minutes, we'll probably be back in the normal world in a few days." Said Izzy. We became worried, thinking of our parents. "He's all good, anyways," said Shawn, trying to distract us from our worry ", what have ya got for me?" He asked. I pulled out the organs and blood from our bag and Tammie got the ones from her locket. "OHO!" He said, greed in his eyes. "So, how much is it?" Asked Tammie. "Hmmm" said Shawn, stroking his stubble of a beard. "I'd say 'bout 500 gold for the blood, 3050 gold for the organs, I'll be honest with you, unlike most times, because that's quite a find you have here. "You sure it can't get any higher?" Asked Tammie. "No." Smirked Shawn, with one eyebrow up. "Fine, their yours." Sighed Tammie, shaking his hand in agreement. Tammie put the money in the locket to protect it from bandits and such. "Also." said Shawn " I'd like to meet the little ladies under hoods., and you there in the armor." I walked up to him jauntily. "Hi there, I'm Stell!" I exclaimed."Nice to meetcha!" I said shaking his hand. He gave me a curious smile, warm at the same time. "Same here kiddo!" He said, chuckling to himself. After me, everyone else lowered their hoods and introduced themselves. After everyone has introduced themselves, we thanked him for the gold. "Actually, I've taken a particular liking to you six, would you like to stay at my house for the evening." He asked warmly. "HELL YEA-" I exclaimed before my mouth was covered by a vine. "Of course we would, Mr.Shawn, thank you for the offer." Said Izzy politely, glaring at me with eyes that could kill. "Right this way!" He beckoned, going through a door revealing that the house was actually larger than it looked.