Stranger in the rain: The Stranger (Preview)
Stranger in the Rain:
The Stranger (incomplete, part 1)
By Jet D. Wolf
I followed behind him as he walked ahead. Looking around, I saw the poor state of most of the buildings. Most of them looked like they had been that way for years; some of them just looked like they happened to fall down the day before. Off into the distance, some kids were wearing new clothes and playing with some hi-tech devices. Jake looked back at me, and started speaking now, "This is the kingdom I live in, on one side is the poor buildings and the other side contains the higher side. Their parents are either royalty or work in the castle."
In front of us, the sun was setting, but at the same time, it was still bright. I looked behind me and saw a second sun, setting in the other direction. This sure is a weird place. Soon, Jake turned and headed towards the kids far off in the distance.
"That is my home," he said, "I've lived there my entire life and everything was planned out for me. I could not take power because I am not the first-born, so when I was little, my parents wanted me to marry royalty from a neighboring kingdom. My Older brother was already engaged the princess of the kingdom to the east, so my parents had me engaged to the princess to the west."
"Okay, so that explains the marriage, sort of."
We walked for some time until Jake stopped and seemed to knock in midair. Suddenly, a gate appeared and some royalty opened the gate. "Ah, you have arrived back," a rat, said as he made his way through the gates, "I thought I would have to request that you be brought back again."
The mouse was shorter than I was, had black whiskers, a purple tail, and two different colored eyes. This particular rat also had burnt patches of fur on his arms and legs. He wore a buttoned-up blue lab coat over it all. "Come inside," he requested of him, but Jake stood there, turned and beckoned me forward. The guards stated halt and the rat spoke to Jake, "HE cannot come in with you, you know the rules, you will have to come inside by yourself."
"I'm not coming inside, not until you request that my friend stays in the royal quarters."
The rat eyed me, and then raised an eyebrow at Jake, "and why would I do that young master?"
"He is a special friend whom took care of me, I owe him my life."
The rat walked over to me, and circled around me, looking at me up and down. "I do not think your parents would be pleased."
"And why wouldn't they be?" Jake responded.
"They are having that royal gala this weekend and all the guests, upon arrival, are to stay in the castle until then. Or did you forget?" His hand touched my shoulder and ran down my arm. I was afraid to make a move because of the guards that I spotted on top of the castle. They all seemed to have some high-class guns and some of them trained their focus on me.
The rat stopped inspecting me and looked like he was in deep thought for a second. Smoothly, he spoke again, "I'd be willing to keep him in my quarters if you insist on giving him somewhere to sleep. I have three bedrooms and none of them is in use, well besides one, which I am accommodating, of course. I could keep him in my bedroom, I mean, my quarters for a couple of nights."
"And what would you get out of it?"
"Oh, all I ask is that you provide me with some better food. Your parents have been skimping on my food ever since you took that 'trip' to the other dimension. I also request a maid for my quarters and two victims for my tests."
"Don't you mean patients?"
"Yes, of course," he said looking back at Jake, "they shall be payment for keeping your little trip out the castle, a secret."
Jake seemed to think it over before he finally agreed to it.
"Now that this matter is taken care of, you should rush to your wife's side. I haven't told her of your journey outside either. We shall discuss how you shall make up for that as well. I will take care of your friend and show him where he shall be staying in the meantime."
Jake looked at me and then back at the scientist. "Fine," he said, then turning to me, he spoke, "it should not be long. I plan to be back in a few, please follow Garrion to his quarters. If I am not back in twenty minutes, Garrion will explain certain rules and show you around the castle."
Jake then headed into the castle, while Garrion, the rat, grabbed onto my hand and pulled me slightly toward the castle. I looked up and around and noticed that the sky looked different somehow. I could not put my finger on it, but something was not right. We walked in and splattered blood was all over the objects and walls. The rat spoke to me, "Don't be alarmed, that is not real blood. We are celebrating the death of a king in another land, whom had no children, so an easy conquest for our kingdom lies ahead."
He continued pulling me up some stair, down some corridors and through many passages and doors. I had lost account of where we were going until he stopped at a wooden door. He entered his key into the door and reached down under the door until I heard two clicks, then he pulled open the door and I entered a living quarter. There was a slightly messy living room, a standard kitchen which seemed to be turned into a mini laboratory and dining area off to the side which contained a mini fridge. For a high tech place, the furniture seemed to be a little medieval.
He walked down a hallway to the right, pulling me with him. We stopped at a door and he opened it. Inside it looked like an explosion had destroyed everything; Ashes were on the floor everywhere, the window was broken and it seems like spiders were vacating this room. The rat spoke in a fake tone of surprise, "Oh no! I forgot that I destroyed this room. The other room I use as a laboratory. Well, it seems like you will have to sleep in my room tonight. I will occupy the couch."
We left the room and walked further down into a nicely furnished room, the bed looked regal and soft, the room was spacious, the walls and windows seemed medieval but as soon as I thought that, the room completely changed. The window seemed to turn into a small half-circle window, while the walls changed its color and the floor changed to a wooden one. "A self changing room," the rat explained, "it takes on the appearance of whatever I want it to. I can only change the outlay. Make yourself comfortable, while I check on something in the lab."
He left the room and went into the mini lab in the front. I looked at the room and relaxed on the bed. The bed was so comfortable, that I wanted to lay on it forever. Suddenly I heard a painful grunt from the living room. I thought about walking in there but decided that until I find out more about this rat, I was not going to take any chances. A minute later, he walked back into the room.
I looked at the rat and noticed something different about the rat: he no longer had burned patches of fur on him, his height was a little taller now, and he seemed to be younger. I now noticed more about the rat as he stood there. One of his eyes were a light blue, while the other was a light yellow; his right forearm, which was covered in tons of burned fur seconds earlier, was black; his ears were light green, he had white fur, except on his right forearm. He unbuttoned his lab coat and I saw him in whole. He wore nothing underneath the lab coat, so I saw his green sheath there. The rat was rather fit and showed a slight muscular build. I blushed as he took off the lab coat, folded it up and put it on a dresser to the right.
"I'm sorry," he started, "I had to change out of those clothes. I only wear it when I am either in the lab or outside. Palace rules state that I must wear appropriate clothing when inside the castle. Either appropriate clothing or something to dignify that I belong to this kingdom."
I looked at him for a second before I stated a question that had been on my mind for a while, "Why are you so many different colors?"
"Oh, that? Well, when I first started experimenting, I used my own body. I would also mix chemicals together and it would make an unfavorable outcome occasionally, such as an explosion. I managed to make a quick healing potion for it, but when it healed, it changed the color of whatever it healed. All the green colors are places where I applied a failed modifying potion. Black is where I lost a limb, red is where extra parts grew, and yellow are modified senses. I also have a blue cock and purple tail, but that is because of something else." He said the last sentence with a grin before he put on a royal cape.
"I am one of the few people who can walk around with only a cape. The males of the royal family and certain nobility can do it as well, but not many do. You shall wear some of my old royal clothing, since I gained some height. That is one of the side effects of the potion. We shall take a tour of the castle in fifteen minutes." He pulled out some clothes and handed it to me. "Put these on, at least until we get you some different clothes."
He sat down at the edge of the bed and waited. I felt a little uncomfortable changing in front of a complete stranger. "Um, do you think I could change in private?"
"No," he responded, "I have to make sure you're not hiding any weapons."
I had a feeling that he was lying and that he really just wanted to see me undress. It seems like I might be stuck with this scientist for a while. I thought. Not that it is a bad thing, he's kind of cute. I blushed and started to undress as the rat watched me.