A Journey to a Hundred Worlds

“Sisanjekrv,” the mysterious voice whispered, the word softly found its way into Michelle’s ears before her brain interpreted the sounds as a word, a long and hard to pronounce word at that. What a name for a world. She wondered what would be in store for her and the others here as her feet found ground again. It was hard, flat ground. And there were a lot of weird noises she had never heard before.

She blinked, blinded by the sunlight and something flashed in her face. Somebody grabbed her by the arm and yanked her backwards with a jerk, causing her to lose her balance and fall backwards flat on her butt. Mad and embarrassed, Michelle turned to see who had pulled her and caused her to fall.

Even though he had yet another new form, Michelle could tell it was Lucifer. He still had the same crimson eyes, black hair, and pale skin color scheme as usual, and he was a teenager. Unlike his other teenager form, in this one his ears were normal along with his hair which was short all the way around.

“Wha—?” Michelle said, getting up off the ground.

Immediately her senses were overloaded. There were so many groups of people walking around her, some sort of manmade contraption kept passing by, moving along where she had just stood a few seconds ago, tall buildings with many windows were everywhere, and there were so many other things Michelle had never seen before. Everyone was dressed in a style of clothing Michelle had never seen before. Girls were walking around in pants, shorts, or really short skirts, there were so many different styles of clothing they wore, and Michelle felt really out of place in her clothes.

She felt somebody tugging her yet again. It was Ryokou this time, motioning with his head to follow him. Vale was walking towards a building with big windows showing that there were racks of clothes inside of it. It was hot outside, and Michelle started to sweat a little. As soon as she entered the store, though, she was greeted by a cool blast of air that felt refreshing compared to the outside since it seemed to be summer here in this part of Sisanjekrv.

When she tried to find Lucifer, he was nowhere to be seen, and this made her wonder where he was and what he was up to. Vale was over in a section that had a sign hanging over it that read “Teens.” Weirded-out slightly be her ability to read the sign without any troubles, Michelle switched over to looking to see what Ryokou was currently doing. The ninja was peering around the store with vast interest which he did not bother trying to hide. Michelle just stood there feeling extremely awkward and out of place. People stared at her and her companions, and she really wanted to go somewhere where she wouldn’t be seen.

Suddenly Lucifer appeared beside her, an assortment of clothes in his arms. “Here, go into the fitting rooms and put these on. I took care of de-tagging them and everything, so they are now yours,” he said, handing the clothes over to Michelle.

“Um, okay?” Michelle replied, glancing around for the fitting rooms, whatever those were. She found a sign with the words on it, and walked over towards it.

There was a little room with no door, and then there were two rows of doors to stalls, Michelle would have to say they were, thinking about how horses’ stalls were almost like little rooms set aside in a larger room. Nobody else seemed to be in there at the moment, so she went into a stall and shut the door behind her. In the stall there was a big mirror about as tall as her. As she looked in it, she noticed she wasn’t looking all that great, which was to be expected after traveling for so long without enough time to look after her looks, or much for looking after her hygiene.

Michelle hurriedly changed, taking a little while to figure out how the clothes were supposed to fit her, but then she finished and left the stall, her old clothes rolled up and held against her. Right now she was wearing somewhat tight-fitting light blue pants made of some stiff material that flowed out at the bottom and a simple short-sleeve light blue shirt. It was actually quite comfortable, and it made her feel better now that she didn’t stick out so much.

When she returned to the main part of the building they were in, she found that Vale and Ryokou had both changed into something that blended in to this world. Lucifer had had the right kind of clothes already after transforming.

“Let’s go find someplace to stay,” Vale suggested. “Working in this world will be harder, but we’ll figure out how to get some money and what the problem here is.”

“I could get us a place to say,” Lucifer spoke. “I am quite good at getting things I need, as I have already shown to you by getting all of you your clothes without any hassle.”

“Alright, we will count on you then,” Vale answered.

“Just wait here for a moment, and I will be back to get you.”

While they waited Vale commented, “I’ve never been in a world quite this technologically advanced yet. I’ve seen cars before, but not as sleek and fast as these are here.” He gazed out the window at the colorful, wheeled things that had nearly ran Michelle over earlier. People were sitting inside them, riding them around, and Michelle wondered how humans could have ever come up with something like that, or for that matter, what all these things were. Lights that were not fires helped to light the shop, and then there was the matter of the cool air constantly being circulated in the building.

“How are we supposed to find the problem in so big a place with so many people and things?” Ryokou asked.

“We’ll work on that after we get a place to stay, like usual,” Vale answered. “I’m sure that eventually we’ll hear about it in some way as it will decided the fate of this world.”

Ryokou sank deep into thought, watching what was happening outside the window and trying to take it all in. Michelle couldn’t believe how different this world was from any other world she had ever been in or dreamed of. It was absolutely mind-boggling. However, she worried because of the sheer massiveness of Sisanjekrv. What if it was all just too much for them to try to have to sift through to find the one important person or event? This was all just one small part of a city that was who knows how big.

In less than ten minutes, Lucifer returned. “I found a hotel with and got us a suite.”

Even though Michelle didn’t know what Lucifer was talking about, she resisted the urge to ask about it. She was sure that then Vale would taunt her and the taunting would end up bringing up the fact it had taken her a good deal longer to get to the portal to here than the others had. She was not in the mood for that, so she just let it go. Soon enough she would see for herself, anyways, she knew.

Lucifer led them down the relatively smooth pathway that was slightly raised and fringed the lower, wider pathway that the cars passed by on. The buildings of this city towered over them, touching the sky. Michelle wondered what it would be like to be in one of those buildings near the top floor, or really even five stories high.

They came to a place where the pathway went to the left, but no longer continued forward. There were white lines on the lower pathway, and Michelle wondered what they were for. The four of them waited along with other people, and Michelle was curious to know what was going to happen. Above her was something that appeared to be made of metal that extended out over the roadway and had three circles in it. Right now a green circle was glowing on it. It all made no sense to Michelle. Eventually, the light turned red and then another glowing thing, lower down changed from having an orange, hand-like sign to a white glowing figure of a person walking.

As soon as that happened, the group of people that had been waiting crossed the street, walking in between the white lines. Michelle did the same, and when she reached the other side, back onto the higher pathway again, she entered into the shadow of a tall building. She paused for a moment, confused. Now what?

Lucifer walked right up to a set of doors in the building, and Vale and Ryokou followed him without hesitation. Apparently they never stopped to wonder at things like she did. She hurriedly followed after them, not wanting to get lost or separated from them in so busy and crowded a world as this.

Again she was blasted with cool air as she entered the building. Lucifer motioned for the three of them to follow him, and Michelle did. They went through the big open room to the other side where two metal door-like things were. Lucifer bent down a little to press an arrow which then began to glow orange. Then both he and Vale looked up above one of the door thingies where numbers were. First a six glowed, then a five, then a four, then a three, then a two, and then, finally, a one. As the one glowed, there was a ding and the door thing opened, revealing a small room-like thing. Lucifer and Vale both stepped inside followed by Ryokou and then Michelle.

Lucifer pressed a button with the number seven on it and the doors closed. Michelle had to balance herself as she was caught off guard when the small room thing started to rise upwards. There was another set of numbers above the doors. This time first the one, then the two, then the three, then the four, then the five, then the six, and then finally the seven glowed. As the number seven glowed, the doors opened and there was a carpeted hallway with a finely decorated wall that rivaled the rich furnishings of a king’s castle.

They filed out of the little room thing into the hallway, and Michelle looked around in awe. This whole building was so nicely furnished, she felt like a queen. Doors lined the hall on either side, each with a three-digit number on it beginning with the number seven. Lucifer led them down the hallway a bit to a door with the number seven hundred seventy-two on it. He pulled a small, flat, rectangular thing out of a pocket and slipped it into some sort of slot thing on the door handle. There was a flashing green light and a click before Lucifer opened the door up.

Michelle gasped in awe at the sight of the room. Lush light blue carpet covered the floor, a big, and a comfy looking couch sat in front of a black box thing and two equally comfy looking chairs sat on either side of it. A nice, big window offered a view over the surrounding city, and there were a bunch of other things Michelle had never seen anything like before and now had no clue what they were or what their purpose might be.

“Here will be where we stay in this world,” Lucifer said, motioning around the room with a hand casually. “We will stick together so as not to have to worry about losing one another whenever we leave this room.”

Vale nodded. “Good idea. I say we stay here today and I can try to explain things to Ryokou and Michelle. I’ve been in a world with almost as advanced technology as this one, so I know most of things here. You can get food since you are so good at getting things,” he said to Lucifer.

“Of course. I will be back later. I hope you have luck finding out the important person or event,” Lucifer replied, slipping back out the door as silently and fluidly as a shadow.

“Right, better get this over with,” Vale sighed, plopping down into one of the chairs in a slump.

Michelle and Ryokou took a seat on the couch. It was the comfiest thing Michelle had ever sat on. She was really starting to like this world, albeit it being overwhelming with all the new things and such.

“That box thing over there,” Vale said, pointing to the black box thing, “is a television, or TV for short. It is used for entertainment purposes, moving pictures and sound of any sort can be projected on it for the viewing public to see. The thing we rode up in was an elevator. It is an easier and quicker way to go up floors than by using stairs. The thing that is keeping all these buildings cool is called an air conditioner. All of these things are powered by something called electricity. It also powers the lights, or really, just about everything. The thing cars drive on is just called a road, and then the pathway we walk on is called a sidewalk. Never walk in the road unless you want to get run over or if we have to cross the street at a light, and then, stay inside the white lines. Have you caught all of that?”

Uncertainly Michelle nodded while Ryokou stared blankly for a few seconds. Then he spoke. “Wait, what are cars again?”

Vale had to take a deep breath and Michelle rolled her eyes.

“They’re the things that go by you on the road. They come in a variety of colors and are the main type of transportation used in this world.”

“Are they powered by this ‘electricity’ stuff too?” Ryokou asked.

“Not really; cars are mainly powered by gasoline. You don’t really need to know this, we’ll never be driving or in a car,” Vale explained, his patience visibly wearing thin. “Now let me show you around the hotel room.” He got up quickly, eager to be done with his job of explaining things.

With a sigh, Michelle got up, not wanting to leave the comfy couch. It felt nice to be able to sit down and relax for a little bit. She followed Vale with dragging feet. Ryokou, however, looked eager to see what else was in store for him in this world.

“This is bedroom number one,” Vale said, sweeping his arm out towards a room that had two big-sized beds in it. They had dark blue comforters and light blue sheets, and looked so comfortable, Michelle had to resist the urge to run over and jump on top of one of them and lie down, letting herself fall asleep. Vale then moved on to the next room.

“This,” he said, “is bathroom number one. It has a shower, a toilet, and a sink. All very nice since it seems that Lucifer has managed to get us such a nice hotel.”

Michelle took in the bathroom. It all looked so nice and shiny. And expensive. She wondered exactly how Lucifer had managed to acquire the hotel room, and, for that matter, how he had managed to get their clothes and now to go get their food.

“Here is bedroom number two,” Vale said, indicating a bedroom identical to the other one. “And then there’s bathroom number two, with just a toilet and sink. All in all, one pretty nice hotel suite. Now I’m going to go try to find the news on the TV.” Vale went off back into the main part of the hotel suite, leaving Michelle and Ryokou to their own devices to do whatever they wanted to in the hotel room before food got back.

Michelle instantly headed back to bedroom one, liking how it was closer to the bigger bathroom and the view was a little nicer in her opinion. Just as she was lying down on one of the beds, Vale called, “Hey, Michelle, come here and watch too. You might be able to find the important thing or person. Besides, aren’t you at least a little curious as to what the TV can do?”

With a groan, Michelle got back up, feeling a little dizzy after going too fast. She slowly made her way back to the main part of the suite, and as soon as she was within sight of the TV, her jaw dropped. There were people on it, talking. They looked as clear as day, moving, all the colors and details could be seen. The sounds could be heard, and it all amazed her.
“That was about the reaction I expected out of you. And before you might try to ask me, no I do not know how exactly it works other than it uses electricity, and, the news along with a few other things, is actually happening right now somewhere, or really anywhere, in this world.”

“That’s… that’s really amazing,” Michelle breathed, taking a seat on the edge of the couch without taking her eyes away from the TV screen for even a split second.

“I know, I will admit that I was almost as amazed as you when I first saw it. And to think they could accomplish all of this without any magic at all whatsoever…”

“Wow…” Michelle said appreciatively, watching as a picture of some colorful bag appeared on screen accompanied by a pleasant voice that mentioned something about “Doritos.” She wondered vaguely what they were, entirely absorbed by the picture.

“Oh, it’s a commercial now. They pop up constantly in between sections of the news, or any show. They’re a type of advertisement for companies so that people will buy their product.”

“What are ‘Doritos?’” Michelle asked Vale.

“A type of chip. Chips are made out of potatoes, but generally don’t taste anything like them, they taste better in some ways even. Doritos are a ‘nacho cheese flavored snack.’ Lucifer might bring some with him, and if he does you can then try them. I can’t really explain it much better than that.”

“This world is just so amazing…”

“Yeah, it is, but don’t forget your place and your job. Otherwise, this world just might end, or you’ll never find your brother again and Albel will win.”

“I know, I know,” Michelle replied. She watched as a woman talked about first a fire, and then a situation about a vampire. Here she listened extremely attentatively as it instantly struck her.

“Last night a vampire that was being experimented upon by a group of scientists went berserk and broke out of the building it was being contained within. It apparently punched a large hole into the wall of the room it was in before then running away at a speed that was too fast for the scientists to catch up with and that did not allow them to have enough time to dispatch a recovery team after. Unfortunately we have no further details about this situation at the moment such as whether or not the vampire is feral or overtly ferocious. You are advised to keep a watch out and to avoid going anywhere by yourself at night without having taken the proper precautions first.”

The woman then went on to talk about a murder, and Michelle stopped paying attention. “That’s the person,” she said simply to Vale.

“Well that’s certainly interesting, now,” he commented. “Sounds like he’s quite a person. Now how are we going to find him?”

“I don’t know, but I think I am going to go take a nap until Lucifer gets here with the food,” Michelle replied, walking off to the bedroom that Vale had shown her first. Once she reached it, she went inside and across the room to the bed on the right side near the window. She lay down on it and found it to be the comfiest bed she had ever laid on before. Almost as soon as she closed her eyes, she fell asleep, listening to the quiet sounds coming from the TV in the other room.

Michelle woke up and instantly could smell food. It smelt something like chicken, only better. Eagerly she got up out of bed and found her way into the main part of the room. In the corner there was a table with chairs and some counters with things Vale had never told her about on it and around it. On the table were the chicken-smelling things along with a bag of Doritos and things that said “Pepsi” on them. Lucifer appeared to be busy putting other things that Michelle assumed were food items away in various places, and Vale was taking out the last of the chicken things from some sort of black box contraption that wasn’t a TV and had numbers on it. He set the black thing containing the chicken stuff down at a spot at the table before sitting down. He reached out for one of the Pepsis and pulled something up with a pop and a fizzing sound came from it.

“What is that?” Michelle asked.

Vale looked up and saw her. “This that I am about to drink is a type of soda called Pepsi. It has a lot of sugar in it and lots of people drink it. What I just microwaved is reheatable fried chicken. And then of course I already told you about Doritos. Now sit down and eat.”
Michelle’s stomach growled with all this food in front of her, so she did as Vale had told her and sat down in one of the chairs. She grabbed a Pepsi and then stared it, not sure how to open it.

“Here, hand it over to me and I’ll open it for you,” Vale said, reaching out a hand for it.

Obediently Michelle handed it over and watched as Vale pulled a little piece of metal that was like a circle attached to the main part of the can and once again there was a pop and fizzing. He handed it back over to her carefully and she grabbed it before sipping some of it.
It burned her throat slightly, but it tasted good. Bubbles were in her mouth and they tickled the roof of her mouth slightly in a pleasant way. With that out of the way, she grabbed a dish of the fried chicken and started to eat it. It tasted so good she was soon stuffing her face. She couldn’t believe chicken could taste like that. After finishing off a chicken wing, she then decided to try the Doritos. She reached her hand into the bag and grabbed an orange-colored chip and took a bite. It tasted a little bit spicy and really cheesy. She crunched on it happily, deciding that the food in this world was good.

“So, do you have any ideas about trying to find that rogue vampire?” Vale asked Lucifer.

“Not in particular, but I am sure that we will eventually run into him, and probably soon,” Lucifer stated.

“Right…” Vale replied, taking a drink from his Pepsi. “You sure you don’t want to eat anything?”

“Quite, I am not hungry, and definitely not for that kind of food,” Lucifer replied, leaving the room, presumably to go to one of the bedrooms.

“He’s a bit odd, isn’t he?” Vale asked aloud.

“Yeah…” Michelle replied, thinking about all the encounters and conversations she had had with Lucifer so far. He was definitely eccentric if nothing else.

“I wonder…” Vale muttered to himself.

“Hmmm?” Michelle asked.

“Nothing, it’s just I heard someone talk about somebody with the same name in another world like this,” Vale replied.

Michelle decided not to press any further, not wanting to get Vale mad at her. But then she had a question she really needed to ask. “Where’s Ryokou?”

“Oh, him? He’s probably lost right now,” Vale answered.

“In this hotel suite? How could he possibly be lost?” Michelle asked in disbelief.

“Don’t ask me, but I guess it’s like I said: he has no brain.”

“How can you just say that about him? And has he been lost the entire time?”

Vale shrugged. “I would suppose so, I haven’t seen him since I gave you guys a tour of this place,” he replied.

Michelle was about to get up to go and try to find Ryokou when the ninja entered the room, a weary look on his face. “How did you get here?” she asked him right away.

“Lost. I kept going into one room and then back out again and then go back the other way. I went in circles for over an hour!” he replied, exasperated.

“You went in circles and got lost in a place so small as this?” Michelle questioned him skeptically.

“Yeah, now shut up,” Ryokou sulkily replied, sitting down at the table. “What is this?”

“Fried chicken, Pepsi, and Doritos, now eat,” Vale replied shortly, obviously burnt out on explaining things for the day.

“Okay…” Ryokou cautiously bit into his fried chicken, and finding it good as Michelle had, continued on to his drink and the chips. “So what are we going to be doing in this world?” he asked, swallowing down some fried chicken.

“For now, just wait,” Vale answered simply.

“That I can do,” Ryokou said before continuing to eat.

Michelle agreed, although she couldn’t help feeling uneasy as she went to sleep that night.