I woke up, bleary-eyed, in the early rays of morning to the sound of birds chirping in the air, the ceiling fan whooshing down at my face, and the glare of sunlight blinding my eyes.

Also Ash was staring down at my face, which obviously did not scare the absolute shit out of me.

“ASH!” I sat upright with a start, clutching my chest. “Oh man.. Ash… personal space. What’s up?”

That was when I heard a muffled knocking sound from nearby.

“Master,” Ash said, her tone with a sense of urgency. “There’s someone at the door.”

I saw the apprehension in her eyes, and instantly I was wide awake. Didn’t know anyone well enough in the city to warrant a visitation from any of them. So whoever was at my door, it couldn’t possibly be anyone I know.

A delivery, maybe?

Another knock sounded. I got out of bed.

“I’ll go have a look,” I said to Ash as I made my way to the front door.

“I’ll follow,” She said, coming to my side and suddenly brandishing her sword out in front of her.

Okay, that’s a bit overkill. If I open the door and she immediately reacts, I don’t wanna have to explain to the police why the postman was skewered like a kebab on my doorstep.

“No, Ash,” I told her. “Put it back.”

“It’s a necessary precaution, master.”

“A precaution, right, well, when you answer the door in your world, do you always do so with a sword behind your back?”

“Yes.”

Oh well… guess I shouldn’t be too surprised.

“We don’t do that here,” I said, lowering her sword with my hand. “It’s probably nothing, trust me. Just put it back, wait inside, I got this.”

Ash stared at me and saw my small smile of assurance, evidently, she didn’t quite agree with my lax procedure, nevertheless, she still went ahead and stashed her sword back behind the couch, honoring my wishes like the knight she was, bowing her head slightly in compliance.

“As you wish, master.”

That’s three ‘master’s in one minute by my count. We really gotta work on that whole thing.

For now, though, the ever-growing knock on my door beckons my attention.

“Coming!” I yelled.

With one hand I combed my bed hair in an attempt to look somewhat presentable, while my other hand was already reaching for the door handle, swinging it wide open for the knocking to finally cease.

As expected, the woman with her hazel-brown hair tied into a bun, who was also dressed quite smartly in a ladies’ uniform, was not a woman I recognized one bit.

Stern black eyes on an even sterner face, she gave the vibe of being somebody you do not want to mess with, despite looking like she was still in her early twenties, which she probably was, given her youthful appearance.

“Good morning,” I greeted her, slightly unsure why she, of all people, was banging at my door this early in the morning. “Can I, uhh – help you?”

“You can,” she responded, and immediately the tone in her voice further solidified the impression that she was the no-nonsense type. “I have a few questions I’d like to ask you.”

“Questions, right… and you are?”

“Irene Madison, TAPD,” she held out a badge in front of me.

“TAPD? You’re a police officer?”

“Detective, actually,” she said, placing her badge back. “I’m here on an ongoing investigation, a case involving a possible missing person. But I suppose you already know about it, don’t you?”

I frowned. “No, why would I know that?”

“Because the person that presumably went missing was your next-door neighbor.”

It felt as if something plunged like a rock into my stomach when she said that. I looked to the left, then to the right, my door was sandwiched between two other apartments on either side.

I never really knew my neighbor on the right, for all the time I lived here, I have never seen anyone leave or enter that room. My neighbor on the left though was a kind, young college student who would never hurt a fly.

When I moved in, it was her that welcomed me with a housewarming cake that she baked herself. Occasionally she would also bring over her leftovers that would have gone to waste otherwise. Though I never knew her name, and she never knew mine, her kindness had spared me a couple of hungry nights. And I’m grateful for that…

If it was her…

“Who was it?” I asked.

“Amanda Collins,” said the detective. “A young woman, 21, attending college in the city nearby.”

That same sinking sensation was there again. Something inside of me seemed to have deflated like a balloon. Amanda Collins, so that’s her name. I had plenty of terrible mornings I’ve woken up to throughout my life, but this takes the cake for the most bizarre.

I swung the door even wider and craned my neck outside. To the right, as per usual, was a tightly shut door, to the left, however, was a different story entirely.

Amanda’s door was dented and broken into many odd-looking angles, barely held upright by loose screws in a single hinge at the top, further beyond that were two police officers talking amongst themselves.

My eyes could hardly believe what they were seeing. “When did this…?”

“Late last night,” Irene answered, “Your other neighbor made the call when she returned home early this morning. She, we already talked to. Now it’s just you.”

There was a hint of suspicion in her tone.

“But I didn’t hear anything last night. I didn’t see anything either,” I said at once.

“Your neighbor said the same thing to me as well. But you see here’s the thing. Inside of Amanda’s room right now was as if a tornado had swept through it, signs of struggle – very loud, very clear signs of trouble. That poor door of hers looked as if it had a battering ram run right through it. Again, not exactly subtle. Which begs the question: How did her next-door neighbor, who’s only one concrete wall away from her, possibly not hear anything happen at all throughout the night?”

One simple question and I was asking myself the same thing. How did I not hear anything? Ash, too, her especially… if anything were amiss, it’d be her who’d notice it first. So why didn’t she?

“Heavy sleeper?” Irene asked.

“No, not particularly.”

“Were you here last night?”

“I was, yes. Went to bed, but I really didn’t hear anything.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Mmm-hmm. Did you see anyone or anything suspicious?”

“I already told you I didn’t.”

“Live alone?”

A small pause.

“Yes,” I answered.

“Okay.”

I noticed her gaze break away from mine, looking over my shoulder, past me, and into the house. I half-expected her to ask if she could have a look inside but to my surprise, she simply nodded her head.

“Well, at least we know you aren’t deaf. That’s all I have for now. I may come back if something new crops up, but for now,” she pulled out a card and placed it in my hands. “You remember anything at all, or see anything suspicious, be sure to give me a call, alright?”

I nodded back. “Will do.”

One last peek at Amanda’s doorway before I closed my door shut. In silence, as I walked back to the living room, I reflected on everything I just heard.

Last night, probably after I went to bed, Amanda’s apartment was broken into, the assailant broke her door and nearly ripped it into pieces. There was a struggle, her room left in tatters, a complete total mess, and come daybreak’s arrival, Amanda was now turning up missing.

So many things happening at once and yet somehow…

“How did I not hear anything?”

“Master.”

Ash stood up from the couch, the grim and understanding look on her face implying that she had overheard everything. Those ears of hers were good, better… So then, why?

“Ash, did you hear anything last night?”

With a look of regret in her eyes, she slowly shook her head.

“It doesn’t make sense, then,” I muttered to no one in particular.

“This Amanda person, were you well acquainted with her?” asked Ash.

“I wouldn’t say that. I knew her, but I didn’t know her well. It’s still a damn tragedy though.”

“Indeed.”

“Welp,” I exhaled a sigh. “Not really much we can do, huh? Hopefully, that detective catches the bastard responsible soon.”

Ash pulled a face, the kind of strained expression you make when you feel something bad was gonna happen.

That face, on her? Not a good combo.

She spoke again and I could sense the edge in her voice.

“Master… from what I’ve gathered through my days spent in this world, I regret to say, but I sincerely believe that your law enforcers are drastically ill-equipped to deal with the culprit responsible.”

The way she held herself, how her eyes kept darting to every corner in the room, how the sword I saw her keep just now was all the sudden back in her hands… Ash knew something.

“Why do you say that?”

“Since the moment I’ve awoken, I’ve felt a sensation unlike anything I’ve experienced here. It was a sensation all too familiar and it only further intensified once you’ve opened that door.”

“What is it? What did you feel?”

“Elves are naturally susceptible to the slightest of sensations. Even those undetectable to most. So have no doubt in me when I say for certain that I sense traces of magic lingering in the air.”

I was taken aback. “Magic… but… how can there be magic? There’s no such thing…”

“I know your words to be true, master. Magic is but a fantasy in your world, a tale told merely to astonish, yet there was no mistaking what I’ve felt… which could only mean one other thing,” Ash looked at me dead in the eye. “Whoever the culprit may be… they are not of this world.”

Her words hit me with the force of a truck. If what she said was true, then the implications of it all could be huge. We stared at each other, an understanding shared between us.

It seems Ash wasn’t the only one being who had entered this world.