‘Oh, this is heaven,’ Leo took another sip of his cold caramel macchiato. Sitting on a bench in a small garden right beside the coffee shop he just visited. The man with a Charmander tie enjoyed his lunch break as best as he could. It was Monday, and the caffeine wasn’t going to let the Monday Blues get to him.

‘I just wish the week would end already,’ wishful thought from someone who just began his first day of the week. He was also in the process of planning what to do in the upcoming weekend. For Leo, those two days would always be the most precious days in every week of his working life, and nothing would stop him from using those two days to the fullest.

‘Should I watch a movie? Or should I go food-hunting down at Chinatown? I’ve heard from Mr.Chen, they’re going to host an Asian food festival this weekend,’ Leo pulled out his phone and browsed through the net. There was glee on his face as he looked through the list of foods and specialties that were participating in the festival. Reading through it was enough to make his mouth water. Leo had to even slurp himself from drooling.

Unaware, a figure approached him and sat right at the empty seat beside him. It took him a second later to realize there was someone else with him. “Oh,” he exclaimed, slightly jumping on his butt. Leo was the type that was easily surprised. Back when it was Halloween, he got scared the shit out of his life by a group of mischievous zombie boys who jumped on him when he opened the door. Truth to be told, he almost pissed in his pants. Well, let’s just say it was a trickled.

“Hello,” he awkwardly greeted the lady garbed in an outlandish Victorian dress. It was a sight to behold, considering not many people dressed like that anymore.

“Well hello to you too,” she replied in a monotonous tone. Her neck looked stiff while turning her head to Leo. Her eyes were light blue, the bluest Leo had ever seen in someone’s eyes, and her blond hair neatly tied to a bun-shaped ponytail. She was a beautiful gal, and if Leo had to say something about her, she definitely had a doll-like beauty.

Leo politely nodded, flashing a courteous smile. He turned back and minded his own business, taking another sip of his caffeine. ‘Let’s just pretend she’s not…’

“What is that?” she suddenly asked, prompting Leo to glance over.

“Um…excuse me?” John asked. The vague question didn’t really help him.

“What is that?” She repeated the same thing, eying at the grande-size plastic cup in Leo’s hand that might as well be called large.

“Uh…it’s an ice-caramel macchiato,” Leo unintentionally tilted his body away from the Victorian cosplayer.

“May I have it?” a sudden request that struck Leo as odd. Who in the hell would want a half-drunk coffee with his saliva all around the edge of the straw, or she might throw the straw away knowing it was the most logical thing to do.

“Sorry, lady, but I don’t think…” his words fell off as the Victorian lady’s strong gaze threw him off. For some reason, he could see genuine sincerity in those blue eyes of her, or it might be just him, getting charmed by her Barbie-like visual.

“I bought my coffee there,” he pointed at the corner-end shop lot right within his view. “You can get one yourself, but I think you should try browsing through the menu first. Who knows, you might have something else to your liking.”

“May I have it?” contrary to Leo’s expectation, she asked the same thing all over again. And it got him thinking.

‘Is she messing with me?’ It was the first thing that came to mind. Ladies like her tended to put a distance with him rather than approaching. Leo wasn’t that bad in terms of appearance; dark brown hair, deep brown eyes, and a face that looked fairly similar to a mash between a young Sean Connery and a young Paul Rudd. A strange combination one might question, but it is what it is. Thus, the reason behind him not being a chick magnet was because of his preferences for certain things. For instance, the Charmander tie he was currently wearing. Frankly speaking, no woman in the modern era would remotely find that tie attractive.

‘Let’s not jump to a conclusion here, Leo, you did wrong once and you ain’t going to miss it again. She might be hinting at something else here,’ Leo had a case of obliviousness at times especially in regard to the opposite sex. Back in the days, someone was openly attracted to him and he didn’t know not until it was three years later with the said girl married with a baby. And now his eyes were opened, denying such possibility would be outright stupid of him.

“Knock yourself out,” Leo handed over the coffee and the Victorian woman gladly accepted it.

“Um, if you like coffee there’s a nicer place close to—” again he couldn’t finish his word. The Victorian lady kept staring at him with the half-finished caramel macchiato untouched. He also belatedly noticed that the lady didn’t even blink once. ‘She’s weird. But oh well, I can’t really complain, can I. Like they always said, finding a girlfriend is like pushing a tray in a cafeteria. Nothing looks perfectly good, but you know you have to pick something by the time you reach the end of the line. And by the way, she’s definitely hot.’

Leo calmed himself down again, hoping to try a different approach. “Oops,” he bent down with his hand reaching the ground. “I think you dropped something,” he said. Then his head craned up, looking at the Victorian lady right in her blue eyes. “And I hope it’s your standard,” he smiled.

Yet the lady’s countenance never broke. She appeared the same, smiling with her eyes still wide, and it seemed Leo’s pickup line didn’t do the trick that he wanted.

‘Shit, it’s a dud.’ He cast his eyes away to the side, a bit flushed over that failure of his. It would be a lie if it wasn’t embarrassing.

“May I have that?” her voice reached his ears again with the same question. But this time he noticed the finger pointed at his tie.

“You mean this?” he showed her his Charmander tie with a bit of confusion plastered all across his face. Some pointed at his tie with little interest, but never to the point of asking for it.

“You sure?” he asked. But looking at those eyes seemed like they weren’t lying. “Hmm, I don’t know. It's kinda my favorite one.”

“May I have that?” She asked it again. And John glanced at her and then at the tie several times before he finally sighed. ‘Might as well order the new one. Since it does have all the evolutions on it,’ Leo thought while loosening the tie around his neck.

He gave it to her and she gladly accepted it. But what came next baffled him even more. She asked more and more things from his pen jutting from his shirt patch pocket to the socks he was currently wearing. It made him wonder at first seeing how strange her behavior was. Yet rather than distancing himself away, Leo had a weird growing interest in the Victorian lady. He gave everything she asked until what was left of him was only him in his brief.

‘Now let’s see what else do you want,’ he grinned, shivering under the summer chill of San Francisco. He cared less about potential passersby as he wanted to see where this thing would end. He followed her eyes and it went down to one specific spot. ‘I don’t know if she’s bold or just plain crazy.’

“Now, Mr.Hart, this will be my last question for you,” her sudden change in tone and the knowledge of his name made him frown.

‘Wait, how did she know my name?’ now things were heading a path that Leo never expected. His eyes turned wary at the lady that was no longer enticing to his heart.

“May I have your will to fight?” the Victorian lady asked. It wasn’t his underwear she was asking but it was something more intangible.

“Fight what exactly?” As strange as it sounded, Leo was hooked by her question.

“Fight against everything that seeks to end your world,” she said with a smile.

‘I don’t know who set me up for this prank but shouldn’t she at least make it believable,’ Leo finally saw where this was going. A prank to make a fool out of himself. To be fair, he didn’t mind a funny prank but the soon-to-be ending was quite disappointing. The ending was far from being funny as he had been waiting for the punchline. ‘Why the heck the last question has to be such a generic thing to ask a teenage protagonist for a fantasy theme movie? Is that the punchline?’

Staring back at the Victorian lady who never broke character, Leon smirked. ‘Fine, I’ll play along then. I just hope they will pay me well for being the fool, and a grand won’t going to cut it.’

“Sure, take everything you want,” he spread his arms wide a sign of his endless giving. His eyes glanced around, searching for a possible hiding spot for the prankster to pop themselves out.

Yet contrary to his belief, the Victorian lady stood up and placed everything that was given right at the empty space on the bench. “Fight well, Leonardo Hart, and if destiny allows us, let us meet again.”

She finally blinked her eyes, then she turned and left. Leaving Leo alone dumbfounded by the sudden turn of events.

‘Shouldn’t they come out right now?’ Leo thought as his eyes glanced around. Then his sight found the back of the Victorian lady who was slowly fading in the distance. He got up and thought of chasing her yet a second later she was gone.

“What?” he rubbed his eyes and his sight wasn’t wrong. A second she was there and now she wasn’t. Goosebumps crawled up his skin as if the chill just got colder. “Okaaay, what just happened?”

Leo stood there for a while, staring in a daze. After a minute or so, he snapped out of it and wore back his clothes. He returned to his office and continued the remainder of today’s work. Typing down his keyboard, Leo couldn’t get rid of the Victorian lady off his mind. ‘Who is she exactly?’

“Hey,” a voice made Leo jump on his seat. His hands scrambled over the desk and managed to hold on to something as his chair fell back. Leo looked up and saw his office mate.

“Sorry,” the officemate said, awkwardly smiling.

“You almost make me shit my pants, man,” Leo said, pulling his chair back up. “So what’s up?”

“Coffee break?” the scarlet-haired man's sudden invitation was not left unanswered. Agreeing to the invite, Leo and his officemate took a trip to the pantry. One of the good things about the company was the investment they had thrown into making the pantries. It wasn’t like any small space at some secluded part of the office where you can make some instant coffee with the hot water dispenser. It was the state-of-the-art coffee machine usually seen in those trendy coffee shops with the most premium ground coffee easily available to one’s choosing. Not to mention the assortments of snacks ranging from donuts and croissants that were refilled every three hours or so. All in all, the CEO was a generous guy to his employees.

“Going for the glazed today?” the scarlet-haired man eyed at the glazed donut in Leo’s hand.

“Nothing beats the classic,” Leo smirked and took a bite out of it. The sugary sweet glaze filled his mouth and paired with the iced-americano it was a combination to die for. “So what is it, Jim?” Leo asked.

“What?” Jim was a bit confused.

“Cut the crap and just tell me. I know you invited me here for a purpose, and last time is about that chick who likes eating your ass. And now what?” Leo asked.

“Dude!” Jim’s eyes scattered around, hoping no one else heard the thing about his ass being eaten. “Someone might hear you.”

“About what? A pretty boy having the best time of his life? You know, Jim. For people like me. We don’t have the luxury of women looking at us with such lustful intent. If I were you, I would have just posted that shit right at Instagram…with proof,” Leo said, having the biggest respect at the handsome lad in front of him. Unknown to Leo, if he ditched the terrible fashion and the Charmander tie he would have a brighter chance like Jim.

“That’s…sounds…nasty?” Jim shook his head. “That’s not the point here, what I’m about to tell you is this…during the lunch break, I met this old woman probably sixty-plus or so and she kept asking me for things like my pen, my tie…then came the creepy part. She kept telling me how beautiful my hair is and she wanted a strand of it. At first, I thought she was joking, but she kept insisting over and over again, and since I don’t know what to do, I just fucking ran.” There was a look of disbelief on Jim’s face. “Crazy right? You never know when an old lady will go crazy on you or not,” Jim said.

Yet Leo, who had been listening, felt his whole body froze. ‘It’s the same thing,’ he thought. What happened to Jim happened the same thing to Leo except for the person they encountered. He had the beautiful lady, and Jim had the old one, was it a coincidence? Leo didn’t think so. The man who loved Charmander had the train of thought that things happened for a reason, and nothing was without reason.

“Jim, what does she—” but before he could ask, the floor started to quake.

“Earthquake!” Jim shouted.

“Under the table!” Leo grabbed Jim and rushed under the table. It was the basics of what to do when an earthquake happened as his hand gripped tight on the table leg. By chance, his eyes looked out to the window wall. His eyes bulged as widest they could be as Leo couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“What the fuck is going on here?” the view outside was as if the whole building was going through a warp drive. Numerous lights were flashing outside, and by the end of thirty seconds, the quaking stopped.

“Has it stopped?” Jim shouted with his head close to the floor and his eyes shut tight. Yet Leo was already out from under the table, walking towards the window wall.

The view he was looking at wasn’t the everyday view he used to watch while sipping his coffee. It wasn’t the Silicon Valley he remembered. As the vast lushed jungle greeted his sight. Then something emerged blocking his vision.

[Welcome to Xanadu Zero]