TG GP

Braev blinked a few times, the world above him was blurry, and he had to take a few seconds to return to his senses. He looked at the pale gray face above him. The way her upper eyelids drooped, how her gaze didn’t stray from his face, she almost looked sad, or worried. But soon, her eyes were fully open, and the stitches on her mouth curved to form a smile as she realized he was getting up. Taking a long look at her, Braev actually thought she was kind of cute. It almost made him forget that she was a ghost.
Almost.
Braev’s eyes burst open from their slow opening, and as he jolted back up, the ghost girl quickly floated back a bit to give him some space. He began to back up, almost getting up, but his legs giving away both times he tried. He crab walked to the door, his back against the wood as he was still sitting. Shaking in terror, both the cold and his fear made his teeth chatter. The ghost began to look worried again, and started to get closer to him.
Braev’s hand shot up, and he put up a stop signal to the ghost, “Don’t come closer! S-stop!”
A new look appeared on the ghosts face, intrigue. She stretched her hand out to his, hovering closer and closer by the second. Soon, Braev’s protests were all for naught, and her hand connected with his. He stopped shivering as her fingers went between his, and she clamped down on the webbing. He felt her fingers on the back of his hand, her thenar space over his. It was a strange feeling, like touching something when the hand is recovering from falling asleep. It was there, but you could barely sense it. Braev could still feel something, but it didn’t have as much pressure as a normal person would holding his hand. Not to mention, it was very, very cold. He looked at her face, and it her eyes were directed straight at their holding hands. She still had an intrigued look on her face, but there was something different. The gray color on her cheeks and nose had gotten a little darker. As she pulled her face a little closer, Braev found the strength back in his legs, and shot up. The girl was suddenly surprised, and floated back again. The dark color on her face disappeared, as well.
“Ghost...a ghost...” Braev started muttering to himself, “A ghost just touched me...”
Braev took a couple of quick breaths, then a long one as he was feeling the hand that held the girl’s. He took a sigh, and reassured himself. Just save her, and get the gold, just pretend that she’s not a translucent, undead being. Easy enough. He fumbled around in his tunic pocket, and pulled out the paper asking for her rescue.
“Is this you?” Braev cautiously offered her the paper.
As she took it, he quickly brought his hand back to his side. The girl gave him another worried look, then began to read his paper. She stared intently at the bottom of the sheet, reading the language Braev could not understand. Then, she suddenly turned to the back of the paper, and waved her hand over it, and handed it back to Braev. As he took it back, he looked at the side she waved over. To his surprise, the previously blank back side of the paper now showed the image of a map. On it was a circle, right next to a picture of a tower that looked exactly like the tower he was in. From the circle came a dotted line, coming from one end of the paper to the other, with the line ending at a star. This line crossed borders of countries that were marked inside their lines.
“Is this where your kingdom is?” Braev asked, “Where I have to drop you off?”
The girl nodded. It appeared as if gestures and head shakes were the only way she could communicate, the stitches on her mouth must have kept her from speaking. Braev pitied her for a few seconds, then himself for the complications it would bring up, but redirected his attention back to the map. The path on the map led through the Slime Kingdom, the Orc Kingdom, the Desert Kingdom, the Dwarf Kingdom, and the land right before the place where the star was marked, the Vie Kingdom, one of the two largest human kingdoms in the realm. Braev knew how to sneak through the other countries, but his brown hair and his lightly tanned skin gave him away as a Teegie, getting through Vie would be no easy task. But for millions of gold, and possibly a dukedom, he’d walk on hot coals. Sure, a dukedom might be a stretch, but Braev was a dreamer. He rolled up the paper, and put it in his pocket.
“Alright!” Braev shouted, “Let’s get you back home, um, what should I call you?”
The ghost looked puzzled, and pondered for a bit. She looked around the room, and noticed some stones lying in some sand in the corner. She floated over to the area, picked up one of the stones, and began to draw in the sand. Braev walked over to her to look at what she was drawing.
“M...A...R...I...E...” He read what she wrote, “Oh, your name is Marie?”
The ghost nodded gleefully.
“Okay Marie! I mean, Princess Marie. I’m Braev MacKilligan. I promise you I’ll get you back safe. So let’s get out of here, alright?"
She nodded again, and went for his hand. But before she was able to hold on, he drew it back.
“Look Princess, this reminds me, there are gonna be some ground rules for this trip. Rule one, please don’t touch me. Rule two, when we’re walking, please stay behind me. And three...well, I guess that’s it, actually. Can you do this for me?” Braev asked.
She gave a pouty look, but then one of a sad understanding. She went back to the sand, wiped the Marie, and began writing something else.
Sorry.
Braev blushed, “Don’t worry about it, as long as you know now. Let’s get outta here.”
Marie followed Braev as he climbed down the tower, and back into the opening. He checked a few of the chests for some provisions, such as water and bread. He also grabbed a tunic with Vie colors on it, it could probably come in handy later. He took out the map, and began to head west toward Marie’s kingdom. As he felt Marie’s cold aura follow him, he began to fantasize about the lands he was about to visit. While his war stories that he dreamed of experiencing had diminished, Braev was taking the first steps to the adventure he had always dreamed of.