Maddox stumbled over his own feet, prepared to crash onto the stone ground. That was, before the Christmas tree man grabbed his shoulders and yanked him backward.

"Careful there." He seemed to order as Maddox stared at his feet. He placed one in front of the other, so numb to his surroundings that even walking became a struggle. Like a movie without a soundtrack, he felt emotionless, muted, and dull. Still, Maddox forced himself to continue as the man gripped his shoulder in a way that was both protective and stern.

Maddox raised his eyes to meet the man's face as if lifting his head was too much effort. His emotions seemed to have disappeared at the heavy feeling until even the fear of asking was nothing more than a thought at the back of his mind. "Where am I?" The words drifted away in a mumbled jumble of sounds and he ducked his head again. He had to focus on his feet to make sure he didn't trip.

"You're in Alfheim, kid." He spoke firmly, yet with the gentle tone of a parent. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're the human-born kid Kadri found in Arizona, right? We were going to send someone to pick you up, but we never expected you to travel through the painting on your own. Most moonshadowers can't even do that with training."

"Nonsense." He mumbled the phrase, hardly realizing he spoke through the jumble of thoughts in his head. Carefully, he placed his foot forward on the stone path, completely focused on maintaining his balance.

"Yeah, I know it seems like that right now." Maddox raised his eyes to catch the glimpse of a soft smile, almost welcoming. A flutter of emotion rose up from the mess of questions in his head, although it was difficult to tell what when he felt so dull. Maybe safety, or fear, or...his thoughts trailed off as the Christmas tree man raised his voice again.

"My name's Gray. I'm a patrolman for the Alfheim Squadron, but you can probably think of us more as policemen. At least I think that's what you call them where you're from." Gray added after a moment of hesitation. Maddox nodded his head, even though the words seemed empty and meaningless. He was far too engaged by the cobblestone stairs in front of him, each one a challenge in itself to get down.

"So, what's your name?"

"Maddox Magick." He mumbled the words gently, remembering the monologue he had rehearsed a dozen times after the incident. "My parents are Chantel and Robert Magick. My dad owns an oil company and my mother is probably the lead in any western film you've ever seen." The words were pouring out of him faster than he could stop them. "I was born in California and go to Atlantic Birch High School. I'm seventeen, captain of the lacrosse team, and..." his words fell short as he recalled the next words to his monologue.

And Alex...

"That was a whole lot of nonsense, but thanks." Gray laughed gently, holding his shoulder carefully and Maddox stumbled down the last few stairs to the lower bridge. Briefly letting his eyes scan over the view of the shining city, he turned to the wall, a magnificent door towering over his head. Giant metal ribbons held the wooden doors in place, stories carved into the oak that he couldn't even begin to understand. His breath caught at the magnificence before him, almost as gorgeous as his first glance at the city. His head tilted back, he tried to take in every ounce of the giant doorway, every last detail.

"Squadron Headquarters," Gray announced and Maddox gave a quick, absent-minded nod in response. He was too busy gaping at the masterpiece before him. "C'mon. Let's go inside." With a slight tug on his shoulder, Maddox let himself be led through the doorway, the muted emotions turning into a childlike wonder.

Feeling his feet pause in the doorway, Maddox took in the mess in front of him. He wasn't sure what he was expecting to see behind the massive doors, but it fell far short from his expectations. A balcony ribboned around the rim of the large lobby, circling around the giant tree sprouting the centre of the room. Dirt and grass pooled randomly on the ground, shelves of books stacked to the ceiling in an amazingly poetic mess. Hallways branched off like the tentacles of an octopus, spurring and bending into the unknown.

But it wasn't just the obvious lack of cleaning that made the Headquarters a disaster. It was the people. Most dressed in the same blue shaded uniform, three men stood by the entrance to the hallway, wrapped in a heated argument. Maddox could physically see the golden sparks flying between them. On the balcony, two teens in greyish uniforms laughed and screamed as they clung to an unstable ladder meant for reaching books. The bookshelves seemed to cave onto the floor where they stood, books falling like rain. On top of that, Maddox could hardly count the disasters in front of him. A man carrying a cage that rattled and shrieked like a bat, a secretary with fish-like ears and a pet that looked strangely like the jellyfish he saw outside, and a girl hanging upside down from the branches of the giant tree as she tried to take notes.

"Yeah, it's a bit of a mess, but we make do." Gray grinned nervously as he urged Maddox towards one of the hallways, his eyes still glued to the crumbling disaster. "My office is this way. We can talk more there."

Maddox strained his eyes to take in the crumbling disaster of a work space as Gray led him down the hallway. It was such a mess, such a wreck...and then he was stumbling backward into Gray as his entire world became a flurry of falling papers and a dull sense of fear.