To Christina's great surprise, it was an imp. Or rather what she assumed was an imp, with his greenish green tinge, forked tail and little horns sprouting above his forehead.
"What... Who... Who are you?" stammered the poor girl.
"I reciprocate the question, human," said the imp. "Where did you come from?"
"I'm a human, from the human world, I guess. A world where magic doesn’t exist, or rather that's what I thought. Three witches kidnapped my boyfriend. I didn't know they were witches at first, though. And when I tried to protect and help him, one of them sent me here. Where is this world? What is it, rather?"
The imp looked at her inquisitively.
"The realm of fantasy. The world from which we creatures you human deem as 'imaginary' hail from."
"Oh. Could you help me? At least to find clothes?"
"You're really no wielder if magic powers, are you?" said the imp with wide eyes.
"Believe me, if I were I would have conjured clothes already!" snapped Christina, at the end of her patience. "Now can you help me or not? Or else I'll try to find help elsewhere and you can leave me be!"
"Calm down, calm down! I can help you. Hide in the bushes here, you and your nudity. It's just that it's so unusual to meet a human that way, you have to forgive my bewilderment. A friend of mine has some clothes that can fit you. Then, we can go to see the authorities of the next town over. Your story should interest them. Witches are rarely nice and even more rarely appreciated."
Christina thanked them and obeyed. As the imp rapidly bolted out of sight, she hoped she could trust him. It's not like she had any sort of choice either, really.
It turned out that she could not. She felt suddenly covered in a sack of cloth, obscuring her vision. She screamed and was hoisted up upon a massive creature's shoulder. Voices could be heard and she squirmed, shouting out her fright and anger but all to no avail.
"Calm down, beautiful. Let my friend take you. If you're good, we won't have to beat you and damage the merchandise."
It was the imp, with a large, very large, friend.
'Merchandise? Me? Oh, this does not bode well,' thought Christina.
"What do you want? What are you going to do to me?" she shouted through the dirty bag.
"Sell you to the Underworld slave market," she heard the imp say snidely. "With any luck, for a hefty price."
And so the travel had begun. The imp's friend was a dim-witted troll, like all trolls and it was uncomfortable and boring. The imp just offered her water and ended up giving her a tattered dress that barely fulfilled its role in covering her nudity at the end of the first day. The food was tasteless at best. The imp and troll tied her up with ropes and Christina could only worry for James and her family without news of her when she was just sad and sorry for herself. How was James faring with these foul disgusting hags? Was he even in a better position than her? When at last they reached the borders to the Underworld, a world in of itself, she was exhausted, depressed and could not be sure whether she should be happy or not. A demon checked her teeth, her skin, as well as her naked body. He then haggled very long with the imp, the sole one to do the talking, for a price. She just grasped something about humans being valuable because "very valuable". Then iron shackles were placed on her neck and wrists. She was placed in a cell with other sorry creatures and told the sales would happen in three days. The tattered dress was even more a collection of torn rags and holes. Christina had been humiliatingly sold for gold coins and the same process was about to occur once again. She just drank, did not touch the food given to the slaves and just cried when she did not just stare at nothing at all. She barely had the courage or strength to wonder what demon or imp or devil would purchase her and for what.
The day of the sales and auction, Christina was washed and scrubbed with a rough black soap. The shackles were removed from her wrists and when she was brought on a stand to be examined by the prospective buyers, an iron bar was hooked to her collar so she was dragged forward upon a long row of stands. She was too tired and distraught to be as terrified as she should have been. Whatever happened, she merely hoped it would be quick and as painless as possible. What did demons do or want with humans anyway? There were few human around. More creatures were beings with both animal or human features and traits, or centaurs, nymphs, elves or some other species she had no name for. What devilish creature would buy her? Were they all evil? What would become of her? Would she see her family or James, or even her world again?