Chapter 3: The Sorceress
"You must be terribly confused," the elder says as he continues walking inside the building. In the end, Allura had to go inside along with the elder and Shkan. She still doesn't believe that her real name is something else, she couldn't remember what it was again, nor the fact that she's being pursued by whatever those things that were chasing them earlier.
The building may look small on the outside, but it was actually quite big inside. They proceeded to the basement where there was much more space, the fire on the upper floor was merely a signal telling Shkan where the elder's location was. They had turned it off when they entered the building, carrying only a small torch light with them.
"Very confused if you ask me, I have so many questions that need answers. Especially the name. if I have to tell you hundreds of times I'm going to repeat it, my name is Allura" she argued, she felt her cheeks feel hot. She was getting irritated trying to convince these people that they probably have the wrong person the entire time. She looks around the tunnel there was nothing in the hall but torch lights being lit up by the elder as they pass by.
"We understand that you are confused, but we need you to understand that what we are telling you is the truth. And as Shkan had said earlier, we are not from your world. Please do believe me, we have been watching over you for years." the elder explains as he frequently looked back to her. Shkan was right behind her in case something bad happens even though the elder had assured him that the place is safe.
"I can't quite follow you to be honest and I don't care if you understand that I'm confused, because the way I see it you still don't. If you're not from here then where did you come from?! Who are you exactly?!" Allura asks once again. She was getting irritated by the minute and if they don't give her any clearer answer, she'd run out not caring if she's going to die in this area or wherever.
"We are from a world where humans thought to not exist," the elder says vaguely. That's it, Allura thought. She turns around to leave but was then blocked by Shkan.
"You're not going anywhere." He says coldly and makes her face the elder again. The elder breathes a breath or relief that Shkan was there. If it were only the two of them, the situation might have been difficult, given Allura's stubbornness.
He stops as he turns around to face her. Allura didn't notice that this was the end of the tunnel, the room was still dark despite the elder's torch in hand.
"Briaphela, we're here," the elder suddenly says. Allura's anger subsides and suddenly grows confused because of the elder's sudden words.
"Umm, what?" she asks him. She turns around to look at Shkan as well but he has disappeared. She looks back to the elder, he was still standing there but he's now looking somewhere else. Suddenly, the room starts to light up.
Allura had to cover her eyes for a moment because of the sudden change in brightness of the room.
Suddenly, they were now standing in a brightly lit room, with bricks for walls, a fireplace in the middle of the opposite wall, there was a long table in the middle of the room with 8 chairs, seated in one of it is Shkan with his foot on top of the table, the elder is now standing by the fireplace.
Standing next to him is a woman who looked the same age as Shkan. She has long golden hair that stops around her waist tied in braids to which Allura has no idea how was done, she had eyes black as ebony, she was wearing clothes that would seem kind of revealing; a top with a hole in the chest area and a skirt with a long slit. In her hand is a staff which is quite different from the elder's it was made of glass. It looked stunning if Allura was going to be honest. Her face, much like Shkan's, doesn't give away anything, no thoughts, doubts, questions, anything at all.
"Princess Amaltheia, it is nice to finally meet you," the lady says as she curtsies. This makes Allura even more confused and angry with the situation.
"Okay, now that we're here. Please do explain what is happening? Who is this Amaltheia you're talking about and now Princess Amaltheia?! You people must be crazy" Allura says in such a voice that gives away her confusion, fear and anger.
Princess? Who's the princess? The entire term "princess Amaltheia" just seems so wrong. It feels wrong to her ears. Their school holds plays every year, but she never, ever, got the role of the princess, ever. Even though her friends had said that she was perfect for the role since she looked like a princess herself. She kept declining it because she simply found it tiring.
"We haven't told her that yet Briaphela," the elder says as he sighs and sits in the chair by the fireplace. Allura looks at both of them and she really couldn't see anything, the elder doesn't look disappointed at all and the woman called 'Briaphela' doesn't look sorry or whatever emotion is necessary for saying something that must probably be a secret between the three of them.
"Okay, what haven't you told me?! What is this 'princess Amaltheia' thing?! Who's Amaltheia?! Who's the princess?! Me?! Are you saying that I am both?! You're definitely crazy!" Allura was already screaming. Her heart pulsing stronger than it normally does. The elder looks at Briaphela and with that Briaphela seems to understand what it means. She walks up to Allura and with a 'thump' of her staff, everything around Allura went black and before she knew it, she was already falling into the depths of darkness. She had gone unconscious.
Allura slowly opens her eyes, she's now back in her room. Her plushed hedgehog by the foot of her bed. She slowly stands up, looks around her room and sees that everything is normal. She opens the door to go out of her room and as she opens it, everything suddenly went dark. There was no light, she feared she had gone blind but she could still see her fingers, her hands, her body. She looks around to look for light, she sees a thin line just a few steps in front of her. She reaches out and feels a strange but familiar sensation in her hand, it was a doorknob. She slowly turns the knob and pushes the door to open it.
Suddenly, she was outside in a place she wasn't familiar with. Green grass was below her, she could feel the sensation of the grass tickling her bare feet, the air smells fresh. She looks up and sees the clear blue sky, the sun shining brightly in her eyes. The birds are chirping on top of the tree, the squirrels running around with nuts in their mouths. This place is something where you want to live when you say you want a peaceful life.
As she looks further, she sees something that definitely made her look twice, thrice and then wipe her eyes and look at it again. There were islands in the middle of what seemed like an endless ocean. It looked as if the islands were arranged in a significant fashion. It took her time to count how many islands were there, there were nine.
The island that caught her attention the most was the one at the middle. It was small compared to the other islands surrounding it, it was only an isle. The only significant thing about it was the statue of something, or rather someone in it. It looked as if he was sitting, a sword in one hand and what seems to be a flame in the other. He was looking at the hand that was clasping the flame. His face looked fierce, as if he was preparing for battle. He looked familiar, somehow. Allura couldn't put her finger on it, but he looked really familiar.
She looked at the other islands, now that she looked long it seemed that they were surrounding the island with the statue. Each island had a castle in it. The castles were the only large buildings in each islands, then it was just small houses. The castles had something significant in them, they were giving off a bright light. It was bright enough to make her cover her eyes for a moment, to adjust from the brightness. It actually looked really beautiful.
'What? Where am I?' she tried to say, but no sound came from her mouth. Her hand immediately went to her lips.
'What?' she tried saying again. Still no voice came out.
"What you see is Faistran," a voice said suddenly which startled her. Standing behind her is Briaphela, staff still in hand. She's looking at the castle and the little town near the castle which Allura must have missed earlier. She looks back to Briaphela, confusion evident on her face.
'Where is this?' she tries saying again. Still, no voice came out.
"The place where we came from," Briaphela replies as if she heard her, maybe she did. Briaphela starts walking to the direction of the town, without much thought, Allura starts following her. Finally, her face gives away something, the face that says this place they're in is a place that holds an important place in her heart.
"This is where the elder grew up, where Shkan and I were born," she looks around as if looking for the people. This is something Allura had just observed, there weren't any people.
"This is only my mental image of our land. This is the Faistran I choose to remember." She says with a voice that contained such sadness. Allura couldn't figure out why but she couldn't help but feel sorry for her.
They were approaching an island which was the closest from where they were standing earlier. It was pretty much the same as the other islands. A small town with a large castle in the middle of it.
"This is one of the islands that we inhabit. The eight islands you saw earlier are inhabited by different races of this world." Briaphela says as they start to step into the water. Allura expected to be submerged in it, but was surprised to see that they were walking on top of it. She looked at Briaphella with excitement on her face but then looked back down again when she remembered that she should be mad at them.
As much as Allura tried to hide it Briaphela seemed to understand what her eyes actually meant as she laughs and continues to walk on to the direction of a castle in the middle of the island. Briaphela and her continued walking, Briaphela continued telling her about the islands. As Allura was listening, she somehow picked up that Briaphella was not telling the entire story of the world they live in. it was like Briaphella was stopping herself from revealing something, she was holding herself back.
Now, they are outside the castle grounds. Allura gives the castle on last glance before they pass through the palace gates.
'Are we allowed to be in here?' she asks Briaphela. She looks around in case guards will suddenly appear and stop them from advancing.
"As I said, this is only a mental image of our land. Therefore, we're allowed to go wherever we want," Briaphela continued walking until they are in front of the grand door.
'Wait,' Allura says. She looks around and somehow, she felt a sudden tug in her chest. Something about the place makes her feel sad, somehow. This is obviously the first time she's ever been in this place but somehow, the place makes her feel nostalgic. Briaphela looks at her for a moment, her face changed into the usual unreadable face she had when they first met.
"Shall we?" she says as she passes through the door. Allura breathes in one last heavy breath before following Briaphela inside.
Allura didn't know what to expect. From all the fairy tales she's watched with castles in them, one thing they had in common were the plate armor that knights used to wear in the medieval period. Now that she's inside, she looks left to right and see that the walls are full of stained glass. Allura looks at each and every one of the stained glasses carefully.
'Who are these people?' she points at one of the stained glass. A family holding a boy who seems to be around six or seven years old. Not an ounce of smile could be seen from their faces. Their eyes are looking straight as if looking into a camera.
"The royal family. The previous generation that is." Briaphela replies as she looks at it as well.
"Come here," Briaphela tells her. Allura gives the glass one last look before following Briaphela.
"Now here," she stops in front of another stained glass. It was of a king and queen, Allura thought, they were holding a child in their arms. Still, a boy, probably around five years old. He had dark brown hair and hazel eyes.
"Does he seem familiar?" Briaphela asks.
'He has the same hair and eye color as me,' Allura says without thinking. She's been staring long and hard at the stained glass.
"Indeed," Briaphela says sadly as she starts walking again. Allura couldn't stop staring at the glass, not until Briaphela calls her again.
Now, they're standing in front of another stained glass. This time, a man, the king, had the same brown hair and hazel eyes as hers and the boy in the previous portrait and a woman, probably the queen, had the same eye shape as hers, the same complexion, the same smile.
They were holding a baby. It was younger than the two children she saw earlier, it was an infant. The queen was carrying it in her arms while the king held the both of them lovingly. None of them were looking straight just as the others had. The king and queen were both looking at the baby, their eyes were full of happiness but also sadness at the same time. The baby was holding out its arms to its parents as if wanting to give them a hug.
"They are the king and queen of Faistran." Briaphela mutters. Allura looks at her for a moment and looks back to the stained glass.
"They are currently in grave danger, Faistran itself is in grave danger. This is why we came to your world, why we came to you," Briaphela says in barely a whisper.
'Why did you come to our world? To me?' she asks Briaphela, her tone pleading for an answer she wasn't sure. She gives the stained glass one last look before looking back to Briaphela.
"Because it is as what I had said earlier Princess Amaltheia," she stops for a moment, as if thinking if it's something that should be said.
'There you go again with the 'princess Amaltheia' thing. I told you I'm not who you're calling me!' Amaltheia argues again. Her eyes were stinging, she wasn't sure if she was mad or sad. Sad? Why would she even be sad?
"Have you not have realized it yet? When you looked at these portraits? Especially the one in front of us right now?" Briaphela says. Amaltheia couldn't help but step back, she knew what she saw but she didn't want to admit anything. She chose to pretend that she didn't see anything at all. She had remained silent.
"Answer me, we're out of time" Briaphela begged. She wasn't crying nor was she about to cry, but Allura could sense the desperation in her voice.
"What do you mean?" Allura looks at her, now she's confused. She couldn't understand everything that's happening right now.
"We're running out of time, Faistran needs you princess" Briaphela says and with that images of strange creatures, demons, flashed in Allura's mind.
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