The Thirteenth Chapter | The Enchanted Woods (II)
Doechi.
"All good things, of course. For someone who's never been here, you sure are a sight for sore eyes."
Doechi didn't seem bad at all, maybe Cedrick was right and Prim was just overreacting.
Doechi looked her straight in the eyes for a few seconds before she smiled, grabbed her hand, and started pulling her deeper into the forest, then... black.
Alvera opened her eyes and looked around hesitantly at her surroundings. Was she awake? No. This felt different. It felt just like that time she passed out in the Mirror of Alternates. She was definitely dreaming.
She was sitting on the floor of a box. A huge box with glass for walls and a foundation of iron keeping it together around the sides. She looked around, searching for virtually anything. Nothing.
It was weird and eerily quiet. The box floated in the middle of the sky, surrounded by nothing but blue skies. What was this for? She sat there, waiting to see if anything would happen. She was actually quite curious about what was happening outside of her dream. Had she fainted again?
Suddenly, something appeared in front of her, on one side of the box, just looking at her. A dark, shrouded figure with piercing green eyes followed Alvera.
"Um... hello?"
No answer.
"What am I doing here?"
No answer.
Alvera looked around awkwardly, just waiting for... anything.
Then, another one came, and another and another, until nine hooded figures were standing all around the glass. All sorts of eye colors glared at her, silently. It was so weird. It was like they weren't even there like they were just empty shells of something else.
After doing absolutely nothing but staring for multiple minutes. The spirits began to depart, one by one until the only one left was the red-eyed one. Those red eyes were both familiar and scary. It was as if the figure was taunting her quietly. So quietly in fact that Alvera didn't even notice.
The eyes squinted at her and then they were gone. Now, she was alone again, just like she was a few minutes ago. She didn't know if she'd prefer to be in eerie silence or under the intense gaze of those... things.
Black.
By the time she blinked and opened her eyes again, she was back where she was when she had entered that weird trance-like state. It was like it had never even happened. Nobody had noticed a thing. Not even Cedrick. Well if he did, he didn't mention it. It seemed that absolutely no time had passed. It was like she had blinked once, but in reality, it was several minutes, at least ten.
Cedrick followed behind them, not even attempting to interfere, he already knew where they were going.
"So, have your powers started showing yet? I can imagine that suppressing magic for eighteen years probably isn't good for your development."
Why was everyone asking about her magic?
Alvera let out a noise, confirming that she was right, as she was pulled under a large tree that had fallen over, partially obstructing the path. She was a bit curious about where they were going but wasn't worried since Cedrick hadn't said anything. If he didn't have a problem with it, then she was safe.
Speaking of Cedrick, he had been oddly quiet the whole time, but even though Alvera had noticed, she chose not to say anything.
Doechi kept pulling her along, asking or saying something every few minutes, while Alvera tried figuring out what that dream meant. Was that even dreaming? Well, she wasn't exactly asleep, so was it more like daydreaming? Or was it some form of vision?
Whatever it was, it definitely had a meaning. This was the second time this sort of weird thing had happened. They couldn't both just be weird coincidences.
Alvera was also thinking about Doechi. So far, all the Realm Rulers she had met could be easily classified based on her first impression of them, but for Doechi, it was harder. She just seemed... normal, nothing too out there. But at the same time, Alvera swore she could feel something weird radiating from her. Regardless. she decided it was best to keep it to herself. Telling a presumably powerful leader that they seemed suspicious the first time they met you was probably the wrong impression to make after all.