Ivy felt like she was sinking back into a dark, bottomless pit indefinitely. She didn't know if it was just a deep dream or if it was more dangerous, a slumber. In any case, the dreams that populated her unconsciousness were terrible and distressing. She landed in a world without borders, without law and particularly suffocating. She was alone, contemplated, coveted, by various formless creatures in the most shocking way. Monsters with heavy, ugly, foul-smelling, rotten bodies sprang up from everywhere and surrounded her, snarling, catching and devouring any animal in the vicinity, spurting their blood on the ground and trees, smearing the delicate, frightened face of the girl.
Suddenly, an unknown beige shape appeared, took her on its back and ran away as suddenly as it had come, to keep them away from the cursed beings. Minutes, hours, even days, Ivy did not know, she only remembered that the beast with the pale fur, ran, jumped, leapt, always faster, always stronger, to flee their merciless pursuers. But in spite of all his efforts and their hopes, nothing was ever enough to keep them away from the monsters with their black blood splattered faces, who pursued them relentlessly, displaying on their ignoble faces a terrible sense of greed. For a long time, this infernal pursuit kept repeating itself, and ending in tragedy before starting again, dragging Ivy and her graceful, fuzzy beast into agonizing, voracious suffering. Ivy thought this uncontrollable dream would never end.
Then, in a dark yet intense glare, appeared a majestic being, a colossal beast whose flake-covered body and glistening fur came and quickly dispelled the bad dreams. All those nightmares. In order to thank him, Ivy reached out her hands and wanted to caress the silky skin of this wonderful creature. But its fur was cold, so cold that Ivy hurt her hands as the beast backed away, looking at her with a glassy dark, icy look.
- You should never have done that Ivy, we are what we are, that's all.
- I don't think so," she answered softly but with conviction.
Then a terrible earthquake occurred which shook the whole place terribly. The ground collapsed, and Ivy plunged again in the middle of innumerable debris under the tormented eyes of Zion.
Then she finally woke up.
***
The girl's breathing was ragged and sweaty, not to mention her stiff, aching limbs.
- What.... what happened to me!
Ivy tried to regain normal breathing before moving her heavy, aching limbs. The pain was so intense that it made her capsize for a moment.
- It hurts, it hurts so much! She moaned and winced. I feel like I've been under a metal flattener.
Ivy fidgeted for a few more minutes as she realized that the bed she was resting in was big and solid and yet very warm and comfortable. After this initial discovery of her resting place, Ivy looked around to see where she was, or more accurately, where this arrogant and cocky beast had decided to place her.
She was lying in a surprisingly large room, without walls, and probably standing at an incredible height, whose high ceiling, where a moving story of arrogant warriors fighting hideous monsters was painted, was supported by eight colossal columns engraved with powerful spells. The blue marble floor was also covered with a thick blue carpet where a moving painting of a band of Joufel - a four-legged creature with pink and garnet fur, wriggled in a huge meadow surrounded by dark jungle. The sheets that covered it were made of silk and occupied on either side by fairies with transparent, fragile wings that sang softly, fluttered and played in the clear water.
Ivy knew that she should quickly regain her strength and health from the magic that pervaded the place. But the magic was so heavy, so intense that it was doing just the opposite, hurting her.
And with the strength of all her stubbornness, Ivy managed to free herself from the light spells that kept her firmly lying down, straightened up and finally got out of the imposing bed. Trembling but standing, the young stranger managed to take a few steps and approach one of the edges. Leaning against a pillar, Ivy glanced out. And what she saw literally took her breath away.
She saw, as expected, a vast expanse of dark and very lush forest where the vivid and blurred forms of its inhabitants were constantly seen, their eyes shining in the night through the veils of darkness. But what amazed her was not this vision of countless trees, now life, but the great modern city that stood tall in the midst of this green kingdom.
A city as vast as it was lively, noisy and certainly very rich and populated, given the unlimited, artificial and magical lights that illuminated the whole place. The luxurious and expensive vehicles that seemed to occupy all the chic, visible places of the room, not to mention the various sumptuous and expensive objects that were scattered around.
At this incongruous yet fascinating sight, Ivy laughed briefly.
-This is really great. And at the same time not at all surprising.
She continued her contemplation calmly as voices rose in the night, echoing not far from the girl's room, and whose words were clearly recognizable. There were clearly two people, probably two men. Ivy was unaware of one of them, although she liked the sound of his voice, light yet distinguished and certainly belonging to a casual, yet serious and strong being who could be counted on. And who, according to the way he addressed the other one with so much deference but also touching friendship, had to represent one of the closest people who was part of the circle of this being, well, as close as he probably let them be. His voice was such as she remembered before she left on the grooves of sleep, husky and high-pitched. Even by his voice alone, one could guess an unpredictable, uncontrollable, destructive being who probably only ever used his immense power for things that satisfied him and rarely for good reasons.