That moist feeling turned into nothing. All she saw was pure darkness. Then, nothing. For a brief moment, she died.
Or at least, that's what she thought. She did not know that her body had started the process of being prepared the moment she went through the portal. When her sister, the princess, cast the spell on her, her power had been restrained, hidden from everyone until the day she would start to practice their ways like the former queen had done herself.
Eirisse did not know how long she had been out, but it felt like it had been hours, maybe longer. When she started regaining her consciousness, she felt her body less numb and also floating, as if she were sinking somewhere.
She tried opening her eyes, but they felt heavy. She could feel parts of her body, but not completely yet. She was floating in something; it felt warm, not sticky, but just liquid. She finally opened her eyes slowly, but they were still heavy. She took a deep breath, what a fatal mistake. Her eyes opened wide at the turquoise body of water surrounding her and an eminent realization took in, she was drowning.
Eirisse panicked as she fiercely started looking for the surface, her airway was almost out of oxygen and she did not plan on drowning. She tried to hold in the oxygen she had left in her lungs, which was not much by the feel of it. She saw the light and swam towards the surface, where the bright, yellowish light seemed to come from. She was almost at the bottom of the water of good thing it wasn't that deep in that area.
As soon as she felt the air on her face, she took an immense gulp of air but failed completely as she coughed out the water she had inhaled a minute ago. Her nose burned from the water intake and she kept coughing while wiping the water off of her face with her shaking palms. When she was able to see clearly, she examined her surroundings while keeping herself afloat.
'How the heck did I end up by the shore of a lake?!' she thought in bewilderment.
The lake looked foggy and frightening from the surface. There were different types of trees everywhere surrounding the lake. Mountains could be seen surrounding this part of the lake, and as the lake turned into a river at a distance, the mountains and trees seemed to follow it until the trees stopped her from seeing more.
She coughed more as she started crawling out of the shallow water and did her best to control her breathing. Eirisse looked at her black, wet clothes, clinging onto her body as the water slowly dripped off of them, making them feel heavy on her. A sudden wind came making her realize that the water had not been that warm after all, but the total opposite. If she had known she would end up in a freaking lake she would have worn jeans instead of shorts and a t-shirt for a tank top. Well, it's not like she knew any of this would happen anyway.
She shivered with great force, embracing her upper body to shield herself from the cold while looking around for a way to get to her home. Although, something told her she was too far to go back on foot. It was then that her back started burning for some odd reason, making her bend over and yelp. She fell down on her knees wrapping my arms around my stomach, unable to reach her back, she was trying to ease the pain for a moment this way. She breathed in and out slowly and deeply for a while until the pain ceased at a very slow pace. Tears had welled at the corners of her eyes from the agony, her mind had gone blank from it and she didn't want to move then until she recovered.
With a clearer mind, she looked around again, noticing she was near the forest. Looking higher up, the sky showed her that it was late evening already. The night was slowly setting in, and the warmth of the sun was fading along with its brightness.
There was a narrow dirt road behind some pine trees a few feet away from where she was kneeling. She took a deep breath and exhaled cautiously, determined to find out where she was before she had another backache session. Eirisse decided to stand up and follow the path; she did not want to spend the night in the middle of who knows where and with who knows what kind of wild animals may live out here. She shivered again as a freezing breeze started and the sky grew darker with every step she took, the komorebi. She looked at the descending sun, barely visible anymore; but it gave her enough light to see where she was going.
She quickened her steps and she tried to suppress her teeth chattering and her icy lips were trembling by now as well. Crickets could be heard singing everywhere around her, an owl hooting in a tree somewhere nearby, snakes hissing at different places; there were so many sounds of night critters going on at that moment. Her thoughts started drifting off into the sounds of nature, thinking of every possible menacing animal that she may encounter as her eyes darted to every unexplored corner they had not reached yet around her. Eirisse was so focused, that she had not noticed that her path had widened and the trees were ending until she was standing at the entrance of a town. It seemed like a rather old town from the gates and the high wall enclosing it.
There were torches lighting up the entrance, it looked rather, medieval. It looked ancient, but not creepy-ancient, it did not look welcoming though. There were empty guarding towers on either side of the entrance, about two a two-story house, and an open gate. For a gate to be open without guards, meant people were welcome. Eirisse looked around looking for someone that may be guarding somewhere nearby, but there was no one, so she went in. It was already nighttime by then, and she only hoped to find someone who could let her sleep for the night and tell her where she was so she could find a way home. She somehow felt like a thief, entering an unknown place uninvited.
Eirisse took slow careful steps, looking behind her, expecting someone to call for her and ask her why she was inside without permission. She did not have anything with her, so they would most likely believe she was a homeless person and about to steal something.
As she observed the empty streets, Eirisse noticed they were rather simple, and they were well lit by torches as well. She did not know what part of the country she was in, because she definitely did not recognize this place. 'What am I thinking? For all I know that mirror might have taken me to India or Egypt!', she thought. These streets had a similar architecture, the houses seemed to be made of mud bricks or maybe high alumina bricks. There was not a single house that looked different from the previous one. Except, maybe in size and shape, but not in architecture.
'Wait!' She stopped in her tracks to think. What if they do not speak English? She closed her eyes and groaned silently. 'How am I going to tell them what happened to me now?' She opened her eyes and became distressed. She started scratching her hand with her index fingernail, a nervous tick she developed through time. 'What if they think I'm crazy for telling nonsense? I mean, traveling through a portal? They'll think I'm high.' She looked up at the sky and noticed it was completely dark by now. The stars were shining brightly up above, something she rarely saw back in the city.
Eirisse kept on walking and passed by several alleyways, which seemed to be actual streets, not alleys. They were rather narrow, maybe three people at the most could walk side by side. She also noticed that on every corner and every few meters into the streets more torches were hung, lightened up by fire, but the fire looked quite unusual. It had the normal colors, but in its' center, if she looked delicately, a small spark of green could be seen. She gasped in awe. 'How was this possible?'
"Hey!" A deep man's voice called from behind her.
She paused in her tracks, shutting her eyes tight for being caught, cursing under her breath. 'They caught me. I should act cool.' She took a deep breath and started to turn around when the man started yelling once again.
"How did you get in here without anyone noticing?" he demanded.
Eirisse eyed the guard carefully and noticed he was wearing an all-black soldier suit; it looked more like a ninja type of outfit, not too modern though. His tall and well-built body made her scan him gingerly; she had to gulp before keep looking up, he towered her almost the same as her brother, except this guy was way too buff in comparison. He was not the gorilla-built type of man, but he looked like he was extremely strong and he radiated power.
The Kung-Fu fighting type of guard, yes, definitely. He had on a black mask covering half of his face down, only his golden-yellow eyes were visible. They seemed to glow brighter with the light of the fire coming from the torch next to them. His eyes looked fierce, piercing hers with a narrowed look that made shivers run down her spine once again.
When he saw that she did not answer him right away, he took hold of her upper arm with such force that made Eirisse snap out of his hypnotizing gaze. 'What is he?' she suddenly wondered. Not who but a what, he did not seem human and her skin got goosebumps looking at him.
"Answer me!" he growled, making her eyes close in fear, his deep voice took a demonic depth that just could not be human. He growled like an animal!
"I was lost, I-" Her voice sounded raspy and her throat felt hoarse from coughing so rough before. It felt sore and dry. She hadn't used her voice until now.
He did not let her finish, instead, he pulled her in a rough manner towards him and started dragging me back towards the entrance with her struggling to get out of his hurting grip. Her arm was protesting and her feet were not fast enough to follow his and tripped many times in such a short distance.
"Hey, let go, you're hurting me, you idiot!" She cried fiercely, "I'm not a thief!", she defended herself, and was about to keep protesting when a firm hand wrapped around her other arm, stopping the guard from pulling Eirisse out of the town.
They both looked at the new intruder. A she, who Eirisse was grateful to see, hopefully, she would help her. Her light-brown eyes were piercing his. His eyes widened in recognition and bowed his head in respect toward the female. Eirisse looked back and forth between them, not really knowing who she was that made him stop. He bowed like they used to do for the royalty.
"The girl is with me. She's a friend who got lost, glad she made it back in time." The woman said in a mandatory voice, such that even if Eirisse did not know she was lying, she would know better than to defy her. The young woman did not take her heavy stare away from him until he slowly loosened his grip on Eirisse's arm.
"Sorry Luna, but I thought she was trespassing, so-"
"Trespassing?" She interrupted, "she's new here, so of course, she got lost. Next time you see her, you'll know she is no intruder, right?" She questioned.
"Right," the guard answered quietly, bowing lightly, biting his lower lip to hide his embarrassment. He turned his gaze towards Eirisse with a small smile, "I'm sorry for this incident, it won't happen again." He responded quietly, staring as Eirisse rubbed her arm where he hurt her. She nodded with a soft smile on her pale face. He looked up at her one last time before heading back outside. Eirisse was saved, but at what cost?
She stared at his fading figure as she felt the woman staring at her from behind. Eirisse turned her body slowly towards her and studied her complexion, she was already studying her. It was hard to see, but, even in the darkness, she looked gorgeous. She had a really heavy stare but it was not cold, it was rather warm, yet penetrating. She had a straight nose, followed by flawless pale skin that matched her ruby red lips with two piercings, one over her upper lip and another one under her lower lip. Her thin black eyebrows matched her pitch-black hair.
Eirisse wondered if it was natural or if she dyed it like her. It flowed straight down to the middle of her back. She had a sexy tall body, slim but well built; she had the body for a fantasy warrior. She was around seven inches taller than Eirisse, maybe the size of her brother. Her revealing clothes made her more attractive, she somehow reminded her of Emma, the hard-to-get type of girl she seems.
She must have noticed Eirisse checking her out because she gave me a small smirk which made her blush, but right at that moment it was nighttime, so it must not have been noticeable.
"You are lost, huh?" she asked in a friendly tone, compared to the one she used with the guard minutes ago.
Eirisse looked down and stared at her feet before nodding slowly. That's when she noticed that she was not wearing any shoes and how dirty and wounded her feet looked. Because of the cold, she did not feel any pain on her bare feet. She involuntarily shivered again as another breeze came by making her feel colder.
"Come, I'll take you to my house for refuge for the night and you can tell me what happened to you, okay?" she hugged Eirisse sideways, like close friends do, and started walking her towards the alley on their right side. Eirisse looked rather short next to her, she was a bit below her shoulders. What a height difference; she had rarely been next to a girl this tall.
It was kind of dark but she could see where she was walking thanks to the weird lit torches. 'I'll ask her later about them', she thought. Eirisse noticed there were beer barrels piled together on one side of the alley and one-meter-long wooden baskets full of garbage on the other side. 'Why didn't they use the garbage cans here? Do they not have any recycling centers?' As they kept going deeper inside the alley, she also noticed that there were no windows on the walls, but also the street seemed to be less and less narrow.
She looked closer as the alley ended and a two-story cottage started to appear up in front of them. It had a front pavement yard with a wedding wagon, without the flowers, just a simple one but with an intricate design. The wagon was dark brown with an elegant touch similar to those in the Victorian era. These people sure liked the old-fashioned lifestyle.
"What's your name?" she asked, that's when she noticed she had not said a single word to her.
"Eirisse," she answered simply, her throat still sore, and her voice still hoarse and cracked.
"I'm Ysabelle," she turned to her, stopping in her tracks to offer her hand as a greeting. Eirisse looked at it hesitantly but still took it, shaking it lightly while Ysabelle's grip was kind of strong.
"Thank you. For helping me back there," she stated. Ysabelle gave her a wide smile and chuckled, before walking towards the house again, which was still a bit far away.
"Any time. You know, I kind of wanted to yell at him, it made me feel, powerful. It's been a while since I have lived here. So when I came as a guest, I had to bring a guard, that's why he is out there, to keep unwanted guests from entering." She laughed, pausing in her tracks again and turning around to look at her suspiciously.
'Unwanted guests? Are people dangerous around here?' The thought just made her realize she could have really been in danger out in the forest. Her blood left her upper body instantly, and a small number of beads of sweat formed at her temples.
"But you know", she eyed Eirisse carefully, making her gulp nervously. Ysabelle walked backwards towards the house, her gaze still on her.
"I am curious about how you stumbled upon this place. I mean," she made an isn't-it-obvious type of gesture with her hands, looking around, causing Eirisse to look around as well, taking in the peaks of the mountains that surrounded the place. It was all beautiful, even at night.
"It is pretty far from any other civilization in a mobile, let alone by foot…or what?" she nodded towards Eirisse motioning towards her clothes, and turned around, continuing their walk towards her house. With her hands falling at her side once again, she gave her a sideways glance, a smile appearing on her lips as she observed her still-wet clothes.
"Did you swim all the way here?" she giggled. She was saying it as a joke. Eirisse noticed the sarcasm in her voice, but her face was dead serious when she answered Ysabelle, making her smile fade away.
"I did." She responded, not exactly a lie there.