AISHA: The Cursed Name

Chapter-3 Maya Lok

Maya Lok

Her eyes fell upon the large glass window right in front of her, picturing the most beautiful scenery she had ever seen. In front of it was placed a semicircular desk, loaded with files to the left. There was a red glow in the centre of it, which Aisha assumed to be lights under a glass panel. She watched around, but nobody was to be seen. Her lack of social mannerisms made everything more challenging for her. She cleared her throat and called out,
"Anyone there?"

There was no alert, so she stepped into the large room. Looking around curiously, she took a few steps forward when the door behind her closed by itself. She gasped for a moment and then continued to fill the room with her eyes.

It was a large room, built of white marble. The walls had certain sculptures and inscriptions over them. There were many paintings of men and women on the walls, decorated differently. Each frame was unique, some were made out of wood, leaves, and flowers, some of ice and water, some of reddish orange crystals, and some of silver linings, lightning sparks and cloud-like elements. The front view had two curved staircases parallel to the central staircase, leading a little higher to the desk. The upper storey looked more like a personal library and file storage area. There was a huge chandelier hung from the centre roof, a hollow dome, throwing its beautiful yellow light all over the red-carpeted room. It held thousands of fireballs around it. The room was much warm as compared to the atmosphere outside, and there were visible patches of orange and red all around it.

Getting closer to the table, she noticed the centre glow was not because of lights but fire trapped in a glass panel. It wasn't any constant burning heat; it resembled fireflies, thousands of small fireballs hitting the surface around continuously. 
She was amazed, but then she was attracted to the curious showpiece on the table. Two swords with a golden appearance crossed together, with a glamorous crown placed on their heads. They weren't attached or in contact; all the things were hovering. It was a very small setup placed in the centre front of the table. She soon discovered it was an illusion, occurring from the lights thrown by the four little pieces of rocks placed on the table's front centre. She let out a deep breath to utter,

"This is so pretty! Wish I could ever see this pretty crown and swords in the true sense."

Admiring it, her attention was caught by a large creature that flew across the window. It was different. She ran towards the large window, so big that it spread across the entire side of that room. Peeking out, she saw a large bird of vibrant colours hovering over a glittering river, so beautiful she could never imagine. In the slight glimmer of the happening day, the bird seemed to slowly turn white as the rising sun shared its light with the world. Tracing the path of the bird, on both its sides, there was land and trees as it flew over the river. As far as she could see, her eyes caught sight of a place, fire and lava exploding from the cracks of the mountains. The trees, the direction of flow of water and the air were swinging in the same direction. Aisha was admiring it when she heard,
"So, how do you feel here?"

It was the deep and calm voice of a mature lady. It was fluent and had a sweet tone. No matter how calming it appeared, an emptiness made its way across her heart, hearing it. The same old sound to snatch away her happiness. Aisha looked back, and her sight fell on an elegantly dressed lady. She looked old since she had a few wrinkles, but the way he was dressed, her life seemed young. Her dress was red and yellow, colours mixing at the waistband. It was a long cape dress which she styled with a bun of her brown hair with a red streak of hair in front. Her red cheeks and eyes were squeezed together as she passed a pleasing smile. Instead of letting the rage show up, Aisha dropped a smile and walked towards her.
"This place is really pretty. I mean, it's so different from there. Over here, everything is new to me. Even that bird flying out there."