Amethyst

Chapter 3 - Liliya

The moment I step through the door, I'm greeted with sights of snow capped mountains, soft dirt roads, and bright green pine trees leaving a welcoming pine scent. I look all around me in wonder, behind me to see that the door has vanished and in it's place stands another long, winding dirt path, filled with even more pine trees. I look in front of me again and see a person. I don't know them. in fact, I don't even know where Ben is. I look around but he's nowhere to be seen. I begin to get concerned. did the door drop him somewhere else? and if so, where? how far away from me?

Maybe this person in front of me will know. nervously I tap them on the shoulder and ask,

"Hello; I'm sorry to bother you, but I was hoping you could help me find my friend-" I stop speaking as the person turns around. my hand drops from his shoulder. I'm looking into Ben's face. yet at the same time, it's not his face. his skin is paler than usual, his hair lavender, his eyes a deep purple. I stare at him, absolutely confused at how his appearance changed so drastically.

"Ben? why do you look like that? what happened?" he looks down at himself. at his skin, grabs a piece of his hair and says,

"Oh, that's right. I forgot to mention. this is how we usually look in the Amethyst Court. but you, well...you look...different." he says this with a slight warmth to his features.

"Here. look at your reflection," he gently ushers me over to a pond and tells me to look inside it. I quietly gasp at my reflection. my pale skin is still the same, yet instead of the long, dirty brown hair I wake up to every morning, I see instead long dark purple hair. my forest green eyes have disappeared as well. In their place is a pair of beautiful lilac eyes. so this is what I look like here? the features I was born with? my fingers lightly touch my face, not wanting to believe it and worried that if I touch it too solidly, the reflection will disappear and in its place the features I'm used to will come back.

"So what do you think?" Ben asks warily. I look at him, then my reflection, and finally back at him before saying,

"It's just...really unexpected."

"I know. but trust me, you'll get used to it. now, lets make our way to SweetWood, since the Amethyst Court is on our way there. It's home to the best bakers in all of Liliya, so you'll be seeing a mix of people from all the Courts. It was also one of the first towns to be founded when Liliya came to be-that'd be thousands of years ago now. anyway its one of the first few towns to really broker peace and Harmony between all the Courts. the Ruby Court, however, not anymore. it's sad, really. It's such a beautiful town, yet the Ruby Court chooses to ignore places like that and instead focus all their energy on thinking they're the best Court of all. getting there will be a decent walk. from here it looks like it might take us about a couple hours, but I'm not sure. It's this way."

And so, we begin our long and arduous walk to the Amethyst Court, SweetWood just a side destination in our journey. as we're walking, I see animals hiding in the bushes, watching us, taking us in. yet some of them look sick. not just ill, but like their colour is actually fading from their skin, leaving them grey and lifeless. I gently poke Ben on the shoulder and ask,

"Umm, Ben. I know you told me that any sick animals would go to the Jade Court to be healed, but have they ever looked like that before?" Ben looks to where I'm pointing, gazes at the creature- an orange fox, and says with concern as he frowns deeply,

"No, never. at least not from what I remember. this isn't good. we need to get to the Amethyst Court." Ben walks ahead of me but I continue to stare at the fox. my animal loving heart aches for it so I stand there and watch it. it watches me. then slowly I sit on the ground, my knees together. I sit there with my palms face down on my legs.