Deltora Quest Fanfic~ The Arrival * Book 1*

Chapter 4: In a new world

May started to gain consciousness, waking up to what felt like a dream. Her head still felt dizzy from waking up. She had woken up from laying in a up-right position. She used her arm to lean sideways and when she did, she had then realised that she was being watched.
In front of her was a middle-aged man, with a boy and a girl that looked like they were around her age. The funny thing was that they were were wearing funny clothing. She stared at them, while taking in everything around her. The man had long, black hair which was loosely tied back from his face. He wore a black long sleeves with a loose fitting light brown shirt. He also wore a black belt with an additional strap for what looked like a sheath. On top, he wore an orange cloak which covered most of sturdy body.
The boy next to him also had a blue cloak that covered most of his clothes underneath. Looking carefully, May could see that he also had black long sleeves but with loose-fitted blue shirt. Buckled up with about two black belts, one meant holding his sword.
May's eyes then landed on the girl who looked strangely familiar and had two creatures that sat on her shoulders. Her hair was a dark greenish colour and her eyes were a bright emerald colour too. She wore a red dress with white additional piece of clothing hanging on the sides, which suited her quite well with her crazy hair, giving her a wild look. On her shoulder were two creatures or should she say was. Since one flew off as soon as she looked at it and perched itself on a tree. The other one looked at her, quite dotingly. To May's description. It looked like a little furry creature; quite like a fur ball. But May couldn't see the difference in saying anything. With wild stands on hair or fur standing everywhere and a small nose and two large brown eyes, that seemed to be assessing her.
It wasn't until after May had seen their appearances that she was suddenly blinded by the sun, making it hard for her to see. She used her free arm to cover her eyes, she continued to see more of her surroundings. While the three faces continued to watch her every moments. May lost her focus on them, when she realised that she wasn't in the school stadium any more.
It can explain why the sun is getting on my face...
She was in an outdoor area with a lot of trees the surrounding the place, not including the pathway she laid on. But what really stirred her, was that it looked slightly different then normal. It not likely that you find yourself stranded in some forest place, when you knew that you were inside a school building winning first place for a book parade. But by the way it looked, it made everything seem like she was in a different world. The trees looked bushy and more alive. The path long and endless and even the people looked funny. But she needed to make sure she wasn't dreaming. She probably had just hit her head hard.
"I-Is this a-a dream?..." She stammered, quietly. Her words even sounded foreign to herself, since her voice changed into a more softer and gentle voice. The girl besides her shook her head. May raised her eyebrows, in recognition. Then her face turned pale, very pale.
This can not be happening...
She turned to look at the blonde boy and her eyes trailed down to his waist. She noticed that he had something that hung on it. It looked somewhat like a sliver belt of steel with seven medallions, but empty. They looked so full of emptiness, just waiting for a priceless jewel or gem to past by. May promptly knew what it was, but things were still uncertain around her and she needed to make sure she wasn't hallucinating.
"I-Is that the b-belt of D-Delora?" She asked, quietly, but loud enough for them to hear. Now all of them stared at the boy's waist, directly at the belt. None of them replied. But about a few seconds later, the boy nodded. His companions look at him in disbelief.
He started talking to them, trying to get them to understand, or that was to May's understanding. She couldn't hear a thing, except see the moving of mouths going back and forth.
"Please tell me where I am!... Who are you?" She asked, even though she couldn't hear her own self. She noticed that she was being ignored, as the three continued arguing right in front of her. She thrashed her head around, and her ears opened the smallest bit. She could hear them yelling in a distance.
" I still think it was wrong of you to answer!" growled the girl.
" I agree, it's not that simple,"agreed the man, frowning.
" I know, it's dangerous. But she does not look like any harm to me," the boy protested.
" That's exactly it! We can't trust just yet" sneered the girl." She doesn't need to know anything about us". The boy grew quiet and looked at the girl and sighed, in defeat."Alright. I'm sorry, I won't let that happen next time..." May's eyes were getting tired by the second and she felt more dreary than before. Oh, no!... She felt her body growing numb. Not again! And slowly her body drifted to sleep, before she heard the boy's last words. "... Maybe went she wakes up, I can ask her of what knowledge she has of the belt..."

Waking up, May's head started to clear up a bit. It stopped spinning, and she could feel her blood flowing smoothly. Her eyes slowly opened and saw the world upside down, moving. She looked ahead of her and saw the horizon in its pink glow, it was a beautiful sight. It looked like she was on the same path as before, but everything around her was moving, her head bobbing up and down.
Startled, May jumped high into the air, landing on her two feet right in front of them. By them, she meant the three travellers she had met before. They all looked at her, when she stood in a fighting position. The more they stared at her, the more uncomfortable she was. She couldn't looked at them any more and she looked at her toes. She was then suddenly aware of her sudden change of clothing.
A light blue dress replaced her old one with and an additional layer of hot pink, tied up with a black belt that also held a dagger. She had deep purple boots that all the way up to her knees and a cloak that looked like a crimson red but turned into a pinkish colour in the light. Her blonde hair was tied up on one side with a pink rag, leaving a large fringe that nearly covered her left eye. She had a light tan to her skin now, even though she knew she once was very pale. This however did not change the emotion on her face.
" Please, we mean you no harm," pleaded the boy. But May didn't move.
" Yes, he is telling the truth, we really mean you no harm," repeated the man.
" Yeah, we only want to help you," said the boy, kindly. May was still in her state of confusion, but laid off the fighting position. She still couldn't bring her voice back, to give a response.
The girl took a step forward and realised that May wasn't going to move." Fine. We'll tell you our names," a smile across May's face. The girl continued.
"My name is Jasmine" she said, proudly, pointing to herself. " His name is Lief," pointing to the boy next to her. He smiled and waved. May managed to smile a bit.
" And this is Barda," waving at the big man on the corner. He nodded, in response. May's smile a bit larger, she felt like she could drown in happiness." Jasmine, Lief and Barda," she whispered. "Jasmine, Lief and Barda," she repeated, softly.
" Yes, and we would like to help you in whatever way we can," replied Lief. May regained to her normal self and took a big breath.
This really can't be happening, but I might find out more for myself.
" What are you talking about? I think I can take it on from here," said May, not noticing her legs were about to give away anytime soon.
" But we saw you unconscious by the side of the road, are you sure?" asked Lief.
" Lief, leave her be, we have to be going our way," hissed Jasmine. May now realised that she was missing her large opportunity.
" But maybe... You can help me around. I'm quite lost you see, I don't know where I am really," said May, nervously. She had been truthful in what she said for she really didn't know where she was. She really wasn't completely sure about anything.
" Sure. It's not really safe around here anyways" grinned Barda. May smiled, in response. They all started to keep on going on the trail they were on. May scratched her head, and wondered just when had she stepped in." Um..." They looked at her.
" Where are we?"
" We're on the path, that leads to Thaegan's territory..." replied Lief.
" Yes, into Thaegan's territory, where we will all die, if we keep going this way," scorned Jasmine, crossing her arms.
" Jasmine, we've already talked about this," said Barda, sternly.
" But why do we have to go this way, we could always go north," she protested. May froze, recapping what she had just said.
" I'm sorry, but Jasmine is acting strange today. We've already talked about this," said Lief, in a low voice.
" No, I'm not!" Cried Jasmine." It is true, if we go into Thaegan's territory. Thaegan will finish us off and then all we did would be for nothing. The..."
"Stop Jasmine!" Thundered Barda. Jasmine grew silent. May was quite curious, but she didn't say anything about it.
" Well, if you guys are going on this path. I will follow. But just saying, I think we should get going," suggested May, who started to walk forward. She stopped just to make sure that they were following and waited for them. They, soon, walked together on the path. But Jasmine stayed quiet, walking behind the tight group. May felt really sorry for her and walked up to her.
" Hey Jasmine, I'm sorry about what happened-"
" You have nothing to be sorry about".
" -And I shouldn't have brought it up. Oh. Um. Then could you do me a favour?" asked May. Jasmine didn't look at her.
" What is it?" She whispered softly.
" I was wondering if we could be friends, you know, to company each other on the journey".
Jasmine looked up at her, suspiciously." Sure... my only friends are Kree and Filli, but I guess I can make an exception" she smiled. May knew that she was talking about her pet raven, Kree, and Filli, the small creature that stayed on her shoulder. So she didn't ask and smiled in deep thought.
" Oh and by the way, the name's..." Opening her eyes, she found them a far distance away."... May."