The Call of Nys #5 (Waverly Stump and The 7 Realms)

36 - W A V E R L Y

When her eyelids dragged open, Waverly was not very certain what she was looking at.

Her blurry vision could make out stone. Like a roof above. She made no attempts to move because she had no strength to. Her system was quivering with equal measures of frailness and pain.

The environment was foreign. She could sense it even without looking around. If anything, she thought she had been taken into a different part of Hekate's castle.

But, when she moved her arms and heard nothing, she glanced down.

Both shackles were gone from her wrists.

Then, she did glance around, though weakly and slowly. She was inside a cave. And what was more, she was underneath a blanket.

By now, confusion was gradually setting on her, but her spirits were now too broken and disoriented to dwell on anything for long. Her attention span was shorter than a pine needle. Turning her head to face the wall, she began to drift into disturbed sleep.

Only moments later, the sound of whooshing wind woke her. Whether or not she was imagining it, she had smelled fragrance. Like fresh flowers.

With a lot of physical effort and weak cries of pain, she pushed herself up. Now standing upright, her vision tunnelled and she crashed sideways into a stone table some feet away, bashing her left temple against the surface as she fell. Even though it hurt to madness, the sudden hit forced her to become more alert.

Again, she managed to get up and toddle to the cave entrance.

Her eyes struggled to adjust to sharp daylight and the crystal blue waters that spread out all the way into the horizon. To the left of the cave were surreal fields of green, stretching as far as her weak eyes could follow; and to the right was the rest of the mountain she stood on and a pathway that led down it.

She trudged to the left toward a large piece of rock and leaned against it to look further into the fields. In her mind, the landscape was amazing to behold. But it was an unreachable daydream. As were the seas, the blue sky, and chilling wind.

As she stood there, contemplating no particular subject, she overheard rattling stones and wheeled about.

Behind her, a figure stood frozen, holding a great big bundle of things in his hands. Cautiously, he dropped his load on the ground, staring at her with excessive emotions that rippled through his features one by one.

She had no clear idea who he was.

He said nothing, only approaching like a frightened pup. When he closed the gap between them, she was a bit surprised to see tears rolling down his eyes.

"Hlsana?" His fingers reached out to touch her face.

Alarms went off in Waverly's head and she stepped away, scrambling to hide behind the rock. Her heart raced with uncertainty and fear. She could not understand why the stranger had wanted to touch her or why he looked so full of pity. To her, both were causes for alarm. Besides, he looked very much like a threat.

From her vantage point, the fields appeared nearer, and for reasons she could not quite fathom, she was beginning to think about going to it.

Just then, the stranger peeped from around the rock corner and she flinched with a terrified gasp at the sight of him, wanting to melt into the wall.

"It's okay, it's okay!" He cooed in the softest voice, holding out his hands in placation. "I will not hurt you."

Waverly stayed pressed to the cold wall, assessing him with wary eyes. He could have possibly been sent by Hekate to torture her. However, something about him felt different. He did not reek of evil, like all living things in the Edge of Nys did. She realized, as he closed the space bit by bit, that he was the source of fragrance she had perceived earlier.