Beyond

Vanessa: Lavender Oasis

The brightness of the desert sun blinded me as I got close to the only other person in this place. They were wearing tons of layers of clothing for a desert, like they were afraid of the sun perhaps glancing off of their skin.

I couldn't fault them for that, because my skin was already stinging from the exposure. I groaned to myself, thinking about how much that would hurt later on.

Just as I noticed that my feet were slowing down, aching from pressure, was when I decided to speed up. I put so much force into my strides that my feet became lost in the pain so powerful it was numbing. My lungs were competing, trying to supply me with air quickly, but never fast enough. my throat dried out and rasped, and I was left taking and giving up huge gusts of air.

Just when I thought that I would reach them, a big sparkly gray portal exploded into existence right in front of me. I felt it pull me in, force me through an uncomfortable amount of nondescript grayness, then drop me into a beautiful garden.

I couldn't quite recall what had happened, but the brilliant flash of green before the gray portal swept me away was oddly fuzzy in my mind.  Perhaps the portal blurs things between realms to which one teleports.  This fact was quickly dissolved in my new location, a garden.

The flowers were faded in color, the dirt was dry from lack of rain. It might have been months since the last time any of the flowers saw a single drop of water. The stems drooped and the leaves had withered and yellowed into a light green. In the distance, was a pond, or a lake, or some body of water- it was impossible to tell.

Everything I'd thought about finding Seraina slipped my mind as I realized how incredibly thirsty I was. Suddenly all I could see was the water, tempting me with its crystalline shine in the brilliant sunlight. I ran through all sorts of plants and flowers, trampling their sorry leaves as I went. The water got closer, closer, closer! I reached out my hands, and let them slide into the water, which enveloped the rest of me in its welcoming coolness until my clothes and hair were soaked through.

Then something grabbed my wrist and yanked me out of the water.

She had on a worried face, pulling me up to the edge.

"But I was so thirsty..." I pleaded with her in a soft murmur, mindlessly extending my arms back towards the water.

"You were going to drown!" Her eyes looked so sad, it seemed fitting her eyes were lavendar purple. They lined with tears that slid down her face in big drops.

"Let go..." My mouth said. My mind puzzled over it, how something could be said without me thinking it properly first.

"No, no, no, no, no!" She let me go, but my curious mind kept me where I was. Her eyes turned a deep violet and she brought her dainty little hands to her mouth. "Is this my punishment?" She demanded of the air, of the garden.

The garden didn't seem to want to answer her. It was too dry and tired.

I was tired.

The pain registered so quickly I almost screamed.

My feet. I ripped off my shoes, to reveal bright red socks. I threw them into the water, exposing my bloodied feet.

How long had I been walking?

White roses bloomed around me now, the only flowers that stood tall in the dry earth.

My skin was dry and rasped like sandpaper, and crumbling away everywhere from the dryness of the desert. My feet had been the first to go, it seemed. Everywhere else my skin was so thin I was surprised I wasn't bleeding out. I cupped my hands together and drank water by the handful as I thought these things.

I had now drunk enough water that I could actually taste it. It was sweet, cool, and refreshing. It made everything feel so much better, made things so much clearer.

It made me wonder if Seraina had been here, had something to drink from the lake.

"Excuse me miss, you don't have much time left in the garden, it seems. Take this with you." She extended out her arm, holding a long, thin vine.

"What is it?" I asked, as I took it.

"Just a little something for the next portal. be careful only to grab it by the handle when you use it, or you'll get a nasty cut. Or worse. Please be careful. You do strike me as the type that would be, though. Oh, goodness!" She looked to the sky, her eyes bright purple in surprise. "Time's up, Vanessa. Make it home soon, okay?"

I made a confused face, but realization clicked in them moment that I felt myself being pulled backwards into a portal.