Children of the Earth

Chapter 1: Aragon

Chapter 1 | Aragon

          Desireé could still feel the breeze brushing against her skin as she lay on her back, with her eyes shut tight in the blissfulness of her sleep. It has been a long time since she has slept this peacefully, and that was a long time ago. But the realist part of her popped up in her head as she drifted in her wonderful slumber.

          It was the very same part of her which asked why she wasn't dead yet. It also asked why her body did not ache as it did the moment she collapsed on the earthy ground of the tree in Central Park. That was odd, she told herself.

          These questions shook her, eventually returning her mind from slumberland. How odd, she mumbled to herself. She did not feel the cold temperature of the autumn day. Instead, a splendid warmth greeted her skin, relaxing every ache and pain she used to have. She could also hear the crackling of an open fire, reminding her of how near Christmas was. And what she laid on was definitely not the soil of the earth, it was something soft.

          Am I still in the orphanage? Could that all of that have possibly been a terrible nightmare? she asked herself. But she doubted the thought. That would be impossible. Madame Elise would never prepare an open fire even if the old building did have a fireplace.

          Besides, if she was in the orphanage, why on earth did the thing she was lying on feel so comfortable, unlike the other nights she slept on her rusty old bed with springs popping from the most inconvenient sides..

          When the realization hit her that she wasn't in the orphanage nor in Central Park, her eyes fluttered wide open. A cozy sight approached her with a welcoming hello. Her eyes blinked several times just to make sure she wasn't dreaming. And as many have said before, 'to see is to believe'. In this case, it still has to be proven, because what she was seeing felt and looked real. Even the most vivid of dreams cannot compare to this. 

          Her eyes have deceived her more than twice. I could still be dreaming, she told herself, considering the idea. With the support of the sofa's arm, she stood up slowly, 'til her knees stopped from buckling. 

          She started looking around, and started with the four walls that surrounded her. The entire room would've been four times the size of the bedroom she and the twelve other orphan girls shared. The walls were covered with a gorgeous grungy Victorian wallpaper colored gold and outlined with silver.

          Small wooden chairs painted ivory enclosed the centerpiece table which stood a few meters away from the fireplace. Then, her vision set from the ceiling to the walls with her eyes finally landing on the floor. This is definitely a dream, she told herself again, trying to assure her sanity, but still wanting to stay in her so-called 'dream'.

          The floor, well, she wasn't even sure if it was a floor. The thing she stood on was an underwater view of the abyssal ocean Or at least it looked like it, because it still felt like a flat surface.

          Looking intently at the locomotion of the unusual flooring, she could see what was in it. Small seaweed and sea anemone swayed passed each other at the deepest part of what her vision could see. Schools of fish colored with vibrant hues swum in all directions.

          And, believe it or not, a quick flash of motion passed underneath. A blurred sight was all she saw, but as she looked closer, a maiden with fair skin and lustrous golden hair swam in grace, playfully flicking her tail as its green scales glistened.

          Blinking twice she looked closer, now crouched down, her face just inches from the floor, and observed the enchanting creature. Once the siren caught young Desireé looking at her, a smile erupted from its lips, but thoughts of devilish things came into mind rather than the thought of discovery and friendship.