The Nightrose Chronicles I: Broader Horizons

The Beginning

Kailynn's POV

She couldn't make sense of her surroundings yet, her body was waking slowly. Yet some senses were still working, like her hearing and sense of touch. A sharp pain stabbed her head every few minutes, and she could hear far off voices; like a TV on in another room, no sense of coherency. The rest of her senses were gradually returning, and she could finally make sense of some of the words, "Shoo! ...... Bird!!"

".... Think ..... Alright?"

"I SAID, 'GO' BIRD!!!" A voice echoed in her head, painfully, yet somehow easing the sharp pain stabbing into her scalp.

She cringed as her barely working senses were overwhelmed, "Don't be an idiot Cinna! You scared the crap out of her!" another voice said. She gathered the strength to open her eyes and blurry colors swirled around her vision, like Vincent Van Goph's 'Starry Night'.

"At least I woke her up!" Cinna said defensively.

Her vision slowly returned to her; shaping the colors into recognizable figures. Five teenagers stood above her. Is this a dream...? She wondered slowly. "Hey, you alright?" a guy asked. Her eyes lingered on the patches of skin sewn across his body before drifting to his face. Flame red hair poked through a headband wrapped around most of his eyes but he pulled it up to examine her. His piercing green eyes shone brightly below a rigid scar on his brow the slanted cut nearly impeding his vision as he inspected her closely. Her breath hitched as he leaned in closer, a blush rising to her cheeks. A shiver ran through her as he swept a strand of hair out of her face and put his wrist to her temple, "You don't have a fever..." he murmured.

"Blank, you sure are slower than a three-legged heifer!" a girl sighed.

He turned to look at her, "What are you talking about, Ruby?"

Her eyes drifted to Ruby, her auburn her swept over one shoulder with her blue outfitted curled in waves around her looked almost angelic in a southern sort of way. She examined each one in turn; the blonde with the playboy smile and the monkey tail, the muscular brunette sporting full-body henna and fangs that protruded from his mandible, and then the last one. The portly member of the gang with; deep sunken in eyes, a huge red nose, and a grin that spread across his face. She jumped back with a screech, "CLOWN!!!"

There was an awkward moment of silence before deep side-splitting laughter, "HEY! That's not funny! That hurts ya'know!!!"

"I--I--I--I'm so sorry..." She stammered "I just---I---I can't stand clowns... And um, just seeing you when I first woke up... Ya'see you---with the red nose and all--- I'm just going to shut up now..." Everyone else laughed harder.

The boy still looked hurt, and then suddenly smiled "Apology accepted! I'm Cinna!"

Her head spun as she saw how realistic everything was around her, it was unlike any dream she'd ever had before. But that's just it though, it has to be a dream right? "Name's Blank." Blank introduced with the others following his lead.

"And we save the best for last!" Zidane said with a flourish, earning sighs and groans from his friends, "Zidane! Zidane Tribal. Nice ta meetcha!"

"Kailynn Lykos," She laughed. Her mind drifted to how excited her sisters would feel. She looked around worriedly when realization hit her, "Did two other girls show up here!?"

"Two other girls?" Zidane asked a smirk forming on his lips, "Are they beautiful?"

She rolled her eyes, "They're my sisters! We were together before I ended up here."