A Beast with a Smile {Book 1}

Chapter 21 (Scarlett): Eleven Forgotten Heroes

My head felt foggy: my emotions weren't in check and I couldn't control them if I tried. Thoughts swirled in an emotional whirlpool, tossing them out at random.

I would go from enthusiastic adult to crying toddler at the drop of the hat. Almost injuring Chris snapped me out of it, but I still didn't trust what was going on in my head. Elly said that my little trip through memory lane with the Mother of Time was the cause of it.

At that moment in time, I didn't know what to think mainly because my emotions were being drawn out of a hat and I had to hope it wasn't psychopathic rage.

Thankfully, my emotions couldn't blind me from the beauty of Paradise Valley. The sky was the perfect blend between light and dark blue that could take a person's breath away. The grass was full of life, free of weeds and desiccation. The air smelled of the sweet nectar of invisible flowers.

This place oddly enough looks like the window's screensaver, I thought.

It was hard to believe that such a paradise would be so true to it's name.

I'm sure the citizens of this fine sanctuary are glad I tore through their market with alien, newborn oaks. I'll repay my sins later down the road, hopefully with this mission to resupply the city with power.

I didn't have time to look around as I chased Elly to the largest house/barn that I had ever seen. The outside was quite deceiving to the mysteries held within the white wooden walls. The second I walked past the door I felt relatively shorter than I had been only a few steps before.

"Keep calm beautiful girl. The world is much bigger than you think," Chris said while holding my shoulders whispering in my ear.

His greasy hair clung to my bare neck, leaving an uncomfortable dampness on my skin. I had to hold back my vomit and my emotions.

Yep, there's that psychotic rage I was worrying about, I thought to myself.

No matter how gross he was, he was right about the world getting bigger. The further I walked, the smaller I got and the closer Chris grew to my side.

The hallway seemed to never end and the ceiling grew to be it's own sky. I was at least half my height or less by now and the house had become it's own state.

The walls were painted with what appeared to be ancient stories that rose to the ceiling. Each wall had a story; each story more different from the last.

The first was a group painting of six children: four girls and two boys, all wore elegant attire in front of a fireplace.

The next painting depicted a forest burning brighter than the sun. In front of the fire was a person in red armor who was carrying a man bridal style.

The next portrait had an individual in green, but their helmet looked more similar to a gas mask. They were releasing a glowing bright green cloud above them.

In the fourth one, the person wore light blue armor and they floated with the clouds. Their armor spirited long beams in the shape of wings on their back.

The person in the fifth painting had armor made of gold and held iron in one hand and silver in the other. Both hands reflected their respective metals.

The next painting had a person with a purple body with green linings. They were raising a spear with a purple glowing tip at a cloud of sand and darkness.

The seventh was a figure with dark blue, almost black, armor, but half of their body was coated with black feathers and one arm was a bird's wing.

The last painting I gazed at had a familiar color, bright yellow. The figure stood opening up to the sky inside a lightning bolt.

I stopped to look at the powerful image.