The Girl of Many Worlds | (Story formerly known as "Multiworldcial")

Chapter 14

I didn't mind Arden's absence. I knew how to get back to my room without his help.

The hallway was quiet as I strolled down it. It was such an unnatural silence, too. At least back on Earth you'd hear the occasional car and bugs singing outside. But here, the snow vacuumed up all sound besides the occasional whirring of the wind.

When I finally got to my bedroom, the lights were on and a night gown was strewn across the edge of my bed. It was a simple white color. I thumbed the soft fabric beneath my finger.

I noticed something else next to it, both the items boxy in shape. I picked one up. The cloth was a square shape and the texture was satin-like. It opened at the top and had a compartment to put something large in it. Was this...

It was! A satin pillowcase!

Both of them were actually. My heart warmed with joy.

Knuckles wrapped on my opened door. Arden was leaning against the frame while holding the doorknob. "I hope everything is to your liking, Princess. Try to get more rest. Please feel free to use the bed, although if you prefer the area under the window I will not stop you. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," I whispered as he pulled the door shut. His faint footsteps receded from my doorway. I looked at the outfit and pillowcases appreciatively.

Exhaustion seeped into my body and I quickly got ready for bed. I didn't want to sleep in the dark, so I left the overhead light on. I stared up at the ceiling for a moment, tracing its patterns over and over again. This was going to be my home now. I groaned inwardly and tried to keep my thoughts positive.

It was weird falling asleep to silence. I usually had a YouTube video playing on my iPad to lure me off to dreamland. It took too long to finally roll over onto my side and drift off to sleep.

My eyes open to thick pellets of snow pounding the ground around me. My skin is numb and my joints are frozen stiff. The air must be subzero and the ice that assaults my skin burns painfully. I desperately look around me to see where I am, but I'm pummeled by snow with every turn.

The breaths that expel from my lungs are labored. My vision is obscured, causing me to stumble with every step, and even more so with the mist from my breath. I want to scream. Cold air permeates my chest, which leaves me feeling frozen outside and in. Not a sound comes out of me.

The wind is loud as it howls all around me. Where was I going? How did I get out here? Through the wind I could hear the slight crunch of snow underfoot. My eyes burn and the tears that begin to form immediately freeze against my cheeks.

I don't know how long I've been wandering for. I've made absolutely no progress; all around me is an endless white with every step I take. Why? Why am I out here?

It feels like it's even too cold for me to think, and that all my thoughts have turned to sludge. So I just keep walking. And walking. And then walking some more. Still no progress. I'm going nowhere. I'm lost in the center of this vast wasteland. Ice is all around me. Everywhere. I can't move anymore.

I collapse to the ground. The second my head hits the snow below, the wind slows and the storm ceases to be. My breath puffs up into the sky as vapors of smoke. The blue snow glows as it falls and lands in gentle piles around me.

The ground around me vibrates in brief intervals. It takes a moment for me to realize it's from large, heavy footsteps. My breath hitches in my throat as I lay there helplessly. I want to hide underneath the snow but my body stays put.

A large creature looms over me—large enough to block out any of the sky above us. Its piercing yellow gaze and pupil narrows in on my form. I stare back at it numbly.

It's about to eat me. It's giant maw opens and sinks down towards my body. I close my eyes and wait for the sickening blow. The heat from its mouth is ironically welcomed although the prospect of being eaten is not.

It holds me between its teeth but doesn't clamp down. Instead, I hear something resembling the flap of a sail in the wind sound around me. I look down, the place I was lying in before now hundreds of feet below me. The shadow of the beast resembles that of a four-legged creature with outstretched wings—wings?!

With one massive flap, we soar into the sky. The wasteland below shrinks. We glide above the treeline of purple leaves. I stare below in awe as my captor continues our journey. We fly over villages, towns, even other castles. One area we pass is in the center of it all. The trees here are all dead and twisted in odd fashions. The creature seems to fly higher over it to make a good distance between us and that area.

Finally, we descend into a different part of the woods. The leaves here are red, the trees are widely spaced out, and the aroma around us is sweet, almost like vanilla. The creature lands and places me down on the ground. The ground is solid beneath me as I stand. I brush the smelly goop off my body from its mouth, then take an actual look at it.

It's features are hard to make out. Its scales are a black like I've never seen before. I can only compare it to the blackest paint in the world. No light reflects off of it. It makes any notable features hard to distinguish.

I don't know if I should be nervous. There's nothing around us, making me all alone at its mercy, but it also didn't eat me this whole time. Maybe it has babies? My eyes dart through the thick tree trunks but I see nothing at all—not even a nest of some kind.

"I'm happy you're here, Jade," a female voice says and I spin around to face the source. "Welcome to my home." Standing in front of me is a woman who looks exactly like Arden's mom. Her hair is curly and tied back in a high bun, her skin is still a dark, rich color, and her eyes are beautifully golden.

"Dahlia?" I whisper.

She approaches slowly with a grimace on her face. "No, sadly she is no longer with us. I'm her twin sister, Petra."