Avi

Chapter 7: Dreaming of Roseta

It might have been hours ever since he passed out, and Maik slowly woke up into a bright room.

“What…? Where am I?”

            He looked around, trying to find the two vagabond soldiers who salvaged him from the bottom of the waterfall, all in vain as he proved he was alone. Alarmed, Maik jumped off the comfortable bed he was lying on and saw his reflection in the mirror that might or might not have been strategically placed there. Walking towards it, Maik found himself in utter shock that there was not a single pain in his body.

            “Nothing,” he whispered as he felt his once broken limbs, all feeling well-rested and unscathed. He realized that his clothes were not his own, and was of a foreign style. “Definitely not of Loule’,” he muttered as he let a calloused hand run under his tunic. Feeling no hole, torn skin, or uneven clotting, Maik raised the hem of his shirt to find no evidence that he had been pierced through not too long ago.

            Looking at himself head to toe through the mirror, Maik noticed that his tunic was backless, and was held by a firm string around the nape. Due to parts of his extensive training, showing bare skin was not a problem to him; still, it did not change the fact that the piece of cloth was too revealing for his taste. He bit his lip trying to stop himself from punching his own face at his realization.

“It’s an Etherean tunic…”

            Though he was not at all tired, Maik sat down on his bed and slowly fell to his back, resting his already rested body on the soft satin-finished comforter. Due to training, it had become a habit that new surroundings brought alertness to him, never putting his guard down in case an ambush takes place. Maik relaxed his muscles and let his eyes close for a while; the place looked so foreign to the prince, but it felt so much like home.

            All his senses went back up to red alert when he heard footsteps. The prince decided to feign sleep, just until he felt the need to defend himself. He was, after all, in a different territory.

            The footsteps seemed closer, but a bit controlled, probably trying not to wake the prince up. ‘You have to try harder than that,’ Maik thought, trying to make out basic identifiers by listening to the steps.

“Oh, he’s still asleep,”

            Maik knew whoever was inside the room with him was a woman, even if it was as hushed as a voice could possibly be. But somehow, the voice was a bit familiar. He heard the footsteps start again, and that time, he felt the woman nearing him. ‘Half a meter,’ Maik whispered.

            And then, the woman stopped on the bedside, Maik heard a small, soft jingle, probably from a tiny bell, and felt a small breeze fan at him, the prince assuming it was from some loose-fitting cloth. The woman must have dropped down to his eye level. Then, he felt the eerie goose bump-giving feeling of being watched.

            And then, a cold but gentle hand found its way in his. For the shortest moment, Maik considered giving the hand a gentle squeeze of acknowledgment, but then he refrained from doing so as he wasn’t sure to whom the hand belonged to.

“Milady, come quick!”

            The cold palm left his, and Maik felt a different coldness in his hand. He almost was tempted to peek as he heard the footsteps go farther. When he opened one of his eyes, he only caught sight of a part of the woman’s onion skin-like wings.

            Maik sat up suddenly and looked at his hand. The coldness was definitely gone, but the prince felt as if there was something he needed to know. And then, he remembered why he wished to be in Gaeia.