Chapter One
Tutor Horace sighed feeling the and closed his journal looking upon the snow that clouded his windows, he wiped some frost to see the winter had finally started and Christmas was tomorrow morning which was not on his mind. Normally his mind at Christmas would be one of three thoughts: the first was "Did his decoration planning go as he imagined it?", "Would they be satisfied with the gifts he bought?", or "What if he forgot something important?"
But no matter how much he would stress on these thoughts or when someone would tell him to "Lighten up!", Tutor Horace would still continue his game of the overworked man. But people in the castle thought he was overreacting since it was his first year in the castle.
As he looked out the window he spotted a glowing falling star, the star was large and shined like the sun surprisingly not waking anyone else. His eyes were pinned on it watching as it headed towards the gardens, heart pounding and shaking as it came closer. Without any haste Tutor Horace ran outside to the gardens, his eyes still darted at the falling star; this was new to him, he knew so much about astronomy and always read about stars but to see the falling star this close was a brand new discovery.
The fallen star had finally crashed right into one of the rose bushes creating a beautiful flash of a celestial blue light, Tutor Horace finally reached the place where the star had landed; the bush was lightly covered in blue flames an unusual color for fire, he looked inside the bush poking around the flames with a stick as he gazed at the star. The flames finally after ten minutes or so brushed away to reveal a beautiful sapphire stone shaped in the form of a compass, Tutor Horace was in awe as he picked it up looking at it with great curiosity.
He looked up at the sky. "Where did it come from?" He said to himself. "I never seen anything like this."
Suddenly an ominous light appeared behind him glowing a cloudy white, Tutor Horace turned to look at it; a portal, holding the stone in his hands the curiosity in his mind was getting stronger as he walked closer seeing a beautiful star filled sky within the white portal.
Tutor Horace looked down at the stone. "What in the name of all England is this?"
He reached a hand inside the portal feeling something warm and yet cold as the snow, within seconds the portal closed and he heard a small thud in the snow he turned fast and saw a teenage girl curled up shaking in the snow. She was a teenage cow with long and messy black hair, she was roughly around thirteen years old, and her gleaming eyes caught his attention they were the color of the red rose but crimson a blood. She was dressed in a summer dress matching the color of her eyes with little black ribbons tied around her waist that supported the dress from falling apart, Tutor knew these were clothes not appropriate in this freezing weather and he walked to her looking to her.
The young lady backed away scared he was gonna hurt her much to his surprise, Tutor pulled out a sweet bread from his pocket and showed it to the young girl.
Tutor smiled and said. "Here it's sweet bread, it's fresh."
She looked at it with confusion hoping he wouldn't take it from her as a cruel joke, she swiped it from him still scared of him and ate it very quickly leaving no crumb in sight. Tutor looked at her concerned mainly for her health, he smiled and held his hand for her.
"Don't be afraid I'm here to help you." He spoke softly. The young lady slowly reached her hand out to him and held it lightly still scared of him, Tutor held her hand gently and took her inside the castle.
Sometime had passed as Tutor still studied and tried to understand the power of the stone, there were times he got the portal to open but he was unsuccessful to keep it open; he could never understand why it wouldn't stay open and tried to figure out how to keep it open. His curiosity had reached its peak and he had to know what that portal was capable of, one day he managed to keep it open longer than two whole minutes as he tossed a paper ball once into the portal and kept trying to keep it open by throwing other objects such as a apple, a candle, and even a book.
One night he tried again with another paper ball and this time something happened, a paper ball flew back from the portal and smacked him in the face. He picked up the paper ball, he looked at it feeling the paper as it caught his attention that it wasn't grainy like any of the paper he had. Tutor opened the the paper ball and read the message written on it. "Quit throwing your junk into my house!"
Right away Tutor was excited to see this message and went right away to try and open the portal once more. hours passed and he was already about to give up his efforts for the most proved vain. But at the strike of midnight it finally opened, Tutor hoped it would stay open a little longer as he let his arm enter again feeling that cold yet warm air he hadn't felt in five years; he watched realizing it wasn't closing for once as he glanced once more he saw the same starry sky inside it and entered it. His body levitated and felt light as an apple seed, his eyes gazed at the beautiful starry sky that displayed before him much like a beautiful painting in the galleries.
Within seconds his feet gently touched the soft stone floor that laid below him, Tutor couldn't believe his eyes at all that was around him it was like a dream to him. He pinched himself quite a few times to make sure he was awake the beauty of what he was seeing was too good to be true, Tutor looked around for quite sometime and stumbled upon what appeared to be nine doors with one small landscape painting hanging on each one.
One of the paintings he recognized was of the castle of England itself and peeked into the keyhole seeing his bedroom as if he was a fly on the wall. But then he spotted a door with a painting of a different palace.
"Unusual castle," He looked even closer. "Very...French."
He reached the door knob slowly opening it; when he did he saw a soft queen sized bed, a table with various small objects, and a book case with not that many books. Tutor with curiosity walked inside and looked at the bookshelf and saw the books, to his disappointment they were books all about sword fighting and self defense. He was about to leave when he spotted an open book and walked towards it, he looked at the words of the book realizing it was actually a journal and began to read it.
I blame myself that he's gone, I should have disobeyed my orders and saved his life from his fate... However sometimes I get the feeling he never died at all , but instead faked his death to escape from his misery I sure hope he did so he can start a new life. But it doesn't matter...I'll never know became of him but I hope someday to see him once more before my life ends.
As he continued to read it heard the door open and a woman's voice shrieked in anger. "How did you get in here!?"
Tutor heard the voice and closed the journal fast running without looking behind him rushing to the door he entered.
"I will get you! You can't run or hide forever!" The voice screamed.
He closed the door, hoping the voice following him would not go through the door and entered the door back into his room. When Tutor entered the door with a painting of the castle he was finally back in his room,shaken by this ordeal he put the stone away hoping that whoever was chasing him would not enter his room. Several days passed and he still pondered on the thoughts of what he had seen, Tutor looked at the stone tempted to try again but instead tried to fight the temptation.
After another week passed he could no longer fight it and opened the portal again, when he entered all the doors this time were lightly opened and the paintings were laid on the ground to form what he assumed was a map. Tutor knelt down and looked at the paintings in a different approach as if it was all a puzzle. He gazed at the first painting , a landscape of a bustling humble Midwest town with a river; the colors of the painting were all shades of black,white, and gray.
" Is the the future?" He puzzled as he moved it around. Hours passed as he believed the path on each painting formed a complete circle, he looked at the final painting: an ocean of stars, planets, and a symbol that laid in the center of the moon. Tutor couldn't understand the symbol and placed the final painting in the center of all the others, once he did the binding on the paintings unhooked themselves from the wooden bases beneath them. Tutor backed away as the paintings lifted from the bases and began to stitch themselves together like a large quilt, he turned to see the doors as they began break away and expose the other side of all the doors. The sky tore open to reveal the beautiful blanket of stars and planets like the center painting, he couldn't believe that this was happening.
Suddenly a white light started enveloping the paintings and shot a beam into each of the open doors, Tutor was blinded by the lights feeling his body grow weak as he tried to fight his tired body from collapsing but eventually succumbed to it.
Tutor's body was lighter than paper, his eyes were shut tight, and his heart was beating slowly. He didn't know what happened, he was caught in the light but at the same time trapped in the darkness as well, he wanted to scream for help but he couldn't even open his mouth to utter a single word. But in the midst of the darkness he saw a speck of light and walked towards it, within seconds he was surrounded by nine mirrors in a circle around him with no exit for him to escape.
"Hello?" Tutor called out. "Hello? Anyone here?"
He faced his reflection as he saw that not all the mirrors carried different reflections of what seemed to look like him but were different. Tutor looked at each reflection seeing the different hair styles, the hats, and even the overall appearances; He didn't know what to think of it, in fact he didn't know how to process what he had seen.
"Horace Horsecollar..." A voice called out in an ominous tone.
Tutor grew uneasy as he felt his stomach churn and his face grow pale, he was too scared to even answer the call.
The voice spoke again. "Congratulations Horsecollar, you succeeded to bring a new beginning."
"Who's there? Who are you!?" Tutor called out finally.
"Look up." The voice replied.
Tutor looked up and saw a shadow hovering over him and backed off scared, the shadow leaped down and revealed himself to Tutor. He looked like him only his hair was a little longer and he was dressed all in coal and black with a cape draped around him, his hands were claw like and the eyes which stood out the most were a nightmarish violet.
"You don't even remember me do you?" He asked.
Tutor responded confused. "How do you know who I am?"
The look-alike chuckled. "You were pinned to the floor remember?"
It finally dawned on him it was the figure that once attacked him in his "dream", Tutor backed away in fear hoping he could find away out. The look-alike walked closer and grasped his neck tightly looking in his eyes with seer terror, Tutor stared back as the eyes pinned on him harder.
"Relax," He squeezed tighter. "It's all a bad dream..."
Tutor was struggling to breathe as the grip got harder and harder each second he moved, but soon he succumbed and fainted from his ordeal. But as he fell to the floor he heard a whisper call out. "Reocha..." and finally blacked out.
The next morning Tutor awoke to see he was back in his bed feeling the softness of his bedsheets, he finally took a deep breath to find he was no longer being strangled and got up.
But as he got up Tutor felt the tip of a blade pointing at his neck, slowly but surely he turned over to see a feminine figure standing before him holding a rapier. She walked closer into the sunlight as she showed herself to him, she herself was a cow dressed in a matching wine sweater and skirt uniform with a bell tied around her neck like a necklace.
Tutor looked up to her his dark brown eyes meeting her golden brown eyes, he stayed perfectly still as she came closer to him.
In a calm voice he asked. "May I help you?"
"Where is she?" She finally spoke to him in a very stern tone.
Tutor was confused. "Who?"
She pushed him to the wall. "My niece! Where are you hiding her!?"
"Listen madame umm..."
"Lieutenant, Lieutenant Clarabelle Cow of the royal French musketeers."
"Okay Lieutenant listen to me I don't know who your niece is or what happened but I'm just the royal philosopher and professor," Tutor cleared his throat quickly. " My name is Horace Horsecollar and I would never kidnap your niece."
"Now don't play stupid with me Professor! I saw you kidnap her last night! Now tell me where she is or else!"
Tutor didn't know what to do at that moment in a way he felt helpless but he suddenly pushed her down and ran out of his room and on to the library, as he ran he could hear Lieutenant chase after him and began to pick up the pace. Once he made it inside the library he locked the door and backed in to a wall, the sound of the door banging hard shook him in fear of his life. Tutor couldn't understand why he has being chased or even accused of kidnapping a child he doesn't even know of, as of that moment he had to think fast or else be killed by the woman on the other side of the door. Finally lucked smiled on Tutor as he found a rapier on the wall and pulled it off very quickly as the door smashed open. Lieutenant walked in and looked at him with a furious rage.
"I'm tired of your little game Professor," She walked closer. "Give her to me and I'll spare your life or I shall take it from you."
Tutor pointed his rapier at her hoping she would back down. "I don't know you! And I don't know anything about your niece or any kidnapping!"
Lieutenant chuckled lightly. "Oh please put your toy down, I saw you I know you were wearing that silly mushroom hat."
"Why does everyone call it that?" He shook his head. "Never mind that, and I'm not gonna put it down until you back down!"
"You and I both know you can't handle a simple sword with that scrawny physique of yours."
"I'll take you on if I have to, I know how to take care of myself."
"So be it!"
Lieutenant clashed with Tutor both making their move wanting to gain victory over their reasons, Tutor effectively use every move he once read about but it proved nearly vain for him since Lieutenant would always countered him with every technique he had. But he wasn't about to give up not for one second as Lieutenant grew confused of why he wasn't quitting.
"You know," Tutor said as continued to sword fight with Lieutenant. "for a woman, you fight really good."
Lieutenant continued on. "Oh don't try to flatter me, I don't fall for that flattering nonsense anymore!"
The two continued on knocking over numerous books, shelves, and even smashed the large glass window, even when both we're starting to become exhausted from their clash. None of them were showing any sign of stopping, Tutor looked at Lieutenant hoping he could reason with her and maybe explain what had happened. But before he could Lieutenant had finally struck his rapier out of his hand.
"Oops sorry Professor," She giggled lightly. "Looks like I win..."
Tutor surrendered. "Alright, you win but please let me elaborate."
"Very well," She put her rapier away. "I await your explanation."
Tutor slowly walked over to the door and suddenly ran the library on to his room as fast as he could but quickly felt his body tied up and fell faster than a rock. He turned around fast and saw Lieutenant holding a set of chains dragging him closer.
Lieutenant looked in his eyes once more. "Now why did you try to run?"
Tutor gulped looking up at her fearing his life was completely over.
"Now then," she said. "I'm still waiting for your explanation."
Tutor finally brought her back to his room and began to explain about the stone, the dreams, and even what happened last night.
"So you're the idiot that was reading my journal?" Lieutenant said in a stern tone.
Tutor replied. "Y-yes"
Before Lieutenant could slap him across the face for what he had done a small black box appeared before them.
"What is that?" She asked.
Tutor opened it to find a letter and the map, the "dream" indeed was real and he had to hopefully set things right.
"Guess you were telling the truth." She remarked.
Tutor ignored her and began to read the letter.
To whom this may concern,
I am so sorry you were roped into this but don't worry this might be a good thing ( I think). What you did last night could destroy the world or perhaps start a new beginning. Your world was merged with eight other worlds when you placed the paintings in their correct order, but be cautious there are others that look like you but they're all completely different in many ways in one. This may sound complex but don't worry more will be explained as you travel into these worlds and encounter the others. One last thing keep the stone with you at all costs no matter what happens.
Sincerely,
Anonymous
Both froze in confusion, Tutor read it over and over trying to understand what he witnessed the night before and the letter . Lieutenant on the other hand grew anxious and more worried than before, the very thought of losing her niece for good plagued her mind. She became very impatient as every second passed over them, she felt as if someone was beating her over the head with a blacksmith's sledgehammer.
Finally in frustration she rose up and ran out crying. "I can't wait another second! My niece needs me!"
"Wait Lieutenant! Wait!" Tutor called out as he grabbed the stone and ran out to follow her.
Lieutenant ignored Tutor's cries to let him catch up, the only thing on her mind was to find her niece and bring her home safe and sound so nothing like Tutor mattered to her as strutted forward to the outskirts of the kingdom. By this point Tutor was out of breath from running but gratefully caught up to her, however he did notice the marble bridge that stood before them ; he knew no bridge like this had ever existed before.
Lieutenant looked at Tutor finally reaching up to her. "Did the pampered Professor decide to leave his little comfort crib?
"Very," He wheezed. "funny tough girl."
"Oh yeah if I hadn't heard that before." She rolled her eyes.
The two gazed over the bridge seeing nothing but wooded land slowly discovering that it formed a tunnel. Tutor looked a bit uneasy, he was unsure of the tunnel thinking they would never return he at least hoped that the answers he was looking for would finally be solve.
"Ready to leave the silver spoon Professor?" Lieutenant ask lightly snickering as they began to cross the bridge.
Tutor took a deep breath and sighed as they walked. "Ready..."