a.n. I'm glad that I got four reviews! I was so scared that no one would like this story….
Special thanks to Maroon Cross and ParuCafe for favoriting this story.
Also to Ten-Faced, for...well, a lot of things! She was the first one to review, also talked to me while I was bored...and basically helped me through the sadness of having almost no reviewers (and she cured it ;D).
When Luka became conscience again, she felt as if she was sleeping on air.
Most literally.
She looked below her, and to her great surprise, she could still see the burning-hot red-orange lava below her...she could feel it too. But the sensation of falling was long gone, and she no longer felt unstable or at any risk of falling, even though she seemed to be sitting on air.
Luka cautiously stood, carefully placing her feet where her body once was. Now that she was up, she gauged just how far she had fallen down into the trench.
The once moon-lit sky now clearly showed that it was daylight, though the whole sky was coveted in thick, heavy-grey stratus clouds.
Just how long was I asleep?
Luka shook her head to dispel these thoughts, thinking about how to get out of this horrible air-trench.
She wasn't close enough to the wall to climb her way out...so she might have to look into her burlap bag for a means of escape...
Luka felt around the back of her armor frantically.
When the shocked realization of reality hit her, all she was left with was utter despair.
Her burlap back, which had everything in it, including her water canteen, was gone. It was probably down in the plummeting depths of the lava below her. With any luck though, maybe it was still back up on the ledge...
Luka, with no other way to get out of the trench and with nothing to do, began reflecting on her life.
Well, I was a wise ruler, and I always visited the slums to help them almost every day...same thing with the orphanage...
But then came the group of people that hated me for my ancestors' deeds, saying something about the curse put on the princess...
Oh god, why does MY past have to be the one that gets me killed?
I JUST WANT TO GET OUT OF HERE-
Luka shot up from the trench and into the air, almost level with the trench's ledge. She landed flat on her back, all of the while screaming at decibels that could potentially harm the human ear.
"Oof!" Luka looked around. Her bag was nowhere to be found.
She felt at her side. At least she still had her sword, so she could proceed.
Luka looked in front of her.
How did I EVER MISS THIS BEFORE?!
In front of her was a large looming castle, its spires and high towers scraping the almost bedraggled sky above it. The meadow behind her, once sunny, seemed to fade into darkness, as a small little speck. She heard a screeching sound from within the castle.
Luka contemplated going in...and losing her life.
Well, at least I'll die a heroic death in a secluded place...and I will only go down fighting.
With a determined huff, Luka set out towards the stone walls on a small rope bridge that was rather close to collapsing, willing to face what could be her possible doom within it.
Unbeknownst to Luka, the castle guardian was not welcoming any guests.
Miku stood anxiously at her window. She felt that something important was going to happen today, something life changing.
And she didn't want to miss it no matter what.
She gazed out at the stormy-gray skies that surrounded the castle, then out at the skies above the meadow; for once, they didn't seem to be in contrast. Both seemed to be a rather dark shade of gray, which Miku found strange. Rare were the days that the sky above the meadow matched the one above the castle; something was most definitely going to happen. The last time something like this happened, she had first heard the screeching of what she knew now to be the dragon that guarded the castle.
Miku sighed and turned to her bedroom.
She walked to her bookshelf and plucked the brown leather-bound book out from its place in the shelf. These actions were not her truly her own; it felt as though some instinct deep inside of her had awakened and had directed her to.
She followed this instinct, however, thinking that it couldn't make her life worse than it possibly was.
Unbeknownst to Miku, the future had a lot planned for her; what it could be described as was up to her, though.
She kept following her natural instinct and flipped to the front of the book and held the ends of the pages, releasing them in a motion that created a sort of animation if you watched the inside of the pages.
In the colorful animation, she saw a tall and lean knight. She knew it was a knight from all of the stories she read about princesses being rescued and kissing the knights that saved them...she had asked Kaito one day what a princess was, and he had explained that it was the daughter of a royal family who was next in line to take the throne...he also told her that she was one.
Miku kept watching the animation. It showed the knight, who seemed to be looking off to the side, look towards her with bright, piercing blue eyes that seemed to be smiling. Perhaps it would, she thought, if they could see me.
The knight continued to look at her. She lifted the mouth and jaw guard and did smile. Miku saw the smile and instantly loved it. It seemed to radiate warmth and love, even though it was just a drawing in a book.
Miku was captivated by this knight, whoever he was. Miku watched intently as the knight began to take off his helmet.
The knight slowly lifted it off of his head. One lone strand of pink slipped out of his helmet just as he almost had it completely off-
The animation ended and Miku was left on her bed staring at the back of what could be called her most prized possession.
Later that night, after writing in her enchanted book, Miku had frantically flipped through the book again, desperately trying to find even the faintest trace of her knight.
The knight and all images of him were gone.
She roughly slid the book back into its place in the bookshelf and went to bed in her small little cot, falling asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
Miku didn't know it, but she did most certainly cry in her sleep that night, feeling so much frustration for not being able to see her knight.
Once more unbeknownst to Miku, she would be seeing her knight sooner than she thought...
If the leather-bound book on her shelf could smile, it would have. It was only giving her foresight to what was going to happen tomorrow, after all.
Meanwhile, down at the bottom of the castle, Luka had made it across the rope bridge, and had now entered the bottom floor of the castle.
The screeching (which was now getting louder, Luka noted with caution) was now accompanied by a thumping noise as well as the creaks and moans of the old rotting wooden floorboards under Luka's well-armored feet.
She came across a door, about twenty feet in height and 15 feet in width. It had a large rusted silver knocker (which was now black with tarnish). Rusted iron chains lay broken around the base of the door. All of the screeching and thumping, Luka noted, seemed to originate from here.
Cautiously, Luka took hold of one of the knockers and pulled.
All of the screeching and thumping stopped, leaving pin-drop silence in its place.
In all of her wide-eyed shock and panic, Luka at least had the sense to draw her sword.
a.n. Geez, I can't seem to end a chapter without leaving Luka in a dangerous spot, now can I?
Also, I want to thank WenRakkon. If you're curious as to why I'm thanking her/him (read their profile), then read the reviews. And compare.
Seriously people, the longer the review the better! I don't even care if it talks about rainbows and ice-cream and has almost nothing to do with my story (though why anyone would review then makes me curious).
Review~!