15th May 2016
AN: A short chapter and no action, but necessary to set up for the coming chapters. It might be a little boring, but the next one should have some action in it and I'll try to move the plot along a little.
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Void Queen
Chapter 3 – Stranded
Talking with the maid had been calming and the stroll across large fields of lush green grass helped ease my mind. I can tell her apprehension has subsided too, or at least not as prominent as when she first saw me.
She introduced her self as Siesta, a member of this school's staff. She has lightly tanned skin, black hair and black eyes. She's a little shorter than Kirche from before, though not as short as either the blue haired girl or Louise. Her features resemble that of either Chinese, Korean, Japanese, or some other light skinned Asian; I couldn't tell.
She called herself a 'maid'. I thought maids only serve within rich households or something. I don't really know much about them.
As we walked towards our destination, we mostly talked about our origins. She was a bit hesitant at first to ask me, perhaps believing it would offend me, but as we spoke, we quickly gained some sort of familiarity with each other. It wasn't hard, she's a very kind soul, and I'm turning out to be a very by-the-book 'gentle giant'.
But...as I lure her closer with the illusion of safety...I'll spring my trap! MUHAHAHAHA!
Hrmhrm...
I mean...
I just wanted her to get comfortable talking to me so that I can ask her more about this place like: Which country is this? Is this some secret unmapped place in the world like in Harry Potter? How have they remained so secretive for so long? Is taking me to become what basically amounts to a slave legal? Do they have deserts?
Hm...
Now why was that last question relevant? This whole situation must be taking a bit of a toll on my sanity.
"Well I don't know much about magical animals so I'm not sure where Xer'Sais are from. I don't even know where half the familiars from the summoning are from." Siesta admitted.
What do I tell her? That I'm actually human? That Louise's magic had warped me? What consequences would there be with legal concerns if word gets out?
I'm too much in the dark, and doing or saying anything out of the norm around here will put me in a disadvantageous position. Yeah I know sound like some sort of shady schemer right now, but I'm a real thinker at heart. Aside from blindly getting baited by my cousin Jeana into that bet. She's the reason I'm Rek'Sai right now!
No. I can't blame her. She wouldn't know this would happen, and I doubt she would believe me if I made it back.
Focusing back on my conversation with the maid, my silence had stretched a bit on the long side, so I went with Rek'Sai's back-story.
"We Xer'Sai live in the Shuriman desert." Uhg, again with this RPG character talk, but since everyone's drinking up this kind of speech pattern like water, I guess it's normal here, or at least not outlandish.
The only thing not normal is the clicking sounds that seem to be an integral part of my words. My voice is also different. The pitch of my voice didn't get much higher, just more feminine in a way, but still a bit deep for most women.
However, since this is the first time Siesta's hearing my voice, she'll think this is my normal voice, and doesn't share my concern of how odd it is to speak in a voice not your own.
"The desert? Oh! Isn't that Rub' al Khali?" She asked. Her eyes seem to sparkle with wonder at the mention of anything foreign. "Is 'Shuriman' what you call it natively?"
"Shurima." I corrected. "And I don't think we are talking about the same desert."
Rub' al Khali is the largest desert on Earth; part of the Arabian Desert. It's not a familiar name, but at least it's something I recognise in this strange fantasy-land. Wherever this is they speak English so that's a clue.
"The 'same' desert? I thought there is only one." She said while tilting her head in question.
That's odd, even the most sheltered person would know that there isn't just one desert in a world this big. In fact, just where am I?
"Siesta, what country are we in?" I clicked. I just can't seem to stop the clicks from forming parts of my speech.
Siesta doesn't seem to mind though as she answers me back without hesitation.
"We are in the Kingdom of Tristain."
"Kingdom." I echoed.
Do we still have Kingdoms? I've never heard of 'Tristain' before.
"Yes, and we're in Tristain Academy." She further clarified.
"And the surrounding countries? What other countries are we near?" I further inquired.
"Um, there's the Germanian Empire to the east, the Gallian Kingdom to the south, and the Albion Kingdom to the west." She listed. "Oh, and there's the Romalian Empire further south of Gallia."
Germania, Gallia, Albion, Romalia. None of these sound like a country I have heard of apart from Germania and Romalia, which sound like Germany and Rome.
Is this some alternate dimension? Where the Earth is kind of the same to mine, but has a lot of other differences? The people here all look human, they speak English. However, their technology evolved with magic, and the style of architectures are a lot more middle-age looking. It's like Harry Potter but world wide.
That's...much more unsettling than just being teleported to a secluded country. At least then I'm still on my own Earth in my own dimension. This here is another universe entirely. I'll never be able to get home...
"Rek'Sai? Are you okay?" Siesta's call jolted me back to reality.
I must have stopped walking seeing as she's several meters in front of me. She's looking back with an expression of slight confusion and a hint of worry.
"I'm fine, just...thinking." I assured her.
She doesn't look too convinced but continued walking anyway as I caught up to her. Gesturing to a little further ahead, she pointed out the stables for the larger mounts.
"We're here. Just wait outside and I'll get the stable hands to look after you." She said and was just about to hurry off before I stopped her with my hand.
She yelped in surprise at the sudden force keeping her in place and at the fact that large sharp claws are encasing her shoulder.
"Sorry, but could you hold on a minute?" I asked. She turned around a little nervously but nodded. "I don't really want to be living in a stable. It just doesn't feel...right."
I say that, but really, I can't just tell her I was human and that people don't sleep in stalls. Well, actually I can, but I'm not sure if she'll believe me. Besides, the stable likely has other occupants and it'll stink. I know how much a normal stable that houses horses stink, so I can imagine how much more it'll stink for larger mounts with larger crap and body odour.
"If it's not too much to ask, is there a spare room that no one uses I can use?" I asked.
"Um, I might be able to find one, but where do Xer'Sais normally sleep?" Siesta asked back.
"Usually we burrow underground." Or at least I think that's what the Xer'Sai do. "But we often find abandoned ruins of the old city for shelter."
"Well, I can think of an old classroom that never gets any use, but Miss. Vallière asked me to see you to the stables." She said worriedly.
"That's ok, just tell her that her Familiar requested this himself." I said.
"'Himself'?" Siesta tilted her head in confusion.
Crap! I messed up!
"Ah- I mean. Did I say 'himself'? I meant 'herself'. I must be uh...um, hungry. Yes! It's been a while since I last ate, and my stomach's been distracting me." I tried to recover from my blunder, but to be honest, I am pretty hungry.
"Where is this spare classroom you had in mind?" I changed the topic in hopes of her forgetting my little mistake.
"It will be back that way." She said pointing back to the general direction of where we came from.
"Good, then I'll be closer to Master so I think she will have no problems with my relocation." I nodded in hopes of her agreeing with me. I really don't want to live in a smelly stall.
Thankfully she agreed and took me to the classroom. Conveniently, the door was large enough for me to fit through it, though I think that was part of the reason why Siesta chose this room.
"I hope you are okay with this room. It's a little dusty but I can come back and clean it for you." She offered.
"No no. You've done enough for me, thank you." I said.
"It's really no problem. I'll be going back to the main building to tend to my duties then." She was about to leave when she turned back, remembering something. "Oh I almost forgot. The sun will be down in a few hours so we will be serving food to the students."
"I can prepare something for you as well after they are done so...what foods do you prefer?" She asked.
"I don't particularly mind. I'll just have whatever is left over from the students. Otherwise, it will all be wasted right?" I answered.
"Oh. Are you sure you don't want any...fresh meat?" She asked doubtfully.
"Like cooking more food? No no. I'll don't mind left overs, really." I answered again. Then suddenly, a thought hit me. "Oh do you mean, raw meat?"
She nodded in...embarrassment? Perhaps she thought it was rude to ask a sentient and sapient being if they would like to eat like a savage animal, but I took no offence. I understand where she's coming from after all.
"Just the left overs is fine." I assured once again. I'm not sure how my taste buds had changed, or how my dietary track had warped, but I'm confident I can just try things out when the food arrives and leave the things I can't take alone. I'll have to experiment carefully with my sense of taste. Usually, when something tastes as if they don't belong in your mouth, it's usually dangerous to your body.
As a Xer'Sai, I can tell from my teeth and claws that I am carnivorous. So any meat is probably safe to eat. I'm not sure about fruit or vegetables. I'm not sure what kind of animals or plants the food will originate from. This is after all, an alternate world to my own.
Siesta left with a polite nod, leaving me alone to silently contemplate how far away from home I am.
I huddled into a corner, trying to get comfortable. With nothing to do I experimented with the movements of my new body. After a few hours, the sunlight faded and Siesta returned with another maid, each pushing a large trolley of food with a tantalising smell.
I had my fill, mostly the meat related foods, and a little of the fruits. The sauces played flavours of miraculous quality and I had to wonder if it would have tasted the same on a human tongue.
Eating with the mouth of a Xer'Sai was interesting to say the least. Mostly I tore into the meat with my sharp pincer-like teeth and lifted my head up for gravity to help me swallow. The juices and sauces will then caress my tongue as the tender meat glides down my gullet. I did the same with the fruit, though they had no extraordinary taste worth mentioning. The flavours are surprisingly familiar, and I think they have the same fruits here as in my world. The same can be said about the meat. One distinct taste is the taste of lamb. I'd recognise that taste anywhere.
As it turns out, vegetables taste a little strange to me, and I've decided that I should play it safe, and not eat them. I'm also getting a bad vibe from them, as if through some instinct, I know I'm not supposed to eat them.
Siesta and the other maid left me to my meal and returned later to collect the trays. Siesta smiled openly as I thanked her for the food, but the other maid acted a lot more cautiously around me, despite Siesta's insistence that I will not harm her.
They left, and I'm alone again. Even though the food was delicious and warming, all it did was distract me for a little while. After the initial feeling of contentment from eating, I am back to the realisation that I'm not in my own world any more. Looking up through the windows of the room, I can make out two moons in the sky; one with a pinkish hue, and the other is pale blue; the latter in likeness the moon I know. The fact that there are two moons in the sky instead of one just further confirms my theory.
I'm not on Earth any more.
I miss my friends.
I miss my family.
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AN: I hope this chapter gives more insight as to how Alexis is dealing with the whole situation. Also, from what I gathered, the moons are pink and white. At least that's what's described in the book. Tell me if I got it wrong.
Edit: Thanks for the correction LordGhoststriker. The moons are now pink and pale blue. I know they're just the colours of the moons, but I don't like neglecting detail.
Until next time.