I felt like I was hurtling through the air. It was like I had jumped off a cliff and was now falling towards certain death. Then, suddenly I felt my feet land on solid ground. I blinked and found myself in what looked like a field. I could not see it very clearly because everything was spinning and I fell uselessly onto the ground. It was a long time before I could sit up but when I did I gazed around me. I was sitting on grass. The sun was shining in the sky and I could see a heard of some kind of fluffy animals in the distance. I tried to stand up but the world immediately slanted sideways and I quickly sat down again. I sighed and started crawling towards the fluffy creatures.
Soon I had to stop because I felt like throwing up again. I looked up and saw that the animals that I had been crawling towards were right in front of me. Two of the babies were growling playfully at each other and as I watched, one of them quickly poked the other with a paw. Both of them immediately started rolling around on the ground; having some kind of play fight. I frowned. What kind of animals were these? The adults were around the size of cats but they had much longer fur.
Then I thought about Alvin's message. A chill ran through me. How did he know my second-name? I was sure that I had never mentioned my second-name while Timecrest was open on my phone, but if that message was real then I must be in Alyncia. I glanced at the furry creatures; realising that they might be muffies. I stared at them and to be honest, I couldn't imagine anyone wanting to eat them. They were just too cute for that.
Then I turned my mind back to the matter at hand once more. If I was really in Alyncia, didn't that mean that Timecrest was real? I shook my head. Of course it was real. I had decided that my mother was a lier so if she said that it wasn't real, it made perfect sense that it was. I shook my head again. "You're making no sense, Westlyn," I told myself. Then I smiled realising that I sounded just like Scarlet Ignis, who was always talking to herself. I narrowed my eyes. Should I be making fun of Scarlet? After all, if there was a possibility of meeting her one day, then shouldn't I be more understanding? Thinking about Scarlet, I began to wonder if I had a pocket watch now? I quickly searched my pockets but found no pocket watch. I felt relieved. I did not feel like talking to a, counterpart right now.
The muffies had all slowly drifted away and were now streaming towards a small rise to my left. Gritting my teeth, I cautiously got to my feet. Relief washed over me because this time I didn't feel like I was going to pass out. I carefully followed the muffies and peered over the rise. Ahead of me I could see a small town. I felt excited and immediately started walking towards it, hoping that I would find Ash there. I felt nervous and excited at the thought of actually meeting Ash. What would I say? What would I do? Should I curtsy or bow or something? "Shut up," I growled and kept walking.
At last I reached the outskirts of the small town. I approached the first stranger that I could see and asked them if they knew a person called Ash. "Ash? Ash who?" the man asked frowning. "Um, Ash Timecrest?" The man shook his head. "I don't know any Ash Timecrest, sorry." I sighed. This was going to take longer than I thought.
I sat down at the scrubbed dining table, feeling kind of depressed. I had searched all day. I had gone to many different towns and cities, but no one in them had known anyone who went by the name of Ash Timecrest. I had finally stopped by a small restaurant in a town called Maylan because I had felt extremely hungry. I hadn't eaten since dinner time at my house and that had been several hours ago. I turned to look at the sun. It was still quite high in the sky. On Earth it would be deep night by now. Mae and my Mom would most likely be asleep. Mom had probably already packed my big suitcase for that trip to England. I smiled as I realised that I would never go on that trip now. It wasn't like Mom could teleport into Alyncia and fetch me back home.
A waiter came up to me; interrupting my thoughts. "Ms, what would you like to eat at the Sunshine Cafe?" he asked cheerfully. I thought for a minute before my eyes sparked. "Do you have any, griffin eggs?" My mouth had watered every time that Ash talked about how delicious griffin eggs were -- and I jumped at the chance to try one myself. "Yes, we have some available," the waiter said calmly. I felt like dancing on my chair but I forced myself to sit still. I took a deep breath and managed to croak, "thank you" as the waiter was leaving.
I waited impatiently for about ten minutes before my food finally arrived. The griffin egg really did smell amazing. It smelled kind of like a mix between an apple pie and Macdonald's which sounds disgusting but when I finally stopped staring at it and took my first bite, it tasted heavenly. It tasted a bit like normal fried egg but sweeter and more outgoing. The texture was rich and I loved how the yoke melted on my tongue. I finished one plate and then asked for another. I sat in that cafe for around an hour before I realised that I had nothing to pay for my food. I searched around on the floor; hoping that someone might have dropped some gold by accident but the floor was bare.
t last a man wearing an animated lime green shirt noticed what I was doing? "What's the matter?" he asked walking up to me. I looked up at him guiltily. "Well, I seem to have forgotten my gold pouch," I said unable to meet the man's gaze. "Oh, don't worry," he said smiling, "I'll lend you some gold and you can pay me back later." I looked up. "But, you don't know me at all," I said. "Well I'm Gradin, and you can pay me back tomorrow. We can meet at this cafe again." "But I ..." Gradin held up a hand. "I will pay for you, young lady," he said firmly. I winced. How on Earth was I supposed to pay this guy back? Then I shrugged. I wasn't on Earth anymore so maybe it didn't matter? After another moment I nodded reluctantly. "All right." I watched Gradin as he went up to the cafe manager and handed her a handful of gold coins. I felt dismayed. I had barely been here a day and I had already gotten myself into debt. "Well done," I muttered to myself as I awkwardly waved my thanks to Gradin and hurried out of the cafe.
It was getting dark and a cold wind was blowing when I finally decided that I needed to find some place to sleep. I glanced around but I couldn't see any ins or buildings that looked anything like hotels so I finally found a small patch of grass under a tree and lay down for the night. I wrapped my jacket around myself but I was still cold. It was hard to fall asleep that night but soon the exhaustion of walking for hours on end got to me and I drifted into sleep.