This couldn't be happening. It's all a dream. That's right. None of this is real. So much has happened, it would be more than easy to confuse reality with fantasy. After all, how many people have literally experienced something like this? Other than the actors and characters that were magically teleported to wherever they wanted to be in films, no one in actual reality had ever accomplished something like this. This is a dream!
It's been a couple of hours, at least that's what it felt like to her. What was keeping her from waking up? It was all too real, everything felt real. The humidity in the air to the molded surface of the buildings of this ancient city beneath her feet, even the feathered arrows that would whisk by left a swish in the air that was enough to startle her.
All she could remember before was when she was strumming the whimsical notes on her violin… and in one turn, the dark shelter of the studio she resided in had slipped away, exposing her to the harsh sun and heat of summer air as she stood atop a roof to who knew where. The musical notes falling to a flat as realization began to settle in… instrument slowly sinking to her side in her grasp. A glimpse of a hooded figure in white in one direction and then several other men with blades and arrows targeted at her—it was all she could do to run away!
One thing she was grateful for in her younger years when her Physical Education professor would make the whole class run several mile laps every day. Though an escape across rooftops proved to be rather challenging for her, she managed to leap across those with narrow alleys in-between the sturdy structures.
How she managed to even make it to ground level without serious injury from the abrasive attacks of several angry soldiers was beyond her. Though running through the streets might have been just as difficult as travel by rooftops… So many people around her and she stuck out like a sore thumb. Amid many with long dull coloured robes, cloys and veils, sandaled feet—there was no way she could simply disappear into a crowd like this with her skin tight black leggings, black buckled leather boots, and ruffled mini red and black dress that only reached to mid-thigh. Add to that, she was the only girl whose long hair flew freely in long dark red silky locks.
Even if this were a dream, she could already feel the breath in her lungs growing painful and her throat screaming at her in protest from all this excursion. But the adrenaline in her veins pushed her onward. If she stopped, or even so much as tripped, then she would be dead. Dream or not, that was the last thing she wanted to experience.
She darted around sharp corners, praying that no more guards resided in the paths she would take, until she had found herself at a dead end. Feeling her heart nearly falter from panic at the thought of being trapped, her eyes spotted a ladder just a few feet to the side of her and she bolted without hesitation. Scaling the structure of yet another building until she reached one of the rooftop levels, she needed to figure out her next move fast. To her luck, another ladder to the next level of the roof was just beside her and from there… possibly the only best hiding place she could even dream to find. The second she had her foot set on that level, she hurtled herself through the curtains of the wooden enclosed well-like structure, the violin and bow even managed to survive the adventure with her as they plopped lightly to the floor next to her.
Curling herself into a ball at the corner of her handing place with her hands over her mouth to stifle the rasps of her breathing, the only sound that even emitted around her was the frantic beating of her heart. Voices of guards and soldiers could still be heard near her, calling out in anger and frustration. Words of French… Italian maybe…? Arabic even—barely any lick of English save for maybe a phrase or two and the realization her situation was making the brim of her tightly closed eyes sting with tears. Even if this was a dream… it was too real… and the danger, the unfamiliarity… the unknown, and the feel of being stranded set a heavy weight on her to the point she barely even acknowledged the clang of metal and blood-filled gurgles that ruptured not far from her tiny safe haven.
