Chapter 4: Trial by Water
*Alphinaud*
Alphinaud had no idea what was going on, nor why his parents were losing their minds with Alisaie no longer in their sights. This wasn't anything new… it'd been happening ever since the two of them were little. Alisaie tended to wander off whenever someone wasn't paying attention, especially if she was somewhere new. They all knew about this and though it was annoying at times, they had gotten used to it.
But now, he could never remember ever seeing parents this distraught over his sisters' disappearance. This was a whole new level of fear that he had never seen from either before—which caused him to start to panic as well. How she could have slipped away without them realizing it?
His mother was staring around, wringing her hands, while his father seemed to be swearing under his breath with every step he took as his eyes scanned the surrounding hills.
Alphinaud turned his gaze to the opposite side of the lake and watched as more and more lanterns came to life, still without any visible people tending to them. He vaguely wondered if the lanterns were on a timer or a solar powered system but this town was far too old for such devices. A feeling of great unease crept into his heart as he kept craning his head for any sign of his sister's familiar long, white hair.
"Father… this always happens, surely there's no need to panic like this?" he asked, trying to calm them down. "And there doesn't seem to be anyone else around here so I believe…?"
"There! Alisaie!" his mother's voice interrupted and he looked to where she was pointing to find his sister stumbling up the slope towards them. At the sight of her, he let out a sigh of relief as his parents made their way towards her. His father was already starting to huff, as if he was readying himself to start shouting.
But just as the fear melted away from his sister's face when she spotted them, she stopped dead, looking down at her foot as if she was suddenly stuck. Alphinaud couldn't see what had distracted her, but as he and father neared her, Alisaie was suddenly pulled down and away from them. Alphinaud screamed even as one was choked from her lips and he watched as her eyes widened with shock, reaching out a hand towards them. Alphinaud broke into a run, moving faster than he ever had in his life, stretching out his own hand… just as his fingertips barely touched hers, and she was pulled from their sights.
He let out a scream as he dropped to his knees, his hands splashing into the puddle even as his father was shouting out his sister's name.
Alphinaud stared at the water, trying to grasp what just happened but his mind was blank. His hands were in the puddle, pushing hard against the ground, but could not find even the slightest bit of give, showing that this was no sinkhole or anything…? But then…? Where the hells did his sister go? She couldn't have just vanished into thin air.
"Alisaie? ALISAIE?!" he screamed, now digging through the mud, as if he hoped to find her if he dug deep enough.
His father was pulling his hair out as his eyes were wide with panic; fear radiated off him like a dark aura. But then…?
"You need to leave…" said a soft voice behind him, causing Alphinaud to jump, spinning around on his knees to see that a woman dressed in shining armor and long, pink hair had appeared as if she had stepped out of thin air.
Alphinaud tried to swing around from where he crouched, which caused his legs to twist, and he fell backwards into the puddle—but still no signs of his sister mystically appearing as he stared at the strange, almost mythical appearance of a woman who looked as if she stepped out of a fairy tale.
But upon her words, and his son falling into the water, Fourchenault spun about and stared at her.
Alphinaud looked up at him in time to witness his father's jaw falling open, his eyes still wide, as he stared at their visitor, with the faint cries of his wife in the distance as she ran towards them.
"You…?" Fourchenault gasped at the sight of ethereal woman. "You're here…?"
The woman turned her own eyes wide with surprise at him.
"It's you…" she whispered back as Alphinaud scrambled to his feet and his mother rushed at him, pulling him in her arms as if terrified he'd fall away like Alisaie did. Alphinaud was about ready to demand answers from this stranger, but his father beat him to the punch by stating something he never would have guessed from him.
"Yes… yes, I didn't think that we'd meet again," he said, his breathing harsh but urgent, "I never did get the chance to thank you properly, but now is not the time. Please, I need your help."
Alphinaud stared at his father and back to the woman, so confused that he could not get his tongue to work. But his father had already moved forward and grabbed the woman's shoulders, asking in a pleading tone, "My daughter… Alisaie… where is she?"
Upon mentioning his sister's name, the female knight's faced hardened, as if it was carved from stone, causing Alphinaud to feel as if was falling away from reality—bracing himself for the worse.
*Earlier with Alisaie*
Alisaie slipped and slid down the steep hill, trying to find her footing, but perhaps it was that she was moving too fast and kept stumbling along the dew that was already forming on the grass that she just couldn't stay on her feet. She gritted her teeth, tearing out some flowers in her haste to pull herself up the slick grass, wondering why it felt like she was climbing up the side of a mountain. It hadn't always been this steep, had it?
All the while, the sky grew darker, almost at an unnatural rate, and more lights were glinting on across the lake. What was going on here? This place was all but abandoned not even an hour ago! Surely, she didn't move that far away from her family? Where were they?
She gulped hard as she slammed her foot down, finally finding stable enough ground to stand back up and she staggered forward towards the direction that she thought everyone was. Yet upon passing by one of the overgrown houses, she turned about and stopped dead when she realized that she had almost gone walking straight into the wall. She stopped and immediately began to run to the left this time… yet she ended up tripping after only a few minutes and went splashing into the lake. She gasped, her eyes wide, her heart hammering hard in her chest, as she tried to get a firmer grasp on her location.
How was this possible? How did she get back to the water? She had been running away from it just a second ago?!
Giving her head a shake, she got up, her clothes clinging to her body as she sloshed her way back to land and tried to make her way back up the hill. More than once though, her brain had felt like it has become like bad static on a radio and she found herself oddly light-headed as the world seemed to tilt. She gritted her teeth, trembling from both cold and fear as she swayed and blinked… eventually registering that there was some kind of mist about her.
What was happening? She didn't remember seeing such a haze before now…?
No, she was sure of it, sure that the sky had been clear when she left the lake the first time… so where did the mist come from?
She became completely turned around as she struggled to recall where she was and how she got there. She knew that she had to leave, but she was struggling to recall why? She swayed about before tripping over her own feet and landed on her knees as she ducked her head so low that it was touching the ground. Alisaie moaned as she fought the urge to be sick as the world remained tilted and her head spun. It was as if she was suddenly on a ship in the middle of a storm and the ground beneath her was rocking back and forth until she could hardly stand up.
This wasn't right. There was something seriously wrong with this place.
There was this odd thumping in her ears and she felt so tired that she had to slap herself multiple times to keep herself from slipping off asleep. While it helped with keeping her eyes open, she was no longer able to tell backwards from forwards.
'It's the fog,' her muddled brain tried to think but she was not able to full grasp what that meant. She coughed, trying to clear the fog from her mind, everything continuing to spin—or perhaps she was the one spinning around for she was becoming more confused and couldn't even tell left from right anymore.
All the while she could swear that she heard the sounds of giggling about her head along with a slight buzzing sound—as if from an insect's wings—flapping about her head. Instinctually, she reached up and smacked the air as if she were trying to get rid of a particularly annoying fly.
What happened though was that her hand collided with something she couldn't see, and she had sworn she heard a faint cry of pain—like she had struck someone else. She ignored it though as her heart continued to pound in her chest from fear. To her surprise though, a small portion of the fog cleared up enough for her to find the path again. She pushed herself up but kept her head down, following the dirt path, her head able to think more clearly and cause her to reason that if she stuck to the path then she would find her way back to the car.
Alisaie burst free from the fog, her hair falling from its usual braid, and she could feel a slight burning pain of a cut on her face from where she fell before. But she could see and think plainly again, which was all that mattered right now. This helped to comfort her somewhat as she broke into a sprint, racing towards the right hill at last. Though, she hadn't realized just how dark it had become by the time she arrived with only the last few rays of light poking out from beyond the mountains behind her and the lanterns all but lit up like twinkling fairy lights on a Starlight tree.
She huffed while stomping up the hill until she heard the roar of her father in the distance, "Alisaie! ALISAIE!"
Alisaie looked up immediately at the sound of her name, and there they were. The outlines of her family all looking around for her, calling her name.
She sighed in relief at the sight of her family and hurriedly racing down towards them until they took notice of her presence. Her father's face became hard when he saw her, and she was surprised to find that she didn't mind his over-protectiveness this time. She was panting hard, feeling a slight pain in her side from all her running. She felt a small smile on her face as she drew closer, but as she took her next step, her foot stepped into water and she instantly looked down.
Alisaie didn't know what caused her to do so, but she found herself with one foot in a puddle and staring down into the water, with its surface as smooth and reflective as a mirror. She could see her reflection looking back, see the slight cut clearly, and the red flush to her cheeks before she blinked; momentarily baffled to how this happened before the water shimmered like a light shone beneath it. Alisaie blinked a second time, and then a pair of glowing, yellow eyes were suddenly looking back up at her.
Alisaie didn't even have time to scream as a pair of green, frog-like hands shot up and wrapped themselves around her ankle. She wasn't able to move save for when Alphinaud and her father screamed her name and she looked up with fear before she felt herself being pulled downwards into the puddle. The last thing she saw was her father and brother reaching out desperately for her, Alphinaud's fingers barely grazing hers before she was pulled down and out of their sights.
Upon being dragged underwater, she tried to shriek, but all that burst from her mouth was a cluster of bubbles.
The shock of the cold water felt as if her skin was set aflame as she instinctively held her breath, staring about wildly while the feeling of something even colder and slippery grabbed hold of her arms. She squinted, trying to make out through the blurry water when…?
She let out another cry that was instantly turned into another stream of bubbles when she looked at either side of her—creatures so strange that she was convinced that she must have either fallen and hit her head on a rock or these things came crawling out of a toxic waste dump.
They were squat creatures with blue and slimy-looking skin, with enormous eyes that seemed to take up most of their faces, and tiny mouths curled into mischievous grins. They also had large feet with elongated toes and were webbed between the digits; the same with their hands and long fingers that were all clenching small canes that were perfect for their size. All the while, wearing perfectly tailored coats and vests and even matching top hats upon their rounds heads. She looked around and saw what had to be at least a dozen of them surrounding her, all looking on with bright curiosity.
The largest of them, the one whom she guessed was their leader anyway, suddenly started to laugh.
"OOOOOOh! What do we have here?" he chimed in as he looked Alisaie over with those bulbous eyes as his fellows held her with their frog-like hands, preventing her from going anywhere.
She struggled in panic, now convinced that she had breathed in some kind of gas or mushroom spores to cause this bad trip. But she ended up kicking at one of them below her, which knocked it back a few feet, causing his big eyes to roll. Still, it didn't seem all that upset—on the contrary, it was laughing.
"She's a fighter!" one of the others chuckled.
"Oooooh, does this mean that she is ours?" another asked curiously and suddenly there were voices all about her.
"One of us!"
"She's one of us now!"
"Yes, yes! She is ours!"
A flash of anger surged so hot inside her that Alisaie instinctively kicked out again, this time striking one of the ones holding her. The attack caused it to shriek in pain and go spinning downwards. She grinned at that, feeling a brief sense of satisfaction upon seeing it in pain—but that feeling was short-lived. The leader had come up close and was shaking a long, webbed-finger at her as if telling off a child for misbehaving.
"Now, now… the rules say that any who cross our paths are free to be taken by us Fauth," he informed her. "You belong to us now."
Alisaie had no idea who or what Fauth were, nor did she care, for she tried kicking out at him this time, her arms still struggling to free themselves from the gaggle of Fauth holding them. But this one was quick, moving back fast enough so that only his hat slipped off his boubous head. With a quick flick of his wrist, he caught the rim and now was tutting at her, as if he expected more than a child with a tantrum, which only infuriated her more.
Sure, she could swim like a fish thanks to her grandfather's lessons, so she could hold her breath for a descent amount of time, but there was no way she could keep this up for long. These things, who looked like they came from the very bottom pile of used All Saint's Wake decorations, were now laughing as she continued to struggle, using up even more air in the process. Alisaie thrashed wildly, closing her eyes as she tried to wrestle her way out of their cold grasp.
Suddenly, the hands holding her disappeared and she was so shocked that she ended up kicking herself upwards a few feet before her eyes snapped open again to see what was going on. Her vision was still blurred slightly, but she could still see that she was now alone as if those Fauth things never existed.
No, scratch that. She looked down and she could see that the Fauth had sunk deeper into the water, skidding across the bottom of the lake while ducking inside the ruined homes, forgetting all about her and leaving her abandoned.
Alisaie didn't know what was going on, but she didn't care, just grateful for the chance to get away from here. She released the last few bubbles she had and watched as they drifted upwards, showing her the way to the surface even in the darkness. Handy trick that her grandfather taught her when she was first learning to swim, and she made a beeline after them. Just as if felt like her lungs were about to burst, her head broke the surface of the water and she sucked in a lungful of night air with gusto, panting hard as she wiped the water from her eyes to get her bearings. She was in the lake like she thought and the lanterns were blazing brightly around her as she spotted shore.
Ok, so now that she could breathe properly again, she felt herself calm down. She would be sure to just go home with her family and wait for whatever weirdness that was in her system to work itself out and then she would be back to normal. With that comforting thought, she pushed off, heading towards the closet part of shore to her before she could hear something over the water in her ears. She paused, not recognizing the strange sound due to the water shifting about her and her ragged pants.
Though she could see nothing, a fear settling in her stomach and her heart began to pound once again against her chest—a pounding so hard that it hurt. It was the sound of something big shifting beneath the waves… she felt the wave's pressure moving about her despite the smooth surface. Something was here with her… it was as if she had become like a mouse in a maze with a giant eye watching—wondering what she was going to do next.
It was a sense that she couldn't explain and she almost started to hyperventilate right there. Yet as she spun about in the water, trying to find something out of place, she saw nothing there. Nothing but the water about her…?
That was when she realized why the frog-people had dropped what they were doing and fled. Something bigger was here and she felt herself freeze as the sight of the dark fin slowly rising out of the lake—clearly making a straight line directly for her. She screamed, causing herself to come back to reality, and paddled wildly towards shore once more. But the creature was massive, the fin rising more and more out of the water as she turned around and began to splash like a maniac, fighting the tears that were threatening to fall.
She could hear the sounds of the fin cutting along the surface as it rocketed towards her, like a plot of one of those shark movies, causing her to panic even more and move faster than she ever had in her life. The more logical part of her mind knew that she would never make it there in time however. If this thing was as big as she thought, then it would surely reach her before she made it another fifty feet. She heard it rumbling behind her and she took a deep breath before diving under the surface—hoping that she could lose it if she moved straight down.
This turned out to be a big mistake.
She twisted about in the water and she could see the giant serpent… only it was so much worse than she ever imagined. Underwater she could see its entire body, and her mouth fell open in horror. It was bigger than she thought, at least sixty feet long with sharp-looking scales covering it. Its serpentine body had a long dorsal fin upon its back with shades of blue that were tinged with red. But the worst part was its heads… not head… heads.
The creature had two large, identical heads with enormous mouths large enough to swallow her whole. While she had been trying to escape the head that was on the surface, the second was below, as if it was hoping that she would try to escape this way and roared out that it caused her ears, though muffled by water, to ache as the sound pierced her brain.
She screamed as the few last bubbles of air fled her mouth and the enormous sea creature raced towards her with its mouths wide open. She came back to her sense long enough to quickly dive, and could feel the harden scales graze across her back, tearing at her jacket as she was then knocked further down by one of its massive fins.
It was like she was trapped inside of a giant washing machine with how she was knocked and spun around, no longer able to tell where she was or which way to go. Despite feeling sick and dizzy, she looked for the serpent and saw it spinning about before racing towards her once more, its mouths open even as she could see it from upside down.
This time as it came for her, she kicked out, her foot colliding with the tip of one of its noses, which caused it to thrash the left head, hitting into her side hard and sending her even deeper. It was playing with her, almost mocking her as she struggled helplessly.
She was losing whatever air she had left fast, her insides were burning, and she could feel her brain becoming hazy as her strength grew weaker. She couldn't even see which way was up anymore and even if she could… her muscles seemed to have seized up on her and she couldn't move.
Everything was growing darker around her as water was flooding her mouth, only causing her to feel as if she were falling backwards into space.
She couldn't believe that this was how it ended…? Getting eaten by a giant water snake like this thing? She screwed up her eyes, not wanting to see any more of this nightmare.
That was when she felt someone grab hold of her hand and then gave her a hard yank in a random direction until she felt herself moving. She couldn't tell though who it was who was pulling her—just that she felt her vision growing dark…?
But just as she thought it was the end, her head suddenly broke up through the surface and she instinctively sucked in a gasp of fresh air. She coughed and breathed in deeply as if she never had air before in her life, spluttering even as the sound of waves crashed about her and she was shivering in the cold. As she tried to move her shaking arms, she realized that someone was holding her up and her head instantly turned to see who was there—expecting her father or a familiar face…?
Instead, the woman she saw before at the water's edge was there with her, one hand wrapped around her waist while the other held onto the sword, holding it up as if in warning to some other threat.
Alisaie spit up the water from her lungs and wheezed, her eyes staring about wildly as the cold air hit her face and water drained from her nose. Before she could choke out another word, she heard a rumbling in the water and suddenly she was pulled back sharply by the woman before the enormous water monster rose its twin heads out to glare at them.
Alisaie clung on tightly as the sea monster roared, bolting straight for them and the woman shouted out a mumble of words. At least, Alisaie could only assume that what they were because the roars were echoing in her ears. In whatever the case, she did see the woman's mouth move and from the gleaming sword, it shone brightly as if light radiated out from it and a blast of energy left the blade to strike the beast hard in one of its faces.
It shrieked out in pain, falling backwards as the two heads twisted together and splashed into the water before its tail came up, flashed about in the air before crashing down and disappearing below as they tried to avoid going under once again. Alisaie clung to her savior tightly as the water returned almost unnaturally smooth, save for the ripples that the two of them were making. She breathed in hard, her lungs working hard to try and fill with air, but it just wasn't enough for she was expecting that thing to return at any second.
"Are you alright?" the woman asked after a few tense seconds—also clearly wondering if their 'guest' would return. In fact, she seemed almost disappointed that it gave up that easily, but Alisaie brushed that off as she looked up at the woman's deep green eyes, one arm still holding her up and close.
"Y-Yes," Alisaie stuttered, feeling some of her fear fade but none of the shock from before. "W-What was that thing?"
"Good question," the girl-knight said as she finally lowered her sword arm and tucked it, where Alisaie could only assume was at her side, before letting out a breath of relief.
"Is it… dead? Did you kill it?" Alisaie asked instead when the woman didn't elaborate.
"Oh, I wasn't able to actually hurt it. That wound more likely stung than did any real damage," the woman answered as she looked up to the spot where the lake monster had once been. "The fact that it thrashed its tail about at us like that proves it."
"What do you mean…?" Alisaie wondered, not getting it at first, at least until she was able to put it all together. Alisaie then demanded in outrage, her face now all but aglow with red as it all sunk in, "You mean… that thing… was flipping us off?"
"I suppose you could say that," the girl-knight answered back. "But it seems to have given up for now."
"I had it handled," Alisaie muttered stubbornly, still outraged by the idea that thing had all but openly mocked her, even though she already had the feeling that it was doing that from the beginning.
"Sure. But first, let us leave before something else appears," the woman said as she began to swim backwards with one hand, the other still holding tightly onto Alisaie. "There is a house not too far off where a friend of mine lives. We can return there for the night."
"Wait! My family!" Alisaie began, remembering those frog-things earlier as well as the giant sea monster. She paused there though, realizing how dangerous this lake was and decided that now wasn't the time to argue, and she just nodded. Normally, she would insist on swimming herself, but she was so tired that she just clung onto her savior as she was pulled more towards shore.
"Focus on now," she countered. "But rest assure that your family is still at the entrance."
Alisaie sighed in relief, finally allowing herself to start to release all that pent up shock. She was already halfway through thinking that she was either tripping on some kind of acid or having a crazily realistic dream. Being dragged into a puddle? Attacked by those strange frog-people? A giant lake monster with two heads? And a pink-haired warrior? She had to give her brain credit for coming up with all this.
She was even smiling a little at the thought until her eyes finally spotted the glittering castle up on the ledge of the cliff that overlooked the lake. She was sure of it… while the cliff was exactly like how it was when she saw it before, the only difference now was that a beautiful castle that looked to be made of white marble and stained glass, causing reflections of multicolor specks from the feeble white glow from overhead. While attached near the top of the tallest spire seemed to be butterfly wings woven of pure light, casting tiny rainbows even in the darkness.
"That palace…?" she gasped, panting hard and staring up at it. "How… where did that come from?"
"It's always been here," the warrior told her, tugging Alisaie back to the task at hand and pushed them forward.
"What do you mean it was always there?" Alisaie demanded but the warrior didn't answer that time.
This didn't help answer anything but Alisaie did what she was bid as land came closer. She then took this chance to really get a good look at this girl-knight. She couldn't have been older than her twenties, with a soft face but hard-looking eyes. All the while her long hair, that was an unusual shade of light pink, dripped over on one side and stuck there due to the water, which gave her a kind of half-drowned appearance.
But there was no mistaking it.
"You were from before?" she pointed out, feeling dumb that she couldn't think of another thing to say at this point. "We met before and you told me to leave…?"
"Yes, you sure didn't listen to me, did you?" the woman replied with a faint smile tugging at her mouth. The sight was enough to cause Alisaie to glower.
"I tried," she answered back with a hiss. "But something was wrong and I couldn't find my way through a layer of mist."
"Yeah, that would have been the pixies confusing you," the knight answered back. "I should have told them to leave you alone but you took care of that when you hit one of them."
"Pixies?" Alisaie repeated with her eyebrows raised. "This isn't some fairy tale!"
"Did you not get attacked by a giant, two-headed water demon?" the knight asked and that shut her up instantly as if someone had choked her. Still, it wasn't like she could counter that and stayed quiet the rest of the way until she felt solid ground beneath her again. Alisaie collapsed, her legs no longer able to hold her up as she rolled in the mud, no longer caring how filthy she got now.
That was when she heard a slight giggling sound next to her and she let out a slight cry of fear and rolled even as she was plastered with more mud. Directly above her was what she could only describe as the faintest outline of a person. The figure was about the size of a large cat and was as green as spring leaves with dragonfly-like wings of various shades of pink and reds, while it gazed down at her with large, dark eyes.
"That's for hitting me earlier!" the creature snapped at her before fluttering away across the water and towards where more of the little creatures had suddenly come out. Alisaie stared as the tiny figures weaved and danced in the air, racing across the lake in little boats of leaves and water lilies, giggling and laughing all the way while those horrible frog-people were back and sticking their heads out curiously as to watch.
She covered her face with shaking hands and let out a long exhale, trying to stay in control of her emotions. What was this? Why wasn't she waking up from this madness already? She felt like she had taken a tumble down the rabbit hole and into a world of pure bizarreness. It was safe to say that was completely and utterly lost now; stuck in some kind of weird fantasy realm and her family was still missing
"What's going on?" she asked. "What's happening?"
"There's not much we can do now," the woman said, having just rung the excess water from her sash and shook out her hair. "I'll try and get you out of here if still possible, but out here in the open isn't safe for you."
"Why isn't it saf—wait! What do you mean by 'if'?!" Alisaie demanded but the knight grabbed her hand and pulled her up, heaving her with surprising strength to her feet.
"We need to move," she said, not answering her questions. "I have a friend here. Come."
Alisaie, with nothing to lose at this point, realized that sticking with this… whatever she was… was her best option. She didn't speak as she let her lead the way up the slope and turned down a dirt road along the lake, gaining a perfect view of the castle under the ethereal moonlight. Alisaie was still feeling dizzy and light-headed, as if she had smacked her head against something hard earlier, perhaps that would explain part of what was going on here, but she tightened her grip around the woman's hand until they left the crazy behind her.
She shivered, soaked through and dripping cold water all about her, and felt her teeth chattering together. Apparently, it was audible though, for her savior turned back, not looking the least bit bothered by the wind or cold herself, and said with a soft tone, "We will get you warmed up when we arrive. Urianger is a surprisingly good host."
"Uri—?" Alisaie began before shaking her head. No, she figured that if it was important, then she would find out soon.
After several minutes of walking, the world around her was completely dark as the silver light hid behind a cloud, with the wind rustling the long grasses, carrying the scent of flowers and what she guessed to be something herbal. That was when she spotted the faint glow in the distance, as if there was a fire up ahead. The idea was so welcoming to her that she sped up, almost running at this point until the clouds shifted to reveal the faint outline of a house—larger than the worn-down ones that she saw before. They approached closer and she could see that the warm glow came from the windows and assumed that this was their destination.
The woman, whose name she still didn't know, walked straight up to the house and knocked by rapping her armored fingers against the thick wood. A minute later, the door opened and a man stood there—dressed in all sweeping, black robes, decorated with delicate-looking, silver chains and ornaments. Alisaie looked up into his face, and saw that he was slightly cross-eyed, as if he had just been reading—something that happened to her brother when he read for a long period of time. But he looked kind-natured with light brown hair and grey eyes, which blinked in mild surprise to see them there.
"My friend," he said in a deep, and somewhat solemn voice. "Tis been too long. Has thou come to enjoy this fine night?"
"Urianger, tis good to see you, my friend," the woman replied. Alisaie couldn't see her face from this angle but there was a fondness in her tone. "And no, I'm afraid not. Would it be alright for us to warm ourselves up?"
"Us…?" he repeated before he turned his head and Alisaie watched how his eyes widening slightly at the sight of her shivering behind the knight. Without another word, he stepped back, bowing as they passed before offering them something warm to drink and some clothes to change into.
"That would be welcomed," the knight said before stepping to the side and introduced the man to Alisaie by saying, "This is Urianger. He's a scholar who is here studying the Fae and some of their magicks."
"Really?" Alisaie asked as she arched an eyebrow. "And how's that going for you?"
"Ah, to study such creatures is truly a pleasure and a privilege," he said with his eyes rolling about in his head. "Nary a day doth pass am I challenging the tricky nature of the Fae. Though I am nevertheless…?"
"In other words, not so well," the knight answered, cutting him off and he glowered at her for a second before clearing his throat.
"Mayhap," he said with an air of forced dignity, "But rest assure that my skills have improved greatly since last we spoke, my friend. Know that should thou require aid, I shall ever be at the ready."
The woman just smiled at that as she set down her weapon upon a nearby chair and Alisaie was allowed the chance to properly look around even as the other two talked. It was a decently sized room that reminded her of a typical bachelor-type style. It was cluttered with all manner of things scattered about, as if their owner didn't care where they were put so long as they weren't in the way. There were some clothes that were piled high in the corner while books, dozens if not around a hundred of them, were stacked upon what looked like every available table-space. There were papers that were scattered about in a kind of organized mess, while all manner of notes and dried herbs hung from the walls and ceiling. It reminded her slightly of her grandfather's house and just the sight was enough to make her feel a little better about where she was.
She had a feeling that grandfather and this Urianger would have gotten along very well.
At that moment, she let out a tiny sneeze and she hugged herself in a bid to try and stay warm. Upon hearing the sneeze, though, Urianger was at her side, asking if she wanted some tea while reassuring her that there were some spare clothes and blankets they could use.
"Thank you for all this," Alisaie said, holding up a hand. "But I just want to go. I'm sure that my parents are worried sick about me. Especially my father. He's so over protective… he's probably losing his mind right now. So can't you just led me back to the entrance? Let me borrow your phones…?"
At the question, she instinctively reached into her pocket for her own… before remembering her phone was still in the car. Yet the question just seemed to confuse the other two for they were looking at her as if she had just asked if she could sacrifice a goat.
"A… phone?" the knight repeated slowly, clearly not understanding and this time it was Alisaie who was confused.
"I mean, how else are you able to communicate with others from far away?"
"We have linkpearls for that," the girl-knight answered back.
Was she speaking another language? Just what the heck was happening to her? What was a linkpearl? She shook her head before repeating if they could just show her the quickest way out of the valley. She explained that she had enough adventure for one day and just wanted to go home, promising to leave if they could just point her to the exit.
"I wish I could. But that's not possible now," the woman said and Alisaie felt her anger rise.
"What are you talking about? Where's my family? I have to find them! They could be in danger too!" she shouted out, looking from her to Urianger, desperate for answers.
"Thy family?" Urianger repeated in surprised, "I did thus sense that the Fauth were active this eve, and bring a mortal here with them, but only one doth I sensed. I did not sense the arrival of any others."
"Mortal? Whatever, look, my parents and my brother are out there!" she cried out, her tone verging on desperation as she begged, "Where are they? What's happening to them?"
"I did see your family back at the entrance to the valley," the woman answered back softly. "They weren't pulled into the water like you were. It was your father who begged me to find you."
Well, that was something. She was silently hoping that they made it back to the car, or at least avoided being attacked by any giant, rude serpents. That was when she finally gazed back down to realize that her hands were still holding onto tightly to the woman's own and she quickly let go, her ears burning.
The woman didn't seem to mind this though for she turned to Urianger and requested, "Give her some dry clothes and some food. I will go out and see if I can still reach her family."
"No! You aren't going without me!" Alisaie demanded, mentally focusing on just warming up in the car as soon as she got back to them. But the woman only shook her head.
"You don't know your way around here," she responded firmly. "It will be faster if I go on ahead. I will speak with your family and see what I can do to get you back to them as soon as possible. But you won't be doing anyone any good if you catch yourself sick on top of everything else."
Alisaie glared at her, but she felt a gentle hand upon her shoulder and she looked up to see Urianger's kind face looking back down at her.
"Come, child," he reassured her before holding out a blanket for her, which she reluctantly accepted before he guided her to a nearby chair. "Thou had been through a terrible ordeal and will feel better once hunger has been driven away and warmth fills your soul."
Alisaie rolled her eyes, mentally wondering what renaissance faire they found this guy at, but she threw herself into a chair, where the table was also crowded with more books. He quickly moved them off to the side, clearing up a little bit of space, before she noticed a small teapot and several cups having been shoved around the clutter.
She huffed until she saw how he waved his hand over the teapot—which suddenly began to steam, causing her to stare. Urianger waved his hand once more and suddenly rose a few inches off the table and began to automatically pour itself into a cup. Alisaie's jaw dropped open once again, holding out her hands as he offered the cup to her.
"How did…? How did you do that?" she whispered in a hushed tone.
"Tis simple heating and levitation spells," he answered. "Such spells are common in these parts."
"These parts? You make it sound like we're in a fantasy all of a sudden? Just where am I?" she asked, all of it setting in for her that she wasn't in Kansas anymore.
"You are a mortal, who hath accidently strayed into the realm of fantasy," he answered back, "The Otherworld… Spirit World… Realm of the Fae…? This place is known to many by many different names. But its true name is…?"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a minute. The Spirit World?! What the hells are you talking about? Just who are you anyway?" Alisaie gasped out, now sure that she heard wrong and even gave her head a few taps to make sure that the water trapped in her ears wasn't messing with her hearing somehow. She looked to the girl-knight and added, "Or you for that matter? Are you some kind of girl-knight? What's with the outfit?"
"She goes by many titles," Urianger answered, "In these parts, I believe the Fae call thee Tyr Ul?"
"Also Tyr Sigun," she answered, which, once again, didn't answer Alisaie's question at all. "Warrior of Darkness… Warrior of Light."
"Ok, so we're going by titles then? I'm Alisaie: daughter of the Leveilleur family! And queen of the royally pissed off!" Alisaie answered sarcastically. "Just give me a straight answer for once and tell me where I am!"
"As thy wishes," Urianger said as he stood up and sank into a graceful bow before finishing, "Welcome to Etheryis, young one."
(So the madness continues. Sorry for the long wait for this one. But I've recently been trying my hand at trying to write my own original story. Turns out that it is a LOT harder than writing fanfiction so I decided that I needed a bit more direction and advice so I've been taking an online writing course. Also, sadly, I found out that my favorite cousin had died in a bad car accidently not long ago, it was completely unexpected and it took me a few days before it fully sank in for me. I'm doing better now and needed something to keep me busy.)