The Kingdoms of the Mountain Valley

Chapter 5: Living Myths

Chapter 5

The pain was intense. Her shoulder burned hot, her wing won’t move. Falling, falling. I CAN”T BREATHE, Her mind screamed! Why can’t I breathe! Where’s Warwick? Why isn’t he here? He’s always here, always the protector, always the friend. Now, he’s gone. Why? It’s so black, the pain so intense. So intense.

Alexia shot awake and sat up but quickly fainted due to the rush of blood. It was only a short time before she stirred again, slowly this time. Alexia’s eyes sluggishly open. The world was a complete blur to her but everything seemed too big for her. Beneath her was softness, above her was warmth so warm.

Her eyes started to focus, and it became clear that everything didn’t seem too big for her, everything was big. No, not big, enormous. Alexia looks across the expanse that she was laying on. It looks like a bed, but a bed so large that it could be only for a giant. She tried to sit up but something was weighing her down, something on her face. She feels it to find that its texture was odd. It felt hard, but yet soft at the same time. She finds that it’s stuck to her face, just under her nose by some kind of bonding strip. She pulls it off and removes the...vine? It was shaped like a vine, but clear and hollow inside. She saw that there was a small cut in the clear vine thing just where her nose would have been, and from the cut air blew out. She sniffs the blowing air, but doesn’t smell anything.

Strange, she thinks as she tosses it to the side. The movement suddenly caused pain to shoot through her left arm. She looks down to see that her arm is wrapped in a hard, white covering. She didn’t know what it was but she knew that her arm was broken and this thing was protecting it. She removed the sheet that was covering her to reveal that she was wearing a pink robe unlike any she’s seen before, but what alarmed her were multicolored vine coming out of the robe. She flung open the robe to see that the vines were attached to a rectangular piece that was stuck to her with the same type sticky cloth that had held the clear vine to her nose. Her eyes followed the multicolored vines across the bed then up to a strange large box that had weird, glowing symbols and a line that seemed to jump up and down making an annoying beeping sound.

Magic! She thought, I have to get out of here!

She grabs the vines and pulls them off with a quick jerk.

BEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

The strange box lets out an ear piercing cry. Across the room the enormous door bursts open and a giant with shaggy hair erupts in. Alexia looks around trying to find her sword but it’s nowhere to be found. Alexia wanted to fly but she can tell the wrapping that holds the casing on her arms wraps around her elytra. She looks around on the verge of panic. The giant must have seen this as he hold up his hands and with a gentle voice said.

“Easy. Easy. No one’s going to hurt you.”

“Where am I!?” Alexia yells.

The giant was visibly shaken, confused, “How..?”

“WHERE?!” Alexia yells again. Somewhere in her mind she knew that her yelling must seem small and insignificant to this giant, but it helped her feel like she was in some control of this insane situation.

The giant reaches over to the box and somehow stops the irritating sound “You’re in my office,” the giant said, “You were badly injured. I had to bring you here or you would have died.”

“Who and what are you? What was wrong with me and what did you do?” Alexia demanded.

“My name is Ryan Bell, I’m a doctor.” The giant said, “You had multiple contusion and cuts, a displaced fracture of your left arm and a concussion as I feared, luckily there was no swelling or internal bleeding that I could tell, but I did find this sticking out of you.”