𝐀𝐦𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐚.

ii.

warm morning light gleamed through a cracked window, falling onto Victorias face. She moaned as she turned in her sleep, blinking the light out of her eyes. She sat up, rubbing the sleep away as she yawned. Her eyes roamed the room.

She wasn't familiar with the space. As her drowsiness wore away she scanned the room. She was laid in a large white and silver bed riddled with dust and plants, in a room with high walls and a painted ceiling full of angels and clouds. the large windows on the walls has cracks and missing pieces, fresh air blowing in, causing the sheer drapes to sway. Victoria looked ahead of herself, looking at herself in a cracked vanity mirror. Vines had crept into the room through the ceiling, flowers blooming from the cracks in the floor.

Victoria was uneasy, she was in a strange place, almost like a different world. A blue butterfly landed on her knee. She smiled and placed her index finger next to it, allowing it to crawl onto her finger. she rose her finger up and looked at it.

"Are you lost too?"

She sighed. The butterfly flew onto her shoulder, causing Victoria to raise and brow as she turned her head to glance at it. "Care to join me? Maybe we'll find a prince," Victoria joked as she slowly slipped out of the bed. "Probably our end, though it does not seem so bad, hm?"

Victoria slowly opened the door of the room, stepping out of the room. "Do you know who put me in here?" She asked the butterfly.

Victoria had heard stories of the forgotten language of magic, the looked down upon world. Though they were told as fairy tails, her father believed them. Maybe he wasn't crazy?

The young woman took quiet steps down the stairs and down a hall, finding herself in a large glass room full of flowers.

Her eyes searched as she walked through the room. "Do you know a way out?" The butterfly only rested on her shoulder, quietly.

Victoria sighed, turning out of the room and down a hall. She wondered if she could return home, though she was doubtful. She doubted there would be another chance at freedom. Victorias heels clicked against the marble as she walked, wondering if last night was all a dream.

She found the hall of paintings and quickened her pace, finally finding a way out if need be. As she walked through the hall she slowed her pace as she looked back at the portrait of Dimitri. She stood and stared for a moment before shaking her head and turning away, walking towards the two large doors of the castle.

She pulled them open, musty air hitting her in the face from the thunderstorm the night before.

A bushel of strawberries grew in the garden ahead of her, her eyes lighting up as she quickly hopped down the stairs and towards the bush. Grabbing a handful of strawberries, Victoria sat on the broken concrete walkway and ate them happily, sighing at the unusual silence.

"Mind if I stay here for a little?" Victoria asked the butterfly. She grinned as she laid back, looking up at the now blue sky.

-

As the sun began to set, turning the sky shades of peach and yellow, Victoria had found a few candles as she roamed the castle. Victoria had pulled one of the blankets off of the bed she woke up in and brought it down to the library she had discovered. She piled a few books on a table that sat beside a reading chair. she smiled, finding comfort in the silence and isolation she had never been given the privilege of before.

The sunset cast a pink light into the library, setting a soft mood. As Victoria curled up into the chair with a book open on her lap, faint music began in the distance.

Victoria slowly looked up, furrowing her brows. Was it not a dream?

She placed the book on the table as she stood up, leaning forward as she walked.

"Will you faint again?"

Victoria snapped around, eyes wide as she stumbles back.

A young man quickly walks forward, holding his hands out with a guiltless expression. "Please! I won't harm you!"

Victoria peered at the man, stepping back as she made the connection. He was the man in the portrait, Dimitri.

"Who are you?" Victoria stammered, her hands pressing back against the wall.

"My names Dimitri, Dimitri Belevu. Oh, and you?"

"Victoria.. Slaynly," she said slowly.

"Victoria, may I ask you something?" Dimitri asked almost pleading, his arms wrapped around himself.

Victoria only nodded slowly.

"How am I alive?"