I had no idea what I was doing. I wanted to get home. But at the same time, I craved this adventure. After all, it was the journey that counted more than the destination.
So, when navigating through foreign land without a sense of direction, keeping myself in a state of awe seemed to work as a wall to prevent the need for survival. The spunky attitude of mine held a sense of adventure instead of finding ways to survive through the day.
Keeping my mind off the uneasiness, I thought of how the forest was quite a hospitable host, letting me roam free like the wind.
I was never fond of waiting for Prince Charming to rescue me like a princess in a tower, so of course, I wandered on my own. It was better to seek help myself than to wait. Although being patient and waiting was pleasant, you could never achieve anything without doing something. (Which concluded why I always enter Maggie's house through the open window instead.)
I scoped out for an easy access out of the forest, which honestly was not easy at all. And I just kept walking straight. East, because that was where the sun was. At least I thought. But then I remembered, this wasn't Earth. And the star probably wasn't the Sun. So was I even walking East? Oh, what did that matter anyway? I didn't even know where I was going.
After maybe twenty minutes or so, my feet had brought me towards the outskirts of the well-natured forest. I had known I reached the end when the overgrown trees had stopped appearing on my trail.
A narrow cobblestone path began at the outskirts, leading outwards from the forest into what I believed was a small village. I stepped onto the path and continued on with it, letting the path decide where I would land.
When the sight of trees had disappeared, I looked up at the cerulean sky which was clear from clouds of gloom, and the path was now surrounded by fields of flowers.
The little path continued on and up a hill, and once I had climbed above the hill, a miraculous sight had caught my eyes.
An exciting village sat upon the hill with various sounds of music dancing in the air. It brought a grin to my face to know that this world had a peaceful yet lively village resting on its surface.
I knew that a place like this would never exist back home, knowing that Earth had long-awaited peace. But the balance of good and bad and right and wrong was necessary.
The village seemed to be right on the coast of a large body of water with mountains behind it, enlightening the scene with an astonishing waterfall. I had never seen such a landscape with wonders deterring the village from other inimical activities.
The upbeat music and fortuitous village had enthralled me, and so I made it my first destination in this world.
When I had finally brought myself into the village, I walked along the path with open eyes that observed every confounding movement. The size of the village didn't appear too overwhelming or underwhelming. It was "just right" as Goldilocks would put it. Yet, the buildings' unique architectural structures was a distinct story itself. They gave off a cozy feel that made me feel like I was walking the streets of a fantasy book. The quadrilateral shape of the majority of the buildings reminded me of the shops in Diagon Alley from Harry Potter. The color schemes of the old and fragmented buildings with overgrown vines reminded me of cities from Ancient Greece and Rome. Despite the festered and oddly structured buildings, the village seemed to thrive on its own.
The main attraction for me was the village's residents. In my own foreign eyes, these people were not ordinary. The physical features that they possessed were like ones of animals with ears on their heads and tails on their rears. My mind did not want to process the fact that these half animal people had exceptional features that in my world were only acquired via special effects like in movies. Were they even human?
It was possible, but to my Earthly eyes, they were not of the human species. They were alien, or maybe I was the alien.
In my opinion, this was kind of cool and creepy. For goodness sake, I was standing in a village of furry people. And yet there were also the ordinary looking humans. The ones whose figures were complementary to mine.
At least I knew I wasn't completely the odd one out. The wonder of this world had just taken me by surprise.
I approached what had looked like the merchant area of the village. Wooden food stands were set up line by line and closely across from each other. It was almost like the outdoor market areas like in some parts of Asia back home.
I strolled by with customers searching for the material or food to consume while merchants from every corner were chanting and promoting their products.
A fruit stand stood proudly in the middle of other food stands with the owner waving a foreign fruit in his hand. I picked up the pace and grinned at the man with a piece of fruit in his hand. Large signs were hammered to the stand, so I leaned over to read them. I muttered the words that were carved into the wooden sign, "One appalorsh for the price of two coilicie each."
Like the language that the people spoke, the sign was also written in English, so I was able to read it with no equivocations. I would suspect that on a different planet, the language spoken would be different, but that was not the case. The words "appalorsh" and "coilicie" were quite strange, but I had some context of the sign to decipher what those items were. I came to the conclusion that an appalorsh was the strange fruit the merchant was holding. It was shaped like a peach with a hard outer skin like an apple. The fruit was strangely a lilac color with a beige stem peeping from the top. And for the other word on the sign, I just had to substitute it with the word "dollar" to verify that it was the currency of this world.
I picked one up and reached for the pouch attached to my belt so I could pay the man. He nodded as I handed over the coins. I gave a small wave and continued my jaunt around the village.
<>*<>
It only felt like minutes had passed, but the sky told me otherwise. The glowing star had made its way to the center of the sky, unlike the last time I checked when it was just rising ahead of me. This was when I realized that there was no way to survive in a place like this without anything but a pouch of coins and a conspicuous dress. My sense of adventure had already diminished and all I wanted to do was return home so I could collapse onto my alluring bed. But I had no idea where I was or what I was doing. Worst of all, I didn't know how to get back home.
I was lucky that my legs were able to endure hours of walking and that I didn't feel like toppling over - four years of high school marching band had really paid off.
I decided that if I continued to stroll and stall, I would eventually perceive something that would be valuable for finding my way back home. There wasn't much for me to lose as well, so walking without a sense of direction seemed like a reasonable action.
The towering mountains of the village seemed like a decent view to uphold and stalk towards. Two mountains stood next to each other with a small opening in the middle that housed a drawn-out wooden bridge that connected to the village. The mountains each had a narrow waterfall that started near the tip which brought life to them.
I didn't realize that my feet picked up a brisk pace until I rushed into a figure, sending me to stumble back awkwardly. My eyes wandered to the figure that had rushed into me, who was simultaneously taking hefty and noticeable breaths.
"Crap! I'm sorry!" I apologized immediately to who appeared to be a girl my age.
I took a glance at her outfit then felt like my eyes were going to pop out of my head. She wore a sparkly baby blue dress that had a white toga wrapped around from her shoulder to her waist. But the dress and toga seemed to be stained and worn out.
"No, it's not your fault! I'm the one who should be sorry," her cobalt eyes gleamed as she tucked a baby hair behind her ears. Her hair was quite captivating as it was an ombre from sky blue to sea green. I didn't know that this world with what seemed to have little technology was able to conjure the thought of hair dye. Though, the thought didn't seem too out of reach. "Since I was the one who was running."
I nodded, acknowledging her but my eyes caught how distressed she looked. I didn't realize that she was barefoot and that she carried her sparkly heels in her hands. Her knees were bruised and minor scratches ran up her arms and legs.
Her face seemed to be unharmed yet there was what looked like ash almost covering her.
I opened my mouth to ask if she was okay or in need of aid, but before I could do anything, she began to sprint across the bridge and towards the opposite of where I was facing.
I turned to her but as I was turning, I noticed a sign that was on the bridge that I must've missed before. It read, "Now Leaving the Village of Threa"
How could I have not noticed that this girl was entering the village and that I was leaving?
It didn't seem shrewd for me to exit the village after witnessing a girl who looked all bruised up. Who knew what dangers lay ahead beyond the village?
The girl didn't seem to had run off far as she was still sprinting away in sight. I picked up my pace and followed her, interested in where she could possibly be going and how she got her wounds.
"Wait!" I called out to her, as she weaved through a crowd of busy customers in the market area.
She kept sprinting like she was running away from something, but what?
Nothing in sight seemed menacing, so I didn't know what she was running from. Plus, how could she run so fast barefoot, nevertheless injured? She might as well enter the Olympics with those pair of feet.
The agile yet distressed girl came to a stop in front of an immense structure that resembled an ancient, fancy, and elegant almshouse - a hospital from the medieval ages back on Earth. It did make a lot of sense that this girl would stop here, especially with her wounds that clearly needed to be treated.
The building didn't seem very ordinary like almshouses would look like - unpretentious, run-down, and creepy - it was like it belonged to a wealthy city that had time to spend money on every building it possessed. It's cobble walls were white with no sign of grime, which was appealing to the eye.
"You followed me," the girl stated bluntly.
I blinked then spoke up, "I'm sorry. You caught my attention, I was just curious."
"Why?"
"It was out of the ordinary. Some random girl is all hurt and starts running away," I replied sincerely. She didn't respond but continued to examine me. I bit my lip and stared back at the strange girl. I was uncomfortable with how she looked at me. It was odd like she was trying to shuffle through my mind. "Hey, are you okay?"
She shook her head like she was shaking away a thought. "I'm fine. You just seem a bit... weird to me."
"Huh?" I was the weird one. "If anything, you seem a bit strange yourself."
She turned towards the wooden door of the almshouse and placed her hand on the doorknob, cringing when it squeaked as she opened it.
She stepped inside, and I followed, wanting to know more about her situation. It was like my original objectives had vanished and all I could focus on was figuring out this peculiar girl.
She began to walk a bit faster knowing that I was behind her, although she didn't shoo me away.
A desk sat in the middle of the simple building with a woman who wore a red toga with a golden trim sitting at it. She glanced up at us then spoke with a hoarse voice, "welcome to the Threa's Grand Clinic. How may we treat you?"
"I just need to treat my injuries," the girl clarified.
"Do you have an appointment?"
"No."
The front desk lady rolled her eyes and picked up a pen from her desk. "You can schedule an appointment but we have no available spots open for today."
"That's fine. Any open for tomorrow?"
"Yes, at nine in the morning. Would you like me to schedule one?"
The girl nodded and the woman scribbled something on a notepad before speaking again, "okay, and what is your name, ma'am?"
"Khaleesi Jane," she answered with pride evident in her voice. "K-H-A-L-E-E-S-I is how you spell that."
"Alright. Thank you for choosing Threa's Grand Clinic."
<>*<>
"So, are you done following me?" Khaleesi asked as we positioned ourselves outside of the almshouse.
I shrugged. "I don't know. I just have nothing else to do."
"You called me a bit strange earlier." Her eyes focused like she was an interrogator in a crime scene. "You seem a bit odd yourself, don't you?"
"Alright." I put my hands in the air as if to surrender. "You got me. If I tell you why I came here, will you tell why you came here?"
"Depends."
Not the answer I wanted, but it will do. "Okay, well, what if I said that I'm just a girl who stumbled upon a village to seek adventure?"
"Not convincing enough."
She was definitely a meticulous girl. She knew exactly what she wanted.
I sighed. "Well, that's the truth. I have nothing else to say."
I leaned against the cobble wall with my arms crossed and my foot kicked up behind.
She examined my face one more time before she spoke. "If that's all I'll get from you, then I guess that's alright. You don't seem harmful."
"You calling me a baby?"
"No. I just can tell that I can trust you." She mumbled a small "maybe" under her breath.
"Okay, your turn," I said.
"I can't tell you now."
I looked at her trying to force all the disappointment into my expression. "What the heck!"
"Well, I can't tell you here. We have to at least go somewhere else. Come with me."
She motioned me to follow her, so I did, trying not to trail too far behind.
We paced by the already familiar markets and into a part of the village that I had not yet strolled upon.
Rows of Victorian houses lined up one by one, each overlooking the flowing source of water that supported the village. It was breathtaking, the sight of these lavish houses. Yet, by now I should feel like everything was bound to be a surprise.
"Where are we heading, exactly?" I queried.
"My family's vacation home," she answered. "It's vacant at the moment, so you shouldn't have to worry."
"I shouldn't seem like I need to be worried. Should I?"
"My family is quite loud and obnoxious."
I grinned at her reassuringly, thinking back at my younger twin siblings, Maggie, and Griffin. "Mine is too."
We stopped in front of a house that didn't seem too distinct from the rest of the houses. The arrangement of all the houses was similar and just varied in the different shades of grays, browns, and blacks.
"Hey, before we go in, I think it would be smart if I told you my name. I kind of forgot that detail," I said. The fact that I almost walked in the house of a girl that didn't even know my name seemed a bit strange. Then again, there were a lot of strange things that I encountered today.
"It's Rinyu, by the way." I stuck out my hand and she reached to shake it. "Rinyu Hail."
"Khaleesi Jane. It is a pleasure being acquainted with you."
"Same goes for me."