Chapter 1
Savine, Aslaryn , August 27th, 2014
The rivers of yearning in the girl’s heart ran dry with her misery. In her dream, she saw a nestling of blue down feathers in an abyss tumbling through the weight of gravity. A crow of endless nights and fallen hope shrieked, soaring with the wind. It’s beady eyes held a melancholy made from a tragic childhood.
Through her heavy eyelids, she saw LED lights just above her, she saw the stark and blank ice-white walls. The cold, sterile room. Her crusty eyes felt the undoubtedly harsh icy AC. When she opened her eyes, the room had walls of dark rosewood and a mahogany desk stood a few feet away from her bed.
The curtains of her window were rippling violently, the draft mocking as it gripped her body in a cold, careless caress.
Panic rose in her throat, threatening to choke her. Fear gripped her heart, squeezing each heartbeat as her pulse increased. Her limbs were throbbing, stiff with pain. Even moving a bit would send a shock of pain down her spine.
Her maid pressed the button on her wooden bed, raising it so the girl was sitting. A tall man with a shadow over his face stared back at her from above. His eyes were bloodshot, deranged with a strange madness from devastation so palpable that she flinched; her body trembled from the pain that ricocheted through her bones contracting her muscles. She squeezed her eyes shut suppressing a scream. The man turned, his military boot heels clacking.
Water was handed to her and she quickly gulped it down as the straw was brought to her mouth.
The girl had only just woken, but she knew it was the hospital- although it wasn’t an ordinary one. She let out a hoarse wail as her maid rubbed her back. A sob twisted its way out of her vocal cords. She gripped her chemise with her small nails digging into the fabric right above her tiny heart.
***
June 4th, 2020
Define Insomnia: Persistent problems falling and staying asleep.
The horrid dreams always kept Bella awake, unable to sleep. Terrorizing her with the thought of waking up every night in the dark. Alone. The merging of the dimensions shook Aslaryn to its very core. There were reports of strange large vehicles and animals roaming Aslaryn. Many roads cracked with earthquakes and tsunamis crashed into each other as they entered the other dimension.
The darkness of the room, the clacking of keyboards just outside her room, the carts rolling by, her heart monitor. The routine noises culminated in her head in a dizzying rush. Bella slipped out of bed, quietly. She put on her riding habit over her chemise and split drawers: her corset, trousers, her blouse, a riding coat, and a pair of boots. Before leaving, she remembered to slip off the clip connecting her to a heart monitor. Bella opened the door to a suddenly quiet hallway.
The hallway’s warm lighting did nothing to soothe her. Shuffling so that her boots wouldn’t make a sound, she made her way down the hallways. Signs of various departments were lit: E.R, Neurology... Like always, the ghost of the Spirit wandered as his eyes were shut. He sleep-walked at night when he was alive. The girl shuddered as his frigid essence washed over her and through her back.
The human clerk was sleeping peacefully as she flowed past her. A snore made Bella stop. She glanced at the sleeping figure. The human shifted and settled back into her crossed arms on the wooden table. The light flared and flickered just above her.
Outside, it was still night and the breeze rustled her coat slightly. She saddled Star and entered the dusty horse ring. Another rider, a tall boy passed the girl as he went the opposite way. A whiff of his faint cologne: earth, forest, and citrus passed under her nose. Looking back, nothing was there but a puff of dust from the ring. The hospital was dull against the first rays of light. The lighting caught on the edge of the building slowly creeping towards her window. Star snuffed and nickered in urgency, Ride. She drew the reins to her side, whipping it against the air to get Star into a trot and then transitioning into a canter.
Bella’s breath came shakily. She gulped, her nose started to tingle, emotion overwhelmed her mind. Sorrow rushed to the crevices of her heart.
She dug her heels and urged Star forward. Bella let the wind blow over and whip her hair away from her face. The flowers along the road served as a welcoming treat to her eyes. The hydrangeas had grown in clusters of sunrise blue and pink. She cheered and laughed. The blurring scene around her made her heart jump and bounce. Leading Star to the fields, the splendid view beyond the cliff was enough to calm nerves. Just for a bit. She let Star go, to her delight, to explore and graze.
Again, the scent of faint citrus drifted towards her. Bella turned, only the dull shadow of the hospital building faced her. Turning back to face the cliff view, she flinched as she caught a glimpse of light. “Oh my goddess!” Bella yelped. The words Bella said would have horrified any governess, riding was already enough to make her governess feel faint. “Riding that monstrosity is a vulgar activity for a lady such as you.” she would say her glasses on the edge of her aristocratic nose, looking down at the girl, analytically.
She drew a dagger, which the boy caught with her incoordination. He held up a hand in a sign of peace, and lowered the dagger back into its sheath in her pocket. It was a boy with hair that was scraggly, but a shiny light gold, a contrast to her own hair.
“Bella,” the boy muttered. This was it, her third time out. Surely, I will be scolded by Father again.
“Perhaps, my Lady would be more fitting?” her right eyebrow twitched with indignation.
The boy stared back then sighed wearily, “As you wish.” Alright then.
“This is Star?” the boy said with a grim face. His sword hilt had an odd black dream catcher. Its blue and black feathers fluttered, and stilled again. Here he was again.
“Yes,” she clasped her hands tightly in her lap, hoping there would be no more conversing between them. Bella let her hands run over the grass, relishing the feeling of the morning dew on her hands. Mushroom houses grew in clusters. Perhaps they were occupied by shy little plant faeries. The prairie was quiet with only the sound of a mouse running to and fro to gather its nuts, and deliver it to her burrow.
A presence neared, and Bella looked to her left. With him here again, Bella nodded, conceding a quiet morning. Turning back to the sunrise in the distance, to ignore this ill-bred lad.
The red, blue, and orange of the sky. The forest just beyond the cliff, and the flowers that rustled her sides. She would be calm if only not for this eccentric boy. At the hospital, Bella was always being watched and now she was being watched again? This wouldn’t work at all, she wanted to be alone.
“Leave,” Bella said, almost pleading
There was no response. They’ll be up soon.
Getting up, Bella smoothed the back of her coat of the grass that had stuck on. She climbed up onto Star’s saddle and was about to leave when next to her, the boy was on his saddle as well. She sighed.
“They suit each other.” the boy remarked
The colt was black with a white spot on his forehead. He did indeed look very handsome, unlike that boy. The colt was now nudging Star’s face. Star seemed to be interested as well. Star’s white mane glowed in the dark and her thigh had an adorable brown star. She and Midnight would surely make a good pair, although Bella didn’t particularly like his rider.
***
Emeri, Aslaryn, Date unknown
Bella’s father called her from across the room. “Yes?” Bella said in a distant tone. Her ink bottle clanked on her desk. Bella had no wish to hear her father’s disapproval again. He ran his hand through his hair and stood straighter.
“It’s time.” her father said with a serious face.
“I will take care of that myself,” Bella said. She had gone without anyone for fifteen years and she wanted it to stay that way. Bella started scratching her history notes out with a feather pen on the parchment paper laid in front of her. The ink bled through where she had stopped to listen to what her father had to say.
“Fine.”
Her chair scraped across the floor as she stood, palm slamming on the desk.
Her father slammed the door promptly. His servant scurried forth “Viscountess de Amaryllis will be your etiquette governess from now on.” Bella was left to her own thoughts.
***
Bella’s nanny, Laura, once said that she came into this world screaming her father’s war cry. She was only her nanny. What would she know?
The War of the Collision changed everything. It would have been called WWIII on Earth, of course. It was between Earth and Aslaryn after all. For unknown reasons, the dimensions that separated the two realms, crashed into the other. The Merge of Earth and Aslaryn left only enough for one realm, and to the Aslarynians, war was the only negotiable option. The war lasted many years. Bella’s father was the general that led the war on Aslaryn’s side. When her side won the war, he was awarded acres and acres of land. Bella was made the heir. Shewas pressed to have the best and be the best.
Besides all that, Bella’s father hasn’t told her anything other than Aslaryn, she was a Kellfi. He said all she needed to know was that she needed to work towards bearing the responsibility of being an Archduchess some day. And one day, a wife, and a mother.
