Awakening into Fantasy

Picture yourself on a normal day: you play some video games, watch a TV series, and fall asleep. Then imagine waking up in a completely different world. You know it's not a dream because you pinch your cheek and you don't wake up. Finally, imagine that there is a girl in front of you, with big, clear eyes, who, as the days go by, will fall madly in love with you. Well, that happened to me once.

I woke up sitting under a tree in an environment I didn't recognize, as the ground was covered with beautiful pink plants that didn't correspond to any flora in our world, and the sky had a strange yellow color with red clouds. Strange leaves fell on my head from the branches of the tree I was sitting under; black even though it wasn't autumn. In front of me stood a beautiful woman wearing a yellow dress that reached her heels and a blank expression that only remained neutral, as if it were a mask. Her dress, plus her blonde hair and porcelain skin, led me to believe that she was royalty, but of course, in the end, I was very wrong.

“You were transported here, weren't you?” the girl asked me, but she didn't even wait for me to answer before continuing. “Get up and follow me. I'll explain your situation on the way.”

She walked at a fast pace, and I had to run to catch up with her. Then she explained why I had been transported from my home to this world, all while we passed through a curious land filled with red sand. I believed everything the girl told me, because she sounded like she knew what she was talking about, and that was more than enough for me to believe her.

“The Yellow Guard is planning an invasion of the Red Lands; if the Yellow Queen gains power over more territory, it would jeopardize the stability of power throughout Colora. I prayed to the Goddess to bring a warrior capable of stopping the Queen, and you were the one who appeared.”

I didn't understand much of what she said, but I understood that she needed me and I wasn't going to reject her, especially since she was such a beautiful woman. The possibility that she would thank me so much for helping her that she would become my girlfriend was always there, after all. I didn't reproach her for telling me she was going to explain my situation, only to tell me that I appeared here after she prayed to the Goddess, which didn't explain anything at all.

As we walked on, the red sand on the ground turned orange, then yellow. After a few more steps, we arrived at a large yellow castle; so large that it seemed to stretch to the end of the sky, that is, you couldn't see the top of the castle, in case you didn't quite understand what I was trying to say.

Inside the castle there were many people, all bustling about, running from one place to another without paying any attention to us. Most of them were wearing yellow clothes, except for three people: an old man in a red robe, a girl in a blue school uniform, and a young man wearing only a green loincloth.

“They are the leaders of the other three countries of Colora,” explained the girl, who still hadn't told me her name, nor would she tell me for the rest of the day, so I will reveal right now that her name is Ala. They have gathered here to discuss the Yellow Queen's decision to conquer the Red Lands.

Once again, Ala gave an explanation that I didn't quite understand, but what caught my attention at the time, and which I hadn't noticed when she spoke previously, was that her intonation, in addition to showing self-confidence, was monotonous and slow, as if she were bored of talking.

“Can't you speak with more emotion?”

“No.”

She replied coldly and continued walking.

I followed her until we reached the throne room. The room was huge and full of gold ornaments; at the back there was an open space that gave a direct view of the sun, while several sunflowers adorned the sides of the throne. As for the throne, it was made of gold and wood, with a yellow cushion on the seat.

The Yellow Queen was seated on the throne. She wore a yellow dress similar to Ala's, but with many more ornaments and additions; weird textures in the fabric and flowers sewn onto the dress, to name a few. Forming a wall between us and her were three giant men in yellow armor. Because the armor they wore was made of metal, it shone brightly in the sun's rays that hit their backs.

“What are you doing here, servant? And may I ask who is that man you bring with you?” asked the queen in a horrible voice that chilled you to the bone.

Despite the awfulness caused by the queen's voice, Ala replied in the same monotone voice she had maintained since I met her.

“I bring a warrior to destroy you, Yellow Queen.”

In response to her words, the queen began to laugh, and her guards, without even waiting for an order from the queen, ran toward us with the clear intention of attacking us.

“Betraying me, even though I took you in as my servant when you were lost and alone, saying you came here from another world. How naive you are!”

“Here, young warrior.” She pulled a knife from under her skirt and threw it into my hands. “Defeat them.”

I had a hard time catching the knife Ala threw at me, and she expected me to defeat a group of giant, muscular warriors. It was impossible. I loved knowing that a beautiful young woman depended on me to save the day, but I had spent my whole life playing video games and had never even been to a gym. The truth is, there wasn't much I could do, unless the fight was in a fighting video game.

The outcome was predictable: the guards defeated us in a matter of seconds. We both ended up unconscious. When I regained consciousness, I was alone in a cell, with no idea where Ala was. The whole confrontation happened so quickly that I didn't even have time to process the fact that the Yellow Queen had revealed that Ala came from another world. With that information, I wanted more than ever to get out of the cell and find her, but I had little idea on how to escape from a cell.

With nothing else to do, I curled up in a fetal position and waited for someone to get me out of this predicament. Luckily for me, help arrived almost immediately. Inside the cell, a bunch of particles gathered in a single spot, and suddenly a female figure appeared. She shone so brightly that it was impossible to make out any specific features, only the outline of her body being visible.

“Good morning, young man. I am the Goddess who summoned you to this world.” This story was turning out to be like the ones from my favorite video games, so I was enjoying it immensely.

The Goddess explained that Colora used to be a single country, aswell as Earth was a single country also, and every other world was a single country. But a simple ideological dispute between two of those countries sparked an armed conflict, and several other countries joined a side until it led to a Great World War. One of the gods, disappointed with the actions of the people, turned each country into completely different worlds, with no possible connection to the others, so that such a conflict would never happen again. And so the time passed, and countries began to form on those worlds. In the end, no one remembered to be part of the same world, and countries began to fight with each other again.

"The gods abandoned hope in people and left them forsaken, but I still have hope that this can be resolved, so I summoned two persons from different worlds: you and that girl you saw when you woke up. She had the idea of summoning a warrior here, but I brought you because I think you have the perfect qualities to save not only this world, but all worlds; I believe that what is needed are not the qualities of a warrior."

Despite the goddess's lengthy explanation, I didn't fully understand what was going on, although I understood more than I did with Ala's lack of explanation. Anyway, my mind was busy thinking about how to escape from my cell, so I couldn't waste my time thinking about a mission entrusted to me by a goddess. Then I realized that the person in front of me had out-of-worldy powers.

“Since you're a goddess, can't you get me out of this cell?”

“I'm sorry, young man. I can't interact with anything in this world. I can only bring people from other worlds here and wait for them to interact with it for me. That is the power that was assigned to me since the creation of time.”

An awkward silence ensued for a couple of seconds, but luckily, she broke the silence.

"Although I can do is this:"

Inside the cell, several blue flashes gathered in a single spot, similar to how the goddess had appeared a few moments ago. Suddenly, Ala materialized from those glows. She looked confused, moving from side to side and looking in all directions, with no apparent order. In any case, her face remained as expressionless as ever.

The goddess was standing in front of her, but Ala couldn't see her.

“Before I go, let me give you some advice,” the goddess continued, “appeal to Article 26 of the ancestral law. That will solve all this.”

After saying that, she vanished, leaving both Ala and me locked up. I explained everything that had happened with the goddess to her. In response, and because I asked her to, she told me about her past. Apparently, she was part of a world where people were as expressionless as she was, then the goddess appeared to her and, after giving her the mission to stop the military intentions of the people of Colora, transported her to this world. She arrived here without money or food, on the verge of starvation, until she was taken in by the Yellow Queen, who gave her food and a bed in exchange for turning her into her maid. After a few days, she learned of the queen's plan to conquer the Red Lands, so she ran away from the castle and prayed to the goddess for help in stopping her. Her plan was to bring in a warrior who would use force to stop the queen's ambitions; it was quite embarrassing to tell her that I have no idea how to fight. Fortunately, her expressionless face prevented me from seeing her disappointment in me, so I didn't feel so bad.

Looking for a way to escape from the cell, we examined every detail around us, but found nothing. The only thing we knew was how the lock worked: it opened automatically when it came into contact with a finger that had yellow paint on it; apparently it didn't matter whose finger it was, as long as it had that paint on it. The lock would absorb the paint and open after identifying that it was yellow. I learned from Ala that all the locks in Colora worked that way. Needless to say, there was no yellow paint anywhere in the cell, and the walls were not painted, all of them were a dull white.

Disappointed, we waited for a miracle to happen and get us out of there, although it seemed difficult when not even a goddess could save us. But salvation came in the form of one of the Queen's Guards. He gave us a plate of bread, which was quite hard, two glasses of water, and a plate of unappetizing salad, as well as salt in a shaker to try to add some flavor to the food.

By the way, he only gave us one spoon and one fork. I figured we'd have to share cutlery, which didn't bother me much—in fact, it might have been the best thing that had happened to me since I arrived in that world—although I assumed Ala wouldn't be too thrilled about it. I looked at her face to try to discern her opinion, but it revealed nothing.

“Can you heat this up for me?” Ala said to the guard, pointing to the glass of water. “And while we're at it, can I have some flour? It's to flavor the bread.”

“Hot water! And flour, she says! I'm a guard, I only have to worry about them not escaping. You were the maid here.”

The guard took Ala's glass with noticeable anger and left the room. After a few seconds, he returned with the heated glass and a cup of flour.

“I'm only doing this because you were once part of our kingdom; don't expect me to help you again!”

After saying that, he left with heavy footsteps, leaving us unguarded in the cell.

“He's not gonna make sure we don't escape?” I asked Ala.

“All the leaders meet today. The guards need to protect the Queen above all else, wich is perfect for us, because we can do this:”

Ala poured the hot water into the cup with flour. Then she added all the salt from the salt shaker to the cup, and used the spoon to stir it. The contents of the cup began to harden, producing a white, sticky substance. It was white paint. Ala dipped his thumb into the cup and placed it on the lock; it absorbed the paint and let us out.

“Wasn't it supposed to only open with yellow paint?”

Ala employed her characteristic technique of not explaining anything, saying only the following:

“I learned it from my time living on the streets. You go ahead, go to the throne room and invoke Article 26. I have an idea.”

She didn't wait for me to respond; she ran off toward one of the castle doors. She left me behind, not quite understanding what was going on, which was quite common since I arrived in this world.

I ran toward the throne room, careful not to be seen by other people. I stood in front of the door and looked inside: the three leaders were arguing with the Yellow Queen about her decision to conquer the Red Lands. She turned a deaf ear to them. Realizing that they were not going to convince her, I had to intervene.

“I invoke Article 26!” I shouted as soon as I entered.

“26?” The Yellow Queen reacted immediately. “Anyone who urinates on the yellow lands shall be sentenced to life imprisonment. It is a law made to prevent...”

“No, ma'am,” interrupted the leader of the Green Lands, the one wearing only a loincloth. “He is referring to Article 26 of the Green Lands, which states that if a man decides...”

“No, that's not what I mean.” I had to interrupt him and clarify the situation. “I appeal to Article 26 of the ancestral law!”

In response, everyone's faces looked shocked. Everyone frozed in place, it was as if they were in a video game, waiting for me to interact with them so they could say their lines of dialogue. Perhaps I too would have been shocked if a knew what the Article 26 meant; luckily, the leader of the Red Lands answered my question:

“That article says that if there is a false leader, a tribunal must be held to prove the veracity of his or her sovereignty.”

Immediately, the green leader interrupted:

"That's what I've been saying all along! That's right, the true three rulers of Colora are: the reds, the blues, and the greens!”

“You're still stuck on your stupid ideas, Green,” said the Yellow Queen. “If it's a trial you want, a trial you'll have. But after that you all better respect my validity as sovereign.”

A court was organized in the throne room.

“Green, explain the accusations. How could I, the Yellow Queen, not be the legitimate queen on the The Yellow Guard”

"According to ancestral law, a leader of Colora cannot do evil. Despite this, the leaves have turned black lately, something that can only happen when evil affects an area.”

I remembered that when I first arrived in this world, several leaves fell on my head. I rummaged through my hair until I found one, clearly black.

“I found this one in the Red Lands,” I said.

The leader of the greens approached my hand and sniffed the leaf.

“It definitely smells red, but is black.”

I don't really understand what red smells like, but everyone looked at the Yellow Queen with accusatory faces. I suppose that was very strong evidence against her.

“Interesting accusation,” replied the Yellow Queen. “But that evil could just as easily come from anyone else. Any other proof that I am not the legitimate queen?”

“No one here was alive to know if we are the direct descendants of the original rulers. You could very well be occupying the title of Yellow Queen without actually being her,” accused the young blue leader.

“The rulers of the Yellow Lands have been known to remain confined to their lands. It is entirely possible that you attacked the true rulers and usurped the identity of the Yellow Queen,” said the red ruler.

“It is true that my family has been very reclusive. It is normal that you do not know that I am the direct descendant of the former queen.” She snapped her fingers. “Historian!”

At her request, a man arrived in the room wearing a formal yellow suit.

“Yes, Your Majesty. Here I am.”

He was carrying a huge stack of books in his arms. One of them alone was bigger than the number of pages I have read in my entire life.

“Please explain my lineage to these people.”

“Of course, Your Majesty.”

He opened one of these books and began to explain.

“Little is known about ancient times. It is believed that all of Colora was ruled by a single dynasty, until one day the ruler had four sons, all of whom wanted the power of Colora. The argument was so heated that they divided the territory: the eldest son was so angry at not being able to rule everything that his land turned red; the second son was so happy to gain power that his entire territory turned yellow; the third son was so eager to reconcile his brothers that his territory turned green; and finally, the youngest son was so afraid to rule that his territory turned blue.”

The historian then mentioned all the members of the line of succession of the Yellow Kingdom, from the first to the current Yellow Queen.

“As you can see, there is no doubt that I am the legitimate Yellow Queen. As such, every action I take will be legitimate.”

“Wait a minute!” shouted an unfamiliar voice.

A beautiful woman entered through the door, wearing a striking white dress with a skirt that trailed along the floor as she walked. Behind her was Ala, who had probably went to her after we separated.

“I am the White Queen! The rightful queen of all Colora.” Everyone stood shocked once again. “Hundreds of years ago, the one who later became the King of Colora forcibly imprisoned me and divided Colora among his sons. They made people believe that the world was divided into four, when in reality I have been the legitimate queen since the beginning of time. So in reality, none of you are the legitimate rulers of Colora!”

“Can you prove what you say?” growled the Yellow Queen.

“Of course.”

The White Queen approached me and took the black leaf that was still in my hands. Upon touching the leaf, the red turned white.

“As you can see, this leaf was not red. Its original color was white. The story of the color change was true, but it was caused by a perversion of the correct way of things. Everything should be white; any other color is an illegitimate act under ancestral laws.”

That action by the White Queen proved to everyone that she was the true ruler of all of Colora. The four rulers knelt before her. After that, everything around them lost its color. The walls, the floor, even the earth, everything turned white. On the horizon visible from the throne room, a giant plaza appeared, full of vegetation unlike anything seen before in Colora.

“Could it be...?” said the White Queen.

“It is the Great Square, the one that represents the center of the worlds,” said a voice from the sky.

The voice materialized into a person, a shining figure whose outline was all that could be seen.

“'Because you have recognised the illegitimacy of your reigns, the gods have broken the barrier between worlds and allowed this land to join the world that once encompassed them all. Sadly, as this is the only world to have been permitted this, there are no other worlds anywhere else, so it may as well not have happened.”

After saying that, she turned to me.

“Young man, you did exactly what I expected. You managed to break the barriers set by the gods in one of the worlds. Now I will need you to break the barriers of all other worlds. Do you accept this important task?”

I nodded immediately. It was an impressive mission, worthy of the best video games. Although I must confess that I didn't feel I had done much on this occasion.

“I'm glad,” the goddess replied. "Your next mission will be to help your otherworldly companion’s home world. The Queen of the expressionless people started the Great World War by attacking the White Queen in ancient times over a disagreement. She showed no interest in the White Queen's paintings. After growing tired of her showing her the paintings every day, she attacked her. That was the cause of the great argument.”

"Your mission will be as follows: To prove to the gods that the expressionless people can show emotion with enough effort, you must make Ala fall in love with you. That will undoubtedly break the barrier.”

I felt desperate. I may have managed to prevent a large-scale war, but winning a woman's heart was an impossible task.