𝐋𝐄𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐘 || peter pevensie [3]

chapter five ~ a world away

Maria saw several things at once.

The first was familiar. She saw the Grand Hall at the castle of Cair Paravel, the only place she had even been able to truly call home. But there was something horribly altered about it.

It was either sunrise or sunset, the golden light streaming through the stained-glass windows, just as it had on the day of the Pevensies' coronation. Despite this, the hall felt cold, its silence ringing off the glaring marble. And Maria had no doubt that, in that voided castle, she was completely alone.

The second thing she saw was entirely unfamiliar. Red brick buildings lined a very short street. At least, that's what Maria thought it was. In the valley between the two concrete pavements, metal rails ran in both directions into the distance.

Then, the rails began to rattle, subtly at first, but soon with a violence that Maria knew couldn't be normal. The screech of metal against metal shot through her spine as the screws in the rails rose from their rusted beds. A high-pitched noise rattled around her head and then...

Calm.

Maria saw a lake, blue and still. The sun had returned, ever stronger, whitening the surface of the water. She was back to where she'd started, however many years ago it had been.

Looking down, Maria saw that she was still wearing the dress that she had worn to her execution, but when she instinctively reached up to touch her throat, she found the skin smooth and untainted. Then, she noticed the silence.

In her all years at the orphanage, Maria had never really had a moment's peace and quiet. She looked up to the house, but no children ran about the balconies or up and down the stone steps. Nor was there the distant bustle that would usually float down from the People's village at this time of day.

For a while, Maria let the edge of the water lap up over her bare feet and tug at the hem of her dress. She waited for the pull that she had once so feared, but it didn't come. She waited for the disappointment of its absence, but that didn't come either. She got her feet and started up the bank.

Maria wandered the ground floor of the orphanage. The foyer, the dining room, the sitting rooms, and the kitchen were the cleanest she'd ever seen them. The cupboards were fully stocked but, even without another soul in sight, she was still hesitant to take anything from them.

The warm breeze flowed freely through the rooms and the whole place was filled with a pleasant, golden light. Despite the emptiness, it didn't give her the same feeling of harrowing loneliness as her brief vision of the deserted Cair Paravel had. Instead, she felt content. At peace.

The feeling carried her out of the orphanage and into the People's village. This too was void of anything living, but the shops and market stalls were filled with their wares. Maria plucked a glass lily from a block of green foam and twirled it between her fingers and thumb. The sounds of nature filled her ears and for a moment, she thought she heard voices on the wind, but shook her head. She replaced the flower and made her way through the village towards her house.

The door was unlocked, which was a blessing as she couldn't find the spare key, and everything was as she had left it. The silence of this house wasn't unfamiliar like it was the rest of the Island.

Only then did she question whether there was anyone else in this perfect version of her birthplace. She had not been the first Islander to die – for, at this point, Maria was almost certain she was dead, a thought that did not bring her the anxiety that she assumed it would – so where was everyone else?