Ebony was having a nightmare.
She was running away from something - something she didn't know of - but something that her gut told her would kill her if her running ceased.
Then she tripped, falling face-flat against the ground - or, not ground, really - she and the thing were in the middle of an abyss. And as she scrambled back on her feet, she came face to face with the thing, snarling angrily. Its features were blurred no matter how hard she tried to focus on it, and Ebony knew this was the end.
She closed her eyes and prepared to meet her doom, but then - she woke up.
She blearily examined her surroundings, and then jolted awake when she realized where she was. A moving train - and in a fleeting moment of panic Ebony didn't know where she was headed.
The past two days came flooding back to her. They'd walked all the way to the nearest town, where they'd brought only the most basic supplies and two train tickets to - Lyria! That was right! The heart could have been there, and according to the Prince, Astrophel's jurisdiction and influence didn't reach much farther than the province between Auria and Gaia. She smiled. it was like creating two fires with one blaze.
She snuggled into her seat and looked out the window on her left side, townhomes and factories going by in a blur of beige and smoke.
The Prince shifted in his seat next to her, and she noticed he was sleeping - for real, unlike last time. Not wanting to make the same mistake, she glanced back out the window.
Soon enough, the dull brown and gray hues of Auria would flourish into the lush green hues of Gaia - hues she'd never seen, but had only heard tales of. And after a while, when Ebony had nearly dozed off again, she saw it.
Hills covered in the greenest of grass. Sky such a brilliant blue it dazzled her. Wildflowers of all shapes and colors, spread out among the grass - purples, blues, yellows, pinks - colors she'd never truly seen in neither Absinthe nor Auria.
The Prince awoke to her tears. "What's wrong?"
She sniffed. "It's nothing. It's just - it's all so, so beautiful."
He leaned over to look out the window. "That it is," he agreed softly, for once unable to say much.
Ebony didn't understand why Gaians would ever live underground, under all this beauty. Whatever could be better down there than this?
Unfortunately, their venture into the lush lands of Gaia did not last long. Before she knew it, they were going off a dock, and onto a bridge overlooking cerculean, Lyrian waters. The green was going, going... gone, vanished from view. All that was left was the train, the bridge it chugged through the water on, and the ocean.
As the train finally came to a halt in the middle of the ocean, Ebony looked to the Prince, confused. "What's happenin -"
this is a transition chapter so it's significantly shorter... sorry about that!
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DEMENTED | Romance | Fantasy | Slight Thriller
Fantasy"I need you to do a favor for me, Ebony." Princess Ebony of Absinthe has just been exiled from her land by none other than her own sister. Called the Macabre twins collectively, the two became enemies the moment her sister, Crimson, finally lost her...
