Linked Worlds | Other Dimensions #1

Eight - Sequana

© 2021 Calliope Night. All rights reserved.

"I think we're talking about two different places."

***

"Bye, don't forget to put the fire out."

The confusing and rather concerning phrase woke Sia up. What fire? Also, who forgets to put out a fire?

Sia shifted around, only to realize that what was under her wasn't a sandy ground she'd imagined having passed out on, but rather a bed.

She was still in a dazed state, but was slowly becoming more alert. Realizing that there were people around, she cracked an eye open, trying to make it seem as inconspicuous as possible.

With her eyes cracked open, she could only make out a blurry scenery before her. From what she could tell, she was on a bed in a large white room with a curtain on either of her sides that seemed to be there for privacy. The room was pure white with a desk and cupboards and smelled of herbs. Possibly a local clinic of some sort.

She saw two humanoid blobs in front of her. One of them was a girl with white hair and the other a boy with grey hair. Perhaps an old man. With a... large plate on his back? Why did he stick a plate on him? It's probably the insanity that comes with old age or something. They didn't look hostile to Sia and even if they were, she wasn't going to just wait for her impending doom.

"Uh, where am I? Who are you?"

"Oh, you're up," the girl said, slightly startled. "I'm Emerald, and we're in the main infirmary. Who are you? How did you get into Hexerai? What were you thinking, going to the desert? Do you-"

"One question at a time please uh-Emerald," Sia cut in, "I'm Sia by the way, who are you?" she said, turning to the boy.

Huh, they don't seem hostile. Maybe they've also been kidnapped...no, they seem too calm for that. Maybe they found me somewhere? Where are we, though? Also, her eyes are such a pretty green. And those animal ears are so realistic.

"Yes, it's Emerald. So Sia, what are you -"

"I'm Salark Corinae, Lark for short," the man cut in. It's not like I asked for your full name, but whatever, I guess.

After a few seconds of looking at Lark, Sia realized that the man was, in fact, not old, but rather a boy. While his hair was grey, it looked more silver and less streaked, unlike old greyed hair. His skin was also much too youthful. Seriously, I have to get his skincare routine.

"So where the heck am I? I can tell I'm in an infirmary, but where?"

"The infirmary in the main building, is it your first time here?" Emerald asked.

"The main building of what? Also, are we in a school or something? What uniforms are those?"

"Wait, are you not from Hexeri?"

"Where's Hexeri?"

"In Hexar," Emerald said in a concerned voice.

"Where is Hexar?" Sia asked. She'd never heard of this place. "Do you mean Hasebar? Lexra? Henix-"

"Has-Lera- what?" Salark said, with a confused look on his face.

"How bad are you at geography? Don't you even know some of the important cities of Phi-"

"Me? Bad at geography?" he scoffed, "says the person who doesn't even know the name of one of the most important cities of Sivita!"

"Sivita? Look, stop playing around with all these made-up places and tell me where we really are," Sia said, exasperated. I just want to know where I am so I can go home already! What's with these people?

"I'm not playing around, and the names are not made up... Sivita is the name of the continent we're on," he said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Puh-lease," Sia said, rolling her eyes, "like I would fall for that. Now, where are we, Salark? And I want the truth this time."

"I am telling the truth, Sia! You're the one who needs to stop-"

"Do you have amnesia by any chance?" Emerald said out of the blue, cutting Salark off.

"Amnesia is when you forget stuff, but based on this conversation, I think we're talking about two different places."

"Are you sure you didn't dream all of this? Did you imagine these places you're talking about after fainting?" she asked, still suspicious.

"I don't think one imagines an entire different world because they fainted for like thirty minutes, but what do I know? And here I thought you were the smart one."

"Okay... then where are you from?" she started slowly.

"Fine, but only if you promise to tell me the truth about where we are now," she said, feeling dumb. Where else could we be but on Libralis?

"But-"

"I promise," Emerald said, giving Salark a look. "Now will you please tell us where you're from?"

"I'm from Libralis: the artificial island."

"Artificial island?"

"Yes, the only one on Phila, duh."

"Phila?" The two of them shared a worried glance.

"Uh, ya, you know the name of the planet that we're on?" she lifted the end of the sentence in confusion.

"Um, no Sia, the name of the planet that we're on is Zauberin," Emerald said slowly and unsurely.

"You know this kind of reminds me of this prophecy I had to deal with during my exam," Salark said.

"No, I don't know. And how is that related?" Emerad said, clearly annoyed.

"Prophecy? Like that weird thing I read before? Wait, you guys have those for exams?"

"Wait a minute. Did you just say you've read a prophecy before?"

"I think so, it was this weird cryptic text, like the type that come in adventure stories. Something about premonitions, loopholes in time, oh and dimensions."

"Wow, that sounds awfully similar to the one I had in my test. Maybe we should go to the library and see if we can find it."

"Sure! Let's go," Sia said. She really wanted to see what books were in the library there.

"Not so fast, both of you. Sia, you're sick, don't have a student pass, and it's late. Let's go tomorrow. It'll also be easier to get you into the library then."

"Won't it be easier to sneak around at night instead of during the day though?" Sia asked, as if it was obvious.

"Yes, it would be, but it would also defeat the purpose of sneaking around if you passed out," she said, annoyed for the fifth time in their conversation.

"Fair enough, but where am I supposed to stay for the night?"

"You could stay in one of our dorms, um, probably not mine, but Em should be fine, as long as her dorm mates don't snitch," Lark said, looking at Emerald.

"Don't worry, they really won't care, honestly I think they would be glad," Emerald mumbled the last part as if she was embarrassed. Since Sia was as kind as she was, she decided against teasing Emerald for having no friends.

"Well then, it's settled, I'll sleepover in Emerald's dorm and her dorm mates will let me stay over since she has no- err, since they're so kind-hearted?" Sia said, Emerald shooting her a glare at the last part and then at Salark as he snicked.

"Well, I'm going to head to the library then," Salark said.

"I just said... you know what? Nevermind," Emerald sighed, beckoning to Sia as she headed for the infirmary door.