Mind over Matter (on hold)

Chapter 5

Sophia felt like she was falling, falling uncontrollably through what felt like an endless, electric blue nothingness. But somehow, she knew she was lying in bed, in a deep sleep.
Sophia started to get dizzy. "What's going on?!" Sophia shouted, but to no avail. Her shouts sounded like mere echoes, lost in the wind forever.
A moment after she said those words, she felt herself hit the ground, face-down, on what seemed to be grass. She got up, looking down to see that she did fall on grass, which had a very soothing and earthly smell. Fortunately, the grass and soil beneath it were very soft.

"Weird" thought Sophia, "Where on earth am I?!"

She looked around her, and saw what appeared to be a total paradise. The grass was emerald green and full of life, the pristine lakes and rivers in the distance seemed to be made of liquid diamonds, the trees stood tall and proud like soldiers on duty, the birds up in the clear blue sky singing melodies with beauty she's never dreamed of, and the air smelled fresh and clean. With every sight her smile gradually grew bigger and bigger. It was all so new to Sophia, so different and exciting. And yet, it all looked and felt familiar.

"Wow!" Sophia said out loud, from excitement, "This place is incredible!"

Sophia spun around, not wanting to stop. But eventually, she got dizzy and fell laughing like she hadn't in a long time. Everything was so bizarre lately she hadn't had any time to be happy, or have fun.

"But seriously, where am I?" She desperately thought.

Looking ahead, she saw a big white tower. The tower was a structure of dazzling beauty, and it paralyzed Sophia on the spot. Once she snapped back to consciousness, Sophia's curiosity ignited again, and she got up and started walking towards the tower.

"Maybe whoever lives there can tell me where I am."

By the time she was halfway to the tower, a huge shadow suddenly came over Sophia. She looked up, and saw, to her surprise, an enormous, sapphire-blue dragon! It flew right over her and towards the tower. But instead of landing on it, or near it, it just hovered over the tower. It turned it's huge head towards Sophia and, surprisingly, winked at her. The moment it winked, she heard another voice in her head; "come".
Sophia blinked, but the dragon was still there. She turned her head, to see if any other dragons had come. Luckily there were none, but when she looked back towards the tower, the dragon had disappeared. There she stood, dumbfounded, had the dragon actually talked to her? What did it mean by "come"? But if there was one thing she knew for sure, it was not to disobey someone with more power than you. Especially something winged that is fifty feet long and can breath out fire. So she kept on going towards the tower, but this time, she was running.

As she got closer she saw the tower with more detail. It was ivory white, with four windows at the very top, and four on the bottom, evenly spaced. Each window was framed with amethyst crystals. The roof was cone shaped with a small spike on top, kind of like the towers from the Middle Ages, it was tiled with riveting deep-blue tiles. The door was large and rectangular, with big golden bolts holding the beech planks that made the door together. The handle was small and also golden, decorated with elaborate, carved-on designs. As she walked closer she noticed that on the door was a door knocker, also golden, shaped like an owl holding a ring in its beak.

She approached the door feeling nervous about this whole new world. But really, she was mostly nervous about the people she would meet, the things she would see, the things that will happen to her if she made one wrong decision. There she stood, in front of the door, which was twice her height, and silently hoped she'd survive. From her experience in reading books, whenever the hero gets too curious- something bad happens. And wherever she was, she did not want to cause trouble.

Sophia was very anxious. "This is a whole new world, not to mention I have no idea where I am or how to get home" she thought, "but it doesn't seem like I have much of a choice."
With a nervous sigh, Sophia reached for the door knocker, clasped the ring in her sweaty hand, and knocked hard three times.

Less than a second after the third knock a familiar old man's voice called from inside,

"Come in Sophia, I've been expecting you."