Linked Worlds | Other Dimensions #1

Eleven - Sequana

"And now one may meet those of potential, for one and all have mountains to climb."

***

Sia had never been in such a cramped place before. Her head brushed the boards above her as she tried to move into a more comfortable position. She tried to stop the chattering of her teeth, that seemed impossibly loud in the quiet room.

Then she heard it, the creak of the door, followed by light footsteps entering the room. There was someone in the room. She shoved herself impossibly close to the wall, almost inside it, squeezed her eyes shut and held her breath.

"Sia, you have exactly thirty seconds to explain why the hell you're under my bed," Em threatened with a look of bewilderment that she was trying to mask.

"Well, what if someone came in while you were gone?" She replied, letting go of her breath. "What was I supposed to do?"

"No one would come here. People only come to clean when we're in the dorms and only the people living here have the keys to this place," Em frowned, "now get out of there."

"Right, sorry 'bout that," Sia said, dragging herself out from under the bed.

"Now hurry and fix your hair. It's a mess and we've gotta get to the library." Em wasn't wrong. Even though Sia had combed her hair, it was sticking out everywhere and had dust in it from her time under the bed.

Sia hurriedly went to smooth down her hair and brushed the dust out of it with her hands before joining Em, who was waiting for her by the door.

***

The school library wasn't exactly small, but it was smaller than the archives in her house and looked different. All the books on the shelves were made of paper. The shelves themselves were made of dark wood, much like the rest of the library. A group of tables sat close to the entrance, whilst a staircase led to the smaller second floor.

"I'm here to return these books, sir." Em said as she walked up to a man who Sia assumed was the librarian. He was a short, heavyset man who sat at a table that had books stacked on one side and a lamp on the other.

While she returned the books, Sia looked around the library. Each shelf had gold plaques with numbers inscribed in them set in the intricate carvings at the top of the shelves that matched the spiraling patterns carved into the ceiling. Large windows littered the walls with heavy drapes held back, with gold vines on either side. As she marveled at the library, a globe caught her attention. Unfamiliar, the lands and oceans unknown. The reality of it seemed to hit her yet again. She was stuck on a strange planet with no definite way of getting back home. She was grateful that Em and Lark were the people who had found her being so helpful as they were.

After a while, when Em came to find her, Sia was looking at a book about magical creatures. When Sia saw Em, she put away the book and went with her to find Lark, who they found in the astronomy section.

"Oh, you're here," Lark said after he noticed Em and Sia.

"Yeah hey, should we go look around now," Em replied, walking towards Lark as Sia waved at him.

"Yup, you guys can go look around this floor since there is more stuff here. I'll go look around upstairs, if that's okay?" Lark said.

"Sure, let's do that then," Em replied curtly. Did they have a fight or something?

Sia followed Em. "Are you mad at him or something?"

"No? Why would I be?" she asked, confused.

"Ah, nevermind then," Sia replied. I guess that's how she always is.

Sia and Em went to the table that was the farthest away from the librarian when Lark came back down from the second floor with a very old-looking book in his hands. Em stared at him in shock and hurriedly glanced at the librarian's table, which was now empty, while Sia regarded the exchange with a confused expression.

"Lark, why do you have that? No, wait, how do you have that?" Em whisper-yelled at him.

"Oh, well, I was looking around yesterday, don't look at me like that, and I found this," he replied nonchalantly as Em glared at him, no doubt annoyed that he didn't listen to her.

"That's not what I meant. How do you have something from the back? Did you take permission?"

"Sort of. I mean, I'm a prophecy student, so I'm allowed to go."

"Not without permission, Lark! We could get in trouble for this."

"What's going on?" Sia asked, confused at why the other girl seemed so distressed.

"It's nothing, look Em, I already went last night and nobody said anything about it, okay? If we get in trouble, you can throw me under the carriage, okay?" Lark replied, annoying Sia at how he had dismissed her, "Well anyway, here, look at what I found."

Lark placed the book on the table and flipped through its pages while Em and Sia, who were still frowning, crowded around him to get a better look.

"Page 189... 189..." he trailed off. "Aha!"

Page 189 seemed to be a poem of sorts and although Sia couldn't understand the language, it seemed to be the same one which was used in the prophecy she came across before this whole mess began.

"This is one of the prophecies I found, which seems to have an explanation for what's going on," Lark explained. "Go ahead, read it."

"Uh, okay then, Idahillanira et sparcias-"

"Hold up, what's that supposed to mean?" Sia asked, interrupting Em.

"It seems to be something about spells and revenge- no, retribution? I'm not sure, it's in Slanegiean and prophecy titles seem to love being confusing. The rest of it has been translated, though, so you'll understand it." Lark explained, pointing to the faded penciling underneath the lines of the prophecy.

Em then continued reading out the prophecy, which was identical to the one Sia had found in the tunnels under her house, the one that had landed her on Zauberin. Em stopped right before the last line, which was in a different language, one she didn't recognize. However, Sia recognized it immediately. It was Latin. She read it out for the others to hear:

And now one may meet those of potential, for one and all have mountains to climb.

As soon as Sia said those words, a horrible sense of déjà vu filled her. The same brightening of the room, to an impossible level, the same dizziness that made her feel nauseous. She fell to the floor again and tried to look at the other two with her. The boy and the girl both seemed equally, if not more, shocked. Em tried to speak, but clamped her mouth shut as if in pain. Lark, on the other hand, from what Sia could see, seemed to be trying to wrestle himself with his wings.

The ground disappeared from beneath her feet once more, except this time she was comforted by the fact that she wasn't actually free-falling to her death.