Silver: The Lost Royal

10 | Missing

SEATED on a white couch in a plain white room, she couldn't help but feel a sense of familiarity. Other than the small square table in front of her, adorned only with an empty white flower vase, there was nothing else present. She couldn't quite pinpoint what it was about the room that struck a chord in her memory, but she was certain she had been there before. Her mind simply couldn't recollect when.

She glanced up to see a woman with her brown hair up in an intricate updo with some strands falling from it to frame her face. A flower crown adorned her head and the scent it brought was sweet and light, filling up Karyn's nose and making her want to breathe more of it. The dress the woman wore shined white, flowed down to her ankles like waves of an ocean and swished around with each step she took toward Karyn.

When Karyn locked eyes with the woman, she marveled at their striking similarities. The arch of her eyebrow, the sharp contours of her slender nose, and her warm brown eyes made Karyn feel like she was staring right at a mirror. The woman smiled and an inexplicable peace erupted in Karyn's chest, making her want to smile with the woman.

"My dear Rynanda."

"Who are you? Where am I?" Her eyebrows rose at her own question and she raised her hand to touch her lips. For the first time, she could speak in a dream.

The woman drew closer before she sat and cupped Karyn's cheeks. Karyn wanted to close her eyes and revel in the soothing feeling the act brought.

"You need to go back. You're not safe here. We were never safe."

"But why? What's wrong?" she asked and her eyes moved over the woman's face, taking in the slight crease in her brows.

"We made a mistake by coming here. Now our enemy sits-"

A loud rumble cut the woman off as the ground shook beneath them. Karyn looked around to find streaks of black infiltrating the room, spreading on the walls, roof, and floors in an entangled mesh. It rushed towards them with a progression that resembled roots spreading in the soil.

The woman whose hands remained on her cheeks turned pale and Karyn could see the fear swirling in her eyes. But within those same brown eyes sparked courage and determination and Karyn could hear it when the woman spoke.

"Rynanda, you must not let the darkness consume you. It is a part of you now, but you can get it out. We may have died here, but this barren land holds no solace for your questions. Only within the white walls shall you find the answers you seek."

Just as the darkness was about to envelop them, the chair she sat on slipped beneath her and she fell to her back before her eyes shot open. With her hands by her side, and her eyes on the ceiling above, she gulped in large breaths of air and only sat up when the pounding in her chest had reduced.

"It's just a dream. It's just a dream."

She closed her eyes, but even in the darkness, the courage in the eyes of the strange woman shone brightly. She stood from her bed and rushed to the bathroom to splash water on her face. When her eyes came up to the mirror, she stared back into the woman's eyes. Her eyes.

Could it have been her mother?

The woman called her by a foreign name. Rynanda. Sure, she'd never seen her birth certificate and didn't know if she had any other name, but on her school file, it was simply Karyn Whyte. No middle name or elongated forms, and she never wondered about it. After all, what use was a middle name if no one even bothered to address you by it?

She rinsed her face once more before she went to sit on her bed. An odd silence wrapped around and tugged at her. Kara was still not back, and nothing was out of place for her to assume otherwise. Where was she? What had happened? Why hadn't she contacted her?