A Rising Flame - Book 2

Chapter 2 - Resurrection

When I woke, the wooden cage had stopped and the door was open. The girls were slowly being filed out one by one. I was the last to exit the cart before the door closed. I look at my surroundings, we were in a city of sorts but a huge castle like structure, which I assume was the palace, sat in the very center of it all. Walls as tall as the Eiffel Tower surround the entire city, with one opening, that was the front gate we just came through. I never thought in my life I would see something like this, I mean it's 2028! I didn't think castles still existed. Though I'm about 90 percent sure this is not Earth, it still surprises me that something like this exists. I walk with the group of girls throughout the city, there is one thing I notice all the girls have in common, their eyes look... hazy, like they're in some sort of trans or other world. Was I like that too? I stop in my tracks when I saw stairs that looked like they came from Kung Fu Panda. There were so many of them...

Oh...Hell no

I hate stairs in general, but THIS MANY going UP is not something I would put on my bucket list. I can confidently say, I didn't have the stamina for that.

"Hey Merida, get going before I whip that pretty little face of yours" One of the Things that was on the horse earlier came close to me with a whip in his hand. Another one right beside him had what I would guess to be a lasso of sorts in his.

"She's a little slow, I wonder if they would care to have her a little scratched up." He lets the lasso fall loose to the ground, I can see the noose like tie around it. I wanted to say something but from observing the other women's behavior, I don't think I want to expose myself, something tells me I'm not supposed to be here. My thoughts were hazy, but I think I would trust myself to read a situation, and that was defiantly a threat. I quickly began to walk up the stairs catching up with the others. Whatever was effecting the other girls was clearly not effecting me, well... not as much anyways. I hope they don't catch on to my strange behavior, or this little adventure is over for me. We get all the way up and I'm only slightly out of breath.

Weird, I thought I'd be gasping for air. Guess I underestimated myself.

We approached large doors and stand back as they open outward. We begin walking, as soon as we're inside the giant doors close and a locking sound can be heard.

Well, no turning back now.

We continue walking down the hallways filled with stone statues of knights and other creatures that look frozen with fear.

Were they alive once, I really hope Medusa isn't real.

My thoughts were cut short as we reach the end of the long hallway to another set of large doors. They open as we approach. There is a snake emblem on all the doors in the next room. There were three doors in what I suppose was a throne room. The first door was the one we just came through, another on the left and another on the right. The room was quite empty with nothing but pillars that held the ceiling where it was. The foundation of the building was obviously stable. It was made out of some sort of shiny, red, ruby colored granite. The outline of a black snake pattern evident on the floor below. Looking around the rest of the room there was a set of stairs. There were walls on either side of the stairs that were made from the same mineral as the floor. Up the little wall there was a small overhang to the top and on top of all of it there was a statue of a creature I'm assuming was from this world. It has a bird like head with a wide beak that looked sharper than a razor, talents like an eagles but bigger to fit the size of its feet. It had the tail and body of a lion mixed with a bird and looked like it walked on four legs, it had wings the size of 10 giraffes and a body about the size of a blue whale, and had fur evident in the sculpture. The eyes were dilated to a size that looked like it was hunting for prey. This thing could put a dragon to shame. Continuing up, the walls go from straight to cutting upwards at an angle and cutting back to straight at the very top, which had two bowl like structure on each side. At the very top was a throne that looked like it was also made of stone, It also looked...uncomfortable to sit on, but the throne was empty. The king must be elsewhere at the moment. Which I was thankful for because it gave me more time to come up with a better lie and figure out who they think I am. If I can act as someone different I might be able to buy myself some time to figure a way out of this situation.