PANACEA-Book One-By Hell or High Water

1. The Mistress

Now that I was standing in front of her, I could see every little detail in her appearance.

Her skin was indeed dark, with an ever changing map of white points. Stars. Her hair was almost white, with a creamy stained look. It was straight for the most part, with bouncy curls at her back. She had plump pink lips, and a gap toothed smile. She looked to be twice my height, though she remained seated. Her body was long, and clad in long robes. They were pale green, like mignonette leaves. Her eyes were a pale blue. They were piercing.

"Hello, my angel," she said with a silvery voice.

I stood roughly a meter from the laid down wood floor, unsure what to do. That was an oddly fond greeting. Did I know her? I wasn't sure if I knew anything.

"You need not shy away from me," she said. She tilted her head to the side. I watched them spring slightly before they went back to their tightness. The creamy white still had it's lustre even in the absence of light. "I have much to explain, and it's only a matter of time before this pocket I've created collapses and I disappear."

I stepped up, waiting with my toes at the very edge of the wood laid on on the ground. She gestured to the seat. Uneasily, I took it. I waited again, for her to say anything at all, really. She seemed to be staring at the water. After an uncomfortable silence had passed, she glanced back at me.

"I'm glad you're here," she started. "I was worried that there wouldn't be enough in me to get you to where you currently stand."

I didn't reply.

The woman shook her head. A laugh escaped her gapped teeth. A word popped into my mind that reminded me of her laugh. Bells. Her laugh was like the chime of bells. "I'm getting ahead of myself, clearly. I forgot you aren't made quite like the rest. These things will take explaining."

I opened my mouth to say something. My words were lost, and it felt as though wind was blowing right into my lungs. I shut my mouth and tried to make any sort of sound. There was nothing, not even a wheeze from my struggle.

The woman gave me a sympathetic smile, blue eyes softening. "I'm sorry, but you can't talk. Not here, and not now. Our time is brief and I really don't have time to waste on your questions."

For a moment, nothing in my head made sense. There was no sense in the words I wanted to say, no sense in way I began to wonder if her words carried any weight, no sense in the way I contemplated getting angry. Getting angry within my first few moments of existence would be getting of to a terrible start.

I swallowed down the lump that was forming in my throat, though it burned and itched from the feeling of dry air clawing down it. My head nodded to show I understood. Everything I was seeing now was so new and strange, and to be completely honest I didn't fully understand the point in this one sided exchange.

In time, if I let her explain, maybe I would.

"Good," she replied. "I'll start off with brief introductions. I'm the Mistress of the Realm, your creator." She paused and seemed to think about her phrasing, like she was contemplating restarting. "The creator of most, actually," she rephrased.

I wasn't quite sure I understood what she meant by that. The Mistress of a Realm. The Realm. A creator.

"Long ago, another world came to an end. Everything that existed in the brief time that world turned around it's sun ceased, and soon followed everything around it. That world was round, and continuously turned. Always turning, around and around a bright, fiery star. This world was a planet. A planet called earth.

"I don't have a definite answer for what happened. It simply ended, and everything around it suddenly followed. There was nothing forever.

"Then, I became reality. Everything was nonexistent except for myself. Another thing I can't explain is why I was the way I was. Why I was able to do what I did. I began to create things. Things to fill the emptiness that occupied what used to hold countless stars, and lives that crossed them.