Seven Stories

Chapter 13: Diapason

Quick Summary (that you absolutely can skip if you remember the story already):

Since it's been a while since the last update. We're following two storylines simultaneously. 

Larmilai is the girl from Earth who, with her best friend Eric, is hunting a man who can't leave her nightmares alone. He terrifies her, and she is obsessed with finding out who he is — or more probably, it keeps her mind away from the mysterious wolf, Relem, who basically kidnapped her a few months ago, and showed her a world that has nothing to do with Earth, Nisays. Ha, and he told her she had a Demon to kill.

Speaking of Nisays, this is where Karen, Lii, Ikan, Lucian, Timothy and Laya are right now. Karen is the Queen of the Territory of Shadows, Ikan is the Prince of the Territory of Light. The people from the two Territories are ancient enemies, and Karen and Ikan are no exception. After Timothy and Lucian's sister, Agnes, is killed in a Queen-kidnapping gone wrong, Lii takes the whole band to the Wood of Souls and Spirits, where said Souls and Spirits, mysterious dark silhouettes whom she trusts, protect them. The last thing Lucian did was attack his own little brother while in a violent dream-like state, nearly killing him. Lii saved Tim, and she apparently knows what is wrong with Lucian. Now they're on the move again.

End of Quick Summary

************

Rain on top of a thin roof; only darkness around. The whooshing sound of wind. Larmilai moved in her sleep. It was the growing pressure on her chest that pulled her from her slumber. She shifted and propelled herself up with the strength of her arms. She looked around. As her eyes adjusted to the dimness, she made out walls of black stone and and parallel bars blocking the way to a narrow corridor.

Larmilai got to her feet and rushed to the bars. She grabbed them and felt the cold bite at her skin. She shouted to the empty corridor. "Hey! Hey, is anybody here? Why am I here?"

Her voice echoed, but she doubted anyone could hear her on top of the sounds of water above her head. "No," she whispered. She put her forehead against the steel, and tried to gather her thoughts. What had happened to her? Why was she stuck in the cell from another age?

Her memory could go as far as going to sleep the previous day, in her barely moonlit room, hiding under her bedsheets as another storm drowned the village. They had tried assuring them that this was not a hurricane — there never were hurricane this far up north the United States — but day after day the little void amidst the swirling clouds had become more and more visible from satellite streams. This was a hurricane, and it would, it seemed, not even be a unique instance.

The rain, now, had nothing on the steady, heavy stream that she had feared would invade her bedroom. Either she was not in her home state, or this was near the eye of the storm, though she had yet to discover if it was its beginning or end.

She focused harder. She had fallen asleep to the sound of the rain. She had been thinking of Eric, because they had had a fight earlier and the words exchanged still haunted her. Eric refused to understand she simply could not, this year, compete in the karate local championship. Her level simply wasn't up to par with her opponents anymore. This was something she had done every year, but a full year devoted to the mystery of the nightmare man had ruined her chances to hold her unchallenged title. Eric had accused her of giving up on something she had held dear; and he had said it probably wouldn't be long until he, too, would be given up upon.

The thought still twisted her stomach as though she would surrender her dinner. She remembered falling asleep holding her pillow close to her chest. The slumber had gained her quickly, but she remembered the feeling of eyelids closing on their own.