The 7th Aykeh

Chapter 3

Carrie followed the King at the General's curt gesture, unsure what was going on. It sounded ominous, but she wasn't in a position to run away from them. She sighed and shrugged her shoulders slightly, If this were all a dream she would eventually wake up anyway.

They walked up the shallow semicircle of stairs and entered the Castle. Inside they passed through a huge Hall with high frescoed ceilings. There were drawings of battles and clouds painted in intricate details around the ceilings, disappearing into shadows as they moved away from the entrance and daylight. As she gazed amazed at the paintings she saw one of the images shift and blur in front of her tired eyes. Unsure she looked to the others next to her in search for answers. But they were all too distracted walking towards the Chamber to be looking at the ceiling like she was. She glanced up again but the image on the painting had disappeared.

"Did anyone see that?" She asked, uncertain. But there was no reply.

She was led from one corridor to another, until they reached a big polished silver doors. Four guards pushed the two doors open, revealing a spacious round room with a giant blue crystal in the middle. The room as quite large and the ceiling were as high as the ceiling at the entrance Hall. There was a circular opening on the ceiling just above the tall Crystal. And she could see the bright sky from the glass-covered opening.

The crystal dominated the room, several meters high and quite wide as well, radiating a blue light all over the spacious round room. She wasn't sure if the crystal had its own light or just reflected the light of the sun. Her mouth dropped open unconsciously as she admired the grandeur of the crystal enormous crystalline gem in front of her. They all gathered around it and Kai pulled Carrie by the arm to get her closer to the man they referred to as "Majesty".

"I'm the King of Beldore Kingdom. Every one hundred years the Blue Crystal reveals a new Aykeh, and you have been chosen as our eighth Aykeh. It has been an honor bestowed upon humans from your world for centuries." He pronounced, rather too grandly.

"I still don't understand..." Carrie said with a confused expression looking to the King.

"First you take this ring and put it on your right hand." He said ignoring what she said and showing her a ring inside a tiny black-lined silver box he was holding.

She looked at the ring with the opaque blue rock, noticing it looked similar to the blue crystal in the room. She slowly gazed around at the expectant, awed faces of the people in the room.

"Take it." Said the King insistently.

Unsure of what she should do she just grabbed the ring and slowly placed on her finger. As the ring slid into place on her hand she felt a chill go up her spine. The air around her started to move and gusts tugged at the elegantly clad King, whipping Kai's hair around and sending a few servants and soldiers wide-eyed back towards the closed silver door. The air enveloped her tugging gently at her cardigan and just about lifting her skirt. It was like she was in the eye of a hurricane.

Carrie gasped as she felt her feet leave the floor and suddenly it was like the moving air rushed inside her pores. Her chest tightened as a cold shock wave washed over her entire body. She collapsed unconscious on the floor.

****

Carrie opened her blurry eyes to see the shimmer of blue crystal in front of her, its light illuminating the room serenely. She planted her hands on the ground and pushed herself to sit up. Gazing up she saw the night sky through the ceiling's opening. She turned her gaze back to the room and saw Kai sitting down against the wall, facing a midpoint between her and the detailed silver door. There was no one else in the room.