SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES OF FANTASILIA SERIES
𝘈𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘨𝘶𝘦. 𝘈 𝘴𝘪𝘦𝘨𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘴. 𝘈 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘫𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧.
Xanthiene Vivenca, af...
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Reeca blinked to clear the cloud from her eyes. A dark ceiling hovered above her, slowly coming to focus the more she blinked. Her breath came in quick gasps as she stared at her hands. What happened? Why was she lying on her back in the middle of nowhere?
She shook her head to dislodge a recent memory of her with her companions inside a dark, smelly cave. She sat up, her palms brushing something soft and feathery. A frown pressed down on her mouth. That's weird. Did the cave spew out rugs while she was out? Just where on Umazure was she?
She looked around, craning her neck in all knowable directions. Darkness swallowed everything and seemed to be hungry for her, too. She glanced down and patted herself. Two legs, two arms. Ten fingers. She sighed as relief flooded her system. No missing limbs or senses. Good.
The muscles in her back flexed involuntarily. She winced at the sudden pain that crawled from her shoulders to her neck. Her wings were still bandaged—a heavy reminder of all that transpired the past few days. She braced her knee as she stood up. The wound in her leg throbbed.
How long was she unconscious? What day was it? The feathery stuff crunched under her soles as she started walking. It felt like she was walking on sacryne glass.
Her hand travelled to her hips to rest her palm against the pommel of her sword. She only grasped empty air. Reeca cursed and patted her hips, searching her belt. Her stomach turned when she didn't find anything she could use to defend herself. Did she get poached again? So much for destroying flintlocks if they keep getting stolen from her.
She stole a glance behind her. It was the same expanse of darkness.
Slowly, her eyes adjusted. Silhouettes of spindly things dangled from what was supposed to be the ceiling of this place. The hairs at the back of her neck stood up, alerting Reeca of something, urging her to run. However, her legs seemed to take her anywhere other than out.
In short, Reeca's instincts were thrown out of their loop. She moved to her left with her hands extended. Her fingers brushed a rough, stone wall. It was neither hot nor cold. She bit her lip. What should she do now?
There were many uncharted and charted cave systems in Umazure and to pinpoint which of them had walls that was the right temperature and didn't have animal feces would be as impossible as finding the Fountain of Youth. Reeca craned her neck to stare balefully at the ceiling of darkness. For all she knew she's stuck somewhere in Ansevir.
Reeca took a deep breath, taking in the thick air that smelled a bit like orostachys in her mother's miniature garden. There must be vegetation nearby.
She strained her ears for any sound but nothing reached her save for her own breathing and the cackle of her soles against the feathery floor. She reached out in front of her as she walked and her fingers snagged brittle leaves. She withdrew her hands to her chest. Her heart pounded in her temples. What was that?
