Chapter 11

I awoke. The surrounding light trickled through my blinking eyelids and I could hear the sound of birds chirping. I grabbed my mother’s locket and sat up to assess the situation.

I was in a forest. A cool breeze spread the scent of various vegetation and I felt the same breeze press against my bare skin, it was refreshing.

From what I could tell, I was not in the forest that surrounded the valleys and hills that protected my village. The last thing I remembered, was opening my mother's locket, everything else was strangely hazy.

In spite of this new alien environment, I felt surprisingly at home, it was like being on my father's farm. This nostalgic sense of belonging, made it possible for me to collect myself and avoid justifiable panic.

I could see a whiff of smoke in the distance. I was conscious of the possibility that the people that resided there, may more than likely be unkind to outsiders. However, I needed to know where I was and more importantly, how far I was from the village.

Just before I began to make my way towards the smoke, I spotted something emerging from the trees, it was slowly but surely approaching me. I prepared myself for whatever was to come but was taken aback when I got a better look at the figure, it was a woman.

She was wearing a long black dress and had olive skin. Her hair was raven coloured, but when light kissed her long obsidian locks, they reflected a bluish hue. Although her overall vibe was mysterious and dark, she was bewitchingly beautiful and her presence somehow made me feel reassured.

I spotted a small cat like creature follow closely behind her, the creature’s eyes were transfixed on my throat and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. A few moments passed and she finally arrived within speaking distance. I could hear the judgemental “purrrrrrr” of the creature, as it prowled a few feet away from us.

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The woman raised her arms toward me expectantly and smiled.

“Calcifer, my Calcifer.”

I was shocked. I hadn’t been called by that name for a long time. Even my father begrudgingly decided to use the nickname that I opted to utilise. In fact, there were probably only a handful of people that even knew that “Cal” was short for “Calcifer”.

I gazed curiously at the lady that appeared before me. Now that she was a lot closer than before, I noticed how elegant and charming she truly was. Her features themselves were not uncommon to the Verdant Continent. In fact, her olive skin and dual toned hair were very prevalent in certain parts of the VC. Yet, it felt as if she was cut from a different cloth than normal Verdantians.

I was aware that it was not uncommon for such people to exist, but I felt as if she hailed from a different land altogether. She continued to stare expectantly at me, as if waiting for me to say or do something.

I collected my thoughts and decided to get to the bottom of this encounter and figure out how and why she seems to come across as if we’ve met previously.

“How do you know my name? Who are you? Where am I?”

She showed a pained expression at my apparent lack of recognition and bit her lower lip. The creature behind her roared momentarily but returned to prowling when she regained her composure. She took a deep brief, studied me from head to toe and spoke.

“Why wouldn’t I know your name? I was the one that gave it to you after all.”

“E-Eh!?”

As if not being able to contain herself any longer, the woman lunged at me. My time with Astoria had taught me how to prepare for a frontal assault, however, for whatever reason, all I could do was stand in place and clench my eyes shut.

I felt the woman pull me into an embrace. I had been hugged before, but this felt strangely similar to the hug that Gladus gave me when we found out that my father had fallen in battle. it was warm and layered with motherly affection.

I pulled away hastily and managed to lose my footing and fall backwards. My mother’s locket fell from my hand and bounced a few feet away. Before I was able to reach for it and get to my feet. The creature pounced and took the locket in its mouth. It then scurried away and proceeded to rub itself against the lady’s leg. She bent down and took the locket from the creature.

She placed the locket around her neck and the leafless tree shone the same purple colour as before. She pointed at herself and looked from the locket to me repeatedly, growing increasingly impatient with every repeat of this peculiar sequence.

It took the 7th sequence for me to finally realise what she was getting at. I felt a shiver travel down my spine and got to my feet. She looked taken aback for a second but showed a bemused expression when I finally regained some composure.

“M-mother?”

She nodded and signalled for me to follow her.