The sun beamed softly over my eyes to my right. Sucking as big a breath as my mouth would let me, tears caught on the edges of my blurry eyes. Surprisingly, however, the pain and stillness were nowhere to be found.

That’s when I noticed my surroundings. A massive blanket, made of pure white fur, was thrown next to me, however, what took my attention was everything else. Even the floor. Or rather, the distance between the floor and the bed.

It didn’t stand on four legs. It wasn’t even rectangular. Instead, it was circular and was held from the ceiling by two thick, intertwining vines, one above my head, the other at the opposite side, put all together to what looked like a giant, fluffy, warm basket; so soft, I could almost hear it whispering to me and lay back down in its embrace.

And I would have listened to it if I wasn’t already absorbed by everything else present. As my eyes slowly refocused, the more surprising and out of words my surroundings became. It was as if I had woken up inside in one of the stories Papa used to tell about those magical places because it looked like the insides of a tree.

First the flowers growing out of the ceiling. Most of them were closed, but those few touched by the sunlight had their pedals glowing softly like little lanterns of pink, purple, and blue.

The walls of the room were the second thing my eyes focused on. Made of smooth, shiny wood, they were like the inside of a polished chestnut. Sunlight streamed in through a window, filling the room with a warm, cozy glow. The light danced on the wooden walls, making the patterns in the wood look like they were alive and moving.

Following its trail, the light beamed beyond the small balcony to the floor below where the unknown, sweet voice was heard from. With tears still edged in my eyes, I raised a hand to block the sun and peeked below.

There, directly below the sunlight, in the middle of the room, stood a beautiful piano. Papa had shown me pictures before, but nothing like this. With its three legs seemingly rooted into the floor, it looked as if it had grown naturally from the living wood. The piano’s lid was open wide, revealing the intricate mechanics inside. Crafted from gleaming wood, its surface was adorned with petals similar to those blooming on the ceiling, but in a more vibrant array of colors, with yellow and red ones added to the mix. As enchanting as the piano was, however, the young woman seated beside it was all I could focus on.

As my eyes adjusted to the light, her figure cleared.

For a moment, I thought a silvery waterfall was drifting from the sunlight, but it was her long, wavy hair floating down, the silver shimmering in the light as they complemented one another. Bathed in the sunlight, her milky-white skin shined, and with that reddish brown tunic, the entire room vibrated like autumn. In stark constant with her simple tunic, her deep green eyes sparkled like precious gems and because of the opposite nature of the colors of her tunic and her hair, they were enhanced even further.

“M-mum…” I mumbled in drowsiness, the echos of that voice still playing on my mind.

She turned away from the piano, and our eyes met.

“Oh my, what beautiful eyes you have,” she said, her fingers drifting away from the piano keys.

My breath caught in my throat, and I nearly tumbled out of bed in panic.

Her soft, melodic laugh seemed to make everything even brighter around her. As she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, I gasped in shock.

Her ears were thin and pointy. She wasn’t a human—she was an Elf!

“What is going on? Am I still dreaming?”

“No, you are not dreaming, my dear.”

My eyes widened, and I jumped back to hide behind the blanket.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

Had I spoken out loud?

With every bit of sleepiness escaping me, my mind started working again, and fear quickly took hold.

“How do you know if this isn’t a dream? Who are you? Where am I?” I asked, the thumping in my chest sounding louder with each question.

Peeking out through the small balcony again, she was… she was…

“D-don’t smile like that!” I screamed, panic leaking in my voice as I hid behind the blanket once again.

Low steps echoed, reaching closer, each one of them making my heart skip a beat until they stopped.

She was standing right next to me.

I held my breath, as if it would make me disappear so that she could never find me.

Suddenly, a hand reached above the blanket, and I jump like a rabbit, trying to run away from the bed, only to forget the distance between it and the floor, and fall down.

The woman held her hand back and her pretty eyebrows were touching, the smile nowhere to be found.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t want to scare you. My name is Mira. Three days ago, I’ve found you in the woods unconscious, and you were badly hurt, so I brought you back to my home to treat your injuries.”

She tried moving closer to me, but stopped immediately when I almost fell behind the ledge.

My eyes quickly jumped from her to my body and back to her.

“You are lying! I’m completely fine!”

It was true. One quick glance was enough to know that I was fine. Actually, I didn’t even have to look. I could feel it. My body was better than ever.

She slowly lowered her hands, resting them gently on her feet.

“That is something I wanted to ask you myself. When I found you, you were bloody, scarred, and had at least three broken bones. But yesterday, as I changed your bandages, your wounds had completely healed. The bandages were blooded, but your skin was clean, and your breathing, was back to normal.”

‘Is she telling the truth?’

I didn’t know. For all I knew, she could be lying about everything. After all, she never answered my first question.

My hand reached for my chest, only to not find my pendant. My eyes fully opened before darting in every direction.

“M-my pendant—where is my pendant!? I knew you were lying!” I screamed, crawling just at the edge of the small balcony.

Her lips trembled, and her cheek puffed slightly. Slowly standing up, she reached for the small table next to the bed that had a single box on top of it. With the box in hand, she then turned back to me. Pausing, she took a breath and walked even slower towards me.

Unable to move further back and with her blocking the path, my heart started beating faster and my eyes darted in all directions in panic. When she stood in front of me, I closed my eyes and raised my hands in defence.

A clicking sound made my eyes open again.

She had silently walked back, leaving me alone with the box now open. Inside it, wrapped in a thin translucent cloth, were shattered pieces of silver and black.

Shakily connecting them like a puzzle over the cloth, my mouth trembled and tears rolled when I realized it was my pendant.

“M-my pendant. It… it…” is all I managed to say before tears getting the better of me, unable to finish the sentence.

It was always with me, always. There wasn’t a single moment where I would take it off. It had protected me from the beasts, it had helped me awaken, it had calmed me down in the village. It was a part of me! And now… it too was broken. Gone. Like everyone else.

“Next to you, there were these things as well. They looked important, so I kept them as they were.”

In front of me, she placed two similarly looking items wrapped in white wings. The smaller and more circular of the two was the beast core Papa had gifted me, while the other was the phoenix egg.

My tears stopped as I took them in my hands. But it was only for a moment. The next, the emotions inside me exploded like a volcano, bursting in the form of uncontrollable cries.

Didn’t I want to know if this was a dream or not?

I got my answer.

I wasn’t dreaming anymore, and therefore every single one of my memories was real. Papa was gone. Theodore was gone. Cain and his voice were gone.

The pain, the anger, the sadness, all of them exploded in a torrent of tears.

I cried so hard my senses blurred. I couldn’t see, couldn’t smell, couldn’t feel. The only thing present was me, the darkness, and my cries.

***

At some point, I feel unconscious. When—I didn’t know. I couldn’t remember much, my memories were foggy.

Opening my eyes, I was on the bed, covered by the blanket. Next to me were the core and the egg. The sun still shined as before, but there was no melody. A smell was instead reaching from below.

Taking my belongings with me, I went down the staircase to the base floor, only to find her in the kitchen.

When she noticed me, she turned and offered a smile.

“How are you feeling? Are you feeling any better?”

“…”

I didn’t respond.

“Dinner will be ready soon. I’m not sure if you’ve ever tasted something similar before.” She paused for a moment, waiting for my response, and turned around to pay attention to the pot.

“…”

“It’s a traditional dish, so I hope you like it.” She eventually said, just as I found the door.

“…”

Click. Thud.

Two seconds later, the door opened again.

“You know, you can stay with me a little longer. The forest can be dangerous if you don’t know where you’re going. At least have dinner first before you go.”

I didn’t turn around to face her.