Just as all the oxygen left my lungs, I began to feel a pang in my chest and something—or someone—carried me to the surface. Air filled my lungs and I was finally able to breathe again. But I couldn’t see who it was that saved me.
Suddenly, the water became violently agitated. The next moment, a huge wave swelled forward, and behind it appeared a serpentine dragon, slender with a long coiling trunk in shimmering colors of white blue, green and purple. Its blue-silver eyes were studying me with undivided attention. Above one eye it had a long scar, the iris more silver than blue. It slowly disappeared under the surface of the flowing lake once more. The sirens had vanished as well.
Before I could decipher what happened here, I plunged into darkness again.
I felt the warmth of something under me, my body still too tired and dizzy to define where I was. However, I got that feeling of being whisked into the air by something. I could open my eyeswide enough to recognize the silver-grey eye with a scar above it.
“Are you… my guardian?” I asked him fuzzily. I thought I heard some kind of snorting in response, but I could have imagined it. My consciousness faded once more.
When I woke up, I found myself laying in a field. The sky was much darker now, and I could see some stars shimmering in the dusky purple sky. Strangely, my dress showed no signs that I had been underwater at all. Looking around, I realized that I was alone; no dragon, no sirens or anyone else who could tell me where to go.
Some meters away from me, I noticed a huge stone wall with an ebony wood door. I approached it cautiously. Instead of a normal door knob, this one was bronze, in the shape of an emerald. When I looked closer, I could see etchings of the sun, moon and stars along the sides. In the middle sat an outline of a large, mythical bird. Was this a phoenix?
I tried to open the door but it was locked. So, I knocked, hoping someone might answer. Another knock… but it was no use. I shivered as a cold breeze enveloped me, the brush of soft feathers behind my back making me shudder. I quickly turned around, but there was nothing there.
I must be losing my mind—that was it. Or maybe I was just dreaming, a long and vivid dream, nothing more. But then I felt a grip on my shoulder that felt way too real for any dream.
Follow the underground my little robin, and don’t question yourself.
It seemed to be the voice of myangel, the only echoes of my past I actually missed. My mother thought it had been the imagination of an only child, while my neighbors whispered, saying I might be mad. My grandmother insisted I was kissed by faeries and therefore inherited a blessing from magical lands. I really wanted to believe in the last option, since the others weren’t ideal. I went to knock again but a sudden gust of windblew the door open, so I quickly stepped through.
It was dark… shadow dark.
Only some torches dug into the stone of the wall lit up the long tunnel. An uneasy presence loomed over me, like I was not alone in here. However, the possibility of hiding inside this place was very unlikely. So maybe it just was my mind playing tricks on me. It wouldn’t be the first time. I still remembered whenever I played in the garden, thinking I saw some lights around me and heard the whispers of the trees. I dreamt of dragonflies and magical balls. My mother told me it was only the fancies of a little child who was afraid of growing up. So, I tried my best to leave my fanciful thoughts behind.
Out of nowhere, the torches started to flicker and black shadows meandered the outlines of the tunnel. Shadows which felt peculiar and ineffable, like they had been part of a deeper darkness.
Then, a loud noise echoed around me, and a black bird flew in my direction, brushing my left shoulder. I tried to follow the bird with my eyes, wondering where it was going, but all I saw was an endless tunnel behind me. The door I entered before had disappeared. When I turned back around, I jolted, realizing I was no longer alone.
This time, my mind was not tricking me.
A tall man stood in front of me, dressed in a long black coat with a high collar and long sleeves trimmed with black lace ruffles at the cuffs. His deep green eyes were intense, seeming to inspect every single movement of mine. The man’s hair was long and pitch-black, bound neatly with red hair ribbons. He resembled a raven-haired deity, which came from another kind of universe and whose purpose was to watch over people, or tocause them death.
His intense look and eerie stillness began to cause a disquiet in my chest, and my discomfort grew the longer he stayed quiet. No longer being able to endure the silence, I asked him, “Who are you?”
“Little puppy, you tell me, because you just landed in my trap.”
His smile was almost delicious, dripping with confidence.Who in God’s name does this man think he is?
I wanted to snap, but I had absolutely no interest in angering someone if he might be the only way out of this dark place.
Distracted by his intimidating presence, I did not realize that the black bird had perched itself on the man’s shoulder. A raven with aredfeather. The same bird that had been at the garden party, and had convinced me that I somehow achieved the ability to talk with animals.
“The raven with the red feather, is it yours?” I asked.
The man in front of me nodded, still staring at me with a lingering stillness that made me uncomfortable. So, his bird was the reason why I crashed into the hedge of roses and my whole life hadturned upside down.
“Why did your demon bird bring me here?”
“Mydemonbird saved you, little puppy.” He took another step closer to me, his eyes solely looking at mine, as if he tried to possess them through his gaze. “Weren’t you about to decline that little man’s request to marry you? Or was all that a lie, and you have already planned the wedding and the bearing of his offspring? You wanted to escape. Your beautiful mindbeggedfor me.”
This man really seemed to have some sort of God complex, because there was no way I would have ever begged for him. But I wondered how he knew about the engagement, since I knew he wasn’t at the party himself. I would have acknowledged his presence—anyone would have noticed him. A man dressed inthis type of clothing wasn’t a typical sight.
“You must be the most delusional man I have ever come across.” Although he was not wrong, I never liked the idea of being a wife to Alexander. I wanted to be free, be able to make my own choices, and travel the world before I had to bind myself to a man. I was angry with my mother that she planned out the wedding with a man I did not love, while she got to experience a deep, emotional love with my father.
“But you love my fierceness, don’t you?” The man’s voice took me out of my carousel of thoughts. His confidence really got on my nerves. I rolled my eyes and wanted to tell him to shut up, but he spoke first. “If you ever roll your eyes at me again, I will bend you over my lap and spank that sweet ass of yours so you remember exactly who you belong to.” My eyes widened in shock. Where I came from, men normally talked and behaved differently, but maybe this man lived in this tunnel and rarely spoke to other human beings.
“Tell me, if you were the one that brought me here, then how can I leave?”
