Sometimes you have some amazing adventures you just have to tell everyone about. Read the rest of this account here.
Synopsis: I was hiking in the mountains of Korea when I found myself in another world. I met a young woman there named Ain-Mai. We eventually got captured, along with her brother Sing-ga, by a sorceress named Hengfel, who took us to her world. We got away from her and hid in the air tunnels. Sing-ga died after being attacked by small spider-like creatures. Ain-Mai and I found our way to the outside of the huge fortress where we sheltered in a small hollow. I woke up to find a small winged creature looking at me.
The Mansion in the Summit
The winged creature perched on the entrance to our hollow put its hands over its eyes and bowed deeply. Then it fluttered forward a few steps and took off one of its bracelets, offering it to me.
Ain-Mai woke up when I tried to stand and she gasped at the sight of the thing. I was nervous as well, but it kept offering me the golden bracelet, so finally, I took it. It mimed for me to put it on, but it was too small to put around my wrist and I had to stick it on four of my fingers.
That is better. Now we can talk, the creature said suddenly. The meaning of the words went straight to my mind, without it moving its mouth at all.
Who are you? I asked. It was strange to speak in my mind and have him answer there. I didn’t like it; it was as if someone was snooping on my thoughts.
My name is Drovoi and I am a diplomat in exile. At one time, we met with peoples from many worlds until we were conquered. I will tell you more later, but right now you are hurt and hungry. I will take you to somewhere where you can rest and get treated and then we can talk a little more.
Ain-Mai put a hand on my arm and gave me a questioning look. I took off the bracelet and handed it to her. I saw her eyes widen and I knew that she was conversing mentally with Drovoi. After a moment, she gave it back to me.
I have a transport coming to take you to our refuge, but we must hurry; the dragons are often about in the morning and I do not want to get drawn into a battle.
Because we were conversing with ideas instead of words, I got a mental picture of the “transport” just before it appeared. Still, it was a shock. A curved, furry leg reached over the edge of the hollow and a creature like a huge tarantula appeared. It was covered in white hair and its legs ended in small hands that gripped at the rocks as it moved.
You want us to get on that thing? I asked.
It is not dangerous and it will travel quickly where we need to go—much quicker than you can alone. Do not worry. See?
Drovoi took off his bracelet and held it against the creature’s head. I did not feel thoughts—only simple emotions coming from it—but I could tell that it was tame and amiable, with the temperament of a St. Bernard rather than a predator.
I let Ain-Mai feel this as well, and then we both hobbled forward and slowly climbed on its back. It was the strangest thing I have ever done in my life, even including my adventures of the previous week. The white fur was as soft as silk and it had a harness and back support attached to it. This turned out to be a very good thing as the creature began to climb up the steep side of the tower. Its leathery tail came around and held us in place so that we did not slip off its back.
We climbed for twenty minutes, the white spider-mount moving upwards steadily, never slowing or speeding up. The air began to get thin and the wind increased. I was freezing and my arms were starting to ache from holding on tightly. Drovoi had flown on ahead, it seemed. I looked down behind us and saw dragons flying around, thousands of feet below us.
Finally, we reached the summit of the tower and I could see that we were in the middle of what had once been a huge city. It stretched away for miles on all sides. There were other huge towers visible in the distance, but those had been broken down, so that only the lower parts were still standing.
Drovoi appeared from behind a rock. Please come in. You must be very tired, he said. The wind was screaming and threatening to blow us all off and we followed him behind the rock. There was a door, camouflaged to look like the rock. It was open, but I could see that the cave beyond it was only a few feet deep. Still, I followed Drovoi inside. He suddenly disappeared, but before I could even react, everything around me changed.
The wind was gone. The air pressure was normal again. We were standing in a wide room with a pool of water in the middle. The floors were smooth stone and water was falling from above. The air was bursting with the fragrances of flowers and fruit. A moment later, men and women came towards us and escorted Ain-Mai and me to separate rooms.
What came next was like being in a spa, hospital, and restaurant, all rolled into one. The men bandaged my injuries with cloths and medicine. Then they helped me change into clean clothes and served me all sorts of food that I could not even begin to describe accurately. There were meats and fruits and other things I could barely have imagined: foods that were like eating cold, flavored air or others that looked like square diamonds until they melted in my mouth in a burst of sweetness.
After I had been treated and had eaten as much as I could, a woman came into the room. She was tall and wore a red cloak, with long, dark hair hung down the back. She was beautiful, although her face had a timeless look to it. She handed me a golden bracelet that was big enough for me to put on.
How in all the million worlds did you end up on the outside of that tower? she asked and her eyes bored into me as if she was trying to read my mind.
It’s a very long story, I said, mentally. I’m not totally sure myself.
She was still looking at me very hard. Suddenly she said out loud and in English, “Where are you from?”
I had not realized it until then how long it had been since I had heard English spoken and my shocked expression must have shown my comprehension. She only nodded.
“You speak English,” I said, like an idiot.
“I speak many languages,” she said, “and I have been to your world before. My name is Klista.”
(to be continued…)
April 22nd, 2013 at 11:03 pm
I’ve been following this story and really enjoy the different creatures and people in this world.
I’m looking forward to learning more about the how and why behind everything that’s happening.
April 22nd, 2013 at 11:10 pm
Thanks. This installment was a transition, but the next one will quite enlightening. Klista is a very interesting character herself, who has come into other stories I’ve written. If you’re interested, you can click on Klista in my tag cloud and read some of them. Her full story hasn’t been revealed yet.
April 23rd, 2013 at 11:42 am
Wow, what a fascinating tale. You’ve got an impressive imagination. Your writing is very smooth and it moves along pretty quickly. Nice work!
April 23rd, 2013 at 2:37 pm
Thanks you. I plan to have the next installment of this story up on Friday, if I can manage it.
April 23rd, 2013 at 11:36 pm
Cool. Looking forward to it.
April 23rd, 2013 at 5:13 pm
Was Klista disguised as Drovoi? (Since he mysteriously disappeared?) Or is she ruling the likes of Drovoi…interesting and mythical..
April 23rd, 2013 at 6:45 pm
Hmm, I guess it does seem like that, since I never explained what happened to him. No, she’s separate and he’ll come back into the next one too. She is ruling over his kind, plus many others. The next one will explain a lot of that kind of stuff.
April 24th, 2013 at 5:21 pm
Is it bad that I had her saying it in the way our Korean students say it? XD
May 2nd, 2013 at 3:04 pm
so this is where klista comes in!
May 2nd, 2013 at 6:47 pm
Yep, the worlds cross over. 🙂 I’m glad you picked up on it.
May 20th, 2013 at 2:44 am
Klistaaaa!!!
May 20th, 2013 at 2:44 am
(oops, just saw Sharmishtha’s comment above…)
May 20th, 2013 at 2:14 pm
Yep, she came back. 🙂 I’d love to write a novel about her at some point.