The dream life ain't so dreamy

Cecilia opened her eyes in an unfamiliar space. Her stomach, which had been growling for hours, was unexpectedly quiet at this time.

Looking left and right, she couldn't even recognize where the floor, ceiling, and walls were.

She rose unsteadily and began to walk.

The unidentified material she stepped on was a surprisingly quite solid floor.

Cecilia tried to shout into the empty air, fishing for an answer: "Hello? Is there anyone here? Is this another wizard thing?"

Silence.

She started walking in an unknown direction. After all, the exit door won't appear in front of her if she just stays put, right?

Or maybe it would? She really didn't know much about magic.

Given an unknown situation, it's always better to act on the logic of known situations.

That was one of the few lessons Sirius taught her growing up. Cecilia made up her mind and started walking in a random direction.

If she dies a horrible and cruel death, she will be able to tell the heavenly powers of above that her father caused it.

That would be fun.

After what seemed like hours of wandering aimlessly, Cecilia stopped in her tracks.

There seems to be no pain or fatigue in the world she resides in; otherwise, given her normal fitness, she would have passed out long ago, but apart from this knowledge, the long walk gave her nothing.

There must be some kind of mechanism like before, she tried to cheer herself up. 

In the books  she has read you never just imprison someone without any explanation or answer. It can't be that her life from now on will be simply wondering around in the endless white.

When she reached her hand to open her wound again, she was horrified to find that her hand was completely white and smooth, without even a scab.

She can't bleed.

Cecilia didn't know why exactly this realization was the trigger, yet she started to get more and more stressed, to the point where she could hardly breathe.

She hadn't heard anything or seen anything other than white since who-knows-how-long and she didn't know how to leave the white place that seemed more and more nightmarish to her eyes by the second.

She wished to interact with something, no matter what. 

Even feeling pain is better than feeling nothing.

Right at this stage, a second before breaking, she heard—firstly in a long time—a voice.

Right now, it sounded better than any music she had ever heard in her life.

"Ah- master..." Even though it was only a wispher, it was loud and clear in the  destitute void.

Cecilia ran towards the source of the sound, only to find a large tree that she didn't understand how she had missed before, under which lay a man with long white hair.

She walked quietly behind the ancient looking tree, only to find that the man's face was the same as someone she met just yesterday.

"Lucius!" Her voice made the man jump. She didn't know that the normally confident Lucius could show such childish confusion on his face.

"What- how did you get here? How even..."

As Lucius muttered to himself she noticed the blood-stained handkerchief on his chest.

"Oh God! You're injured! Let me check-"

"No need." Lucius quickly regained his composure, took the handkerchief and shoved it into his pocket so Cecilia could see that there was no wound on his chest.

"No matter how you got here, I'll take you back." 

If Cecilia had heard those words five minutes ago, she would have cried with joy. Now that her senses were awakened again, she wanted to know what this place was.Lucius looked different this time, much more agitated and impatient than their last incounter.

However, before she could ask anything, Lucius had already opened a rift in space and pushed her through it.

Cecilia somehow simultaneously felt her body being pulled outward and into itself; next thing she knew, she was lying in an even more comfortable bed than the one she had in her room. She didn't think it was even possible.

Before Cecilia could snap out of her confusion, brown eyes framed by thick lashes blocked her entire field of vision: "You are finally awake! I was so worried about your well-being."

"Devin...?"

"Why didn't you tell me if you felt unwell? I may not be a doctor, but I can certainly pay one."

Cecilia stared at Devin's thin lips opening and closing, still unable to fully digest the words he was saying.

"She probably needs rest for the near future; it is better that she not be in too bright places and eat light. Let her come sit on the deck for some fresh air when she feels better."

The elderly doctor turned to Devin, gently hinting at him to speak more softly in front of Cecilia.

"I didn't detect any serious problems in her body; it must be a temporary weakness." She now turned to her, "Eat slowly and drink a lot, you'll recover soon."

"Thank you." Cecilia tried to sit up to thank the doctor -but her head protested this with a terrible, unaccepted headache. She immediately fell back into the lying position she was in earlier. "Take it easy, Do you feel uncomfortable somewhere?" Devin's surprisingly soft hand smoothed her tightly furrowed brows.

Somwhere? Her stomach was empty and the wound on her arm itched. She might not have experienced it herself, but the feeling of being run over by a bus couldn't possibly be much worse.

Cecilia didn't know if the space from before was a dream she had while fainting or if it really happened, but as she left it, she began to see its benefits.

"You want to drink? here." Devin misread her silence, rushed to get a glass of water and held it to her lips, treating her as she was paralyzed.

She accepted his good will and, after sipping, asked in a half-hoarse voice: "How long I'v been out?"

"Several hours, no matter what spell the doctor cast on your mind you didn't respond; we thought you were already brain dead."

A spell? Cecilia picked Devin's words, could it be that the hallucination she had earlier was caused by this?

Devin saw her frown and asked worriedly, "Where are you uncomfortable? Do you want me to call the doctor again?"

"No need; I just need to sleep a little." She just wanted to be alone, mental weariness landed on her like a piano in a cartoon after everything that had happened.

Devin signaled to the servants that she hadn't noticed their presence until now to close the curtains, kissed her on the head in a strange fatherly gesture and slowly left the room.

"Devin?" Cecilia said as Devin was at the door.

"Mm?"

"You have a really nice room."

"Thank you, Your Highness, I hope your nightmares won't eat you alive."

Cecilia began to get used to the slightly different culture of the wizards:

"Good night to you too."