Chapter 5

An animal was standing in front of me, and I did not like it one bit. Weird to say, my surroundings didn't match that of a park either. I sat upright and pinched myself multiple times to escape whatever trance, hypotonization or dream I was in. But it wasn't working, to say the least. The animal that was previously around me was now staring at me like a deer caught in headlights. My eyes took a peek around to be absolutely blinded by white, the only colour to be seen. I searched around, trying to figure out why I was surrounded by white and an unusual animal, but nothing else.

It was then that I thought about Jess’ whereabouts.

"I suggest you stop panicking before things begin to get more hectic for yourself," a deep voice spoke.

I stopped myself right in my tracks and sealed my mouth shut, to prevent myself from screaming in shock. I was pretty sure that the latest definition of an animal did not have the term ‘talking' in it. I couldn't stop myself from curiosity. "What are you?"

"I prefer the term, ‘who'. I'm Bubbles."

I shook my head in denial. "Is that an animal?”

It wasn’t pleased. “Bubbles is my name."

"So, what are you? And why do you talk?"

Groaning in annoyance, the so-called, ‘Bubbles', turned around, which allowed me to see what it looked like properly.

"A unicorn?" I asked in disbelief.

A majestical creature stood emitting hues of baby blue and white out of its soft coat of fur. A golden horn shimmered on top of its' head and on each side were breathtakingly beautiful feathers that were sequenced together to form wings. The posture he was standing in radiated the qualities of wisdom and desired respect.

"An alicorn, actually."

"What's the difference?" I asked

"Maybe that-

Not allowing him to finish speaking, I scrambled along to a figure that could be seen lying across the colourless ground. I had found another human in this deserted area.

"Jess?" No response.

"Jess?! You gonna wake up?"

"Uh? What?" She turned over to face me, and I brushed strands of sticky hairs away from her sweat-drenched face while kneeling beneath her. I was a great friend. Her anxious face seemed desperate for some space, so I stepped back to allow her to breathe. She was adjusting to the environment and backing up as the usual twinkle in her eyes were no longer to be seen. I smiled sympathetically at her, but she shrunk back without any hesitation.

"I thought unicorns weren't real!" Jess randomly shouted while pointing at Bubbles.

"That's what I thought about humans too," Bubbles replied, unamused. "And for the second time, I am an alicorn!"

I frowned upon becoming aware of its sarcasm, but Jess continued to have a staring competition with the bewildered creature.

"Um… can you help us?"

"Well I'm obliged to therefore I must," responded the bored alicorn while sighing dramatically.

I sighed, figuring out that we would probably have to go along with his grumpy mood as it was the only way I could find to get out of this area- getting help from him. The alicorn incoherently muttered some strange words under his breath, to which I pretended to not hear. Relieved that maybe there was a slight chance we could get out of here; I set my hopes quite high and dragged Jess along with me. We trailed behind Bubbles, looking like lost puppies. But I felt as if we would be walking along a pathway of never-ending white that either led us to a dead-end or nowhere at all.

But the view got better. Cliffs and pink blossom trees emerged over me. A stream ran through the middle, diverging the cliffs as butterflies and birds flew through the sky. Wisps of green stuck out between the tall structural cliffs as mushrooms dotted the walkways. Along with birds and butterflies, I could make out small fairy-like creatures that buzzed along, minding their own business while unusual land animals wandered along one of them being alicorns. It was more than magical.

"If you're done gaping, I suggest we meet up with the wise leader," he suggested.

Who the hell was their so-called wise leader? I must have said it out loud because Bubbles seemed to have caught onto it.

"The wise leader is the person who is in charge while our actual leader is away just like right now," explained Bubbles, wearily.

"So where is your actual leader?" I asked.

"Quite nosy, are we?" he grumbled.

I would never know if he was intent on giving us the answer or leaving us with the assumption of us being nosy. But whatever it was, there was no time for him to continue as a small, winged fairy had approached him, carefully. There was no point in eavesdropping as their conversation was quick to end.

"Well, um, where should we be?"

"As I had told you before, I'm going to take you to meet the wise leader," stated Bubbles, unhappy at my questions.

I mentally prayed that whoever their wise leader was, would be able to take us back home. While walking to our destination, I kept firing questions at Bubbles, one of them being why we were surrounded by white when we woke up.

"Ask the wise leader, won't you? And stop entering my personal bubble, please."

I scowled and moved away from him to make sure that I wouldn't step inside his ‘personal bubble'.

"We're now about to enter the main zity of Ziara so you must be respectful at all times, keep your hands directly by your side, no coughing, laughing, sneezing or shouting or you will be executed."

"EXECUTED?!" I gaped.

He glared at me. "You're lucky we're not in the zity yet; otherwise you would have to be executed for all that screaming you're doing."

I gulped. "zity?”

"Should I refer it to as ‘city' then? It probably would be more appreciated in your human vocabulary list." he responded.

"They're the same thing, city and zity?

"Absolutely not. We have tall and valuable buildings, important attractions, respected and well-known people. It's a rush most of the time, but from what I've heard, your city is just an area of smoke, dust and rich hags. Must be hard living there."

"Actually-"

"Keep your voice down please, we've now officially entered the zity. I wouldn't want any deaths on your first day." I nudged Jess by the side to get no reaction, whatsoever.

"Hey, you good?" I whispered. "You haven't spoken a single word since we've arrived here."

She nodded her head, ever so slowly. I frowned and looked down at Bubbles who was now coming to a stop in front of two sets of large gates.

"What are we doing here?" I asked.

"This is where the wise leader lives."

"I thought your leader would have lived in some sort of castle or something," Jess said, finally speaking.

"Not anymore," responded Bubbles with a stern look, signalling Jess to close her mouth.

"Knock," Bubbles commanded.

I formed my hands into fists and gently tapped on the wide gates. I stumbled back as the gates opened themselves, revealing a never-ending, growth of trees which crisscrossed right in front of me. It looked something similar to a village, and I knew there was more to come. As my foot stepped onto the giant roots in front of me, my heart pounded at the beauty of it all.

Following behind Bubbles who seemed to know what he was doing, we entered through a series of branches and roots as at last; we came face to face with a small cottage house with an arched door. It was a bit different from what the other shelters looked like as the colour painted on the house was grey making the whole interior look dull.

"So, what are we doing here?" asked Jess once again.

The alicorn was increasingly irritated and ignored her question. Rolling my eyes, I opened the grey door and inspected the room for anything unusual. Surprisingly, there was no magical equipment in here except for a battered old couch and desk in the corner. Cobwebs filled each corner in the ceiling as a coat of dust layered the room. It was easy to say that neither Jess nor I were impressed.

"The wise leader will be in here, just sit on that couch if you want and wait for a few minutes," instructed Bubbles.

My eyes trailed over to the dirty couch, and I sent a disgusting look to Bubbles who showed no expression on his face except started to walk out of the door.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"I don't need to be in here, I'll be waiting outside," he answered and then with a swish, he was gone.

I crossed my arms and gently tapped my feet on the floor as I waited patiently. Jess, on the other hand, looked cross almost at me.

"Jess, what's wrong?" I questioned her.

"What's wrong? Oh well nothing, except we're stuck in some kind of magical world and it seems to be not my fault, except yours!"

"How is it my fault?"

"You're the one who decided to throw that object thing that you found at the park in the portal, and if you had never done that, we wouldn't have been here!"

I looked down. “I get that you don’t like it here. But I saw your perspective and it was only after that we got here. The best we can do is turn to the good side. We wouldn't have met a talking alicorn and found this place!”

Jess was upset but shook it off as she unhappily trudged towards the dainty couch and plopped down onto it.

"I thought you had matured a little bit," she sadly said.

I impolitely stared. My ass was planted on an old and disgusting 'couch'. I was growing impatient and was just about to go out and get Bubbles when Jess' head snapped towards me.

"Did you hear that?" she whispered.

I was about to reply with a stern 'no' when I too heard a strange shuffling behind what seemed to be the desk. Signalling to Jess that we should go and check it out, I stood up and tiptoed to the study table. Slowly and silently, I peered my head over the desk, which seemed to be stacked to the ceiling with sheets of paper.

"HELLO THERE!"

I screamed.

"Sorry, I scared you there," said the man.

"I can see you're confused, and you may have lots of questions to ask, but if you left that till the end, that would be great. I’m the wise leader Gregory," he explained.

The name was gag-worthy. We both nodded our heads to tell him that we understood and then he gestured for us to follow him. My feet were tired from all the walking, but I started to listen attentively as he talked about food and a place for us to rest temporarily. I could only breathe properly once we were out of the compact room.

"Both of you will be given a room to share. Apologies for the size but you'll have to deal with it. Supper will be at 6:00 sharp so, please make sure you come down when Bubbles comes to get you. You have time to freshen up and relax if you would like."

Gregory left us with strict instructions yet left us confused on the reason for our peculiar stay. Jess turned to me in apprehension and for clear answers.

"Look, I made a mistake, I get it. I'll get us out of here, I promise."

With a scornful look plastered on her face

"Should we enter our room, now? Aren't you a little tired?" I asked Jess.

"Yeah, I guess."

Reluctantly, she twisted the doorknob and entered the room. Expectations of luxury were brought to a halt when observing the lack of basic necessities in the room. Confusion was evident on both of our faces as we stared at the empty place in front of us. Windows and a wooden floor were the only things in the room with no furniture at all. I glanced at Jess who marched with a glint of frustration in her manner. Opening the window to let in sunlight, I quickly held onto Jess when the floor began to shake.

"What’s going on?!" she squeaked in a panicked tone.

I shielded my eyes as the movement continued. It was her gradual nudge that led me to lower my defence and gaze at the room. A bed, couch and what looked like another door, had popped up out of nowhere. Wanting to investigate what the other door was, I let go of her and opened the door, cautiously in case an unexpected animal jumped at me. But it was just a small shower enclosure, sink and toilet. Nothing to be afraid of. Beside the shower on a small table, I could see formal attire folded in a neat pile.

"That was… unusual," she proclaimed.

"You know what, let's each take a shower and wait for Bubbles to collect us, yeah?" I suggested.

"Sounds fine to me," she said blankly.

As Jess took her much-needed shower, all I could think about was home. There was a feeling inside me, somewhere deep in the very pit of my stomach that scared me. I think I had to convince myself that this place was much better than home.

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I had scrubbed off the dirt and remnants of home. But I hadn't figured out why there was that hate towards home, now. It was never my favourite place, and I had wished to escape many times, but I had never thought that my wish would come true. It was weird and new.

I was dressed in a light pink dress which stopped above my knees with a cardigan to accompany it while Jess looked pretty herself in a lacy white dress which ended at her mid-thighs.

"You look cute," pointed out Jess.

"Thanks, you too," I replied.

"You ready for dinner?" she asked.

My stomach was grumbling giving the Jess the answer she wanted. Nodding my head, I looped my hand through hers as walked of our small cabin. Waiting for us outside was Bubbles who looked annoyed and grumpy. The usual.

"The great hall is this way so follow me," he instructed in a monotonous voice.

We trailed behind him as I started fidgeting nervously. I wanted to know who was coming and couldn't keep my mouth closed any longer.

“Bubbles, may I ask-

“No.”

I groaned. “Who’s coming?”

He grunted, disapprovingly. "The wise leader, his son and a friend of his son?"

"Um, so only five people?"

"Yes."

Soon afterwards, we had arrived in front of two sets of doors. It looked like an old building which had been in ruins. But I was told that everyone had dinner here. Lined up in front was a cobblestone pathway which lighted up when we walked on it, and a long dining table filled with never-ending space with heaps of food greeting us. Hundreds of chairs lined both sides with plates and cutlery in front of every available seat, the replica of a banquet!

The wise leader was seated at the very end, seeming heavily engaged in a book that was placed in front of him.

Bubbles motioned for us to sit down, which we gladly did next to each other on one side. I didn't want to disturb his reading.

"Oh, hello there, perfect timing. My son will be here soon, sorry for the delay," Gregory exclaimed, shutting his book.

"No problem..." I replied. Bubbles' absence made me feel uncomfortable, for the first time since I had arrived here. It was clear that it was the same case for Jess, who had her hands folded on her lap and face creased with tension.

"Relax, it'll be over soon, and everything will turn out just fine."

After moments of strange looks from the wise leader and impatient waiting, Bubbles trotted in through the door and whispered to the leader.

I could see both of them smiling as Gregory leaned in closer to me and said, "It seems like my son, and his friend has arrived, please introduce yourselves as they arrive."

I responded with a polite nod, eager to meet them and nudged Jess, excitingly.

And then, the grand doors opened.