The Place On The Other Side

New Places

What seemed like an hour to Dolyia went by until she suddenly was plopped onto her behind and sitting in an open grassy area, with forest trees surrounding her. Behind her there was a large slab of concrete making a small wall about 10 feet wide by 8 feet tall, nothing but some pretty ruins and funny symbols were carved all over it. In front of her lay a small light path to an opening in the trees. The exit was about 50 feet from where she was sitting. Dolyia got up from the ground and dusted herself off. She had a strange feeling she was nowhere near the cottage or the rippling tree. She felt that pulling feeling again in her chest. This time it was stronger than she'd ever felt. Realizing she'd been there for over 20 minutes, she decided to get moving and headed towards the exit where the trees split.

　　It didnt take her long to get to the opening, but when she did, she was shocked to see where she was. Standing in front of her was a large angel statue and sitting around her was a huge graveyard. There were stones everywhere, more angel statues, and a few statues that looked more like the angel of death. With her wits held tight she pressed forward. Walking slowly she peeked around the statues for any sign of living beings and or someone to tell her where she was.

!!*BAM*!!

　There was a flash of light and Dolyia found herself on the ground curling herself up against the nearest stone. She looked up to see it was one of the angel of death statues. This scared her even more so she got up to run, but before she knew it she was knocked down again this time with more force.

　　She yelled as loudly as she could. "What?! What's going on!!"

　　She couldn't see what was hitting her. All she could feel was darkness surrounding her. After getting herself collected again she thought she'd try once more to run for it. At the end of the graveyard, there looked to be a small house near the entrance of the graveyard, that's where she wanted to go. Quickly she got up and ran for it, this time making it about 15 feet forward.

!!*BANG*!!

　　A splitting pain feeling overwhelmed Dolyia. In seconds she was sprawled out on her back as blood came from her hands, arms and legs. She reached for the temple of her head and found that blood was coming from there.

She looked up and in only a few seconds time got a glimpse of a floating thing that looked a lot like the hooded angels of death statues. She had another searing pain run through her body. Suddenly the flash of bright pink lights and the hooded figure was gone. Dolyia past out into blackness.

　　When Dolyia woke up, she woke up in no pain. She was laying in a bed too short for her own legs, but she was comfortable. She looked around to her right and saw a magnificent stained glass round-ish window. The sun shined brightly through it, warming her face with the colorful reflections on her. She slowly started to sit up to see around the privacy wall on her left, but was forced back to laying down rby a small hand. Dolyia, looking towards the thing that pushed her, she saw that it was the little chipmunk from the woods, except he was larger now. Only a little more than half Dolyia's height, when in the woods he was barely taller than her ankles.

　　"Why can't I sit up? Where am I? How did I get here? And how are you bigger now?!" Dolyia half shouted to the creature, adding, "And how can u talk? What was that tree and that thing that hurt me, and, and..."

　　She couldn't speak any more. Her tongue felt heavy and she was unable to move it. She felt extremely calm quickly. The creature had slipped some reddish liquid into her mouth while she was babbling on with her questions, causing her to be quiet and calm. Making his way back out of the room area, he gave her a nod and said.

　　"I am Benwick, guardian of the entrance." then added nodding to her bandages, "They almost got you. They are 'Dradons', creatures of the graveyard. They feed off humans, but they weren't able to hurt you as badly as they could've. I won’t get into that now. You need to rest and get more treatment."

　　With that he was gone. Dolyia felt her tongue become normal again. Her sores were starting to hurt a bit, so she decided Benwick was right and to stay there until he came back. Benwick came back around the wall with a small bowl with a yellow substance in it and a few more bandages. He was humming a pretty tune that she thought she knew from her past.

　　"Let me patch you up the rest of the way. Then we'll have some supper and I can explain some things for you my dear." He said as he sat next to the bed on his stool.

　　"You had a nasty run in with that Dradon. I'm very glad to have found you in time. Though I didn't expect you to come for another few days. I figured you'd stay in the cottage longer, but why would you when your destiny calls you." He was mumbling now.

　　She could hardly understand him as he finished up.

　　"Well that should do it. They should all be healed by morning. Let's eat, I'm starving." He added before leaving around the wall again.

　　Dolyia was in a state of confusion at this point. Her head was spinning and her stomach was growling loudly. Deciding to relax and eat supper knowing with Benwick she was safe and could get at least some of the answers she needed. He popped his head around the wall and smiled, coming around carrying a small table with all sorts of dishes filled with things Dolyia had never seen before. Cautiously she leaned in to look at it all, Benwick piped up.

　　"It's all safe and quite tasty if you ask me." giving a small and friendly chuckle between bites.

　　Dolyia decided to try out an orange rounded cream pie looking thing. It was amazing, she thought. It was basically a cream pastry but orange and mint flavored. She dug into it and ate so much, Benwick had to go get more for her.

　　"Thank you, so much for all this generosity. Though I'd still like to know what this place is and how I got here." Dolyia finally said after stuffing herself.

　　Benwick began. "This place is called 'Chalen Kingdom'. We are in my home located on the outskirts of my village called 'Penne' which is one of many villages among the kingdom." He paused to take a swig from his goblet, "You have a long and very important journey to go on here, it is your destiny. You may not know it but I know you can feel it."

　　He took another swig and cleared his throat. "I am a 'bunchimog'. I am one of many different species here in Chalen, which you will see eventually. FYI if I were you I’d only ask about the others. Not a lot of us here don't like outsiders. The more you know and keep to yourself the better, until you reach the castle of course, but that's a ways from now."

　　"What about the Dradons, what are those?" asked Dolyia now that she had a pause to interrupt, "Why couldn't they kill me?" she added.

　　Benwick shuddered and said. "They are soul eaters. They eat your soul then they eat the flesh to stay alive longer. They are slowly dying out due to not much humans being around this area, due to fear." He paused for a deep breath, then continued, "And they weren't able to kill you because of your blood, its royalty." He finished saying with a smile, that faded fast at Dolyia's reaction..

　　She was distraught now, did he say royal blood, no there was no way that she, Dolyia, was part royal. Her mum and pa were from the village they're farm was near. There had to be some other explanation. Benwick seeing her confusion and obvious upset-ness, intertwined.

　　"You'll be alright. I'm sure you're lost about your heritage. Not growing up here where you belonged was a horrible thing for us in the kingdom."

　　He was beginning to mumble again. Then trailed off as he stepped away around the wall again, only coming back to take the table and food away, not finishing what he was saying about her being royalty. Dolyia laid back down on the bed, stared up at the ceiling, began to think about everything she had seen and felt over the last week's time, and drifted to sleep.

　　The next morning Benwick came around the wall with a very big smile and so much cheerfulness to him Dolyia couldn't help but giggle and smile back.. Being able to sit up faster than the night before, she was taken aback by the fact that she was in no pain at all.

　　"How are you this morning, my dear?" Benwick asked while he set a tray with strange looking fruits and nuts, with a glass of what looked like orange juice, down on the end of the bed for her.

　　She replied with a giggle. "Feeling quite great actually. A little hungry, but all my pain is gone." Pulling back a bandage to see that the sore was completely healed, not even a scar was there, "What was that stuff you used made of? It was almost magical the way these sores healed." she added.

　　"That was my own healing ointment I made. It consists of many things. Too much to go into today. You have a busy day for yourself." Benwick answered her gleefully.

　　Dolyia had no idea what he meant but was ready for any kind of adventure and to get out of this small cottage, out into the sun again.

Benwick then said, holding a small bag in his hands, "I packed some food and basic things for a decent trip. Everything is labeled so you'll know what they all are. I also washed up and mended your dress and shawl for you."

　　Leaving around the wall he said. "I'll be waiting outside for you."

　　Dolyia now alone, got herself into the newly mended and quite beautiful flowers that Benwick patched on. She wrapped her shawl around her shoulders, grabbed up her bag, peeked inside to see everything neatly set in there with labels on them. There was also a map rolled up towards the bottom of the bag. She looked around the cottage as she left the small room, noticing how big the place was on the inside.

　　He had all sorts of funny looking objects and trinkets spread neatly all over the place. There was a sitting area, with a tiny fireplace to the right. There was a small kitchen and washroom on the left. He also had pictures of all kinds of people and creatures sitting on his mantel, with beautiful candelabras on either side of the hearth. Realizing that she was taking longer than she should have, she started towards the front door to meet Benwick outside. Out into this mystical, unknown new place..