Falling into Mythica

Chapter Three

VIDA’S POV

I got out of bed, threw my clothes back on and used the bathroom; although I couldn’t shower, at least the toilet still worked fine.

I returned to the other part of the cabin and found Elida awake, sitting on the fireplace’s hearth.

“Good morning, Vida,” she said with a smile.

“Good morning, Elida. How did you sleep?” I replied as I sat down on the couch.

“Oh, fine, thank you. There is still fruit left for you to have for breakfast, and then we should start for the Capital,” Elida said.

I grabbed some of the fruit and found a knife so I could cut it up and share it with Elida.

Once we were both eating, I had a question. “What is the Capital like? Should I be worried about going there?” I asked, unsure if I was risking my life by going to a place full of creatures I believed were made up.

“Oh, well, it’s a beautiful big city where all creatures can go and be seen as equal. You see, most of the species here have their own lands around Mythica, but the Capital is considered neutral territory.” She said with a smile before turning serious.

“There will be a lot of different species there, and not all are friendly, so stay close and stay covered. As I mentioned yesterday, there will be several species that will be able to tell what you are solely based on your scent, but most of them should be fine.” Elida said, and unfortunately, this did not make me any less nervous.

There are creatures that will know I’m human just by how I smell; that’s so weird.

We finished eating and headed out. We walked for a really long time. The place was quite beautiful despite not being what I was used to. Elida was nice enough to tell me about the different plants and small creatures we saw along the way.

After some time, I saw the first full-sized human I’d seen since falling into this strange place.

The person turned to look at me, and I noticed the man sniffing the air like a dog does when it catches wind of a scent. The man then frowned at me; however, he said nothing, and Elida hurried me along.

When we were far enough away, I asked, “What was he? He looked just like any other human.”

Elida giggled. “Yes, most people do look human, but they are not. That was a Werewolf, meaning he could transform into a large wolf if he wanted to.”

My eyes nearly popped out of my head. That man could turn into a wolf. What is the actual frack, so the wolves I heard howling during the night were actually transformed humans?

As we travelled, there were more and more people and houses. Things started to get noisier and more crowded, and Elida had me pull the hood up on my cloak and stay really close to her so I didn’t get myself into trouble.

However, I accidentally bumped into a really tall, solid man, and he growled at me. I swear I nearly peed myself.

Elida led me to a quiet area and sighed heavily. “OK, I don’t have any choice. I don’t like to do this as it expends a large amount of magic and energy, but I can’t have you getting into more trouble.” She muttered and then flittered away from me.

Before my very eyes, Elida changed from a small butterfly-winged fairy into a smallish, gorgeous young woman, not much shorter than myself, with long blonde hair, pointed ears and bright blue eyes. She had rosy cheeks and was dressed in what I could only describe as a fairy dress in a bright pink colour.

“Wow, I didn’t know you could do that,” I said as I continued to gawk at Elida. She giggled at my reaction.

“Yeah, as I said, I don’t do it very often as it is rather taxing. Many species here spend most of their time in human form and transform, or we call it to shift, occasionally, but fairies are the opposite. However, I need to keep you safe and being small makes that difficult, so…”

Elida was cut off as two large men came waltzing down the lane where we were. “Did you hear about the ruckus the Dragon King and the Phoenix Queen caused?” The first man said.

“I heard they caused some damage, but not the exact details”, the other man replied.

“Oh yeah, they were fighting so hard, they ripped a hole between the realms. My uncle had to go and help fix the tear before anyone got through”.

“Wow, they are so powerful but also so stupid. What if someone had gotten into the realm? That would have been a disaster”.

“Yeah, I know, right.” The two men continued past us and out of sight.

I turned to Elida. “That must have been how I ended up here”, I whispered, unsure if they could hear me.

Elida said nothing but nodded before grabbing my hand and pulling me along behind her.

We continued on in silence for quite some time. As we moved along, the buildings began to change; they became larger and more decorative, and I couldn’t help but wonder if there was some status separation in place so that those of lower status lived further out from the Capital and those of higher standing lived closer?

We finally arrived at a large wall with a massive gate. There were soldiers standing on either side of the gate. “Act natural, and if you get stopped, we will say you are a hybrid; that should get them off your case,” Elida said, looking somewhat nervous.

I nodded but said nothing. The human-sized fairy continued to hold my hand as we got closer to the gate. I was trembling. I couldn’t help it. Elida gripped my hand tighter, which I assumed was to offer some reassurance.

We finally got to the front of the gate, and I noticed that all the soldiers were looking at me, and many were sniffing the air. “Hey, you there in the green cloak. Where are you from?”

I wasn’t sure what to say and started to panic, but thankfully, Elida spoke on my behalf. “Hello, sir. I found this hybrid in the forest. She appears to be mute, so I’m taking her to the elders for assessment,” Elida said confidently.

I stared down at the ground and acted as timidly as I could. The soldier who spoke to me walked around me before stopping right in front of me. He used his index finger and lifted my chin, but I avoided his gaze.

“Very well, you can proceed,” the soldier said after a few minutes of staring at me. He removed his finger and stepped back from me, allowing Elida to lead me past them and inside the gate.

I breathed a huge breath of relief when we were far away from the gate. “That was close,” Elida said as she led me to what looked like a park. There was play equipment, and young children were playing on it.

“Stay here, and I will get us some food and drinks; I’ll be right back. Act mute if anyone approaches you,” Elida said and dashed off before I could say anything.

I sat on a bench watching children play. They looked and acted the same as humans; seeing them any other way was rather difficult.

After a few minutes, a curious little girl came over to me. I watched as she sniffed me; yeah, that’s not normal human behaviour.

After a few more minutes of sniffing, she looked up at me with big red eyes. “What are you?” she asked. Before I had a chance to say anything, forgetting I was supposed to be mute, the child’s mother rushed over.

“What have I told you about being rude to people? You can’t go around sniffing people like that.” She scolded the child and then turned to me. “I’m so sorry, ma’am. She doesn’t mean to be rude. She is just really curious about people of different species.”

Having now remembered what Elida told me, I just nodded. Thankfully, Elida chose that moment to return. “Oh, hello. I’m sorry, this hybrid appears to be mute.” She said, standing in front of me protectively.

“Oh, I see. I’m sorry. I was just explaining that my daughter was being inquisitive and not trying to be rude.” The lady, who also had red eyes like her daughter, explained to Elida before redirecting her child to the other side of the park.

“Goodness, I can’t leave you alone here, I see. Do you know what could have happened? They are vampires.” Elida said, nodding subtly in the direction of the mother and child.

My mouth hung open as I subconsciously pictured the worst-case scenario of the mother teaching her precious little child how to kill a human by draining me of my blood. I shuddered involuntarily.

“Come on, let us find somewhere less populated to eat. Then we need to head to the council office.” Elida said, pulling me to my feet and snapping me out of my morbid thoughts.

We made our way through some back alleys and came to a small river behind the central part of town.

Elida sat on the bank of the stream and gestured for me to join her. I sat down, and she handed me a bottle of water and some food, which again looked similar to human food, but the colours were off.

I thanked Elida and ate the food. It tasted sweeter than what I would expect of the same foods in our world, much like the bread from yesterday.

As we were finishing up, a large man appeared out of nowhere, huffing and puffing like he had just sprinted a marathon. He raced towards us and stopped about a meter away.

“You’re here. I can’t believe it; you’re finally here.” I looked at Elida, and she stared wide-eyed at the large man. Wait, was he talking to me?

I looked back at him and studied his face. My mouth dropped open, and my eyes widened when an image from my dream popped into my head.

No, it can’t be.