Golden City

I wake up in the softest sheets that I had every laid on. Softer than my bed that I’ve grown used to, and that really is a feat. They are soft against my skin. They smell like citrus. I open my eyes slowly and take in the magnificent sight before me. The room I am in seems more like a small ballroom. The ceilings are far up above. Beautiful ceiling sculpture line up above giving the roman antique but ethereal feel. I gigantic, intricately designed chandelier with more lightbulbs than I can count on it, giving off the softest glow of golden light to the rest of the room. The bed stretched on a couple of feet away from the base off my feet. This bed is huge! I inhale deeply, soaking in the sweet citrus smell that I realize is coming from the candles on either side of the bed.

“You are awake”, somebody speaks quietly. Glancing around the room, I lay eyes on a breathtaking woman with such angelic features. She is tall and lean. Her skin is as pale and white as mine. She has full round cheeks with a pinch of pink from her blush. Her eyes are purple…. A shade so close to mine. Looking at her, I felt like I am staring at my own reflection, a few decades from now. She holds in front of her a small book and pen. She must have been journaling while she waited for me.

“Arina, you look so much like your mother”, she speaks again. Who is she referring to as Arina? Am I the one? Hold on… where am i? the last think I remember was that two angelic looking beings came to my room after my mother’s death and took me somewhere. Oh mother, my grief came rushing back. “Where am i?” I ask. The woman’s face softens as she looks at me sadly. “Poor child, you are in the land beyond the glaciers, Daryn. Your new home”, she answers calmly.

I am in Daryn? This woman and the other two people who came to pick me up are Darynem? All throughout school I was taught so many subjects that centered around Darynem. Their powers, their histories, their leaders, everything there was to know about them and how evil they were, but not a single thing about their appearance. I had never seen them… until now. They are beautiful. Everything I heard about them back in Anoryl made it seem like they were ugly nasty little scrawny creatures. At least that is what I imagined.

Still. These are the people that killed my father. These are the people that invaded our kingdom and killed our kind. I despise them with all my soul. My gaze hardens at this woman before me. “I want to leave this place this instant. Take me back home!” I exclaim

“This is home Arina, you cannot go- “, I cut her short in her sentence “My name is Violet Sinkette, and this can horrid place can never be my home! Take me back this instant”, I spit out

She takes in a deep breath and walks closer to the bed and takes a seat at the edge of it. She reaches out to take my hand but I snatch it awake from her before she can reach it. “I understand how you feel right now, but I promise, this will all make sense to you, my darling”, she speaks so softly, that I almost want to run into her arms and sob out all my anguish that I feel inside, but I hold back.

“For now, the only thing that I can tell you is that, Meredith trusted me, which is why she told you to look for me before she passed”, she says, rising up from the bed and straightening her gown before walking out of my room. The image of my mother’s lifeless body in a pool of blood flashes in my mind and I hold back a cry as tears fill my eyes again. My mother asked me to look for her?

“Frieda Ruckstov”, the silky voice whispered in my mind again. She must be Frieda then. She is the only one who can explain whatever is going on to me. i try to get out of these heavenly sheets to run after her, but my body aches in response. A loud grumble erupts from my stomach, and only then do I notice the full tray of food set upon the bedstand. Without hesitation, I scoot over to the edge of the bed and start wolfing down huge bites of this sweetbread with a milky jelly substance in the middle. I may have learned battle strategies of the Darynem but my homeland sure missed out on their impeccable cuisine. I took a bite of what looked like a chocolate cheesecake and moaned in pure delight as the flavor’s bursts in my mouth.

An amused laughter fills the room and I turn sharply to see the beautiful doll woman leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed. She had lean muscles and a beautiful curvy figure that told me that she definitely was a fighter.

“Nobody told me that the princess ate like an ogre” she speaks, with a hint of laughter still in her voice. I felt blood rush to my face. Maybe in another life we may have been good friends, but unfortunately not in this one. “Stay away from me Darynem”, I spit with disdain. I am surprised at myself. I am not usually a person with malice and rage within me, but for some reason, I have this inexplicable hatred for Darynem. Maybe it was because of the rigorous syllabus back in Anoryl that teaches us to direct all our fury at these creatures. Even in the scary stories for children, the monsters either are Darynem or are Anorems who visited Daryn and turned evil.

Anorems are taught to hate Darynems by default. Not that they did not deserve. They do. These people invaded our lands, killed our people, tried to take over our forests and seas, assassinated our king, the list is endless, so yes, no matter how beautiful these people are, we can never ever be friends.

“Even if their blood runs through your veins?” the silky voice in my head echoes again

I press my hands against my ears and scream out in frustration “Shut. Up!”

“I guess you have unlocked your Paliar”, Yoda says calmly. Even if I do not like these people, I am in their land, in their beds, eating their food. I might as well gather as much information about them before getting out of this place.

“What is Paliar”, I asked, half expecting her not to answer as I snapped at her earlier

“The voice in your head?” the condescending voice who speaks to you like he’s better than you?

“Yes, she invades my senses whenever she wants to” I confirm

“Wait, your Paliar is a woman?” she asks intrigued, stepped into the room and reaching the bed in just a few steps.

“Y-yes, I suppose?” I stutter, confused

I watch as Yodah’s eyes widen, and then her brows furrow a bit, looks away from me as if she’s in deep thought, and then she stares back at me, her eyes widening even more. I didn’t think that was possible.

“The only Paliar who’s a woman is Gaia! Are you sure she’s a woman?” she says

“Yes, I am sure. She has only spoken a bit but I’m pretty sure she’s a woman.” I respond

“Of course, you can never mistake me for a man” the voice in my mind echoes.

“Let me out, I want to show myself” she speaks again.

“How do I do that”, I say out loud

“You don’t have to speak, I can hear your thoughts, she echoes again

I suddenly begin to lose control of my body again. But this time, I do not hurt anybody. I watch as my fingers extend, a little bit longer. My skin begins to glow like a golden lamp, my chest gets a bit more voluptuous and my silver hair slowly changes to a rich burgundy color. On my left side is a full-length mirror. I stare back, shocked at the reflection I see. It is not me. it is a completely different person. A woman. So beautiful, it feels unreal. Her skin shines like a star, her lips and fingernails red like blood. Her cheeks are rosy and plump. Looking at her, I felt a warm sensation between my legs.

“I know… I am Gaia after all” my lips move to speak these words. But I know that this is not me.

A small squeak from Yoda reminds me that I am not alone, and I turn my head to face her again.

Her mouth is wide agape. Her skin is extremely pale, and she looks like she would be out of this room is she had the strength to move her stunned body. The sheets around me were not filled with immortal roses. The flowers I loved so much back home. But how? The whole room had a presence to it. A presence that told me that the being in the mirror was no ordinary being. And she was… in me? or was me? I am confused.

“With time, you will understand, my love”, my lips move again.

I feel my body begin to morph again back to my old self. As I look back not the mirror, I look more…. Healthy? My skin looked shinier, like Yodah’s, my silvery white hair had a bounce to it that it had never had. My cheeks weren’t so sunken anymore. It was as if Gaia had… revived me.

“Oh My… Gaia appeared” Yodah let out

“Gaia is your Paliar! And y-you could take her form?”, she let out so fast I barely made out her words.

“What?” still very confused at what happened, I asked

“Us Darynem, when we are of age, we are gifted with the power of nature. We gain a strong sense of stewardship and affinity for the world, which is why Daryn is such virgin land. We cannot hurt nature” she explains

“And your Paliar is Gaia…. Arina… Gaia is the earth herself! All other Paliar fall under her!” she exclaims.

This was too much for me to process. If Darynem, had it in their nature to never hurt nature, why would they wage wars and cause destruction in Anoryl? It just didn’t make sense. And withal this talk of Gaia, what does this make me? Lord of the Darynem?