Whitefield: Shattered Realms

Welcome

Chapter 21

~~ Welcome ~~

Ian yelled with bulged eyes as he moved at light speed through a tunnel of many colors. His body was curved forward from the inundating inertia. His deep grey eyes reflected the bright multicolor.

Just then, the walls of the multicolored tunnel, cracked. They cracked again till they exploded to shards of colorful glasses and a very bright beam of light gushed in, causing the freaked out Ian to close his eyes shut.

Darkness, took over…

~

With soft moans, Ian slowly opened his eyes and was met with a blurry vision. He had to blink a few times, before getting a much clearer view.

He felt peace and serenity rule his entire being. It was as though he had passed through a rejuvenation chamber — if there was anything like that. He sniffed in and exhaled. Then he began to move his limbs; his fingers and toes. He raised his arms over his face and took a glance at his hands, before dropping them. He did not know what prompted him to do so, but he just did it. He knew he was lying down, so he pulled half his body up and rested his back on a pillow.

His left brow slightly moved up as the bed felt softer than usual. It was really soft. He knew how he had always complained to his mum, ever since Peter bought him a new bed, because it was hard and uncomfortable. But he later got used to it and forgot about its texture. But now, it was like he was sitting on a large marshmallow and his butt would sink in anytime soon.

He dropped his head to affirm if it was his bed.

“What the…?” he muttered with puzzled eyes.

His blanket was blue, and not the usual white. He turned his head left and right, only to see that the bed was much wider than before.

“The hell?” he frowned. This was definitely not his bed.

He then looked around the room for one last check. This was probably a prank pulled by Chase. Even if his friend had managed to change his bed and blanket, he couldn’t have possibly changed the layout of his room overnight.

To his right was a large window with white linen curtains, allowing the golden rays of the morning sun to peer through moderately. The distance from the window to his bed was about ten feet.

Ian was again shocked by this. First, his window was small, not big like this. Also, it wasn’t always by his side, it was always in front of him. This made turn his head straight and he saw a door instead of his window. The door was brown and had beautiful carvings on it.

‘Huh? Since when did Chase become an artist?’ he pondered, still forcing himself to believe that this was a prank by his cheesy friend.

He heaved a sigh with closed eyes, before making one last turn with his head, to the left. He opened his eyes and they narrowed.

Of course, there wasn’t a window here, he’d always had one window in his room. But where did those come from?

Lined straight from one edge of the wall to the other, were short long shelves; about four of them. They all contained books upon books. Though, one was reserved for footwear, that Ian had never seen before or heard about. He saw flip-flops, but were made out leather. Leather shoes were also there, but where made like crocs — the heels were missing.

“Damn!” Ian was flabbergasted and he jumped off the bed and rushed to the door. He was about to open it, when he paused, and then turned to face the room. He had a better and complete view from here.

The walls were painted blue and had some word engravings on it, but Ian couldn’t read them. He noticed a tall, brown wardrobe at the side of the bed. It was so tall, its roof scraped the ceiling, that was also made from wood. He also noticed that the floors weren’t tiled, but were made of wood. The setting of the room looked so archaic, he recalled a scene from one of the mediaeval books he had read.

And the room was way wider and bigger than what he was used to. What in the world was happening!?

‘Wow!... Chase must have put a lot of effort to do all this… Heh,’ he chuckled nervously and then sighed depressingly. He immediately knew this was beyond a prank. Why would Chase go this far and for what purpose? His birthday was yesterday, so this was a pointless joke to pull. And there was no way anyone could have done such wonder in a few hours overnight.

His mind instantly whirled to a conclusion. This was another one of his bizarre dreams. Though, it don’t feel like it. This felt real and authentic. It was like he had always been in this place his whole life.

At that moment, his head buzzed with a shrill sound like an alarm had gone off in it. He held his temples in pain, his eyes closed. He gritted his teeth as the buzzing increased. He felt his head would just explode anytime soon. Then, just like it never happened, the buzzing stopped.

He held his head like a madman still. His head was throbbing in immense pain. He dropped to the floor and curled till the pain subsided.

He released a relieved sigh and staggered to his feet, spotting a full body mirror by the window side; it was the only object in that space. He lumbered towards it and checked himself out.

Instead of his normal white hair with silver tints, shaved as a faux hawk hairstyle with an undercut, his white hair was long and draped over his shoulders. His deep grey eyes were now crystal blue like reflecting diamonds. His lips remained the same; thin and pink. His body structure was also the same – tall and had moderate physique.

He was wearing a silk vest with a pair of brown leather pants – clothing he never had in his wardrobe. Never.

‘Is this… still me? Why is my hair so long? And my eyes…’ he widened his eyes to have a clearer look at them. When did they get so clear and crystal?

Then he remembered what Chase told him after their first encounter with the Mystic Wolf. He told him his eyes were bright and crystal when he thwarted the Wolf and rushed them out of the woods in the blink of an eye. Ian remembered it, but his body was moving without his command.

“This doesn’t make sense…” he frowned, taking a step back from the mirror.

And then again, the buzz he had experienced earlier, erupted in his head at a much higher amplitude, and he winced immediately, dropping to his knees. His crystal blue irises rolled up into his head, and his eyes were pure white.

‘Khelian Harlow!...’

The name rang in his head. He saw his little self being born, named and raised. His mother bore another child; a girl, his little sister. More memories flooded his brain at an instant. How he grew and lived his daily lives, all registered in his brain. But non of the memories were his, just of another person that almost looked like him, except for the long hair and crystal blue eyes.

“Argh!!”, he yelled, clutching to his head and squeezing it tight as he tilted his neck back.

And everything became still. The buzzing stopped. The flooding memories faded. Normalcy took over.

He dropped is head, panting with beads of sweat on his forehead.

“No, no… This isn’t possible… Have I been trans--”

He jumped to his feet, though his head still ached a bit.

“This is just a dream, this is just a dream…” he recited while rushing towards the door and opening it.

He came out to a corridor, its walls and floor also made out of wood. He didn’t even bother stopping till he reached the end of the corridor and took a right turn. He entered what seemed like a living room. He didn’t stop here too, he kept running till he reached the door and pressed the wooden handle and pulled it open.

A bright blanket of light showered him as he stepped outside, causing him to narrow his eyes, but still kept walking forward. Adjusting with the sunlight outside, he hopped down the short flight of wooden stairs that led to the house. In fact, everything he had encountered till now were all made of wood.

There was a cleared path that cut between the house he just got out from and another opposite it. He stood on the path, standing between both houses. Both houses had their entire structure built out of fine wood, smooth and glistering under the morning sun. It couldn’t bother him again, wood was definitely the dominant resource in this place, wherever this place was.

He noticed other houses at both sides, forming a line down far beyond he could see. The layout of the place mirrored how estates were built in the city. Huntsville was a town, it didn’t need that kind of building arrangement, considering its small population.

‘What kind of dream is this?’ he thought to himself, looking up to the blue sky. At least that was normal… Or not.

The sky had two suns shining in the sky. They were situated very close to each other and one was smaller. It was as though the sun had a baby.

‘Could this get any weirder?’

Ian scoffed, dropping his head. It was a dream after all. Well, he thought it to be a dream though it felt real. But it couldn’t be real. This isn’t Huntsville. It looks like a village in the 80’s.

At that moment, he heard a voice. A deep voice so bold and authentic. A voice resounding with joy and authority. A voice that said…

“Welcome, to Dhemistaria!”