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It had been worth a try. As Frane knelt on the ground trying to push away the nausea he felt he kept reminding himself that he would have been executed if they hadn’t walked through Auberon’s door. Even though it hadn’t worked the way a normal door would have done Frane was obviously somewhere that wasn’t the jail. He just wasn’t with any of the eleven other ‘demons’ who had also chosen life. For all he knew he was the only one who’d survived the journey, but at least he was alive. Alive and kneeling on the ground of what could only be another world.
Slowly, breathing deeply because he still didn’t feel normal after the tumultuous journey, Frane looked around. There was a tree he thought he recognised, but he couldn’t be certain. It was something that happened occasionally, even when he was on a world that he’d never visited before, because he always wanted to be somewhere he knew. Exploring a new world could be wonderful, but most of the time it was just terrifying. Once he’d had a family who cared about him, until one of the natural doors had deposited him on another world, and he hadn’t yet managed to find his way back, even though he’d been trying his hardest to find one.
“Good morning,” a male voice said, making Frane jump. “Would you like a drink of water? I promise you it’s safe.”
“That sounds great,” he replied, before thinking about what he was doing.
A bottle was placed next to him and Frane turned to look at the man who’d been kind enough to share his water with a stranger. He looked young, but his eyes were old, which described almost all the demons Frane had met over the years. Summoning a weak smile he picked up the bottle, unscrewed the lid, and sipped the water carefully in an attempt to settle his stomach.
“I’m Leolin.”
“Really?” Frane couldn’t stop himself from looking once more at the stranger, unable to believe he’d really ended up on the same world as the man they’d been searching for. “Sorry, it’s just…”
“You can talk to me, if you want to. Don’t feel like you have to tell me your story if you aren’t ready to.” Leolin smiled. “I know that some travellers never wanted to be what they are.”
Frane bit his lip, before nodding. “I think it’s just the journey.” He drank a little more water. “Some of them are more difficult that others.”
“Do you know where you are?”
“No.” frane looked around again, still feeling like he recognised one of the trees and, possibly, the purple flower that was blooming next to Leolin. “It seems familiar, but it’s easy for the mind to trick itself.”
“You’re on Athare.”
“What?”
“I take it you didn’t want to be on this world.”
Shaking his head, Frane started trying to push himself into a standing position. He had no idea where the nearest door was but he needed to find it quickly before the Council realised he was gone. Leolin didn’t say anything, instead gently wrapping an arm around Frane to help him stand, and it was nice to have someone there to help him. He’d never had that before, because he didn’t dare get close to anyone after what had happened.
Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.
