Armageddon

The sound of birds singing in the morning light slowly drew Tia from the land of sleep. Something warm and soft was pressed against her lips. She felt like couldn’t breathe. Jumping with a start she looked around wildly, but there was no one in the room with her. Her heart racing, she sat back and brought her hand to her lips. The dream had been so real she could have sworn someone just stole her first kiss.

It dawned upon her that she was in a room, a room unfamiliar in every aspect. She jerked back against the headboard of the bed and looked wildly around. She was wrapped in pillows and blankets. The room was inviting and decorated with relaxing colors. A cushioned bench sat at the end of the bed with what appeared to be a change of clothes folded neatly on top. White curtains gently flowed against the open window with vines and flowers growing up along the frame. A few petals danced against the wooden floor, a deep brown that was polished just enough to reflect the light from the open window onto all the walls. She jumped out of the bed and checked herself.

Her boots, shirt, and skirt were missing; someone has changed her clothes. A black nightgown of sorts that barely covered her torso; let alone her thighs, happened to be the only thing on her. She quickly folded her arms against her chest, looking wildly around as her hair fell forward. A knock sounded at the door and she jumped, her brown eyes wide and fearful. The door opened and a voice called into the room.

“Mistress?” It was a very sweet voice.

Tia silently jumped to the other side of the bed and grabbed a brass candlestick, hiding behind the door, reading to strike. “Who are you?! How did I get here?!” The door opened a fraction more and something small and orange came running into the room.

The creature’s tail swayed from side to side as it scurried about, sniffing anything and everything it encountered. Tia watched it until her face lit up with amazement. Its large paws, stripped with black fur, padded against the floor. The oversized kitten jumped onto the bed and looked at her, reaching out a paw towards her direction. “Is that... what... how in the...” Tia dropped the weapon - the candlestick clashed to the floor - and brought her hands to her lips, her eyes swelling with tears. The tiger meowed loudly, and what sounded like an attempt at a purr rumbling through the room.

“Mistress, you have been chosen to enter our world. We have many things you have dreamt of seeing, and many more your imagination could never possibly conceive. May I enter?”

Tia slowly slid to the floor and the tiger leaped in her lap, smelling her hair and pawing at her face. The tears wouldn’t stop. They clogged her vision as she slowly touched the feline, terrified it might vanish.

The door opened more so and a woman in black and white came through the doorway. Her eyes were thin, her hair black. Her gown nearly touched the floor and covered her to her wrists and neck. She gently knelt at the entry of the room, regarding Tia carefully.

“Mistress, you may call me Rose. It is a pleasure to meet you,” she kindly lowered her head, but the movement was stiff. Something stuck out of her hair and she quickly laid it down flat again.

“Is this a dream?” Tia whispered, holding the cat dearly. Her face buried in its fur.

The maid, by appearance, shook her head. “No, Mistress. This is very much real. I believe you call this place, the Dark Continent.” Tia looked up into the black eyes of the woman before her, “though, it’s not dark at all. It’s very beautiful and vast. Nothing at all like the Zoo.”

Tia nodded solemnly, her gaze returning to the baby animal that chomped on her hair. “We don’t have anything like this at the zoo. I thought...” The maid was shaking her head, and Tia stopped.

“You misunderstand. The Zoo is what we refer to your civilization as. There are many environmentalists here that protect your way of life. Handlers, in a sense, for your Human Zoo. They don’t want to see the last of the Humans vanish. Regardless of the pain and suffering you have dealt to this planet,” Tia stared at Rose, the tiger now half-asleep in her arms. Her fingers clutched the cat’s fur, its chest falling and rising slowly in her grip. Rose nodded towards the cat. “I can see he likes you. Our Master said it was the quickest way to get your guard down. We have a whole family of them, but with you being Human I am unsure how the adults will take to you.”

“Why do you keep saying ‘Human’?” It was barely a whisper.

Certain aspects of the woman before her didn’t add up. She didn’t look right. Her ears were pointed. Her eyes were wide. Her pasty skin had a sparkling gleam to it. Rose seemed to be at a loss for words. Nimbly she leaned forward, resting her hands gently on the floor beneath her, her forehead resting on her hands. Two antennas slowly stood up out of her hair, and two transparent, elegant, bug-like wings rose off her back. Almost as if formed in midair, they pulled away from her dress. Tia watched in amazement as the lady before she sat up.

“You are a Human; we are the Fae. When we first came to consciousness, many moons ago, our first instinct was to devour your race.” She raised her hand, as if what she said Tia would find alarming. Little did she realize Tia was in shock. “Rest assured, our species has matured since then. We have aged and evolved ourselves, and now we pity your species. Some of us would like to introduce your kind to our world, and together perhaps we can flourish.”

“Right,” Tia gave a wry smile. “Total sense,” Rose seemed to visibly relax and offered a big smile. “Um... can I be alone? I’m sorry. This is... just a lot to process,”

“Oh yes! Of course, you are right.” She stood up, the hum of her wings assisting her in her rise. The tiger jumped out of Tia’s arms and, waving cheerfully, they left her alone in the room. Tia was in action the next moment.

She stripped off the nightgown and shoved her legs into the gown on her bed. “What is with all the dresses?” She muttered to herself as she pulled the brown straps over her shoulders. A few yellow flowers decorated the fabric, which was soft and thin. It, too, barely reached her thighs and had no back. She tossed her hair over her shoulders and quickly leaned out the large window.

The window ran along the length of the stone wall and had an elevated sill she could crawl onto. The vines were thick and stretched down... all the way down the walls of an actual castle. She was in a tower. She leaned back, her head spinning. Multiple towers stretched up around her own, with an open courtyard far below. Finding her courage, she climbed out of the window.

A gust of window pulled the fabric of her gown and her hair into the sky. She gripped the vines tightly, gritting her teeth. She found a good grip and began her journey down. A forest surrounded the castle, the courtyard below leading right up to the tree line.

It wasn’t long Tia found herself in a town just outside the castle grounds. She had made it through the forest circling the palace in less than an hour. The cobblestone pathways were colorful and twisted around many buildings. Many lights hung on vines, which in turn strung from roof to roof, stretching the length of the city for as far as she could see. Stalls and shops littered the streets and all manner of life walked around, talking and laughing. She had to stop herself from screaming at some of the creatures she encountered.

Shaking to herself she moved through the streets, catching the attention of several sets of eyes. A short creature, male by appearance, approached her with a greedy smile. His head was red starting at his beady eyes and spiked up in what appeared to be long, brown roots atop his head. He had yellow irises and more like talons for hands and feet.

“Little girl, you look hungry and lost. Why don’t you come to my INN and drink a nice beer?” His voice was as sleazy as his appearance.

She held up her palm to him and shook her head, her entire body pulling as far away as she could without bumping into anyone else in the street. “No, thank you. I must go,” she brought her hands back into herself and held back a sob as she continued to battle the flow of creatures moving up the cobblestone street.

Something caught her attention and a shiver ran up her spine as her heart started beating faster. A tall figure leaned against the wall in front of her, blocking her path. Hesitantly she looked up into the face of someone she recognized. Someone... but different.

“You’re... not Vladimir,” Why did he look like Vladimir? The man gave her a devilish smile. It suited the small horns, black like his hair with red tips. His silky hair was just as short and curly as Vlad’s, but the skin at his hairline resembled scales more than flesh.

“Quiet right love, but you lovely are in the wrong world. Let me guess, my foolish cousin chose you on his most recent little espionage? You sure do look tasty; I’ll tell you that much, with your plump little thighs.” He licked his lips, a hand reaching around her. She stepped back quickly, but his nails instantly grew at an alarming rate and curved back behind her, pointing into the skin under her chin. She froze in his grasp. “You’re going to come with me now, and you’re going to be a good girl and you will not scream. Not until I tell you you can, that is.” He winked as his fingers, his nails shortening, curled around her throat.

Vladimir sat quietly in a dark room, his eyes scanning over the reports that had stacked up while he was away. A quill and ink sat next to him, yet he refused to use them until he read every single paper.

A taller man-of-sorts stood like a Gargoyle behind him. The man even had stone etchings and small cracks throughout his skin and clothes. He wore a black suit from neck to ankles with a thin sword hooked at his hip. For only a second his eyes dropped to Vladimir’s back before un-focusing once more on the room before them.

“Do you want to talk about it?” He asked, a small, lighter grey color filling his face as he spoke.

“Nope,” Vladimir’s reply was short.

“I want to talk about it,”

“Obviously,”

“...Do you want to talk about her?”

The blood ran to Vladimir’s head and he spun around, slamming the paper on the desk. “Listen here, Alexander! Y-you are just a Retainer! Shut up and stand there!”

The Gargoyle, Humanoid creature poorly resisted the urge to laugh and Vladimir glared at him before turning back to his work. It was at that point there was an abrupt knock at the door and Rose, the Fae maid, came running in out of breath. She stumbled to the ground and looked up at the two, her face and hair a hot mess.

“Your Majesty, please forgive my interruption.” She sat on her knees and bowed quickly before facing Vladimir once more. “The Mistress, she’s gone!”

Vladimir stood up instantly, multiple papers falling to the floor. Alexander swiftly approached the Fae lady, all the stone markings in his skin smoothing out to a fine, light grey color. Outside the window the sky darkened, the wind began to pick up, and a clash of lightning lit up the entire room.

Tia was forced to look at the palace in the distance. The man’s fingers curled around her jaw tight enough she winced in pain. A dark smile played across his lips as he watched the storm brewing. He brought her face to his and slid his tongue up the side of her face. A tongue prickly like a cat. She cried out in pain and tried to jerk away from him, but he only held her chains tighter.

“Do you know what that means?” He asked, amused at the girl trembling in fear before him. The carriage swayed side to side as she hid in the furthest corner she could if only to be as far away from him as possible.

She would not answer. He seemed even more amused and offered her a charming smile, one with no darkness to it. The breath caught in her throat. It was the same smile Vladimir had given her several times.

“Someone is very mad that you’ve runoff. Someone who, unfortunately for me...” He cast a dark glance back towards the palace, “would never even consider you ran off on your own as you did. He will be suspicious someone stole you. Someone; for example, like me.” He gave her another wicked grin.

Her face felt hot and raw where he had licked her. Tia’s wrists were almost raw where the chains held her prisoner. He regarded her carefully, leaning forward. She shrunk into the velvet curtains.