One Last Book (Andy & Diana)

Diana

LOOK HOW CALM SHE IS
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MYTHICAL MEMBER
Invitation Status
  1. Not accepting invites at this time
Posting Speed
  1. 1-3 posts per week
  2. Slow As Molasses
Online Availability
10AM - 10PM Daily
Writing Levels
  1. Adaptable
Preferred Character Gender
  1. Female
Genres
Romance, Supernatural, Fantasy, Thriller, Space Exploration, Slice of Life
"Rory, please. It's been six months and you haven't even submitted the first chapter yet."

It was a beautiful, warm sunny afternoon in a small tourist town. Rory had spent her entire morning browsing the shops along the boardwalk looking for something to spark that little part of her brain that always seemed to have limitless ideas.

"Why do you think we're here, Peter..." she grumbled in response to her publicist. She wasn't sure how he'd even found her, but now he was here following her around the small antique shop she'd wandered into. He kept gesturing to his phone, as if she were supposed to know what he was pointing at. Probably a calendar or a list of deadlines.

"They gave you a huge bonus for this one, you've got to at least show them something!"

Rory ran her fingers over the lacquer on an old music box. The thing was a neat little toy, probably from the 80s but it didn't really seem all that interesting. At least not for the world she'd been writing about for the past ten years in the form of six whole books.

"You pushed me into this book, you know. I'm not even sure if there's another story left to tell." Rory admitted. That was the worst thing she could've said, as Peter stopped in the middle of the store and grabbed at his chest. Rolling her eyes, she let the man have his panic attack as she resumed her search.

The shop was filled with all sorts of neat baubles. Laced umbrellas. Broken dolls. Chipped porcelain tea sets and clothes from multiple decades. After a few half-hearted flips through a couple of dusty books, something glittery caught her eye. Tucked away almost out of sight behind a couple of pillar candles and a dragon bust, a pendant lay catching the sunlight. Immediately she scooped it up and turned it over in her hands.

"I am begging you, Rory! It doesn't even matter if it's three sentences! Just send something to the publishers!"

"Alright, alright!" she acquiesced with a laugh. Taking her find over to the counter, she handed it over and pulled out her credit card. The cashier looked over it curiously.

"My, what a lovely piece. I don't remember having this in the inventory," remarked the cashier.

"Oh, it's for sale though, isn't it? I'd love to have it." begged Rory.

"Of course, of course!" laughed the cashier with a wave of her hand. The price she gave turned out to be more than reasonable for such a nice piece of jewelry, and soon Rory and Peter were out the door.

"I'll try to think of something good. A final book to end the entire series. But I mean it this time, okay? This will be my last book!" Rory insisted. Though Peter made a fuss about it, he finally accepted. Rory gave him a kiss on the cheek goodbye and got into the small beat-up sedan she'd had since before she'd even became a famous author.

She pulled the necklace out and examined it in her palm. The metal designs looked like burnished copper and so much like the sort of things she imagined for her world. An iridescent lavender gem was set in the center of the diamond shaped peace. Even if she couldn't draw up another story, this was such an extraordinary treasure to find. Rory slipped the chain around her neck, and pulled out onto the street.

The drive back to her hotel should've gone as smooth as ever. Her old sedan recently even got a good checkup in the shop. But as Rory rolled down a steep hill and pressed down on the brakes to try and control the speed, something was wrong! The harder and harder she slammed on the breaks, the faster and faster her car sped down the hill. A loud POP of one of her front tires sent the sedan veering wildly off the road and clear off a cliff towards a river below.

Ice cold water surrounded Rory and she felt like she'd been squeezed to the point of snapping. Had she been thrown from the car? She didn't remember hitting the water or getting out of the car. But she was deep, deep, deep somewhere dark, cold, and wet. When it felt like her lungs were going to explode, she saw a faint orange glow up above her. Frantically she swap up towards the light.

Rory broke the surface with a gasp! Splashing and flailing until her hands took purchase on the stone sides of what looked like a deep indoor fountain or natural spring. The room itself is very dark except for candle-lit torches. It reminder her of old stone churches.

How did she even get there from the river?!
 
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As she popped up from the inside of what appeared to be a natural spring she would find herself in a large stone room. The stone around her appeared to be old..quite old in fact. Moss was growing on the stone walls and was clinging to almost every inch of the room. The sound of trickling water could be heard behind her and if she turned around she would find that not only was she in a spring but it was at the foot of an ancient looking tree. This tree was easily the oldest tree she had ever seen in her life..and it was the most massive as well. The tree or at least the part that she could see that wasn't surrounded by stone would have easily taken four of her standing side by side with their arms outstretched to even begin to wrap around the trunk of the massive tree.

Long spiraling roots burst from base to sink deep into the pond before her and if she looked close enough she could see that the trickling water she heard was coming from around the tree itself. Water was flowing from behind the tree in and traveling down deep groves that had formed in the ancient wood that almost acted like a perfect pathway for the water to flow down the tree in several arching points before coming to a small edge where the water would pour into the spring below. Whether this was intentionally done to the wood or if it was simply years upon years of nature running its course along the wood to form its own path was hard to tell...but regardless by looking at the well lit torches hanging from the walls it was clear that this place was carefully looked after.

As she exited the spring she would find that there was only one path forward through a stone archway, the path ahead was well lit by more torches hanging upon the walls and since it being the only way forward it was likely her only way out. If she chose to follow the path forward she would notice that soon the torches would become fewer and fewer and their light would be replaced by a light shining brightly ahead, she could feel a slight breeze starting to gently brush her skin and it would only become more and more clear that she was nearing the exit.

When she finally did emerge from the tunnel the light of the sun would bare down on her without remorse for a moment until a cloud passed over head to block out the light. The sounds of birds chirping around her would echo throughout the area and when she finally regained her ability to properly see through the blinding light of the sun she would find that she was no longer in the city that she knew..no. She was deep in the forest, the shade she thought from a cloud was actually from a branch being swayed in the breeze and if she looked up she would find the sun still filtering through the branches and leaves as if the sun was working in tangent with the trees to cast a soft green glow upon the area below. All of this put together was only putting together one giant conclusion for her...she wasn't in Kansas anymore. But that did bring up a brand new question..just where in the hell was she?

Before she could even truly start wondering where she was or what was going on the soft sounds of what sounded like some kind of flute being played softly began to filter through the branches to hit her ears. The sound was perfectly pitched and almost hypnotic, the notes were soft yet full of life, and while they worked to not only serenade her she would find herself oddly energized by the notes as well. The only question was..who was playing the music?
 
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Rory could only surmise that she was dreaming. Or maybe in a coma? Though she was still sopping wet even after her slow, confused walk through the torch-lit corridor, the sunlight breaking through the canopy above was quickly warming her skin. As she stepped forward over moss covered ground, she realized her shoes were long gone, and all she had were her sodden jeans and the pale blouse that was plastered to her body.

Trying to squeeze water out of her sleeves, Rory followed the soft melody. If this was a dream... what a familiar dream! The trees, tall, emerald and beautiful. A sweet scent something akin to honeysuckle and lilacs filled the air. She felt as if she was stepping into a place she'd visited her entire life, but still it hadn't quite registered where this place was...

"Hel-" she pressed the back of her hand against her mouth and coughed. There still seemed to be some water in her lungs. "Hello? Is there somebody out here...?"
 
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Her initial question was only answered by the sound of more music which only got louder and louder as she followed the sound. How long she walked to follow the sound to its source was hard to tell but it didn't feel like it had been that long..maybe a few minutes at most. As she walked the moss covered stones would quickly be replaced by soft lush grass. Grass greener and softer then anything she had ever felt in her entire life. The trees were like skyscrapers and their roots were large and thick. None of the trees were nearly as large as the one that she had seen in the spring that she had appeared in..but they were still large and imposing nonetheless.

Eventually she would come to the source of the music. After making it around one last large tree that was in her path she would see a lone man with his back turned to her sitting upon the roots of the ancient trees. His hair was a golden brown and shined in the filtering light of the sun through the canopy of the trees above. His hair was just about shoulder length and was perfectly straightened as far as she could tell. On his back was a quiver of arrows and by his side rested a wooden long bow. With the clothes the man was wearing he looked as if he belonged at some kind of cosplay event or a renaissance fair or something of the like. He was wearing a green tunic that fit perfectly around his frame along with a black leather vest with a black belt and buckle wrapped around his waist. For pants he was clearing wearing a pair of leather pants and for footwear..well at the moment he was barefoot his feet lightly placed upon the grass. His boots which were also clearly made of leather..or of some kind of deer skin, were a light brown in color and would reach up to his calves if he was wearing them, were laying beside him by his bow.

The man didn't even appear to be aware of the girls presence yet as he continued to play softly on his instrument which with his back turned to her she couldn't see what it was..but clearly it was not a flute from the way his hands were positioned..but it was beautiful nonetheless.
 
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It seemed wrong, somehow, to interrupt the beautiful music. This was no song she'd ever heard before, but much like the greens of the forest and the scent in the air, it had this vague familiarity. A warm and pleasant dream from sometime long ago. Rory brushed her palm against her forehead to brush wet strands of dark auburn hair out of her face and fought a wave of dizziness as she took a confused look around. Were they alone out here? Where exactly was here? The pacific northwest certainly had gorgeous forests full of trees, but certainly none like this! Rory doubted she got washed away that far down river.

Maybe. Actually, Rory really wasn't sure of anything at this point.

Still hesitate to dare make a sound, Rory inched closer and closer to the musician. Gingerly she reached out, pausing only for a brief second before she finally worked up the courage to tap him gently on the shoulder.

"Excuse me..!" she squeaked out softly.
 
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As soon as she tapped him on the shoulder the music would stop completely and the man would go as still as a statue. In fact..as he stopped playing it wasn't just the music that stopped it was the entire forest that went quiet. Not a bird chirped, nor a cricket creaked or anything it was like the entire forest stopped moving in response to the man's music being interrupted and it waited on baited breath to see what was about to happen.

A long tense moment would pass before the man slowly brought the instrument down from his lips and would slowly turn to face her. As she did she would find that the man didn't appear to be much older then she did..he looked only to be at about his mid twenties with piercing green eyes like emeralds shining in the light, his face was a bit on the slim side but he still had a healthy and strong look to him. In fact as she looked at his face she would notice that there didn't seem to be a single blemish on him..not the tiniest bit of age, stress..or even one little zit could be spotted anywhere on the man's face..but clearly what would draw her attention the most..was the man's pointed ears. His ears were not large by any means but there was no missing the sharp point that his ears had at the very top..so either this man was one hell of a great cosplayer..or this was the real deal.

The man would slowly look her up and down clearly curious about who she was..but maybe more so about her clothing which he found was quite strange. After a moment of silence passed he would look up at her face again before he raised an eyebrow and slowly spoke his voice was very smooth and honestly in a way almost as mesmerizing as the music he had justt been playung "can I help you?"
 
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If it weren't absolutely insane, Rory would've thought this was an elf straight out of one of her stories. An ethereal creature so tied to nature that they may as well live and breathe it. But that, of course, was nonsense and impossible. What she was experiencing had to be lucid hallucinations brought on by a concussion. ...right? Her head ached, her mind was dizzy, and her stomach could've been filled with actual butterflies with the way it flipped and made the world seem hazy.

"I- um. There was an accident," she tried to explain, using her hands to mimic driving, then casting a confused look over her shoulder back the way she came. Rory hadn't thought she wandered too far from the cave, yet all she could see were tall glorious trees and more trees.

"I'm not sure where I am," she went on. "Is this a national forest? I suppose maybe I went quite far down the river..."
 
As the strange girl started to speak..and used her hands in a weird..motion to try and describe an accident to him the man would continue to stare at her totally lost. He had no idea what kind of accident involved hand movements like that but it must have been some kind of human thing. The girl was clearly human to him..but as far as her attire and the way she was speaking she didn't appear to be from any kind of human kingdom or village that he had ever heard of.

Reaching up he would brush a lock of his hair back behind his pointed ears as she finished speaking before he slowly spoke "National forest? I do not understand what you mean by that. This forest is the home and kingdom of my people. The kingdom of Tavrobel and while there is a river that flows through the forest you are quite a ways away from there..to get from the river to here you would have gone through the village of my people. So I feel that you are confused about something to say the least." He would then proceed to stand up. His height wasn't anything majestic or anything but he was at least a head taller then her..and his frame was quite lithe. Muscular sure..but definitely not overbearingly large like a body builder.

"Before I answer any other questions I think you need to tell me who you are and where you came from. As I said you are a stranger in my home and you are asking questions and saying things that make no sense. Your clothes are also a kind of which I have never seen before..your clearly human..but I do not recognize the clothes you wear in the slightest from any human settlement or city that I've ever been to." As he spoke he would pick up a nearby stick..and would proceed to poke at her clothes as if testing them to see if they were made out of some kind of magical material or something of the matter "Some kind of new..magical artifact? No..I sense no magic from them in the slightest..enchanted maybe? That could explain that..but still...the material and the design is unlike anything I've ever seen.."
 
"Sir!" she exclaimed, swatting that stick away and taking a few steps back. "Please do not poke me with sticks! This is serious!"

Rory was quickly realizing just how serious it truly was, even if she wasn't quite sure exactly what was happening. Tavrobel was a name she knew for certain - after all she created it herself! A majestic land of elven lore, she'd spent hours and hours daydreaming about, writing about... drawing sketches and weaving stories!

But that was all it was. A story. This could not actually be Tavrobel.

Still, his ears looked quite real. The shape of his face, the angle of his body. Rory had seen amazing cosplayers, yet this seemed to be even beyond professionals.

Rory was starting to feel dizzy again. She fanned her face, willing herself to stay on her feet until she could get this all sorted out.

"My name is Aurora McNair... Rory. I'm lost... and now I'm certain I have a concussion too, because I am clearly hallucinating! If you could just direct me to the hospital or the police, that would be fine."
 
The young man would give a small jump as she suddenly swatted the stick in his hand away and on the ground before she yelled at him about how serious this was. Though the issue she would find was that while the act of him poking her with that stick may have been a joke or..even silly..the look on his face was nothing but serious..curious maybe..but definitely serious..that was until she mentioned pointing her in the direction of the nearest hospital or police..at that point he had nothing but confusion on his face and he was now giving her a look that was clearly showing that he thought she was crazy or something.

He would remain silent for a long moment before he slowly spoke "..Look..miss Aurora McNair Rory...I can tell that your a bit flustered about something but..I have no idea what your talking about. Hospital? Police? I have no idea what those places even are. I've never heard those words before and I've lived a long life..so you must be hallucinating pretty badly to be making up words like that." He would then fall silent for a long moment before he slowly shook his head again and reached down and grabbed his boots and slowly slipped them onto his feet before he looked back at her "..I think I should take you to the city..maybe one of the healers can take a look at you and determine what's wrong with you..and where you come from..your definitely human..but that begs the question of what kingdom do you hail from?.."
 
Rory wasn't sure if it were a good thing or a bad thing that he was just as confused as she. She watched as he pulled on his boots, pressing her hands against her cheeks and trying to quickly decide how she was going to go about all this. Once her purse had been stolen in Moscow during a book tour and she'd gotten lost in the city, and despite not knowing the language, she'd managed to work things out. Ignoring the fact it was insane to believe she was actually in Tavrobel, certainly she had to know enough about her own created world to navigate her way through it? At least until she figured out what was happening?

With assistance, of course. At least this man seemed willing to help her, and wasn't some wild wood bandit or worse.

Oh, that was a frightening thought. There were all sorts of scary things in Tavrobel that Rory never wanted to meet for real.

"I'm from America, but I suspect it's such a long way from here that it isn't going to matter," she finally responded, resigned to at least try her best with her current situation. "I would appreciate seeing a healer. ...and maybe a wizard. Someone skilled with magical travel, I think. That might be the smartest thing."
 
The look that crossed his face told the entire story once she said where she was from. He clearly thought she was insane..or that this..America she mentioned had to be some very very faraway kingdom that he had never even heard of. Staring at her for a long moment he would give a small shrug before he turned and started to slowly lead her through the forest. "Well...I can't say anything about a wizard..I mean one of the healers, or maybe one of the village elders may know something..maybe one of the druids may know something but..they aren't as keen to talking to outsiders as some of the others are so that may not be a whole lot of help there. Oh and keep close by..you get lost in the forest again you may not be found again..or just as bad if you are found it may not be by such a friendly face as mine. Some of the Green Leaves aren't as willing to talk to others as I am so they may end up walking you back in chains..orrrr you may find yourself face to face with a wild animal that would see you as an easy meal."

There was a moment of silence that passed as they started walking before he slowly continued "So..while I'm just as curious about you as I'm sure that you are about me..I'll let you ask any questions you may have. Mostly because I feel like my questions will be answered eventually and I have a feeling I'm a little more patient about this situation then you are..so..if you have any questions I'll answer them as best as I can."
 
Green Leaves? Rory wondered if he was referring to the Order of the Green, of which in her novel were the elven rangers of the Tavrobel forests. But by the way he described them, they certain didn't sound as helpful or as friendly as Rory would write. She definitely didn't want to end up in chains, no matter which world she was in - imagined or otherwise!

"I do have many questions," admitted Rory, falling into quick step at his side. Getting lost in the forest would make things worse for sure. "Preferably, I want to be well informed about the places I visit, and I honestly was fairly certain I knew all there was to know about here, but I'm finding myself a bit at a loss..."

"Are you one of the Green Leaves?" she asked first. "What I know of the Order of the Green is that they are forest rangers. To protect the trees and the wild life. Do you live in the village nearby? Is it a very large village?"
 
As she spoke of what she wanted to know and of the Green leaves the elf would look back at her for a moment. Her wording was definitely strange to say the least..she said that she had no idea where she was but at the same time she was saying that she thought she knew all of what there was to know about here? That didn't make much sense...this girl was proving to be more and more strange with every word she spoke..but even still he did deem that she seemed harmless enough. Her questions though did bring an odd silence between them and it was clear he was trying to determine just how to answer her questions.

"No...No I'm not one of the Green Leaves I'm a...I'm a special case to say the least. And you aren't wrong..the Green Leaves are rangers who's main duty is to protect the Trees and the Wild Life of the Forest. You are forgetting though that they serve directly under the king as his most elite unit. Espionage and intelligence gathering are their other top skills. They are often used as the forefront scouts and are often sent on the most secret and dangerous of missions. The Green Leaves and their role for the to the Tavrobel Forest is one of if not the most important role in our kingdom. And..no, I do not live in the village nearby. It is..easier that way. As for your final question yes it is the largest village in our Forest Kingdom..it could be called what you humans refer to as our capital Miss Aurora McNair Rory. The Forest city of Caras Galadhon"
 
Rory supposed this is what it would feel like if she ever accepted a contract to make her books into a movie series. Where details were altered ever so slightly, but the original vibe was there. She certainly would never expect the Order of the Green to have an allegiance with any King. This was not her Tavrobel.

At least Caras Galadhon existed as the capital city, but she had a feeling that would turn out much different than she'd expect too. She needed to keep her wits about her.

Careful not to trip over exposed tree roots and step on rocks, Rory spent about as much time watching her feet as she did in trying to examine this stranger.

"You never did tell me your name? I'll need something other than Stranger to call you."