I blink trying to get my eyes to adjust to the bright light. Shielding my eyes with my hands, I stand with a little difficulty due to the sprain on my ankle. The sun feels a little bit hotter. Looking round, I try to figure out where I am. I can see old houses looking like the ones from my old story books where the houses were made of bricks and stony sidewalks covered with dead leaves.
Trying to keep out of sight, I limp towards the edge of a nearby building. I can hear the laughter of men and the clinking of cups coming from the building. The building seems to be an old inn. I quietly creep around the building looking for a way to climb in without attracting anybody. Luckily for me, I find an open window that is low enough for me to climb.
The sound of horses approaching halts my every move. As the sound gets closer, I try to look for a place to duck and hide. But unfortunately for me, there is no tree in sight. The horses stop few feets from me. Two men dressed like knights, climbs down from their horse and approach me. From their helmet, I make out their eyes to be deep blue. They look like palace guards. "Hey miss, are you lost?". The taller guy asks in a thick british accent. I reply trying to imitate his accent,"No, I am not. I'm just strolling around". I guess they didn't buy the accent. Because I'm immediately arrested and taken away.
We arrive at a huge castle which I'm guessing to be the palace of whoever is incharge. Stepping into the castle, my nostrils are immediately assaulted by the sweet scent of roses and strawberry. I am led through a long passageway to a beautiful throne room. Here, I notice more guards stationed at every corner. While admiring the throne, a deep voice catches me unawares. "Who are you?". I turn around slowly to meet a very handsome man with long dark hair, wearing a dark robe. He has green eyes which seem to be intimidating and trying to stare deep into your soul. I blurt out my thoughts without thinking,"Are you Dracula or something". He looks amused and stalks towards me unsheathing his sword,"I asked a question". Now, I'm getting scared. I reply shakily still trying to imitate their accent,"I am Ivy, from a neighboring village". He looks at me, all trace of amusement gone from his face."Your accent betrays you. For the last time who are you?" He roars. Visibly shaking, I reply,"My name is Ivy, I'm an archaeologist. I collect artifacts, but I don't know how I got here". He looks convinced but what he says next almost made my heart stop. "We have zero tolerance for strangers and trespassers. Guards, take her to the dungeons. She will be judged tomorrow". I am immediately grabbed by two guards and taken away admist my screams.
While in the dungeon, I try to make sense of what just happened. Everything seem to have happened in a flash. I pinch myself to check if I am dreaming, but I'm wide awake. Reality then dawn on me that, I am going to face judgement tomorrow. I tried to recall how I got here.
I remembered planning an adventure with my friends who are also my co-workers. As acheologists we tried to discover new things. Any mention of artifacts sounded like gold to our ears. One afternoon during closing hours, I had gone to one of my friend's office to bid him goodbye. I met him discussing about something excitedly with Laura, my bestfriend. I became interested and had demanded to know what made them so excited. He told me that some archaeologists had discovered a magic mirror from over 600 years ago, buried under the ruins of a volcano. He said the mirror was used by old warlords to travel to different realms. Although it was just saying, we had that bubbly feeling to check it out. We had dicovered that the mirror, had been currently placed at a museum which was just twenty minutes drive from our current location.
That night, we had decided to go to the museum. After checking the entire premises and made sure it was clear, we jumped into the museum from an open window which seemed to have triggered the alarm. We were immediately chased my some guards. I recall crashing into a mirror and blacking out.
"No wonder this place looks so old. I have to get out of this place, but how?" I thought to myself. A plan forms in my head. I walk towards the entrance of the dungeon and cry out, "I need help, I sprained my ankle and it hurts". Soon, I hear the clang of metal and keys. A guard enters and looks at my feet. He murmurs to himself,"The ankle looks swollen, let me go and get the prison nurse". The guard leaves to get the nurse. Fortunately me, the door is still unlocked. I take it as my cue to run. I sneak through the dungeons and out of the castle from the window, ducking whenever I hear footsteps. After running a few miles, I end up in front of a very large river. Turning back, I see so many guards in hot pursuit. I jump into the river to swim away but every thing goes black
I wake up to see myself lying down on my bed. I was surprised but relieved. What an adventure.
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Your passages are wonderfully descriptive. Your first paragraph is very effective at setting the scene and place. You certainly are having an adventure in this story. Unfortunately, at the end, readers feel cheated because 'it was all a dream'. This feels like a cop-out to readers. Readers search for a real resolution to conflict. Your writing is good enough that you could have resolved this story. That's what we yearn for.
Thank you for sharing this 'adventure' with us. We appreciate that you engage with other authors.
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It was real. At the end, she returned home after she jumped into the river.
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Wait, so everything that have Ivy experienced just a dream? If it was a dream, it was really realistic. I'm a bit confuse. Still, the story was fun and easy to follow.
No... It was real. She returned home after she jumped into the river.
Yeah... She was fortunate.