Chapter Forty Three: Where am I?

She opened her eyes. Slowly. Carefully. The sight was blurry at first. But then, as she rubbed her eyes to clear her vision, she recognized where she was. It was a castle illustrated in one of the novels she was trying to finish. She was too certin of it that she became so excited about it.

She immediately jolted from where she was sleeping, but as she moved to fully awake from her deep slumber, she immediately felt the sudden rush of pain coming from her shoulder blades.

"Do not force yourself," a male voice spoke to her. "You are still a temporary imprint to these solemn pages."

She abruptly searched the area to find who owns the voice speaking. She was surprised to see a very attractive young man standing at the foot of what appears to be a queen size bed. The bed sheets reminded her of the smell of that very expensive detergent back home.

"Who are you?" she managed to ask, in a very awkward manner.

"I am a Metaphysician, but you do not need to know about that at this very crucial moment. Your imprint is very weak. You need to stick to the pages of hope."

"Pages of hope? You mean this is . . ."

"Warrendale? The title of the book you were reading that you simply cannot bring yourself to finish? It was a daunting task for the illegitimate prince. Yes, that would be me, madam."

She laughed at that comment. She also felt awkward, having had a crush on the protagonist of that novel. While war is never without violence, there are more worthy things in life worth raising arms for, in order to defend it. It was simply the ugly truth.

"I assume you are not as boring in person?"

The Metaphysician laughed at that comment as well.

"Do I look the part? Am I as boring as the text presupposes me to be?" he asked the lady in a playful tone of voice.

"Honestly, no," she smiled, answering the query truthfully.

"I need you to continue lying down, and I will induce you to a magical trance again. You have come a long way. The Physical Clock might have drained your stamina along the way. It was a perilous journey for you to have survived the entire ordeal and be able to talk somehow still. I knew from the start that there is something special about you."

She suddenly remembered how tired she was, and that her throat was dry.

"I actually need to drink some water. You are right, I am so exhausted to actually function normally."

The Metaphysician gave the most beautiful smile that she had ever seen. It was clear that she is already attracted to him.

"Here is a glass of water," the Metaphysician said, who graciously offered to help.

x---------x

This Chapter is sponsored by Valentino.