The Dragon Lord's Cursed Bride

Emily felt sick to her gut.

She couldn’t breathe. The air felt like she was breathing onions, and it hurt to inhale. Emily tried to open the door, open the window, but the task of pushing down the button to open the window felt impossible. She regretted closing the window just a few hours before. She tried to touch the window, to grab her phone, but her hand passed through. The next few moments felt more dreamlike than real.

She was being yanked up.

She was looking down at her body, and it felt, perhaps the way a sock would feel after being unceremoniously thrown into a clothes hamper. Desperately grasping for her body, she was being pushed and pulled simultaneously. She made motions to return to her body, but whatever was pulling her was far stronger than her weak efforts. She felt like she was swimming in gelatin.

She tried to gasp for air, but she had no body. Perhaps only the memory of a body.

There she was, Emily.

Or who used to be, a woman in her early forties, with greying chin length, hair, an Asian cast to her face, and plain features. But Emily was confused, she knew that she was being yanked up at an alarming speed. She couldn’t be back in the car.

This really couldn’t be happening, right?

The car was getting smaller now, the trees just a carpet of greenery. She blacked out.

Emily woke up disoriented.

She sighed.

It was just a weird dream.

She reached for the seatbelt.

There was none. She looked around. It was dark. There no car. Her clothes felt different. She stood up. She had no shoes. She was wearing what felt like a linen shift. The floor was cold and cobblestoned. The floor was terribly hard, and Emily couldn’t remember the last time she slept rough.

A full moon was shining through. She blinked hard and gulped. There were two moons. A large one, and a smaller one with tiny belt around it. Like a miniature Saturn. The larger one was full, and the smaller one was crescent. There were stars she had never recognized before. Emily rubbed both her temples and took several deep breaths, trying to calm herself.

She looked around her surroundings, she was inside a stone cottage.

It was deep in a forest, and the trees were at least twice the size of the trees at the forest Emily left her car in. The leaves were unfamiliar, full of strange holes, a couple of blue luminous butterflies passed by.

Trees she had never seen before.

She looked at her surroundings. There was a small arched wooden door, small delightful arched windows, a tiny kitchen with a hand pump and a small bedroom. It was tiny, well designed stone cottage. They expertly made everything. But there was dust everywhere. There was a damp, musty smell.

“There are some clothes in a trunk over there.” A small voice, yet deep and elegant, spoke.

“Excuse me?” Emily asked. It sounded like a child’s voice. Deeper, though. As if someone had been scaled down to a smaller size.

“In the room, there’s also a cot. It’s going to be cold,”

“Where are you?”

“To your right, lady.” Emily scanned her peripheral vision.

“Atop the window, upper right hand corner lady.” Emily took a step back in shock.

There was a cat. It was misty grey, and blended in the dark, the amber yellow eyes, glowing in the half-light.

The cat was a lovely thing.

Plump and obviously well-cared for. He could have been a child’s favorite pet. The cat had no collar though. Emily didn’t care for animals. Her children loved dogs though.

The cat bounded in a fluid movement at her feet, threading between her ankles. She suddenly realized how the cobblestoned floor was cold. Almost icy.

“Alixtair Meest Enerius at your service, lady. We haven’t had any guests in ages. This used to be a hunter’s cottage you know. A place for them to stay during their long and awful trips.”

The cat stretched. Something about the cat gave Emily the impression that he was an arrogant jerk.

Most cats were.

It was a shade of milky grey, an unusual color with a tiny patch of white above the lip. Giving the illusion of a moustache. The cat stretched, and yawned. Its delicate tail waved gently behind him. Tiny delicate teeth. He shook himself and settled into place.

“You can get changed there. I’ll wait. I am a gentleman, after all.” She could have just stayed and watched him speak. It was amazing to watch the creature speak. Like a toy.

She went in the room, the floor was cold, her arms were freezing.

She rubbed the sides of her arms. Her breath clouded. She marched in place to keep warm.

She went in the room and opened a large trunk in the corner. Her body felt odd. The fingers were too long and tapered, the nails like pearly petals, her skin was a different hue, pinkish and almost opalescent.

Her head felt heavy.

Hair, her hair was different. It was thick and curly, and fell to her waist in ringlets. She grabbed a handful and stared at her hair mutely. It was a flaming shade of red. Almost fiery red. It was almost unnatural to have hair that red. She wondered what she did exactly to merit this kind of afterlife. It didn’t look like heaven.