A Whole New World

Riya slowly eased into wakefulness and realized with gratitude that her back was resting on a proper bed, she was very glad to know that she was laying on my own bed and it had all been a dream.

She lay motionless for a minute, a relived smile on her face before she turned to her side and hugged the pillow to herself with a satisfied sigh. She had been so afraid to wake up and now she could only be thankful that everything had been a dream, that she was in her bed and not some bed of grass in an unknown forest.

She refused to even contemplate the wild dreams that had plagued her sleep last night, she just pushed them to the back of her mind and silently swore that she would no longer be engaging in any werewolf movie marathons with her housemates.

As was usual with her she struggled with getting out of bed, and wished once more that she had parents who could cater to her financially so that she did not have to get up for work every morning but she knew that it was either go to work and earn money or stay in bed and be unable to pay rent and be tossed out onto the streets.

It did not matter how much her roommates liked her, they would have to find someone to keep up the rent if she defaulted on payments. So reluctantly she sat up in her bed then screamed when she saw a petite dark haired pretty girl standing at the foot of the bed and looking down at her.

“I am so sorry that I startled you.” The girl rushed to reassure Riya and that was when she realized that something was wrong with the setting.

“What are you doing here, where is this?” Riya asked as she looked around this room that was obviously not hers.

“I think that we are going to be roommates for The Reaping.” The girl answered hesitantly.

“The Reaping?” Riya echoed absentmindedly and continued looking around the room as many thoughts flooded her mind at the same time.

Riya jumped out of the bed and stared at the floor length silk nightgown she had on in confusion, how had she ended up in those?

She took another careful survey of the palatial room done up in muted colors of sky blue and white, the furniture in the room looked exquisite and she noticed that there were two of each, two beds, two lounge chaises, a dresser beside each of the beds and two vanity sets placed side by side.

“Are you okay?” The other girl asked softly and Riya turned and saw concern in her eyes.

“I have been kidnapped.” Riya whispered more to herself than for the girl’s hearing then she ran to the window and saw what looked like a large estate with buildings scattered about and a well maintained intricate grassy maze which also doubled as a garden with colorful flowers.

The room they were in was also high up and Riya could not tell how many stories up they were but it had to be at least the fourth floor, there was no way to go down without maiming herself.

She looked around uncomprehendingly at the strange compound with perfectly mowed lawns then turned and looked at the jittery girl in the room who was slowly inching towards the door with a stricken look on her face.

“Where are we? Where is this?” Riya asked in a frenzy, her voice rising as all the anxious feelings that she had been trying to keep at bay rising up to the surface.

The girl looked around uncertainly then answered. “We are at the Royal Lycan palace.” Riya stared at her and laughed loudly at the ridiculousness of her answer then stopped when she noticed that the girl looked serious and was not laughing along with her.

“Royal palace, what Royal Lycan palace?” Riya demanded at her wits end.

The girl just stared at Riya, looking more and more perplexed. “The southern Lycan Region.”

“That is good, I have to admit that this is very good but I have had enough. Issa, Sheila, you can come out now, you win, this was crafted very well, I have to give you that but it is no longer funny and I need to get to work, I’m already late.” Riya said in a shaky voice, her arms akimbo and her foot tapping the floor impatiently while the other girl looked around nervously.

When no one came out to tell her it was all a joke Riya just rolled her eyes and walked towards a door and pulled it open and gasped at the size of the bathroom, it was bigger than her entire room and it looked nothing like the modern bathrooms I was used to.

Riya shut that door and tried the larger one that seemed to lead outside the room but the door stayed shut then she turned and advanced towards the frightened girl who took several steps back.

“Who are you and what have you done to me?” Riya snapped at her.

“My name is Isolde and I’m an omega from Blue River Pack, please don’t hurt me.” She cowered with her head down.

“Pack? What, you mean like a werewolf pack?” Riya asked and Isolde nodded mutely. “Did Issa and Sheila put you up to this?”

“Who are Issa and Sheila? I don’t know any such people and I was brought to this room to share with you until the end of the Reaping, Please I had nothing to do you being brought here.” Isolde said, her eyes darting nervously at Riya’s face.

There was silence for a brief moment then Riya turned to the door and started to bang on it hysterically.

“Please stop that, they are going to punish us.” Isolde who looked white as sheet pleaded with wide eyes as she begged but Riya went right on banging loudly, she was determined to get to the bottom of this.

The door opened suddenly and Riya stumbled forward into the arms of one of two huge musclar men who pushed her back into the room and stepped in after after her, staring grimly down at her.

Riya stared up at the men who towered over her with her mouth agape while Isolde tried to make herself disappear into a corner of the room.

“I want to go home, you cannot lock me here against my will.” Riya straightened herself and stared squarely at them even though inside she was quaking in fear at their fierce expressions and sizes.

“Anyone who has entered The Reaping cannot leave until the contest has ended.” One of the men answered, his voice booming.

“But you brought me here against my will, I will not be forced to stay here.” She protested and made to move past the men out the door and one of them stopped her and grabbed her hand and in a single motion broke her wrist then straightened and set the broken wrist back.

Riya fell to the floor gasping and cradling her hand, too shocked by the suddenness of the attack to cry from the pain.

“The next time you try something that stupid I will break both of your legs and break your roommates legs too then throw you both into the dungeons, my eyes are on you.” The huge man said and they both left the room and locked the door securely behind them.

When they were gone Isolde ran to Riya and fell to her knees.

“Are you okay? Let me see.” She said and gently took her injured hand. “They straightened it already so it will heal properly. I am so sorry about that.” She consoled.

“I need a doctor to look at it and at least give me a painkiller.” Riya whimpered.

“You don’t need to see a doctor, it was a clean break, you will heal soon.” She said and examined the wrist. “See, there isn’t even any swelling, I am sure it is already healing.” Isolde said and Riya snapped at her.

“I did not have a strain, my wrist was broken, it is not going to magically heal in minutes…” then Riya broke off mid rant when Isolde quietly held the injured hand aloft and she felt no pain.

Riya snatched her hand back and turned it this way and that, marveling at the fact that it did not even have a scratch on it.

“What is happening to me?” Her words caught in her throat as she tried to rationalize what had just happened.

“We are werewolves and we have super healing and due to the recent presence of the full moon we are more powerful and can heal faster.” Isolde said as if the answer was obvious and looked at Riya quizzically like she had lost her mind.

Riya dropped her hand heavily and thought back to what she had thought had been a dream, she hated to think it but what if she had somehow been transported into this world? She shook her head violently to dislodge this ridiculous thought because it was just impossible, only delusional people thought like that.

But she was in her right senses, if this was all a dream then she would not have felt the pain when that guard had snapped her wrist, that had definitely felt real. But why her? Riya wondered.

She thought of how Issa and Sheila would be excited to experience this, why not them? Did this mean then that she was now a werewolf?

“Those men that came in said something about a “reaping” and before you had mentioned it too, what did you mean by that?” Riya asked abruptly and Isolde looked like a second head had grown on top of her head.

“This is the first full moon that has appeared since the Lycan king died, it means that soon the prince will be able to ascend the throne, there are a lot of festivities that are held to celebrate him, chief among these is The Reaping, where young werewolf girls who have had their first shift in that full moon are selected and brought to the palace. The girls will be courted by Lycan nobles and at the end the Lycans who have courted them will give the girls they like bouquets of flowers and she will chose the bouquet of her preferred master.”

“So you mean to tell me that girls are forced to come here and compete for some men’s attention? That is ridiculous.” Riya snapped and Isolde flinched again, Riya figured that Isolde was very timid.

“It is a great honor to be chosen, the Lycans will treat their mistresses very well and even though we can never be their mates we will be treated well and have everything that we want.”

“Let me guess, everything except freedom.” Riya scoffed.

“Some of us have never been free.” Isolde answered.

“What do you mean?” Riya asked curiously.

“At my pack I was more or less a slave and the alpha sent me here so that his own daughter could be with her fated mate, so this is actually an upgrade for me, at least I won’t be expected to scrub and clean all day.” She answered and clasped her hands together.

Riya looked at her sympathetically, she could see how Isolde would think that this was better but to Riya it just felt like moving from one master to another.

“So what pack are you from?” Isolde asked and Riya looked at her thoughtfully.

She did not know how her story would be received, Isolde might think she was crazy and maybe even report her to someone and she could be killed or eaten, who knew what these people would do to someone like her or how they punished people But Riya needed to tell someone or else she would go crazy.

“Can you keep a secret?” Riya asked at last and Isolde looked doubtful.